"New 5135 Pirates' Ship": hull & decks review and comparison with 3940/3286

[Hadoque]

Hi 

In Germany & Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg (BeNeLux), the new big 5135 pirates ship (new version of the 3940/US 3286) was released near mid-August. 
I meanwhile bought "a few"  and here is some analysis of this new ship, and what has remained the same or has changed compared with the good old 3940/3286.

Because many folks are mostly curious about the hull & decks of this ship (and also because my camera went on strike at a certain moment    ), I'm not posting a review of the masts & sails, nor from the klickies & accessories.
Review of that may follow later, but I won't have much time the coming month, so anyone else is welcome to do a review about the 5135's klickies and such. 

First:
Price for the 3940 used to be (in Belgium) on average between 80 and 100 euros, depending on the source. (that was from 2000 till ca. 2007).
Price for the 5135 is on average ca. 60 to 65 euros (sometimes somewhat cheaper in Germany).

Besides an adult-pirate that was replaced by a child-pirate, and fewer accessories, there had to be other saving-cuts on the 5135.
We also already knew there would be fake-guns behind the gunports, but still the set would include 2 cannons like on the 3940/3286.

So, would the designers have saved on other things or materials for this ship?  Let's have a look. 


ps: sorry for blurriness on some pics, or bad lighting ... pics were taken inside after daylight 

[Hadoque]

Pic of the 5135-hull,  and the styropor (that white thing that prevents it from sinking when putting/playing in water - or other fluids ).

The hull doesn't show much difference in moulding with the 3940.

I'm very happy to say the hull's colour is a very nice darkbrown, and the topdeck a nice midbrown! 
Both much alike the 3050/3750-galleon (playmobil's 1st pirate ship from the late 70's & 80's) which many so adore!

[Hadoque]

And now the big surprise...

The difference of the inner-deck from the 5135 compared to that one of the 3940: they've "cut off" about half of it compared to the 3940.

* It still has the same colour, but see for yourselves what is left off.

* The mid-section of the innerdeck has shrunk to the size of the area underneath the cargohold-hatches. If desired, canons can be put (or squeezed because space is a little tiny) on both sides of the cargohold.

* The front of the inner-deck has dissappeared, the inner-deck ends where the front mast has to be installed.


(in the pics: 3940/3286 above and 5135 beneath for comparison)

[Hadoque]

At the stern (the back of the ship), the cabin-deck is still there, but the darkbrown table and white bed-matras from the 3940 are gone, there is now a table that is part of the mould and also the complete bed and matras are one brown piece of the mould. On the 3940 there was room to put small parts under the matras, this is no longer possible on the 5135.

Besides the dissappearence of the white matras, the small white ornaments for on the bedcorners are no longer included.

Good news is (pic to follow later in the thread) that you can still add the white ornaments if you have some spare ones, and if you have a spare white matras you can put it on top of the moulded brown matras, it just fits. (but a klicky will fall of the bed when holding the ship not straight).


pic: 5135 on the left, 3940/3286 on the right

[Hadoque]

Some view of the backs of the inner-decks.

I'm gonna call the innerdeck of the 3940/3286 "gundeck", and the innerdeck of the new 5135 "cargodeck".


1st pic: 3940/3286
2nd pic: 5135

[Hadoque]

And now for the (fake) canons...

There are tiny clip-on "guns" on the 5135, to be installed in the gunport-openings.


(the screws in the 1st pic are not for the guns, but are the screws to assemble the decks...they came in the same bag as the fake guns)

[Hadoque]

There are slight modifications (grooves/slots) to the gunport-openings on the 5135's hull compared to the 3940/3286's gunports, to allow the fake-guns to be slided in the gunports.
This means you cannot install (without modification) the fake-guns in the gunports of a 3940/3286's hull!

[Hadoque]

Now we come to the upperdeck.

Compared with the 3940/3286, the major change (besides the colour that is now midbrown like on the 3050/3750-ships) is that the opening to install/reach canons in the bow-section has been closed. There is no lid to put on/take off; the closure is part of the upperdeck's mould.

And the separate stairs on the 3940/3286 to access the ship's higher stern-deck, are now part of the deck-mould.


On the top of the railing on 5135's stern, there are 2 small grooves added to allow installment of the big golden coin that comes in this set. The coin can be used to break the treasure-code in set 5134 Treasure Island.
Luckily the big coin and the thing to attach it to the 5135-ship's stern can be easily left off 

[Hadoque]

Here 2 sideviews of the 5135's upperdeck, one with the upperdeck put on the 5135's "cargodeck" and one when put on the 3940/3286's "gundeck.

Question now: Could the 3940's canondeck (= innerdeck) be installed in a 5135 for customisation purposes, like having the 3940's cabin layout and/or a bigger cargohold and/or installing real Playmobil-shipguns??
Answer to follow later!   

[Hadoque]

Here some views of the undersides of the upperdecks of the 5135 (brown) and 3940/3286 (red)...