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 April 26 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 April 28 by BETAQDAVE

[BETAQDAVE]

    Step G was primarily concerned with the installation of the ships keel, stem, and rudder as shown on the instruction sheet below.

 

    Billet 13, shown below, contained the majority of the parts involved with this step.

 

    The slots on the bottom of the planking sheets were somewhat unique, as shown below, in that they were made to accept both the long double ply tabs of the false keel and two separate shorter ply tabs of the actual keel that in effect made the keel itself a total of four card ply's thick.

 

     I started with the center keel (part #198) which had one end wider than the other where it would join with the stem and a hole to punch out where the ship would seat on the display stand. It also had a pair of bending seams that ran parallel to each other down its center for the length of the part. You can probably make out those seams in the photo of the billet above.

     This effectively allowed the sides of the part to be spaced enough to accommodate the double thickness of the false keel tabs that were already projecting through the planking sheet, but it also resulted in a somewhat rounded over edge to the keel.

   The aft portion of the keel (part #197) was somewhat similar in that it had the parallel bending seams and a hole to join to the display stand, but it had two additional slots for the two ply rudder (part #206) which needed to be sandwiched inside of it.

    After joining those three parts to the ship, it was on to the stem portion of the keel (part #208). This piece was quite intricate, so extra care was needed to get it separated from its billet without deforming the skeleton figurehead. This part was also similar to the previous keel parts, except for the fact that the parallel seam didn’t run the full length of the part, leaving space inside of it for (part #204) which was the remaining part of the stem as shown below.

 

 

    Once the completed stem was installed on the ship, the arms, legs and chest were installed per the included subset illustration. Since the skeleton was in such an exposed position and was so fragile, I reinforced all of his joints with a dab of glue. So here he is now, installed at the bow in all his glory leading the way forward.

 

    There were also ten steps for the entry ladder to be added next, followed by four window shutters for the rear cabins. It seemed to me that the ladder and the name plate should have been on the same side of the ship, but the stand can easily be reversed since it wasn’t glued together.

    Step H, as shown on the instructions below, was tackled next which included four more unlabeled subsets for the upper and lower quarter galleries.

 

    I started with the starboard upper gallery part #243, which was actually a combination of the railing and deck. Once again careful removal of the part from its’ billet was essential, but the kit parts were all very precisely cut.

    One tape backed trim piece (#T2) needed to be attached to the bottom-side of the deck and another tape backed trim piece (#T3) to be attached below that. However, there was no description of how it needed to be aligned and once attached it would be very hard to realign.

Looking closely at these three parts below, you can see that apparently there’s a pattern printed on their faces showing deck beams.

 

    So I lined up the patterns and the two straight edges which left a somewhat smooth curved transition, which I assume was the intention.

 

    The deck now had to be folded under and the front side of the lower railing bent into a curve to match the deck. The roof of the gallery consisted of two parts: a hard surface and a canopy. The hard roof (part #39) was actually a channel for the Mizzen shrouds and its installation was very straightforward. Once the gallery deck tabs and the channel tabs were aligned with their corresponding slots, the assembly was installed. The canopy (part #254) on the other hand, was a bit trickier.

     This was the first introduction to the printed paper parts. The pointed poles were to protrude through the punched holes in the canopy and a crease was required to bend the lower apron over the beam. The two tabs on the top edge needed a bit of the double sided tape provided with the kit. These tabs were attached to the sides of the rear castle walls where they would be concealed below the gilded rail facing part #T6. This required forming a slight belly in it to to allow the top edge to follow the lower edge of the railing trim.

    After the completion of the upper starboard side gallery, I repeated the procedure for the port side gallery. So now it was time to move on to the wrap-around lower gallery. This was a very awkward installation, as it was all formed from one part (#193) with numerous complex bends, folds, and tabs to align all at the same time. I over-bent (beyond 90^o) all of the required bends ahead of time to make it more flexible. But, if I had to do it over again, I would have glued the tabs in place as I went around, or if I had an extra hand or two, but then you know what they say about ifs, ands, or buts….😁

    As it was, I inserted the tab in the end of the railing first and then two of the side deck tabs before manhandling the four rear deck tabs which arched to follow the arch of the bottom of the railing. Now, while still holding all of that in place, I set the side deck tabs and the final tab at the end of the railing. I think the hardest part was trying to insert the tabs where they went around the corners. 

    The final part of this step was to install the 23 deck support angle brackets.

    Keeping the arched rear deck aligned with the bottom edge of the railing was one thing that I was never really happy with, but it was over and done with so I just let it go since there was really no way to clamp it and using CA wasn’t possible either.

    Here are a few photos from step H.

 

 

 

    At this point, I still hadn't noticed my error with the transom, but more on that later.  To be continued.

[BETAQDAVE]

    Moving on now to the instructions for step I, as shown below, it was time to tackle some of the trickier parts to apply to the ship.

 

    The tape backed gilded finish ornamental railing facing parts T6 & T8 had to be stuck into place at the stern with their top edges even with the top edges of the existing railings. While they had to butt into the transom trim and align with all the openings, they also needed to blend into parts T9 and T10 (to be added next) and cover the canopy cover tabs at the same time. It took me numerous dry fits before working out an approach to doing all of that before removing the tape backing to permanently attach them, but it worked out fairly well.

     Doing the longer railing sections was done similarly, but the very fact that they were so long, made them difficult to keep lined up for their full length. Try as I might, they would not quite reach all the way to the head-rails. (That had yet to be installed!) I think that it had something to do with the fact that they were single pieces trying to match the numerous jointed hull sections. I think that it was somewhat of an accumulated error.

    The head-rail assembly, normally a complex arrangement, was greatly simplified in the kit. Part #203 had four gilded finish upper rails and two lower black rails. Continuing with the skeleton motif, there were ten (although the plan only showed eight) taped back number T1 vertical rail parts that were actually stretched out skeletons. I applied them to the rails before actually setting the assembly on the ship, since it was easier to apply pressure to secure them on a solid backing without deforming the rails. The assembly was secured to the ship by slipping the bent middle portion into a slot just behind the figurehead and two additional tabs into corresponding slots on the bow.

    And yes, that is when the noticeable gap in the joint showed up. While not totally satisfied with the results, I felt it was close enough. (Or as my father was always fond of saying “close enough for government work.)😇

    Here are a few photos of this step.

 

 

 

    Next up is adding the remaining deck fittings and the bowsprit.

Edited May 5 by BETAQDAVE

[BETAQDAVE]

    Step J and K shared page 13 of the instructions as shown here.

 

    Step J covered the remaining deck fittings and the bowsprit. While setting the remaining ten canons on the main deck I found one thing a bit odd about them. If you look close to the photo below, you can see that their carriages were apparently made from bricks!

 

    Next, two large anchors constructed from four parts each were shown in a pair of subsets. Both port and starboard anchors were the same except for their stocks which had their ropes on opposite sides. Each one was only supported with a single tab in a slot on the forecastle deck. Apparently, they intended to just let the other end hang loose, but I added a dab of glue where they touched the side of the hull rather than risk a mishap.

    Then the combination bowsprit/sprit topmast (part #119) was assembled by folding it in half, with the printed paper flag (#249) sandwiched between the layers at the flag staff and held in place with a piece of the double faced tape. Passing through a gap in the upper stem, the heel of the bowsprit was set into a slot in the face of the forecastle.

    And lastly, the bobstay (part#196) was secured with one tab stuck in a slot at the end of the bowsprit, passed between the arms and legs of the figurehead and into another slot in the stem by his foot which completed step J.

This kit employed a rather unique mounting system for the ships sails. The sails had a folded over portion that included two or three tabs with integral slots at the top, while the bottom had a single tab with an integral slot in the center. The upper portion of the corresponding yards also had matching tabs with integral slots that were passed through both the slot in the sail and the slot in the lower portion of the yard. All of those tabs had locking clips to tie them together.

    Since there was the bare minimum of running rigging on this ship model, the bottoms of the sails required a similar approach. The tab/slot at the bottom of the sail was aligned with a matching slot at their mast top. Another tab/slot key was passed through both the slot in the sail and the slot in their mast top. All of those tabs had an additional locking clip to tie them together.

    So section K began with the assembly of the top spritsail. Taking the first printed paper sail (#248) in hand, a tab/slot key (#97) was passed through both the sail slot and the slot in the bowsprit top (#94). Then a locking clip (#95) was used to tie it together. The upper portion of the spritsail yard (#98) needed to have a slight bend where the yard lifts joined with it. Once done with that, the two tab/slots were passed through both the sail slots and the lower portion of the spritsail yard/shrouds (#80). Locking clips (#79 & #90) secured the joint. The shroud portion of (#80) was then bent down and clipped to the tabs on the sides of the bowsprit top (#94). To finish step K, the assembly was mounted with two slots slipping into corresponding slots on the mast and a pin at the top of the flagstaff.

    Here’s the bowsprit and spritsail shown completed below from these two steps.