HMS Cucumber

[Sir Kingston]

HMS Cucumber is still in sea trials- orders are pending. She is an 11-gun Sloop of War, With a xebec sail configuration. She was originally designed with a square rig, but was altered to complement the triangular sails. All cannon are 12 pounders, including a turntable bow chaser. Below her gun deck is a large storage hold. I think she is a class 4, maybe 5? C&C welcome as always. It’s not licensed and may not be for a bit. (Must consolidate my fortune first)

 

 

Edited May 15, 2020 by Sir Kingston
adjusted cannon calibre

[blackdeathgr]

Nice one! If I were you, I would have raised the deck a bit at the stern (where the helm is) for better visibility while sailing

Edited May 12, 2020 by blackdeathgr

[Thomas Waagenaar]

That looks really cute! But I think the term you're looking for is 'Sloop of war', as brigantines are distinguished by them having only 2 masts and your has 3 ^^.

I love the colour combination of the white/black base with yellow line and red accents too!

[Bodi]

Looking good, I like the tumblehome,the hull shape,the overall colour scheme, and the absence of that blocky stern castle commonly seen on lego ships.

As improvement, I think you could get ride of that upper part to have a smoother transition from tumblehome to bow, since you already using hinges on top of that piece, you may continue all the way down, until you reach the lower prefab piece, this should allow us to have more liberty in colour combination, especially when smaller ships. 

 

[Sir Kingston]

20 hours ago, blackdeathgr said:

Nice one! If I were you, I would have raised the deck a bit at the stern (where the helm is) for better visibility while sailing

Thanks! I had tried that, but with the general size and shape I was going for, it just didn’t turn out.

3 hours ago, Thomas Waagenaar said:

That looks really cute! But I think the term you're looking for is 'Sloop of war', as brigantines are distinguished by them having only 2 masts and your has 3 ^^.

I love the colour combination of the white/black base with yellow line and red accents too!

That’s my mistake- it was originally meant to have two masts and I guess I didn’t think that one through. As for the colour scheme- I like it too even if it is basic.

3 hours ago, Bodi said:

Looking good, I like the tumblehome,the hull shape,the overall colour scheme, and the absence of that blocky stern castle commonly seen on lego ships.

As improvement, I think you could get ride of that upper part to have a smoother transition from tumblehome to bow, since you already using hinges on top of that piece, you may continue all the way down, until you reach the lower prefab piece, this should allow us to have more liberty in colour combination, especially when smaller ships. 

 

Glad you like it! I will definitely make use of the hinge pieces in my future projects. I like that particular colour scheme on period ships, even if it is pretty well known. I wanted to go for something a bit different  so I opted for the deck to just be flat, I thought the ship would just look like rectangle but it worked out decently.

[Bregir]

Good looking ship, sir! I like the inclusion of a tumblehome and the classic yellow and black on the white hull with red accents works well. A few comments to consider:

1. Confusion of terms
   Sloop-of-war is a classification of ship, rather than of rigging. A sloop-of-war would be an unrated (smaller than a 6th rate) warship, and could have any number of different rigs. (Although oddly enough, it would never be sloop-rigged) Typical rigs could be ship rig, brig rig, snow rig, or even schooner or xebec. A sloop-of-war would in the royal navy be commanded by a "master and commander" (more than a lieutenant, but less than a post-captain).
   Brig, brigantine, xebec, snow, etc. are all rigging types. (Wikipedia has some nice articles on the subject for anyone interested) Yours is defintely a xebec.
2. Hull
   Overall, I think you have made a nice hull with loads of good details and the inclusion of a tumblehome. For future ships, you could consider adding a more pronounced "sheer" (curve from stern to bow - in effect, the middle gunports would be lower than the fore and aft ones in a gentle curve - the older the ship, the more pronounced), as well as look at the curve of your sides. (A sailing ship is widest in the middle, tapering in against the stern) I also think the inclusion of cabin windows without a quarterdeck above is rather peculiar
3. Rigging
   Overall, nice looking lateens, but they will be very hard to tack with, given the yards overlap the mast in front and hence can't turn to the other side
   Lateen rigged ships typically have VERY long lateen yards as in the picture below, often so long that they curve from the stress. So often, when building lateen rigged ships, you should have fewer masts, and place them at the very extremities of the hull. There is also often a considerable size difference between the masts and yards. See for instance the example below.
   
   When using paper sails, a trick can be to cut the edges in a gentle inward curve, as that makes them look more dynamic.
   I also note that you have the chain plates (where shrouds would be attached) of a two master (the original brig?). That seems rather odd on a three masted xebec In any case, experimenting with some rudimentary standing rigging in the form of shrouds and stays can also really make a big improvement on a moc. I suggest starting out with a thick-ish sewing thread, as that is cheap and easily accessible. Plenty of room to experiment - I find one always needs more string than initially planned!
4. Armament
   Considering you are using the official cannon, 24 pounders is probably a reasonable assessment, and with BoBS being what it is, we have plenty of artistic license. In its real world counterparts, though, 24 pounder long guns would only be found on heavy frigates or larger. A sloop like this would probably carry 6 pounders, or potentially 12 or 18 pounder carronades.
5. Class
   I think she is a class 4. On three mid sections and fairly lightly built with one open deck.

Hope some of the above is useful - I think this is a very solid build with many great details, and she will be most welcome amongst the other vessels of the Royal Navy! The feedback above is for consideration for future builds, and may be helpful. You may decide to try to incorporate one or more elements in a coming build, but it is all up to you.

[Sir Kingston]

7 hours ago, Bregir said:

Good looking ship, sir! I like the inclusion of a tumblehome and the classic yellow and black on the white hull with red accents works well. A few comments to consider:

1. Confusion of terms
   Sloop-of-war is a classification of ship, rather than of rigging. A sloop-of-war would be an unrated (smaller than a 6th rate) warship, and could have any number of different rigs. (Although oddly enough, it would never be sloop-rigged) Typical rigs could be ship rig, brig rig, snow rig, or even schooner or xebec. A sloop-of-war would in the royal navy be commanded by a "master and commander" (more than a lieutenant, but less than a post-captain).
   Brig, brigantine, xebec, snow, etc. are all rigging types. (Wikipedia has some nice articles on the subject for anyone interested) Yours is defintely a xebec.
2. Hull
   Overall, I think you have made a nice hull with loads of good details and the inclusion of a tumblehome. For future ships, you could consider adding a more pronounced "sheer" (curve from stern to bow - in effect, the middle gunports would be lower than the fore and aft ones in a gentle curve - the older the ship, the more pronounced), as well as look at the curve of your sides. (A sailing ship is widest in the middle, tapering in against the stern) I also think the inclusion of cabin windows without a quarterdeck above is rather peculiar
3. Rigging
   Overall, nice looking lateens, but they will be very hard to tack with, given the yards overlap the mast in front and hence can't turn to the other side
   Lateen rigged ships typically have VERY long lateen yards as in the picture below, often so long that they curve from the stress. So often, when building lateen rigged ships, you should have fewer masts, and place them at the very extremities of the hull. There is also often a considerable size difference between the masts and yards. See for instance the example below.
   
   When using paper sails, a trick can be to cut the edges in a gentle inward curve, as that makes them look more dynamic.
   I also note that you have the chain plates (where shrouds would be attached) of a two master (the original brig?). That seems rather odd on a three masted xebec In any case, experimenting with some rudimentary standing rigging in the form of shrouds and stays can also really make a big improvement on a moc. I suggest starting out with a thick-ish sewing thread, as that is cheap and easily accessible. Plenty of room to experiment - I find one always needs more string than initially planned!
4. Armament
   Considering you are using the official cannon, 24 pounders is probably a reasonable assessment, and with BoBS being what it is, we have plenty of artistic license. In its real world counterparts, though, 24 pounder long guns would only be found on heavy frigates or larger. A sloop like this would probably carry 6 pounders, or potentially 12 or 18 pounder carronades.
5. Class
   I think she is a class 4. On three mid sections and fairly lightly built with one open deck.

Hope some of the above is useful - I think this is a very solid build with many great details, and she will be most welcome amongst the other vessels of the Royal Navy! The feedback above is for consideration for future builds, and may be helpful. You may decide to try to incorporate one or more elements in a coming build, but it is all up to you.

I will take all of this into consideration! It probably won’t be licensed anytime soon as I still have to get started in the whole EGS.

[Keymonus]

Nice build! The stern is probably a little too sharp, but I like the colour scheme and the overall structure. BTW, impressive armament!

[Sir Kingston]

10 hours ago, Keymonus said:

Nice build! The stern is probably a little too sharp, but I like the colour scheme and the overall structure. BTW, impressive armament!

It is quite on the extremes of believablilty as far as armament, I guess the closest reasonable real-world inspiration is a razee, but it's much too short and narrow. I might downgrade the guns to 12 pdrs.