The Secret of the Unicorn (Rackham's Pirate Ship)

Greg Baker
So, I've been planning a major Tintin project to convert a Heller 1/100 Soleil Royal into a 1/72 Unicorn. The thing that's been holding me back has been the price of the Royal… usually in the $300 plus shipping range. However, as luck would have it, this week I stumbled across a deal I couldn't pass up - a partially incomplete kit on sale from a clearance centre for $100 plus semi-reasonable shipping. After carefully studying the pictures, I discovered that the missing sprue is basically a bunch of tiny fiddly bits I'm unlikely to need considering the major changes I'd be making. Of course, that's still a pretty major project, but it inspired me to drag out the 1/110 Bounty that I'm going to turn into a 1/72 Red Rackham's pirate ship. I had a lot of fun building an 1/72 Arabian Dhow out of a 1/100 Niña… so let's give it a whirl!

Dietmar Bogatzki
Interesting project, taking a seat.

Erik De Smet
Ah, it was this that I saw on the back of your workbench, behind the Sunderland

Alec K
This will be BIG! Following for sure 👍

Jv
Yes I will take a front seat

Thomas Espe
Nice, taking a seat

Daniel Klink
Wow!! Taking a seat👍

Gary Kitchen
All aboard 👍

Spanjaard
permission to come aboard captain!?

Ralf Topeters
Watching! 👍

Ben M
Will there be a shark sub…

Robert Podkoński
Watching for sure 😉

Torsten
I'll 👀

Gareth Windsor
I'm pulling up a seat for this one.

Cuajete
Taking a seat before tickets are out 😛

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Oh, watching. 👀
I wonder how do you convert 1/100 to 1/72 scale?

Greg Baker
Heh, WhiteGlint... 😉

Youtube Video

Basically I'm mainly going to upsize some of the items on deck... cannons, steering wheel, etc. to make it more in-line with a 1/72 scale theme. Not much I can do about the decking/planking per se, but the size and shape of the hull are more or less correct relative to the size.

Ben M
Whiteglint you heat it over a flame and stretch by about 25%

Robin (WhiteGlint)
Haha, Ben. 😄 Simple, but ingenious 😉

Thanks Greg, I guess your 3D printer will probably come in handy for that. 🙂

Finn
Will be really interesting to follow this build

Greg Baker
Wow... put her next to the 1/100 Soleil Royal... and she seems to shrink quite a bit. Still, it looks like the size is about right (or as right as it's going to get). I'm still at the tape dry fit stage trying to decide in what direction I want to push past the point of no return. I'm thinking a) the masts are big enough and b) I should extend the solid railing all the way around the hull.

Alec K
The new deck looks excellent 👍