cb4

[SR-FB1] The Nemesis

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An unnatural calm has fallen over the Brick Seas. Sailing ships lie in harbour, pitch dripping from their rigging under the pitiless sun. Trade has ground to a virtual halt, with only galleys plying their way along the coasts, their rowers spurred by the incessant beating of the drum.

Richard Walton, smuggler, has been trapped in Bastion by the lack of wind. He sits on the dock... and fishes.

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Robert: Hello Brother. How are they biting? I've brought you something to drink.

Richard: Ahh, Robert. How very kind. How's business?

Robert: For now, it's wonderful. The denizens of Bastion have little to do but eat and drink. But I fear they will soon run out of money, and there's precious few in this town to whom I'd extend credit.

I can't help but notice the frigate moored across from you. Has the Corrington Navy come to haul us all off to jail?

Richard: No such luck. I hear Corrington is cool and windy this time of year. No - I forget you're new here - she's the Nemesis.​ She's been under construction in the yard here for the last few months. She was delayed when Hurricane Stepho hit - the whole yard was washed out - but she's complete now. They just warped her over from the sheer hulk this morning. Now she's being provisioned. They must know something about this weather that I don't.

Robert: So you're telling me that the Sea Rats have built a frigate? Don't you think that will cause some... shall we say... consternation among the other powers? The occasional smuggling and high seas robbery is one thing, but with a ship like that, no merchant will be safe. The Sea Rats will never be able to pass her off as commerce protection or whatever the latest excuse is.

Richard: I don't know what they think. It can't come as any surprise to them. Everyone in Bastion knows - they've been building her openly with no real attempt at secrecy. If the intelligence services of the great powers are worth anything, they already know about her. What nobody knows is who has commissioned her. It seems like whoever is bankrolling her doesn't want anyone to know who they are. Probably so they won't risk arrest once she starts snapping up ships left and right. Even Phineas Studdington, the designer, doesn't know who is paying him.

Robert: Phineas Studdington? The disgraced Corrington shipwright?

Richard: ​The very same. He couldn't get a job in any reputable town after that incident with that Lord's daughter, but now he's here and he'll build for anyone who can pay.

Robert: Well. All I can say - it's going to be a very interesting trade season. Assuming we ever get some wind, that is.

Here are the real pictures with no set dressing. I have to admit I have a lot of trouble taking pictures of her. She's just too big for my crappy setup.

One mini figure is included for scale (the elusive Phineas Studdington?)

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Edited by cb4

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Oooh, that looks really awesome! Looking forward to extra images!

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That brick built hull is very, very impressive! Actually the whole ship is very impressive, such a lovely shape and all that rigging.... pirate_oh.gif ! Will she be commissioned any time soon? If so I fear for her enemies!!

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Excellent technique that is as close you can get to a studded version of curving the hull! I would really like to see more of her spine and inner hull joints at some point. Was she built like "The Parakeet" or something? The rigging...oh the dreaded rigging!!!

A nice story too. I liked it that you presented the MOC by presenting two passing by citizens to talk about it. Last but not least, I really liked the fishing musket/rod detail !!!

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Excellent ship, CB4, the curves are superb, and that rigging and the size of the entire thing are incredibly impressive as well! :thumbup: Although in general I prefer less studs, it does look quite good here - and is there any chance that she will be outfitted with sails in the future? pirate_wink.gif

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Excellent ship and a great technique you've used to create it! I love the classic colour scheme and all the detailing on the decks.

If I am allowed 2 nitpicks I think the bow is a little too sharp/pointy up top and the headrails could look nicer/more elaborate. Perhaps some yellow in the headrails could look nice too.

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Stunning ship. It looks HUGE. Great lines. So much to like. I'd say more, but my jaw is on the floor.

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Thanks to everyone for the comments and criticisms!

CGH - Yes, the bow was definitely a struggle. While building her I didn't realize that most frigates have reduced tumblehome towards the bows, which reduces the pointyness up top. I also had trouble coming up with fancy head rails that didn't look silly. Without tubes (which I don't have), I just couldn't make it look good, so I made her utilitarian with minimal decoration, just a few nods to the BSB. I definitely want better decoration for my next ship.

blackdeathgr - I will try to dig out some pictures of her guts. She is built on similar principles to the Parakeet. She more or less looks like a real ship inside. There is a LOT of room down there.

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Damn. She is a bute for sure! I love it! The hull is superb! And the rigging. The deck. Wow. This is a masterpiece. Great work!

~Insectoid Aristocrat

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Here's a few more pictures to give a sense of scale. For those who are wondering, she's 92 studs at the waterline, 108 studs overall (not including bowsprit or any rigging) and has a maximum beam of 23.5 studs. She has 24 long guns (+2 chasers) and 12 carronades. No idea what that would equate to in the MCRA.

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For those who are curious about her construction, here's a few pictures I happened to take while rebuilding a large part of her - I wasn't satisfied with her lines and the upper sides were too flimsy, so a whole bunch of changes got made. However, the general construction principles didn’t change.

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Oh, and I forgot to mention - I do plan to add sails... once I screw up my courage to start cutting cloth.

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Thanks for the interior/construction pics! It's actually simpler than I imagined (which is a compliment). Well designed!

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I am usually not commenting here as I am building other stuff - but this is fantastic!

Very well done.

And thanks for sharing the detailed pictures from the inside - so I get an idea how to build such a fine ship!

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I heavily debated my reply but I can’t bring myself to be anything but honest and sincerely hope you can respect me for it. The hull hasn’t changed enough for me to stop loving it. In the master’s defense as nemesis is, she is very similar to Rattlesnake, which despite popular opinion, is a well-documented period ship that did indeed have such a point bow.

What I’m not so fond of, now, is the deck, stern gallery and rig. The deck is by no means wrong, the gray just makes it look unkempt, like on my own Nonesuch. If that’s the intended effect, then great, but i had hoped such a fine vessel would have fallen into the hands of a crew who care for better.

The stern gallery just doesn’t seem to live up to the rest of the ship. It’s not bad, just not thrilling. Using the Tudor style muntins and floral decorations makes it seem more like something off a galleon from Drake’s time rather than daring frigate from Nelson’s era.

I really don’t feel as though you’ve done all your hard work and justice with the entirety of the rig. Even without a greater investment in parts, like something round for the spars, more could have been done with just the string. I’ve been promising for a long time, but work actually begins on my long advertised Rigging Tutorial. Perhaps you’ll find it useful and wat to take another crack at it once you the simplicity of my methods.

To be clear. I can’t actually complain about Nemesis in any way. Nothing about her is “wrong” or “in accurate”, it’s all just opinion. Opinion born of a deep respect for your work. My vein is not to belittle but offer constructive criticism with a goal of inspiring you to greater things, where I feel you’ve fallen careless.

Thanks for sharing her all the same, and despite my grievances above, it’s is great to see her continuing.

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Actually she is more or less built to Rattlesnake's lines. I am not sure how close she is now because my initial version looked a little odd because I didn't realize that diagram was not scanned straight. Good eye!

Definitely she's not a fancy ship. My goal was BSB color scheme (she's really a 'realistic' BSB homage though obviously more late 18th century) and everything really simple. She's a utilitarian ship for practical pirates. I agree the rigging is subpar. It's not my forte (neither is decoration) and it's something I need to get better at. That includes making sails.

At the end of the day it was important to get her out the door. I could iterate on her for years but then I don't get the feedback I need. She's been sitting on my shelf for 4 years and needed to be done. I am happy with her shape for the most part and that's the important thing to me in terms of proving what I can build.

Edited by cb4

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Really nice hull. Gives me an idea of how to construct a Ship of the line hull I was thinking to build. Great job!!

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As I am not an expert ship builder, I will only make this one critiquing comment. The ship reflects a classic feel especially with all the studs facing out on the hull and the sides of the ship, but then you tiled the deck which seemed contrary to the revealed studs. I guess I would be interested in seeing it all one way or the other. Outside of that, the design of this ship is great and the interior of the brick built hull is amazing! I also like this style of brickbuilt cannons. Using the black minifigure heads improves the design in my opinion. I do also like the nod to the BSB.

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This is an exceptionally good vessel. :pir-wub:

The shape alone is fantastic, and the exposed-stud design of the hull is actually refreshing to my eyes. You've built a masterpiece by most standards, even if it is somewhat lacking of decor. The pics of the inner workings show a very well-planned design, and one that looks fairly realistic at that. And the classic BSB colorscheme looks nice as well. It all comes together as a beautiful ship. :thumbup:

It's been a while since anyone earned the "Ship Expert" tag/title. What do you think, folks? :look:

Excellent work. :classic:

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This is an exceptionally good vessel. :pir-wub:

The shape alone is fantastic, and the exposed-stud design of the hull is actually refreshing to my eyes. You've built a masterpiece by most standards, even if it is somewhat lacking of decor. The pics of the inner workings show a very well-planned design, and one that looks fairly realistic at that. And the classic BSB colorscheme looks nice as well. It all comes together as a beautiful ship. :thumbup:

It's been a while since anyone earned the "Ship Expert" tag/title. What do you think, folks? :look:

Excellent work. :classic:

I didn't even notice until you pointed it out. Always just seemed a given to me. Well he'd get my vote!

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