"Disney 'Black Pearl' conversion picture" Topic

She's finally completed.

Here's a picture:

My conversion work included:

- Cutting down the hull ( which was way too deep ) and discarding all
the in-built electronics ( though, in case I ever want to rig a battery
to them, I didn't uninstall the bulb and wiring for the stern cabin
lights ) .

- Filling various holes where the elctrical controls used to come out
of the hull and deck. I didn't sand this down too well – you can see
one of the marks in the photos, but i think the rough surface adds to
the general overall effect.

- Adding three new gun-ports to each side ( I used model ship fittings
for some of them ) .

- Removing the oversize ship's wheel.

- Cutting down the height of the quarter-deck railing.

- Making gratings for the decks ( I used plastic mesh from an
embroidery shop ) .

- Adding a small amount of detail to the inner side if the main-deck
bulwarks ( strips of cardboard to frame the new gunports )

- Adding some model ship cannons ( too small for 25mm, but will allow a
lot of deck space for the figures ) .

- Making new fore- and main-top platforms from heavy cardboard, in a
more modern shape than the simple round ones on the toy.

- Removing two of the three lanterns from the stern.

- Trimming down the beakhead ( front part of keel sticking out at the
front ) to not stick out quite so far.

- Cutting the wings off the figurehead, as I felt they were too wide.

- Drawing windown panes onto the windows with a marker pen.

- Doing a full repaint, mainly dark brown with a number of difference
dry-brushes over it; sails a calico colour and dry-brushed white.

I may add still add some simple pieces of rigging – just a few main
ropes, though .. .so as not to interfere with game-play.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the finsihed product. And at less than
$US20, I can't complain about the price!

Now I just have to start painting a pirate crew to man her. And I
still have two other pirate ship toys on their way to me from the USA
to convert as well.

Here's a working link to the picture:

picture

Wow nice work!

Nice job! How did you cut down the hull??

A carpentry hand-saw – I don't own any modelling tool like a Dremal!

Nice work. I've done a bit of sawing models myself and it isn't easy.

Well Done sir. I hate to say this but with a piece that nice I'd be afraid to use it for gaming for fear of damaging it. I think it looks spiffy right on that table. It sure makes a dandy display model.

The only fragile bits are the open gun-ports, which I bought commercially. One port cover is already hanging on just one hinge, as the other hinge broke as I was putting it on.

Other than that, the model is as robust as the original toy.

So handling in a game won't be a concern, so long as I am prepared to not panic about losing the gunport hatches (if that happens, I'll just make new ones myself that are a lot stronger … which is perhaps what I should've done in the first place, rather than cheating by buying ship modelling accessories!).

That's really cool and very inspirational. Thanks for sharing that.

Very nice, I take my hat off to you, sir. I have looked at these toys and thought they could make a nice centrepiece for a battle, but baulked at the amount of work involved. Excellent; thanks for sharing.

Colin

Really, really impressive and inspirational!
Thanks for sharing, and compliments.

If you don't already have a blog, for sure you would launch one, to collect your link(s) to your pics, post tutorials… and since you actually *play* with such, illustrated photo reports.

Best regards,
Jean-Louis

Great job !

Very nice work!

Outstanding!

Any links to the original product?

Oh yeah, forgot to add "wow!"

Amazing work. I would take my hat off if I was wearing one!

Enthusiastic applause from cheap seats! Good work!

Very nice-

What primer/colors/paint types did you use for the final brown?

(..there are still several of trhese at the local wally-world for $25- each…)

No primer at all, Wabi Sabi. The main colour was simply red and black mixed together. The edge detail was picked out with an ochre paint.

The dry brushing was that same red and black mix with some white in it (varying amounts of white added for each successive dry brush).

Very quick and past painting with a big brush and no finesse.

Which Black Pearl set was this? I went to Toys R Us and couldn't figure out which version to buy.

It is the wheeled remote control 'Black Pearl' toy (not part of a set). There are several other versions of the 'Black Pearl' as well. But if you have a close look at the stern gallery on my picture, you'll be able to recognise which one it is in the shop, as each model seems to have a different style for the stern gallery.

Quite beautiful.

Just to add I have seen this model "in the flesh", and its as good as the picture. Looking forward to a boarding action game so I can claim it as my own! ;-)