Kit manufacturer: Modelist

Vehicle type: Military

Engine type: Sailing and rowing

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Model scale: 1: 144

Assembling: winter 1998 – the last 5 photos.

Reconstruction (guns, sails and rigging): spring 2011 – 4 pictures in the middle, the guns “before” and “after” for comparison.

Scale: 1:150 (declared by the manufacturer).

Earlier life of the model

Talking about the “Eagle”, I have already written about my mother’s love to the ships.
And then, on the eve of the then new year 1999 (3-4 years after the assembly of “Goto Predestination”) work at our shipyard started again – we started tinkering with my dad as a present to her a pirate brig “Black Falcon”. But because of the situation of secrecy the production had to be moved to the service station – to the place of my father’s work, so he performed the main work – the assembly and painting of hull and deck, dusting the mast, cannons. On me another task laid, the sails: in the kit of “Modelist” company they couldn’t be found. It was necessary to calculate them myself. But to hang primitive trapezoid of sheets of paper was not an option… I dug out the paper that has yellowed from time, a couple of pages of which my teacher of MCC gave me in the eighth grade, a professional artist. These sheets were lined, cut, soaked in starch and stacked on the side of a three-liter jar to obtain a rounded shape.

The only documentary thing that managed to find about the “Falcon” during the construction of the model – here it is:
“The Black Falcon was a two masted 18th century brigantine, commanded by famed pirate Captain William Kidd. It was on this ship that Captain Kidd, 1645-1701, commited larceny on the high seas. In January of 1698 Kidd and his crew were able to capture the 400 ton treasure ship the Quedagh Merchant.

Kidd took the stolen treasure and buried it on Garndners Island, New York off the east end of Long Island. Kidd having stole the treasure from his crew was soon turned in by one of them.

On May 23, 1701 Captain William Kidd was sentenced to be hung in England. This would end the life of one of the most notorious pirates every to sail the globe.”

There are a couple of “but”: first, it is written “the brigantine”. Second, Kidd sailed on “Antigua”, “Adventure”, “Adventurer’s Prix” and others, but about the “Falcon” nothing is said anywhere.

But it’s a pirate ship, it has to be a mystery!

Reconstruction of the model

In the spring of 2011, i.e., on the 13th year of the ship’s life, which all this time had not changed, I started its reconstruction. The fact is that the paper sails became wild dust pantries. If the rest of the models while cleaning the shelves I could calmly wash under my shower, I had to carefully treat the brig with a brush, which wasn’t very useful.
At one point, all gear had been stripped.

The fact is, that in parallel I was completing the assembly of “Cutty Sark” in the form of docks, without sails, so the plastic casting for practical reasons were to become a donor for the pirate. I decided not to touch the shrouds t and not to twist them, leaving as it is. Well, I decided to change the white threads, it was necessary. I chose “Zvezda” for the rigging thread – specifically, to understand what a kind of a beast it is, from which all groan. I groaned too, imbued with the spirit of sophisticated masochism. But more on that – later. I also decided to drill the barrels of the guns, but even because of a light pressure on the gun muzzles the guns split from the deck. Well, it was even handy: I could also grind them.

Battle o reconstructing the ship model goes on

Then there came the turn of the standing rigging. Armed with found instructions and black synthetic thread, I spent half the night at work, thinking of all the saints and relatives of I don’t know who. After finishing I went to bed with a sense of accomplished duty, but the next night, putting the yards in places, I realized that it would be better for me just to give up in the arms of Morpheus: weaving of the rigging according to the assembly manual was completely contrary to the possibility of setting sail! Almost all the stays had to be cut and pulled again. To mount backstays I had to make holes in the bulwark.

I enveloped masts with one in a day: the bowsprit, foremast. For the mainmast I spent a couple of evenings, as I had trouble with the construction of the grotto, and then also trysail – fitting the last two sails took more time than simply clipping on the sides for the rest. For fastening the ends of braces and hoists additional rods were installed on the sides.
I also dared to paint the “Jolly Roger”, to which my mother at once said, “Oh, how terrible!”
The final version also has its flaws and deficiencies, but I’m not sure I will return to the “Black Falcon”. I will continue to grow and hone my skills on the next models.