Queen Anne’s Revenge by BETAQDAVE - CubicFun Toys – ~1:64 scale - CARD

[BETAQDAVE]

    I previously posted a review of this model kit back on January 4 th of this year.  I took numerous photos of it during the process and have decided to post this build log for it.  First, I'll give you a bit of its history and details of the actual ship.

    While there are no confirmed records of the date and place of construction it is generally assumed to be around 1710 since there are no records of its activities prior to that date.  She was a three masted frigate of approximately 200 tons, that measured 103 feet long with a beam of 24.6 feet.   Originally operated as a slave ship operated by René Montaudin, a leading slave trader of Nantes, until it was sold in 1713 in Peru. She was briefly operated by the French Navy in November 1716, but was sold by them for commerce five months later in France as a slaver once again. Then in November 1717 she was captured by Edward Teach (AKA Blackbeard the pirate) near the island of Saint Vincent in the West Indies.

Edited April 2 by BETAQDAVE
Missing info.

[BETAQDAVE]

    She was thought to be a three masted frigate of approximately 200 tons, that measured 103 feet long with a beam of 24.6 feet.   Originally operated as a slave ship operated by René Montaudin, a leading slave trader of Nantes, until it was sold in 1713 in Peru.  She was briefly operated by the French Navy in November 1716, but was sold by them for commerce five months later in France as a slaver once again.  Then in November 1717 she was captured by Edward Teach (AKA Blackbeard the pirate) near the island of Saint Vincent in the West Indies.

    After Blackbeard and his small fleet of pirates sold her cargo of slaves at Martinique, he gave her the name of Queen Anne’s Revenge. He made her into his flagship and added more heavy cannons. (For a total somewhere between 30 and 40.)  He continued to operate her and his small fleet for less than a year in the Atlantic Ocean between the west coast of Africa and the Caribbean, attacking and capturing numerous British, Dutch, and Portuguese prizes.

    Then in May 1718 while attempting to blockade Charleston harbor in North Carolina, his flagship ran aground while entering Beaufort Inlet.  Despite efforts to kedge her loose by one of his smaller ships, the sloop Adventure, he decided to disband his small flotilla, transfer supplies to the smaller ship and make his escape.  Several of his crew members were stranded on a nearby island, who were later rescued by Captain Stede Bonnet.  He ended up surrendering shortly after that and accepted a King’s pardon for himself and his remaining crewmen from Governor Charles Eden at Bath North Carolina.  However, he soon resumed his career as a pirate and in November 1718 he was killed in combat.

    On November 21, 1996 a shipwreck was located by Intersal Inc., that laid in 28 feet of water about one mile offshore of Fort Macon State Park, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.  They believed it to be the remains of Queen Anne’s Revenge.  After much research and recovery of artifacts from the wreck, the National Geographic Society finally confirmed on August 29, 2011 that it was indeed that ship.

    During the interim while they were still trying to confirm its identity, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. The site is now owned by the State of North Carolina and located South of Beaufort Inlet.

    As somewhat of a side note to this ships history, the Sunset, a replica of Queen Anne’s Revenge, was used in numerous roles in the Pirates Of the Caribbean films.

 

Edited April 18 by BETAQDAVE

[BETAQDAVE]

    The actual assembly guide started simply enough with step A for the support stand. The part numbering system however, didn’t seem to follow any particular order. Step A, as shown below, started with part number 240 joined to part number 17 which was from an entirely different billet. So I had to do a lot of searching for the correct parts for each step.

    At least the instructions were well illustrated with contrasting colors showing the parts involved in each step, and the finished assembly shown in white. They included exploded views of subset steps like A1 shown above.

    Certain parts with a gilded finish were called out with a T added to it. For instance, Part T7 in step A1 above was the first use of one of those designations. The backside of these gilded parts are all covered with paper that needs to be peeled off to expose the pre-applied adhesive underneath.  Needless to say, careful alignment is required to allow the exposed edges to blend in with the piece below, because they can't be shifted at all once they are in place.  Wherever these parts are employed, this symbol is nearby. 

    As the instructions continued on to step B, the diagram for the assembly of the frames on the keel. The previous A1 subset shown in gray, was brought forward and its new placement was shown below.

    Just below that diagram, the lower deck part is shown in pink and shows its alignment below that with the framed up keel in white. The first instance of folding a part came up now and was shown as an unlabeled subset. Careful bending was required for this interior stair assembly, because the core of the part could easily separate from the vinyl facing. Lastly, the placement on the deck of the stairs and twelve of the cast black plastic canons was shown to complete step B. Here are a few photos of the state of construction at this point.

 

 

    Step C followed with the alignment of the main deck on the previous frame and several subsets, including the main cabin entrance wall, the next deck above that with its pair of stairs, the curved balcony railing, and the ships wheel.

Here is the ship below with the subsets from step C added to the ship and a portion of step D.

 

 

 

    Step D was actually more of a continuation of C than a separate step. The subset C1 was brought forward and combined with the upper cabin walls and attached to the main deck. The upper cabin walls, the Poop deck above that with its railing, a fife rail that passed through an additional upper rear deck, and various other fittings to go with it were all assembled and added.

    Step D continued with a pair of curved stairs with subsets D1 and D2. Those stairs were quite a handful themselves, between bending in the curve, inserting the seven treads, and anchoring the ends to the two decks without twisting them out of shape. They are shown below after their installation and the status of the build at the completion of step D.

 

 

 

To be continued.

Edited Friday at 09:44 PM by BETAQDAVE

[Knocklouder]

Coming along nicely, there is a lot of details on this ship.  I made a metal ship from metal tec. It was the the same ship  but nothing like this it looks awesome. 

  

Bob M.

Edited April 18 by Knocklouder

[BETAQDAVE]

    Step E began with an unnamed subset that showed part #52 that first needed the top portion folded over, leaving the number printed on the hidden backside. The top portion was bent over and formed into a curved roof top with two tabs stuck through it that would then project into the gilded trim part #T19. Part #T24 is then added to cover T19 and complete the trim subset as shown below.

    Continuation of the illustration of step E as shown here.

    The Mylar part #T4040, representing the stain glass in the transom, needed four strips of the double faced tape applied to its edges. Once again, the alignment was critical in its placement on transom part #116 so as not to cover up the slot openings.

Next, all of the gilded trim pieces T11 through T23 and the unnamed subset were added to the transom. This was followed with another unnamed subset of the forecastle below which included the deck, railing, two ladders and another fife rail that is stuck through the deck from below. The step was concluded with the application of the top cross bars of the deck gratings on decks.

Here is the ship at this point.

 

 

    At this point in the construction I still hadn’t noticed that I had installed the first subset and the gilded transom trim on the WRONG side of the transom! More on that later.

[BETAQDAVE]

    So now that the supporting framework was completed, it was time to plank the hull. Not being accustomed to building a plank on bulkhead model before, it was at this point that I realized that, although this ship was simply a ribbed construction of card, it was a very solid structure and it was already easily recognizable as an actual ship.

    While the method being used here is not your typical planking technique employed on wood or even card models, it was definitely quicker. Here is the instruction sheet below for step F.

 

    I began oddly enough, by installing the ships counter part #195 despite all the other parts being numbered in the 40’s and 50’s. I’m assuming this was due to the fact that there just wasn’t enough room left on the number 5 or 6 billets with the rest of the planking parts so they stuck it on billet 13 where there was.

    Then all of the gun port lids were inserted from the insides of planking parts 46 and 53, since it obviously would have been a bit difficult to do so after the planking sheets were in place. The the two projecting keel tabs on the aft portion of the ship were stuck through the corresponding slots of planking sheet number 46 as shown below, while I contemplated exactly how to handle the ship while lining up the four slots with the four tabs on opposite sides of the poop deck and the two on the deck below at the same time without knocking the two stairs off.

 

    Having successfully installed that part without any mishap, I easily attached the two bow sections followed by the remaining central section as shown below, with my supervisor looking on.

 

 

 

This completed step F.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 08:55 PM by BETAQDAVE