What-If Arrr... Avast! I want to build a realistic pirate ship...

[Channell]

I'm still knee-deep in my current build but I'm already thinking about what to do next. I want to do do something with sails this time and having already done most of the (plastic) tall-ship biggies in the past (Heller Victory, Revell Constitution and Cutty Sark) so I need something new, plus I want some freedom to let my imagination go a little crazy and bash a fantasy boat that could still have existed in reality. I also want to stay in fairly large scale.

Which brings me to "pirate ships". I admit, I'm a fan of the Hollywood genre and love the somewhat corny nature of it, though I also love realism and accuracy... which is hard to come by in most things piratical.

So I'm looking at the Zvezda 1/72 "Black Swan" kit

http://www.amazon.com/Zvezda-Models-Pir ... B006FX95MK

This kit is acutally the "Black Pearl" from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie and while it has some "reality issues" courtesy of Hollywood such as a captstain around the base of the mainmast (How is that supposed to work exactly?! ), a god-awful figurehead and giant (yet still oddly cool looking) stern windows begging to be smashed in rough weather it at least appears I could bash it into a very attractive and plausable "captured galleon" with a Jolly Roger flag on it.

It also excites me because the captain's cabin area is a blank slate that would be too much fun to add detail into and even maybe some LED lighting.

The other problem is that I know next to nothing about actual historic Galleons, so I don't know if there are other glaring inaccuracies with the kit that would make it just not worth the effort.

Any thoughts or ideas?

[Russ2146]

I think you are limiting your potential ships by stipulating Caribbean and the galeon era. Later era 1700s in that locale, East African Modern era, Mediterranian early 1800s, or East Asia (Junks) are all possibilities.

[SumGui]

Make it completely unfair. Modify a kit of USS Constitution.

[Seasick]

Pirates? Convert any fishing boat model. The Revell fishing trawler, paint it overall rust and a rusted out name on the stern with a barely readable Mogadeshu under it as the home port. Oxidation is the key.

[Channell]

Make it completely unfair. Modify a kit of USS Constitution.

Why stop there? HMS Victory. Or hell, how about the USS Missouri!

Anyway, I want to stick with something from the "Golden Age of Piracy" in the Caribbean during the late 1600s, as per just about every pirate movie I've ever seen. Maybe I could even drop pirates all together... I really just want to do a great Galleon more than anything.

[Jeffcsr]

When I was a kid I watched a pirate movie where a father & son were kidnapped and the pirates plotted and stole a Coast Guard cutter. Can't remember the name o the movie but I could see a converted Pirate O.H.P Frigate with blackmarket weapons bristling everywhere.

[oldnavyguy]

I would suggest reading "Under The Black Flag" by David Cordingly. He writes great detail about the pirate life and what types of ships they prefered. One thing I learned from the book is that Pirates loved technology. They would innovate using anything which gave them an advantage. They also loved weatherly and fast ships in order to avoid conflict when they could. Of course they would use what they could get. No different then the bunch in Samalia today. If those guys could get a real warship they probably would. Pirates were in it for the booty not for honor. If a prise looked too tough they would let it go. I would suggest starting with Revell's Beagle. It is about the right size.

[Diederick44]

if we are talking old school pirates , i would suggest maybe a bark or a frigate , pirates love to turn small islands into theyre secret bases , so a bark would be great for shallow water . Like hms endeavour maybe but pirates loved frigates and brigs aswell due to the amount of cannons they could carry so i would reccomend a bark , frigate or brig to you

[Channell]

I bought at "Black Swan" a few months ago but got distracted by the Bismarck. I have some big plans for her but it's gonna be a while before I get going on it. I realize a galleon wouldn't likely be a pirate ship in real life but Hollywood got the best of me on this subject!

[Diederick44]

pirates would have used a galleon due to the weight they could have loaded so in terms of realism why not

[MatthewB]

pirates would have used a galleon due to the weight they could have loaded so in terms of realism why not

While I tend to hate Thread Necromancy, the Pedant in me could not let this go.

The "Black Swan" isn't a Galleon. It is a Pre-Napoleonic Era Frigate (which is pretty much identical to a Napoleonic Era Frigate)

Galleons date to the 16th - 18th Centuries (1500s - 1700s), but few remained by 1700, when the Modern Sailing Ships began being built by the Naval Powers (England, France, Spain, Portugal).

The Galleon had a large "Beak" rather than a bow-sprit, and it had at least Two Lanteen Sails, usually Three, instead of the Square-Rigged Sails of the Napoleonic Era (which technically began before Napoleon was even born - the name just stuck because it was from 1770 - 1820 that these ships found their greatest Wartime Roles in the Napoleonic Wars, specifically at Trafalgar).

The Galleon is a VERY different sort of ship:



And Pirates did not like them because they were SLOOOOWWW!

MB

[biggles2]

I would imagine smaller 2-masted ships would be better. Smaller target = harder to hit. Faster, to catch slower galleons, and for quick get-aways. Smaller crew for larger prize shares per member. And as been noted, able to navigate shallower waters and being able to hide among islands. Heller make some suitable sailing ships in the 1/100 - 1/150 scale range.

[ModelMonkey]

Black Swan to Black Pearl. The captain may not be the most feared pirate, but you have heard of him.

Errol Flynn would be jealous.

And the Pearl is known to have a monkey among her crew. I'm fond of seagoing monkeys, for obvious reasons.

[Story]

When I was a kid I watched a pirate movie where a father & son were kidnapped and the pirates plotted and stole a Coast Guard cutter. Can't remember the name o the movie but I could see a converted Pirate O.H.P Frigate with blackmarket weapons bristling everywhere.

Peter Benchley's THE ISLAND (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Islan ... ley_novel) ), part of the cutter played by the USCGC Dauntless (WMEC-624) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Dau ... (WMEC-624) )

[Story]

Black Swan to Black Pearl. The captain may not be the most feared pirate, but you have heard of him.

Errol Flynn would be jealous.

And the Pearl is known to have a monkey among her crew. I'm fond of seagoing monkeys, for obvious reasons.

No pirate ship shipwreck would be complete without sea monkeys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea-Monkeys

[Story]

I could see a converted Pirate O.H.P Frigate with blackmarket weapons bristling everywhere.

Make it completely unfair. Modify a kit of USS Constitution.

From what I remember, in this setting the ship was outfitted with tripod-mounted .50 Brownings on the gun deck and assorted other modern ordnance.

The adventure is set around a replica of the USS Constitution built in 1987 by Paradox Studios. The players will become crew members aboard the sailing vessel and will eventually be plunged into a plot of treachery, kidnapping, and piracy in the Caribbean Islands, a geographical region once known as the Spanish Main.

https://www.amazon.com/Gateway-Spanish- ... 0943580242

[Story]

Make it completely unfair. Modify a kit of USS Constitution.

Actually, that's been done. Dan Jayne (who died in 2016 - see http://www.finescale.com/online-extras/ ... ne-gallery ) made a pirate ship named Rose - cutaway hull, Admiralty style (stubb masts).