[ENTRY] 1795 Imperial Cannon Remake (Mini Set)

[CaptainDarkNStormy]

I have remade the classic 1795 Imperial Cannon Set into new mini build. I gave it a more streamlined profile and used some elements that weren't available in 1994, such as the masonry brick and the crab. It's the perfect little fortification for defending a harbor mouth or islet.

My design:

thumbnail_Chris-01 by Chris Boyd, on Flickr

thumbnail_Chris-02 by Chris Boyd, on Flickr

The original:

[Aanchir]

Oh, this is lovely! While omitting the stone arch over the cannon somewhat hampers its resemblance to the original set, it's a pretty outstanding little MOC when viewed in isolation, and definitely feels like the sort of thing that could be a polybag set today.

Besides being a fun detail, including a little animal like this crab also makes the soldier seem a little less "lonely" and gives the set more play value even without other/larger sets to pair it with. I could imagine a kid picking up this set in the checkout aisle of a store while on vacation and having the crab chase the soldier around with its pinching claws! I also love the little strip of shoreline under the pier that you included as the crab's hiding spot!

The main issue I see with this model currently is that you omitted the rammer (1x1x4 antenna piece), which is necessary equipment for operating this sort of 18th century cannon! I assume this was to stay within this contest category's piece count limitations, but even so, it reduces both the authenticity and play value of the set. However, it would probably be better to include a rammer, even if it means removing a piece elsewhere (the two simplest possibilities would be omitting one of the cannonballs or replacing the soldier with an officer so he no longer needs a backpack).

I also feel like swapping one of the water plates for a 6x6 round corner plate or 6x6 wedge plate would improve the look somewhat (models built on a rectangular slice of ocean often feel a little odd to me) but this is more of a personal preference rather than a fault of your model.

In any case, you did a nice job overall, especially considering the size and piece count limitations at play. Best of luck in the contest!

[Mazin]

Outstanding :) I don't know if it's a proper remake, cause it's a somwhat different and it might fall under the "inspired by" category. If it has a proper number of parts then it could probably go into mini-builds? Tho it;s not for me to judge, and it doesn't change the fact that I absolutely love this design. And it's actually better! Actually this whole turnament is turning me, a radical classics fan into someone very fond of those modern versions and elements provided with them.

Comparing the original with Your approach, first one seems very rushed, well, oversimplified realy, but i guess that might have been there intention, to give something easy to build for kids. Not saying that Yours is complicated, but there was difinitely some more planning on Your side, and i can't be picky about anything. Entire structure of Your fortification is very well built, with mixed elements, but very consistent and all those brick and wooden elements work well together. Even the way You've positioned that barrel and all important changes - soldier and the flag - it's all very ballanced, especially since You've added a little bit more water and reshaped it a bit.  And of course that little crab is like icing on the cake. 

So i can't be picky about anything, well, maybe about the cannon, cause it seems stuck in place, and that gunman couldn't make a good use out of it. Or maybe it's the rotating kind? 

I wonder if a seagull wouldn't be a good addition, to make a give it even more value and let that crab have his own animal friend... or his own enemy ;)  

 

 

[iragm]

I don't care what others say, this is a proper remake in my book!

I would swap out the yellow crab for a red one - better contrast against the sand.  But there's little else that needs changing here: it's a simple, well-executed, modern build.  As mentioned, good additions include a gull or a parrot or a ram rod.  You've got an extra cheese slope which presumably fell off the wall a few decades ago, it isn't really adding much, so it could go and you'd get an extra part.

I would swap out the flag for a bluecoat flag.  Not much else to say, this is a great little set.  Well done!

[CaptainDarkNStormy]

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

Oh, this is lovely! While omitting the stone arch over the cannon somewhat hampers its resemblance to the original set, it's a pretty outstanding little MOC when viewed in isolation, and definitely feels like the sort of thing that could be a polybag set today.

Thanks for the detailed feedback! My original design had the arch and was truer to the original form. After creating that one I started playing around with different elements and liked this lower profile design better.

 

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

Besides being a fun detail, including a little animal like this crab also makes the soldier seem a little less "lonely" and gives the set more play value even without other/larger sets to pair it with. I could imagine a kid picking up this set in the checkout aisle of a store while on vacation and having the crab chase the soldier around with its pinching claws! I also love the little strip of shoreline under the pier that you included as the crab's hiding spot! 

I really thought this set needed a critter and a crab seemed perfect for the sand under the dock!

 

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

The main issue I see with this model currently is that you omitted the rammer (1x1x4 antenna piece), which is necessary equipment for operating this sort of 18th century cannon! I assume this was to stay within this contest category's piece count limitations, but even so, it reduces both the authenticity and play value of the set. However, it would probably be better to include a rammer, even if it means removing a piece elsewhere (the two simplest possibilities would be omitting one of the cannonballs or replacing the soldier with an officer so he no longer needs a backpack).

You are correct about the part count being a limiting factor and that's why I omitted the "rammer" piece. That's a brilliant suggestion about swapping the soldier for an officer and losing the backpack!

 

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

I also feel like swapping one of the water plates for a 6x6 round corner plate or 6x6 wedge plate would improve the look somewhat (models built on a rectangular slice of ocean often feel a little odd to me) but this is more of a personal preference rather than a fault of your model.

I agree with that but I used a singular blue 6x14 plate for the base and added a 1x6 and 1x8 plate under the tan ones in the back. A wedge plate would increase the part count again but I might be able to work one in there somehow.

 

1 hour ago, Mazin said:

So i can't be picky about anything, well, maybe about the cannon, cause it seems stuck in place, and that gunman couldn't make a good use out of it. Or maybe it's the rotating kind?

It does have a turntable under it. It's the 2x2 one that the original set had. the cannon covers it up.

1 hour ago, Aanchir said:

In any case, you did a nice job overall, especially considering the size and piece count limitations at play. Best of luck in the contest!

Thank you, and thanks for the feedback! I might play around with this one a little more before the deadline but I have to prioritize my main entry. It's in the finishing stages!

[Mazin]

2 minutes ago, CaptainDarkNStormy said:

Thanks for the detailed feedback! My original design had the arch and was truer to the original form. After creating that one I started playing around with different elements and liked this lower profile design better.

 

I really thought this set needed a critter and a crab seemed perfect for the sand under the dock!

 

You are correct about the part count being a limiting factor and that's why I omitted the "rammer" piece. That's a brilliant suggestion about swapping the soldier for an officer and losing the backpack!

 

I agree with that but I used a singular blue 6x14 plate for the base and added a 1x6 and 1x8 plate under the tan ones in the back. A wedge plate would increase the part count again but I might be able to work one in there somehow.

 

It does have a turntable under it. It's the 2x2 one that the original set had. the cannon covers it up.

Thank you, and thanks for the feedback! I might play around with this one a little more before the deadline but I have to prioritize my main entry. It's in the finishing stages!

Thanx for responding and for cclearing that up to me :)

[CaptainDarkNStormy]

1 hour ago, Mazin said:

Outstanding :) I don't know if it's a proper remake, cause it's a somwhat different and it might fall under the "inspired by" category. If it has a proper number of parts then it could probably go into mini-builds? Tho it;s not for me to judge, and it doesn't change the fact that I absolutely love this design. And it's actually better! Actually this whole turnament is turning me, a radical classics fan into someone very fond of those modern versions and elements provided with them.

Comparing the original with Your approach, first one seems very rushed, well, oversimplified realy, but i guess that might have been there intention, to give something easy to build for kids. Not saying that Yours is complicated, but there was difinitely some more planning on Your side, and i can't be picky about anything. Entire structure of Your fortification is very well built, with mixed elements, but very consistent and all those brick and wooden elements work well together. Even the way You've positioned that barrel and all important changes - soldier and the flag - it's all very ballanced, especially since You've added a little bit more water and reshaped it a bit.  And of course that little crab is like icing on the cake.  

Thanks for the feedback! Like I mentioned above my original design was truer to the original, but to build that tall I had to use larger elements to avoid going over the 50 piece limit. By building lower it allowed me to use more differentiation and smaller elements. I liked this solution better after comparing the two.

 

1 hour ago, Mazin said:

I wonder if a seagull wouldn't be a good addition, to make a give it even more value and let that crab have his own animal friend... or his own enemy ;)  

Not a bad idea at all!

2 minutes ago, Mazin said:

Thanx for responding and for cclearing that up to me :)

My pleasure! Thanks again for the feedback!

1 hour ago, iragm said:

I don't care what others say, this is a proper remake in my book!

I would swap out the yellow crab for a red one - better contrast against the sand.  But there's little else that needs changing here: it's a simple, well-executed, modern build.  As mentioned, good additions include a gull or a parrot or a ram rod.  You've got an extra cheese slope which presumably fell off the wall a few decades ago, it isn't really adding much, so it could go and you'd get an extra part.

I would swap out the flag for a bluecoat flag.  Not much else to say, this is a great little set.  Well done!

Good suggestions as well. I appreciate the feedback!

[durazno33]

I agree with what's been said about the missing wall. I didn't recognize it from the start. If you have another piece, I might suggest adding a ram rod as without that to clean and prime the cannon, the soldier wouldn't be able to use his cannon.

[Rogue Redcoat]

Nice remake, I would just swap the blue plates on the bottom with the azure in Eldorado and Pirates or barracuda bay and also make the dock black to match the other sets, other than this others have thoroughly covered everything but I might ask what the piece count is? Anyway, happy building :)

[CaptainDarkNStormy]

7 hours ago, Rogue Redcoat said:

Nice remake, I would just swap the blue plates on the bottom with the azure in Eldorado and Pirates or barracuda bay and also make the dock black to match the other sets, other than this others have thoroughly covered everything but I might ask what the piece count is? Anyway, happy building :)

It's at 49 in my (hopefully) final version.

Here it is!

Imperial Cannon Final by

[Rogue Redcoat]

It looks great now with the updates 

[CaptainDarkNStormy]

19 minutes ago, Rogue Redcoat said:

It looks great now with the updates 

Thanks Matey!

[MstrOfPppts]

Was just about to write how this set is a good example that shows that not all modern sets need rounded plates for bases nor the newer azure color since blue works just fine! But then I scroll down and I see the update. Not better nor worse in my eyes, I just think it's an unnecessary update. Even the crab was better in yellow to bring in some contrast to red epaulets ...

Anyway, as I've suggest before to others, whichever version you decide to be your final, include it in the first post. Since that is the only image the majority of voters will have a look at!

Otherwise one of the stronger entries and a very nice remake.

[Mazin]

 Yet another lone soldier missing from the list @Mister Phes 

[Mister Phes]

3 minutes ago, Mazin said:

 Yet another lone soldier missing from the list @Mister Phes 

And don't forget crab!

[CaptainDarkNStormy]

Update! I made it out of real bricks.

[Rogue Redcoat]

Nice ;) looks great with the updates