Man O War Project

[Coronasan]

Its been a long time since I posted anything here, real life really does get in the way of my hobby...

My next large project is another Playmobil ship conversion. I have converted two others before, but I intend for this one to be a bit more complex.
The first two efforts:


The new hull is once again a cheaply sourced eBay Playmobile pirate ship. First step was to waterline the hull.


I want to build up the fore and aft sections and make this model more of a Man O War. To start with, I have made some card mock ups to see how it could look before I start making anything with plastic...




The forecastle needs to be big enough to get a reasonable number of models positioned, I think I may make this bigger.


Having looked a lots of historic ship images, I am thinking about a walkway around the rear structure and building an extra level on the back.


Any suggestions about doing things differently?

[pocoloco]

No suggestions but will surely follow your progress as I have one Playmobil Pirate ship waiting for similar project

[Eric the Shed]

Very cool...how long is the original ship?

[Blue in vt]

I love this!  And from my, somewhat limited, knowledge of period ship I think you are spot on.   I can't wait to see more.

Btw....how much do you typically pay for the playmobil ship?

Cheers,

Blue

[Coronasan]

Btw....how much do you typically pay for the playmobil ship?

This particular ship was about £4 on on eBay, but just the hull and deck. It was collect only, but luckily only about 8 miles away. Since then, a friend phoned me whilst at a car boot sale after he spotted another ship. He picked up that one for me as well for £5.

[Coronasan]

how long is the original ship?

Its about 19" (46cm) long and 8" (20cm) at its widest point.

[Eric the Shed]

cheers

[Coronasan]

While I dither on some of the other build options, I decided to get started on an easy bit. I have built over the storage access hold with some plastic card. The camera flash has overexposed this a bit, but there are grooves to match the original red deck...

The doorway has also been blocked off and I will be making a smaller door to fit the scale.

[Mako]

Looks great so far.

How did you waterline the hull?

[Coronasan]

How did you waterline the hull?

I made a gizmo out of two bits of card and a pen to allow me mark a line at the right height all around the hull. I then started to cut at the rudder with a hacksaw. Once the cut was into the main hull, I then used an electric jigsaw to cut all the way round. Just had to be careful and count my fingers afterwards...

[Coronasan]

I made a stairway and decided that I did not like it, too big...



So I made another much smaller and I think this fits in much better.

[Uncle Mike]

Bloody Brilliant!!! Loving this!!! 

[Mako]

Thanks for the info on your waterlining technique.

[whitesun]

Looking brilliant, will follow with interest!

[Golgotha]

More please - always great to see another toy ship conversion can't wait to see the final caste off...