Dread Pirate Wesley

Two excellent designs here. I would love to see the concept attempted in real brick, even on a smaller scale. I especially appreciate the waterline concept and rigging on Persévérante . You've given me a few ideas Dread Pirate Wesley

[pid][/pid] 134 A&B Hello everyone, I wanted to start a topic on making bruickbuilt ship's boats. Ship's boats might seem like a contradiction, but what Im refering to are the longboats, cutters, and pinaces that men-o-war carried for all the small duties required to serve a larger vessel. Ive been tinckering and kit bashing some models together to compliment my own man-o-war, but I thought it would be best to start a new topic devoted to these small craft. Of course you could just use Lego small boats, but this thread is for MOC boats. After going through several versions I came up with this for the ship's longboat: It can seat 6, or 4 plus a sea chest, with 3 rowing stations and one at the tiller. The colors are only for the mock up, I had the most pieces in red and black. The final version will probably be white with a green stripe as this seems to be most common. Here is a version of a cutter, didnt quite have enough yellow but you get the idea: The cutter is in a "stowed" configuration, with lashings and oars as she would be on the deck of a ship. The cutter is quite a bit smaller than the longboat here's how they look on the boat rails of a ship-of-the-line: This seems to be an under discussed topic but let me know what you guys think. Let's see some of your ideas and creations! Dread Pirate Wesley

Happy to give some inspiration! I apologize for the delayed response. I too was feeling to restricted by the traditional Lego hull pieces. This led to a lot of experimentation that ultimately led to both ships. The taper towards the stern is achieved by two hinges around midships. There are also hinges at the taffrail at the extreme stern of the ship to join it together. That allowed me to achieve the narrow look as she runs aft. Hope that helps! Dread Pirate Wesley

113C Allow me to present my latest creation, HMS Pickle. Pickle was a topsail schooner of 8 guns who has the honor of being the smallest ship present at the Battle of Trafalgar. She was also the first ship to bring news of the victory at Trafalgar (and Nelson's death) to England on November 4th, 1805, 14 days after the battle. This is my first attempt at a historical ship. The inspiration came from one of my favorite Caldercraft wooden kits so I decided to build my own version out of Lego borrowing some details from various other interpretations. Although the ship is well known and represented in the art community, there is surprisingly little information available about her. I sketched out some of the details I wanted, most important of which were raked sails and a sloping, non-digital deck and stern. I also wanted to incorporate many techniques I had been experimenting with, including using only one prefab bow piece. The overall shape came out quite nice and I really enjoyed figuring how to get this little ship to look as accurate as possible. The raked masts were tricky, but by connecting them near the top by a rigid 3mm tube and hinges at the bottom the angle was fairly easy to adjust. I've always wondered why she was named Pickle, but Ive grown quite fond of her despite the odd name. She would have had a complement of around 40, here the crew are preparing for action against a Caribbean privateer. And finally, a scene from the aftermath of Trafalgar. Pickle rescued 200 French crew from the burning Achille before she exploded. Please excuse the terrible attempt at photoshopping She is still a WIP, so comments and criticisms are most welcomed. The ratlines will be refined a bit more, and sails will be added once I finish refitting the Praetorian, but the hull and masts are mostly finilized. More shots on Flickr and Brickshelf Thanks for looking! The Dread Pirate Wesley

[pid][/pid] 154D After more than two and a half years of research, design, and construction I am proud to present you with His Majesties Ship of the line Persephone. Many of you have been following her construction in the work in progress thread from conception and I thank you for your support and advice. This thread is intended to be a running series of projects related to this ship. Persephone was built as a means of presenting what life was like on a ship of the line in the 18th and 19th centuries. Now that she is finished, there are many stories that I would like to tell. For now though, I would simply like to present the ship: About the build, it is hard to say at this point but an estimated 4000 bricks went in to this project. Over 1000 of them are in the 64 brick-built cannons alone. From bowsprit to spanker boom she measures 162 studs, reaching a height of three feet. Under sail, she flies 14 custom sails. Many yards of 7 different kinds of string and yarn keep her masts and spars in place with no glue required. Other details about her construction can be found in the WIP thread, but please feel free to ask any questions you may have here. Since she now sits an empty oak, in order to properly tell her tale we must get the crew aboard. They are a lively bunch, and more than willing to answer any questions you might have about life at sea in a man-o-war. There will be plenty more to follow, and as always your comments and criticisms are most welcome! Dread Pirate Wesley New update post #29 on 9/18: Welcome aboard! New update post #33 on 9/22: Below decks

As time moves on, with a ship this size one has to figure out what to do with it once it is completed. This is something I have been struggling with for about a year. Along with some other changes this year, I had the opportunity to remodel our basement. I was very pleased to be able to build something specifically for displaying this ship. Here is how she looks and will be displayed until she goes on tour again in the future. Even Lego has artistic value in the home Happy holidays to all! Dread Pirate Wesley

This is coming along very nicely! Glad that the Pickle was an inspiration, but you have improved the design quite a bit simply by adapting the technique from a schooner to a brig. Looking forward to seeing her completed Dread Pirate Wesley

If you're talking about a fifth rate under the Royal Navy's rating system, then you are essentially building a frigate. Henry Morgan sailed in the 17th century however, before the established 18th century rating system we normally use for ships of the line. These ships have an entirely different appearance, more like a galleon than a frigate. There are several model reproductions of his ship the Satisfaction, I would use these as a principle reference since there is very little actual information from that period. Dread Pirate Wesley

I must say this is a fantastic ship! This particular photo captures the look of a French 74 perfectly. This was the direction I started with on Persephone but fell in love with the lines of the British 64 instead. Hopefully some of your techniques can be translated to bricks some day, she'd be an excellent adversary Dread Pirate Wesley

Guess I'm in the 10% then... Dread Pirate Wesley

Excellent Brig you have there Mr. Townsend! I too immediately thought of the Sophie. Love the tiled deck and details, but the standout feature has to be those sails. I am quite envious of the craftsmanship you put into them and the rigging, looks perfect. Looks like I missed out on the WIP thread but you've ended up with a fantastic brig none the less! Dread Pirate Wesley PS Thanks for visiting the foundry

I'm a little late to this party but it is looking good so far! I especially like the tiled deck. Sebeus is probably correct in stating that it will look quite narrow on prefab hulls, but you have already taken measures to fit a lot of detail into a narrower hull. Good work so far, glad she will also have an interior Dread Pirate Wesley

Thanks for the praise! I'm glad you've enjoyed the journey. I agree the adventure should continue in this thread rather than creating another. Thanks for the feedback The crew features many different torso's and heads from many different lines, let alone sets. If you look closely at the crew photos you will see bits and pieces from Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Sponge Bob, Superheroes, POTC and probably a few others as well. The officer's different levels of dress also gave me a few headaches. I believe the one you are referring to came from the Indiana Jones line. You can find it here. The other one I use for a different level of undress is the new Han Solo torso that you can find here. Here is a slightly different perspective of these torsos as two officer's enjoy a bit of music: Hope that helps answer your question. Thanks everyone for your comments and support! Dread Pirate Wesley

I am working on some tattered and worn "battle sails" at the moment for some upcoming battle scenes. For now, just imagine her as just having set her courses for the first time leaving spithead. You can see more of the ships boats in post #16 of this thread as long as some other fantastic ideas from other members. And of course feel free to use any of my ideas in future builds, if I didn't want that then I would have kept her to myself! That would be an interesting idea. I'm working on some interior lighting at the moment, perhaps once that's done I will have a look at the cannons! No, she is an Ardent class third rate ship. Same class as Agamemnon on whoms lines she is based. But I believe that is what you were referring too since, if I'm not mistaken, the Inde was also an Ardent class before becoming a 44-gun razee. Indeed you should Sebeus! We would all love that as you always have some inspired designs. Well she isn't quite in action yet, but here she is sailing in close formation ready to engage the enemy in an upcoming series: I will post a break down of the carronade like I did for the great gun somewhere on this forum. Please see page 2 of this thread for detailed interior photos as long as some backstory of her crew. This brings up a good point though; Since this ship is intended as an ongoing series of stories, would you like to see those chapters in this thread or in a thread of their own? Either way I will update the first post of this thread everytime I add something new. Thanks to everyone who has viewed and commented on this thread. I appreciate all you support! Dread Pirate Wesley

This is outstanding, and really came out of no where! Thanks for sharing all the WIP pictures too. As I was looking at your first post I spent a good amount of time just thinking "how did he do that" and "I didn't think that was possible". That sir, is a testament to your skill and the amount of time and effort you put into this build. Outstanding once again, she really is a treasure. Dread Pirate Wesley

Wow the stern on Magicienne is absolutely fantastic. She turned out to be a real beauty! I also like the way you did the studding sails, that's something I've wanted to do for some time now. If you would like some help with photography I can give you some tips (if you like the way my photos turned out). Here's a pic of my "studio" that I set up strictly for ship photography: It really has very little to do with the camera, more to do with the lighting and the background I find. Perhaps I can make a tutorial or just PM me and I can see if I can help. Plus, if you upload some good photos with neutral backgrounds your fleet and mine can do battle with a little assistance from photoshop! That is, if you think Magicienne could take down Persephone Seriously though you have an outstanding fleet. Best frigates I've seen with some superb details. Looking forward to seeing some crew aboard Dread Pirate Wesley

Whoa! It's like Persephone has an evil twin! Nice work, I like the way it's coming along. The macabre style is very unique too. Keep up the good work Hope she will get an interior and sails to match the hull! Dread Pirate Wesley

The deck curvature was necessary structurally as well. In order to keep the decks as thin as possible (more room for minifigs) the plates had to be overlapped in certain areas. This does give it a stepped look I agree, but I like the effect of the curve. Yes the rigging is "modular" in the sense that nothing needs to be untied in order to break it apart. Some are connected through these, the rest are simply clipped on to various parts of the masts and hull, making them easy to remove. As we continue the tour below decks, here is an example of how the ship breaks into four sections: As you can see, the only rigging that is disconnected is from the foremast and the main mast. We've already looked into the waist, so now lets move into the bow. The cook tends to his galley amid the upper gun deck. Below his galley, the red pieces are the riding bitts. These are used to secure the anchor cables when the ship is moored. When weighing anchor, the cables would be wound to the capstan in the waist. When the ship is connected, the lower gun deck is continuous with no interruption to the gunroom in the stern. Here we can see 24 of 26 great guns on the main gun deck. These would be 24 pounders on the main gun deck, and 18 pounders on the upper gun deck. The remaining guns are located in the gunroom and are removed when the stern galleries are pulled away from the stern. When the galleries are removed, we can see into the decks of the stern. On the main gun deck we can see the last two gun ports and the foot of the mizzen mast. The upper gun deck houses the pantry where food and stores are held for the wardroom. Above the pantry is the captain's office at the rear of the quarterdeck. It is flanked by the clerk's cabin and the master's cabin. If we continue past the office we get to the stern galleries. One of the most complex areas of the ship, you can see that it is also divided into 3 separate levels. The lower deck is called the gunroom. Here we see the two aft most great guns, and behind them facing rearward are the stern chasers. Between them is the ship's tiller, which would be connected to the ships wheel to pull it side to side and steer the ship. This is also where some of the lesser officer's would mess, in this case we see the gunner and his mate tending to one of the guns and the other to the bottle. Above the gunroom is the wardroom, where the senior officers would dine. It would appear that one of the lieutenants is studying the food of the enemy, with a glass of wine and a croissant gracing the table instead of the usual tea and roast beef. Above the wardroom is the captain's great cabin. The captain would not normally reside here, he would have a separate bedplace or a partition for his cot. In this case however the captains cabin appears to be occupied by an admiral or higher ranking flag officer, which would displace the captain of lower rank. The admiral himself is breathing the fresh sea air upon the ships balcony behind the great cabin. He doesn't seem to be enjoying it however, perhaps there is a lot on his mind, or perhaps the din of life aboard ship is grating on him. This concludes our tour of the interior of the ship. Each area of the ship is distinctly different and serves it's own purpose. Above you can see how all 3 decks change as we move from bow to stern. If there is any area you would like to see more of just ask! There's more to come as we take a closer look at how the ship got her name. This thread will really be directed by your questions so comments are always welcome! Dread Pirate Wesley

Many thanks Admiral! Really hope I have brought some new inspiration to Lego ship design. Wear it with pride I shall! To be honest I had to look up Rackham le Rouge, which is strange because I used to love Tintin! Somehow that one slipped by, good shout. And as per request let us continue the tour of the ship starting with the crew and their positions on the ship. Here is a group shot of the entire crew on shore showing their eagerness for some close action. the boatswain greets us as we climb aboard directing the land lubbers to their new stations. Many men were pressed into service, which you can imagine would be quite disorienting given the complexity of life aboard a man-o-war. The ship's officers oft' remain on the quarterdeck, overseeing the duties of each man aboard and the actions of the ship. It would be rare for inexperienced seamen to linger on the quarterdeck, unless the 9 pounders needed to be worked during an engagement. The marines are drilling on the poop deck as the drummer beats to quarters. Perhaps just a drill but soon to be drumming for the real thing. Some men go below to the waist, where men are pushing on the cap bars to weigh anchor. It gets a little cramped even in the open air of the waist. The ships boats are at sea on some other task leaving the boat rails open while the cap is turning. There are many stations and levels on this ship, too many to talk about each one individually. As a teaser of what lies ahead, here is a montage of my favorite crew photos aboard Persephone at sea. Next we shall venture into the ship below decks, so stay tuned for more updates. Thanks again to everyone who comments, much appreciated and I hope you enjoy! Dread Pirate Wesley

There are soooo many great details in this build, I spent quite a while looking at it on Flickr. The dock is especially awesome. If he is a member, very well done! Dread Pirate Wesley

Avast matey's! For my next project I thought Id do something a little different. Usually when I post something it is mostly completed, but this time I wanted to share the progress of a much larger scale project from its beginnings. For this new endeavor I have chosen an under-represented class of ship in the Lego world, a third rate ship-of-the-line. After extensive research and planning, I began toying with ideas in LDD. This was really my first time using LDD to mock up a real build, mainly because the bricklink orders needed to be more or less precise to make it reasonably affordable. I focused more on size and shape than detail, I find it much easier to add detail in real brick than LDD. Here's what I came up with: This project will be entirely brick-built, using no prefab hull sections, brick-built cannon, and new levels of detail and realism than Ive achieved so far in Pickle or Praetorian. It is not minifig scale (even though it's 24 studs wide) but by moving away from hull sections the shape is much easier to get in proportion. She will be built from the waterline rather than a full hull, the reason for this will be revealed much later Heres a top view: The hull will be made in sections, consisting of the foc'sle, mid-ship, and quarterdeck. The cabin section and stern will also be removable and is one section I haven't fully conceptualized yet. Heres the foc'sle detatched: The interior will be fully finished, with at least 64 brick built cannon (I have 22 built so far) and will comfortably fit a minifig standing up. The technique on the tumblehome uses standard 1x2 hinges (over 200 of them!) instead of hinge plates to get the right shape: My first parts order arrived earlier this month. As I begin the actual build I will post progress updates in this thread, culminating hopefully in a very large, one of a kind battleship: Here's the Flickr gallery for this project. Stay tuned, any helpful comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated as this ship takes shape! Dread Pirate Wesley

Thanks everyone for the kind words! As I said before this thread will be an ongoing project so please feel free to ask any questions about the ship. You really have an influence on where this thread goes. Thanks for the frontpage Admiral! I really appreciate that. The rigging doesn't require any glue the way that it's tied. One thing I did find it needed though was something to keep the ends from fraying after they were cut. In order to solve that problem, I coated the ends of the string in acrylic medium to hold the loose strands in place but also allow it to be flexible for tying. It works well, time will tell how long it lasts but for now it makes it look neat and tidy! The sails are all modular and can be drawn up or removed. All except the spanker can be removed anyways, that is the only sail that is stitched in place. The rest are attached with a flexible, soluble double sided tape so they can be removed or replaced without it being a massive ordeal. Sometime in the future I want to make some battle damaged or wind damaged sails to hang so this was necessary, if not entirely permanent. The spars likewise can be raised and lowered, though not so easily removed. I shall make a short story about how all the rigging works some day. Thanks Matteo. She actually didn't have a nationality when I started building. I fell in love with the 64 though during my research, for their sailing qualities as much as their lines. It seems the only navies to really use 64's extensively were the British and the Dutch. British archives and plans were so much more accessible to me so I based the ship off of those. You shall get your wish First of all Frank I thank you for your high praise. You also address some interesting things which have mostly been out of mind to me over the design process. Spzero hits the nail on the head when it comes to the name, and Chills has the right idea about the figures too. Since there seem to be a lot of questions about how she got her name and the significance of her figure head that will be the subject of the first story in this thread! As for the sails, this was something that was on my mind at least for the last year. It seems there were tradeoffs to be made in the construction of the sails. Make them from a thick material, and they can be posed and molded into that lovely billowing shape of a ship under sail. They could not, however, be drawn up anywhere near accurately. The thickness makes them difficult to roll neatly into place, or if you can they look silly and out of place. I ended up going with a very thin material, the most flexible possible and also the lightest. This makes it difficult to achieve that full sail look, but they look beautiful and accurate once drawn up and lashed to the spars. Perhaps I could put a fan behind the ship and take a few pictures to achieve that billowing look As for the deadeyes, you are also right that is an inconsistency. Personally, I prefer the black connectors, and I actually tried to use the same connectors for the deadeyes on the top shrouds. Unfortunately there just was enough space for them to angle properly on the top shrouds. Since they were packed so close together they stood nearly vertical which looked terrible in my opinion. So I sought another solution. In the WIP thread you can see that at first I only had one row of deadeyes on the top, this was also inaccurate. So the final solution was what you see now. If they made the "blocks" in black instead of yellow I would have used those instead for more consistency, but I still like the compromise. Perhaps I will address this again in the future if I find a better solution. Again thanks everyone! Keep the C&C coming DPW

It is a great book. Perhaps a little dry for the weekend reader but it is excellent when you have a specific piece of information you are looking for. As for the ship, I can now say that after two and a half years of research, design, and construction she is no longer a work in progress. Her crew is assembled and the final piece is completed: Many of you have been asking about the name and here she is. After all, they say it is bad luck to have a ship without a name! Soon I will post a new thread for this ship with many more pictures and her backstory. I hope you've enjoyed this work in progress thread as much as I've enjoyed making it. Keep a weather eye on the horizon! Dread Pirate Wesley

Lovely! The color scheme is quite nice and the tiled deck makes the whole build look very clean. Did you use my canon design for the main gun deck? I like your smaller versions for the top deck too. I also like what you did with the ships longboat, very clever, I'd like to see a close up of that. Glad to see these designs catching on! Good luck on the rigging, keep up the good work Dread Pirate Wesley

This is great! I've always wanted to build an ironclad and you've done a superb job here. Just to be clear the turret rotates with the use of PF? That's also very clever, I'd like to see the inside of the turret if you have any pictures of that. Again good job Dread Pirate Wesley