Pirate Ship Ahoy?

On the ferry over, I had a few hours in which to have a think about the On the Seven Seas pirate project and what I'm going to do. I already have the figures I need to put together a second pirate crew but, as yet, they will have no ship to set sail in. This is something I will need to sort out and, not having the funds to buy one of the new resin ships from Northstar, I'm going to have to scratch build one.

I have done this before and the resulting sloop has seen some action in several games, so I'm pretty sure I can do something similar but on a more ambitious scale. The plan is to use balsa, card and thick paper to build a brigantine, armed with Crusader Miniatures cannons rather than the smaller Peter Pig deck guns that I used for the sloop. The masts will be made from paint brush handles and dowel, designed to dismantle for easy transport.

The only problem I have is a lack of balsa wood, otherwise I'd get on with the construction while I'm here on holiday. If I can find some I will have a go but it's fairly unlikely, so it will probably have to wait until I get back home. I have more than enough balsa stashed away in the workshop, so it will be possible to build a decent enough pirate brig once I get my hands on the raw materials.