Pirate Ship Project (Updated 11-19)

[Sinewgrab]

Well, hey - I thought I would take the plunge and actually not only admit that I do stuff, but show it in progress. I started getting back into Warmachine, and, as I have posted previously, am starting up a Pirate warband there. Last week, it occurred to me that I was really loving painting and playing a Pirate Army, so, with no further ado, I started putting one together for my other major game - Warhammer Fantasy. As I started formulating how I would do that, I started work on a piece of terrain to get me going - a pirate ship. I made the base from from high density urethane foam (brand names are corofoam and precision board) and it is really basic.



Today, I spent far too much time on it. Because it is for Warmachine as well, I built a small steam engine sort of thing to stick on the back, and I am going to put paddlewheels on the sides.













As I get further along, I'll try to keep dropping stuff up here. Anyone interetsed in helping me build my pirate army, please see my pirates wanted post in the bazaar.

Neil

[Captain Blood]

Wow! That's going to be one big ship...
Looking good though. Keep posting the updates 

[Sinewgrab]

In 28mm, it will be about 37 inches, plus a 4-5" inch front spar and figurehead, so a 220' galleon. About the right size for a command ship, in my opinion.

[Lordblackwing]

Loooks great so far. I look forward to seeing the paddlewheels. Any chance of a basic parts list for the steam engine? I keep resisting the urge to build a pirate army for Warmachine, but maybe with this to inspire me...

[Ray Rivers]

 

I mean like Wow!  Look at all those mini's on the shelves!  Awesome.

Oh... and indeed, the ship is looking great!

But those shelves... a veritable treasure chest, me thinks!

[Sinewgrab]

Loooks great so far. I look forward to seeing the paddlewheels. Any chance of a basic parts list for the steam engine? I keep resisting the urge to build a pirate army for Warmachine, but maybe with this to inspire me...

Well, I started with a 2" diameter medicine bottle (the orange plastic bit), built a small styrene (plasticard to those who don't sell plastic for a living), some mordheim corner pieces, a gear piece from a broken scrapbooking tape dispenser, a couple of small tubes, and some leftover pieces from a GW rhino, and then I added rivets by drilling pilot holes and sticking sewing pins into the holes.

[Sinewgrab]

I mean like Wow!  Look at all those mini's on the shelves!  Awesome.

Oh... and indeed, the ship is looking great!

But those shelves... a veritable treasure chest, me thinks!

Oh, heck. I hadn't even realized that I had included my shelves in the picture. That wall contains about half of my collection - the rest are in egg cartons in the garage. I only keep projects I am currently working on and finished models in the room. Frighteningly enough, that is only two thirds of the shelves. You can't see the other wall.

[Argonor]

That one is going to be almost as big as the 'Black Pearl' I've got. Lower, though.

Can anyone tell me how tall a big ship would normally be from the waterline to the railing of the main deck - I may have to modify the pearl..?

[Ray Rivers]

Can anyone tell me how tall a big ship would normally be from the waterline to the railing of the main deck - I may have to modify the pearl..?

Dat... is a difficult question to answer.

As an ex-Navy man, I'd say Sinewgrab's ship is a bit low in the water.  But it looks fine, though some railing would help a lot.

As for "the Pearl"... don't touch a thing, she's a beauty.

[Sinewgrab]

Yeah, she is. The reason? Simple - I could only get the 1 1/2 thick foam for the base - there wasn't any 2" handy. To scale she would ride about 12' out of the water, which is low for a galleon size vessel, yet perfectly acceptable on a whaler or other modern vessel. I thought, hey, with the steam engine and armor, she'll ride low. Oh well.

[Argonor]

Can anyone tell me how tall a big ship would normally be from the waterline to the railing of the main deck - I may have to modify the pearl..?

Dat... is a difficult question to answer.
As an ex-Navy man, I'd say Sinewgrab's ship is a bit low in the water.  But it looks fine, though some railing would help a lot.
As for "the Pearl"... don't touch a thing, she's a beauty.

The Pearl I have is a very large model measuring almost 90 cm from prow to stern. Consequently she's also very tall. I haven't measured her from warterline to railing, but my guess (from memory, as I'm not at home right now) is about 6 inches.

[Ray Rivers]

"Don't give up the ship!"

I think if you give it some vertical work, it will turn out fine.

If I may recommend...

Try adding bulkheads all around the ship.  I'd use plasticard.  This will give a perception of it being more out of the water.

I did a little photoshoping to see, kinda.., what it might look like:

[Sinewgrab]

Well, the ship is coming along. Now, I just ahve to figure how I want to mount the masts, and start painting.









I have some cannon dummies I will mounting inside of the silver portholes - which are bead mounts that fit just about perfect for it. The biggest problem I have now is trying figure out what to do for a figurehead. I don't have anything that scales to the roughly 1 1/2 to 2 times human size that looks right. I wanted a woman with sword pointed forward, but nothing I currently have will work. Any suggestions?

[Luckyjoe]

That's looking very nice. I thought maybe they would have some figureheads at Model Expo, http://www.modelexpo-online.com/ , but they didn't appear to have any. They do however, have lots of other ship's fittings, like swivel guns or anchors. Or you can make your own swivel guns with GW bits, I think there was a nice article on it in White Dwarf a while back. Anyway, great job on the ship, I'm looking forward to more pics.

Luckyjoe

[Sinewgrab]

That's looking very nice. I thought maybe they would have some figureheads at Model Expo, http://www.modelexpo-online.com/ , but they didn't appear to have any. They do however, have lots of other ship's fittings, like swivel guns or anchors. Or you can make your own swivel guns with GW bits, I think there was a nice article on it in White Dwarf a while back. Anyway, great job on the ship, I'm looking forward to more pics.

Luckyjoe

I had one of their catalogs in the house - I don't generally worry about it though. I have a REALLY good hobby store nearby, and an even better game store not too far away.