Smuggling Schooner “Nuisance”

[kurigan]

170D

Nuisance is a small, early 19^th century schooner the like favored by smugglers for its shallow draught. With less hull below the water, small ships like these can sail in shallower water and over obstructions that larger ships cannot, opening up a lot more options for ports. In my story her name derived (tongue in cheek) from the local’s perception of the level of threat she poses and the behavior of her crew. In actuality I named her Nuisance because after months on end of struggling to finish her, that’s exactly what she became.

The project started, perhaps a year or so ago when I was experimenting with different hull building techniques. Initially she was never meant to be a complete MOC but I just kept adding on until I was at a point I just couldn’t bring myself to give up. The hull is a little more than inspired by SlyOwel’s “Pimp Your IMPT” contest entry. Much of the rigging and some other parts came from the wreck of Raven and the sails are yet another attempt at sail making for the sake of function. Some of the images were taken in front of some fans to fill her sails with wind.

Once I had figured out SlyOwel’s technique I started realizing its potential for small hull building and decided to expand on it for an even more realistic shape. From there I began scrounging up cast-off parts from other projects and decided I could afford a schooner. To design her rig I first looked at the schooner Bee, a replica very much of the same style and era of my own Nuisance. I didn’t entirely like her rig with only one topmast, so some of it wound up coming for other inspiration as well.

The overall effect is pretty impressive but imperfect. I like her and she’ll serve her purpose well. Purest may grumble at some of her elements but aside from the wooden dowel, which I’ve defended more than one on other MOCs, there’s really nothing involved that not used in Official Lego sets. For the moment I need to concentrate on my other projects so I’ll call this one done and move on. In the future I want to revisit this technique. I’m not sure how necessary the rubber bands and shrouds (2541) actually are. I’m also planning a comic showcasing Nuisance in her role as a smuggler, but I don’t know when I’ll be able to get it.

As always there are a lot more pictures on my photo bucket. Question, comment, etc. welcome. I resolved weeks ago, to get her finished and posted just to do my part and help revive activity around here, so enjoy.

[OHarra]

Those sails are great!

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Hello Kurigan, long time no see!

This schooner is far from what her name suggests - it is a beautiful small ship.

Amazing how you achieved the overall curvature!

A bit too much black for my taste but otherwise perfectly fine!

[ArchitectureFan]

Very good. A small ship after all these a-lot-of-cannon models we have seen = a nice contrast.

[Mr. Townsend]

What a handsome small boat this is Kurigan. I really like the effect that this technique gives. Your rigging is as usual quite superb. What did you use to make the hoops around the rear mast. Could you lower that sail if you so wished?

I have no qualms with the use of the rubberbands and little with the dowels at the pinrails, but the flagpole bugs me. I do wish for this bit you would use a LEGO piece. I do notice how rigid your sprit is and imagine you've used dowels in your masts. I think I need to do this in the future. I'm rather tired of the flex tubes in my masts allowing flex.

I'm interested in the scale your use for these small boats. On your larger boats you seem to go for a scale closer to minifig but with these small ones they seem smaller them minifig illusion. Do you think this one and the previous two fit well into minifig illusion scale or should they be slightly larger. I don't know much about small boats of this era. I ask because I would love to add something like this to my fleet but I like to keep all my ships scaled the same.

[kurigan]

Thanks everyone!

You have a good eye and ask good questions, Mr. Townsend. The hoops on the mainsail, are actually O-rings, another recycled part from past projects. It’s one of those things where I just cold not find a Lego made part that would work. I'd tend to agree on the pennant staff if it was a permanent part of the ship, but it was just a last minute idea to show the wind blowing. Since she’s not a man-o-war, nor a national ship she wouldn't likely fly a pennant, but for the sake of the images I jammed one in the rigging. Indeed I do cheat a bit with dowel in the masts and spars. I would go the same rout as you with flex tube save for two reasons. 1. I don't have any, yet I do have dowel. 2. I foresee the same troubles you complain of, they flex. What would be great is the same material as light saber blades, but in longer lengths, perhaps to be cut to size. To my knowledge such does not exist so dowel it will be for now. On future projects I want to try the technic connector method.

As for scaling, it's hard to place. Snake, Ramcat, the Green Schooner, etc. are intended to be illusion scale, or something like it. For the most part they come close. The smaller craft are even harder to place. Though they could fit in to that same scale, they can also be considered a bit smaller. Adder for instance, by herself could very well be a period fishing ketch. She’d be on the small end of the spectrum but still a reasonable size boat for a family operation; 2-4crew. Her gun however seems to betray her actual scale. It represents something, in my own system, between a 12 and an 18 pounder. To the mini-figs it's pretty well to scale, but to her hull, that’s a lot of iron to float. The Fishing Sloop is much the same, but without a frame of reference it fails to matter. On Nuisance here things are a bit more dubious. If she were to scale, even with the tiny Bee she was inspired by, a mini-fig would be able to walk for to aft without turning sideways to fit between obstructions. Since she is not a model of any particular ship and more of an interpretation we can simply assume she is to scale in whatever idiom we put her. If nuisance were true to Mini-fig illusion scale she would be no smaller to my Green Schooner than Bee is to her sister ship Tecumseh. Though they don't look terrible interacting, the size difference is quite daunting. It's like putting Pickle next to Victory. Where nuisance and the others look proportional is up against the quay side of my ever developing port town.

A size comparison for my latest ship MOCs

My small hulls in port.

[Spud The Viking]

Wow! I love the concept and the build is even better! Brilliant!

[Sebeus I]

A very interesting hull technique...With a very nice result!

I like that smooth shape,

The rigging is extremely detailed, as usual, nice work.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Very good to see all of your latest ships -

... the ever developing port town ... well, that's a common problem, isn't it? MOC are just never done.

[kurigan]

Thanks! It's been a long time in development. I'd been fascinated (perhaps "haunted" is a better word) by Slyowel's original for years. I tried so many other methods to try and achive a similar effect and nothing quite worked. The most surprising thing about this technique is its stability. Thouse shrouds are actually taught and providing support. It does have its limitations though. I chose to maker a schooner, in part, because I couldn't get her bow any bluffer. The plastic just wouldn't bend any tighter with out deforming. There are also gaps between the deck and the hull, that just have to be there. It's a good technique for small, late period hulls, but I can't quite figure any descent way to simulate sheer or counter with it.

As for the town, civic development suffers as I tend to focus time and resources on my fleet. Those four buildings are new in the last year tough ( I've been lurking around Historic Themes and Classic Castle trying to absorb new techniques.) It is defiantly one of those things that may never be done.

P.S. is anyone still keeping the index?

Edited January 21, 2015 by kurigan

[Capn Frank]

I have always had this building technique in mind since I saw Slyowl's vessel in the Imperial Trading Post Ship competition. This style of building produces some beautiful lines, but it's too studly for my tastes. The black "covers" the studs pretty well though.

I was checking out your vessel and I was wondering if you could replace the "rubber bands"? with string or thread that is thin enough for you to place tiles over those studs?

If you build a sister ship, I would use the more recent, rectangular rigging from the POTC ships instead the old trapezoidal rigging.

[kurigan]

I have always had this building technique in mind since I saw Slyowl's vessel in the Imperial Trading Post Ship competition. This style of building produces some beautiful lines, but it's too studly for my tastes. The black "covers" the studs pretty well though.

I was checking out your vessel and I was wondering if you could replace the "rubber bands"? with string or thread that is thin enough for you to place tiles over those studs?

If you build a sister ship, I would use the more recent, rectangular rigging from the POTC ships instead the old trapezoidal rigging.

It is a fascinating technique to be sure. I'd enjoy hearing about yours, or any one's, experiences, if you decide to experiment with it. Indeed my mind went right where yours did with the POTC era shrouds. Theoretically being rectangular they wouldn't stick up above the freeboard as mine do. I went with these older models because they were a bit of a windfall and I really didn't want to order parts for the purpose. As to string vs rubber bands, yes. I do believe the SlyOwel original was done with string. Yet again, I just happened to have conveniently large and colorful rubber bands around. What's more to the point, I really didn't feel like tying any more knots or I would have stuck to the task(s) at hand. I actually tried adding tiles to nuisance and it looked terrible. Because of the geometry of the curve, unsightly gaps formed between the tiles and  just ruined the whole effect. Instead I thought, if I were to revisit the technique, I'd think ahead and acquire 4X tiles enough to make the majority of her sides with. Then they would rest right up against one another like the plates do here. I'd still use rubber bands in that case though, for the benefit of added friction. 

Instead of revisiting this method exactly, i've been inspired by this build to combine something like my current technique and what Mr. Townsend has been working on with Matterhorn. With some quick assemblies I found plates to have as much, if not more, flex in them as bricks, when on their side as such. By having two staggered layers, the inner of plates and the outer tiles, one could forgo the shrouds entirely. An added benefit would be having one color inside and another out side, much like Matterhorn.

At the moment I haven't much time for building as I strive to get my brick link store up and running (same user name. Pardon the shameless plug). When I do get back to the ship yard I'll be messing around more with this theory for future builds. I still plan on adding a post ship (of frigate) to my fleet one day. 

[Kelkschiz]

Great little ship, very nice sails and hull shape! Can see this sharp ship being a real nuisance to it's bigger cumbersome brothers ^^.

Edited March 5, 2015 by Kelkschiz

[LittleJohn]

Amazing ship! I really like that it's rounded