52 replies to this topic

[Horry]

UPDATE: 06.August 2012

She may not look like having changed much, but the recent catastrophies around here that happened to all the great ships made me rework HMS Centaur completely. I realigned the outer hull and the deck-plating to make it sturdier and less fragile. I also redid the stern, some of the rigging and reworked the complete captain's cabin. The cabin now features a light and removable walls for clearing the deck. Here are some pics:


Centaur5_total1 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Centaur5_stern von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Centaur5_quarters01 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

The table has a stud for adding a map that will press down the light-switch


Centaur5_quarters02 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

The cabin with activated light - notice the removable walls in the background


Centaur5_CrowsNest von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Centaur5_Bow01 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Centaur5_astern von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Hi folks! Allow me to introduce myself. Me name be Horry and I am a great admirer of the ships presented here!
As I was re-reading the Hornblower books I thought it might be nice to try to build a ship myself and this was my first attempt on the matter:

The HMS Centaur, a sixth-rate frigate with 24 guns and 150 souls, supposed to be build around 1750. As you might see, my approach on this one was rather clumsy. I tried to focus on a realistic model with all the necessary details. In the end, I constructed a modular vessel that could be divided into four sections to view the decks from within.

Sadly, I made the mistake to put it on the heater and when my flatmate turned the heat on, the bricks distorted and when I took the ship up the next time, it collapsed in my hands. However, this gives me the opportunity to try a better model and after the weekend I will post some pictures of my new approach on the vessel!

Edited by Horry, 06 August 2012 - 01:03 AM.

[Captain Becker]

Nice looking ship, but id make a few changes. First of all: The gunports are 4 by 4 plates, but you gunholes are only 2 by 4, wich really isnt a good looking thing, make the gunports 2 or 3 bricks high and 3 or 2 bricks wide and you should be good for those. Also change the gunports so at they arent so large and look so weird, maby 3 wide and 3 or 4 tall should be good. Also, the top cabin shoul be removed, when its only one decker ship. Try those and you should be good. Keep it up!

Captain Becker

[mattb483]

A nice ship you have there. However I agree with captain becker the gunports are to large and a little weird looking. Also the stern has a bit of a boxey look to it.5he inside of the cabian looks nicely detailed and the colors are great keep up the good work, looking forward to the finished product.

[Admiral Croissant]

Considering that some people here spend years on their Lego ship, one weekend is a bit short to make a real good, realistic one.
But anyway, I like your colourscheme, and the stern is quite good as well, except for that it's a bit too square IMO.
And I like the checkered floor in the cabin
You also did a rather good job on the sails and rigging, but it can be improved a little:

The shapes of the sails aren't right here, but it does show where they are usually placed and I've also added a few yards (in red).
Good luck!

[Perfectionist]

Uhh the story with bricks distorting on a heater really hurts...  
Well, for a weekend project with limited amounts of parts your ship does look promising however, even though it is of course rather clumsy. From that background you can be proud of her!

However as Admiral Croissant said, building a more realistic and sophisticated ship takes way longer and also costs much more, so there is no point nitpicking on details when you're not willing or able to build to that standard.  

[Horry]

Captain Becker, on 25 March 2011 - 05:45 PM, said:

Nice looking ship, but id make a few changes. First of all: The gunports are 4 by 4 plates, but you gunholes are only 2 by 4, wich really isnt a good looking thing, make the gunports 2 or 3 bricks high and 3 or 2 bricks wide and you should be good for those. Also change the gunports so at they arent so large and look so weird, maby 3 wide and 3 or 4 tall should be good. Also, the top cabin shoul be removed, when its only one decker ship.

Captain Becker

I was thinking the same about the top cabin. The gunports hadn't crossed my mind as a problem, yet. I'll try a two-bricks-high / three brick-wide variant.

Admiral Croissant, on 25 March 2011 - 09:35 PM, said:

You also did a rather good job on the sails and rigging, but it can be improved a little:

The shapes of the sails aren't right here, but it does show where they are usually placed and I've also added a few yards (in red).

Thanks for the rigging-suggestions! I just ordered some new bricks for these and I'm looking forward to gettin' my hands on them.


thank you very much for your feedback. I think I have to reword my first posting. What I meant was not that I try to build a complete model in two days (but yes, that was actually the case with the first version). I have been planning and trying small bits and pieces for two weeks and what I want to do now is puttin' more work (and some more bricks) into the new model. And as it goes I'd love to get further comments from you people.

[Aalak]

Horry, on 27 March 2011 - 01:11 PM, said:

thank you very much for your feedback. I think I have to reword my first posting. What I meant was not that I try to build a complete model in two days (but yes, that was actually the case with the first version). I have been planning and trying small bits and pieces for two weeks and what I want to do now is puttin' more work (and some more bricks) into the new model. And as it goes I'd love to get further comments from you people.

That's the right spirit. Good luck with HMS Centaur V2.0! Since you got 3 masts on the old one, I presume you'll do the same on the new one? So here is my suggestion for the placements. The space beetween the fore-mast and the main-mast should be 1,5 times the space between the main- and the mizzen-mast. (something I learned from the Admiral, too  )
I like the way you made her playable from the inside with the removable cabinwalls!   Hope you'll gonna use it in the next version as well, but although I think a bit more curve in the stern would be great!

Good luck with the building process!!!

[Horry]

Because I still want to build a modular vessel I had to try out some approaches on how to make it possible to see the interior of the ship.
So I build a study model in order to find out whether lowerable decks would work.
I think it might be possible if you dissect the decks as shown below. My first idea on building a complete lowerable deck failed utterly as the deck tilted constantly when trying to lower or raise it into/out of the mainframe.
Still, the model becomes unneccessarily unstable and I'll go on to try out a slice-section method for the next week.

As for your suggestions: I already tried some mild corrections but did not give them too much effort since I am going to dismantle the model anyway.


stern von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

Bow von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

lower deck von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

battery deck von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

battery deck 02 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


There are some more pictures in the album: study model

Edited by Horry, 29 March 2011 - 04:36 PM.

[Horry]

yes, I am easy to distract - when I was lookin' for some bricks and looked at the dismantled bow I decided to make a small addendum: A team of archaeologists discovered the wreck of the HMS Centaur in the 21st. century and is now examining the bow.


Laboratory von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Bow von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Restauration Centre 03 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

[lt.Gonville brickhead]

HA.grreat idea.

[Horry]

Okay now. Much work has been done and I've constructed a new stern section. The vessel itself will be composed of three sections that can be separated in order to take a look at the inner life. The steering is a functioning thing now, though the technique used to make this happen is not very witty: I attached two yarn threads to the oarblade and  threaded them trough hollows in the stern specifically made for this. They end up at the wheel - that's the story.

I am still thinking about the alignment and form and technique for the gunports, those are not final by any means.

Now, before I go on doing the midship section I would like to hear your comments and suggestions!  

New Stern 04 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

New Stern 01 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

and more here: progress report

Edited by Horry, 31 March 2011 - 11:17 AM.

[Aalak]

I like parts of your stern design, specially the double-dragon ornament and the technic brick line with the black round plates.
But overvall the stern is to wide, my suggestion would be by 4 bricks. Loose the roundbricks and 1x2 bricks beetween the windows. The same goes for the deck, it should be smaller by at least 2 bricks. The roof slopes are great again. But the area with the wheel schould be smaller. Although the wheel should be in front of the mast on the lower part of the deck. Look here:


One suggestion, I don't know wich parts are available for you, so, maybe you could try a construction with jumper-plates, on the inner-side of the stern cabin, so that you have an 1/2 brick break and a bit of round shape behind the sidegallerie ...

The same in our language, since I'm not sure, If I would understand myself in english  

Und schnell nochmal auf deutsch, weil ich mich selber schwer verstehene würde. An der Seite, wo die Cabine in die Bordwand mündet... statt dem "harten" Wechsel, am besten mit den Jumper-Plates eine Reihe einbauen --da hast du es wie eine kleine Treppe und etwas runder.

Hope I could help you!

Edited by Aalak, 31 March 2011 - 04:00 PM.

[Captain Becker]

Looks much better now, the stern is more realistic by now, but some gold decorations wouldnt be bad either.
I like the fact at the steering wheel is also working now, but if possble, you could move it more forwards, because most of the ships on 1700 century the wheel was located under the poopdeck in 2 or 3 decker sips (HMS Victory for example).
And to get back to the stern, there could easily be one more window yet if you take those 1x1 round bricks away and 1x2 bricks also, when you have done that, you could also make the center windows one plate higher to give the windows some curve. Leave the last windows as they are now, second windows 1 plate higher, and the cebnter one 2 plates high. I dont sa anything at you dont get too much work at the same time. Keep it up, looking very promising at the moment.

Captain Becker

[Horry]

Aalak, on 31 March 2011 - 03:59 PM, said:

But overvall the stern is to wide, my suggestion would be by 4 bricks. Loose the roundbricks and 1x2 bricks beetween the windows. The same goes for the deck, it should be smaller by at least 2 bricks.
...

Hope I could help you!

Yes, you could very much! I didn't reduce it by four bricks but by two. Also moved the wheel and made a smoother rounding for the cabin area.

Captain Becker, on 01 April 2011 - 06:20 PM, said:

Looks much better now, the stern is more realistic by now, but some gold decorations wouldnt be bad either.
I like the fact at the steering wheel is also working now, but if possble, you could move it more forwards, because most of the ships on 1700 century the wheel was located under the poopdeck in 2 or 3 decker sips (HMS Victory for example).
And to get back to the stern, there could easily be one more window yet if you take those 1x1 round bricks away and 1x2 bricks also, when you have done that, you could also make the center windows one plate higher to give the windows some curve. Leave the last windows as they are now, second windows 1 plate higher, and the cebnter one 2 plates high. I dont sa anything at you dont get too much work at the same time. Keep it up, looking very promising at the moment.

Captain Becker

I couldn't include another window but I gave it some curve, as suggested. Looks better now, you are right :-)
As for the gold decorations: with the exception of some smaller parts I bought my last Lego in 1997 or around that point of time. I haven't bought since then and am only beginning to scan through the offers and the state-of-the-art-Lego. For things like those I will need some more time before I have dediced on what to get for the itsy bitsy details. (There is so much Lego to see, I can't decide!  )

For the sake of transparency: I got some blueprints for a HMS Surprise model and started applying the measurements to my model, changed the hullconfiguration accordingly and now are about half a centimetre too wide in the hull's with. That I would be prepared to accept. I am not building the Surprise, anyway but orientating on her.

Here are the updates, what do you think?

Stern Version 2.5 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr
Stern 2 Version 2.5 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr
Poopdeck version 2.5 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr
Stern Detail 01 Version 2.5 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

album would be there: Centaur 2.0

[Aalak]

Looking good so far with ne new positions of the sidewindows. ... additional windows would be great... but since I don't know your technic behind it...

If you need parts and don't want to buy sets, you could use bricklink instead. Could be cheaper sometimes :D

[Horry]

Now for the report on the status:

The new hull is more or less finished. As I am still waiting for some new bricks to arrive, there are some placeholders there (especially the bow). The rigging has not been done, yet and the masts are only there as orientation. Aalak, I included the suggested second side-window. Did you mean it like this?

I'd appreciate any comments!

stern 2.5 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

new hull version 2.5 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

bow version 2.5 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

new hull 2 version 2.5 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

[Aalak]

Horry, on 05 April 2011 - 09:32 PM, said:

Now for the report on the status:
Aalak, I included the suggested second side-window. Did you mean it like this?

Yes I did mean that, I like the progress you're making! The Bow looks nice already, but since it's still under construction I wait for the next update.
Did you put the kitchen in the ship ... the one you posted in your flickr? I liked the way you used the red clipplates for lobsters  

Keep it up!

[Horry]

aye, the galley is in the bow section of the orlop deck. That reminds me of the fact, that I have to get the chimney up and running. I'll tell the lobsters you like them  

[Admiral Croissant]

You're indeed making good progress   The colourscheme and the yellow curve in the side look good.
I have 2 suggestions for improvement though.
First the deck curve. I think this image explains a lot:

Your deck is more like the green line, but I think the red one looks better.
So actually the deck gets wider all the way towards the bow, and then it gets narrow very fast.

The other thing is to make the black railing of the poop deck slope more fluently, like this:


I'm looking forward to the next update

[Horry]

Admiral Croissant, on 05 April 2011 - 10:15 PM, said:

You're indeed making good progress   The colourscheme and the yellow curve in the side look good.
I have 2 suggestions for improvement though.
First the deck curve. I think this image explains a lot:
Your deck is more like the green line, but I think the red one looks better.
So actually the deck gets wider all the way towards the bow, and then it gets narrow very fast.

The other thing is to make the black railing of the poop deck slope more fluently, like this:

I'm looking forward to the next update

I'll implement both suggestions. As this means that I'll have to rebuild the mid section and much of the stern section (I'll use the opportunity to narrow the stern a bit more) the next upgrade will take some time. Especially as I plan to re-do the bow section first.
Thank you all for the help so far!

[ryanrl]

Well first of all i think it is a good start, however i feel that around the bow you kind of got off shape from what an actual ship would be (I think it it too square looking.) However I think you did  a nice job on the lower decks and the captains quarters. My suggestion is on the front try to make it come to more of a point possibly using roof tiles. I don't really know it's just a suggestion but other than that nice job!

[Admiral Benbow]

Admiral Croissant, on 25 March 2011 - 09:35 PM, said:

and I've also added a few yards (in red).

I agree, the masts seem just a little bit short

[Captain Blackmoor]

All I can say about this build is that you are doing a nice job here. It's great to see the way you're heading into!
This is a very promising build, very nice already!

[Horry]

Thank you for your comments so far. I have been building for a bit now and I would like to present the new hull to you.
I tried to improve on the hull-line and utilised the technique described by Captain Green Hair to give the curve a smoother look. Additionally, I narrowed down the stern again and gave it more curve. I'd really like to know what you're thinking about this:


Hull 2 3.0 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Hull 3.0 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Detail 3.0 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Stern 3.0 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr


Bow 3.0 von HMSCentaur auf Flickr

Edited by Horry, 19 April 2011 - 10:42 AM.

[Captain Becker]

Two words: Less curve! Keeps the sides tallness same, but reduce the curve so it would be more like this:
(Sorry my bad photoshopping, but hope you will get the picture what i mean)
And secondly, take the second window on the cabin sides away. (The one wich is on the right in that picture) so it would look better, and making this you can add one or two more gunports over there if you like to. Keep us updated.

Captain Becker

Edited by Captain Becker, 19 April 2011 - 02:41 PM.