Mr Misty

Wow! That's amazing. That 10 year old model is great. I bet you can make it look better with some of the newer parts that have been released over the last decade. In all my years of building I could never get the hang of making my own transforming robots. I'm more of a static builder. I'll be waiting to see if you release the instructions or put these up on Lego Ideas. I'll have to remember my login info to vote for them.

As someone who has loved both the Titanic and Transformers since he was 2 let me just say that this is one of the coolest things I have ever seen done with Lego. I've often thought of how cool it would be if a big ship like an ocean liner or aircraft carrier was a Transformer. I don't suppose you have instructions available do you? I would love to have one of these. Or 2 so it could be displayed in both modes

Not sure if it's noteworthy but I built a small ship years ago using the grey and black time cruisers hull. I named her Diablo http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/MrMisty/Diablo/snapshot_2011-05-26_09-27-04.jpg

This is so cool :D I was thinking of doing something similar but with the USS Flagg or the Defiant, they wouldn't be minifig scale though. Can't wait to see the finished project.

I don't recall how much string I used, I needed 2 pacs though. It was sold off a peg hook at the craft store in a braid about 6 inches long. I had to undo the braid and rewrap it into a ball before I could start, this took quite some time since it loved to tangle itself up into very difficult knots as I undid it. The shrouds were all done on the ship. I started by tying the string in a knot on the hull, then strung it through the modified plates I used on the crows nests. I repeated this on the upper shrouds then used superglue to attach the cross ropes. I also used superglue on each knot to keep them from coming undone. The rigging that goes between the masts is all hand tied. I was able to wrap it around the masts and yards to get the look right in several places. I used glue at the knots again to hold everything in place, there is no glue on any of the lego, not that I'll ever take her apart. As for the dust. I'm starting to see some when I look closely, I dust pretty much everything with pressurized air in a can that's normally used for electronics.

I tried to get in close but most of the shots came out horrible, here's what I managed to get where things are identifiable. I started with some of these http://www.bricklink...m.asp?P=6168c01 They go deep into the ship and rest on the support I built that runs down the entire keel of the ship at the centerline, I also built up bricks around them until I reached the gundeck. It's not visible in any of the pics but the gundeck is also fully tiled and the cannons sit in brick built cradles. Here's a pic of the fore mast sticking out of the spar deck. Here's the first landing on the foremast. On the thicker parts of the mast I used robot bodies http://www.bricklink...em.asp?P=30361c to attach the first yard, It also left me with a great little gap at the base to wrap the string for the rigging through. When I transitioned to the slimmer part of the mast I used technic plates and shorter axles for strength. A shot from the front of the mast, you can see the yard connected here.

That is what I did. Though I must say that they were still pretty weak until I added the rigging.

Those are 2 x 3 window frames with glass, I used the electrical tape again to give the appearance of smaller panes of glass in them. I tilted them by using hinged bricks and plates.

Wow, this looks alot like my house except for the garage and enclosed back porch. I'm not sure about Cape Cod itself but my house's facade is brick. Great job, the brickwork is exceptional.

I didn't take any shots of the inside of the turret, I will the next time I take it down to dust or play with it though, it's full of structure to keep it in place. The turret is connected to the pf motor via a long axle that runs up to the roof and connects it to the rest of the ship, the motor itself is mounted in the hull so it points straight up. I wish I was better with technic stuff so I could make the guns pop in and out of the turret, as she sits now she's slightly inacurate in that the real Minitor only ever exposed 1 gun at a time, while it was being fired the other would be enclosed behind an armored shutter so it could be reloaded safely. Doing all that might make the turret to heavy or force me to modify the way it's connected to the motor which might weaken it and would leave me with the problem of how to connect the roof. The prop has a seperate pf motor so I can use both controls on the remote. The prop spins at a good speed but the turret looks crazy when I turn it all the way up. The battery box is mounted in the bow under the deck with the pilot house which is removable to access it. I tried mounting the rf receiver in the pilot house but the reception didn't work so good. I solved the problem by making it stick out of the deck, you can probably make it out best in the shot of the ship from above, just forward of the turret.

Thanks. I had trouble with the sides, I had to make them tall enough for the deck guns to poke through and to match up with the 1'x 4 tiles I used to mimic the beautifully carved wood at the entrances to the spar deck. I also realized when she was nearly finished that I should have made her a little longer but by that point I was exhausted from building, I actually left her un rigged for nearly a month because of how tired I was. I was thinking about adding her sails the way they appeared durring Sail 200 (I actually still have the local newscast from that day on tape) but I didn't want them to obstruct the view on the shelf I had planned to put her on, my winter village ended up there instead though. The deciding factor for me was that everytime I visited her in Charlestown she didn't have her sails, I understand that they keep them in storage for the rare occasions when she sails under her own power.

Thanks for the compliments. Like I said when the modified tile idea hit me it was like a bomb went off in my head, at that point I knew I would be building her. Lego digital designer came in handy when I started exparamenting with the construction method and it helped because I didn't have to wait for parts I didn't own yet. I actually had run across the USS Cairo when I was looking up pictures of the Monitor, part of the reason for her remarkable state of preservation was that she was burried in silt by the river currents after sinking, I've heard it said that when anything sinks to the bottom of the sea, a lake or a river that it will last forever if it gets burried but if it sits on the sea bed in the open it will deteriorate over time. She was in a sad state for a while. After they salvaged her she was placed out in the elements with no protection, she was even vandalized a few times before they were able to raise enough money to protect her properly. She's a little more reminisent of the CSS Virginia as she's wooden hulled ship that was modified to be an ironclad but she's still an amazing piece of history and we're lucky she survives.

Just re-uploaded them, hope that fixes it.

I just deleted and re-uploaded all the pics to the brickshelf gallery. I had this thread open in another window at the same time and watched as they went away and came back. Hopefully they work for everyone now. Just out of curiosity has anyone had the same issue over in my USS Monitor post? http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=86096

I had some hesitation about using so much tape but like you said it makes it look much better than if I had left it off. I began to think of it in the same way I think of the stickers that lego provides with some sets, my police and fire boats for example are really cool but they'd look a little less cool without their decals. I used the dark green plates on the inside of the spar deck for a couple of reasons, it allowed me to attatch things like the life preservers and the railing which is made up of brown tiles to them. Also the pictures I took on my visit show that part of the ship is studded with bolts, I figured it was to help hold the different layers of wood together, so I thought the studs on the plates would help mimic that as well.