[MOC] Tintin Unicorn Ship

[BillyG]

My first post!

My rendition of the Unicorn from Tintin (mainly based on the film). Just edited with better photos. Would love to hear your thoughts!

 

 

 

 

And here's Tintin and Haddock with the Unicorn model - please forgive me using a cat for Snowy!!

 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by BillyG
New photos

[aussie_huddo]

very nice, lots of detailing especially on the rear blue and gold section.

Which set had the cannons in it?

Would be great to see some sails and minifigs on board to get the full effect

[BillyG]

1 hour ago, aussie_huddo said:

very nice, lots of detailing especially on the rear blue and gold section.

Which set had the cannons in it?

Would be great to see some sails and minifigs on board to get the full effect

Thanks a lot! The cannons are from bricklink. 

And I just added some more pics!

[The Neighborhood Merchant]

Welcome to Eurobricks, BillyG! 

Your design of the Unicorn is absolutely stunning! The details and curvature of the ship are eye-catching, and you did an excellent job on them. The stern of the ship is very, very nice! You also did a wonderful job replicating the color pallet of the unicorn as well as the overall aesthetic of it. The fully modular features make it even better, and the interior looks just as good as the outside! I especially like the dining hall for the crew and the captain's quarters. 

Also, love the last photo. Brings back memories. 

Wow, simply wow. Love it! 

 

[Black Pearl]

Wow!  What a pleasant surprise to see another Lego Unicorn in existence! I'm glad this ship is getting plenty of love and your version of it looks absolutely incredible! Definitely the most accurate version on the web so far! I really like that you went with the bold choice of yellow instead of tan. Ideally there'd be a colour somewhere in between the two but since there isn't it's good to see variation between the different Unicorns already out there. Nice work on the rear as well especially the side galleries, they're no easy feat to pull off!

I'd definitely vote for this on Lego Ideas! Sadly though I don't think TINTIN is really well known enough to ever be made into a set.  But we can always keep trying! 

Do you plan to add more rigging?

Well done again, absolutely love this ship!

[The Neighborhood Merchant]

 

 

 

 

2

8 hours ago, Black Pearl said:

 Ideally there'd be a colour somewhere in between the two but since there isn't it's good to see variation between the different Unicorns already out there

Lego has some light yellow and the newer bright light yellow colors for some bricks, Do you think these would look good on the unicorn you're currently making, Pearl?

[Black Pearl]

@The Neighborhood Merchant It's hard to know exactly without seeing the colours in person, but I'd say the new bright light yellow might just about be the perfect colour. I could've nearly made my Unicorn out of that colour (although at a much higher price) but at this stage the range of bright light yellow pieces is just too limited so I went with Tan instead.

[BillyG]

On 3/4/2020 at 3:36 AM, The Neighborhood Merchant said:

Welcome to Eurobricks, BillyG! 

Your design of the Unicorn is absolutely stunning! The details and curvature of the ship are eye-catching, and you did an excellent job on them. The stern of the ship is very, very nice! You also did a wonderful job replicating the color pallet of the unicorn as well as the overall aesthetic of it. The fully modular features make it even better, and the interior looks just as good as the outside! I especially like the dining hall for the crew and the captain's quarters. 

Also, love the last photo. Brings back memories. 

Wow, simply wow. Love it! 

 

Thank you very much! I tried to make it almost like a big playset, without compromising the design. I'm glad you like it! And yes, Tintin is very nostalgic for everyone!

 

On 3/4/2020 at 5:29 PM, Black Pearl said:

Wow!  What a pleasant surprise to see another Lego Unicorn in existence! I'm glad this ship is getting plenty of love and your version of it looks absolutely incredible! Definitely the most accurate version on the web so far! I really like that you went with the bold choice of yellow instead of tan. Ideally there'd be a colour somewhere in between the two but since there isn't it's good to see variation between the different Unicorns already out there. Nice work on the rear as well especially the side galleries, they're no easy feat to pull off!

I'd definitely vote for this on Lego Ideas! Sadly though I don't think TINTIN is really well known enough to ever be made into a set.  But we can always keep trying! 

Do you plan to add more rigging?

Well done again, absolutely love this ship!

Thanks, and yes the Unicorn is a truly beautiful ship! I chose the yellow colour to differentiate from the others out there as well as to make it more vibrant and contrasted, closer to the film's version than the comic's. The galleries were a pain but I'm satisfied in the end. I don't really have experience with rigging, I tried to before but I didn't have rope of the right thickness so maybe I'll give it a go eventually. And are you kidding, who wouldn't love Tintin!?  

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Really perfect, a dream come true!  Respect for also managing that unicorn figurehead 

[Fraunces]

Amazing build! It looks just like the one in the story. Just wonderful. I especially love the 17th century captain Haddock!! 

[Buccaneero]

Wow, I love it! Amazing figurehead!

[Mister Phes]

Oh what a social media story it made!

 

[Medzomorak]

This is......  .... instant eyegasms.

I still have my creased and re-released The Secret of the Unicorn & Red Rackham's Treasure comics from my childhood in Hungarian versions. Thanks, now I have to spend the day going over my old stuff!

Gee. To IDEAS with this. Now. Nu. Maintenant. Jetzt. This is an order. Not debatable.

[BillyG]

On 3/8/2020 at 2:15 AM, Captain Braunsfeld said:

Really perfect, a dream come true!  Respect for also managing that unicorn figurehead 

Thanks, I really appreciate it!!

On 3/11/2020 at 8:28 AM, Fraunces said:

Amazing build! It looks just like the one in the story. Just wonderful. I especially love the 17th century captain Haddock!! 

Thanks!! I'm glad you think it did the job regarding accuracy!

On 3/15/2020 at 8:27 PM, Buccaneero said:

Wow, I love it! Amazing figurehead!

Thanks!! It went through a couple iterations but I'm satisfied!! :) 

On 3/21/2020 at 2:30 AM, Mister Phes said:

Oh what a social media story it made!

Whoah, that's awesome! Where can I see that? And thanks!!

4 hours ago, Medzomorak said:

I still have my creased and re-released The Secret of the Unicorn & Red Rackham's Treasure comics from my childhood in Hungarian versions. Thanks, now I have to spend the day going over my old stuff!

Gee. To IDEAS with this. Now. Nu. Maintenant. Jetzt. This is an order. Not debatable.

Haha, what an absolute classic, hey!! I got sick of not seeing enough of the ship in LEGO (it's just so beautiful) so I had to make my own  Have fun reading!!

And yes sir! 

[Medzomorak]

@BillyG I'm honored to make your MOC as my first Frontpage news post.

Also how is the rigging idea going? I think you should definitely try to add more. I am not a fan myself of non-lego string riggings, they brake the immersion a bit for me, also making dissambly a lot harder. The piece you've already used could be an interesting basic ground to go on. Have you thought of using 1x4 black bar pieces to connect them? That might be a good middle ground between molded and non-lego string rigging.

[BillyG]

3 hours ago, Medzomorak said:

@BillyG I'm honored to make your MOC as my first Frontpage news post.

Also how is the rigging idea going? I think you should definitely try to add more. I am not a fan myself of non-lego string riggings, they brake the immersion a bit for me, also making dissambly a lot harder. The piece you've already used could be an interesting basic ground to go on. Have you thought of using 1x4 black bar pieces to connect them? That might be a good middle ground between molded and non-lego string rigging.

Wow, thank you! That's really kind of you, I didn't expect that!

And the rigging is definitely a plan, I agree that lego ropes are definitely the way to go but sadly all I have are what's on there now! I've looked around on bricklink but they're really quite expensive to get  I would definitely like to though, as they really add so much to the build, as I saw in this moc of the Unicorn from a while back 

 We'll see what happens though!!

[Nashnet]

It is the first time that I see a MOC ship with smooth hull bottom. Fantastic!

[Vilhelm22]

A fantastic rendition of Sir Francis Haddock’s ‘Unicorn’!  I personally own all 24 of these books (plus two in French!) and this particular model is fantastic!  I would be interested to see the pirates as well, of course with Red Rackham added in as the Pirate Captain.

[Aaron Morse]

Very nicely done!   Love the detailing on the Captians cabin  :)

[blackdeathgr]

Nice one!!!

[Brickander Brickumnus]

On 3/31/2020 at 5:52 AM, Nashnet said:

It is the first time that I see a MOC ship with smooth hull bottom. Fantastic!

Exactly!

It's amazing!

[Vliebricker]

Ahoy there, BillyG, great ship! I've got such ship still on my wish/ to-do list ?. What (ship?)parts did you use for the bow and rear end? Did you use blueprints from existing ships like the Unicorn? Love the way how you'e realised the gundecks.

Perhaps for snowy:   (Bricklink) Dog, Terrier with black eyes and pose and pink tongue pattern, item no: 26078pb001?  

Keep your rudder straight and keep going..........

[faqby]

Fantastic build and the colour blocking is great.  One tiny critique is I did not see a captstan for the anchor chains?  Maybe there is a picture close up I missed though.  Either way excellent work

[BillyG]

Thanks everyone!

On 4/6/2020 at 9:50 PM, Vliebricker said:

Ahoy there, BillyG, great ship! I've got such ship still on my wish/ to-do list ?. What (ship?)parts did you use for the bow and rear end? Did you use blueprints from existing ships like the Unicorn? Love the way how you'e realised the gundecks.

Perhaps for snowy:   (Bricklink) Dog, Terrier with black eyes and pose and pink tongue pattern, item no: 26078pb001?  

I appreciate it! I never had blueprints so I just looked through lots of reference pictures on the internet and in the film. And for the bow and rear I used this https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=64651&name=Boat Hull Brick 16 x 13 x 2&category=[Boat]#T=C

Also that Snowy figure is perfect, I'll have to try and get my hands on it if possible!

8 hours ago, faqby said:

Fantastic build and the colour blocking is great.  One tiny critique is I did not see a captstan for the anchor chains?  Maybe there is a picture close up I missed though.  Either way excellent work

Hi, there is a capstan it was just obscured by the minifigs for the most part. It's right behind the foremast, I just posted new pictures featuring it! And I'm glad the colours came out well! :) 

Edited April 8, 2020 by BillyG

[Black Pearl]

Love all the little changes and the new pics!! The black lines certainly look better without the little kink and I absolutely love the bookshelf and secret trapdoor! One little thing I noticed, it might be worth extending the capstan axle (or some form of loose connection) down to the lowest gundeck and then re routing the anchor chain to be wound up there. That way you would free up the holes next to the bow doors which would make it more accurate to the Unicorn because I believe historically speaking they are actually meant to be gunports for forward facing chaser cannons. As an added bonus it would mean you wouldn't have to disconnect the anchor chain every time you take off the upper gundeck. Keep up the awesome work!!