Dread Pirate Wesley

Thanks for the suggestions Bart. Im trying to make it tilt inwards to make it appear smoother, it's getting close. It has been a while since I posted an update so I figured I'd share what Ive been working on recently. Mostly I've been working on the quarterdeck and the poopdeck, trying to get the shape correct and the deck in place to begin the stern. It took a long time to get it right, but here is the current result: I also had a crack at the poopdeck bulkheads, the wheel, and the binnacle (which houses the compass). This part was a lot of fun to research and get right. Im pleased how it turned out and took some pictures before it becomes enclosed by the poopdeck: And finally how it looks fitted on the quarterdeck. One cannon is fitted in place to make sure it has clearance. Im not sure if the binnacle would go in front of or behind the wheel on a 64, but on 74's it seems to vary a lot. The hatch in the foreground is for an access ladder. The admiral is examining the progress: Still a lot of work to be done, as you can see. Once the quarterdeck and poopdeck is finished it will be time to begin the stern! Comments welcome, thanks for looking everyone DPW

Finally got in to your brickshelf gallery, man are those pictures huge! But I think you should resize them and post some more here because clearly you've put a lot of work into this ship. Overall it's very nice, I especially like the rigging you've done, and the brickbuilt anchor. The only part that looks a bit odd to me is the bow. I think the headrails extend too far down and overall the bow has a very angular feel. But the rigging is particularly inspired and I think you've done a greate job recreating a classic ship Oh and welcome to the forum! Dread Pirate Wesley

Hmmm I must admit I was excited to see how you would mate your original design to hull pieces, but now it looks as though you've changed it to a more traditional design. Sure it wasnt too frigate like originally, more of an old fashioned brig, but it had character. I know these are only preliminary designs, but I liked the original better. That being said, one suggestion Id make since you're using new hull pieces is just leave off the top half of the bow and stern. I think it would be very difficult to make an attractive gunline curve if you have to go from the top of the upper bow piece down to the top of the mid sections. For a much longer ship maybe, but for a ship that size I think it will look saggy in the middle. It's still a good start and I look forward to seeing where you take it from here! Dread Pirate Wesley

Really like how the bow planking turned out, especially in the second picture I think it will be much easier to fit 20 cannon on it than 24 too. 4 stud spacing is plenty in my experience. Keep it up! DPW

BLACK HULL PIECES! Cant say how long Ive been waiting for those Since Im mainly an MOCer this is a very exciting set, with lots of useful pieces. I dont know why people are complaining about the color, it is all black after all not much more they could do with it! Wonder why the foremast doesnt have any ratlines Dread Pirate Wesley

Glad to see my bow technique in use on a smaller scale ship! Looks quite good in my opinion, and thanks for the credit I also quite like the stern, though Im curious what the gold telescope is for... lantern? It does look a bit sharp at the stern waterline, I used a series of wedge plates to make that look a little smoother like this: Its not a great solution but Im sure with some tinkering you could make it work. Keep it up! Dread Pirate Wesley

Im really starting to like this ship! The masts and spars are a huge improvement, brickbuilt fighting tops are genius. The color scheme looks great, much like an earlier man-o-war c.1760 or something. The wheel placement is much better now too. The "anchor-holders" Captain Becker refered to are catheads, but didnt always exist on smaller ships such as sloops and cutters, so I think it would be your choice. The Providence and Pickle are good examples of this. Otherwise the anchors were just hauled up and lashed to the sides. One small improvement that I would suggest is to make the ratlines attach lower, perhaps by 1 brick. In reality they should attach just a little above the gun line, below the deckrails. However, I dont know if thats possible with a removeable deck I know you're not really going for accuracy, but it looks great so far Dread Pirate Wesley

That's a good idea, however very difficult to make round. Here's my best solution for now. It looks a little digital to me, maybe some decoration would help it but I think its an improvement anyways: I had originally tried to make it a checkered pattern, but it looked too much like a NY cab rather than a man-o-war. Any other suggestions on how to round this area off are appreciated! For comparrison to the earlier picture here's an overall shot of how she sits, quarterdeck and poopdeck still under construction: The quarterdeck is starting to look very tall, but with the other fittings in place and little details I think it will look proportional. And to Jack Bricker, I think if this were a size comparison to Pickle it would be more like HMS Watermelon! Thanks for the comments everyone, stay tuned for the next update... DPW

This is an interesting idea, though I admit I was a little offended by the OP as it discourages the innovation that makes this forum so interesting (to me anyways). With the way the rules are developing, a frigate built with CGH technique could go to battle with my schooner Pickle, or even cb4's xebec in a fairly realistic battle, is this what we are trying to achieve here? This would be a fantastic idea if it can work, and I like Phred's idea of uniform formulas for MOC's rather than trying to standardize peoples ships. I have 4 ships right now from 6 to 64 guns all using different techniques so it would be fun to see how they would fair in battle! Ill be following this with interest, but please let's try to incorporate rather than discourage as many different techniques and styles as we can Dread Pirate Wesley

Ive never actually seen or read anything to suggest this is always the case, I think it is just exagerated in this photo due to the wind billowing the mainsail. The mainsail can be square, or rectangular I guess, and on more modern clipper ships could actually taper out. Of course I could be wrong, but this sail plan is quite useful in illustrating rigging, notice that the mainsail and foresail actually have different tapers: Good progress though The last 2 gunports towards the stern look a little funny to me, maybe the last gunport should be raised one more, or the second to last one lowered one to give it a smoother look. Just my opinion though Dread Pirate Wesley

Greetings matey's! Time for another quick update... This weekend I pieced together the quarterdeck to give it more strength and plate the gundecks. To add strength to the whole section I added cross-runners, which when the gundeck plates were laid on top gave it very good rigidity. Heres how the skeleton looks from one gunwall: Once the deck plates were laid on the lower gundeck, I added in the supports and plated the upper gundeck. The geometry here was much more complicated but Im quite pleased with them now, and they have a nice upslope towards the stern. I also fiddled with the mainmast, the mainmast bits (red parts) and the railing on the upper deck. The railing around the mainmast is a very distinct part of this ship so I really wanted to get it right. Here's how it all turned out for now: Once again I ran out of parts for the deck supports, so once those come in I will finish the quarterdeck and move up to the poop deck. I think the poop will be angled and upsloped, much like this on the Pickle: Unfortunately they dont make 12 long wedge plates in dark tan (yet) so I may have to find another solution. Until then I appreciate any feedback on the quarterdeck so far! Thanks for looking DPW

Theres a lot more to be proud of here too! Love the broken glass window, and the scarecrow. Plus it's just a great idea for a scene too. Very well done Dread Pirate Wesley

I guess I missed this topic before, but I hope you have found a way to solve this problem as its a very nice looking ship! As others have said there are many techniques, one that Ive been experimenting with on larger scale ships is this using curved slopes, similar to the Imperial Flagship: Another popular technique is using hinge plates and bricks to create a "round" shape above the brickbuilt hull. Here is a good example: Anyways hope that helps a bit, if you've already solved the problem then disregard these examples. Every ship is different so perhaps you will invent a new method and share it with us! Looks great so far though, and welcome Dread Pirate Wesley

Thanks Captain Becker! And yes, I created this thread so that people could follow along and hopefully be inspired to build something similar using these techniques. So feel free to "loan" them. Her nationality is something that will remain secret until the end, as will her name, but it will come about in due course. That's me on deck, but I think this is too grand a ship for a privateer! Given that she is based on the same class of ship as Nelson's Agamemnon however, there is little disputing her country of origin. I heartily agree with you there Admiral, this part has bothered me for a long time and I am still thinking up a solution. Any help here will be greatly appreciated! Thanks Aalak! I really like this method of headrails since it is quite strong and looks quite accurate. I first did this while refitting my frigate Praetorian but think it looks even better on a larger bow. I will post more updates once I "complete" the quarterdeck, hopefully parts will arive soon. Until then thanks for the comments! DPW

Alright mates time for another weekend update, hope everyone in the US had a good Memorial Day As I said before this week was all about starting the quarterdeck. Since the quarterdeck accounts for nearly half the ship and is sloped and curved, this was by far the most difficult section to build. But I think I made a good start, that is until I ran out of deck pieces, this thing always takes more than I planned! Here is a port view from the rear of the quarterdeck: I hadn't originally planned on joining the last 3 gun sections at the top in the LDD model, but real bricks allow you to tinker with these things so much easier and it actually worked out better than I had envisioned. Here's how it will look with all gun sections in place: I really like the curve towards the stern. The unfinished starboard side sits in place in the background. As you can see it is getting too big for my temporary photo studio! When it is finally finished I will have to custom make one that is big enough to fit it all in. Once again I am awaiting more parts to finish up the quarterdeck, from there I will finish detailing the three gun sections before moving on to the stern. C&C are appreciated as always! DPW

Nice looking ship! Though technically she wouldn't be a ship, she's a brig, a ship would need 3 masts while a brig only has 2. And a ship-of-the-line, in the British navy anyways, would need a minimum of 50 guns on 2 gundecks. Otherwise she would be a frigate or other post-ship, which would not take place in the line of battle. This article details the rating system of British ships, even though it is on wikipedia it is accurate I assure you It is a very nice design though with nice custom sails. The stern to me looks a little plain and could use some work, maybe space the lanterns farther apart. I like the gundecks and the brick built anchor too Good work mate! Dread Pirate Wesley

Excellent! Just saw this on flickr too That hull technique looks very good on smaller ships, and you still managed to cram a lot of detail into it. The fishing rod for the spanker boom is clever too. Where did the pearl gold fish on the stern come from? Dont know if Ive seen that piece before, very nice though. I think I will use this technique to make longboats for my ship of the line if you don't mind (or Darth yogi for that matter), good work! Dread Pirate Wesley

Wow... on fire, dismasted, listing badly, zombies on board, oh ya and a kraken attackin! Not much more could be going wrong for this crew, though the mouse under the gundeck doesnt seem to mind Good stuff Taz! Dread Pirate Wesley

These are awesome! Easily one of my favorite animated films and you captured the dragons perfectly. Id like to see more pics of the nightfury, looks like an excellent model. Good work, looking forward to vol.2! Dread Pirate Wesley

I agree about the upper beam of the headrails. Im going to raise the whole beakhead one or two studs which should give it more curve, I think its just too low in general. I dont think it will be as curved as the Victory though. Perhaps since it's one gundeck shorter. Here is an image from MSW that I used for reference, hope its ok to post here: Compared to this first image I posted I think it looks accurate until the very front where it should curve up more. I will find a solution though The lower section of the bowsprit is just one of the mast sections I had built, so not the final result. It will be similar though, just with fewer rings. Ive never seen an all black bowsprit though, the lower section tends to be yellow or brown and the overlap section tends to be black. I think mine will be yellow on the lower and black on the upper. And you're right the overlap should be a bit longer, and thinner by my research. I also need to find a way to secure the boomkins at an angle, but that will come later. Thanks for the comments everyone! And passing 2500 views already DPW

These are fantastic! Huge improvement and excellent building techniques. I really like the detail in each, even if it is more European (nothing wrong with that after all!). Do you plan to make them openable? Or are they exterior only models for the village? Forgive me if youve already answered that question, look forward to seeing more Dread Pirate Wesley

I haven't quite decided on the curved bow. Models tend to suggest there is a slight curve from the first 3 guns, but then again ships tend to ride low at the bow under sail, giving it the appearance of curve as the gunlines run aft. My main reference for this is the paintings of Geoff Hunt, who has done far more research than I have! Since Im building from the waterline at first I will start the curve at the quarterdeck and see how that looks. For now, time for a weekend update: Here's how she sits from the foc'sle. Over the weekend I focused on the bowsprit, the headrails, the round houses, the catheads, and the gratings. Heres how the head turned out, a few bricks are not the correct color yet: From above, you can see how the deck pieces fit together with the gratings. I had to redesign the gratings and the headrails slightly to make everything fit together with the bowsprit and to give it more strength, but I liked the way it turned out: And the redisigned headrails and catheads from the front. I wish the hawse holes were slightly higher, so I'll tinker with that a bit more: I also wanted to make the timberheads more accurate. The drawings in this book helped immensely, I just needed some more super bricks to make it look the way I wanted with the railings: The 32 pound carronades fit really well in the timberhead gunports, here you can see how the swivel bases work giving them good range of motion. They just sit on a jumper plate under the gunport: More pictures on Flickr. Next up I will start to get the quarterdeck in shape before detailing any further. C&C are appreciated! DPW

Ha thank you for the blog Admiral, happy to provide blog material! Considering this is really only the first quarter of the ship I appreciate it. Today I finally got all my bricklink orders in so I will make a lot more progress this weekend on finishing the bow and mid-ship. Then the hard work really begins on the quarterdeck For an impression of size, here is a picture of the bow and mid-ship together with the Captain in the foreground. Considering this is only half of the ship, this project is turning out to be even larger than I had imagined! More updates coming soon... DPW

Glad to see another schooner on the forums! Especially since the schooner was the weapon of choice for pira.... I mean privateers, especially in the Caribbean. "Tilt" on a mast is called rake, therefore giving the schooner "raked masts". A common feature on all schooners. I like Aalaks method for doing this. I used a slightly different method on my schooner Pickle, mounting both masts on a 2x2 hinge and connecting them at the top by a rigid 3mm hose. When connected I could adjust the angle as I saw fit even without the rat lines and the masts stay in place. This was definitely the most important piece to that puzzle and hopefully it will help you too! I really like the hull shape too, though it looks a bit narrow at the bow. Still great progress, I look forward to seeing more Dread Pirate Wesley