Franco Clarke

Thank you for the kind replies, glad that you all liked her. The ensign does cause a worrying level of bend in the top of the mast, but, touch wood, it has stayed put during the shows I have taken it to. The backstays seem to be doing their job.

The shaping on the little side towers looks good, the gaps between the curves and slopes work well in this case to represent the weathered-tatty appearance of the ship.

As we've finally gotten some fine weather, I took the opportunity to take some photographs of my recently completed flagship, the eighty gun Belle Riva. This started off as a fantasy LDD model eight years ago, and was steadily refined and refined, until I took the plunge around a year ago and begun construction in real parts. She is based upon the French Neptune and Ça Ira, and the British HMS Fouydrant. As the final build is well over a metre in length, moving her in a single piece would be rather tricky. Thus, she splits into four chunks which are more manageable, and the masts break down for transport. The build techniques are similar to those used on my 40 gun frigates, but scaled up to match the larger ship. Here she is on the starboard side, showing the full length of the gundecks, and the full press of sails. She's virtually symmetrical, so the larboard side is much the same. A couple of quarter views for a more rounded look. Despite rigging up a significant backdrop, it was still awkward taking photographs that show the whole ship. I always enjoy building the stern, and this was no exception. One of the oldest parts of the design, the Belle Riva features two galleries and a balcony on the upper level. Due to the real-life inspiration, I went for Neptune as the figurehead, appropriate for a vessel of this size. A closer view of the details around the bow, with the heads just out of shot behind the headrails. Having played a lot of the game Naval Action, I was sure to give her a formidable array of chase guns. On the fore deck there is situated the main capstan and the chimney to the galley. Further along, as the official dinghies looked a bit small on the deck, I made a longboat and a barge. On the quarterdeck there is a stair down below, and, as the main inspiration was a revolutionary era ship, a guillotine in pride of place. I don't believe this was a real detail, but it filled up that empty space nicely. Behind madame is the binnacle, wheel and staircases up to the poop deck. These are guarded by a pair of swivel guns. Lastly the ship has three sizable fighting tops, ready to be crammed with sharpshooters. There's often interest in interiors, but despite my best efforts, there's not much to see, just empty gundecks and a few pieces of furniture strewn around. Despite being rather large, the interior is still cramped and hard to get to, so I left it bare. As far as size goes, here she is next to the largest set I own, the new Pearl. This feels a suitable size difference between the pirates and the imperials. Finally here she is in line of battle with the Glebe, in their matching paint schemes. I hope you liked this tour around my new boat, as I was building this I have thought of many things I would do differently if I started again. In addition, my Redcoats are now quite badly outgunned, so perhaps I need to build another ship.

Wonderful build, I really love how overgrown and weathered everything looks.

I like this interpretation of the Clipper's colour scheme, the shaping at the stern is beautiful too. Got a fun figurehead too.

Another masterful build, especially within the limits of the designer program. It's especially impressive how the mechanisms have been integrated, whilst there's still a detailed interior. Gets my vote!

That's a good detail I've not seen on a model before, I recall watching that episode of Hornblower recently. These look the part, seem a fiddley thing to create.

Looking forward to seeing more pictures of this at a higher resolution, can recommend Flickr.

Thank you, I always try to capture the classic Imperial architecture in my forts, so I'm glad it conjures up that feeling.

Welcome to the community, this frigate looks like it is off to a great start, I like the classic build style. The connection between the tumblehome and the stern galleries is one of the most awkward parts of a build, I find using round bricks can give you the extra tolerance needed to fit the various angles together. Looking forward to seeing this develop.

You've fitted some great curves into a compact ship, I can see how tricky the bow is proving though. Have you given ball joints a go, they might provide the extra flexibility you need?

The sails are beautiful, looks like she's almost complete. The dimly lit shot of the cabin is very atmospheric. Looking forward to seeing how wonderful she is once the rest of the sails are on.

This just gets better and better, I like the dash of colour in the new stern gallery, and the way you've angled the railings. The dragon detail is intriguing, hopefully it finds a place in the finished model.

Never knew this part existed, but you'd made great use of them here.

Great looking pair, I see that there are firing effects and damage, are you planning on making a diorama for them?

Thank you for the kind replies, glad you liked the display. The port buildings make extensive use of old tatty bricks, as they give a nice weathered look, and are also very cheap.

Once you step beyond the hull parts, size can get out of hand rather quickly. As for dimensions: HMS Inconstant: 36 guns, on standard hull parts, with 6 mid sections. HMS Agamemnon: 64 guns, custom hull with the standard hull part bow section, 140 studs long, with 24 studs beam. Ça ira: 80 guns, fully brickbuilt hull, 175 studs long, with 32 at the beam. Let me know if you'd like any further details.

That is very impressive, not a simple motion to achieve, and at the right scale too. I like how it cycles between each side, rather than just firing in tandem. The motor does sound rather unhappy though.

As others have said, you've done a great job of replicating the look of the split colour hull parts at a smaller scale. Matches the greencoat colour scheme very nicely.

Last weekend was Reading Brick Show, which was the debut of mine and @berninhr's main display for this year. Despite a bit of a last minute rush, everything came together alright. Being a long, thin display, it didn't photograph all that well, so I'll present it in chunks. Centre stage was @berninhr's first rate, Monarch. These large ships really have a great presence on display, even in a large hall like this. Bow on, Monarch provides a menacing view. However, all is peaceful for one, with the Emperor of the Redcoats paying a visit. At the other end of the display was my contribution, an imperial dockyard. This reused a lot of the parts from Toulon in 2024, which helped keep costs down. Drawing inspiration from the Danish Royal Dockyard, I built a version of the Mastkran to sit on the dockside. In front is an old ship that was looking rather tired - so I chopped it in half. Making ready for the Emperor's arrival, the Bluecoats put on a parade of troops. The wall needs some bigger doors, they can only fit two abreast currently. At the far end from the Monarch, I put this steam factory. Whilst the machines' designs are a little to modern for the period, steam powered factories did first appear in dockyards during the Nelsonic era. My main focus for this year's display was motorisation, as this is always very popular with visitors. I have linked at the end a video of everything in motion, which thankfully had no major breakdowns over the weekend. However it did consume an awful lot of batteries. If anyone is interested in seeing this in person, we're aiming to take this to the Swindon show in October too. If anyone is interested in particular details, let me know, and I will take some close ups.

Thank you, the classic age of sail paintings are so inspirational, glad to hear that we've captured that look.

Progressing very well, with the partition, I'd probably go with whichever would have the bigger visual impact. I presume the cabin will be more easily accessible and visible, so option 2 would be the one to go for.

Love the choice of orange as the distinguishing colour for this faction, helps keep them distinct from the existing islanders. The building style is wonderfully minimalist, reminds me of retro computer games. Finally, the volcano was a good choice, something that is fitting for the setting, but never seems to make it into official sets.

Excellent work, instantly recognisable. Looking forward to seeing more pictures of her.

Nice fleet, have you got any shots of them all together? I do like how many different sail patterns you've made from a few pieces.