I can finally say its finished. It took much longer than I anticipated and was much harder than I wanted. But Its done. One warning on my post, if you love and hold dear the way the ship looks straight out of the box, and would consider it blasphemy to do otherwise, then this post is not for you…
My Review:
The Pro’s: The piece is gorgeous, no doubt. Its elegant and evokes an old time feel of a life on the seas! I can easily get lost in this build and stare at it for hours. The design of the full sails, the gold highlights all over this kit, man its amazing! The design is interesting, but I have no reference as I have never built a ship before, so what do I know ? lol. I enjoyed the size of it as well! Its big but not overly huge that it makes it uncomfortable to place somewhere in a distinct place of honor.
The Cons: The wood… man this thing is fragile. I broke no less than 9 pieces, a record for me! Lots of superglue and patience were needed. Also the paper front and back as I have discussed are just.. yuck. I dont like the way it looks and it doesnt make the ship any better I think. With the paper hull it is harder to hold the kit in a way for you to insert tough pieces without bending the paper. Also with the wood being so fragile, it makes it difficult for the screws needed to stay put and to insert.
The pointless silhouettes in the cabin and are also a sore point for me. Dont expect to see them once its installed and the paper window covering makes it so no light gets through.
OK brace yourself here we go!
I modified my ship. A LOT! My vision early on was never to leave it alone, I had an idea of a ghost ship that sailed the seas under water and emerging to haunt other passing ships to terrify and steal their souls (dark right? ) my modifications included the following:
3d printed ghost pirates that I hand painted to look more scary
Aging the ship to show wear and tear, this included using makeup for colors on the ship and sails. I frayed the sails a lot, to show age and wear over the ages. This was actually really fun, cause as I have heard others say on here, its fun to make something beautiful turn ugly lol.
I added seaweed and moss to reflect the traveling of the ship underwater and emerging covered in it.
I added some fairy lights to the cabin to make it more aesthetically pleasing and so you can see the silhouettes lol.
Now, the real hard part was making the ship perfectly at first then destroying it. this part broke my heart at first. This involved ruining and removing pieces to make the ship more distressed. I could have taken the easy way and did the modifications as I went, but I was invested and wanted to finish it the way it should. So those observant people will notice missing pieces or parts, this is on purpose! Then I made the changes.
here are some pics for you to see finally:
OH!! Did I mention, that it glows…
Yes I added glow in the dark paint on the pirates, ship, seaweed and sails to give it an ethereal glow of a specter on the ocean … heeeheee.
thank you everyone who supported my troubled mind, hands and frustrations building this. You all are the real reason I love this community!!! Love you guys cause I couldnt share this anywhere and get the same support and encouragement to do these kinds of things.
Now that I see the finished ship, I can truly appreciate everything you put into this build. This is absolutely incredible! You didn’t just build a ship—you completely transformed it and gave it its own story and personality.
A little dark? YES! 
But so creative!
