Norrington

Howdy folks, My name is Didymus (latin for the greek name Thomas) and I was once a regular contributor called Norrington, back in the olden time, where I made myself a nuisance to Mr. Phes and Phred. I've been getting reacquainted with Lego recently, and I'm looking forward to making some friends in this obscure hobby.

I have to be honest, the first iteration of your ship seemed a bit dumpy and flat and I liked it not at all. However, this version is just really great. You've done a lot and made it a very successful design, imo. It's well proportioned, it's realistic (but not too much so), it's got an accurate design and layout style, and it's got neat features like an actual rudder/wheel assembly. Great work, I can't wait to see it finished.

Other than the skull on the back (and even that isn't so bad), this is a very well designed and proportioned ship. 10x better than the tosh that's been put out for ships by the Lego company recently (with the exception of the Queen Anne's Revenge, kind of). If one were to flesh it out (remove the destruction features, full in gaps and do a little MODing), this would be one of the neatest offical Lego ships around.

Wow, wow, wow. WOW! Much like almost everything you build, you really have set an incredibly high standard of realism and attractiveness for your models. What more can I really say? I wish I simply had some kind of constructive criticism to offer, but really, your work is excellent and not much more can really be said.

Are you planning to keep them both together in the alternative colour schemes and on the same street? Because I'm put to mind by the "twin" houses or rowhouses throughout the United States that were built to match/mirror each other, but since have been altered enough that they look different, with unique colours and features on their façades.

If you're familiar with the Cafe Corner style of building I mentioned earlier, it incorporates "modular building." So rather than having one block of buildings that are essentially one big building and therefore difficult to move, or loosely connected seperate structures that are difficult to keep together properly, they are connected via technic bricks and pins located at uniform places on each building. If you wanted to build a large diorama or large buildings, my suggestion would be to build them in sections that split via this method for the sheer convenience of it.

Well, I've not had any professional experience with the field, but I'm a student of it and it is in many regards my passion. I'm always a friend to a beautiful building, be it built of bricks and mortar or just of Lego. :) I do my best to give good and constructive feedback from my perspective, especially for people who build such great buildings as you do, so that they might be able to be able to become even better from my having contributed Admittedly, I live in the United States, so most of our townhouses were built in the 19th century, and as a consequence are either one colour of stone or are brick with wood painted in some other colour (well, there are wood ones too, but those are far less common). I usually see them with trim in shades of green, greys, whites, and less frequently other colors to harmonize with brick work. Based on this one's colour (beige/tan brick), I think sort of a dark grey would go smashingly with it, but as you mentioned, the parts don't really exist since Lego doesn't make them. :/ My suggestion in regards to colour scheme (if you want to revise it) is that the trimwork of the building might look best in dark grey, with the windows being black. This would take care of the problem of the lack of dark-grey windows, but also lighten the building a bit. That being said, however, I have to say that looking at the pictures more, the colour scheme has grown on me, I just think it should be positioned a bit differently on your layout (if you have one) by other lighter buildings to accentuate the contrast in its design. With the dark buildings around it, it just seems much too dark and closed in.

Well, the ides admittedly feel a bit choppy/blockly/unsmooth in a really distracting way. That being said, however, this is a very good ship, in my opinion. It very accurately captures the general proportions and feel of a ship of this size much better than the average moc does.

I think that was more in reference to hullshape and general styling rather than armament. Obviously they took the concept and ran with it (it is a ghost ship that submerges at will and is crewed by the damned, after all), but I think there's a pretty obvious influence.

Well, in this context, Georgian is a neo-classical style that I group together with Palladian (and Regency) and other contemporary classical styles. They are all very similar; for example, Baroque architecture (similar but different to the Train station MOC) has plenty of classical elements in it. The Palladian style originated in Italy (you are correct) with the work of Venetian architect Andrea Palladio. One thing you will find is that Palladian style is not always adhered strictly. There are many Georgain buildings that have Palladian detailing and all sorts of other permutations. I should say that the Limestone façades (such as the one you posted) have essentially existed as long as the Georgian and other Neo-classical styles have. After all, it's very similar in many regards to the marble and stone used in Greece and Rome, which is what they are imitating. However, these began enjoying a particular vogue beginning in the 1780s. When I say "Regency," I mean much the same as Georgian, but with the changes that occurred during this period (along with the contemporary changes in actual fashion as well). If you follow American architecture, it follows the same trend. Wooden and Brick high-style buildings till about 1790 or so, and then limestone became most fashionable. I suppose, I should ask, where are you "setting" this MOC? As the country seat in England of a wealthy/titled naval captain, or a home for the captain in the Caribbean where he lives in port? I would suggest building in sections. Much the same way as the modular buildings on Cafe Corner-styled streets work. And are you building this as sort of a landscaped diorama of an estate, or just a single house? Because that will certainly determine what you do to build it.

Well, I would still recomend the book I did since it does include all you desire. You have to remember, at the time (18th century), most of the houses in the American colonies were of English origin, and as a result, are nearly identical to English examples, differing only in regards to things such as materials (i.e., Americans favored brick and wood, while in UK it was mostly brick or limestone). I think it's something you ought to look at, as it will give you a very good idea of how to adapt these things to LEGO. That's bound to happen to any old building, but you're right, many manor houses of that type were built of a sand/tan colored limestone (particularly specimens built around 1780 on). The I've generally seen the limestone homes grouped in with Palladian or Regency (both Neo-classical styles), rather than Georgian, depending on their features. I'd recommend the "Headlight" trick. That is, build a wall entirely headlight piece and then form the actual surface with side-ways 2/1 (or larger, depending on what you like) tiles. Or perhaps just 2/1 plates stacked to emulate brick, the choice would be up to you, in that regard. Well, those are both more Neo-classical Palladian/Regency than Georgian, but they're both very evocative of the type of neo-classical country houses being built from the 1780s on. I guess it depends on whether or not you want a historic floorplan. On a house of this vintage, servant areas/kitchens would be in the basement/ground floor (assuming the foundation is a full first story with the actual living areas for the owners above) or in ancillary wings. If you don't wish to have wings, then I'd just leave those areas out. I think a typical "split in two" plan would work just fine, as that's house it's done on most strict Georgian buildings. That is, a central stair hall with the areas on each side being divided into one or two rooms.

I personally don't much like the combination of the IG torso with the RG busby/head. It just doesn't feel quite right to me. That being said, I think otherwise the parts from the RG (busby and torso in particular) are very useful and will probably be very desirable for MOCs and "army stuff". It's a very neat design, in my opinion.

If you want to build it in a modular fashion, with floors separable from one another, that's easy enough to do. I would recommend following the styles of Cafe Corner and the other modular buildings in this regard. As in, the top of all the walls should be topped with studless plates, and the upper-floor should rest upon them, with the same thing applying to the roof and the second stories. I variation on this to get more sturdiness would be to occasionally have 1x1 or 1x2 plates with studs to have a "grasp" on the upper story, but not so firm a grasp that they're difficult to separate. PIctues 8 and 9 in this thread should give a better idea of what I mean. Now, as to design, I would suggest consulting architectural reference works. Thankfully, with it's preference for right angles and relatively simple forms, the Georgian/Neo-classical style of the 18th century lends itself wonderfully Lego! I would recommend A Field Guide to American Houses, as it contains a lot of useful information in regards to common floor-plan styles, decorative details/elaborations, as well as copious amounts of pictures of various historic façades that show the style in particular. Looking through my copy just now, I'm seeing a good selection of Georgian houses in their various forms, so I'm sure you'd be able to draw something useful from it. :) It's particularly suitable, since if you're doing it to overlap with the Pirate theme, the architecture would be slightly specialised to be adapted to the Americas. This is MOC of a British streetscape, and since it represents some typically Georgian style buildings (as well as some Flemish/Victorian Gothic styled ones), it would be worth a look, though they are town houses rather than free-standing manors as you wish to build. The grey townhouses have their own topic as well, and though it's a bit simple and stylized, it does show the "major" detailing in this style. It also shows some of the modular floor techniques I was talking about earlier. This is a link I would also recommend. It represents a building of a later age and slightly different style (a European permutation of the neo-Classical styles, identifiable by their trimwork commonly being white and their bodies a lighter shade), but it has many features in common with the Georgian style (the Central "block" with wings, quoins, etc.) and would be a good reference as to how to render some features in Lego, especially if you're going for a more realistic style. I hope you find all this information at least a bit helpful, this a project I would like to see!

I'm not sure if these comics are wonderful or awful. "Man, this LEGO System Pirate Set is way cool!" Oh, heavy-handed 1990s advertising campaigns.

Very cute! Reminds me of some of the games for Nintendo 64, with it's style. Very neat little MOC!

I'm glad someone bumped the thread so I can enthuse about his wonderful MOC without feeling guilty. Wow! I really love the façade of this one, some real Art Deco-y goodness. I often see people build Art Deco designs in monochrome, which is fine, but real Art Deco buildings have plenty of colour, at least in decorative panels. The colours here are very good and blend together very well, very fine! :) I'd really love to see this as a true theatre, i.e., with a full theatre building behind with an auditorium. Not exactly Art Deco (more atmospheric Spanish), but something like that rendered in Lego would be deee-lovely. Balcony, organ console, orchestra pit, all the stuff. It would really be amazing!

I think the frigate was built for the purpose of this display. Notice that the red bricks on the underside of the hull line up with the non-tiled areas of the water, and act as sort of guidelines for the ship as it slides backwards.

Ohhh, lovely! All the wonderful little greebling aside, I really like the overall design of the building. Very picturesque and evocative. I really like the notion of buildings that aren't themselves submerged, but have portions of their interior below ground and submerged. I was kind of expecting it to be sort of within thick, deep jungles, partially within a river or lake, or something like that (a very romantic notion), but then I realised it had been done before. In all seriousness though, great work, as always.

This same thing came up in the Pirates forum a day or so ago, and I guess the best answer that can be given is this: All Lego themes, be they Town, Ninja, Castle, Vikings, Western, Pirate, etcetera etcetera, are caricatures. No Lego theme can really be called accurate, historically or stylistically. They are merely meant to be suggestive and evocative of a time, place or idea. Some things and elements are definitely inspired by real things, and sometimes are even as close to reproduction as is possible within the general stylization found within Lego sets, but that's few and far between. I mean, Castle has dragons and magic, Town has super-secret James Bond-esque agents, Pirates have peglegs, eyepatches and hooks, etcetera. Again, all are basically caricatures. If you want realism, go for scale models, Lego is mostly a toy that relies on it's being far enough removed from realism that you can do "anything" with it, but recognizable enough that it can also be used for familiar things, if that makes sense.

I really love the green store-front; very nice little bayed design. Very suggestive of the sort of "business on the ground floor, and the owner lives above" sort of thing. Very clean, elegant town-house design; I particularly like the "triple windows" with the transoms on the back of each floor. The laundromat is very good design wise, it takes the bay idea but does it's own round topped "turret," rather than a front-facing gable, which mixes things up very well, as well as adds charming and eclectic things like the balcony on the top level. My main objection here is that the colour scheme feels very dark, maybe grey rather than black for the bay and trimwork, though it's not too bad as it is. Just sort of imposing in a way that feels out of place in a town setting.

Wow! What a very yummy looking building! You've treated this building and style incredibly well; one of the most realistic MOCs I've seen of this type. This style of architecture (in this example and others I've seen) seems like a very transitional style; very modern but also very traditional, and very pleasing. I particularly like the way you did the bonnet/jerkinhead gables. What really caught my eye at first was the smaller cross gable with the larger window with smaller mullions around it (a staircase light, perhaps?). The eyebrow and gothic gables are also very well done and caught my eye right away. You've done a stunning job translating this building to Lego; well done.

Haha, well, Neo-Classical styles do tend to be a go-to for Courthouses. :p Though, I'm reminded of a courthouse I saw in Georgia once with that was a was redbrick and limestone, with a classical pediment/portico and cornice, and then with Gothic lancet window on the main body (the first floor and entrance were limestone ashlar). Very interesting mix, maybe something like that. Again, I'm really liking the notion of doing a full-blown neo-classical pediment, and then with the light arches as contrast (if you get what I mean. Very much like some Victorian commercial buildings I know of with very square and boxy cornices, and then row upon row of windows with Gothic columns between them, all seeming very light. The impression that the façade gives me is a lot like this building--just swap out the extra parapets and all that above the cornice with the pediment and I think it contrasts and blends very well. I'm sure you've seen buildings like it and probably know what I mean.

Do you mean, when they arrive fresh out of the box or do they develop time? And do you mean actual stress marks or more, discoloured spots from poor quality control or something?

I am really digging the arcade of Persian arches. The multi-colored walls do keep it from being a noral, grey-light grey-black castle, but at the same time, the Fire Truck red, SpongeBob orange, forest green and feel a tad incongruous with the brown and tan (as well as new brick and sand tans) and other more "earthy" tones. Overall, really great. :)

I was waiting for someone else to bump this so I could finally post, lol. This really is one of the most gorgeous "faux-minifig scale" ships I have ever seen. Everything is executed brilliantly and smoothly--the tumble-home is particularly realistic and well-done. It is obviously based on common methods, but in ways that I've never really seen so much before. The colour scheme, while based on period designs and simulating them very well (i.e., the red and green tooth pieces to represent the diagonal/jagged painting on the body). The original ship is/was, it would seem, mostly unpainted originally, you represented very well by simply leaving the hull brown, but adding a separate "stripe" of reddish-brown added much more to it. This is so extraordinary excellent, I really can't describe it. Just wonderful!