Sloop "Crete"

[blackdeathgr]

After almost a month, mostly occupied by work and fending off nightmares and denial about rigging, making sails and sewing, i proudly present you the merchant sloop "Crete".

Pictures were taken from my secondary source of photographing (mobile) so photos aren't that great. But you can get the idea. This is my first attempt at a brick built hull and the famous Dunkleosteus hinge technic. I believe it works wonders, regardless my omission to sloping the stern.

For those you think the hull is too tall (i had my reservations too), imagine it 2 bricks lower due to cargo carrying when put at sea. Regarding the tiller design, i haven't found a better solution, so after 5-6 iterations, i just went with the one you see on the photos. Finally i wanted to brick-build the main mast too but i ran out of round 2x2 bricks way too soon so out of my frustration, i used the mast of the recent TLG pirate ship nearly unchanged. BL orders are on their way so i guess my next ship will be more personalized. Inspiration came from all the great photos and designs and articles about sloops of the 18th century.

For those who want to take their try on handmade sails and sewing their ship's rigging, i have an advice: Don't despair! In the faaaaaaaar end, it will look nice. Until then, get a very nice desk lamp and fortify yourselves with determination and patience. There were more than a dozen times i wanted to discard the whole project during the rigging phase and i cant believe there are sane people that build scaled wooden replica ships.

Oh, i nearly forgot it! Credits for the Eltina flag, goes to KB for the design and Kustom Bricks for its implementation.

Anyway, I believe this is a 3T trade ship so if everybody agrees i will stick to this category, unless the board at the Admiralty promotes it to 4T

More pictures follow (some more on Flickr as well) and as always, thanks for watching!

[TitusV]

Nice one, love these sails!

[Garmadon]

Great sloop, Blackdeath, excellent job with those sails and the rigging, and the curve at the front is very nice as well! For future ships, as you said, the stern could use a little bit of a slope and curvature, I would probably angle the bowsprit up a tad (they just look odd straight to me - not sure about all the technicalities there though! ), and since you are doing a tan deck (and tiling is probably not at all feasible!) I think a SNOT deck would look great. Oh, and worst (you're not going to thank me for it if you try it! - at least not until you're done ), rat-lining the shrouds would add just a bit more to this ship. Excellent job overall, though, and keep it up!

...I cant believe there are sane people that build scaled wooden replica ships...

I tend to agree with that!

[Legostone]

First - nice ship! I think everyone here can understand your struggle not having all the parts available he would need (I can perfectly understand your issue with the masts, albeit for me it's rather that I can't match the colours across my fleet).

Now, let me talk about the ship itself - those sails and the rigging are great - ratlines are a thing that you could consider, but for those it is always the question if you want to invest the time into them. Also, I'm impressed by the tautness of your rigging - I never manage to get that right. The stern looks fine to me - on a rather small boat you don't need a big fancy stern like some people tend to do, same goes for the height of the ships hull. But, for your next ship you could try to get a less squarish footprint - I would recommend starting angling the sides inwards a little earlier, as a big part of your ship is just a big rectangle. Great to see someone doing some housing on deck! Next - the combination of colours seems good for me, but I think a deck in a different colour than the sidewalls might have worked better than what you have now, but I'm not sure about that. Also, more consistency in the top of the sidewalls might have looked better, but I guess that is cause due to parts shortage which I can understand pretty well;)

Just a small recommendation for the economic game system as the former (share)owner of a 3T2 - I don't recommend it, for double the price it is barely better than a 2T. Try to get it licensed as a class 3F or 4T in some way if that is still possible;)

[Tezclatipoca]

Great sloop !

You did a good job on the hull design

Although I think you could use tiles on the deck, but it's not a problem, just my preference.

Your rigging is great !

Sure it takes time and needs patience ! I can totally understand your complaints on this subject as I tryed myself such rigging work on my ships (The Raenette has quite the same rigging than your sloop, for example) And it took me more time to put the rigging and sails up than building the hull ! It's a hard job but it's worth it !

Great job !

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Fine sloop - just crewless

[blackdeathgr]

Nice one, love these sails!

Thanks!

...Although I think you could use tiles on the deck, but it's not a problem, just my preference. ... Your rigging is great !

Thanks! On my next-to-do list is either tiling my next's ship deck or use a snot deck technic using bricks placed sideways

Great sloop, Blackdeath, ... the stern could use a little bit of a slope and curvature, I would probably angle the bowsprit up a tad (they just look odd straight to me - not sure about all the technicalities there though! ), and since you are doing a tan deck (and tiling is probably not at all feasible!) I think a SNOT deck would look great. Oh, and worst (you're not going to thank me for it if you try it! - at least not until you're done ), rat-lining the shrouds would add just a bit more to this ship.

Thanks! Indeed, the stern needs some love on my next models and i now get it why everybody is angling the bowsprit too, as mine is the only weak spot of the whole rigging, i.e. snaps easily. For the tan deck next time i will indeed try snot brick technic. SNOTing plates would look better proportion-wise but let's say bricks will do too . Ratlines?? Who used ratlines? Such word doesn't exist in my vocabulary!!! Didn't they use elevators back then?? Joking aside i have to either try using a bigger rope/cloth and adding them or make/buy some ready rat-lined shrouds at a plastic modelism shop.

... those sails and the rigging are great - ratlines are a thing that you could consider, but for those it is always the question if you want to invest the time into them. Also, I'm impressed by the tautness of your rigging.... I would recommend starting angling the sides inwards a little earlier... Just a small recommendation for the economic game system as the former (share)owner of a 3T2 - I don't recommend it, for double the price it is barely better than a 2T. Try to get it licensed as a class 3F or 4T in some way if that is still possible;)

Thanks!Ratlines? Who uses them? Sewing the sails the way i did (better implementation you can see at the front sails (jibs?) and then putting the cloth between two plates etc helps rigging look the way it does, i.e. firm. I have also noticed when making the rigging that it helps if you use a needle and cloth and have as few pieces of cloth as possible. At the shrouds for example i have used a single piece of cloth per side. Then you only stretch a single piece of cloth and you are done. Angling the hull earlier is indeed a very nice suggestion! Colors sadly are dictated by the number of suitable bricks available around but i will definitely change color pattern at next ships etc. Regarding ship classifications you got me thinking that 3F is indeed more suitable (being a sloop etc) and more lucrative! (Or 4T my super-awesome-fantastic board of Admiralty???? I must pull some strings around ) Thanks for the heads up!

Fine sloop - just crewless

Crewless? Well, meet the ...Akides!

From left to right:

Captain Protopapadomanolakis, Junior Askordoulakis and his father Askordoulos practicing in fencing, mate Psaradogiannoulosifakis and his cousin Tzimpliakakis, always rowdy and in semidrunk condition and finally the runaway Skoutoulofaromaniakis that went on board so as to go away from his mountainous village after killing the first son of a rival family after a 100 years long feud.

Happy???

[Bregir]

I have no clue how I missed this little beauty. I reserve the right to dig it up, and if anyone complains about the bumping, contact my lawyer.

First things first:

As to your question about rating. If we compare it to other ships of BoBS, I would say that it fits well in the lower end of tier 3. As it is a tradeship, I would probably go for a 3T2, as it doesn't look particularly sleek and fast. (Although as a sloop, it probably is rather fast and manouverable, so 3F would be ok too.) As to the value of those different ratings, I think Legostone is basing his evaluation on rather anecdotal evidence, as there have been very few 3T2's in the past. Personally, I prefer picking the most fitting class, rather than the most attractive... ;)

Hull:

Your hull is pretty good, and you have the technique ready for larger endeavours. I agree with Legostone that it is a bit square-ish in footprint, but that should easily be remedied in your next vessel. I quite like the railings, even though they differ in colour. In fact, I think it adds some nice texturing to the vessel. The stern is a bit abrupt, but rounding the whole hull a bit more would remedy this.

The details on deck are nice too, and the tiller works well.

Rigging:

The bowsprit looks fine horisontal to me. In fact, many cutters had entirely horisontal bowsprits - so called "running bowsprit" - which could be taken in in harsh weather. As to sturdyness, I suggest adding an anchorpoint in the bottom bow of your hull and putting on a chain or a piece of string from there to the end of the bowsprit, which will then take the tension from the forestays and transfer them to the hull.

Generally, the rigging is very nice, and you've got all the right sails - I particularly like the inclusion of a gaff-topsail. My only comment is that the headsails (jibs) are a bit short, and particularly the outermost one. I would suggest setting the stays first, and then raising the jibs on them afterwards. (I suggest steel wire hoops around the forestay.) The sails are very nice in general, and the material has a very nice texture.

The custom flag is very nice (although Olean...) but your flags seems to contradict the sails, unless Olean engineers have figured out how to sail straight into the wind... ;)

NOT sorry for necromancing this post. Hope the feedback is useful. Very good work on this one!

[blackdeathgr]

Hey, thanks Bregir! I am glad you liked her! I always find your criticism really constructive as i try to improve my shipbuilding techniques. Now that i am seeing her photos (the ship is already dismantled for future builds), everybody's feedback is indeed spot on and i am currently sketching plans for my next vessel

[Capn Frank]

I'm glad to see real builds attempting famous Dunkleosteus hinge technicque. I have a vessel on the drawingboard to attempt such a technique.

I look forward to your future vessel.

Thanks for sharing.

I have no clue how I missed this little beauty. I reserve the right to dig it up, and if anyone complains about the bumping, contact my lawyer.

Who is your lawyer?

...I cant believe there are sane people that build scaled wooden replica ships...

I don't think they are sane.

If I were in the nuthouse, I would have plenty of time to build wooden replicas.