WIP The Making of a Fleet

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll play around with it. It gave me the thought of keeping the width I have but building the gun ports in. The ladder pieces are some of the ones I had to order so I am limited at the moment.

[Captain Blackmoor]

You're building as a beat on these ships! Really nice progress already!

I see lots of bricks are involved in this...

Any more hints on the coloursheme?

I'm planning to build a black-white striped ship in the future, with dark green and metallic gold trims.

I also see you have a gap in the tumblehome for the stairs, but 8 studs wide? I think 2 or 3 studs do a better job.

Furthermore I don't have much to say, till now it is just excellent work!

[Ingmar]

Really incredible, the white colour scheme seems to be perfect, will the 9-mid sections frigate have two rows of guns ?

Keep on updating frequently, it is a geat pleasure to follow the construction of your project

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Really incredible, the white colour scheme seems to be perfect, will the 9-mid sections frigate have two rows of guns ?

Thanks. The ship on 9 hull sections is intended as a ship of the line and will have at least two rows of guns but I am going to experiment with a third row on that ship.

[Captain Blackmoor]

That sounds very interesting! Also a nice challenge.

I wish you all the best on your ships commodore!

[Claus von Nassau]

that realy looks great. i must make my phoenix a 3 deck so that us bluecoats can put up a fight.

where did you learned that techniqe. or did you leared it to your selve?

keep up the good work

claus

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Thanks. I got the technique from Captain Green Hair here: Build a frigate with Captain Green Hair. I am also using lots of pictures of La Mort Royale and the Sang Royale which you can find if you search for those ships or check the ship index.

Ship building has not come naturally to me but as I have worked with his style I am finding ways to adapt it to different size ships, with the larger ship I think I will be pushing the boundaries of what may look good with that style since the concept is based on the Lego hulls it begins with certain limitations that his style of ship building seeks to overcome. His method really is a great compromise between building your own brick built hull and being locked into the small width of the lego hulls.

[Briggs Broadside]

Any advice from the great ship builders out there is always appreciated!

I'm not a "great" ship builder (the largest ship I've done was two years ago, and ultimately came down to adding three central hull extensions to the Caribbean Clipper, building up the walls, adding a deck and not being satisfied with the stern).

But I think, if you replaced the black jumper plates on the small ship that uses the ... what is that, the Renegade Runner hull? If instead of black jumper plates, you used the same color grey as the stud-side of the hull, it would give the little sloop the appearance of iron-sides just above water level. Now, granted, iron-sides were more common AFTER the Golden Age of Piracy, but for Napoleonic Era accuracy they'd be common enough ... IE; the U.S.S. Constitution, otherwise known as "Old Ironsides".

It would add a very interesting, and accurate element to the colors you choose to balance it out.

(And just out of curiosity (and since I'm on the subject of Old Ironsides) ... typically I've seen massive work done with Redshirts and Blueshirts, some Spanish, and many attempts at doing German and Scandinavian and Russian and even some Portuguese, and varying other sea-faring classic tropes ... but does anyone have any links to some American sailors and forts? I've seen some good looking U.S.S. Constitutions, but not much else!)

[Joey Lock]

But I sincerely hope you have the Redshirts to crew all of these warships! And a proper Fleet Admiral calling the shots!

Oh I have another professional Commodore or Lieutenant if his low on men. Or I could lend my Admiral of the Fleet experiance!

[Eddy Redbeart]

Iron sides did not refer to that the sides were made of iron. in battle the shots of the british frigate couldnt penetrate the sides of the constitution. the shots did literary bounced off. legend has it that the british sailors cried out " her sides are made of iron". thats why the constitution still has the nickname old ironsides. in fact the sides are made of white oak. a very hard and dense wood. and her sides were thicker than standart. but none the less . i agree that a little color here and there makes a ship interesting.

my favorite colorsheme is the one used on the hms belona in her earlier years. tan sides with black stripes and blue decoration on the upmost deck. google hms belona and youll see what i mean. simply beatyfull. the ships that were build around 1800 are beautifull too. but in that era they beginn to look more and more standartised and less decorated. the hms victory for example is a beautifull ship but her stern ( wich is different from the one she had when she was first launched) is comparably boring compared to ships that were around about 50 years earlier.

But nontheless this project shown here is very very interesting and ambitious. Very good stuff. Looking forward to see more.

ed:)

Edited December 15, 2009 by Eddy Redbeart

[Briggs Broadside]

Iron sides did not refer to that the sides were made of iron. in battle the shots of the british frigate couldnt penetrate the sides of the constitution. the shots did literary bounced off. legend has it that the british sailors cried out " her sides are made of iron". thats why the constitution still has the nickname old ironsides. in fact the sides are made of white oak. a very hard and dense wood. and her sides were thicker than standart. but none the less . i agree that a little color here and there makes a ship interesting.

my favorite colorsheme is the one used on the hms belona in her earlier years. tan sides with black stripes and blue decoration on the upmost deck. google hms belona and youll see what i mean. simply beatyfull. the ships that were build around 1800 are beautifull too. but in that era they beginn to look more and more standartised and less decorated. the hms victory for example is a beautifull ship but her stern ( wich is different from the one she had when she was first launched) is comparably boring compared to ships that were around about 50 years earlier.

But nontheless this project shown here is very very interesting and ambitious. Very good stuff. Looking forward to see more.

ed:)

I love learning these things. It's been years since I've actually been aboard the real ship out in Boston. And now I vaguely remember a tour guide or exhibit and that line by the British. So my bad.

But there were ships with iron sheets bolted to the hull for extra defense against cannons. For instance, the Santa Anna, c.1522, was clad in lead armor riveted to the wooden hull.

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Here are a few quick shots of the HMS Venerable. She is furthest along. (Note the ladder change )

[Captain Zuloo]

She's looking very nice! Still, I wouldn't have the ladder splitting. I think you should go with one 2-wide ladder going up the side.

I look forward to seeing the 3 decks with a bow and stern, although I fear that this ship may turn out a little stumpy.

Keep us posted on further progress!

[Admiral Croissant]

The colourscheme is very great. I really like the darkblue parts, that fits nice to the black and white.

I agree with Zuloo about the ladder. And I hope the ship doesn't get too narrow.

For the rest it looks great and I will follow this big project for sure

Edited December 16, 2009 by Admiral Croissant

[Commodore Hornbricker]

She's looking very nice! Still, I wouldn't have the ladder splitting. I think you should go with one 2-wide ladder going up the side.

I look forward to seeing the 3 decks with a bow and stern, although I fear that this ship may turn out a little stumpy.

Keep us posted on further progress!

Thanks. Actually the ladder doesn't split it's 8 wide all the way up but gets interupted by gun ports. You can't see the full 8 wide sections in the picture as they are in the black portions. This ship won't be three decks just the two you see but another longer one will. I am going to try and widen the heck out of that one!

[Joey Lock]

Very nice! The colourscheme is very strange but it somehow works. I would like to see how a normal gold scheme would work out. I gotta make some of those myself for my fleet!

[Captain Blackmoor]

Nice progress Commodore! As the good Admiral Croissant already said you should keep an eye on the width of the hull.

The colours are very nice, it looks so familiar to me, but I don't know why.

What colours are you going to use on the stern? I'm very curious since I don't see a yellow trim on the ship's hull.

Keep it up!

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Nice progress Commodore!

What colours are you going to use on the stern? I'm very curious since I don't see a yellow trim on the ship's hull.

Thanks. It will be mostly black and white with some dark blue accents. I have just started to struggle with the bow. I think the width is OK. It seems to be similar to La Mort Royale and Sang Royale in those terms.

Here are a few more pictures of the Venerable. I am still very much experimenting with the bow and it is not even close at this point to what I would like. I am also concerned that I have the main mast to far back. It looks to close to the mizen to my eye so I think I will move it two bricks forward. I am also thinking of moving the fore mast one brick back. What do you experts think? Any suggestions on the bow would also be appreciated.

[Captain Green Hair]

Looking good there Commodore!

Indeed your main mast is too far to the back, it should be roughly in the middle of the ship.

The Fore mast should be placed just where the bow runs up, the aft is placed in the middle of the poop.

On the bow you might want to extend it a bit, similar to as i have done on La Mort Royal, just to make it less stump.

How is La Mort Royale by the way?

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Looking good there Commodore!

Indeed your main mast is too far to the back, it should be roughly in the middle of the ship.

The Fore mast should be placed just where the bow runs up, the aft is placed in the middle of the poop.

On the bow you might want to extend it a bit, similar to as i have done on La Mort Royal, just to make it less stump.

How is La Mort Royale by the way?

Thanks! I thought as much but I was too tired last night to work on it any longer. I'll have to make a few deck ajustments to make the masts work and keep my two gratings. From my view the main mast ought to be almost in the center of where the rear grating is (maybe a brick back from center) and I'll need to push the fore mast up maybe 6 bricks. The bow has frustrated me but I found some images and have a few ideas so I'll continue to experiment till I find something that I think works. I am going to try to have one of the two 7 hull ships looking more stumpy at the bow (as many real ships did look in my opinion, especially english ships) and the other looking more elegant and european like in design.

I haven't worked on La Mort Royale this past week. I was struggling with the interior support structure of the ship as I haven't built one like this before so I figured I'd take one of my own further ahead and learn from my design of the inside to better manage the reconstruction. I am probably over building my ships from the inside. I could probably drop Venerable a ways without much damage she is so brick heavey with 2x4 and 2x10's inside her.

I have also been working on expanding the hull of the HMS Foudroyant which is the 9 hull ship I am building on the the new plates. Instead of using a first row of brown bricks along the top of the hull plates I used a row of brown inverted slopes to gain a little width advantage at the begining where you can hardly see them and then began stepping out using jumpers. She's is very big but I think I need to do two to four more rows of plates before I get her where I want her. She will be a beast on hull plates.

I am also changing the color scheme of the second 7 hull ship (HMS Resolution) and taking her design back a little to more easily incorporate some of the work around changes I have had to make with Venerable. I haven't worked on sloop hotspur since the first pictures as I am still waiting on hinges to arrive. It will be fun to switch to a much smaller ship after working on big ones. I also just started on the hull of the Flame which will be on red hulls 5 mids. I need one more mid before I can start on my white hull sloop Le Reve. I haven't worked on ( HMS Indefatigable and HMS La Trompeuse) the two five hull frigates (your design essencially) since the first pictures.

It is a lot of fun to have all these ships going at the same time! The shipyard is busy...war with France inevitable...and yes my fingers hurt like hell

[Rick]

Impressive progress... I like the color scheme you've chosen. The dark-blue works really well indeed.

[Captain Green Hair]

...and yes my fingers hurt like hell

Awww, and you haven't started on the rigging yet.

[Commodore Hornbricker]

Awww, and you haven't started on the rigging yet.

aw man. Seriously? Not looking forward to that then.

I repositioned the masts today and finished the bow which I think turned out very cool. I'll post pictures tonight or tomorrow.

[Captain Zuloo]

I really think you should make the ladders 2-wide. At the moment they are far too wide, and not only is that historically inaccurate, but they don't look great either. I truly think you should make the ladders smaller before you build too much more (rigging etc.).

[Commodore Hornbricker]

OK here are some more WIP shots. Have fun!

I promise to change the ladder on Resolution but Venerable stays as is...Captains perogative