Thread: Pirate Ship woth animated helm, canons, and lightning

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Here is the pirate prop I made for 2009. Unfortunately, illness kept me from tightening up a few of the aesthetics.

Inspiration and concept credit goes out to the many talented people on this forum and the SoCal pirate ship.

The video shows the prop in action (sorry about the lack of brightness) as well as pictures of various stages of assembly. Materials list below.

YouTube - Halloween 2009 - The Pirate Ship

Materials List

Ship
• (3) 4 x 8 sheets of luan plywood
• (8) 1 x 3 lumber, 8’ long
• (8) 2 x 3 lumber, 8’ long
• 1” fine thread drywall screws
• 2” wood screws
• (1) quart brown paint
• (1) 6oz sample size gray paint
Cannons
• (2) 3” PVC, 12” long – left over from mast
• Foam pipe insulation
• (1) can gloss black spray paint

COST: $63

Helm
• (4) wooden deck rail banisters
• (1) sheet of plywood *used old scrap wood
• (1) 2 x 6, 10’ long *used old scrap wood
• 3 ½” wood screws
• (1) animated reindeer motor w/ linkage *scavenged from old

COST: $8

Mast
• (1) 4” drain line PVC, 10’ long *donated
• (1) 3” standard PVC, 10’ long
• (1) 2” standard PVC, 2’ long (Home Depot carries these small lengths)
• (1) 1 ½” standard PVC, 10’ long
• (1) 4” to 3” drain PVC reducer
• (1) 3” standard PVC coupling
• (1) 3” to 2”standard PVC reducer
• 50’ manila rope
• Laundry basket
• Cheese cloth

COST: $28

Effects
• (2) Christmas FX boxes [$9 each @ LTD Commodities – same as Lightning FX]
• (1) Blue flood light w/ fixture – for lightning
• (2) red light bulbs w/ fixtures – for cannons
• (1) fog machine

COST: not calculated since these can be used for other props/themes

>>>TOTAL COST: $99<<<

VERY cool!! Great work! How long did it take you to make the ship?

Very cool pirate ship!

I'm moving this over to the prop section since this isn't technically a tutorial (no how-to or step by step instructions).

Cool.I would love a how to on this one!!

Nicely done there.....Welcome aboard matey....!!!!

Very nice. I really liked the way it tore down for storage, great planning.

Awesome job !!!

Thanks for all of the compliments.

It only took about 12 - 14 hours of actual hands on building.

Here's more info:




For the curved pieces, I supported the ends of the wood on two chairs. I soaked the wood with water and put weight in the middle. I did this for 3 days, increasing the weight each day. This helped the wood conform to the curve without over stressing and splintering. About 5 minutes of hands on time each day.





The frame is made up of 4 main pieces, 2 for the top and 2 for the bottom. They are screwed together to complete the frame. This makes it easy to store. The frame design is basically a copy of one posted by 'asmarteru'.

The helm was relatively easy to build and took about 2 hours. I cut a 2x6 to make the base and upright wheel supports. The wheel is made from wooden deck rail banisters cut in half. The "rings" that support the wheel spokes I cut from scrap plywood with a sawzall after using a marker and string to sketch the circles. Small circles were cut to make the center hubs. I positioned the spokes out on the ground and laid 1 ring and 1 hub on top of them and screwed them into place. Flipped the wheel over and repeated with 2nd ring and hub. Pretty straight forward assembly using wood screws. I drilled a hole large enough for a 6" long 5/16" bolt to pass through the supports and hub of the wheel to act as an axle for the wheel.





I drilled a hole in the outer ring that was slightly bigger that the linkage on the mechanical reindeer motor. Holding the motor against the upright wheel supports, I turned on the motor and held it against the support until I found a mounting location that provided the movement I liked.

The pirate captain is a cheap hanging prop the I mounted on a piece of pvc and laid its hands on the wheel spokes.

4" drain pvc 10' long, reduced to 3" pvc 4' long, reduced to 2" pvc 2' long. Using a 1 1/2" hole saw, drilled a hole through the 4" pvc just below the 4-to-3 reducer. Pass the 10' piece of 1 1/2" pvc through the hole to make the boom arms of the mast. I drove a wood screw through the mast into the boom to hold it in place.



Cut out the bottom of the laundry basket so that it fits tightly over the mast and slide it down to to the 4-to-3 reducer. Wrap the manila rope around the connections and hot glue in place.


Bury the left over 3" pvc (about 6') in the ground leaving about 32" above the surface, this will support your mast by slipping the mast over top of it and securing with a wood screw to prevent it from rotating in the wind.

When disassembled, the mast pieces fit inside each other for easy storage