Maxim I

Sorry mate I did not make it... Hope to do a "what went wrong" building :)

That teaser looks very sweet :D My advice concerning the masts is using steel cable 3mm (or whatever is long and 3mm thick). You can cut it the length you want and it is very stable. Especially for a ship the size of that, you can't solely rely on the rigging. Anyway, good luck with the rigging!

Sorry for the double post, just found out someone filmed both vessels at Skaerbaek Fan Weekend:

Thanks mate! Yay, something to add. Someone filmed both ships at Skaerbaek Fan Weekend:

wow, this is indeed huge! But impressive huge! So many details to discover in the pictures, and I fear like most big builds, not all details are even photographed? Anyway, gonna drool some more over my laptop searching for more details

It makes me happy that the details are being enjoyed She will be honoured Too bad I promised the real Margot (aka my wife) not to display LEGO in our living room I think this must be the max considering proportions one can build on a prefab hull. It was a constant progress of building, breaking down a part, rebuilding, modifying, breaking down, ... . (check the end of the comment for a remark about this) Thanks for the words! If you ever need help or feedback, I would be more than happy to discuss that stuff with you :) 6, what is in my opinion absolutely the max one can build on prefabs (for this type of vessels, maybe more modern vessels still could be built on more prefabs). Widening the hull is an important part of the choice of how long to make a vessel. If you are around the 1/4 ratio, the result will look satisfying. It is indeed a huge difference between this vessel and the Gotheborg, even the difference in time was only 32 years. I prefer the early 18th century vessels thanks to their rich ornaments and gold touches. It just struck me that Margot "the First" was only 3 years old. I always considered her at least 4 years old, maybe even 5. It makes it more nice to see the difference I made in 3 years Hope you found your jaw back haha Nice words coming from someone I consider a very good shipbuilder, so thanks! Thanks! :D Thanks as well! I hope it inspires you for new big ships :) Thanks for the nice words! No clue and I have even no clue what a nice price would be for something like that. The amount of bricks is one thing, but the time put into is huge. Anyway, that one is not for sale haha :D There were a lot of rookie mistakes in the original Margot. She had her charms, but I was not happy with a part of the curve. So everytime I saw the vessel, I thought "hmm, that could be better and I could do this and that". Untill I could not hold it anymore and destroyed her. Let's hope I won't have the same feeling in 3 years haha About the ratlines, for the original Margot, I tied them and I remember it was a lot of precious stupid work. And the result was not that satisfying in my opinion. Gluing is quicker once you find the right procede. If you put in the next ratline after gluing the previous one, you'll throw the MOC against the wall sooner than you might think haha. It is better to first put all ratlines, then move them all up and glue the lowest place. Put down the lowest ratline to that place and glue the second lowest place and so on and so on. (I hope that makes a bit sense??) Superglad you enjoyed this mate! The pirates on that Pirate Island won't be a match for this ship haha But I am looking forward to that set though, so indeed a great idea to put them next to eachother ------- Replying to those awesome comments, it realised me I want to share 2 points of advice for those of you wanting to make a nice big ship 1) take your time, sometimes I left it on the table for 2 months. During that period I constantly thought what could be better and how I could do it 2) make one side at a time. It makes it easier to rebuild a part. And when building the other side, you sometimes suddenly have better ideas.

many things to like here! The model of the ship itself is nice, smooth and with a sweet curve (so hooray!). The smoke around the guns is very realistic, so have to copy that sometime in the future :) Oh, also great job with the subtle use of dark red above reddish brown. At first glance, it's not so visible, but once noticed, it adds a lot :)

Indeed nice job on the banana rack! I also love the way you did the roof :)

Great job with those log bricks! they prove very effective here! What is especially nice is how you managed to use them in a inclined wall! I really enjoy the overal view you give us of the Fort. It looks very solid, just like it should be

awesome idea with the pineapples! Hopefully they are not entirely lost and the Cavalry put the slices on their pizza

It hase a very nice classic pirate feeling

Captain Hernando Grey had a very succesfull career in the MAESTRO Navy. Starting with small class 2's, he managed to upgrade till he received command over the AQAR. He was a welcome guest during MAESTRO meetings and many considered him to be a true friend. But then some of the MAESTRO top departed for an adventure in the far South. It was supposed to be a quick mission so with vessels as the "Margot", "Purple Reign" and "Prince of Stedor", some decent firepower left. More than 2 years later, no ship had returned from that mission and imeanwhile many fine MAESTRO ships were lost during trade missions, mostly due pirates. With the AQAR, Captain Hernando Grey had the task to escort the biggest New Terraman sailing in the Brickseas, the "Gotheborg". Traderun after traderun, his task proved very succesfull with amazing profits obtained by the Gotheborg. Neverthless, the losses of other vessels added up, leading to a small crisis in Eslandola. As MAESTRO was affraid to lose the "Gotheborg", orders were given to sail along the other Eslandolan Trade Companies in common trade routes. The AQAR and the Gotheborg met in Weelond with the other ships to start their combined trade missions. Given he had command over the 2 biggest vessels of the convoy, Captain Hernando Grey really hoped to be appointed as Admiral of the Trade Fleet. But alas, it was Captain Flynt who was appointed Admiral. A proud man, Captain Hernando Grey, that was for sure. He looked to the invite for Captain Flynt's celebration party, made a paper ship out of it and tossed it in the sea. The next morning, the AQAR was gone. The most loyal MAESTRO soldiers and officers were found confused on the quay. Confused but alive. All others had joined Captain Grey. Weeks passed by and a few unsuccesfull attempts were making Captain Grey doubting he made the right decision or not. But due his popularity, the crew remained loyal. More weeks passed by, just like a small Corrington tradefleet. Almost unprotected. It was now or never. It was never even a fight. The Alexander and Valkyrie surrendered very quickly. The Valkyrie being a former MAESTRO vessel as well (MAESTRO Corrington has become inactive), their captains accepted Captain Grey as their new leader. Back in Prinport, Captain Grey started recruiting more crew to equip the 2 new vessels. And the finest and most advanced cannons that can be bought in Prinport. When the Garveyan merchant assured it was the best quality in the Northern hemisphere as they were made by MAESTRO, Captain Grey could not stop smiling. Time for some more action! ------ With this, I would like to change the stats of the "Valkyrie" and "Alexander" to make them more Pirate-y! For the Alexander (class 3) R3 - M3 - G3 - Cr3 - C0 - H3 For the Valkyrie (class 2) R3 - M3 - G2 - Cr2 - C0 - H2

Thanks! Thanks, glad you like it :D Doing the windows like that was the only option in my opinion to achieve the white windowframe. Thanks for the lovely words! It was Thanks! Yeah, the question is where to draw the line when rigging. I have experimentend a bit with rigging on the sails, but dat didn't worked out like I hoped, so that's why I left it out. Maybe somewhere in the future, I'll do some more rigging on it :) Hahaha, you'll certainly love my other new vessel, it has even more gold :D I hope I will my guess will be at least 4 years and then maybe rebuilding her with newer techniques. Absolutely! Feel free to find me there and have a talk! She'll be part of a huge pirate lay-out :) I hope it also inspires people like others inspired me doing better and better :) Thanks Robin! --- An extra picture has been added, the Gotheborg together with another new vessel: Princesse Margot

A new vessel under the MAESTRO flag!

Those following me on Flickr may have noted a few weeks ago the recently published Gotheborg (can be found in the Pirate MOC's forum) is not the only ship I recently finished. Based on the beautifull Danish warship "Wenden", launched in 1706, I present to you the "Princesse Margot". It is the better version of my first big ship, the "Margot". Comparing the two, I think I may say my building skills have improved a lot Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! The rigging was really painfull again. Thanks to the BeLUG pirate crew for feedback during the process! As a bonus, the picture together with the Gotheborg I posted a month ago :) Both of them will be showed at Brick Mania Antwerp (30th November & 1st December in Antwerp, Belgium) Another bonus as I discovered someone filmed both ships at Skaerbaek Fan Weekend :) Thanks for watching! C & C really appreciated! Don't expect another one next week, I have no big vessels in drydock anymore. But I might have an idea what will be next, probably a supreme version of ANOTHER ship