[OL - FB -Ship] LBSF Demeter

[CapOnBOBS]

LBSF Demeter: CL V Trade Ship

Goddess of grain, agriculture, harvest, growth, and nourishment.

Launched today, the latest from the Beauchamp Shipyard, the Demeter is the first ship of the new LBSF merchant fleet.

A large well armed merchant,

The ship is a balance of strength and capacity,

a good utility ship for any occasion.

A pair of bow chasers...

And some ornate decor...

Means you wouldn't want to catch a broadside...

But can also appreciate the craftsmanship.

All in all, maybe not the best in any 1 category....

But, Captain Lamont, will not be short of work for him and Demeter's new crew.

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by CapOnBOBS

[Bodi]

Clever use of the Friends hull, white and blue is very OL-ish.

I like how richely decorated she is, though I think you could try to build custom guns, instead of using TLG's as chasers, unless if you want to keep the playability feature.

[NOD]

Well-built brig. I like the hull and color combination, I especially like the angel as a figurehead.

Edited November 20, 2021 by NOD

[Mesabi]

Great looking ship Cap, and she's an excellent mix of realistic and "playset" styling for ships. The colouring is done quite well, the sweeping blue, white, and brown make her well in tune for OL colours, and the gold accents look excellent. 

I like the windows on the captain's cabin, and the entire stern is well put together as well, with the gold highlighting everything. I also like the set of doors by the bow, it's another small, but nice touch. You've definitely got an excellent set of curves on her as well. From experience, it's far too easy to make a bulky, square ship that looks like a brick. 

I think my one minor criticism is the dingy could have used a line of these on the underside, to make it look more smooth. The understuds of the dingy detract a bit from the smoothness of the rest of the ship. That being said, that's not really a critique of the ship, more of the things on it. 

All in all, excellent build, and I look forwards to seeing what you do with your trade corporation! 

[blackdeathgr]

[Bregir]

Lovely brig, CAP. As Mesabi says, it is a nice balance between playset and realism, which may make some of the following feedback out-of-place, if that strikes a different balance from what you were going for.

I like the ornamentation of the stern gallery - that curve of windows is really elegant. and while I like your quarter galleries in isolation, in comparison they seem rather bland. You got a nice set of deck details, without making it too cluttered. Details like the hatch grating and the doors up stern look really nice.

I do wonder a bit at the large bow chasers on a merchant ship - do you have ulterior motives?

As for rigging, you have made a good version of the official style rig, but personally, this is where I would suggest trying out something more realistic. The lego masts always end up looking like polemasts because you don't get proper tops, where lower masts and topmasts overlap and connect. For a true brig, you should have crosstrees as well, where topmasts and topgallantmasts connect too, but that may be overdoing it Custom shrouds and stays can really do wonders for a moc too, although it can also tax one's patience quite a lot. Simple heavy sewing thread in a suitable colour (white, black, or beige are my go-to) are good for starters - should it take your fancy, model building shops will happily part your from all your dollars for "proper" string.  A disadvantage with the lego style is also that you end up carrying too few sails and too high. Your courses should reach almost down to the deck, and your spanker should be only just above the quarter deck. These are things you can consider experimenting with in the future, but I like the effect of billowing sails you have achieved and I think this is a good rendition of the official style of rig.

As to your hull, the overall curve is well done, and gives her a nice dramatic look. The tumblehome is very well executed too. The only comment is a common one for ships built on top of the hull pieces. When using the upper bow piece (which does give a nicer bow!), it becomes hard to keep the curve consistent. this means the hull sometimes get the appearance of drooping at the bow. As if the curve drops at the front of the ship. That is also a little bit the case here, as your hull curve (sheer, I believe it is called) escalates near the bow, then to become entirely flat over the bow piece. It tends to take away some of the elegance of the ship. It's a very minor criticism, though, and I will add that your transitions regarding tumblehome and bow and stern curves are generally very well executed - that is very I often have the largest challenges myself.

I would also ask that you add in the topic somewhere (many people add it in the title) which class you see the ship as belonging too. This is both to help others license their ships, and an intrinsic control measure. If everyone does so, we are always sure classes don't start creeping up or down.

All in all, very nice ship.

[CapOnBOBS]

@Mesabi and @Bregir in all my little projects I try and blend some classic lego "toy" and playability with some realism. This has really plagued me with all my forts, as I've put a lot more study into what a realistic fort looks like and everything about them (drab, huge, closed off) doesn't lend to good fun lego builds. Ships, I've so much less of a background, and that is what I originally loved about the classic pirate sets, I feel like I am grounded much more in the playable lego feel than in lego as a medium for a realistic model.

That said... I have learned an embarrassing amount about actual ship design trying to up my lego game... like having to go google "quarter gallery" and half the other terms you used above. What is funny to me, and why I do genuinely appreciate all the feedback, is that I have had lots of ship building moments where I know something isn't right but I can't tell you what. Ex. Looking at my sails, I was initially happy, but then also something was bothering me. You nailed it, the sails are way too high off the deck, which... to your point, I didn't even think of because I was using the classic mast pieces and that is as low as they go without some real creative solutions applied. (Googling shrouds and stays) I agree that custom shrouds look great where I have seen them. when unconstrained by cost, I have built them digitally. with lego string segments. I keep kicking around committing to some thick black threat and thin canvas to start doing my own rigging. I 100% agree that it kicks the build up a notch, but again, gray area between classic pirates and model ship building. 

10 hours ago, Bregir said:

that is very I often have the largest challenges myself.

brutally concur. the shapes are hard enough in isolation, the transitions from one aspect to another wrecks me.

10 hours ago, Bregir said:

then to become entirely flat over the bow piece.

Great point, what I find hilarious about it is that if you were to have grabbed me a year ago (pre-BOBS) and told me (without pulling up a reference) to draw a ship, the whole thing would have come to a point shooting out basically parallel over the water in the bow. Literally staring at old ships to try and get this stuff closer to right in the last year has taught me that the lines are nearly vertical when you get to the bow. So while trying to unlearn what I'd falsely learned, you are spot on, the hull sections foster my false impression and lead you towards flat. 

 

10 hours ago, Bregir said:

I would also ask that you add in the topic somewhere (many people add it in the title) which class you see the ship as belonging too

To your real point, I think it is CL 6 but hadn't included it because I was still chewing on it. The two example CL 6's in about ships are bow, 4 mid sections, stern. This is bow and 5 mid-sections with significant overhang on the stern. One of those examples is an incredible ornate very tall ship, the other more close to this one. I think we've had a few examples of modified Barracuda Bays as CL 5s so I think between trying to make it ornate and being a from scratch design would nudge it into the CL 6 range if the 6 or so studs in beam length was holding it back. Thoughts?

[Bregir]

Happy to have been able to inspire

21 hours ago, CapOnBOBS said:

To your real point, I think it is CL 6 but hadn't included it because I was still chewing on it. The two example CL 6's in about ships are bow, 4 mid sections, stern. This is bow and 5 mid-sections with significant overhang on the stern. One of those examples is an incredible ornate very tall ship, the other more close to this one. I think we've had a few examples of modified Barracuda Bays as CL 5s so I think between trying to make it ornate and being a from scratch design would nudge it into the CL 6 range if the 6 or so studs in beam length was holding it back. Thoughts?

I think she is somewhere in between 5 and 6. Comparing her to my ironsides (Prototype class 5: 3 mids + bow and stern piece) I think she is slightly longer but about the same bulk, although just a two master. Comparing her to the Alejandro de Vargas (4 mid + bow and stern piece) she's slightly shorter and somewhat lighter of built. I would personally go for class 5. You may well be able to argue for class 6 and find some comparable vessels, but to avoid class drift, I try to stick to using the archetypes for comparison.

[Bodi]

@CapOnBOBS I think it should be a class 5 too, though I could support your argument of a class 6 if you could extend it further and add another mast. I have an example of a brig with bow, 4 midsections and stern, and it's a class 5. And another example of a class 6, with bow, 6 midsections and overhang.

[evancelt]

Great looking ship! Good work. The wave decal is a little goofy