Swab

So many awesome ships! It was hard to choose. 6. La Mort Royale - 1 vote 8. HMS Prince of Wales - 1 vote 9. Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion - 1 vote 11. Le Sang Royale - 1 vote 15. Vesta - 1 vote (outstanding rigging and detail!) 18. Achille - 2 votes (Superb detail and build quality, looking forward to seeing her complete!) - Swab

Lovely ship! I especially like the checkered floor in the captain's cabin as well as the phenomenal rigging. Well done! - Swab

Phenomenal ship! The deck details and stern galleries are awesome. Can't wait to see her with rigging! -Swab

Fantastic ship! I'm very impressed with the headrails, they look great. The rigging is coming along very well also. Will you be tying or gluing the ratlines? I'm looking forward to seeing your progress. -Swab

The updated bow is much better as are the new masts and rigging. I love all of the details along the deck. A very fine ship. - Swab

Looks great! The addition of the 6th center section greatly improved her lines IMO. What sort of glue did you use for the ratlines? On my ships I tied each line individually, and needless to say it takes a LONG time. Will the sister ship also be stretched to 6 mid sections? - Swab

Undoubtedly the finest ship (or pair of ships I should say) I've ever seen. Excellent work! I'll definatly be using these ships for inspiration in the future. The rigging looks fantastic, and I'm anxious to see how you made the ratlines. More pictures! -Swab

A very fine ship so far! I think it is very nicely proportioned. It does look better now that you've lowered the gun deck. Will you be using string for the ratlines and rigging? I look forward to seeing your progress. -Swab

Yet another superb creation! I thoroughly enjoy finding all of the little details. Well done! - Swab

4. Michaelozzie - French Attack Pratzen Heights (1 point) 22. Perfectionist - Battle of Fortenoy (1 point) 14. Capt. Stabbin - The Fall of the Alamo (1 point) (as a native Texan I particularly appreciated this entry) All Great entries. I wish I had more points to give out! - Swab

Excellent work! Very fine ships. I like the string you used for the ratlines, it looks much better than the somewhat "hairy" string I used on the Achilles and Sabre. Will you be using the same string for the "horizontal foot ropes" (for lack of a better word) on the ratlines? And I sympathize with Admiral Croissant. Rope rigging (especially ratlines) takes a ridiculously long time. -Swab

Excellent MOC! I love all of the little details. Looking forward to seeing more. Swab

I wanted to make each gun 3 studs apart, but I didn't have enough tall white slopes on hand. So I decided to try black slopes for the gun deck instead. I'm rather pleased with the result. She's currently without her full compliment of 18 guns, hence the closed gunports. In addition to some added details here and there, I also gave her rope ratlines like the HMS Achilles. I spent the better part of a week tying the ratlines --- just a little bit at a time. The stern and quarter galleries were also changed, but the design is still a bit preliminary. The headrails are a somewhat lacking in my opinion, but there's not much else I can do given the space available. I'm open to ideas. I'm currently working on a French corvette (my British ships need something to shoot at) as well as another small overhaul for the Achilles. I've tested out some ideas on the Sabre. C&C welcome, Swab

There's not much of an interior. I splurged and made everything below decks the same color (black), and it has arches in between each gun (more for structural support than detail). Most of my ships don't have an interior at all except for the guns. Swab

Hmmmm. I really didn't notice until you mentioned it, but there is somewhat of a disconect between the headrails and the rest of the ship. Sort of "in your face" for lack of a better word. I'll throw in some black and see how she looks. Thanks for the advice. Swab

Yes, I'll admit she's a bit "stocky". I wouldn't put more than 18 guns on a brig. However, during the war of 1812, the USS Wasp (a sloop of war) battled the brig HMS Frolic. Both ships had 18 guns, albeit most of them were carronades. Swab

I Scream Clone - 2 Infomanic - 2 evildead - 1 Derfel Cadarn - 2 Good luck everybody and Merry Christmas! - Swab

Re-Vote TinyPiesRUs - 2 Badboytje - 1 Nate - 2 LegoWarlord8 - 2

Nate - 2 Lego Warlord 8 - 3 Lorenzen - 2

This is probably the best pre-fab hull ship I have ever seen. You certainly live up to your name. This ship truly is "perfect". I think the lines flow very nicely. I look forward to seeing her with rigging. Keep up the good work! - Swab

66d This is the latest addition to the Achilles; string ratlines. I've never been satisfied with the Lego ratlines (they don't look very real and you can't move the yardarms). The rigging took a while. The vertical strings on each mast are continuous. I used black technic plates (with the holes) along the channels. I'd tie a knot in one end then thread the string up through each top and over the mast to the other side. I then threaded the string through a hole and then over to the next one. Then back up the mast and so on. All the while threading those little black technic things on. I left lots of slack in the lines after I'd finished threading. Then I'd tie a piece around the mast at each yardarm. I used a thinner string for the horizontal parts of the ratlines (see brickshelf for photos). The thin string burns really well too, so if or when you melt the ends like I did be ready to blow it out! I found out the hard way. I also added a fore stay, and also a few changes to the quarter galleries and catheads. Another addition you might notice is the "ocean" that the ship is sailing through. I made it out of salt dough on a cardboard base. Strips of cardboard were glued under the thicker areas like the waves to save on salt dough. I taped up the bottom of the ship so it wouldn't stick and used it as a mold (the ship lifts right off, it's not stuck). The whole thing took a month or 2 to dry completely, but i bet if you did it a little at a time it would dry faster. I topped it off with a blue/green acrylic paint. Let me know what you think. Swab

Yes sir, that'd be her.

Yes it does actually. I just added pictures to my Brickshelf folder so he probably won't find it, but it does have a thread from a while back.

Search Achilles on Brickshelf, you'll find the old version. Swab

I agree with Bonaparte; more pictures! This really is a fine ship and I look forward to seeing more of it. I've been planning on building something similar if I ever get the Achilles finished (working on some more changes now). But in the mean time I'll just have to drool over everyone else's big ships. Swab