# pirate ship facade



## SouthBayJT (Oct 10, 2010)

I'm going to take crack at a pirate ship facade--just something 4-5 feet high and 8 feet long, propped up on the lawn. (I've seen great ones that cover the whole house, but not enough time for that.) Do you think this would be better done with a canvas painter's tarp, or with sheets of styrofoam? I was thinking that a frame made of PVC pipe and a painter's tarp stretched over it would be easier to store in the garage, but styrofoam sheets attached to wood might be sturdier. We get a pretty good evening breeze, though, so that's a consideration too; a tarp might be less prone to catching the wind and falling over.


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## tot13 (Jul 25, 2007)

A few years back, we did this using black landscape fabric. Took a can of tan Ooops paint with a 4" brush. Made light strokes to look like boards. Looked awesome in dim lighting.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

There are plenty of pirate haunters here who should be able to give you good guidance on that. The tarp would certainly be easier to work with. The styrofoam sheets would be sturdy, but I'm not sure how well they would bend to fit a ship's curves.


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

RoxyBlue said:


> There are plenty of pirate haunters here who should be able to give you good guidance on that.


Really ... we have Pirates on the forum???? :googly:

I did the canvas over a wooden frame: Shipwreck

I've since removed the canvas and used a very thin plywood/paneling for the 'skin'.


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Tarps are not that cheap (canvas ones). What about cardboard? Appliance stores have them.....


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

debbie5 said:


> Tarps are not that cheap (canvas ones).


Don't know ... never priced them ... I was given a billboard sized one for free. 

If you do cardboard and plan on keeping it outside, you'll need to weatherproof it.


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## SouthBayJT (Oct 10, 2010)

*great idea*



IMU said:


> Really ... we have Pirates on the forum???? :googly:
> 
> I did the canvas over a wooden frame: Shipwreck
> 
> I've since removed the canvas and used a very thin plywood/paneling for the 'skin'.


Thanks all for the great tips! IMU, I think your ship's bow idea will work perfectly. Did you cut the tarp so that it's in 2 pieces, with one for each side? Or did you wrap it around the nose of the ship in a single sheet? It's tricky envisioning how a square piece of cloth can be stretched taut around the curving edges, but yours looks really good in the pics.


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## scary rick (Dec 6, 2008)

IMU do you have any pictures of your ship with the wood on it?


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

SouthBayJT said:


> Thanks all for the great tips! IMU, I think your ship's bow idea will work perfectly. Did you cut the tarp so that it's in 2 pieces, with one for each side? Or did you wrap it around the nose of the ship in a single sheet? It's tricky envisioning how a square piece of cloth can be stretched taut around the curving edges, but yours looks really good in the pics.


Actually, the tarp was cut into 4 pieces - 2 sides and 2 tops. The bowsprit hides where the 2 halves meet.



scary rick said:


> IMU do you have any pictures of your ship with the wood on it?


I'm not really doing a how-to but here is what it looks like now with the new siding added. I used a very thin wood/paneling cut into 8" strips.



















I still have a lot to do but this gives you an idea of where it's going.


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## Just Whisper (Jan 19, 2009)

It is not finished but here is the actual ship part of my pirate haunt.



















Here you can see the actual color without the flash










It is made from 2x2s covered in canvas. It was really easy to work with, easy to paint, and has held up to some pretty demanding winds and rain in my back yard for about 4 weeks so far. It may not be cheap, but if you want to build it once and do it right canvas is a great choice. This canvas will hold up well, store well, and if it fades you can just repaint it. It is waterproof and sun resistant, probably freezeproof too.

I forgot to mention...I used a staple gun to attach the canvas to the frames. So if you want to remove the canvas for storage you can. While the canvas holds up well in the sun for display I would not recommend storing it in direct sunlight. I imagine it will eventually deteriorate over a summer, as will styrofoam or most any other medium.


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## scary rick (Dec 6, 2008)

Thanks guy's ! now i have alot of work do


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