Your boat looks great! Why am I not surprised?
If you don't feel like throwing something away once in a while you're not trying hard enough. Bravo on the boat. She looks great!
I find there's always a fix to any problem I was looking at aftermarket boats the right size but it would have taken to long. Next best thing photograph it from its good side if that's no good try Photoshop.
I was checking the parts on the deck today and found there was a small problem with the skylight.
It was difficult to find a good location for the LED under the skylight. I didn't want to use four LEDs so l cut away the frame and bulkhead and placed one in the centre.
The problem is the light is to bright and doesn't look right
After playing with a few solutions I came up with a piece of Perspex (lightly sanded with a coat of thinned down black paint on it) over the LED. I also used medium wet and dry on the top of the LED to disperse the light better.
Before and after.
It was difficult to find a good location for the LED under the skylight. I didn't want to use four LEDs so l cut away the frame and bulkhead and placed one in the centre.
The problem is the light is to bright and doesn't look right
After playing with a few solutions I came up with a piece of Perspex (lightly sanded with a coat of thinned down black paint on it) over the LED. I also used medium wet and dry on the top of the LED to disperse the light better.
Before and after.
Nice. Not enough room to offset the light inside?
There was framework under the skylight, first I tried cutting it back but I still needed multiple LEDs which was overkill for a small opening. So I decided to go with just the one, once the deck was in place no changes could be made.
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Yep. Looks good.
Part 1
What's the most important part on a pirate ship? Not the rum unfortunately but the cannons. I started these while waiting for the LEDs to arrive at the beginning of the build.
The instructions showed the taper on the carriage round the wrong way (wide at the front), I checked fitting the cannon both ways and it fitted better as shown so that's the way I assembled them.
This is how I glued them, I used drills in the axel slots to line up the sides and the magnets keep them sqare.
I wanted to make a cap for the trunnions to do this I used some copper wire flattened down to 0.3mm.
To make consistent parts I used two pieces of quarter inch key steel with two holes drilled in the centre of them. First hole with a pin attached was the same size as the trunnion (2mm) and the other twice the thickness of the cap plus trunnion (2.6mm).
Two lines have been marked as a guide to place the cap.
A 2mm pin was used to form the first bend.
The ends where then pushed down by hand.
Press the other piece on top of the first one using a clamp this insures nice clean bends.
This is a bit of overkill but I wanted to experiment with making my own parts.
Finally I made the parts for the breaching ropes. I am not going to fit the other gun tackle due to the small size and my skill level, maybe next time.
Part 2
Now I'm preparing parts for installation on the ship and need to decide on what finish to put on the cannons. The more I looked at them I think I was wrong to make them back to front so in the end I took them apart and made them right.
I went with a red stain on the carriage mainly because everything else is walnut and black the guns needed to stand out.
A mix of black and bronze for the cannons.
Ready for installation.
What's the most important part on a pirate ship? Not the rum unfortunately but the cannons. I started these while waiting for the LEDs to arrive at the beginning of the build.
The instructions showed the taper on the carriage round the wrong way (wide at the front), I checked fitting the cannon both ways and it fitted better as shown so that's the way I assembled them.
This is how I glued them, I used drills in the axel slots to line up the sides and the magnets keep them sqare.
I wanted to make a cap for the trunnions to do this I used some copper wire flattened down to 0.3mm.
To make consistent parts I used two pieces of quarter inch key steel with two holes drilled in the centre of them. First hole with a pin attached was the same size as the trunnion (2mm) and the other twice the thickness of the cap plus trunnion (2.6mm).
Two lines have been marked as a guide to place the cap.
A 2mm pin was used to form the first bend.
The ends where then pushed down by hand.
Press the other piece on top of the first one using a clamp this insures nice clean bends.
This is a bit of overkill but I wanted to experiment with making my own parts.
Finally I made the parts for the breaching ropes. I am not going to fit the other gun tackle due to the small size and my skill level, maybe next time.
Part 2
Now I'm preparing parts for installation on the ship and need to decide on what finish to put on the cannons. The more I looked at them I think I was wrong to make them back to front so in the end I took them apart and made them right.
I went with a red stain on the carriage mainly because everything else is walnut and black the guns needed to stand out.
A mix of black and bronze for the cannons.
Ready for installation.
A couple of us made the same mistake with the gun carriages. Unfortunately, I had already put them all together and some of them were in the gun deck and rigged up. I wasn't doing it all over again. But I learned my lesson for next time. They look good, Tony!
I would be one of those who screwed up on the first couple.
Tony, I am impressed with the way you made your caps for the trunnions. I have been thinking about that for a while. The instructions don't call for any, but I think they are needed at this scale. I may go with black construction paper to keep them thin enough.
I hammered out some copper wire for capsquares, but not with the precision you took it to.
Maybe it's not a mistake just the Chinese way of doing things.
I've seen some made from thin card and they look good. I just wanted to try making them from copper.
I like the way you flatten the wire to make a capsquare, I can see you have some die and tool-making skills, those self-made rollers looks simple enough to do a great job. Do you have a sketch\plans by chance?
Hi Jimsky back in the late 90s I had access to a machine shop and made some tools for modelling which this is one. With everything I made I used whatever was to hand and back then CNC was uncommon. I do not have any plans\sketches, rather than make plans I can pull it apart and explain the concept, how it works the dimensions used are not really important.
Hello, Tony. I don't mean to create you trouble, but if this is not too much time and hassle,
No problem whatsoever to tell the truth it's been so long since I made it will be a nice refresher for myself. Is there a better forum for it to be put in or just add it to the build log?Hello, Tony. I don't mean to create you trouble, but if this is not too much time and hassle,Iwe would love to have an idea of how it works and possibly made similar one of our own needs.
Wow! That's great, Tony!! We have a dedicated forum for tools, techniques in such. You can start a new thread there, but...on your log show the link to your thread so everyone who follows your build log here will know about your new thread in the tools section.
Tools, Lathes, Mills, Jigs and Techniques
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Im glad with all the building logs of this black pearl. A lot useful information. Really want to build this one to. Thanks for all pictures and information. It's really useful
I can recommend this model the parts are accurately cut and go together well also the materials are good. The main downside are the poor instructions which makes it hard if it's your first model. I purchased mine direct from ZHL and found them very good to deal with.