[WIP] The Seven Seas Barracuda (East Indiaman Galleon)

[cehnot]

The Golden Age of Piracy: 1650-1720
Imperial Ship Name: The Camilla (1708, East India Trade Company), Broadside's Revenge (1711, Protection of Port Royal)
The Seven Seas Barracuda (1714, Captain Redbeard at Pirates Cove)
Commissioned by the Imperial Fleet in 1705
Dockyard Construction: Port Royal, 3 years.
Launched: 1708

Owners:
Captain George Tucker, The Royal Navy, East India Trading Company (1708-1711) (deceased)
Captain William Tierney, The Royal Navy, Imperial Navy, The Governor's Fleet in the Caribbean 1711-1714)
Captain Roger Redbeard 1714-?) 

Port of Registry: Port Royal
Type: East Indiaman Galleon (Sixth Rate Ship of the Line)
Weapons: 26 cannons
Length: 110 feet total length (110 studs)

History:
After years of humility, Governor Broadside rebuilds his fleet and status after the years of piracy looting and plundering Port Royal. Though the anti-piracy laws were enacted in 1687, many past governors failed to contain the issue. By the early 1700s Governor Broadside was placed in charge of Port Royal and was cherished for his attack on the pirates. Captain Redbeard commanded several smaller ships before commandeering the Imperial Brig he stole in the Black Seas. His Mediterranean pirate days were done and ready to expand in larger waters. After several years ransacking ports in the Middle east and Asia he made his way towards the Caribbean where he met his match. He pillaged and plundered small trading posts and eventually attacked larger merchant vessels in open water. Governor Broadside sent a fleet after The Black Seas Barracuda and fought a courageous war on open water. One night a tropical hurricane swept through the entire sea. With little to no escape, the fleet decided to chase the Barracuda into the eye of the storm making their last stand against Captain Redbeard and his crew. The fleet lost several ships during the hurricane and The Black Seas Barracuda ran the ship into a rocky cove marooning the captain and his crew. The ships collided and the Imperial ship sank to the bottom of the sea. Captain Redbeard was defeated and lost at sea. The remaining fleet lost their way and didn't realize they were several hundreds of miles away from their original position and could not find any remains in the calm sea afterwards. Governor Broadside wrote to the Crown claiming victory in defeating the remaining pirates. Captain Redbeard and his remaining crew managed to make the shipwrecked island their home by scavenging the surrounding islands for food and shelter. During his time, Governor Broadside is awarded a fleet of ships for his victory and returning Port Royal to a successful trading post and naval command center in Jamaica. He begins building rebuilding his fleet. To mark the occasion, he commissions The Sea Hawk (Caribbean Clipper), a frigate, and an indiaman galleon. 

Captain Redbeard and his crew are captured by the Spanish Armada on a distant island gathering supplies and trading with local natives. The same fleet he once chartered under a different name decades ago had no clue who he was or his crew. They claimed to be a merchant ship shipwrecked years ago pursuing a whale. One stormy night the Captain awakes to voices yelling from the crows nest of Imperial forces. The large Man of War Spanish ship took on cannon fire and returned the favor. Redbeard could hear the Admiral tell his navigator to head to a rocky cove. There they would counter attack the other ship and block them in the bay by luring them onto the island. This fortified treasure ship narrowly avoided the shallow waters and navigated into position. There they met the Imperial forces. A cog, two clipper,s a galleon and a frigate carrying the imperial flags. The battle began and cannon fire hit the brig knocking the metal bars loose. They quickly exited the brig and holding area taking out every soldier they came in contact with. The ship took on water and sunk into the sandbars. Soldiers abandoned the ship and headed to the island. Redbeard could see that this was a Spanish trading port without a fortress for protection. The Imperial navy surrounded the galleon setting it on fire. Redbeard and his crew swam to shore hiding in the trees watching the armies fight. The imperials started to move to land. The frigate backed away from shore and positioned themselves in open water facing the bay. The remaining crew aboard the indiamann galleon focused their attention on the shoreline and not the dense foliage to their starboard side. The remains of the Spanish galleon light the evening sky and the imperial forces claim victory as they search out the remaining Spanish soldiers. Night falls, the Fridate deploys a jolly boat to shore. The Indiaman Galleon begins to set up camp on the shoreline at the mouth of the bay. Captain Redbeard and his crew swim to the lightly defended Galleon. They wait in the water and climb up the rudder. A jolly boat returns from shore and informs the navigator and skeleton crew to position the ship near the frigate blocking all access to the port. The skeleton crew hoist the sails and begin to raise the anchor. Redbeard and his crew enter the ship from the cannon chaser ports. They swiftly make their way through the gun deck silently taking down any remaining crew. The ship begins to move turn around in the bay and Redbeard's crew successfully take command of the armory and climb their way up into the forecastle crew chambers. The dozen crew members on the main deck are not armed with any pistols and the fight breaks out on the main deck. The ship is gaining speed and the wind push the ship through the bay. The ships bell is rung as redbeard makes his way up the quarter deck and takes control of the ship. With the wind at their side and the ship gaining momentum the Imperial forces and fleet doesn't have time to react. The frigate is anchored and the remaining ships were close to shore facing the beach. Redbeard moved swiftly passed the frigate as they attempted to begin cannon fire. Within minutes Redbeard blew past ship and out of the cannon's reach. 

The storm masked their cover and disappeared. That night Captain Redbeard rummaged through the Great Cabin reading letters from the Crown. He found the charters and commission detailing the ships history and travel logs. 

Broadside's Revenge. Captain Redbeard just stole his arch enemy's newly commissioned ship. Redbeard charted a course to Pirate Cove to retrofit the ship and add a beautiful black, white, and yellow coat of paint to this boring brown ship. 

The Barracuda Returns!

MODULAR DESIGN

The ship still separates into 3 parts, but not in the same location. I added a mid section on the bow and stern to make the ship separate into equal thirds. This also helps reinforce the structural integrity and make sure the sides do not collapse. 

Removable Floors: For multiple display purposes I thought of options and how it could be displayed as a cross section or give it a play factor and make sure people can access different parts of the ship. I placed hinges and locking hinges that you just need to remove a few tiles and multiple sections of the walls can come off quite easily, but not fall apart. When you see the interior you will see how this works because I grouped these sections to hide areas easily, but also show off the modular parts. 

THE EXTERIOR

Race-built galleons ranged from 70 to 100 feet long from bow to rudder. I am proud to say my ship is 73 studs long and I usually try to design my stuff within a 1:40 to 1:45 ratio so that would be about 1 stud per foot. The Race-Built inspired Galleon maintains the theme designed by LEGO's Barracuda. I did struggle building a ship based on the design elements in the original Brig. The most difficult decision was to abandon the pre-fab hull pieces. The hull shape may have changed in the stern, but I did figure out how to maintain the brown color all the way up to the cabin like the set. The other challenge was keeping the same brown color flow up on the bow similar to the original set. These were more difficult than I expected because the water line was raised almost 2 bricks. I kept the original ship next to the new ship at the same water line height so I knew that my ship did not exceed the other ship in height based on that location. The LEGO set water line is located at the bottom of the prefab hulls. My water line is located at the bottom of the curved slopes. 

Quarter Deck:

1. Navigation Box: There are containers located behind the mizzen mast. I debated on making a navigation box somewhere on the deck to house the maps and such. Most ships have them located in front of the wheel or attached o the wheel. Since race-built ships do not have navigation rooms I decided to use the place between the stains as a great location for the navigation compartment to house all these items. 
2. The Wheel: I made slots and have a tube area to run string down to the rudder tiller that I plan to do so its a functional wheel. 

3. Skylight: Sorta impractical in case they get boarded. I really liked the skylight idea on the Black Pearl and most ships didn't have them because you could shoot at the enemies inside the cabin from above. My older design had a smaller one that would be more in line with skylights on ships in the 17th century, but frankly I loved the larger skylight design I came up with. 

Main Deck:
1. Bilge Pumps: These pumps are usually located on the gun deck or the main deck. I chose to place them on the main deck next to the main mast like many english galleons. These pumps help keep the ship from taking on too much water and run down to the bottom of the ship. They usually are wider at the bottom as well. I used the new candle pieces and then round 1x1 bricks at the bottom to simulate this. You can see them on the right and left side of the main mast.

2. Gallery: I love balconies on ships. The gallery design was always something I thought the Barracuda could have if the cabin was not as wide as the set. When I narrowed the cabin by 2 studs the graceful swooping effect from the rear sides of galleons really made it appear aerodynamic. The gallery was added using the same proportions as in the specs I have for reference. I love the underside details holding up the balcony. I reused this idea a few times around the ship to hold up the mast rigging platforms.  

3. Stern Hull: I decided to custom build the stern hull since I looked at my mint old brown hull pieces I purchased and it looks too weird against the reddish brown especially when you see the interior. 

4. Jolly Boats: Galleons usually had two types of row boats on their ship. The larger jolly boat and the scout boat. I wanted to make sure that the smaller boat fit inside the prefabricated boat like most storage. The great part is they do not exceed the forecastle which my earlier reference depicts. It looks best with only 1 boat and the cargo grates are large enough to house the boat inside the gun deck if I wanted to so this was not even an issue. 
5. Side Walls: The higher side walls on the main deck were common on galleons. I know the official set used a railing, which is common with most merchant ships, but many were retrofitted with solid walls and added cannon ports. Ships built with this in mind were taller and both the railing and the solid side wall height are the same. I feel like it kept emphasizing the sloping effect moving up the ship. 

THE INTERIOR:

This was the most difficult part of this ship. The prefabricated hull pieces only allow you to go 16 studs wide and I didn't want the top-down profile to look ridiculous so I kept it slim like many race-built galleons. I would actually make the front 1/3 bulge out another 2 studs wider if I could, but I didn't want to stray too far from the original set. 

Main Deck:

1. The Captain's Cabin/Great Cabin: Several of the reference I have show short storage rooms beneath the cabin. Many of these I found had hatches only in the captains chambers. I assume this would be hidden by a rug or something. Either way I added it to the ship using a speed champion frame. I made a set of matching bookshelves as well. I felt the statue bust needed a place to sit. The captains bed is now a large chest that can be removed and house his cutlass or other larger items. 

2. The Quartermaster and First Mate/ Sleeping Quarters: 2 beds with chests. The hinges flip up the beds to house their outfits or weapons. 

3. Guest or Officers Sleeping Quarters: 2 beds turned upright for cannon placement. This room is used for guests or Pilot or surgeon/carpenter. The main capstan is located here. The 4 bars to slide into the capstan are clipped to the wall. This room usually exits the ship. The doors are often taken of their hinges to easily access the capstan. Doors are usually put back on hinges during wartime, or when guests arrive.  
4. Forecastle/ Boatswain and Master Quarters: 2 beds flip up for the chairs to sit and enjoy company. The table flips down to uncover a hatch hole for the stairs to the armory. 

Gun Deck:

1. Carpenter/Blacksmith Workshop: The rear facing cannons also reside here. The workshop has a hatch in the floor to access the treasure storage. 

2. Gun and Access Floors: The floor is removable between support beams to access the cargo hold below. Plenty of place to store lots of loot, food, beer, rum, water, flour, etc. From Back to front: Treasure hold has metal bars in front to separate the hold from rest. Also can serve as a brig. 

3. Cook's Station: Access to the brick oven under the stairs. Both sides of the ship serve as a preparation area for all the crew members. 2 tables and plenty of clips to hang pots, pans, utensils. 

4. Armory/Crew Dining Area: The armory has the keg tap, plenty of space to add barrels for storing swords and such. This same area also has the crew dining table area and sitting. 

5. Hammocks: All throughout the deck are modified bricks with handle located on the support beams. These are for hanging hammocks throughout the gun deck for crews to sleep. I plan on making 8 hammocks out of fabric based on the official set shape, but make it 7 to 8 studs long instead of 10 studs long. 

 

Orlop Deck: 

Brig/Treasure Hold: Made of black metal frame and walls to help define area. Takes up the entire area under the carpenters room to the back of the ship. 

Magazine Storage: First hatch/access area
Beer Storage: Second hatch/access area
Water Storage: Third hatch/access area
Flour and food Storage: behind and around kettle oven
General stores: front half of ship

 

Masts and Rigging: String will be added to the physical model when I gather all the parts. I wish LEGO created a new set of rigging that fans out from a vertical line instead of making it fan out from the center. One of my goals was to make the rigging feel like it was fanning out from the vertical line. I did this with a complex attachment rigging concept where I used bars, bar clips, and round tile with a bar parts. I think this works effectively well. I also wish they would offer various heights and widths with the sets. My proposal makes use of the current parts with custom cut to either make them shorter or narrower. I have a bunch of rigging from a eBay haul of random pirate parts. These are the only parts I will modify. 

 

The rigging will be LEGO. I will be using black string and plastic rigging pieces. The one thing that is different is the custom plastic medium rigging in the front and the proposed small rigging in the rear. These are built with the actual plastic rigging pieces, but I am cutting them down to fit. 

Edited March 21, 2021 by cehnot

[Brickander Brickumnus]

As I've already said, this is SOOOOOOO GOOOOODDDD! 

[evancelt]

Great design and wonderful interior details! Awesome work!

[NOD]

Very well built and beautiful galleon. Interesting history and lots of useful information about the construction.

[icm]

Excellent digital build, lots of pictures and great backstory.  I look forward to seeing pictures when you build this in the brick!

[VaneStream]

I am very impressed! I love how it retains the colour scheme and style of the black seas barracuda set! The brick-built canons are very well designed!

[cehnot]

22 hours ago, Brickander Brickumnus said:

As I've already said, this is SOOOOOOO GOOOOODDDD! 

Thank you. 

 

20 hours ago, evancelt said:

Great design and wonderful interior details! Awesome work!

I spent so many countless hours reworking the exterior just to get the interior to work. 58 Studio files, each time the program crashed I saved it as a newer file. Glad I did because I referenced earlier designs and often mashed ideas together. 

 

15 hours ago, NOD said:

Very well built and beautiful galleon. Interesting history and lots of useful information about the construction.

 

As early as my first take on the model I felt like this ship should not be another re-imagination of the set, but rather a sister ship in a fleet. The original BS Barracuda was beautiful and led the design for the Skull's Eye Schooner. You can see the similarities in each ship design. I would argue the new Barracuda at Pirates Bay is the new definitive model and isn't taking place in an alternative timeline, but rather considered the same vessel. I took some of the history from the original LEGO comic, character backstories and devised a possible future where this ship would exist. While working on the ship several people attempted and succeed in making a Frigate based on the set. I love the Barracuda Frigate and this deeply inspired the concept that this was build by the same dockyard with the same characteristics as other ships at the time. This secured my idea that this ship is part of a fleet with similar designs for that time period. Spain and England built fleets based on their newest understanding of what was successful with past ships. Each ship was different, but evolved rom earlier designs or failed attempts. 

Pirates hardly ever owned the ship, but rather stole it from people, or was captain of the vessel while working under a contract for the Crown or Armada. Most privateers who turned to piracy used these same ships for their adventures. 

Roger Redbeard's LEGO description claims he was originally Spanish and I assume based on the various European accounts LEGO wrote as character descriptions and concluded in an official LEGO Pirates comic, he turned to piracy. 

 

15 hours ago, icm said:

Excellent digital build, lots of pictures and great backstory.  I look forward to seeing pictures when you build this in the brick!

Now that I am happy with the design, I need to find out if there is a way to easily subtract the parts from the set or 2 sets as I now own and find out what I still need to buy. I do not know how to do this. I know bricklink offers wishlists for parts, but I need to subtract parts from another wishlist or something similar to this concept. 

 

32 minutes ago, VaneStream said:

I am very impressed! I love how it retains the colour scheme and style of the black seas barracuda set! The brick-built canons are very well designed!

This was a real struggle. I wanted to maintain the majority of the exterior characteristics as possible. I would say I maintained about 70% or higher of the exterior shapes used throughout the ship. The cabin, forecastle, and walls are basically the same shape, but I realized early on that I could not use the same building techniques to construct this expanded set. Gutting the interior made my exterior change. I did include a bunch of newer parts added in late 2020/early 2021 on this newer model I felt could help it. The only parts that are not color accurate are the doors. I have a 2x2 curved tile in brown and it has yet to be made into that color. Black looks okay, but that is one part I hope comes soon in an upcoming set. Other than that I think exporting a parts list will help me find if I missed any other part not currently available. From what I tried to do from the beginning was use only parts in those colors. But some techniques led to using 2021 parts and now some of those parts are offered in black so I think it will be fine. Most the parts that are used in the newer offers in 2021 are hidden. I just tried to make the entire ship 4 basic colors: black, brown, yellow, and white. I am sure there are plenty of areas people could change the color to make it cheaper, i just like these colors where I used them. Brown for the wood on the gun level and orlop level reminds me of fresh wood, the dark tan looks like dried out and sun beaten decks. Black and white would obviously be used for painted areas. 

[cehnot]

Comparing the ship to the original Pirates of Barracuda Bay Ship.

Side By Side: 
I think this illustrates the differences best. 
Height from waterline: I floated the set at the same height as where the waterline would be on my ship. In order to figure out where this would be I measured from the top of the ship to the bottom of the prefabricated hull pieces. I knew from the beginning I was going to use the overall design of the official set as my model reference and ultimately I made final decisions based on that set. 
Main changes occurred in the mid section height. I raised the midsection by 2 plates to accommodate the 2x3 black slopes into the design. This lowered the gun level, but did not compromise the design. To maintain the shorter reddish brown bow and taller reddish brown stern I used a similar curved slope design as seen in the Imperial Flagship and several custom ship mocs. This also gave me a port hole for the anchor string. I sure hope LEGO develops a new stern for ships so I can replace the custom built one. I have built the stern close to the original stern shape and size to swap out with little modifications to the design. 

Ship Curve: I love how they used curved slopes to create the braces on the side of the ship to help it from crashing into harbor docks or when boarding other ships. If you line up a bunch of 2x3 slopes in a row the ship loses its curving shape on the set. I saw a few people add extensions onto the original set and I did this in the first design models before abandoning the idea. Instead of getting rid of the slopes and going for a custom wall design as many other ship makers have done with their mocs, I expanded the ship's width using curved slopes and solved the wall issue that way. I also attempted several different designs with less black braces on the side of the ship similar to the Barracuda Set. There are two wooden ship replicas I found with braces flowing to the back near the stern and I fell in love with that idea. It also beefed up my ship and reinforced a curving wall no matter what angle i looked at it. 

Even though the side profile looks fantastic, there isn't enough brown slopes to make the bottom hull exact. Ideally the bottom hull should flatten out 1 stud shorter with curved slopes. I could achieve a front profile approach but the side would not look as well since there are no wedge slopes or curved wedge slopes that have more options. I chose to design the ship with the side profile approach and use what is available to make it look good.

I am quite proud of the bow updates. I added a yellow railing with black mechanical arms and extended the bow spirit forward so I would need to use 14 studs long axel rods instead of the set's 12 stud long rods. I also wanted the entire bow platform to sit at the same level as the main deck instead of halfway between decks. Most galleons did this so the crashing waves didn't flood the decks. 

The Bow: I kept the exterior design almost the same. Bricks were swapped out to accommodate the new changes, but overall you can see how these ships could exist in the same fleet. 

The Stern: I kept the entire rear cabin design close to original as possible. I narrowed the cabin by 2 studs and I felt it helps fleshing out the galleon shape. The only major difference is the addition of my gallery to the ship. One of greatest designs the model builders did for the new set was create a great silhouette stern shape. Galleons do not have such wide sterns, but the silhouette is spot on. Since ships taper to the rear, this isn't easily recreated with LEGO prefabricated hull parts. 

 

My goal for this project : Honor what was developed, but clearly define the class of ship created. The original ship is a Brig, but with Galleon shapes. Most Brigs are closer to frigates and somebody already created a wonderful Frigate Barracuda design. 

Edited March 21, 2021 by cehnot

[Brickander Brickumnus]

10 hours ago, cehnot said:

The original ship is a Brig, but with Galleon shapes. Most Brigs are closer to frigates and somebody already created a wonderful Frigate Barracuda design. 

Who's that? You have link?

[Supersick_]

This is absolutely killer! The crew of the Fer Maiden have heard whispers in the wind of her riches and word is they have set sail to find her in open waters, hopefully without escort. I definitely feel like our ships can live in the same universe. Wonderful take on the full hull, really gives it that Galleon shape - nice and fat under the waterline. She won't do 14 kts but she can sure haul a ton of precious cargo. 

One thing I struggled with the Fer Maiden is interior space in a frigate more or less being dominated by the gun deck and missing out on space for all these amazing details like an armory and crew accommodations; the way you've detailed this out is terrific. 

[cehnot]

3 hours ago, Supersick_ said:

This is absolutely killer! The crew of the Fer Maiden have heard whispers in the wind of her riches and word is they have set sail to find her in open waters, hopefully without escort. I definitely feel like our ships can live in the same universe. Wonderful take on the full hull, really gives it that Galleon shape - nice and fat under the waterline. She won't do 14 kts but she can sure haul a ton of precious cargo. 

One thing I struggled with the Fer Maiden is interior space in a frigate more or less being dominated by the gun deck and missing out on space for all these amazing details like an armory and crew accommodations; the way you've detailed this out is terrific. 

thanks. I took a lot of inspirations from the POTC films and Black Sails tv show. The design was closer to a race-built galleon which got rid of the navigation room and much faster than most galleons.  I used Francis Drake's ship as the main reference for this design. I think this ship will be fast with all the sails on. It will definitely outrun other galleons since it's smaller and lighter. I debated on making it a 5th rate ship adding a few more cannons. I think the frigate is about the same length as a race-built galleon (70 to 115ft long keep to bow). I will let other people build the Spanish treasure ships. 

As for the day hull shape. That is what I struggled with. the wealthy fat galleons all flattened out at the bottom and did not cut through the water too much. My keel is more in line with a frigate keel and I am not sure if that would help too much. I took a lot of ship ideas to build what I thought would work. The ship is much narrower than most treasure ships. I used the battle ships of the line designs by the English to combat with the Spanish Armada so most my design choices were to ensure this ship would out run a Spanish Galleon. 

Frigates replaced galleons and I think that is why The Black Pearl was designed as a race-built galleon. They didn't go full indiaman design, but clearly cut off a navigation deck in their design to make her cut through the water faster.

The ship sails:

 Jib sail, flying jib sail, spirit sail

I debated on 3 sails per mast, but I'll see how it looks with current sails. I will likely add stay sails in between the two masts. 

Mizzen mast will have a lanteen sail and I'll see if it needs a top gallant sail. 

So many decisions to make. 

[Supersick_]

I love the story! Race built galleon for long hauls certainly blurs the line with East Indiamen and one could argue that a fleet of these quicker more seaworthy transports could have been a more effective treasure armada for Spain, historically speaking.  

In the same vein, my world adjusts the timeline of the Golden Age of Piracy to include later naval designs (some forward-thinking shipwrights, haha) or adjust the centuries/decades a bit so piracy as a “faction” spans the whole Age of Fighting Sail. 
 

With regards to colorways, are you proposing that the black/white/gold BSB/7SB livery is for the Armada instead of a paint job specific to Red Beard? We should iron it out, because if I make some Imperial coastal defense ships for instance, maybe they uh, align with the direction we choose. 
 

Re: armament I think you have her very well gunned for a merchant/race galleon. If you removed stores space and crew size perhaps you could have a larger armament but then at that point you should razee her upper works to let her eat more wind. What I’m saying is that I think she’s perfect for your story. 
 

Re: rigging, I think a lateen on the mizzen is key for your Mediterranean Spanish-style architecture. If you wanted to, you could update the prow and beakhead to a Dutch style design (became ubiquitous in the 18th c.) and then a gaff spanker and t’gallant on the mizzen would fit well. I also think your plan for the fore and main are great: course, tops’l and t’gallant. 3 sail stacks are great at this scale. Stepping more masts and adding more sky sails gets a little extreme for the limited “legal” Lego shrouds etc. 

 

Exciting project, can’t wait to see her built!

[cehnot]

1 hour ago, Supersick_ said:

With regards to colorways, are you proposing that the black/white/gold BSB/7SB livery is for the Armada instead of a paint job specific to Red Beard? We should iron it out, because if I make some Imperial coastal defense ships for instance, maybe they uh, align with the direction we choose. 

That is a good question. I think I originally thought that the Imperial Flagship and the Caribbean Clipper defines the color pallet for Governor Broadside's Fleet. Even though the Flagship was helmed by Admiral Woodhouse, I think both would be using the same colors since they take place in the Caribbean. The Flagship soldiers use the more modern Redcoat design seen in the middle 1700s. I guess it really depends on how you want to spin it. The frigate was a great design on facebook in the group i linked earlier. I think it would be known as Redbeard's theme. Pirates often repained their ships darker or neutral colors to steer away from flashy colors. I think the reimagined Caribbean Clipper and other imperial ship mocs sorta define their own pallet. If we are talking about Governor Broadside, I would probably look at the classic sets and use the colors they did. Sure, not everything needs to just be yellow, white, and blue, but it clearly identified who was an imperial and who was a pirate in 1989-1996. As for original ship color pallet, I sorta reference Black Sails and POTC. Jack Sparrow painted the Wicket Wench (British ship he was aboard while working for the East India Trading Company) solid black and renamed it The Black Pearl. As for British ships I referenced model kits as well of 18th century British ship of the line. They seem to use basic colors or only paint the keel white. The larger ships appear to be colored Black yellow, Blue, white. The HMS. Victory, HMS Bounty, HMS Surprise. 

If it were me doing a fleet I would adhere to  the following colors:
Redbeard: Red, white, black, yellow. 

Babyteeth did an excellent job capturing the modern ship design in his Clipper and Imperial Flagship. Those work well as a fleet, but not a definitive ship requirement for all fleets. He proposes its a ship built in the late 17th century and used in the early 18th century. This would fit in line with Redbeard. 

1 hour ago, Supersick_ said:

Re: rigging, I think a lateen on the mizzen is key for your Mediterranean Spanish-style architecture. If you wanted to, you could update the prow and beakhead to a Dutch style design (became ubiquitous in the 18th c.) and then a gaff spanker and t’gallant on the mizzen would fit well. I also think your plan for the fore and main are great: course, tops’l and t’gallant. 3 sail stacks are great at this scale. Stepping more masts and adding more sky sails gets a little extreme for the limited “legal” Lego shrouds etc. 

There is a person who sells replacement sails that are laser cut I have spoken with. I am going to see if I can get him to use the same sail colors for the set, but in different sized sails. I think i need a taller lower main mast sail, a jib sail that is the size of the original BSB set, etc. I think using standard LEGO sizes with the same color pallet would look nice. If I move the current jib sail to the back as the Missen mast I think the smaller BSB jib sails would work well in the front. I know the new Barracuda sails are massive. I need something taller like the Skull's Eye Schooner did. But in the new scale. If I am getting custom sails done, 1 large main mast sail like the Schooner scaled up to the new set sails, 4 smaller BSB jib sails. All using the new ship sail color bar widths. 

[cehnot]

The ship is over 5300 pieces. 5400 pieces if you add all the extra barrels, boxes, and buckets. I didn't expect the ship would clock in twice as many parts as the set. tiles and plates are the main reason based on looking at the rebrickable parts list. One set only contributes to 25 percent of the galleon build. I am checking all my bins for what parts I currently own and plan to create a new part list for ordering. The great news is I will have lots of extra parts from the set to build an extremely detailed shipwreck island. 

 

[Mister Phes]

12 hours ago, cehnot said:

The ship is over 5300 pieces.

This ship is wonderfully detailed so not wonder it has a 5k+ piece count.

But... as I often ask... where are the minifigs?

[cehnot]

37 minutes ago, Mister Phes said:

This ship is wonderfully detailed so not wonder it has a 5k+ piece count.

But... as I often ask... where are the minifigs?

The photos are digital rendering. I am ordering parts to build the ship. It still needs all the string and custom sails in getting made. 

[Cousarmy0001]

She looks tough!  Very well done.  16 guns puts her just barely into the upper range of MOC firepower, but the hull itself looks solid as can be.  Her AP may not be the highest, but her HP looks like she'll take all day to put down :-)

[cehnot]

The Camilla/ Broadside's Revenge. The dark blue contrasts nicely with the normal blue gun ports. 

[Supersick_]

I love it! But you know that already. I hope you don't mind that I painted her below the waterline for this, artistic license and all...

 

"With the devil's vessel off our larboard quarter we readied our gundeck battery and braced for engagement... then with swift manoeuvre, the pirate frigate quickly yawed, beating towards windward, crossing our wake and violently raking our stern. Amongst the mayhem below deck, the crews had not yet run the stbd cannon out and thus we had no reasonable course but to strike our colors and accept our fate..."

The Capture of the Galleon Camilla by the Frigate Fer Maiden.

[cehnot]

On 3/26/2021 at 8:11 PM, Supersick_ said:

I love it! But you know that already. I hope you don't mind that I painted her below the waterline for this, artistic license and all...

 

"With the devil's vessel off our larboard quarter we readied our gundeck battery and braced for engagement... then with swift manoeuvre, the pirate frigate quickly yawed, beating towards windward, crossing our wake and violently raking our stern. Amongst the mayhem below deck, the crews had not yet run the stbd cannon out and thus we had no reasonable course but to strike our colors and accept our fate..."

The Capture of the Galleon Camilla by the Frigate Fer Maiden.

I think I need to change my file and make that lower hull white like you made in my digital file. I just kept it brown so it would be a place Redbeard didn't need to paint over for the barracuda. But, as a sister ship of the fleet that would be possible. I may need to alter the story or make this one of two ships built in the fleet. This would be a second ship launched months later circling the globe for the East India Trade Company. 

[Brickander Brickumnus]

On 3/27/2021 at 2:11 AM, Supersick_ said:

I love it! But you know that already. I hope you don't mind that I painted her below the waterline for this, artistic license and all...

 

"With the devil's vessel off our larboard quarter we readied our gundeck battery and braced for engagement... then with swift manoeuvre, the pirate frigate quickly yawed, beating towards windward, crossing our wake and violently raking our stern. Amongst the mayhem below deck, the crews had not yet run the stbd cannon out and thus we had no reasonable course but to strike our colors and accept our fate..."

The Capture of the Galleon Camilla by the Frigate Fer Maiden.

With the lower hull painted white, the ship looks much much better! 

On 3/28/2021 at 5:39 AM, cehnot said:

I think I need to change my file and make that lower hull white like you made in my digital file.

Edited April 18, 2021 by Brickander Brickumnus

[cehnot]

Lego Pirate Ship Stand

Stand: 319 Parts
Length: 40 studs
Height: 8 studs
Width: 14.7 studs

The stand has the ability to attach to the hull by removing 2 slopes on the hull and adding 4 pieces. 

The stand is based on the Ship in the Bottle display stand. I started with a similar frame and expanded the idea surrounding the compass. 
I expanded this concept to fit my ship. I did not use the same parts hidden inside the model structure. From there, I began to shape the outside with a vintage design.

[cehnot]

The Camilla sitting on the stand looks great as well. 

[evancelt]

Base looks awesome! Great work

[cehnot]

Did some tile nameplate designs for the stand. 20 years of graphic design paid off. Anyways, I think these designs feel right. 

Looks like I will do this nameplate UV printed since PAD printing is costly. I do not think anybody prints 1 design pad printed. 
First up: Torn paper "Seven Seas Barracuda" which may need to have the paper tone 

 

Second: Similar design as the Ship in the Bottle nameplate. They used a different font, rope for decorative elements and a a few other slight changes. I went for a similar feel, but made it my own. 

 

The Camilla Nameplate"

 

 

5 hours ago, evancelt said:

Base looks awesome! Great work

Thank you. Come back and check out the nameplate designs I came up with. 

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by cehnot