[WIP] Motorized HMS Bellerophon 74-gun ship-of-the-line

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

Hello! This is the first MOC (actually a work in progress) that I have posted on this site.

It is a model of the HMS Bellerophon; a 74-gun third-rate ship-of-the-line. She is also known as the "Billy Ruffian," and her claim to fame is being the ship to whom Bonaparte (The conqueror of Europe, not the EB moderator) surrendered.

I began building this ship around June of last year, after having watched The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. At first I was just going to build a generic ship (I knew nothing about sailing ships), but as I learned more, I saw that the British ships were clearly the best-looking and uniform. I knew I wanted it to be driveable and be able to fire projectiles remotely, and thought, "two decks is better than one!," so I decided to build a ship with two gun-decks, and chose the Bellerophon on account of its record.

As you can see, my lego collection is not extensive enough to build in the correct colors (at least not yet). Also, the size of the ship restricts the technic-missile-firing contraption to only the port side.

As of now, the ship can drive forward, backwards (I know they can't really do that, but...) , steer to the port and starboard, and the cannons can fire. The motors are powered by one Buwizz 2.0.

 

 

I'm currently stuck on whether I should use chains or hosing for the front (lattice?).

Chain:

Hosing (rudimentary test):

 

Cannon-firing mechanism connection to motor:

 

Driving wheels toward the bow, caster wheels for stability at midships, and steering wheels (connected to rudder, though it seems they're a bit misaligned) near the stern:

 

Glorious rows of cannon :

 

As you can see, my ship uses no prefab hull pieces, and sports a powerful broadside of 28 technic missile cannons, all powered through one axle so that they fire in succession from the bow to the stern, as you can see in the movie in this Bricksafe page.

 

I would appreciate any constructive criticism (especially about the very front and the sides of the hull), but please try to ignore the jumble of colors.

Also, I am only able to work on this build about once or twice a week, so there will be much time between updates.

Edited February 5, 2023 by NilssonLegoEngineering

[Mister Phes]

3 hours ago, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

As of now, the ship can drive forward, backwards (I know they can't really do that, but...) , steer to the port and starboard, and the cannons can fire.

You've made an interesting start! 

Are there any videos of the ship in motion?

[Jack Sassy]

Indeed a good start! Are ye planning of replacing different colour bricks with one colour in the future?

5 hours ago, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

The conqueror of Europe, not the EB moderator

Oh, good, for a second there I started to think that our very own Bonaparte had surrendered. 

5 hours ago, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

I saw that the British ships were clearly the best-looking and uniform.

I still prefer the Spanish stuff. 

5 hours ago, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

I'm currently stuck on whether I should use chains or hosing for the front

I think hoses look best in this situation.

 

I also like yer cannon idea, a good one indeed, looking forward to seeing more of this vessel! 

[Achilles099]

Have you thought about making it longer and wider? It's going to look very squat once you add additional decks and the upperworks, in my opinion. 

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

On 1/9/2023 at 1:22 AM, Mister Phes said:

You've made an interesting start! 

Are there any videos of the ship in motion?

Thank you! Yes, I linked to my BrickSafe page, which has a video in it. (Or you can just click here)

 

On 1/9/2023 at 3:01 AM, Jack Sassy said:

Indeed a good start! Are ye planning of replacing different colour bricks with one colour in the future?

Oh, good, for a second there I started to think that our very own Bonaparte had surrendered. 

I still prefer the Spanish stuff. 

I think hoses look best in this situation.

 

I also like yer cannon idea, a good one indeed, looking forward to seeing more of this vessel! 

The pictures of this ship model are one of my main sources for this ship, so if I start changing out pieces for ones in the correct color, they will be like the colors in this model; black, yellow, and blue and gold accents.

I guess I will have to give up the novelty of using chains in exchange for the accuracy of hoses. Now I just have to figure out how to do it.

 

On 1/9/2023 at 7:47 AM, Achilles099 said:

Have you thought about making it longer and wider? It's going to look very squat once you add additional decks and the upperworks, in my opinion. 

Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. I will not be making the hull any longer, but the aftcastle will extend a ways toward the back which should hopefully balance it out. 

Edited February 5, 2023 by NilssonLegoEngineering

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

Here is a video (sorry for the poor quality):

Edited January 21, 2023 by NilssonLegoEngineering
Video is not available any more. New video with higher resolution below

[azog]

6 hours ago, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

Here is a video (sorry for the poor quality):

Oh man...this might be the most beautiful mechanism I have ever seen . 

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

32 minutes ago, azog said:

Oh man...this might be the most beautiful mechanism I have ever seen . 

Thank you kindly, Sir Azog!

[Mister Phes]

14 hours ago, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

Here is a video (sorry for the poor quality):

Thank ye!

This is quite fascinating, I've seen similar mechanics applied to other MOCs, but this is the time I've seen them in a Pirate-themed MOC.

Any chance of uploading a high resolution video to YouTube or Vimeo?

 

[Jack Sassy]

On 1/9/2023 at 6:46 PM, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

Here is a video

Outstanding mechanisms indeed! I love it (not being much of a technical LEGO man meself )!

[Marooned Marin]

On 1/9/2023 at 5:24 PM, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

The pictures of this ship model are one of my main sources for this ship,

This is gorgeous ship you are trying to build, and you have made great progress so far

Take a look on this creation, it is right in your ball park, maybe you get an idea or two which you can steal borrow: The Rolling Dutchman

 

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

19 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

Thank ye!

This is quite fascinating, I've seen similar mechanics applied to other MOCs, but this is the time I've seen them in a Pirate-themed MOC.

Any chance of uploading a high resolution video to YouTube or Vimeo?

 

Ah, well; I am really not good with photography or videos. I don't have a Youtube or Vimeo account, but I may try to make a video and put it on Bricksafe once I finish my ship. I will actually be posting another version of the clip I just showed, because I found out I had accidentally set the camera to low resolution .

 

5 hours ago, Jack Sassy said:

Outstanding mechanisms indeed! I love it (not being much of a technical LEGO man meself )!

Thank you!

 

2 hours ago, Marooned Marin said:

This is gorgeous ship you are trying to build, and you have made great progress so far

Take a look on this creation, it is right in your ball park, maybe you get an idea or two which you can steal borrow: The Rolling Dutchman

 

Thank you for the link! I thought about connecting the wheel to the rudder, and now I think I just might have to do that. I had an idea about rocking motion for wheeled vehicles, but it takes up too much space, though I might use it someday:

Because the axle is offset from the center of the wheel, the entire "vehicle" rocks back and forth. The problem is that the wheels are gears, and although it could be done with rubber wheels, it would be more complicated and take up even more space.

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

Here is a new video in higher resolution:

Edited January 21, 2023 by NilssonLegoEngineering
Video is not available any more. New video with higher resolution below

[Mister Phes]

On 1/13/2023 at 4:37 AM, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

Here is a new video in higher resolution:

That's not really much higher resolution!

The frame size is only 426 x 240 - is there a reason it's so small?

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

15 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

On 1/12/2023 at 11:37 AM, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

Here is a new video in higher resolution:

That's not really much higher resolution!

The frame size is only 426 x 240 - is there a reason it's so small?

Sorry about that! It turns out while editing I unintentionally reduced the resolution. I fixed it, but now the file is too big for Bricksafe to download. I will figure out a way to make it fit, but also be of suitable resolution.

[Mister Phes]

16 hours ago, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

Sorry about that! It turns out while editing I unintentionally reduced the resolution. I fixed it, but now the file is too big for Bricksafe to download. I will figure out a way to make it fit, but also be of suitable resolution.

Thank you! 

I realise I'm a nuisance, but having nice quality video does help draw more attention - people are more likely to stop and watch larger videos.

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

8 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

Thank you! 

I realise I'm a nuisance, but having nice quality video does help draw more attention - people are more likely to stop and watch larger videos.

No worries! I will have the videos up soon (I had to split my video into three parts to get it on Bricksafe). Might I ask how you inserted the previous video into your post?

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

Here are higher resolution videos:

Part 1:

 

Part 2: 

 

Part 3: 

[Jack Sassy]

15 hours ago, NilssonLegoEngineering said:

Here are higher resolution videos

These certainly give us a better look of all those glorious mechanisms. Thank ye! 

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

      I made some progress with the bowsprit of my ship and also with the beakhead (the lattice part). 

Here's the beakhead:

 

Here's a concept for the figurehead:

 

This is the bowsprit:

 

Edited February 19, 2023 by NilssonLegoEngineering

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

      My brother is also building a large sailing ship, and I asked him if I could put some of the parts from his ship on mine to see how mine might look when it's done:

 

[Stoertebricker]

On 1/11/2023 at 12:59 AM, Marooned Marin said:

This is gorgeous ship you are trying to build, and you have made great progress so far

Take a look on this creation, it is right in your ball park, maybe you get an idea or two which you can steal borrow: The Rolling Dutchman

 

Arr, my parrot told me, some fearless pirates plundert my captains quarter and robbed the boulding plans for my chip. I will let them know: I hope you are fast or I will catch you and let you walk the plank! Aye!

 

Ok then, first: Great to see someone build another moving lego pirate ship! I think it turns out great so far. The technic cannons seem to shoot way easier than the others...

I digged up some more videos of my Black-Pearl and added them to my Flickr-Album: Black Pearl at Flickr

Probably this can give you some more inspiration. Unfortunately I dont have better videos from the steering mechanism because it has not changed much from The rolling dutchman.

I hope to spend some more time again in this forum and will keep on following your updates. So see you soon!

 

[NilssonLegoEngineering]

17 hours ago, Stoertebricker said:

Ok then, first: Great to see someone build another moving lego pirate ship! I think it turns out great so far. The technic cannons seem to shoot way easier than the others...

I digged up some more videos of my Black-Pearl and added them to my Flickr-Album: Black Pearl at Flickr

Probably this can give you some more inspiration. Unfortunately I dont have better videos from the steering mechanism because it has not changed much from The rolling dutchman.

I hope to spend some more time again in this forum and will keep on following your updates. So see you soon! 

Wow, thank you for the link; those are some incredible functions! I never even thought it would be possible to motorize the Lego Pirates cannons.

If you want to know how unlearned I am in Maritime Studies, I can tell you that I do not understand the significance of turning the sails side to side, but that maybe it has something to do with crabbing? I think if I do include that function, I will have the crossbeams attached to the mast with rope, like I did on the bowsprit, but probably not motorized, 'cause that's just too much work!