Franco Clarke

The level of detail there is superb, I agree it is worth a redesign to ensure that remains visible. Without her upper decks, she looks a lot like the 58 gun razees.

Nice to see an old build heading for competition at last, good thing she didn't suffer any damage whilst laid up.

I like the ingenious, yet simple solution to the stairs, I might have to steal that design.

Shaping up nicely, the flippers give a perfect nautical theme. I agree with your idea of adding some barnacles to break up the dark green arches.

A subtle, but worthwhile upgrade, are you planning to add cloth sails, or keep the brick-build furled versions?

Shame it isn't available on pick a brick, it'd be a great rifleman torso.

This is quite an incredible model, definitely a must-buy.

The hull looks good and ship-shape now, having struggled to move large single part models to shows, I agree modularity is the way to go. The new door is lovely and compact, the sunken hinges are a great detail. Finally, I love the little sketch you've done to plan out the build, makes it look like such a normal ship without all the sea life and craggy pieces.

Nice to see a comparison between old and new, I like all the extra crew you've made. If you wanted to bulk out the crew further, you could add some East India Trading Company troops, who could be more uniform. The stary windows are a great look, not sure if they suit the Dutchman, but they are very pretty.

That's off to a superb start, looks even better in the bricks than the digital renders. I tend to focus on the external appearance of a model when building on Studio, structure is easier to do with real bricks.

Other than the old glory days, pirates have always been an intermittent theme unfortunately.

That does look promising, the trees can certainly be useful.

Those gunports are superb, looking forward to see the mechanism to go behind.

That beefed up cannon carriage looks the part, suitably weathered and rough. Interested to see how you tackle the triple guns, at least those shan't need gun carriages. With the sliding gun ports, have you considered having them rotate out of the way? That might be more space efficient and easier to motorise.

There is a silver lining though, that the printed shako would've costed more, and thus made massing troops more expensive.

Thank you, the sails are just thick paper/thin card, soaked in tea to get the weathered appearance. Simple and cheap.

The original has to be one of the great pirate builds of all time, I'm excited to see how this new version develops. Should be a selection of new parts to use too. Looks off to a good start, compared to the early pictures, the improvement in shape is clear. The gun port mechanism is a tough one as they have to slide down. I suppose those for the bow guns would be simpler to operate?

The classic styled boxart is beautiful, it's a shame that won't make it to the final retail box.

It's been a while since I updated this thread, but I have not been idle in the meantime. I apologise in advance for the gloomy photographs. She's now looking rather more shipshape, with the hull on this side nearly complete. It took some fiddling to get the guns all spaced nicely, and to close the gaps where the tumblehome meets the main deck, but it isn't far off now. The masts have also grown up to the first platform level. The other side isn't so well progressed, but as she's awkward to turn around, I've not included any shots of that this time. Another new addition is the stern has been completed. This is always my favourite part of the build, and a ship of this size gives plenty of space for fancywork. Looking from the bow, where the rails still to be added around the fore deck. She now has a suitably grand figurehead and some rather fragile headrails. I'll need to find space for catheads and anchors still in this area. In the centre and quarter decks, a lot of the detail is now in place, alongside the first sets of guns, these being 12 pounders. Finally, here's the area around the wheel more detailed up, with further windows, binnacle and sweeping staircases added. As might be apparent from the pictures, she's gotten quite large and awkward to photograph, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit everything after the next stage, which will be extending the masts and bowsprit ready for rigging. Has anyone got any advice on the best ways to photograph large models?

Thank you all, I apologise for the poor photographs, it's been horribly dull inside recently, I will try and take some better once the weather improves.

I like this a lot, feels like an updated Caribbean clipper to match the new remake sets. The curved windows for the stern galleries works especially well at this scale.

That makes sense, ships tend to have billowing sails to lighten the top a little, which isn't really an option with the designer's program, a good solution then.

When I first got into building pirate models, the aim was always to build a classic sailing frigate. However, my first attempt didn't quite live up to my expectations, and over the years has suffered from pet damage and is in a sorry state. With that in mind, I picked up a cheap set of hull parts and set to work building a bigger 40 gun frigate. I took my inspiration from the ever-useful CGH build a frigate tutorial, and Perfectionist's Achille. For colours, I went with dark red, with dark blue highlights, inspired by Zcerberus' Phantom II and the Acheron from the Master and Commander film. I proudly present the 40 gun frigate Petit-Acheon. Unfortunately the dark colours don't photograph too well, but the blend works better in person I'll assure you. I was particularly taken by the technique of using headlight bricks to attach the cannon flaps, thus bringing everything flush in together, which I will take forward into future buildings. Which open to reveal a broadside of 14 heavy 24 pound cannons. The stern is a good opportunity for nice guilt details, with a pair of 9 pounders for chases. Up at the front are another pair of chasers, two anchors and heads behind the figurehead. The horse was originally just a placeholder, but as it fit the colourscheme, it ended up staying to the final design. Behind the foremast is the boatdeck and capstan. In a first for me, I went for a full tiled deck, which does gleam nicely. Tiling continues to the mast platforms. These were my first attempt at handmade ratlines, so they are still a bit wonky, but they give the masts a good level of stability. Finally, there is a lantern and a pair of carronades on the poop deck. I designed this ship digitally, and halfway through the build process I recoloured the model into the same scheme as my older ships. This was a mistake as I quite liked the resulting design, and felt compelled to build it in the flesh. Classes of ships do tend to have more than one member after all! Hence, I present the 40 gun frigate Glebe! Immediately, the bright colours come across better digitally, contrasting against one another. Whilst they are both sister ships, Glebe and Petit-Acheon do have some design differences, learning from the downsides of the first build. I split the broadside into smaller sections, lengthened the ship by a stud, and widened the stern by a stud. Although more awkward to build, the odd stud width allows for a more satisfying overall shape. Another notable difference is the Glebe carries lighter 18 pounder guns on her main deck. Naturally, she carries a different figurehead, and the anchors are attached differently. Finally, here are some shots of the pair together. I hope that you like the new sisters, it's been a long build (twice the rigging was certainly not twice as fun!), but I'm pleased to have them both finally done, and look forward to taking them to shows around the country next year. The next step is to finish off the ship of the line, and refit the old Pharaoh. Here's a bibliography of the amazing builds that I referenced in the text, for those not familiar, check out the true masters!

Thank you, it was one of your builds I saw this usage on first, a great combination of size and detail. Glad you have been enjoying the process. The doors were inspired by those on Victory, which are partially glazed. Due to the tight size, they've got to be undersized, so these are handy in that regard.

The ITMP ship is perhaps my favourite lego ship, and this upscaling is inspirational. I presume the brown spars are due to parts limitations? You've managed to capture the aesthetic of the hull parts with the brickbuilt design, which is commendable.