[tjlwolf]

My Pirate Ship last year... Pics really dont do it justice. The moon is real BTW...what timing!

[/IMG]

 

[WickedBB70]

This is very nice TJlWolf ! Awesome job and yes, great timing !

 

[Brimstonewitch]

That is incredible good!

 

[tjlwolf]

 

[nealdeal]

Looks great! Is that an aluminum down spout for the jib mast? Way to be creative dude. Nice!

 

[dadgonemad]

Nice work! Did you use foam board for the hull? Good lighting too. Doing pirates again this year?

-dgm

 

[Si-cotik]

Very nice indeed!!

 

[tjlwolf]

No pirates this year. i was laid off 6 months ago and money is tight but I try to do something different every year. New themes!
Good eye, it is a downspout! Vinyl though.

 

[tjlwolf]

I used the big 4 X 8 sheets of insulation foam boards. They are semi flexible to give you the curve you need. I spray painted them using some fading techniques and then used a wide sharpie to draw lines for the seperate board look. The mast is PVC pipe and the sail is a tan sheet that I cut holes in for cannon ball holes. Take black spray paint and quickly shoot the sides of the holes so it gives it the burned through look. Tear the sail to give it a tattered look. The crows nest is a laundry basket spray painted brown. The bow is an 8ft gutter downspout spray pained to match and I stuck a foam skull on the end. Thats the basics.. dress it up with ropes etc...
The lighting is a red light stuck within the ship facing up into the sail. In front of the ship are blue lights shining on the ship itself. The trick with lighting (anything) is to never let them see the source of the light. I also had a fog machine with a chiller that blew fog out and you couldnt really see the bottom of the ship as the fog laid low. I had strobes hooked through a lightining machine synced to thunder also.
To stand the 18 ft mast I used 8 inch pvc, with a 6 inch slid into it for sturdiness. (lost my first one in wind) To stand it up, i sledged a fence post. One of those green metal post/stakes for wire fences into the ground. Slid the pole over it. The roped it in all directions to the ground from half way up. I also roped the horizontal piece from the sides.
This should get you started....

 

[tjlwolf]

BTW, the loading crane hoisting the cannonballs was my first mast that was bent in the wind. Hey why let it go to waste!???

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

Really nice work there tjlwolf. I love the skull added on the downspout material. It stands nice and proud like you'd expect from a pirate ship. Also like the creepy cloth and what looks to be skull lawn fencing material near the deck. Thanks for sharing your quick how to on it. I definitely will keep it in mind. I love a pirate theme and definitely be taking tips from this. I contemplated doing a ship emerging from my garage area or side yard last year but never fully got it worked out in time. You ship is one of the nicest I've seen.

BTW sorry to hear about the job front. Good luck there. I could see you getting a job in a shipyard! Seriously I bet someone would hire you to build a ship for their haunt.

 

[Southern Chill]

Awesome work -- what did you use to hold the form boards up? Did you build a frame?

 

[Xochi16]

That is one of the best pirate ships I have ever seen! I have a few questions if you have a minute. did you use just one shade of brown paint? and how did you make the port holes? Thanks! And Awesome job!