Building The Black Pearl

One of the biggest near misses of my hobbies, the Pearl was retired from the Lego range barely months before I excited my Dark Ages.  I wanted her so badly, but her prices where already skyrocketing, so I never came round to adding this sleek and fast looking iconic ship to my collection.

Until I decided to bite the bullet past month.  I`m a pack rat, but one that packs his stuff carefully, and I have several big binders of rare and even rarer promo cards, rare cards, mythics etc from mostly Magic and Pokemon sitting aside for just this kind of geeky investments.  So I cracked open one of the binders, and started trading around for the hefty pricetag of 270 euros for the ship, that being the cheapest within Europe on BrickLink.  Less then 3 weeks later, ironically on my birthday, I ordered the set, and two days later it was already at my doorstep.

And so I started the task this morning of building the Black Pearl.  Cracking open the box, I was welcomed by 7 plastic bags, two booklets of instructions, the hull pieces, an enveloppe with the sails and flag, and a pretty awesome poster.  One I actually would consider to list in and hang to the wall should I have had the space, so I`m going to safeguard this one till we ever get a big house and a `building room`.

Bag 1 is all about building the base of the hull.  Differing from the older pirate ships I had 20 years ago, this one doesn`t have the interlocking pieces, but are connected by technic pins to make her look longer and sleeker then the classic ships.

Another thing of notice is that the vessel actually has quit a small rudder.

Adding plating and the cannons, this concluded the first bag

Bag 2 is the build up of the hull for the most part, like the railings around the gunports and the door and stairs for the hind quarters.

The front mast uses an ingenious connection part to stabilize it.

And as the railings at the front are added, this bag was all done as well.

Bag 3 is to start building the frame for the Captain`s Quarters, including the captains chair and table with printed map, sextant and bottle.

It also includes the back wall, that can tilt in order to allow the diagonal look of the back of the ship.

And with the frame all rounded up, this bag also came to an end and we`re moving onwards.

Bag 4: this one will build the complete coverage of the back of the boat, solidifying the look of the Pearl.  She has opening sidepanels to allow `play action` in the captain room.

The rest of the bag is the build up of the steering platform.

Bag 5 then, and this starts adding additional details like the railing at the sides, as well as the build for the (detachable) small sail at the back and the steering wheel.

Bag 6 and the non numbered bag are the thing that makes the ship, namely all the masts and adding the sails to the ship.

I was glad the sails are using the `clip on stud` system and luckily for unhandy me not the rope rigging system.

It also includes the elegant bow statue...

Like all sets, you have some extras at the end.  The grey studs, the plumes and the slope are usuable, but you also end up with a whole arsenal of pirate swords, they certainly came in abundance in this boxed set.

And of course, there are the Minifigs: Captain Jack, Davy Jones, Will Turner, Mr Gibbs, Maccus and Bootstrap.

I placed Jack in his quarters plotting another journey,

Mr Gibbs has the steering wheel

Will Turner is trying to fend of Davy Jones

And as Maccus aims to help his captain, he is in for an unpleasant suprise by Bootstrap...

So there we have her, the fastest and most elegant pirate ship of Lego (and the Pirates movies ofc).

I suddenly had the idea to take the smurfs Pirate vessel, as I couldn`t shake the feeling that one was way bigger then the Pearl... and found out they are just as big.

The case is, the other pirate vessel is mostly bulkier `looking`, even though it has exactly the same dimensions and even a (small) mast less.

The smurf may have the bigger `looking` ship, but I have the Pearl, savvy...