They had originally planned it? Thats a shame. I would have loved to see that.
Reading this I just had an idea for a stopgap Q ship, this might not be possible but how about a merchant with the capability of shooting but delete the gun/ guns off the actual model?? Although maybe the program needs the gun there to actually fire, but I wouldnt think the two are linked.
Ugly yes, but workable. So you would approach thinking the ship wasnt armed and suddenly be fired upon from a "concealed" gun, just like a real Q-ship. Downside would be you couldnt destroy the gun if you wanted to.
