Cousarmy0001

Lookin' good! Looks like you're sailing against the wind, though :-(

I REALLY dig the piano, and I think the way you make the bed look like the blanket is pulled down is awesome. I don't think I've seen anybody do that before. Nice job on the rework! I should mention, don't be afraid to rebuild things. My... I guess you could call it flagship... was rebuilt from basically the ground up once, and then has been lengthened or had the gunports redone at least twice. It started with four mid-hull sections and ten guns, then became four mid-hull sections and fourteen guns, then reached what is probably its final iteration (I've not done anything major to it for a decade now) at five mid-hull sections and eighteen guns. The frigate I built for my son has had the sides of the hull redone several times, and my daughter's brig has had the bow and stern completely redone to accomodate the newer bow and stern sections because I didn't like the way the stern looked with the old type.

I didn't notice the ship's bell until this post either I like the final option, it seems to take the best aspects of both ships and puts them together very nicely! Will these plans be available for download anywhere if they don't get selected?

Sorry I'm late to the party, here's my two cents on the original model. 1) Is the hull color scheme good? It might be a little bland for me. Yellow rails on the top seem too pirate-y. What do you guys think? I think the color scheme is excellent! I'm not a huge fan of brick built sails, but were I to build one of these I would just leave those off and make some cloth ones. 2) What do you think of the 21L Hose with Connector Grips (vs the smoother 22L Hose)? I think those look great. I'd probably try to adapt the Lego standard rope ladders were I to build one, but if they didn't fit I would definitely go with what you've got there instead. 3) What are your opinions on the cannons? I'm wondering about placement/distance apart/connection (front/rear)/number AND if the deck is too crowded. The cannons look great, but I'll echo what others have said about them all being to one side, but also getting that full guns to both sides won't fit. I would suggest adding equal ports on all sides to balance the external appearance, and leave the direction for the two exposed guns up to the builder. I didn't notice the aftmost gun being smaller until you said something, by the way :-) 4) Opinion on anchors/placement? Perfectly fine :-) 5) Fore deck has to be black. Is it too dark elsewhere? Ideas? It is a bit dark for my tastes. I'd suggest using tan plates if that doesn't mess up the external appearance. Alternately, I tile all of my ships with tan tiles, that brightens things up and makes it look like a plank deck. That might be something to consider. 6) Cabin... should I just make a Bluecoat version of the Scalawag Sloop's ? Something different? If so, what do you have in mind? I'd be impressed if there's room to put much of anything in there, TBH. If you can squeeze something in, go for it, but if it were me I'd consider myself lucky if I fit a bed and a chest in there. 7) Rudder/TIller. Right now, the smaller ship uses 68888 4 Bar Axle Connector Hub (like the Eldorado ship). Is it weird that the larger of the two uses a tiller? (It does work btw). Should I just go no cabin and try to make a working helm? I would think a working helm would be a pretty cool thing on a ship this size, and would personally consider it a very valid trade off for losing a tiny captain's cabin. I think a tiller is perfectly fine for a ship this size, though. 8) Are the railings too plain? The smaller ship has a similar vibe to the Eldorado stern rails, should I go with that? The railings look good, though you might want to consider a different color if you keep the black decks. That might look terrible, though, so don't go just off of my opnion there. Overall, I quite like both options. The first rendition seems more like a small warship, while the second seems more like a small, wealthy merchantman that can give something resembling a defense of itself (by Lego standards). If I were in the position to add to my fleet, I would probably add at least one of each!

The extra hull section really improves the balance of this set :-) What are the blue bricks in the bed? That looks incredible!

Has it really been four years already? Welcome back! I see you've been using your time wisely! Your ship looks proper deadly, sir. I have absolutely no pointers to make. A great looking ship with just the right amount of detail :-)

@kurigan has some pretty great brick built hulls as well. I don't know that he's still active, but if you search for his posts you'll see some really great examples there. There's an older method that does use the hull plates, developed by @Captain Green Hair that still gives you the curved hull and tumblehome, just not below the waterline. There are some variations on that as well that can be found throughout the forum. He has a full tutorial that you can check out, here:

You're being WAY too hard on yourself with your first effort. We all started somewhere, my first ship (when I wasn't a child) never even made it past LDD. You've got a lot of great ideas in this one. The stove is great, the expansive hold (plus enough removable deck to actually be able to access it) is awesome. You've got some great detail on the bow as well. Your bell and your wheel also look terrific. I would make three suggestions: 1- more contrast on the colors. Maybe make the upper hull a different color than the deck? I'd consider planking the whole deck, like you've started to do in front of the bed in the captain's quarters. 2- lids on all of the gun ports, preferably a color different from the stripe. Maybe red, because it's redcoat, but honestly whatever looks best to you. Just because it's redcoat doesn't mean the port lids have to be red too (I've got two bluecoat ships with red or green lids, with a yellow and an orange planned, depending on if my next child is a boy or girl). 3- more furniture/detail on the captain's cabin. A lot of people have done chequerboard patterns on their floors, that usually look pretty great, isn't that hard to do, and makes the cabins look pretty good.

Digging the new color pallette! Black yellow and red seems like a redo of the new Black Seas Barracuda. The new colors make it look more like your own ship. It's a great design with lots of little touches that I think are great (ie the skylight), the new colors really make it your own. Plus, bluecoats rule.

No less excellent :-) Well done to you both!

Me: OOO! Sebeus has a post! This is going to be great! *30 seconds later* Me: I am not disappointed.

Excellent use of available space :-)

On all of mine I've made the cabin ceilings removable, it's usually not all THAT big of a deal, but with your drop down sides it may not be entirely necessary. Incidentaly, mine don't have drop down sides, and I think that's a pretty cool feature you've made. What is behind the sideways ladder in the lower compartment? Is that some sort of fireplace/stove? Alternately, if you really want to make the ceiling removable, it may be worth it to make the entire captain's cabin removable, a la the 2011 Armada Flagship. You'd probably just need to add a couple of plates in the right places, and it should come right off- though as I'm looking closer the stern gallery might throw some wrenches in that. If you work it right, though, that could probably be used to hold the cabin in place so you don't need any studs to keep it from sliding off.

I'm personally not a huge fan of transom sterns. I know they existed then (the term itself stems from the 13th century), but for some reason they always seem a bit off to me on Lego ships. This said, I've got nothing else but praise for you on this. It's proportioned well (the forecastle does a lot to balance out the size of the captain's cabin), it's got a lot of clever features, it's well decorated, and I really dig the color pattern. Is there any chance we could get a few more pictures of the cabin interior? EDIT: The more I look at this, the more I like it! I really dig the removable main deck, and the panels that open to reveal the cabin and crew quarters. Nicely done!

Don't ask me why, but I read that as the "Tasty Rudder Pub". I suppose it would be kind of salty...