ejred

Eurobricks Vassals
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  1. ejred

    HMS Enterprize (1774)

    They caught me unawares, so I didn't really have time to think what to say. I'm surprised I sounded as coherent as I did, 5 minutes mental prep would have done wonders :)
  2. ejred

    HMS Enterprize (1774)

    Beyond the Brick did a nice video on Enterprize at BrickCon, which people might be interested in
  3. ejred

    MOC: Privateer Oliver Cromwell

    Here are the modifications to make the Oliver Cromwell into a fireship. The year is 1780 and the Spanish are raiding the British base at Gibraltar. Luckily HMS Enterprize is on patrol and ready to respond. Now that the ship is alight, the Spanish crew is trying to get off, but heavy seas are making it difficult. Spanish Fireship Spanish Fireship Spanish Fireship Spanish Fireship vs. HMS Enterprize I designed the center section of the deck to be removable so I could put in the flame sections. There are several light bricks inside, which is nice but hard to tell in the pictures... This is what I think I will display at BrickCon 2016 in Seattle at the end of the month I hope you like it!
  4. ejred

    Succeeding with a Pirates(ish) IDEAS set

    Thanks for the inputs! I agree, Treasure Island would be a really nice way for LEGO to do a more-or-less standard Pirate wave that has some freshness to it. One ship, one fort, maybe one tavern, several smaller sets (Ben Gunn's cave, digging for treasure, landing party or whatever) Harder to make it work for Ideas, which is a "one and done," and also is not supposed to overlap too much with things LEGO already does. I think you would definitely need a shore location or two, or else no chance it would click. Plus you potentially need a lot of minifigs (*minimum* 6 I guess?). Starts getting big. Still, I'll try throwing some stuff together and see what is possible...
  5. I wanted to see if I could spark any discussion about what is the best approach to getting a LEGO Ideas set that is somehow aligned with the Pirates theme all the way into production? When I say Pirates-aligned, I'm mostly thinking of a set including a sailing ship. One could certainly do something connected with Pirates that doesn't have a ship--a 17th/18th century port city tavern, for example. But I would probably find that less interesting that something with a ship. Do other people agree? I'm assuming that actually doing a "Pirates" set or "Pirates of the Caribbean" is a bad bet. Even if it got support, LEGO would say 'overlap' and that will be the end. Clearly if one can find a theme that hooks onto some cultural touchpoint that would be really helpful in getting to the necessary milestones. I thought the Beagle set was brilliant. Clearly it connected with a lot of people. One key question is why LEGO did not approve it. Did they shy away from the (ridiculous IMO) controversies related to Creationism? Was it an issue with the execution of the set, having brick-built sails and too many pieces? Any thoughts? Some ideas for other approaches that occurred to me: Darwin retry with a sub-1000 piece set Explorers (Magellan or Cook most likely?) - pro: fairly well known, exciting, non-militaristic; con: backlash against European imperialism, still a history theme with limited reach Fictional Navy (Hornblower, Aubrey/Maturin, etc.) - pro: dedicated audiences, the Master & Commander movie; con: small audience, too militaristic? Boston Tea Party - pro: patriotic, interesting and very famous; con: totally US centric idea Moby Dick - pro: famous literature many people assigned to read; con: old book many people forced to read, hard to incorporate awesome whale as part of a "play set"? Treasure Island - pro: fairly well known, had (old) Disney movie; con: huge overlap with generic pirates theme Chinese exploration fleet of Zheng He - pro: amazing history, multicultural; con: pretty obscure, Chinese ship styles not to everyone's taste? Americas' Cup (maybe from some historic period/race) - pro: fairly well known, sporting angle; con: new ships are kind of odd, theme too modern and "yachty" for pirate fit? Clipper Ship (tea races, Cutty Sark, etc.) - pro: non-militaristic, evocative; con: obscure, hard to work into Lego ship style, no real "story" attached What do people think? Could it actually happen? Are there other suggestions for themes I didn't think of that would have broad interest and also appeal to LEGO? Even once you have a theme with broad appeal to both users and LEGO, then still it comes down to a tremendous amount of execution, presentation and promotion. Most, if not all, of these themes have been tried before with lackluster submissions. But choosing the right theme seems the place to start.
  6. ejred

    HMS Ram Cat a WIP

    I have not seen Providence plans, but here are some for Mediator I was using: And for the "1768 Virginia Sloop": At a glance, it seems like maybe the curve is right, but the whole hull should be 2-4 studs wider...?
  7. ejred

    HMS Ram Cat a WIP

    That might be more accurate, but I say, if you've got the curves, flaunt 'em
  8. It's just like coaching t-ball: if you throw the ball exactly where their glove is, they catch it... at least most of the time But seriously, that is mind-blowing!
  9. ejred

    MOC: Privateer Oliver Cromwell

    Thanks! Yes, my personal LEGO interest and motivation takes me in the direction of realistic historical stuff (ships most of all). Probably betrays a lack of imagination :) Speaking of historical events, one of the most well documented events in the record of HMS Enterprize was an attack by Spanish fireships off Gibraltar in 1780. Enterprize was on watch, spotted the ships coming in, raised the alarm, and dispatched her crew to board and steer one of them away. I worked up a small mod of the Oliver Cromwell to show that incident. Hopefully I will be able to post pictures next week
  10. HMS Enterprize seemed lonely, so I decided to construct a little playmate, the privateer Oliver Cromwell from Boston: Enterprize spent most of the US Revolutionary War patrolling the coasts and hunting for privateers, so this seemed like a good foil. The design I came up with is based on the model plans for "HMS Mediator" (a 1740s British coastal patrol cutter) which are widely available on the web, with an assist from the book Armed Virginia Sloop of 1768. I was also visually inspired by the USS Providence, of which there is a replica ship (currently in need of major repairs, sadly). It's a 10-gun topsail-cutter rigged ship, roughly in the style of a Bermuda cutter. A very simple and straightforward ship, although with beautiful rakish lines.There were a number of Continental 10-gun privateer cutters to choose from historically, and I thought Oliver Cromwell had the most interesting name. From tip-to-tip the Oliver Cromwell is 37 inches long, 27 inches high and 13 inches wide. But a whole lot of that is bowsprit. As you can see it is vastly smaller than Enterprise (probably about 1/7 the tonnage and broadside weight). But it does pack on a lot of sail for its size! I hope you like it. Click for full album on Flickr
  11. ejred

    HMS Enterprize (1774)

    Hi all, I finally had a chance to take a pretty picture of the modifications to the prow. Also I hoisted the red ensign
  12. Yes, it is an amazing ship, got to give props But, strictly for myself, I'm probably still not ready to jump on the "bend the bricks" bandwagon yet. I too wonder how strong it is--people seem to say this is not a problem And, as you allude, it is a pretty narrow hull form (maybe 150 long and 25 wide??). He does have a little rounding on the back, so if you extended that idea to both front and back, then maybe you could get it more like a pirate hull profile. Gunports might be another issue
  13. ejred

    WIP - organic ship - a 5th rate Frigate

    Sorry if this MOC has already been discussed on the board, but I thought it seemed relevant to this conversation (it is not mine, just in case there's any confusion!) There are a couple more WIP photos and the finished product in the builders' photostream: https://www.flickr.c...th/27632235052/
  14. ejred

    LEGO Ideas Discussion

    Maybe "women of X" is too on the nose, but really the concept doesn't bother me. Why? Because, while you are right that a set overtly titled "men of X" would elicit pushback, if some set of explorers or scientists just had 5 guys, most people probably wouldn't think too much about it. In other words, I don't see we are at equivalency yet. Most LEGO sets, like most other cultural properties, HAVE women now, but still often in ratios of 1 in 4 or 1 in 5. So I don't begrudge some boosterism for women or traditionally disadvantaged minorities. Society is moving in the right direction, so hopefully in a few more generations it will no longer be an issue...
  15. ejred

    WIP - organic ship - a 5th rate Frigate

    Really like the width, i think this is something many ships struggle with It seems to me that "at scale" a frigate would have had 6L (or maybe 5L) between gunports?