# WIP Another Zvezda 1/100 Black Pearl Build Log



## MonsterModelMan

*WIP Another Zvezda 1/72 Black Pearl Build Log*

In the spirit of not hi-jacking or stepping on drmccoy's thread any longer. I thought I would just start my own thread.

I have been asked by several of you to post more pictures of my progress of this kit - Zvezda's 1/100 The Black Pearl pirate ship from Pirates of the Caribbean.


Boxart of The Black Pearl 

Isn't the boxart of Zvezda The Black Pearl kit just fantastic?!!

For those of you that are not familiar with the history of this kit, let me summarize that Zvezda I think "had the Disney license" but somehow had it revoked and this kit will now be harder to find as The Black Pearl but will be re-marketed as The Black Swan with a different figurehead, nameplate and boxart like this: 


The Black Swan Boxart 

First up, where do I locate a kit of The Black Pearl version? 

Because of the licensing issues and demand now being somewhat higher and everyone is gobbling up what kits were still available as The Black Pearl version....after searching many of the online model buying sites I went to where-else...the eplace!

I found a woman from Russia that was selling the kit in a plain brown box...I wonder if this was to get around license issues. She claims that the original box was too big to ship at a reasonable cost...this seemed to raise a red flag with me but I pushed forward and decided to take a chance with her. She has a good rating on ebay and others were also ordering at the time from her. I figured it would be a Christmas gift to myself if it would get here in time. It took about 6 weeks from the time I ordered the kit for it to arrive...most of that time was the kit sitting in customs in NYC around the holidays! It arrived 4 days AFTER the holiday....UGH!

Anyway, here is a quick pic of what I had received...


Box From Russia 
Upon open the box...this was how it was packaged:

Open Box 

Here is what was in the box: 


Parts_with_instructions 

The size of this model is 55cm or just under 22 inches.

895 parts including:
1 sprue with the ship's hull
1 sprue with deck parts
2 sprues with molded plastic sails (not vacuuformed)
8 sprues with small detailed parts (cannons)
Molded plastic ratlines, shrouds and armament
1 sprue with clear parts for windows and skylight
Also comes with a stand and rigging string.

The instructions are mostly pictures with a bit of Russian and English included.

Most of the builds that I've seen on this forum are from people with a great talent and I have the utmost respect for ALL of them. My skills will be challenged and stretched as will my ability to SEE the parts at times...they are very small compared to the figures at 1/8 scale that I'm used to building!

Also, I have NEVER built a ship model kit before so the rigging will be a MAJOR CHALLENGE...I'm sure!

You may see some modifications from the original kit...just to make it more appealing and closer to the movie versions...this will be fun!

If you also have this kit and would like to see me post my progress, _although slow as it may be_, please check in and give me some of your feedback.

MMM


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## MonsterModelMan

Also, I hope to inspire any newbies at any skill level by showing my modifications and giving them a try...if nothing else for the simple pleasure of having one that YOU built!

Where to start...upon close inspection the first one that litterally JUMPED OUT at me was the Captain's Quarters bulkhead. 

Where did Zvezda get the movie resource material for this part?? I don't remember the movies having Captain's Quarters that looked like this???

My impressions were very much the same as most people in that the Captain's Quarters that come with this kit do not match the movies as I remember them...it was very generic looking:


Kit Supplied Captains Quarters Bulkhead 

So before even getting started with the kit, I planned out the design of the new quarters. 

I grabbed a sheet of styrene evergreen sheet about the same thickness as the original bulkhead part and penciled out the shape of the original piece. I penciled in the door and placed the windows where I thought they should go. I also am using one of the statues that comes with the kit used for the base. 

I placed the statutory on the side of the door for measurement:


New Bulkhead design 

Next up...cutting the holes and adding evergreen strips for the planking on the wall...I used a Dremel with cutting bits and drill bits and sprue cutters/hobby knife to accomplish this.

*** It is important to note that when you cut the window and door openings that you leave enough room for the statues on each side of the door. I will also cut the railing from the original part and add it to the upper deck later.

My first attempt went rather bad but at least I got an idea of what I needed to do to improve it. I did not like the fact that the windows were too small on this one with only 6 panes instead of 12 panes and also the door had 2 panels instead of 6 panels:


Bulkhead First Attempt 

It was easy enough to try and create again...afterall, it is plastic. 
So...I went back to the bench and I gave it another go...


Adding Evergreen planking to Captians Quarters wall 

A Dremel with a cutting bit made this work go quite easy. Of course, I also used a #10 Xacto blade and some hand files to get the shape of the door and windows.

When I created the window panes...and these things are teeny tiny small in this scale, instead of using evergreen strips, I used spackling mesh tape and just counted the amount of window panes needed and cut the holes the same size to get it uniform and conventional looking on all windows.

Once the planking on the new part was put on, I applied CA glue over the planking and waited until it got a bit tacky and put my finger print over the surface to create a bit of a rough textured surface. 


ca_on_planking1 

All of the planks were then trimmed and the doorway and windows were trimmed out and filled areas with putty to clean things up.

Here is what the scratch built Captains Quarters looks like as compared to the original part. I will use the railing from the original part and attach it to the upper deck later. I also think it is much better than the first go at it:


New bulkhead (above) vs kit bulkhead (below) 

MMM


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## MonsterModelMan

Since I was changing the bulkhead of the Captains Quarters, the deck needed to be dealt with. 

If you notice in this picture on the left side...there is a raised rounded area where the original part lined up with the deck that would now have to be sanded off:


Original Rounded Deck Area on Left Side 

Here is what it looked like once sanded smooth:


Sanded Deck

Then I added scribed lines to make the deck continue back to the edges correctly. The original rounded area was now gone:


Scribed Deck 

MMM


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## MonsterModelMan

Time to get into the build. I started by glueing the hull together:


Glueing Hull Halves 

I found a can from Krylon called DUAL that was both a paint and a primer in one in Flat Black. This is what I used to get a coat of primer on the parts.

I did a bit of paint slinging and dry brushing to the decks (I will add a black wash to this later to blend everything better) and assembled the decks and tried on the new bulkhead for size (sorry for the blurry picture):


Sizing Up The Decks Right Side 


Sizing Up The Decks Left Side 

MMM


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## MonsterModelMan

It was time to begin the process of building the 32 cannons...this was a bit time consuming and tedious as the parts are very small for my "not so nimble" fingers. 

All I could think of was "What if my sprue cutter sends this part flying off the table...I'll NEVER find it again!"








I took my time and was VERY VERY careful:


Building the Cannons - Tip of Barrel 


Cannon Lineup 


Cannon Lineup 

Painted the cannons for the lower deck and added them. 

*** NOTE - Use a good amount of glue (A LOT of it) to hold and secure these cannons down as they may pop loose after the hull and walls are assembled and you will have a very difficult time relocating and glueing them back in place as there is no access to this level of the decks once closed in. You may even consider pinning them down.

(There were locating pin marks on the deck so you can place these correctly)THANK GOODNESS!:

Lower Deck Cannons Right Side 

Lower Deck Cannons Left Side 


Lower Deck Cannons Full Side 

MMM


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## MonsterModelMan

I added strip styrene to the plate under the helm to create a more realistic grate for the rope to pass through:


Evergreen Strips Under The Helm 

I decided to create a framed stand for the helm as the one supplied with the ship was not detailed at all. Here is a pic (sorry for the blurred pic) before sanding and just placed there:


Helm Stand Rough Build 

I added some paint (not sanded yet) to see what it would look like: 

Positioned Helm Stand 

Some other modifications that I did:

I created a new Bell Tower. The kit comes with a 4 post canopy and with no bell and also a flat skylight. 


4 Post Canopy and Flat Skylight 

I used the original part and cut the front and back halves of the roof molding and glued them together to get a nice finished look to it. I added 2 posts and then took a piece of evergreen and crafted the bell support.I molded a small bell out of AVES Apoxie sculpt and assembled it.

I created an "A-Frame" for the skylight by adding a triangle shaped piece of evergreen to the existing part...it folded nicely onto the frame.

I shaped/rounded the 3 support beams on the back wall of the ship using my Dremel with a sanding bit to get a curve to the parts.


Bell Tower, Skylight and Rear Support Beam Modifications 

MMM


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## MonsterModelMan

I needed to think about adding the stairway to the kit. The unfortunate part is that if you want to get that sweeping stairway look, the ones that come with the kit are not only too narrow but also not in scale.

The original kit stairs only have 5 steps. The movie had I think at least 10 or 11 steps.

If you notice, the stairs start out a bit narrow at the top and get wider the further down you go.

This was a bit cumbersome to get the right angle and look. However, the results make it worth attempting.

I created the steps with evergreen and made each one a bit wider the further down I went. I numbered each of them so that I wouldn't get messed up and erased each as I went. I created a 10 step stairway and used CA and ZIP Kicker for a quick setup. I also added the end of the railing by using AVES and molded the rounded ends:


How To Build a New Stairway 


Assembly Of The New Stairway 

Here are the results (these are just placed there because I still need to add the cannons under them):


Stairway to Heaven 

MMM


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## iamweasel

Beautiful.


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## drmcoy

looking good! thanks for posting your progress pics!!


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## ryoga

Wow .. talk about an awesome review with a step by step guide thrown in too. I'm bookmarking this build cause its better than the instruction sheet. Very nicely done :thumbsup:


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## Trekkriffic

Nice work on this. Love all the modifications you're making!


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## Aurora-brat

Having just purchased this kit I too will be watching with great interest.

Love what you've done so far!

Tory


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## Tom

I met with Zvezda at the Nuremberg Toy Fair this last week and they are a great bunch of people, they had a 'Black Swan' model on display made by some professional with fabric sails instead of the stock plastic, it looked amazing!


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## MonsterModelMan

Thanks for the great comments guys...here's a comparison of the look I was after:



Captain Jack Sparrow and Bulkhead 




Stairway to Heaven 

MMM


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## MonsterModelMan

Update 2-13-2012

I worked on getting the cannons set in place and wanted to anchor them with something a bit more realistic looking. I wanted to put some rope around the back of the cannon to help anchor it. 
In preparation for this, I secured small eye loops to the inside walls of hull for the ropes to drop into.

I used this Floral Wire material found at my local Wal-Mart as it is acually wire wrapped with thread to look just like rope:


Floral Wire 

They were colored using left over coffee from the coffee pot and just let the wire soak in the coffee for a bit...then removed the wire and let dry.

I saw this done on another forum and thought it looked more like the real thing. I think that person used tea bags but I'm a coffee drinker!

Here are a few pictures of the deck with cannons secured and ropes attached. I haven't finished the stairways yet...they are just placed there for now.


Decked Out 


Decked Out View 

And here is one from the Helm...


Helm View 

I will go back over the deck and hull and blend the excess glue splotches with weathering and washes...the thin rail and post parts needed extra glue to keep them secure...they keep wanting to fall over or bend when I accidentally bump them while working on the ship....they are a bit finicky.

MMM


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## ryoga

Wow, good idea using floral wire. I'd probably just settle for the plastic ropes supplied


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## MonsterModelMan

I actually borrowed the idea from another modeler so I can't take the credit. 

What is nice about using the floral wire is you can shape it into any position you want it to look like and it will stay like that. I was able to make it look like it was drooped along side of the cannons.

MMM


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## iamweasel

Wanted to bring this back up near the top. I got mine in the mail and considering the number of ships I have built the parts list on this IS impressive. I may try and mold a copy of the USS Ironsides figurehead to use instead of the swan, which in and of itself is actually a very nice figurehead.
Looking forward to future updates.


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## MonsterModelMan

Randy,
Thanks for bumping this up...I was busy marrying off my daughter this weekend...couldn't fit in any modeling...sorry!
I hope to get back to it very soon.

I think that if the scale is the same, the figurehead you describe might be a good replacement...do you have a pic?

MMM


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## iamweasel

Actually I meant The Cutty Sark, brain fart time I guess. I dont have a pic of it, I need to dig through my kits first.


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## iamweasel

Well the Cutty Sarks would be too small, Ill peek through my other kits this week and see what other figureheads I have.


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## iamweasel

I have found that a larger scale Nannie figurehead thats on the Cutty Sark with the addition of wings would approximate the BlackPearls figurehead fairly well with the addition of the wings on it. Now to find one.


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## MonsterModelMan

Been thinking about taking this kit out of dry dock and working on it again...have not done anything to it since this thread so I can continue where I left off.

Stay tuned!

MMM


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## MonsterModelMan

So, a quick update and status.

Last summer I had a small shelf accident with The Black Pearl. The bookshelf where I had the kit displayed had some books that fell over and knocked into the Pearl and it in turn fell off of the shelf. YIKES! 

It took a dive about 5 ft to the ground. I felt sick! :drunk:
This is what came off of the kit...the Captain's Quarters wall with windows.


Bookshelf accident


Captain Quarter's walls detached. 

The white that you see in these pics are where I had some putty filling some gaps where the fit wasn't quite right.

MMM


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## MonsterModelMan

So, today I decided to pick up the pieces and put her back together...

Grabbed some glue and got her back together...


Back together. 

All is not lost. A little bit of putty and some black paint and she will be back and ready to move on.

Fortunately, the parts were not welded on and really only a small break occured which was easily repaired!

MMM


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## jaws62666

MonsterModelMan said:


> Randy,
> Thanks for bumping this up...I was busy marrying off my daughter this weekend...couldn't fit in any modeling...sorry!
> I hope to get back tit it very soon.
> 
> I think that if the scale is the same, the figurehead you describe might be a good replacement...do you have a pic?
> 
> MMM


Congrats Bob. I just saw that Revell released this kit as the 1/72 black swan. It is the same kit as the pearl except for a swan instead of the woman on the bow. I might get and make It the Pearl


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## Zombie_61

MonsterModelMan said:


> ...I used this Floral Wire material found at my local Wal-Mart as it is acually wire wrapped with thread to look just like rope...They were colored using left over coffee from the coffee pot and just let the wire soak in the coffee for a bit...then removed the wire and let dry. I saw this done on another forum and thought it looked more like the real thing...


There's another addition to my "tips and tricks" log! Of course, by the time I get around to building any of my ship kits I'll probably have forgotten about it, but that's another matter. :lol:


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## MonsterModelMan

jaws62666 said:


> Congrats Bob. I just saw that Revell released this kit as the 1/72 black swan. It is the same kit as the pearl except for a swan instead of the woman on the bow. I might get and make It the Pearl


There is a Black Pearl kit on eplace with the box art too. I doubt the Black Swan kit would be any cheaper...maybe. ??

MMM


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## HabuHunter32

MonsterModelMan said:


> There is a Black Pearl kit on eplace with the box art too. I doubt the Black Swan kit would be any cheaper...maybe. ??
> 
> MMM


True.. A few months back I bought a second Zvezda Black Pearl from Russia . I paid $99.00 for the kit and $40.00 for shipping. If you want to build a Black Pearl just buy one. The price for the Pearl or the Swan are about the same.

Mike


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## tripialos

MonsterModelMan said:


> Also, I hope to inspire any newbies at any skill level by showing my modifications and giving them a try...if nothing else for the simple pleasure of having one that YOU built!
> 
> Where to start...upon close inspection the first one that litterally JUMPED OUT at me was the Captain's Quarters bulkhead.
> 
> Where did Zvezda get the movie resource material for this part?? I don't remember the movies having Captain's Quarters that looked like this???
> 
> My impressions were very much the same as most people in that the Captain's Quarters that come with this kit do not match the movies as I remember them...it was very generic looking:
> 
> 
> 
> So before even getting started with the kit, I planned out the design of the new quarters.
> 
> I grabbed a sheet of styrene evergreen sheet about the same thickness as the original bulkhead part and penciled out the shape of the original piece. I penciled in the door and placed the windows where I thought they should go. I also am using one of the statues that comes with the kit used for the base.
> 
> I placed the statutory on the side of the door for measurement:
> 
> 
> Next up...cutting the holes and adding evergreen strips for the planking on the wall...I used a Dremel with cutting bits and drill bits and sprue cutters/hobby knife to accomplish this.
> 
> *** It is important to note that when you cut the window and door openings that you leave enough room for the statues on each side of the door. I will also cut the railing from the original part and add it to the upper deck later.
> 
> My first attempt went rather bad but at least I got an idea of what I needed to do to improve it. I did not like the fact that the windows were too small on this one with only 6 panes instead of 12 panes and also the door had 2 panels instead of 6 panels:
> 
> 
> It was easy enough to try and create again...afterall, it is plastic.
> So...I went back to the bench and I gave it another go...
> 
> 
> A Dremel with a cutting bit made this work go quite easy. Of course, I also used a #10 Xacto blade and some hand files to get the shape of the door and windows.
> 
> When I created the window panes...and these things are teeny tiny small in this scale, instead of using evergreen strips, I used spackling mesh tape and just counted the amount of window panes needed and cut the holes the same size to get it uniform and conventional looking on all windows.
> 
> Once the planking on the new part was put on, I applied CA glue over the planking and waited until it got a bit tacky and put my finger print over the surface to create a bit of a rough textured surface.
> 
> ]
> 
> All of the planks were then trimmed and the doorway and windows were trimmed out and filled areas with putty to clean things up.
> 
> Here is what the scratch built Captains Quarters looks like as compared to the original part. I will use the railing from the original part and attach it to the upper deck later. I also think it is much better than the first go at it:
> 
> 
> 
> MMM



Hi

I used to model aircrafts but that was like 10 years ago. Recently i bought also the black pearl and i want to model it just as it is in real life. I noticed your modificaton on the Captains Quarte rs and i am really "scraching my head" wondering HOW DID YOU DO THAT?? 

I mean how did you manage to transform a curved plastic object to a flat one with windows?


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## ryoga

Hoping to see more from this WIP


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## steve5

monstermodelman I really hope you continue with your build of the black pearl., I have just purchased mine., from Russia, about a month to get to Australia sigh!,. I have learn't so much from your log already , on bended knee's pleeeeease! post some more pic's


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## ClubTepes

Just ordered one of these myself.
Been thinking about it for a LONG time, and a recently saw that they seem to have a new lower price. So I jumped.


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