Chase Maree or Schooner

[kurigan]

Well I said I was all shipped out but I guess I lied. Really it’s all Phred’s fault. How? Well for Brickworld 2016, I shipped two of my smaller vessels off to him, and he put them on display as part of the Classic Pirates setup. I guess the old adage is true the fastest way to break something is to label it “fragile” and put it in the mail. When Nuisance and Bumblebee arrived they were something less than assembled.  Nuisance was relatively easy to get back together, but Phred struggled with the cheap Mega Bloks on Bumblebee. Instead he replaced the gray inner plates with brand new Dark Tan Lego. When Bumblebee returned she was still partially assembled with Phred’s plates. I got her back together with the old grey but Phred said he wouldn’t miss the Dark Tan, and instead suggested I put them to good use. See? 

Ok so where am I going with all this? Well I wanted to make another cutter, based on Bumblebee but larger as to accommodate a swivel gun like Friends Goodwill. Unfortunately I had only one of those plates in my own stock so the hull couldn’t get any bigger, so I started mocking one up from more abundant colors. That where this one comes in.

 

Code named “26”, guess why, I thought to combine this concept with recycled rigging from Bumblebee’s predecessor, Ghost. It’s gone pretty well but the colors just don’t work. I think she deserves a more realistic color scheme. If only I had a few Dark Tan 2 X 3 or more 2 X 4s but they just aren’t available, even in my own stock. So, I went parts hunting/scavenging around. Since she was going to be a man-of-war, I thought a red paint job on the inside would suit well and started counting up plates. In the end I found I had more than enough and set to laying out replacement gunwales. In the end inspiration dragged me kicking and screaming through the night to arrive at yet another hull to complete.

The profile of codename “Gherkin” here is based on the replicas of HMS Pickle (get it?) Though I intended her to be a costal type schooner, I’m hatching other ideas as I mess around with her. I could go with a schooner and her rig would even likely be less parts consuming, but this afternoon another idea struck me and I can’t quite shake it. Though Gherkin here is on the small side, I could have a neat little Chase Maree on my hands instead. Somehow though, despite the prolific use of that type of lugger during the Napoleonic wars, they are somewhat enigmatic today. It seems the only such vessels I can gleam any data off of are HMS Coureur and the modern replica Grayhound. Both are vey similar and significantly larger than my tiny coaster here.

 

So I put these questions to you all:

 

First, does anyone have any reference on Chase Marees they’d be willing to share which might help me out with proportioning and arrangement?

 

Secondly, what would you suggest: Schooner or Chase Maree?

[Cousarmy0001]

I know that Chase Marees exist because of this thread...

I'd actually kill to see you make a large ship, given all of the terrific smaller vessels you've made.

[kurigan]

@Cousarmy0001  You and me both, but it's a budget problem first. I build what I do on a 0:00, $0 budget. More recently I've been able to use rejects from my store and even stole a few parts off the top for the likes of Reckless. Basically if you want to see me go bigger, buy some Lego from my store so I can afford to add to my personal collection. That, or find someone who wants to sponsor/purchase the build. I do have hopes, perhaps forlorn hopes, of building a proper frigate before I die. I have a crazy idea to use Bright Light Orange on the sides and Sand Green at the water line (to look like oxidized copper). Until I have hundreds of dollars to blow on sheer whimsy, ships will remain fantasy, and sloops will have to do in reality. I suppose if I tore down a few, I could pool resources to make one big, technicolor ship. At least a different color on either side.. 

[kurigan]

OK, perhaps I should change the topic title as this one is definitely a schooner now.

 

I was not liking the “Pickle” profile. It just seemed too narrow and angular. The difference is really only a plate’s worth to either side, but to my eye it makes a dramatic change.

 

I suppose my latent desire to join the Marblehead club came though as this one developed. No she’s not the curvy 18^th century USS Hanna type; that would be hard at this scale. Instead I let the limitations of the technique push the design somewhat forward in history, let’s say early to mid 19h century.

 

Currently she’s really just a mock up and the proportions aren’t set yet, so if you spot something now is the time to point it out, not once I’ve already committed time and materials towards a completed product. I’m considering swapping her battery out with Blanid, but I’m not quite sure just yet. These carronades might just be too big.

 

I decided that a Chase Maree would be a fascinating build, but would be better at something like mini-fig scale, like Reckless.

[Capn Frank]

Spiderman has a great looking vessel so far.

Would one 9-pounder on a swivel be better suited for the armament of this vessel? 
Are the click-hinge bricks a permanent part of the floor? Or do you plan on doing something differently?

[kurigan]

@Phred

Aw he's just my go to ship steward. I don't do any superhero stuff so he's never engaged. He just sits on the docks waiting for something to do. 

 

Well although carronades are handy because they pack a punch at lightweight, they might still be a bit much for such a small vessel. The single long gun mounted amid ship, might weigh about the same but the center of gravity would be better. The smallest carronades were 12 lbs, even if Blanid's long gun was a 12 pounder instead of a 9, Gherkin has double her broadside or more.  

 

Such swivel mounted guns were used famously by the American Revenue Service during the 19th century. Check out USS Dallas as an example of just how small of a vessel they would have armed this same way. I'm starting to think, that neither Gherkin nor Blanid should afford this much space to carronades, but both should have swivels.  

 

Those hinge bricks are just placeholders, yes. I want to break this deck up as much as possible as to save on tan plates/bricks. Where the planks would be visible I plan to use the same SNOT technique I've become accustomed to. I hope to build conservatively enough on Gherkin here as to afford a similar deck on 26 without having to acquire more.