Wednesday 20 July 2016

WIP - pirate ship!

hi all

Just a quick post today.  I've been working on a new project, after making my little Sampans (see the post here) for my latest Bushido board and receiving positive comments regarding them - thank you :-).  I decided to upscale and build something a little bigger, not necessarily for Bushido but who knows.

I started with a piece of standard polystyrene that I got from the packaging of a bathroom cabinet, cut to size and sanded to a shape before covering in coffee stirrer "planks" on the deck and longer planks on the sides of the hull. These side planks took a lot of patience and gorilla glue to get them to bend to the shape of the hull.






The aft-castle was initially going to be attached straight to the deck and have a roof but halfway through I changed my mind and made the platform a roof by raising it off the deck and creating a space underneath. The platform will now be the steerage section and I'll maybe add the ships wheel to this part of the ship.











It still needs a lot of things added, potentially a fore-castle, which could just be a bare fighting platform? and obviously masts & sails etc. Anyway I thought I would show you guys how I've gotten on so far with my "ship". I'm not sure what to think about the work done so far, it's a little boxy and a little rough, in fact I'm not sure whether to continue with the build or not? Should I expend more resources, although to be fair it is mostly time I'm spending as the model is mostly scrap and coffee stirrers liberated from over priced tax avoiding big businesses.... however the masts and sails will require cash money being spent on dowels and something for the canvas.

I'm just not sure so ready to be swayed either way, please feel free to comment - positively or not but please be constructive.

Thanks
dGG

27 comments:

  1. What a great start, this is going to be another fabulous build!

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    1. Thank you sir, that's a positive then :-)

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  2. i'm pretty sure a "quick post" doesn't count as 75% of a magnificent build, can't wait for the rest

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    1. Thank you Martin, I guess more like a quick survey then to see if I was heading in the right direction...

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  3. The ship looks great! Great start...

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    1. Thanks HW this is all positive stuff, looks like I had nothing to worry about :-)

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    1. Thanks Tamsin, appreciate your comment :-)

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  5. It would be a shame not to carry on after all the work you've put into it so far. So, my vote is to finish it. I think you're off to a great start, Andy.

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    1. Thanks Bryan, this wasn't a fishing for compliments exercise, I was genuinely worried that the build was not going well and quite ready to abandon it all together. I'm feeling much more energised about the build now! Shame I'm working for the next 7 days......

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  6. Hey, dGG I like this, especially as it almost exactly follows my way of thinking when I sarted on my pirate ships.
    I sloped the sides of my polystyrene base and addded sides that extended above the deck. I also used filler on the base to protect the polystyrene and it gave the model a bit of weight too, but it did require quite a bit of sanding too.
    I'm just a bit puzzled by your laddders leading to the edge of the ship - look strange. You have to continue with this project it has so much promise.

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    1. Ooh thanks for the filler tip Joe, the polystyrene and stirrer combo is a little light! I know what you mean about the ladders, I'm not really happy with them and they may change yet...

      Thanks for the comment mate I appreciate it :-)

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  7. Andy, would it not be better to put the ladder in front of the platform instead of at the side? It does look odd where it is now.

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    1. Yes I think so Bryan. The ladders were due to be a bit steeper and would have fit a bit better, should have taken 5 extra mins to trim them down.

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  8. I think you should continue too, Andy. And your mast and sail need not be expensive. Rather than dowel, have a look in the gardening section of Wilkinson's (plant stakes) and for your sail, a suitable textured wallpaper 'sample' covered in watered down PVA will cost you nothing. Hope that helps.

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    1. Cheers buddy nice one, it does help, now I just need a day off so I can go shopping!

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  9. Ooooops I just realised I write this on an old comments. So have done it again here. I wrote:

    Missis G (Hil) and I have been trying to get you privately but can`t find an addy anywhere. Can you write a quick note to us so I can reply off it... write to:

    gypsy__dance@hotmail.com <-- that's double underscore between gypsy and dance.

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  10. .... and that boat, oh BOY what I wouldn't give to get my hands on that for my own table. Its DREAMY.

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  11. Seriously Andy, DONT stop making it, its really looking good. It got us drooling lots that's for sure (especially as we are forever looking out for game-able/playable boats in this scale).

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    1. No worries Steve , the positive comments so far has energised me enough to keep going, just need to find the time as I'm working flat out this week (in fact I'm typing this while my crewmate is writing paperwork....)

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  12. What an amazing start you talented git! :D Well envious of your skills

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    1. Haha thanks Brum, hey man you've got mad painting skills so what are you envious about?

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