Scratch Building a Pirate Sloop.

I have already built my Pirate Galleon, but it needs to be modified to come up to scratch.   Before I tackled that I decided to take on a Sloop.  I have already begun the Crew at the weekend using the Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago crew and Warlord ECW plastics.  Under the "Blood and Plunder rues this will be a 100 point force, with three units, two of Sea Dogs and one unit of Buccaneers.  Added to this are an Untested Commander "Fat Errol" with a Mate and a Bosun as his Officers.  

My first shipbuilding move was relatively straightforward.  I waterlined the wooden model Galleon completed from a kit last year.  That gave me the wooden formers that had been the keel and lower hull shaped sections as potential new decks.

Fat Errol Flynn and his boys crew the pirate ship.  They are a pretty good fit at 28mm.

Using a pen I scored the planking on the upper deck of the sloop.  Cutoffs created the bowsprit and stern posts.  Initially I glued the stern too low and seen against the figures here its pretty obvious.  Local schooners and sloops would have had much higher sterns against following seas, so although the single deck works I needed to raise the rear.  

The raised single deck.

The sloop has a wide beam.  Contrary to the popular Hollywood image of a pirate ship they would generally be smaller than the galleon type represented by my larger ship.  

Supports keep the two decks apart. 

Next the templates for the ship sides, measured using paper to get the right fit.  Transferred to card that had been scored to represent planking

Fat Errol measuring the height of the sides

The sides glued on before twisting them around the deck shape to form the hull.

Once I had the shape I fitted the bowsprit.  As a merchantman the sloop is a bit of a tub.  

Fitting out and painting will take a little longer.

The Bowsprit and mast added, the quarterdeck grating and poop deck fitted.  Old Billy Bones on tiller, my oldest 25mm figure, seated at the tiller with drinking jack.

The side shot

Next the ships boat.  

Another of the hull sections.  Some nice laminate wood, easy to work with.

Craft shop lollipop sticks as the ribs.  More of the laminate as the bow and sternpost.  The sides are thick card.

The scratch build nears completion.  Waiting on a tart it up paint job.

Capitaine Rathbone de Mayonaise comes alongside in his dinghy!