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"Cheap" Amazon Black Pearl 1/50 Kit (***Don't Buy!***)

Hi.

I've done exactly the same as you. I bought this kit about 2 weeks ago so I'm about a month so behind you. So I'll be watching your work with very keen interest.

I started work on the HMS Victory but very quickly realised I was in waaaay over my head. My thought was that if I bought a cheapish model then I could use it to practice on before continuing with the HMS Victory. And the Black Pearl is a pirate ship, it's not meant to be pristine or pretty, and if I really mess up the hull planking then I'll turn it into a canon ball hole ROTF.

The work you've done so far looks brill :D
HAHA we will get through this tough time together!

Through the help of others on SOS, Boiler Dan on YouTube, and the use of the plotter at my work, I was able to print the directions from ZHL, scale drawings for the masts, yards, and booms as well as 1:1 printed sheet for the sails. I'm far from that point right now, but ill be posting pics shortly.

Let me know if you have any questions!
 
Finally had some time over the weekend to put some hours into the build.

Got the front "Lattice?" aka front of the ship detail part complete. This was a pain in the butt... The vertical pieces were super brittle and about half of them broke while i was trying to build it. Eventually got it done.

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Added some of the doors and windows that will go below the main stair cases. Used some wire to make the ringbolts to attach the cannons to. These need to be installed first before the stairs go up.

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Building the little cannons was fun. Decided to use toothpicks as the axels. Stained the cannons black and the sides/bottom was done in espresso. Also the decks of the ship were stained in espresso. The cannons that came with the kit, we're all the same and didn't have a "nub" on the back to wrap the rope around, so i cut the end of a toothpick off and glued it on. Next step is to stain the toothpick parts black. Also, the kit didn't come with enough cannons to fit in each opening so I will just use the cannon hatches to cover a couple of the square openings.

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Captains quarters was another pain in the butt... I couldn't get it to slide on to the back, because the ship was too wide for the bottom portion. So I made a cardboard template of just the bottom piece to see how much i needed to cut off and it was about 5/8" of the inside... I used a cutting wheel and sanding tip on my Dremel. The back fit was ok.

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Overall its starting to get a little more fun with the details!

I think i am going to use what planks I have left to plank the smooth sides if the ship, and just stain them black. I'm not a fan of the smooth wood that starts from the top and ends about half way down.

I ordered a lot of parts from ModelExpo.com and will post what i got when they come in.

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