[ENTRY] - King Kahuka's Outrigger Boat (Mini Set)

[kritch]

An entry to the category 1 of the Mini Set competition. It uses 44 pieces. Although thinking about it now it's probably not very classic in its styling. I should have made it red, but I didn't have the right pieces I'll leave it here anyway

 

[Yperio_Bricks]

While it is maybe not classic in style, King Kahuka certainly rides in style with this fantastic outrigger boat! Well done moc

[Mister Phes]

39 minutes ago, kritch said:

Although thinking about it now it's probably not very classic in its styling. I should have made it red, but I didn't have the right pieces

Updating the classic style with modern pieces and colours is fine - you have succeeded in creating a great mini set!

[Mazin]

Nothing wrong about that, i think that it looks amazing and as the one who regularly dislikes custom made boats and canoes, i'd say this one is charming, and it does look classic. Guess that Lego would probably use some stickers or custom made pieces with some sort of patterned brick for that thing on the left side of the boat, sorry, forgot the name, but it s a well done set. And, since among kids parents is that type of people who declines to buy any militaristic toy this "native fisherman" could sell well as an excuse to get a harmless looking toy :) And the turtle is a nice touch, without it it would be a bit different, and more lonely, this sidekick adds a lot of value and storytelling prossibilities :) Even the fact that Your islander wears a mask is a huge plus, a simple tribal warrior woudlnt be that intruguing :) 

So i woudln't even bother adding any other element to this design, as this would probably also raise the price. And simplicity of this makes it actually stand out :)

[kritch]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. I've just added instructions to Rebrickable if you are intrested.

[Rogue Redcoat]

A lovely small set, that I would totally buy this, I do agree red would be the best color but the reddish brown looks just as good, this being my only "critique", I look forward to seeing more of your builds and happy building :) 

[durazno33]

I really like this but your picture is so dark. I'm thinking if you put this on a blue background and added a bit more light that would really help.  The build is very much on one side of the color wheel. Red, brown, orange. I'm wondering if you could change a 2 pieces to add some contrast. So instead of an orange shell, you could benefit from a white one. Instead of a brown spear, you use a black one to make it stand out against the boat. 

Great job on this little build!

[Yoggington]

Of all the mini-builds, I love this one the most I think.

I would say you don't need to wholesale change to red, but perhaps the two crossbeams being bright red could add a nice bit of visual interest.

Edited August 22, 2023 by Yoggington
typo

[MstrOfPppts]

What a great set! I am usually not a big fan of brick built things where a similar mold already exists. They usually look too bulky or too square. Somehow this boat is designed really well and it doesn't bother me that it's made of bricks. The design is slick and looks appropriate in size. The only thing that bothers me a bit is the front with the cheese slopes not matching the curve underneath and sticking out rather then being smaller - more pointy. Also in my opinion one of the stronger entries and the turtle is a really nice touch for a change of usual sea life inclusion!

[kritch]

13 hours ago, durazno33 said:

but your picture is so dark

Yes, I struggle with my lighting setup and the Scottish weather doesn't produce much natural light unfortunately. I took lots of photos and lightened them in photoshop, and this one was the most natural I could get (believe it or not that is a blue background). I will just have to pretend he's out for a dusk fishing trip.

 

13 hours ago, durazno33 said:

So instead of an orange shell, you could benefit from a white one. Instead of a brown spear, you use a black one to make it stand out against the boat. 

 

6 hours ago, Yoggington said:

perhaps the two crossbeams being bright red could add a nice bit of visual interest.

Thanks for the suggestions, I do tend to go for muted colours and a limited pallet, but I have switched these out on my model to see how it looks. At the moment I'm not sure, the extra red and white seem to make the King's mask too prominent. If I get time I will try to take some photos of this more classic colour variant. Although I will take the opportunity to link to one of my most colourful builds (although the picture itself is still dark 

 

2 hours ago, MstrOfPppts said:

The only thing that bothers me a bit is the front with the cheese slopes not matching the curve underneath

Yes this bothers me too. Some of the Polynesian outrigger boats I was using as reference have a little upright on the prow, and I wanted to do something like that, but the symmetrical SNOT design limited what I could do. I tried 1x1 tiles but that produced an even harder edge.

Thanks for the constructive feedback everyone, it's very much appreciated 

[MstrOfPppts]

Still not perfect, but maybe consider this solution?

[iragm]

The ama design is downright wonderful.  Absolutely perfect shaping.  I love it.  Yeah, it would be better in red, but it's fine in brown.

I'd be interested to see what this might look like with a shield, a sail, a flag, a set of horns, or a drum -- all of these were Islander staples and would make this feel more "classic", although it's hard to say if they would improve the build or not, since it's wonderful as-is.

I do really like that this is just some dude out spearfishing, and there isn't a lot of conflict (except perhaps if he decides to have turtle soup for supper).  Excellent work!

[kritch]

1 hour ago, MstrOfPppts said:

Still not perfect, but maybe consider this solution?

I hadn't thought of that, unfortunately I don't have any in brown, just tried red and it might look too narrow. I will leave it for a bit and see if it grows on me. Thanks

[kritch]

On 8/21/2023 at 9:52 PM, durazno33 said:

So instead of an orange shell, you could benefit from a white one. Instead of a brown spear, you use a black one to make it stand out against the boat. 

 

On 8/22/2023 at 4:18 AM, Yoggington said:

Of all the mini-builds, I love this one the most I think.

I would say you don't need to wholesale change to red, but perhaps the two crossbeams being bright red could add a nice bit of visual interest.

On 8/22/2023 at 12:16 PM, MstrOfPppts said:

Still not perfect, but maybe consider this solution?

I've made some of the suggested changes, not sure if I'll change the offical entry, but I thought I'd put it here for people to see. I also realised that I hadn't used the offical King kahuka in my first Build

New on the left

Edited August 24, 2023 by kritch

[Yoggington]

I do like the red crossbeams better, though I'd have the vertical claw that attaches to the strut be brown in that case.

I think having these in red reduces the need for the spear to be black too.

[Mazin]

28 minutes ago, kritch said:

 

I've made some of the suggested changes, not sure if I'll change the offical entry, but I thought I'd put it here for people to see. I also realised that I hadn't used the offical King kahuka in my first Build

New on the left

I'd stick with Your original entry, there's no point in altering something that is already simple but great, as i don't see real visual improvments. And the same with Your lead character, he was already great, no need to change him only cause they looked different in previous original sets. Folks constantly switch torsos, heads, headwear and decorative elements or create their own, so i think it was just fine. Note that this plume, or whatever you call it, makes him actually look taller and that creates a bit of inbalance with the rest of the boat. Boat is boat, he was small, and it was just the right choice. I don't mind it if he would get a taller during plays, it's just a toy, but for presentation purposes i think it's important. Even the angle of the photograph and the way You've placed that turtle can be important factors :)

[MstrOfPppts]

I think that LDD or a digital tool is your friend here, since you can change the colors quickly and make a direct comparison on screen.

Since you only have a red tooth piece, I guess that adding a bit more red does not hurt. Original islanders had red canoes anyway. I quite like the color scheme to the right. I know that the bar with clip also comes in reddish brown since this year but it's hard to expect such a new part to be in common possession. I find the tooth front, although still far from perfect, better than the original. And the black spear is a nice touch of a different color. Maybe even the oar could be red?

[durazno33]

Maybe it is just the lighting but I do like the one on the left a bit more. The red bars and the red spike make it seem that much more appealing.

[Mazin]

HERE ARE MY FINAL THOUGHTS AND REASONS WHY I'VE DECIDED TO RANK THIS SET AS THE 3RD PLACE IN THE MINI SET BUILDING CATEGORY

dfgfdg I voted for this craft simply because it's a completely unique and lovebable craft and that's what i was looking for in this Contest, that our talented builders will take inpsiration from examples provided by Mister Phes or will dive into the world of other classic themes to look for inspirations, as even Castle sets provided some interesting boats. And Carribean should be populated with plenty types of sea charriots, whatever their purpose would be. Now someone could argue that why would even need this kind of canoe, since we already have a canoe for the Islanders, even tho to me it's more like a dugout, thus, making it a unique thing in the franchise. And it's the fact that it's a new construct that counts, that with few bricks not resembling anything we could build a new sailing craft, that is visually appealing, and would provide lots of fun everyone's Lego Pirates collection. Not to mention that obtaining King Kahuka himself is always a good selling factor, even tho we would probably get tired after a while, as you can't fish forever. 

And that's why it's ranked 3rd in my votes. As it's more of a great cheap bonus pack, that could go be grabbed with few others miniboxes, rather than a set of it's own. Tho, with that turtle and that shell, and all those fish, who knows? Maybe they would provide great story anyway. 

Most importantly, collectors would have to get it, even only to aquire that new amazing boat.  And i think there's still potential to make it better, as it could become a model example to build new similar boat based on this design, like extended versions.

[Marooned Marin]

@kritch As the first runner-up, allow me to congratulate you on winning the Mini-Set Category with this clever little build. Well done!

[thewatchman]

2 hours ago, Marooned Marin said:

@kritch As the first runner-up, allow me to congratulate you on winning the Mini-Set Category with this clever little build. Well done!

Couldn’t agree more!

 Congratulations!

marin your entry was absolutely top tier, I built a much inferior copy myself!

[Rogue Redcoat]

Congratulations 

[kritch]

On 9/17/2023 at 11:50 AM, Marooned Marin said:

@kritch As the first runner-up, allow me to congratulate you on winning the Mini-Set Category with this clever little build. Well done!

Thanks very much, I don't quite believe it, I won't celebrate until the official announcement is made (there seems to be a lot of chat in the voting thread), I felt sure you were going to win. 

Well done on coming 2nd, Sloop Windy is definitely a set I would have liked to see as a kid. I've just download your very nicely produced instructions from Rebrickable

[Yperio_Bricks]

Congratulations Interesting to see that Islanders won in both categories Seems there is some desire for Islander sets!

[thewatchman]

1 hour ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Congratulations Interesting to see that Islanders won in both categories Seems there is some desire for Islander sets!

This has occurred to me. 
 I would 100% buy a new islanders pirate range, especially if this boat was included!