Welcome to my blog, the story of my continuing journey into the World of Zombie Wargames.

Monday 2 January 2017

"Pirate Ship"

Happy New Year to you all that visit or follow this blog.
Over the holiday period I managed to make almost no progress in any f my current projects and was mostly frustrated in anything I did attempt. I did however manage to take apart my recent "pirate Ship" purchase, so here's the results of that exercise.
It'll be obvious to most that the two figures included in the set are oversized for the ship but there are are a lot of bits within the set that are otherwise suitable for use with 28mm figures.
Basic ship, straight out of the box.

Aerial view( note the ties on the croc and the cannon
The cannon and the crocodile were affixed with ties (the white bits), but were easily removed.
The wheels would have to be removed (fairly easy), mainly because they looked silly. There were half a dozen or so screws to remove to get to the wheels and it also allowed me to inspect the cabin area.


A picture is worth a thousand words, so they say, so here are the pics, with a brief commentary.
The wheels, with ties that secured it to the box.
More ties on the croc and cannon.







Giant figure with minute boat.





One of the two figures, but with additional boat, something I hadn't initially noticed. 















Giant-sized chest (useful for keeping the screw in), along with a group of three barrels.











A raft !
The longboat
Longboat with figures




A lot of the 'bit's are usable; here's the pics:
The longboat can just about hold three figures (mostly because my bases are 20mm square.















The cannon - best forgotten about
Raft with figures
The barrels - one of them may be a bit large!

Useful crates
A
A very big shark - but could still  be useful.
The Croc - very big - maybe a bit too big ?

28mm figures don't look out of scale on the shape though.












Plenty room on the deck for cannon on each broadside.

Lots of room for crew too.
Another deck view


The ship is obviously a toy and not meant for wargaming, but there is a lot going for it imo and most of the obvious 'problems' can be overlooked -  and besides it was only £10 !












That's i then for this week, I did make the conscience decision not to post the various photographs I took as I disassembled the model, but thought photographs with figures for scale would be of more interest.

Thanks for taking the time to look and as always your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.

24 comments:

  1. I think it works mate, suitably roughed up and minus some of the overlarge pieces. A good find for your pirate project

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    1. Thanks dGG, it needs some minor things done to it, but scale-wise I too reckon it's OK.

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  2. It looks good enough to splice the main brace?

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    1. Thanks AL, maybe not as good a the more wargame specific ones, but good enough I reckon.

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    1. Thanks Michal, it's currently just 'good' imo, but may be great when worked on.

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  4. What a great fin Joe, can't wait to see you add your spin to it.

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    1. Thanks Michale, you have a lot more confidence in me than I do!

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  5. Great find Joe! Wish I could find something like that here. I'm looking forward to your finished ship.

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    1. Thanks Major, I did wish to buy more, but have found the same thing on Ebay, but cheaper! (including postage)

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  6. With a bit of work this will be fantastic. It will fit scale wise. Overall IF I were doing Pirates (I am not) I would be rushing to the shops to get a couple.

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    1. Thanks for the reassurance Clint, I did go to the shops after Xmas, hoping to catch one or two ubthe sales, but they're "out of stick" nation-wide! (I'm sure they'll re-stock after the sales though)

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  7. Wow, that's got a lot of possibilities, doesn't it?

    For what it's worth, I didn't do much hobby stuff over the Christmas/New Year period either. Too much family stuff & inertia going on...

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    1. I'm pleased I'm not the only one to see the potential in this and as for Xmas, my hobby related activities were curtailed mainly by lack of space.

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  8. IMHO the croc is JUST the right size. It is an old well fed king of the water beasts. It has lots of silver and gold coins in its belly!

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    1. Thanks for that Jay, it could well be an ancient croc of myth.

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  9. How marvellous lots of very useful bits and pieces. Perhaps the large barrel could be turned into a giant Ale Barrel on blocks? The Croc looks ace tic toc tic toc tic toc.

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    1. There were indeed a great many extra useful bits than I'd anticipated. I think you've probably had too much pantomime over the holidays - tick tock!

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  10. Terrific find Joe, and a great posting too. That ship really works to scale with your minis. You truly are a master of the cheap bin finds :-)

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    1. Thanks Blaxx, being skint doesn't help when bargain hunting.

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  11. Ooh, what a cool find. Are the masts removable? I'd have a go at keeping the foremast as a square-rigged yard, but the mainmast I'd make into a lanteen-rig yard, then attach a bowsprit as best as I could to the forecastle. Have the sails furled and possible some string or thread for the rigging (but possibly not as it'd interfere with moving figures). Would possibly make a small base and model some 'sea' to help hide the bulges where the wheels were located. Maybe try and find a large ships lantern to fit onto the circular part aft.

    Anyway, I'm interested to see what you do with the model.

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    1. All good suggestions Roy, the masts unfortunayrlt are well and truly embedded in the deck. I had hoped to make it into a single masted sloop, but it'll be a bit longer in the planning before I do anything to it. The wheels are already removed and their housings filed down.

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  12. Great looking ship and I think the extras are pretty good too, I even think the gun is usable, but you've got better options. The large barrel looks about the same size as the water /wine carts l think.
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks C1471, I agree that a lot of the extras are very usable and the barrel cart idea is a good one too.

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