Perfecting the Queen Anne's Revenge

If you have purchased 4195 Queen Anne's Revenge, first off major kudos to you, and secondly you may have noticed that while the outside is breathtaking the inside is... a little spartan.  There are a few key features that, in order to meet their price point, Lego omitted from this ship.  I recently set about to see if I could remedy those deficiencies and was very pleased with the result.  So pleased in fact that I can honestly say, with these modifications, the Queen Anne's Revenge is my favorite of all my ships (surpassing even 10210 Imperial Flagship).  To do this I cannibalized 4191 Captain’s Cabin for a few specialized parts and added some extra pieces from my own collection. Here is what I did.

THE FRONT DECK

While the Revenge did improve upon 2009's Brickbeard's Bounty in that it did have a front deck the 2 small pieces Lego included are just not satisfactory considering the ship's  size.  I modeled my improvements off the first Lego pirate ship: 1989's Black Seas Barracuda.  That ship included holds beneath both the front and rear decks accessed by hatches.  I created the same thing here. 

As you can see there are two hinged hatches.  I have extended the deck to just before the first cannon port where I have added a solid wall with a ladder built into it.  I moved the anchor assembly up onto my deck and added a simple locking mechanism using a spare hinge piece.  To round it off I added a few small holders for weapons and called it good.  Nothing I did changed anything about the way the ship is built in the directions, I just filled it in.  A future modification I may try is to make the entire front deck removable and add a furnished crew quarters beneath... we will see.  

THE REAR CABIN

What I felt was the most major deficiency of the Revenge was that its rear cabin was not enclosed.  This has been my biggest pet peeve with all of the smaller Pirate and Imperial Guard ships Lego has produced through the years.  The minute I saw pictures of this set I knew that I would be adding a door to that cabin.  The result is, I feel, a door and facade that blends in perfectly with the rest of the ship making it impossible to tell where the original design ends and the modifications begin.


The 6x4 stud brown plate for the door came from set 4191 The Captain's Cabin.

This is the door assembly up close.

THE REAR DECK

In keeping with what I did in the front I also finished out a small rear deck immediately in front of where the rear cabin attachs.  I added two more hatches to access the space beneath and also a small extension out over the cannon well with a fourth large bone as a rail.  The hatches provide access to the area beneath the rear cabin which the instructions left empty but I finished out as the ship’s galley in a similar manner to the rear of the Imperial Flagship. 


You can see the two hatches with handles next to the support for the mast and
the stove for the galley on the left as well as table and supplies on the right.

MISCELLANEOUS

I incorporated many of the special elements from set 4191 The Captain’s Cabin in various places as well as connecting the front and rear decks on the sides of the cannon well using 3-1x8 peg black plates per side.  The end result is a feel a much more complete set than the original.  I am thrilled with how it turned out.


You can see the 1x8 stud plates that I added here, the ones
on the right end are missing for comparison.

The globe from The Captain's Cabin was a great new piece,
I mounted it near the ships wheel as shown here.

I created detailed instructions for these modifications so they can be recreated the next time I assemble the ship.  If anyone is interested in them let me know and I can send them to you.    

Happy Building
The Lego Chronicler