Pirate Ship With Holodeck

Inspired by the "instructable" of Frank-Gish 3D hologram pyramid I had the idea to build a pirate ship with a Holodeck. But instead of a screen up pyramid, I made a screen down pyramid. So you can not immediately see where the light comes from.

It was a Christmas Gift for my son.

I never work with a plan, I made only a drawing how it should looks like

Tools:

• table saw
• jigsaw
• scroll saw
• angle grinder
• belt sander
• random orbit sander
• cordless drill
• drill press
• scissors
• stapler

Wood

• 3 layer pine 3/4" (base and Intermediate deck)
• 4mm plywood for the decks
• 2mm Balsa wood
• walnut for the poles

Misc

• black card board
• black cord
• water stain
• linseed oil
• wood glue
• super glue + accelerator

I started with a board, made one line with a strip of wood and then I made a mirror image of this line with a try square and a compass and cut it out with a jigsaw.

The bow was made from 3 pieces I glued together, I shaped it with an angle grinder.

The stern is only a board I screwed on and after that I shaped it also with a angle grinder.

In the front I glued a piece of wood with the same height as the stern on the bow.

The intermediate deck has a notch which fits into the bow.

I put the boat upside down and marked the shape of the intermediate deck.

After I had it cut with a jigsaw I drilled a hole for the mast.

I screwed it on and shaped it with a angle grinder.

The boat skin is made of black card board.

I glued it on and fixed it with staples. Later I removed all the staples

I glued a piece of wood on the top of the bow and after the glue was dry I shaped it with a belt sander.

Then I drilled a hole for the front pole and one for the first mast.

The poles are made of walnut.

I cut square rods and with a thread cutter I made them round on one end.

Then I marked and drilled the holes for the rope.

The rope holder are little boards with wooden pins.

I am sure these have a special name but I don't know it, If you know it please let me know in the comment section below.

I slit two little pieces of walnut on the table saw for the steps.

One for the right side of the stair and one for the left.

I divided them so I got 4 pieces for two stairs.

I also cut the steps on the table saw and then I glued all together.

I drilled holes, all in the same distance in a bigger piece of walnut and then I cut it in stripes.

In this way all holes fits together.

The ladder rungs are made from 2 mm wooden rods, I cut them with a chisel.

For the windows I used black paper and balsa wood (2mm thick).

The advantage using black paper is, nobody will see a mistake when you later paint the wood. Balsa wood is awesome! You can cut it in strips easier than paper. And it sticks perfect with wood glue. The trick is: Glue a strip of balsa wood on the paper. Glue a second strip parallel to the first ( depending how width your window should be) It need not be exact parallel.

You don't need to cut the cross strips in length and handle all these tiny parts! Cover a long strip with glue, lay it cross over your length strips and then cut it with a sharp knife in position. This will push the piece down and it glues on immediately in the right position.

The upper part of the ship hull got a skin of balsa wood, which I glued on.

The upper deck got a extra layer of 4 mm plywood.

I drilled 4 bigger holes for poles in it and many small holes for the railing poles.
Then I glued it on the boat.

The 4 bigger poles got a hole in the middle
I glued the 4 poles onto the deck and the small ones on the board except the 4 in the corners. These are longer and with them I pinned the deck on the poles.

For the rudder I slit two little boards on the table saw. Then I put a wire into the slot and glued a little strip into the slot. after the glue was dry I removed the wire and I cut finger joints on the scroll saw. I put the two parts together with a wire, painted it with water stain and glued it on the stern.

The mask basket is only a little board with holes, where I put wooden rods in and a rope around these poles.

I painted all parts with water stain. The advantage is you can furthermore use wood glue after the stain is dry.

All the hardwood pieces got a layer of linseed oil.

Over all the holes of the staples I glued a strip of black card board.

The openings on the deck got a little wall of plywood.

These walls are not fixed so you can remove them and store same little parts inside.

I printed a picture from a ship's wheel and and from an anchor, found in the internet, with my printer.

I glued them on a piece of plywood and cut them out with a scroll saw.

The masts are only wooden rods put in a hole on the deck. They are not glued and can remove.

The crossbars are only fixed with a rubber band.

The sails are a piece of cotton. They are only fixed with a rope and not glued.

Every mast has only one rope. It goes from one pin form the rope holder over the mast top to the other side around a pin and back to the first side.

The Holodeck is only a little board with two bars, where you can put a smart phone on with the screen down.

How the little pyramid is made, can you find here Frank-Gish 3D hologram pyramid

So put the little pyramid on the Holodeck, find a video for hologram pyramids on YouTube. There are two different types videos, some for screen-up and some for screen-down. I my case I need screen-down-videos.

Start a video on the smartphone, put the smartphone on the Holodeck and the Holodeck under the bridge. Turn the light of and enjoy the show.

Instead of thousand words, please watch the video

If you use a mobile device, use this link.

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