1/72 Black Pearl from Zvezda - photos & instructions

I've been waiting for this one for a while, looks like it has lots of detail and even has clear windows and lights perfect for lighting the kit with some of those flickering LEDs.

Perhaps mold some tissue paper over the plastic sails to get something thinner, especially if you build it to the first film although the first film was just a barge with a set on top so there are differences in the overall look of the ship.

Wonder when they will start shipping, non of the sites I just checked have it yet.

Guess i can start doing screen caps from the films, anyone have a good recipe for barnacles? lol

Division 6

I've been waiting for this one for a while, looks like it has lots of detail and even has clear windows and lights perfect for lighting the kit with some of those flickering LEDs.

Perhaps mold some tissue paper over the plastic sails to get something thinner, especially if you build it to the first film although the first film was just a barge with a set on top so there are differences in the overall look of the ship.

Wonder when they will start shipping, non of the sites I just checked have it yet.

 

Guess i can start doing screen caps from the films, anyone have a good recipe for barnacles? lol

i was going to try some of that ground cover that model railroaders use to simulate brush and grass. just soak it in glue and slap it on in chunks. it might work, it might now. haven't tried it yet.

The kit is due out this summer, no firm date for what i've read yet. 

Interesting idea.

I may experiment on something else.

They need to get these to the store NOW if they want to take advantage of POTC4. Most toymakers have their products out even as the movie premiers.

Fropm the Zvezda website

''As many experts of authority state, “The Black Pearl” is the best plastic model of a sailing ship ever produced''

What a shame that there is next to no interest in 'real' sailing ships anymore. Plently of kids and movie fans are buying plastic kits of P51 Mustangs and such like so I don't think people are necessrily put off by accuracy and fidelity. Indeed, I still believe that a smallish scale model of the Master and Commander 'HMS Suprise' (1/150-1/200) would have sold well.

It is a double shame really, because the Zvezda moulding and parts breakdown looks really very good. If only they'd based the kit  on a real vessel, or even taken the hull form from a genuine lines drawing to allow kitbashing. They could still have re-boxed it as the 'Black Pearl' surely? Lindberg packages real ships as 'pirate ships'. At least that way they might have captured both markets?

Will

p.s.- looking at the parts in detail, I think anyone contemplating a scratchbuild or kitbash might really benefit from the parts in this kit. The sculpture looks very naturalistic, is mainly seperately moulded so can be used on it's own, and the cannons, whilst generic look OK too. Tempting package for the scratchbuilder!

Will

That would have only worked if the Black Pearl was based off a real ship itself. I have built some "real" sailing ships (Victory, Wasa, Phatom Pilot Boat). I'm also a fan of the POTC series and i'm excited about this kit when it comes out. I actually want to buy 2. so i can build the Black Pearl and the Wicked Wench.

In my years of ship modeling I think I might have an idea as to why sailing ships are a hard sale to new modelers. My theory is this: sure you can go out and buy P51 mustangs, Sherman tanks or a 1970's muscle cars . the great thing about these kits is that there were literally thousands and thousands of these that existed in real life, thus making it possible for a large selections of color schemes for those who want a historically accurate kit, or the person that just want's a shiny red Chevy Camero sitting on their shelf. There were so many of these planes, tanks and cars in real life, in different colors that it's almost impossible to say if the colors were accurate, or represented something that ever existed.  Even modern war ship are built in classes, which in itself allows for other variations of a single kit.

Now we have tall ships. there was only 1 Vasa, 1 Cutty Sark, 1 La Flore, 1 HMS Bounty etc etc. So there is not a lot of room for people to make a well know vessle thier own. Or if they do, they get a lot of negative feedback, becuase it's not "historically accurate". So to me this become the big disadvantage that tall ships, and tall ship modelers have to face.

Any way just my 2 cents. People should enjoy the Black Pearl for what it is and not critize for what it isn't.

First film the pearl was a partial set piece on a barge and a set in the old Spruce Goose hanger, 2&3 used a ship built in a ship yard and sets on sound stages so the model is in fact based on a real vessel even if it was made for a fantasy film.

The Pearl was converted for Potc 4 OST.

Even the out of box toy looking Caribbean Pirate Ship Jolly Roger by Revell is about 90% correct to the Chicken of the Sea / Capt Hook ship that was at Disneyland LA and France, with a few mods and the right paint job can look spot on.

BTW I forgot this site has screen caps of all 3 movies listed about half way down the page.

I'm looking forward to the 'Pearl; I enjoyed the movie and it looks like this is going to be a fun, guilt-free build. As opposed to the rigging I have to look forward to on my Constitution kits... which IMHO, is one of the major reasons sailing ships in general have done so poorly.

To "get it right" - you gotta run some thread.

I would wonder , with ALL that kind of seeming detail, what,s it going to cost here in AMERICA ? I guess I,ll have to do like everybody else does ,  and just wait . Well , I will !         tankerbuilder

Note the detail on the stern, that's damn impressive.  I hope they keep thewir molds tight!

More impressed that Zvezda got licence to make this ship..or did they??

I was recently in St Petersburg and saw this kit in a hobby shop for about 2150 rubles (approx $75 Cdn).  I would have picked it up but getting it home probably would have cost another $100+  given airline bag restrictions these days!

The hobby shop also had some other ship kits which were in stock in a few of the internet shops.  A quick comparison of the cost shows that the kit will cost about 75% more in the west, or about $130 Cdn.

How much!!!!? Surely that puts it squarely in the price bracket where only committed sailing ship modellers venture?

I can't quite see the point of making a movie tie-in kit that is too expensive for the majority of causal fans/ kids. It makes me even more upset that they didn't put all this effort (they undoubtedly have soje very talented pattern makers) into a model of a real sailing ship...

Will

I have not seen it yet, but I was told it's getting delivered.  Over on the Starship Modeler boards, a modeler from Brazil received his order for this ship yesterday from Hobbyterra.  He said that the model was very impressive, and was bemused to discover that the sails are indeed injection-molded styrene.

http://hobbyterra.com/product.asp?idProduct=3802

$136? ouch. this one will have to wait a little while

The more I look at this, I think there is actually a basis for a fairly realistic model of a frigate-built merchantman of the mid 18th century here- I'm thinking something like those drawn in Chapman's Architectura Navalis Mercatoria.

The breakdown of the hull parts means that you could use everything up to the deckhead of the upper deck without much modification, and the seperate sculpture means any scratchbuilt superstructure (to where the kit seems to limit much of it's caricatured 'pirate' look) could still be detailed very easily using the applique parts. Might be quite viable and it would be an interesting project perhaps? 

Problem for me is the price- at about 2/3 the price I would almost certainly have had a go at a conversion.

Will

I agree with Billyboy.  When I learned that this kit was on the way, I had decidedly mixed reactions.  On the one hand, I've lamented more than once the absence of movie tie-ins from the plastic kit scene in recent years.  (Why not the Andrea Gale, from "The Perfect Storm"?  Or H.M.S. Surprise?  Or one of the boats from "Deadliest Catch?)  Such kits have the potential to rope some new people - including kids - into the hobby.  I suspect part of the reason is that American movie companies (and prototype manufacturers) these days are charging so much for permission to use their trademarks that the western model companies just can't afford them.  (I wonder, in fact, if Zvezda may have dodged the licensing requirement because it's a Russian company, and Russia isn't party to conventions regarding copyright protection.  That's idle speculation on my part; I really don't know anything about the intracasies of international copyright law.) 

On the other hand, it bothers me more than a little to see a good company ignore all the real ships that are crying out for reproduction in kit form, in favor of spending its money and effort on a product that can't reasonably be called a scale model.  (I don't think it's even a scale model of the ship that appeared in the movies.  In a sense that's good; some of the more ridiculous features of the movie props - such as the mast rising out of the middle of the capstan - seem to be absent from the kit.)  On the basis of the photos Joe kindly linked us to, it looks to me like the designers knew what they were doing and designed a sort of compromise between the totally fictitious ship in the movies and - well, something more-or-less resembling a real ship.  I think Billyboy's right:  the basis for a scale model may just be there.  (And I wonder, in view of the parts breakdown, if Zvezda is thinking of recycling the lower and middle hull components in order to make one or more additional ships.)

It's hard for me to swallow the injection molded "sails," with the integrally-cast yards.  On the other hand, the way the injected-molded "shrouds and ratlines" are attached to the lower deadeyes looks downright ingenious.  For those who aren't willing to try rigging their own ratlines, this may be the neatest, most believable-looking solution yet. 

As a practical matter in my own personal case, though, the kit is to all intents and purposes off limits.  I just can't afford to toss more than $100 at a kit like that.  If Zvezda reuses some of the parts to make a model of a real ship, maybe....

From what someone on another forum was told the kit includes parts to make 4 different ships.

Whether what he was told is true remains to be seen.

I just got the kit in the mail, arrived from the Ukraine in perfect condition.

Impressive box 25"x18.75"x3.5" with carry handle.
Inside parts are tightly wrapped into a 18"x12.5" area to keep parts from shifting around during shipping from the Ukraine.
Nice crisp parts, no flash
Looks like #35 in production.
Does have CR Disney and has the web address, even has Bruckheimer's logo.

Instructions in Russian and English.
Says 2 versions but it's basically gun ports open or closed.

Lower hull is 15", Overall hull looks like it will be 19"+ not including the bowsprit spar so probably close to 24" when competed as guessed.
Main deck is 3.75" wide, lower deck 4" wide.
Guns are 7 parts not including the styrene block and tackle that is another 3 parts.
Lot's of rigging line, 3 of the tan, 2 different blacks and a piece of thick white.

Looks like the mizzen deck may need some added detail for first film version.

Calico Jack Pyrate flag is paper but you could easily make your own decal version if so desired.

Since the aft windows are clear if you really wanted to you could build the inside details, the decking goes all the way back.
If nothing else a flickering light inside would be cool and the aft deck lights are clear and look large enough to possibly light.

from my experience of copyright:
my mom runs a company,as well as many of her friends,and one of them got sued by an american company because she used their label name as a part of hers (she didn't know that). so i don't think they can dodge the copyright law,no matter what country you are in.

Going through screen caps found (here) I noticed that there are 4 windows missing in the aft bulkhead leading to the salon, you can see them in this picture. Also between the windows are more of the figures that are on the aft under the salon (easy enough to mold and cast a few since they are separate pieces already).

I apologize to the ship guy's in advance if I have some of the terms wrong, I've only built a few ship models.

O.K. looking further at more pictures I discovered the entire wall (bulkhead) should be flat not rounded like the model (part H-4), in the first film the wall is at a slight angle, the door is a double door with rounded top.

The stairs from the mizzen need to be angled out at the bottom.

The skylight on the mizzen deck should be angled like a roof not flat, in the first film it was across the deck (turned 90 degrees) also the ships bell is missing, the holder (insert name here) is correct for the first film, 2&3 had a different design.

The small hatches for the sweeps are missing on the sides, these are between the lower gun ports.

The stairs (ladder) going down just aft of the fore deck has a wood railing and goes down right to left.

The stairs (ladder) just in front of the main mast should go down left to right and only has 2 metal posts with rope going down.

There are several boats across the deck behind the fore deck.

Metal posts with rope should be on top of all the posts on the railing.

First film had 4 torches, 2 on the fore deck and 2 amidships, all films had lamps hanging under the lip of the mizzen over the windows on the main deck (that wall that needs replacing)

EDIT  Omit parts I-22, on first film version the lines for the gun ports go into holes in the hull not a post, they are however on the ship used in 2&3.

That's the main things I have noticed so far.

I'm not sure why they did the wall and stairs wrong, they are the same in all 3 films.

seems like it isn't that fantastic after all,i actually considered buying it. guess we all had to high expectations

Aside from the wall issue everything else is just gravy for the nit pickers.

If you don't look at pictures to closely you won't notice anything.

Found some nice detail shots of the real ship someone took.