by Brian Stuckey

This is the "Pira-Copter". It's a kit bash of Revell's Caribbean Pirate Ship and Revell's Snap-tite AH-64 Apache Helicopter. The ship is about 9" long, 5 1/2 " wide and 6" tall. I tried to get two models that were the same scale and both of these are supposedly 1:72 (though I doubt the pirate ship really is). I also tried to find two of the cheapest models I could find to stay within my budget. This actually made the construction a little more difficult since some of the pirate ship pieces were warped and didn't match up quite like they should have. Basically, I dove in without much of a plan. I glued and cut and sanded till I was happy with what I had. Then I spray painted the whole thing silver and added red to make a more two tone look. A third paint layer added highlights and details of gold and black. I then put on the finishing touch of some decals and two pieces of string from the conning tower to the propeller shaft.

Image: Top view

Image: Rear view

Image: Starting point