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

[Horation]

It was probably intended as a little bit of greebling. I think it does its job, but it can also really easily be removed/covered up.

[YellowFrog]

In that case, I don't think it adds to the build, especially when it's grey. A white half-pin might look better, or none at all.

[Autumn]

Same here. I think it sticks out oddly. Especially when it's not clear what it is meant to be. It almost feels like something is meant to attach to it.

[BardDandelion]

Chicken (pig? would also work for pig) cage is a really great detail and a nice feature. They really used to carry all the food alive before invention of the fridge.

I really like the base. Is that some kind of blue foil that build is put on? I was considering this kind of solution for Pirates theme dioramas (parts for water would be so expensive).

[Horation]

I believe this is an edited background, since I've seen similar ones for digital builds.

But I could be wrong, we'll have to ask @Andy-Roo how he made it.

[Andy-Roo]

On 8/4/2024 at 3:59 PM, Autumn said:

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?

Thanks glad you liked the angles in the bow. This was my first MOCs / adaptation in decades as I had all of my Lego in storage since 2006. I've just started to organize my pieces and when I built this I could have used a few more pieces for options but worked with what I had. I have now started using bricklink and found some local stores which is helpful to get parts a bit quicker.

I might do a pass and revise a few details including the grill but to me at the time of building treated that as more of a decorated wooden railing, something with a bevel rather than a mechanical vent. 

The technic half pin is an echo from the original designs that I kept as a greeble. I believe the original had these as cannons, but I removed the cannon portion and left this as more of a porthole as I added actual swivel cannons on the bow. At the time I thought it helped add variation to the stern of the ship.

On 8/5/2024 at 6:35 AM, Horation said:

It was probably intended as a little bit of greebling. I think it does its job, but it can also really easily be removed/covered up.

Yes it was a greebling but also a ruminant of the original design / implied canons there. I felt it just added some variation to the stern of the ship. I can understand how some builders could look at that as an unnecessary or confusing detail.

8 hours ago, YellowFrog said:

In that case, I don't think it adds to the build, especially when it's grey. A white half-pin might look better, or none at all.

I appreciate getting a range of input and eyes on this as I find everyone sees something different. I only had a range of parts to work with at the time and this was a greeble that I agree might not be as effective as other options.

7 hours ago, BardDandelion said:

Chicken (pig? would also work for pig) cage is a really great detail and a nice feature. They really used to carry all the food alive before invention of the fridge.

I really like the base. Is that some kind of blue foil that build is put on? I was considering this kind of solution for Pirates theme dioramas (parts for water would be so expensive).

I wish I had a pig to add to the cargo in addition to the chickens!
The base is a tablecloth, it's a water texture. I will add a photo below.

14 minutes ago, Horation said:

I believe this is an edited background, since I've seen similar ones for digital builds.

But I could be wrong, we'll have to ask @Andy-Roo how he made it.

Both the water and the sky was done in camera but the colors were adjusted in post to make the water feel more natural.

The water was a $10 water themed tablecloth. I was originally going to lay it flat but when it arrived wrinkled I was a little disappointed. Then I realized that water is a little "wrinkled" so I decided to put a towel under that and I added shape to the water to give it volume.

The TV was placed behind and I got the background in without having to do a greenscreen. For a larger ship I might need to greenscreen and replace the background in post.

[Horation]

Always fun to see some behind-the-scenes pictures from the entrants!

I have to say, that sounds like a pretty cost-effective background for pirate builds, I might steal that trick in the future.

[Autumn]

36 minutes ago, Andy-Roo said:

Thanks glad you liked the angles in the bow. This was my first MOCs / adaptation in decades as I had all of my Lego in storage since 2006. I've just started to organize my pieces and when I built this I could have used a few more pieces for options but worked with what I had. I have now started using bricklink and found some local stores which is helpful to get parts a bit quicker.

I might do a pass and revise a few details including the grill but to me at the time of building treated that as more of a decorated wooden railing, something with a bevel rather than a mechanical vent. 

The technic half pin is an echo from the original designs that I kept as a greeble. I believe the original had these as cannons, but I removed the cannon portion and left this as more of a porthole as I added actual swivel cannons on the bow. At the time I thought it helped add variation to the stern of the ship.

Hmm, I can see what you were going for now in both areas. The vented slopes usually come across as mechanical to me, but that wasn't really my issue, it was more like how it seems an interruption of the ship's curves.

As for the technic half pin, I didn't make the connection at first since I'm not familiar with the original set. I see the need to put something there instead of a flat surface to break it up, but I think there is a better method of doing it.

[BardDandelion]

Hah! Love to see behind the scene photo, now we can see and understand everything, thanks for sharing that. It's a really nice technique, if my LUG will ever go for Pirates theme diorama we will consider such solution. As I already said covering big area with brickbuilt water is crazy expensive. :(

[YellowFrog]

Very clever photography! Such innovation is what building Lego is all about.

[Andy-Roo]

On 8/6/2024 at 2:13 PM, BardDandelion said:

Hah! Love to see behind the scene photo, now we can see and understand everything, thanks for sharing that. It's a really nice technique, if my LUG will ever go for Pirates theme diorama we will consider such solution. As I already said covering big area with brickbuilt water is crazy expensive. :(

A lot of people take photos of ships on flat blue or a white background instead of brick built water which I agree would be crazy expensive. In this case I wanted something a bit more immersive. I'm looking forward to seeing this technique used by other builders!

On 8/6/2024 at 1:10 PM, Horation said:

Always fun to see some behind-the-scenes pictures from the entrants!

I have to say, that sounds like a pretty cost-effective background for pirate builds, I might steal that trick in the future.

I'm happy to share the behind-the-scenes it really was a quick and cheap setup all things considering I didn't even do too much with lights so that is just soft bounce of white walls.

You're welcome to use this technique I'm curious to see other creations filmed like this!

16 hours ago, YellowFrog said:

Very clever photography! Such innovation is what building Lego is all about.

Thank you! The idea just came to me and seemed like a good way to create a bit of immersion!

[Autumn]

I thought the back- and foregrounds were digital at first. The way you did it is probably how TLG would have back in the day as well.

[BardDandelion]

@Andy-Roo I didn't mean only taking photos of the ship. If you want to build Pirate diorama you basically need 8 baseplates of water around 1 baseplate island. If you want to have bigger islands, the number of water baseplates gets even crazier.

Same applies to ships - if you want natural looking diorama of Carribean Sea, you don't want it to be crowded.
It actually applies to all type of dioramas - deserts, prairies, plains. Whenever you need free space.

[Franco Clarke]

That's an impressive upscaling of the original build, at first glance it appears unmodified, but nothing is the same. Great job on increasing each part in proportionate amounts. The video is clever choice, bringing the narrative to the forefront, and I like how you've incorporated other models and sets into the backdrop. 

[Andy-Roo]

On 8/8/2024 at 4:47 AM, Autumn said:

I thought the back- and foregrounds were digital at first. The way you did it is probably how TLG would have back in the day as well.

There is something magical about some of the original product photos that Lego did before everything became digital. I think some of the landscapes used similar techniques to model train sets. I don't know for sure but that's my feeling.

On 8/8/2024 at 5:08 AM, BardDandelion said:

@Andy-Roo I didn't mean only taking photos of the ship. If you want to build Pirate diorama you basically need 8 baseplates of water around 1 baseplate island. If you want to have bigger islands, the number of water baseplates gets even crazier.

Same applies to ships - if you want natural looking diorama of Carribean Sea, you don't want it to be crowded.
It actually applies to all type of dioramas - deserts, prairies, plains. Whenever you need free space.

That certainly adds up! If you use this technique with the water I am curious to other use cases with it. Smaller scale it works well, and I'm in the process of taking photos of a ship larger than this cutter so I'm testing to see if this looks good. Can't use the TV as a background for wide shots however so I will need to greenscreen some of it.

On 8/9/2024 at 12:08 AM, Franco Clarke said:

That's an impressive upscaling of the original build, at first glance it appears unmodified, but nothing is the same. Great job on increasing each part in proportionate amounts. The video is clever choice, bringing the narrative to the forefront, and I like how you've incorporated other models and sets into the backdrop. 

Thank you! It was a fun project to do and it took a combination of a few different skills. It has reinvigorated my love for building. It was my first project like this in over a decade so I'm excited to do a few more MOCs.

[YellowFrog]

On 8/14/2024 at 12:02 PM, Andy-Roo said:

It was my first project like this in over a decade so I'm excited to do a few more MOCs.

Well done with such a triumphant return into MOC-building! We all look forward to what you will cook up next.

[Andy-Roo]

On 8/17/2024 at 12:44 AM, YellowFrog said:

Well done with such a triumphant return into MOC-building! We all look forward to what you will cook up next.

Thank you! Well I almost ran out of time but I created another entry. A larger ship this time and some cloth sails! Made a brigantine for Pirate Steve.