That’s pretty fast work, Jodie!
Black Pearl 1:50 ZHL
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Well done on your progress it's looking good. l thought the cabin on my BP (golden edition) was hard but this one looks a lot more difficult with the curved stern and extra details.
Over the next few days I got the planking on the aft deck done.
And then planked the sides and rear.
Next up was to trim the planking and put some finish on it. I also added the skylight on the rear and the frames around the holes in the deck. I did not add the rings that go around the bottom of the masts. I broke 1 but all of them were cut pretty uneven so decided I’d just do something similar to the wooldings when I build the masts. I used Creatix black pearl paint for the braces on the rear and the frames.
So my next mission was to do the roofs on the outside of the captain’s cabin. I have to confess rite up front that this wasn’t my idea. I saw this on someone else's build. I have no idea where that was.
The roof for this area is pretty much a scratch build project. The 1/2" (12mm) square stick of wood that is supplied in the kit might as well be a 2X4. They could have laser cut a stack of 4 or 5 pieces and then had us glue and sand them to shape which would be much easier. But that’s not what they did.
What I did was took a piece of molding I had leftover from a case I built that looked like this.
This was too tall and wide so I cut it down on my table saw to make it a better size for this project. I cut the angles on the front at 45 degrees, than cut the back of each side piece at 60 degrees, and the other 2 parts in the rear at 15 degrees. This created a part that was a full 180 degree figure.
Of course the rear of the ship isn’t a nice square back end. I used my spindle sander to round the 2 back pieces then I used my little Proxxon disk sander to adjust the angles to make it fit the back of the ship. As I mentioned this is a scratch build thing I just eyeballed. I really don’t know how to help with that, it’s something you just have to play with. I also did a little hand carving around where the joints are to make the pattern kind of match up so the fact that it doesn’t wouldn’t be quite so obvious.
And here it is sitting on the back of the ship. I sanded the front of this piece to approximate the angle of the front of the side galleries. These are pretty different from one side to the other, but as any good custom pin striper will tell you you can’t see both sides at the same time!
And after a coat of black pearl paint and adding a little trim strip across the arched back here it is.
I did check the scroll work that goes on the back here and it’s tight but it will still fit. I should probably add another piece below to trim it underneath.
BP442
Next step was to airbrush the outside with a flat clear finish to get rid of the shine. These photos were taken in natural light and are very representative of how it looks in person.
And then planked the sides and rear.
Next up was to trim the planking and put some finish on it. I also added the skylight on the rear and the frames around the holes in the deck. I did not add the rings that go around the bottom of the masts. I broke 1 but all of them were cut pretty uneven so decided I’d just do something similar to the wooldings when I build the masts. I used Creatix black pearl paint for the braces on the rear and the frames.
So my next mission was to do the roofs on the outside of the captain’s cabin. I have to confess rite up front that this wasn’t my idea. I saw this on someone else's build. I have no idea where that was.
The roof for this area is pretty much a scratch build project. The 1/2" (12mm) square stick of wood that is supplied in the kit might as well be a 2X4. They could have laser cut a stack of 4 or 5 pieces and then had us glue and sand them to shape which would be much easier. But that’s not what they did.
What I did was took a piece of molding I had leftover from a case I built that looked like this.
This was too tall and wide so I cut it down on my table saw to make it a better size for this project. I cut the angles on the front at 45 degrees, than cut the back of each side piece at 60 degrees, and the other 2 parts in the rear at 15 degrees. This created a part that was a full 180 degree figure.
Of course the rear of the ship isn’t a nice square back end. I used my spindle sander to round the 2 back pieces then I used my little Proxxon disk sander to adjust the angles to make it fit the back of the ship. As I mentioned this is a scratch build thing I just eyeballed. I really don’t know how to help with that, it’s something you just have to play with. I also did a little hand carving around where the joints are to make the pattern kind of match up so the fact that it doesn’t wouldn’t be quite so obvious.
And here it is sitting on the back of the ship. I sanded the front of this piece to approximate the angle of the front of the side galleries. These are pretty different from one side to the other, but as any good custom pin striper will tell you you can’t see both sides at the same time!
And after a coat of black pearl paint and adding a little trim strip across the arched back here it is.
I did check the scroll work that goes on the back here and it’s tight but it will still fit. I should probably add another piece below to trim it underneath.
BP442
Next step was to airbrush the outside with a flat clear finish to get rid of the shine. These photos were taken in natural light and are very representative of how it looks in person.
A lot more nicely done than my mangled stick! Very artistic.
It also hides some of the overlapping edges. I probably should have done more sanding on my galleys.
She's looking good !
I will be starting this model in a few weeks.
I also plan to paint the timbers black, I was thinking of dying the sails a charcoal grey?
I will be starting this model in a few weeks.
I also plan to paint the timbers black, I was thinking of dying the sails a charcoal grey?
I thought about that too, but the recipient wanted more natural looking sails with tea dyed look. I also thought too much black and gray would make the overall appearance dull and the details would be lost without some contrasts. So the sails are as they are with tea stains.
So up next were the last few parts in the first section of the manual. I built the capstan but didn’t want to glue it on yet and I went to work on the staircase to the main deck. I did stain and install the staircase but didn’t take a picture of it yet.
Edit: when I got to the point of working on the masts I had already assembled the capstan including the chains around it etc. When I tried to slide it on the mast it got stuck and by the time I got it off I had about 10 pieces. I would recommend not doing anything with the capstan until you're prepping the masts to be mounted. Then build it around the mast at that time.
The last part in the first book is the power for the lighting. I assembled the coffin the lights go in. The bottom part is pretty self explanatory. The lid has to be drilled with a 2.5mm bit to accept the spring loaded brass pins. These 4 pins will match up with the brass strips on the bottom of the keel. You can also see the controller and the remote.
The next step is to remove the heat shrink from the circuit board. I chose to cut it rite down the side of the board to hopefully not damage any components.
Here it is after stripping the heat shrink and cover from the wiring.
You then have to unsolder the connector on the end of the circuit board and solder magnet wire to the board in its place. I can’t help but think for a few pennies they could have just included a matching connector so you wouldn’t have to do the soldering on the board. For a buck or two maybe even just provide a connecter with everything hooked up. At any rate here it is all rewired.
Here you can see all the parts, and from the outside.
Here is the coffin in place under the keel you can see where the contacts touch the bottom of the ship. This all seems over complicated to me to be honest. The controller is for doing all kinds of flashing effects etc when all that seems really necessary is a on off switch.
And here’s where I was planning on putting a photo of it all lit up. However; there was something wrong with the controller or the remote. When I plug it in it flashes the three sections of lights alternately at a pretty high speed. The remote control won’t do anything. One odd thing is the controller had one of those plastic tabs to keep a battery from draining, but there was no battery in it. I put in a brand new buttery but still no response. I sent an e-mail to ZHL so hopefully I’ll get a response as to if I’m doing something wrong or if I have a defective part.
This problem was solved as I'm actually quite a ways ahead of this post so there's no need for suggestions about the lights. After several e-mails back and forth with Max at ZHL the language barrier was too much to overcome. I kept telling him the remote wouldn’t work, but kept getting responses like you need a battery in it, or flashing is a mode. I figured worst case I could always just get a wall wart of the proper voltage and hook it to a switch. Then it donned on me that I have friends in high places. So I asked Victator @Vfordyce if he still had his controller because I knew he was using different leds and sure enough he hooked me up and sent me his controller. That fixed my problems so now the lights work correctly. I’ll get some photos up with the lights on in the near future.
Edit: when I got to the point of working on the masts I had already assembled the capstan including the chains around it etc. When I tried to slide it on the mast it got stuck and by the time I got it off I had about 10 pieces. I would recommend not doing anything with the capstan until you're prepping the masts to be mounted. Then build it around the mast at that time.
The last part in the first book is the power for the lighting. I assembled the coffin the lights go in. The bottom part is pretty self explanatory. The lid has to be drilled with a 2.5mm bit to accept the spring loaded brass pins. These 4 pins will match up with the brass strips on the bottom of the keel. You can also see the controller and the remote.
The next step is to remove the heat shrink from the circuit board. I chose to cut it rite down the side of the board to hopefully not damage any components.
Here it is after stripping the heat shrink and cover from the wiring.
You then have to unsolder the connector on the end of the circuit board and solder magnet wire to the board in its place. I can’t help but think for a few pennies they could have just included a matching connector so you wouldn’t have to do the soldering on the board. For a buck or two maybe even just provide a connecter with everything hooked up. At any rate here it is all rewired.
Here you can see all the parts, and from the outside.
Here is the coffin in place under the keel you can see where the contacts touch the bottom of the ship. This all seems over complicated to me to be honest. The controller is for doing all kinds of flashing effects etc when all that seems really necessary is a on off switch.
And here’s where I was planning on putting a photo of it all lit up. However; there was something wrong with the controller or the remote. When I plug it in it flashes the three sections of lights alternately at a pretty high speed. The remote control won’t do anything. One odd thing is the controller had one of those plastic tabs to keep a battery from draining, but there was no battery in it. I put in a brand new buttery but still no response. I sent an e-mail to ZHL so hopefully I’ll get a response as to if I’m doing something wrong or if I have a defective part.
This problem was solved as I'm actually quite a ways ahead of this post so there's no need for suggestions about the lights. After several e-mails back and forth with Max at ZHL the language barrier was too much to overcome. I kept telling him the remote wouldn’t work, but kept getting responses like you need a battery in it, or flashing is a mode. I figured worst case I could always just get a wall wart of the proper voltage and hook it to a switch. Then it donned on me that I have friends in high places. So I asked Victator @Vfordyce if he still had his controller because I knew he was using different leds and sure enough he hooked me up and sent me his controller. That fixed my problems so now the lights work correctly. I’ll get some photos up with the lights on in the near future.
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So while waiting for the remote issue to be solved I went ahead and moved forward with the installation of the railings on the edge of the deck. I don’t really have much to say here tip wise, other than what Vic mentioned in his thread, if you’re going to paint the railings it’s definitely easier to paint the parts before assembling them on the ship. There are a lot of parts making up the rails so definitely take some time and make sure you’re using the correct ones. Here’s the end result.
I next decided to glue the forward part of the keel on. I knocked it off while working on the next step and then re-glued it. It would probably be best to wait till you are ready to glue a couple of the side supports on this part before attaching this piece. But it’s on now.
I next decided to glue the forward part of the keel on. I knocked it off while working on the next step and then re-glued it. It would probably be best to wait till you are ready to glue a couple of the side supports on this part before attaching this piece. But it’s on now.
My next project was to put the whales on. This is something else that is really ambiguous in the instructions. Both where they go, and when to put them on. I looked back and forth in the second pole manual and there really isn’t a step stating to put these on. They are shown in step one but it’s not so much instruction as a diagram.
At any rate the large plan sheet number one is where I went to make my best guess where to put them. The lower pair are relatively self explanatory after looking a bit. The upper one goes just under the sweep ports on the side of the ship. The one that runs between the upper and lower gun ports isn’t so clear. I measured off the plan and compared that to the side of the ship. I finally settled on running the whale on top of the 5th plank down from the rail. This actually matched up with being the first plank above where I started planking on post #76. This makes the whale actually match with the main deck which is very common.
However; there was one minor problem, on the open side of the ship there was nothing but air in this location. My solution was to add one plank on the upper side of the opening. Just by luck one of the 5mm by 2mm planks fit right in. Here’s a photo of it clamped in place drying. Hindsight being 20/20 if you’re going with this location it would be good to go ahead and plank this run back at the appropriate time.
One could argue this is the wrong location and the whale should be moved up one plank. In my case I like the way it acts as a separator between the lighter and darker sections of planking so I’m very much happy with it. That’s just my preference of course. There is however another issue. If you look at the opening going into the captain’s cabin if you move the whale up it’ll cross in front of the lower portion of the opening, or you can cut it and be on each side. Whatever you prefer. I’m going to add a tip back at post #76 for people to read this post to better decide the whale location. Here’s the port side.
The final piece is the one that goes from the stern gallery along the poop deck. On the port side this could go anywhere along the side in this area. I measured the plan again and got all prepared to attach it when it occurred to me it should be in the same location on each side. Once again there is another issue. On the starboard side the opening for the captain’s cabin extends all the way up to 2 plank widths from the bottom of the rail. If the whale is located that high up there isn’t room for the boards the shrouds attach too. So I filled in the top and ran the whale across what would be the 4th plank down.
EDIT: Somewhere around this point you'll start using the second box extensively. I would recommend that you take the frames that fit on the lower platforms and glue them on about now. By the time I got to where they told me to do it in the instructions mine were pretty busted up from months of foreaging around in the box. Or maybe just take that laser cut sheet out and put it somewhere safe. This is what I'm talking about.
At any rate the large plan sheet number one is where I went to make my best guess where to put them. The lower pair are relatively self explanatory after looking a bit. The upper one goes just under the sweep ports on the side of the ship. The one that runs between the upper and lower gun ports isn’t so clear. I measured off the plan and compared that to the side of the ship. I finally settled on running the whale on top of the 5th plank down from the rail. This actually matched up with being the first plank above where I started planking on post #76. This makes the whale actually match with the main deck which is very common.
However; there was one minor problem, on the open side of the ship there was nothing but air in this location. My solution was to add one plank on the upper side of the opening. Just by luck one of the 5mm by 2mm planks fit right in. Here’s a photo of it clamped in place drying. Hindsight being 20/20 if you’re going with this location it would be good to go ahead and plank this run back at the appropriate time.
One could argue this is the wrong location and the whale should be moved up one plank. In my case I like the way it acts as a separator between the lighter and darker sections of planking so I’m very much happy with it. That’s just my preference of course. There is however another issue. If you look at the opening going into the captain’s cabin if you move the whale up it’ll cross in front of the lower portion of the opening, or you can cut it and be on each side. Whatever you prefer. I’m going to add a tip back at post #76 for people to read this post to better decide the whale location. Here’s the port side.
The final piece is the one that goes from the stern gallery along the poop deck. On the port side this could go anywhere along the side in this area. I measured the plan again and got all prepared to attach it when it occurred to me it should be in the same location on each side. Once again there is another issue. On the starboard side the opening for the captain’s cabin extends all the way up to 2 plank widths from the bottom of the rail. If the whale is located that high up there isn’t room for the boards the shrouds attach too. So I filled in the top and ran the whale across what would be the 4th plank down.
EDIT: Somewhere around this point you'll start using the second box extensively. I would recommend that you take the frames that fit on the lower platforms and glue them on about now. By the time I got to where they told me to do it in the instructions mine were pretty busted up from months of foreaging around in the box. Or maybe just take that laser cut sheet out and put it somewhere safe. This is what I'm talking about.
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Jodie I greatly appreciate your explanation of this process...so after all the mumbo-jumbo with Max it ended up being a defective remote? I agree, to have to strip out the heat shrink and unsolder the connector seems a bit too Chinese for a $500 kit! ZHL should fix this for future kits as an updated version! I ordered lights from Evan Designs and decided to go 3v with remote an AC adapter....but then I was a bit pissed to spend an extra $100 to simplify the wiring so I decided to see if I could solder the kit LED’s anyway! Please permit me to PM you if I run into any problem once I reach this stage! Again, great work and I have learned much from you and your build thread! I glued in my lower deck this morning....like handling a brittle, curled potato chip. However, your advice to take the time to square things made it easy for me...I ran a dremel very lightly around the rib slots and worked it in very carefully...all good! Put a lot of weight on it. Tomorrow morning I hope to see my deck is flat and secure!
Ahoy mate!
Rick
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With the captain’s cabin opening, the placement of the wales is a bit more of an issue. I think I spaced my lower two Wales too far apart. And the front starboard Wales were a guess as to where to place them. I didn’t like my end product there.
Rick,
Feel free to PM me. Happy to pass on what I know. I love your build log BTW, you must look up the phrase "You'll have the Devil to pay" by far my favorite nautical term.
Thanks for the compliments too. I was pretty happy I put in the effort to build it square when I started putting the railings on it made them fit real nice.
Feel free to PM me. Happy to pass on what I know. I love your build log BTW, you must look up the phrase "You'll have the Devil to pay" by far my favorite nautical term.
Thanks for the compliments too. I was pretty happy I put in the effort to build it square when I started putting the railings on it made them fit real nice.
What good progress you have made I especially like the different colour schemes on the BPs. They all come out looking good but quite different. Keep up the good work.
Tony
Tony
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Jodie I believe I’ll be running into the same problem you experienced with the second deck being too tight in the stern. I estimate 2-3mm needs to be cut further back into the deck...the top deck fits fine and I used it like you did to set the starboard bulkheads...after they dried the top deck came out no problem...so before gluing the 5 stems to the keel, I wanted to see if the 2nd deck would fit...nope! I don’t think we shortened up the keel when we glued it together, because I remember your thread and I purposely didn’t tighten it up when I glued them together...ZHL needs to reprogram their laser saw to allow a longer keel..
That's good to know. My trimming the notch a few mm's deeper didn't cause any problems. I'll go back and edit this thread to say that it's a flaw in how the deck or keel is cut so others know. I think it's the deck but it's hard to tell. I didn't have any obvious issues with my length on the rest of the parts. It's kind of hard to tell where the inaccuracies are by the time you get to the captain's cabin and above because there are so many parts that could be slightly off, but I didn't have any places where it was off by enough to claim it wasn't just build tolerances, aside from that notch.
Great advice on fixing an issue however I don't seem to follow what's happening, that's my problem.
I'll come back to this when I get closer to installing it.
Overall, it sounds like I should install the whales lower than the kit specifies.
Great advice on fixing an issue however I don't seem to follow what's happening, that's my problem.
I'll come back to this when I get closer to installing it.
Overall, it sounds like I should install the whales lower than the kit specifies.
Rowboat,
Not necessarily. The two lower ones are just below the sweep ports like the plan shows. Though mine are spaced 5mm's apart and the plans are a little further. The upper is basically along the main deck line and could be up of down a plank from the main deck and it probably doesn't matter. The ones by the stern gallery are the issue because of the size of the cutout for the captains cabin. Wehn you get there you'll figure it out.
It wasn't an issue for me because I neglected to do the cutout. I found the open area on the starboard side to be a challenge because I wasn't able to continue the wale all the way across. I got a little too much curve in it, as a result. I guess precision does pay off in the long run. She's looking good, Jodie!
I’ve slowed down on working on this a bit. It’s spring in Western Colorado and spring is the time of year I have the least amount of hobby time. On top of the usual spring stuff like the yard etc. we’ve been camping already and have travels as well. Still I have been getting a little done.
I received the remote from Vic as I mentioned earlier, so finally here’s some pictures with the lights on. Thanks again to Vic.
I decided at this point it was time to upgrade the firepower a bit.
That is obviously a joke. I painted the base black and stained the coffin with the black stain to make it go with the ship.
Next time to get to work on the main deck.
I received the remote from Vic as I mentioned earlier, so finally here’s some pictures with the lights on. Thanks again to Vic.
I decided at this point it was time to upgrade the firepower a bit.
That is obviously a joke. I painted the base black and stained the coffin with the black stain to make it go with the ship.
Next time to get to work on the main deck.