L'Impérial - First Rate Ship of the Line

[Kolonialbeamter]

[pid][/pid] 159B

Ahoy everyone!

I'd like to present to you my main WIP, the first rate ship of the line Impérial.

She's almost the size of Sans Pareil, measuring 116 studs in length at the waterline, by 28 studs width of the lower gundeck.

Impérial is an offspring of Vengeur, which might seem like a step backwards. But she keeps growing. What you see here is actually Mk.VI, so she has undergone quite some change, and it surely won't be the last version! Because, in contrast to Sans Pareil's, Impérial's more “conservative” building technique is quite adaptive to new ideas and therefore a much better candidate to eventually be realized in bricks.

The latest update included brick built gun ports, allowing me to have their insides in red (tried adding them to Sans Pareil as well, but it was hopeless...).

Like Sans Pareil, she is modular. Additionally, smaller parts of the hull can be removed to give an insight look, which would be nice for a display.

As you can see, she features a full set of cannons, 114 of them (which took ages to place ). If you look closely, you'll spot a new design of swivel guns!

She isn't built to a specific design, but is rather generic. I tried, however, to give the stern a bit of a french look by making it round. Does it work?

The middle windows in the stern galleries are in fact doors that can be opened from the inside to give the captain and the admiral access to the ship's balconies.

By the way, meet part of the crew, proudly presenting Impérial's colors.

The lower hull (waterline to lower gundeck) is now completely brick built, consisting of even more curved slopes. If you are interested, I can make a tutorial on this technique, as it fits I think really well with CGH's tutorial for an upper hull, together making for more variety in ship-sizes, and freeing us from the restraints of the prefab hull!

13200+ Parts

HighRes pictures @mybrickshelf

Here are the two flags for download, enjoy!

_Royal Seal.lxf

C&C as always very welcome,

thanks for watching

Regards

[bloggedcp][/bloggedcp]

[LordBrickleton]

Incredible build! I can't wait to see it brick built! Shame she's a bluecoat vessel...

[Matthias]

I must say, that your picture of the crew is absolutly heroic. Its like they would do it in a to much patriotic hollywood movie. That is brilliant. The Flag is exactly what I wanted to build into a big tower a few mounth ago, but everything I build looked terrible.

Your flag is a dream.

[Louie le Brickvalier]

-

Edited October 19, 2017 by Louie le Brickvalier

[Captain Golden Hook]

WOW...

glad to see she is a bluecoat, while I am pirate if there is another tournament of retribution the bluecoats can count me in...

[C-Had18]

The awesome beauty of your ships is annoying me for two reasons: 1-We joined the forum at about the same time, and I am still trying to post my ship, and you've built how many now? 2-My eyes are still glued to the pictures. Can you give us a close up on the swivel? I can't see it in the picture. And the rounded stern, well its just awesome. Your ships are uncanny (how can a anyone build so many vessels without a single bout of criticism?) Please make that tutorial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sebeus I]

Well done, I love the sight of that stern, the rounded shape is indeed a characteristic of a french ship-of-the-line I believe, it certainly looks great atleast.

[Kolonialbeamter]

Your flag is a dream.

Thanks, I've added both of them as an attachment to the end of post #1. Enjoy!

Most Excellent work! I am always a fan of your work! As you can see at the bottom of your post, this has been...

[bloggedcp][/bloggedcp]

Thank you Louie - man with a thousand faces outfits (thumbs up for the new one!) - for these words and for blogging!

The awesome beauty of your ships is annoying me for two reasons: 1-We joined the forum at about the same time, and I am still trying to post my ship, and you've built how many now? 2-My eyes are still glued to the pictures. Can you give us a close up on the swivel? I can't see it in the picture. And the rounded stern, well its just awesome. Your ships are uncanny (how can a anyone build so many vessels without a single bout of criticism?) Please make that tutorial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Always glad to annoy! But seriously, I've been building these ships for more than two years now, and produced quite some 'outtakes' along the way. And there's still a lot to improve. But my ships wouldn't exist without this forum here! I can only try to give back a little.

Here's a shot of Impérial's aft-section with a closer look on the swivel guns.

The golden part in the middle is this one, it's 'barrel diameter' works well.

Oh, and I'm working on something new, that hopefully will work as a base for a tutorial. But it will take a while.

WOW...

glad to see she is a bluecoat, while I am pirate if there is another tournament of retribution the bluecoats can count me in...

Good to know! But I'm afraid she won't see the light of real bricks until then.

BTW, don't know if anyone noticed, but it seems a distant fleshy cousin of Sebeus is Impérial's second-in-command.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Kolonialbeamter

[Frank Brick Wright]

Great work again! There's nothing new I haven't said already in other posts but this one looks fantastic. I can't agree with the others on the stern shape as two studs-wide seems way too large and gross to me--in fact the round shape looks a bit unfinished IMO. Besides the slopes in the middle of the tumblehome of which I've said something earlier, everything looks pretty perfect to me.

[C-Had18]

I didn't notice it before, but your brickbuilt water is fantastic. The movement you can imagine is just great. Once again, this is a marvelous vessel that can't be described in words.

[Kolonialbeamter]

Great work again! There's nothing new I haven't said already in other posts but this one looks fantastic. I can't agree with the others on the stern shape as two studs-wide seems way too large and gross to me--in fact the round shape looks a bit unfinished IMO. Besides the slopes in the middle of the tumblehome of which I've said something earlier, everything looks pretty perfect to me.

Thanks for your input, I very much appreciate it! Concerning the slopes I must say, they are integral part of the tumblehome, so I'm afraid right now there's nothing I can do about it. I'd have to rethink the ship's structure to replace them, and at the moment I'm out of ideas...

The stern on the other hand is easier to handle. The grilles mean to represent all the stern decorations, focus was on parts that are flat and golden. So this solution is again a compromise of shape, color, and structure. I'll try to apply a one stud-wide design and to improve the lower part of the 'horseshoe'. Let's see where that leads us. Thanks again!

I didn't notice it before, but your brickbuilt water is fantastic. The movement you can imagine is just great. Once again, this is a marvelous vessel that can't be described in words.

Thank you, it was actually my first attempt at 'building' water, and I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. Unfortunatelly, taking some hands full of these doesn't work in LDD...

[Kolonialbeamter]

I took the advice and messed around with the stern a bit, making it one stud narrower per side, reshaping that horseshoe, and 'lifting' the galleries.

For comparison I applied a thinner horseshoe.

I'm not sure, but I still tend to the first solution, it has more of a radiating 'here I am!' effect, more glamour... Or maybe I'm just too much used to that variant. What do you think?

Larger pictures @mybrickshelf when public.

Thanks again

[Captain Golden Hook]

Yea, I think the first variant looks better to

[Horatio]

In my opinion, the second one looks better, but I'm the kind of guy who likes subtlety. The 18th century French (ahem, Bluecoats, rather) on the other hand liked to impress. So you probably should go with the first one.

[Captain Becker]

Merde! I dont even dare to ask LXF file for this monster.... About the stern desing, I aprove whit that the first one looks much more "Grandeur" that the second one. But the second one dosent looks too bad either. Also it seems to have full interior? Now if youll excusme, I need to find my jaw.... Has anyone seen it?

Captain Becker

[Frank Brick Wright]

Thanks for your input, I very much appreciate it! Concerning the slopes I must say, they are integral part of the tumblehome, so I'm afraid right now there's nothing I can do about it. I'd have to rethink the ship's structure to replace them, and at the moment I'm out of ideas...

Just ignore it, in fact they don't look bad at all, it is just a small detail of shape, rather unimportant.

I prefer the second version since it seems much more sophisticated, but I think that is natural as it was me who suggested it The thing with building sterns is really a matter of personal preference. It depends mostly wether you want an austere stern, like the one you have and which was--I believe-- the most common around this period, or in fact something more ornated. I like what you have here a lot. Other combinations you could try, to see if you prefer any of them, would be painting the latticed windows in white for more colour or/and changing the balconies for golden (with telescopes or whatnot) but I'm just throwing ideas here, she looks fantastic as she is

Edited February 2, 2014 by Frank Brick Wright

[Kolonialbeamter]

Merde! I dont even dare to ask LXF file for this monster.... About the stern desing, I aprove whit that the first one looks much more "Grandeur" that the second one. But the second one dosent looks too bad either. Also it seems to have full interior? Now if youll excusme, I need to find my jaw.... Has anyone seen it?

Captain Becker

She features more or less the same interior as Sans Pareil, meaning chain pumps, stove, bulkheads, a (hopefully) working rudder. But only one double capstan. But... slightly more cannons...

Oh, and I hope you've found your jaw back by now!

In my opinion, the second one looks better, but I'm the kind of guy who likes subtlety. The 18th century French (ahem, Bluecoats, rather) on the other hand liked to impress. So you probably should go with the first one.

Just ignore it, in fact they don't look bad at all, it is just a small detail of shape, rather unimportant.

I prefer the second version since it seems much more sophisticated, but I think that is natural as it was me who suggested it The thing with building sterns is really a matter of personal preference. It depends mostly wether you want an austere stern, like the one you have and which was--I believe-- the most common around this period, or in fact something more ornated. I like what you have here a lot. Other combinations you could try, to see if you prefer any of them, would be painting the latticed windows in white for more colour or/and changing the balconies for golden (with telescopes or whatnot) but I'm just throwing ideas here, she looks fantastic as she is

Thanks for all your input. I think I'll stick to the first version, since you don't seem to dislike it too much, and in my eyes it's just more impressive and therefore better fitting to the the ship's (and the Bluecoats') glory.

However, I like the idea of the telescopes, they come in gold... I'll keep that in mind for another update, thank you. And using those would seem like a proper Lego translation of an Océan-Class ship of the line's stern design.

After some very time consuming LDD sessions, here's an update!

During the last week I finally found the courage to deal with Impérial's bow, as I wasn't really convinced by it, especially not by the headrails... oh, and yes, they are annoying to deal with in LDD...

Anyway, I finally managed to reshape those, plus the bow as a whole is now a bit pointier, and I extended the beakhead.

Messing around with the lower hull, I got the idea of angling it from midship running aft, getting rid of these 'segments', to give the ship a sleeker appearance.

Here's a screenshot of my 'shipyard', showing both methods.

Orange is my working color for black for reasons of contrast, the red part is what's new.

HighRes Pictures @mybrickshelf when public

C&C very welcome,

Thanks for watching

Regards

[pcvando]

Full Broadside!!!

Wow! as always from you; you picked the right colour!

This is absolutely amazing. I can't wait to see a build, but It seems like a very big challenge, even if you had all the pieces.

It is absolutely amazing, a great addition to the ever growing bluecoat navy!

It looks very slow, but extremely well armed. I like your cannons too.

My jaw is still down, it may fall off if you actually build this monster of a ship!

[Kolonialbeamter]

Time for an update

Since there's a hull from hell waiting for me to get even more frustrated over it, I decided instead to do something I've wanted to do for a long time: Update Impérial's masts and sails.

Among other things this includes SNOTed fighting tops and more elaborate whatstheterm 'mast linkings'.

Additionally, the yards now feature stunsail booms, and will require real life thread to be held in place. For the spanker I decided to go 'soft footed', à la 'Commerce de Marseille'. Oh, and I had to get rid of some of the Lego rigging, the file simply became too heavy for my computer to handle...

Credits for this update go to Dread Pirate Wesley and Imperial Shipyards.

On a related note. Regarding a tutorial, right now I'm fiddling around on another ship, that's supposed to become a little bit of a 'how-to' regarding brick built hulls using lots of curved slopes. However, progress is frustratingly slow, because as it turns out I am not happy with my solution on Impérial as it is now, and therefore have altered the design quite some times now... Anyway, just wanted to say it's not off the 'table'.

HighRes Pictures @mybrickshelf

[Admiral Blockbeard]

Amazing and very ambitious project, you are very skilled at building in detail on the computer. I find it so frustrating at times to find and position the pieces I need!

Beautiful brick built sails. One question, how have you made those lanterns on the back? Can they work in real bricks?

AB

[Kolonialbeamter]

Amazing and very ambitious project, you are very skilled at building in detail on the computer. I find it so frustrating at times to find and position the pieces I need!

Beautiful brick built sails. One question, how have you made those lanterns on the back? Can they work in real bricks?

AB

Thank you Admiral. But don't be fooled, everything is merely a result of trail and error. And I produce a lot of rubbish, I just hide it...

Here's how the lanterns are made. The design idea is from DPW's 'HMS Persephone'. Getting these window pieces in place in LDD requires some fiddling around, but in real bricks it'll be much easier, thanks to the opposable thumb... They aren't attached to anything, just squeezed in between those two yellow disc pieces.

Regards

[Mencot]

Awesome LDD ship and you had some great ideas and awesome techniques designing it.

Those sail look great but would they actually stay together if built that way IRL?

How was the swivel guns made?

edit found that you had included a close up image of them

Edited October 12, 2014 by Mencot

[Kolonialbeamter]

Awesome LDD ship and you had some great ideas and awesome techniques designing it.

Those sail look great but would they actually stay together if built that way IRL?

How was the swivel guns made?

edit found that you had included a close up image of them

Thanks a lot! Actually, it's funny you bumped this thread today, 'cause after a long time at sea protecting the realm, Impérial has just arrived at the drydocks for a major structural update of her lower hull (I hope noone is using her absence for actions against the crown).

The sails - same as the flags - would not work IRL, they are placeholders, 'just for show', apply gravity and they'd fall appart. The rigging on the other hand can be build this way (but it would get rather expensive), as Captain Braunsfeld recently demonstrated on HMS Jupiter.

Thanks for your interest,

best regards,

KB

[omerai]

This thread was opened long time ago, but since you're still working on the ship i wanted to add my admiration for this work. Really amazing and an epic ship!

Can't wait to see the updated hull.

[Kolonialbeamter]

Hi mateys,

Impérial has finished her overhaul and returned to guard duty off coast.

This update might at first not even be visible, but in fact it's quite a major change in design... Well, at least considering the lower hull. Its larger part is now made of hinge bricks instead of curved slopes, combined with creating more hull segments to gain a much more detailed and realistic curving gradient. I'm quite pleased with this technique and sure it would work 'in the brick'.

But enough words, here's some material:

(click pics for HR)

Hope you enjoy!

KB