Newbie's first build

[Instructorken]

Hello everyone,

Well as I mentioned in my introduction I picked up a 1:65 Black Pearl from ZHL because I love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It of course was an impulse buy but I really do want to build the ship and because I want to do a good job building it I have a question.
Is this kit suitable for a first time builder like myself ?

I will mention that I have experience building complex multi-material kits for F-1 race cars so I'm pretty good at detail work and I use to build actual wooden race boats (C & D class hydroplanes) but I have no experience building scale wooden model ships.

I bend to the expertise here at Ships of Scale, if you agree that the Pearl is ok for a first build then I'll give it a go. If however it's suggested that I get my feet wet on an easier build to learn what skills must be learned then I'm good with that too and request suggestions as to what that first build should be.

While I chose the Pearl because of the movie I have been looking at other kits for future builds and my interest lies more towards historic war ships (ie: HMS Victory, HMS Surprise, HMS Diana etc). This is to say that while I'd have no problem building a "starter ship" to learn I'd want it to be something that I would actually like and be happy to display not just some simple fishing boat.

 

[Jimsky]

Welcome aboard SOS, Instructorken. We have many build logs of BP from ZHL. I hope members will chime in soon, to answer your question. Until then, check our members' log

Black Pearl 1:50 ZHL

When I decided to get back into ship modeling, I looked around and got really excited about the Black Pearl. Like many I was confused by the vast array of prices and kits that all kind of looked the same but maybe not. At any rate I took a shot at one of the cheaper kits, not really expecting...

shipsofscale.com

ZHL Black Pearl 2019 Golden Edition-Newbie build [COMPLETED BUILD]

Hi everyone. My name is Reggie and I am a true, honest to goodness newbie. The only ship I ever built was a cheapie 1:130 sailboat model that I purchased from Lazada (the Far East equivalent of Amazon). It took me a while to build, only because I was really coming from a zero knowledge base, and...

shipsofscale.com

ZHL Black Pearl Golden 2021 - 1:64 - JeffT [COMPLETED BUILD]

I just started building the ZHL Black Pearl Golden Version 2021. This was inspired by the build logs of Reggie (WarrLight) and Vic (Vfordyce). My daughter who has degrees in film and education just moved her first home and I am building the BP her and her husband as a house warming gift. She was...

shipsofscale.com

Black Pearl - Zhl 1:50 by Vfordyce [COMPLETED BUILD]

My daughter’s best friend has sustained her through some rough going. I was going to build tle Soleil Royal for my girl, but she asked me to build the Black for her friend first. So here goes.

shipsofscale.com

 

[Instructorken]

Thanks for those links, I will definitely take a look at them in great detail.

It will be a few weeks before I could start work on a ship anyway as I have 3 Porsche 956 race cars on my built table as it is.

 

[Dave Stevens (Lumberyard)]

Is this kit suitable for a first time builder like myself ?

I will mention that I have experience building complex multi-material kits for F-1 race cars so I'm pretty good at detail work and I use to build actual wooden race boats (C & D class hydroplanes) but I have no experience building scale wooden model ships.

I bend to the expertise here at Ships of Scale, if you agree that the Pearl is ok for a first build then I'll give it a go. If however it's suggested that I get my feet wet on an easier build to learn what skills must be learned then I'm good with that too and request suggestions as to what that first build should be.

if you have developed modeling skills from any project you should be fine building the Black Pearl. i would say if you never built a model then perhaps this is a little advanced.
There are two basic types of kits a plank on frame where you build all the hull frames and plank on bulkhead where you are using a center profile pieces and using bulkheads for the hull. Model ship kits follow the same construction methods. i would suggest you go through different build logs to get an idea of how to build ship kits. Planking the hull i think is the most tedious and difficult part of the build, there are build logs on how this is done so when you reach that stage stop and research the topic.