[ENTRY] [LARGE] - Steve's Upgraded Cutter (The Untold Story)

[Andy-Roo]

Why is Steve roaming the sea in a new, improved and larger Merchant Clipper? The story best explained in this letter from a curious Imperial Naval Officer.

*For those who don't want to read you can listen / watch here:

_______________________________________________________

I address thee, Governor, with a matter of utmost gravity. A tale unfolds concerning the notorious Steve the Merchant.
For many a season, he frequented the company of the Imperials, and oft appeared at the Trading posts, ferrying rum and medicine for resupply. It appears Steve hath garnered a keen understanding of the workings of our Imperial fleet.
His vessel, his hallmark. was a diminutive cutter equipped with 1 jib, 1 square mast, and 1 spanker sail. 

 

In time, Steve departed the merchant's trade to join privateers, yet whispers suggest not all his compatriots were of honorable ilk. Informants whisper of Steve's affiliations with the likes of Captain Red Beard—news most troubling.

 

Upon this revelation, Steve's cutter was commandeered by Imperial forces whilst harbored in port. He was sought for interrogation, yet did not return for his vessel, vanishing for years. The Merchant Cutter has been refit and is now a part of the Imperial Fleet.

 

Recent sightings, however, reveal Steve aboard a newly improved cutter, larger and more robust than the last. Steve was trading once more as if nothing had transpired.

 

Perplexity gripped me until further intelligence surfaced: reports of under patrolled shipping lanes, vulnerable to piracy due to inadequate Imperial presence.

 

Curiously, Steve navigates these very waters unimpeded. Might there be more to his story?

 

A credible witness, in due course, described a singular encounter: Steve had in a mysterious exchange with Rear Admiral Brickmast. A fully loaded chest of gold, left to the admiral.

 

It's apparent that certain officers may be susceptible to bribes from pirates, neglecting their sworn duties.
It stands to reason that Steve's dual allegiance to both Imperials and pirates renders him a valuable asset.

 

The pirates are  amassing substantial wealth, yet struggling to convert it into goods. Thus arises the need for smugglers and unscrupulous merchants to launder their ill-gotten gains. I suspect Steve covertly aids in harboring, resupplying, repairing, and expanding these pirate operations to larger prey.

 

I beseech you to initiate a formal inquiry into this affair and purge our seas of such corruption, so that we can be finished with this pirate menace for once and for all.

Yours faithfully,  Lieutenant Samuel Hawke


_______________________________________________________

He's a couple more pics not featured in the story:

Steve's View

 

Hope you enjoyed this. This all started with me ordering the Eldorado Fortress. I fell in love with the merchant ship and wanted to find a way to upsize it so I shared it on the Classic Pirates FB Group. I appreciate everyone's feedback on my first version and for encouraging me to submit to the contest.

While completing V2.0 of the build, I got inspired to play around with some practical photographic techniques. The water and sky is all done in camera (and edited in post).
As well this was a good excuse to practice my story telling, voice over and video editing skills. 

For anyone interested:
Full Flickr Album here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBzEYW
*Note I transformed old box art into the historic looking photos. I felt that helped tell the story and set up the reveal of the upgraded cutter. Hope this is allowed for this contest.
*The bribe scene was shot on the deck of The Triton Warship By Marooned_Marin . It is an amazing build and I would highly recommend.

Look forward to all feedback on this as this is my first MOC in decades.

Edited July 16, 2024 by Andy-Roo
Fixed Embedded Pictures / Formatting

[Mister Phes]

2 hours ago, Andy-Roo said:

 

What fantastic presentation of the build, complete with a mini documentary - you've certainly put a lot of work into this!

2 hours ago, Andy-Roo said:

Look forward to all feedback on this as this is my first MOC in decades.

And it was well worth the wait!

Steve's Upgraded Cutter (The Untold Story) has been incorporated into the Entries Index.

[Horation]

There's a bunch of nice pictures, a lot of original prose, and an overall excellent build.

I have seen one of these, occasionally two, but only very rarely all three. Then, you also added some video content, it really is an all-rounder!

One critique : we don't get an ensemble view of the whole interior, only small bits of it at a time, an overarching view (maybe with the sails removed so as to improve visibility for those pictures) could help give us a clearer sense of what is inside.

Other than that, really solid stuff, good luck in the voting phase!

[Andy-Roo]

14 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

What fantastic presentation of the build, complete with a mini documentary - you've certainly put a lot of work into this!

And it was well worth the wait!

Steve's Upgraded Cutter (The Untold Story) has been incorporated into the Entries Index.

Thank you! It was a lot of work but I enjoyed every minute if it. It was fun to bring this all to life and test out some new techniques as well!

10 hours ago, Horation said:

There's a bunch of nice pictures, a lot of original prose, and an overall excellent build.

I have seen one of these, occasionally two, but only very rarely all three. Then, you also added some video content, it really is an all-rounder!

One critique : we don't get an ensemble view of the whole interior, only small bits of it at a time, an overarching view (maybe with the sails removed so as to improve visibility for those pictures) could help give us a clearer sense of what is inside.

Other than that, really solid stuff, good luck in the voting phase!

Thank you! It was a good project to test a few different skills.

I agree that there wasn't as much of an overview of the interior / deck of the ship. Based on your feedback I have added a couple photos to the original post so that others can better see the ship.

Steve's View

 

[Horation]

Wunderschön!

Excellent build, I quite like the amount of stuff inside, it looks full but not cramped.

[Mister Phes]

4 hours ago, Andy-Roo said:

Thank you! It was a lot of work but I enjoyed every minute if it. It was fun to bring this all to life and test out some new techniques as well!

You could let the fun continue...

Think you'll be able to squeeze in a Small Entry? It could be something quick and simple, with 100 Pieces.

[Andy-Roo]

32 minutes ago, Mister Phes said:

You could let the fun continue...

Think you'll be able to squeeze in a Small Entry? It could be something quick and simple, with 100 Pieces.

Steve's Upgraded Cutter just came together as I had the vision for that brewing for a months. I did not consider the small entry but if I get any solid ideas I might give it a try.

I will have to consider what sorts of pieces I have, and I have less pirate minifigures as I would like. Wish I had a bit more to work with for smaller scenes / details. Funny enough to finish the upgrades to the merchant ship I didn't want to wait for a PAB order. I looked at some parts lists and ended up buying the 40620 Cruella & Maleficent Brickheadz set to get a variety of slopes and other tiles. It was better than expected as it gave me a lot to work with.

[SevenDeadlyStreamers]

Brilliant build! I love the little YouTube video, it really adds to the storytelling. The ship stays true to the original Cutter. My only critique would be that I’d like to see a bigger bolder ship, maybe even as large as the Skull Eye Schooner (after Steve commandeered it perhaps)

But honestly I really like this build as it is, well done!

[Andy-Roo]

7 hours ago, SevenDeadlyStreamers said:

Brilliant build! I love the little YouTube video, it really adds to the storytelling. The ship stays true to the original Cutter. My only critique would be that I’d like to see a bigger bolder ship, maybe even as large as the Skull Eye Schooner (after Steve commandeered it perhaps)

But honestly I really like this build as it is, well done!

Thank you! I'm happy with how it all came together and it was fun to record the voice over and make the video to go with it! 

Yes it was a balance to try to maintain the feel of the original cutter, and I'm starting to really like this particular size for a merchant ship. 

I would also love to see a larger ship but that would have been a stretch for the timeframe of this contest.
I do have the classic 12 wide boat hulls so I'm working on a medium sized brig with 2 mid sections. So not as big as the Skull's Eye but larger than this Merchant Ship.

[Samarth]

This is an excellent build. Making it bigger while still maintaining the proportions of the sails must’ve been a fine balancing act. And the fact that it’s still a merchant boat transporting chickens is perfect!

[Andy-Roo]

11 hours ago, Samarth said:

This is an excellent build. Making it bigger while still maintaining the proportions of the sails must’ve been a fine balancing act. And the fact that it’s still a merchant boat transporting chickens is perfect!

Thank you! I feel like this is the largest size that this ship can go without the sails feeling off. Making custom sails was an option but the ship would lose the iconic feel of the original sails.

[Marooned Marin]

@Andy-Roo The amount of work that you managed to squeeze into this is only matched by how awesome the whole thing turned out to be. Brilliant storytelling and even better documentary. You can count on my vote when the time comes.

 

P.S. Mighty nice of you for giving Triton appearance inside the story. I'm happy to hear that you have enjoyed building it.

[Andy-Roo]

On 7/20/2024 at 10:27 AM, Marooned Marin said:

@Andy-Roo The amount of work that you managed to squeeze into this is only matched by how awesome the whole thing turned out to be. Brilliant storytelling and even better documentary. You can count on my vote when the time comes.

 

P.S. Mighty nice of you for giving Triton appearance inside the story. I'm happy to hear that you have enjoyed building it.

Thank you, I appreciate the warm words coming from such an accomplished builder as yourself! 

It took a bit of iterative work but I am happy with how it all came together. I'm glad people are enjoying the photos, the story, and the documentary!

[Math Wizard]

Ahoy Matey!

They call me Captain Crit in these parts and I heard that polly wants a sandwich (They’re fed up with crackers apparently) - a criticism sandwich that is! (For you landlubbers, that’s 3 seas [Cs]- Compliment, Constructive Criticism, and another Compliment).

Ye did a great job buildin’ this and writin’ a story to go along with it. The story is quite excellently written, with the  pictures to tell the whole tale. I loved the edited photos from the original set as well. Your build was also photographed excellently- the presentation really makes this build stand out. The water looks quite realistic, no matter what scene, and the views through the telescope add a nice touch. 

It was a tough task to come up with a critique for this build, as it looks quite fine already. The only thing I can think of is to clean up the inside of the ship. The outside looks quite smooth, but the inside had a lot of exposed studs and seems a wee bit cluttered.

Me favorite part o’ the build itself, other than the epic presentation, is the front bow. I love the way it curves down at an angle, making the ship seem extra sleek. Great work and its good to see you building again!

Fair Winds Matey!

Edited August 3, 2024 by Math Wizard
grammer

[Horation]

That's one part where I have to politely disagree, Captain Crit.

The cluttered feel looks accurate for a merchant vessel seeking to maximise its load for every trip (so as to increase profits!).

And I focused on the interior in my critique, but that outside looks brilliant I must say.

[Math Wizard]

12 hours ago, Horation said:

That's one part where I have to politely disagree, Captain Crit.

The cluttered feel looks accurate for a merchant vessel seeking to maximise its load for every trip (so as to increase profits!).

And I focused on the interior in my critique, but that outside looks brilliant I must say.

Fair point, but they've somehow got to get from one end of the ship to the other and right now that involved jumping over a lot of chests lol 

[Horation]

Arguably, that would be a concern, but that would also be the case in real life.

And I'm confident Steve has learned to jump over a few crates after that challenging climb over a skeleton you sent him on.

[YellowFrog]

The photography is particularly unique, and the build is great too. One critique would be that it looks too similar to the one in the new Eldorado Fortress: it appears like a stolen design to the untrained eye.

[Andy-Roo]

On 8/2/2024 at 4:07 PM, Math Wizard said:

Ahoy Matey!

They call me Captain Crit in these parts and I heard that polly wants a sandwich (They’re fed up with crackers apparently) - a criticism sandwich that is! (For you landlubbers, that’s 3 seas [Cs]- Compliment, Constructive Criticism, and another Compliment).

Ye did a great job buildin’ this and writin’ a story to go along with it. The story is quite excellently written, with the  pictures to tell the whole tale. I loved the edited photos from the original set as well. Your build was also photographed excellently- the presentation really makes this build stand out. The water looks quite realistic, no matter what scene, and the views through the telescope add a nice touch. 

It was a tough task to come up with a critique for this build, as it looks quite fine already. The only thing I can think of is to clean up the inside of the ship. The outside looks quite smooth, but the inside had a lot of exposed studs and seems a wee bit cluttered.

Me favorite part o’ the build itself, other than the epic presentation, is the front bow. I love the way it curves down at an angle, making the ship seem extra sleek. Great work and its good to see you building again!

Fair Winds Matey!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I'm glad you think the photography and story help bring this build to life! My goal with the the upgrade and size increase was to get it to a point that was a little closer to scale of the large ships while still being a small vessel. I am conflicted with the use or disuse of studs. I know there are some builders that will always get rid of all studs. In other cases studs are kept in some areas of the build. For me I was concerned that adding a layer of tiles would make the front tapered deck actually feel more pixelated..

On 8/2/2024 at 7:32 PM, Horation said:

That's one part where I have to politely disagree, Captain Crit.

The cluttered feel looks accurate for a merchant vessel seeking to maximise its load for every trip (so as to increase profits!).

And I focused on the interior in my critique, but that outside looks brilliant I must say.

That was the balanced I was trying to make. Fill it with cargo but not to the max. I kept small 1 stud "walkways" beside the railings for this reason as I could have dropped this down and made it flush with the rest of the cargo deck. What some of this feedback is showing is the range of thoughts ideas and preferences which is a good thing in my opinion! Many talented builders here all with different approaches and styles. 

7 hours ago, YellowFrog said:

The photography is particularly unique, and the build is great too. One critique would be that it looks too similar to the one in the new Eldorado Fortress: it appears like a stolen design to the untrained eye.

Thank you, I'm glad the photography is standing out. As for the design, my goal with the build was to take the existing merchant ship from the 10320 fortress and increase the scale and make it feel more at home beside some of the larger ships. I never approached this trying to make a 100% unique design or to completely depart from the feel of the original. In fact I kept many of the design cues to maintain the feel of both original ships. I started this build simply because I really liked the cutter and it was before knowing of this contest. While sharing my progress on the Classic Pirates Facebook group I was encouraged to submit this to the contest. From there I further revised the design and then crafted the story and took the photos. 

[Math Wizard]

31 minutes ago, Andy-Roo said:

 I am conflicted with the use or disuse of studs. I know there are some builders that will always get rid of all studs. In other cases studs are kept in some areas of the build. For me I was concerned that adding a layer of tiles would make the front tapered deck actually feel more pixelated..

Interesting thought. Maybe a mix of studs and tiles would look good, that way you could use angled plates, which have both tile and stud elements, and avoid the pixelated look. Also, I was just curious- is there any particular reason the deck is made of dbg plates and not brown or dark brown as the wood of a deck would likely be?

[Andy-Roo]

2 minutes ago, Math Wizard said:

Interesting thought. Maybe a mix of studs and tiles would look good, that way you could use angled plates, which have both tile and stud elements, and avoid the pixelated look. Also, I was just curious- is there any particular reason the deck is made of dbg plates and not brown or dark brown as the wood of a deck would likely be?

The black portions of the decks were mostly because I was adapting and expanding from the original. During my first past the all black cargo deck was too dark and I needed a different color to help differentiate between the different levels. Brown did not give enough contrast against the primarily brown cargo so using dark grey gave a different shade from black. I could have used dark tan perhaps but I did not have those pieces at the time and I wanted to get that submission out of the way earlier.

[Math Wizard]

4 minutes ago, Andy-Roo said:

The black portions of the decks were mostly because I was adapting and expanding from the original. During my first past the all black cargo deck was too dark and I needed a different color to help differentiate between the different levels. Brown did not give enough contrast against the primarily brown cargo so using dark grey gave a different shade from black. I could have used dark tan perhaps but I did not have those pieces at the time and I wanted to get that submission out of the way earlier.

Gotcha! That makes sense. If you have any dark tan or dark brown now, that could complement it better than grey, but I suppose the grey does give it a more classic feel.

[Horation]

@Andy-Roo, real Lego sets often have no more walkable space.

Which is arguably an issue as this is a MOC but I feel like that's acceptable for a contest entry, it just needs to get votes, not judge points!

 

Edited August 5, 2024 by Horation
Extra sentence

[Autumn]

Nice little build, feels like the perfect size for its purpose. There are some nice shapes and well constructed angles in there especially towards the bow.

My own little critique is I don't think the grill slopes look right on it. I'm guessing there isn't a slope without a grill, but a 1x1 or even a curved 1x2 would still make good substitutes in my opinion.

Also, I'm not entirely sure what the technic half pin under the bridge is supposed to represent? Is it a cannon or porthole or something?

[YellowFrog]

If I had to guess, I would say it was a connection point that never ended up being used. Maybe it was to hang a lantern etc..

Edited August 6, 2024 by YellowFrog