Franco Clarke

Thank you, I find that old bricks can often make the build look tatty, which is good in some circumstances. Thank you, I enjoyed sorting out all kinds of bits to put in that picture, including some things which definitely shouldn't be there! The pictures have been kind, and especially some of the grey is very yellowed.

Yeah I agree, I will always prefer to make things in real bricks. However, I just don't have the resources to make something this large! Thanks, I would've rendered it, but it was already making my computer very slow, it look almost 10 minutes to open, so I decided it was better not to push my luck

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=129353&hl= | Francis Clarke | Oleon http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=129259&hl= | Francis Clarke | Oleon

Wow, a stunning building, it has that feel of the baroque style! I can't wait to see more buildings like this.

Thank you, your ship of the line was one of primary influences on this design. Lego isn't the optimal platform for making weathered looking things, it works much better for pristine ships. That's interesting about HMS Bellona, I guess the paints in those days were much less durable, so would come off a lot.

Thank you, I'm not a great fan of LDD its kinda awkward, but it does lend itself to big scenes which would otherwise be very pricey... Thank you, I had to incorporate one of your ships into it, and the Purple Rain seemed to be the best choice with its distinctive colour scheme! Thank you, the Poseidon was one of the ships I looked into adding, but I couldn't get her hull looking right in LDD. I know cannons are normally more widely spaced, but on this one 4 studs would almost double the length, which would mean taking it off prefabs, which brings a whole load of troubles... As a quick and nasty build I stuck with the cramped design. However I will look into offsetting them a little.

Thank you, I'm glad you liked my photos Thank you, I shall have to source a second light, that should help the photo's of just the build alone.

At first it was just the sails peeked up over the horizon, attached to masts with blue flags fluttering atop them. However, as the sails stretched on and more sets appeared beneath them, it became clear that this was no ordinary merchant ship; the Tigre had arrived! Sailing into the harbour at Breshaun, across the entire town, everything stopped as everyone turned their eyes to watch the massive vessel plod into the bay, it's white and black stripes punctured by numerous red flaps, each concealing a heavy cannon. Erwin watched from the deck of the Vif, still without a gun, as the double decker slipped into the harbour, dwarfing all the ships that were present. So this was why everyone had been so busy, they were preparing for this ship's arrival. He had noticed the air of unease that had hung about naval offices ever since the Margot had first been spotted, and obviously this new ship was the admiralty's response. Erwin marvelled at its size, never had he seen such a massive vessel. However, the closer he looked, the more he saw that she wasn't a brand new top of the line vessel. Her paint was discoloured and chipped, grime streaked down the sides, and rough wooden patches covered old war wounds. She was going to need a lot of work to get her shipshape, and Erwin decided that he'd stick with sturdy Vif over half rotten old ship of line. The vast hulk turned slowly and came up alongside the naval dock, towering over the warehouses and fortifications. A band stuck up playing the national anthem, and a frigate moored further out fired a salute. I really wanted to do an entry detailing Oleon's reply to the beautiful Margot. I don't have the resources to make such a large ship at the moment, so I had to do it using LDD, I hope you don't mind. The Tigre is a 64 gun ship of line, and I have drawn great inspiration from a few of designs from the forum, especially around the stern. I wanted to feature a whole load ships to 'dress the set' and I copied a few of yours, cause I guessed some of your ships would be around Breshaun harbour, I hope you don't mind! Finally a shot of the entire scene.

I love how tall and fun this ship looks

Ah that makes sense, and I guess lego is only a representation after all! Also, as to being a hoarder, I have all these damn boats all over the place

Thank you, I'm glad you like her!

Thank you for all your nice replies, I am glad that you liked the cannon firing, I'll have to do more of them! Thank you, especially for the help with the help on the photos, it's been really useful. Thanks, it might take a month or two, but I will return to the Isla de Ceniza!

Very nice, I like the way that you have managed to angle the hull at the front, a lot of lego ships have that area vertical.

Ship's Log day 6 The convoy was making good progress, and we were on course to complete our journey on schedule. We would have been able to complete the journey in half the time too, if it were not for the Saler, waddling along at the tail of the flotilla, since she was not the fastest of ships. However, her big cannon would hopefully prove its worth against any opposition, especially in the rush to get an escort for this convoy we had yet to be issued any guns for the Vif, except Private Collins and his musket. I dreaded to think what would happen if we met a larger raider, since the Saler's slow speed would mean that we wouldn't have a hope of outrunning them. We would have to turn and fight, which would be interesting without any guns... At that point I was informed that the Rana had spotted a sail off our port side. 'Take her about, and put us on an intercept course with whoever it is, I want to check them out before they can get at the merchantmen. Signal the Saler to prepare to support when ready' The ship turned in a wide radius and came around until it was railing towards them. Soon it became apparent that whoever it was, their ship was little more than a large dinghy with a sail. The small vessel was most certainly not friendly, no fishermen flew the jolly roger. 'Signal Saler to continue escorting the convoy, we'll deal with the intruders' I said, pulling the tiller slightly so that we could the dinghy off from the convoy. 'But sir, we have no guns' said Collins. At this I smiled 'Indeed, but neither do they and I'm willing to bet that we have a larger crew' At this point the pirates obviously spotted us coming from the north and hastily turned their vessel about. However although their boat was smaller than ours, we certainly had the edge in speed. As we gained on the little vessel, it became apparent they were making for a small speck of an island that raised itself barely above the crests of the waves. Even if they made it there, we'd still be able to find them, there was nowhere to hide. The dinghy hit the beach running most of the way up to the tree line before coming to a halt. The two crew had already pelted into the undergrowth. So they intended to hide from us, well we'd just have to find them. 'Collins, prepare the men for a landing action' At that moment a loud bang and a puff of smoke emanated from the bushes where the pirates had entered. The cannonball landed in the water ahead of us, and the Vif plunged through column of spray it had kicked up. 'A cannon? This will not do, we must withdraw and fetch reinforcements' shouted Collins. 'Agreed,' I said, heaving on the tiller. The Vif turned sharply, another cannon shot falling in our wake. We had been defeated by the pirates, but at least the convoy had been successfully escorted. We plotted a course that would allow us to catch up with the rest of the ships before sundown, and left the island and its pirates behind. However the proximity of a nest pirates so close to one of the trade routes couldn't be sustained, it would have be got rid of sooner or later. This was something I'd been wanting to do for a while, which was make a classic pirate style island, but a little more fleshed out than the classic pirate sets, although I'm not sure to what degree I succeeded. I was pleased with the photographs this time, although I should have probably sorted out the wrinkles in the sheet. Finally the pirate's ride, which is basically just the old classic pirate sailing dinghy I hope you enjoyed reading, as I certainly enjoyed creating this story.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=128065&hl= | Franco Clarke | Oleon http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=128436&hl= | Franco Clarke | Oleon http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=128772&hl= | Franco Clarke | Oleon

Thank you for all your replies, I am glad you liked her! Thank you also for all the suggested improvements, which make sense especially once I'd done a little more research into terminology. However I don't think I'll make any changes to her, and apply the improvements instead to future builds. Thank you for the advice, I do like those two ships very much, I think that I might borrow a few bits of the design, if you don't mind? As to the masts, it's both of the old-style top mast designs stuck together, and I originally put it on this boat just to judge what it would look like with a mast, but then the effect grew on me, so it stayed. Thank you, I'm glad that you think she's an improvement over my previous attempts. I would indeed have liked to lower the boom down a bit, and I recognise that it's too high at the moment, but due to the limitations with the masts I chose, I couldn't find a stable way of getting it lower. However I have enjoyed making this one so much that I think I will probably assemble a sister ship, to incorporate all these improvements!

Nice interesting layout, I like the angled shape of the fort.

Erwin walked into the commerce section where pier 23 was located. It was an interesting location for a new warship to be located in a merchant sector rather than at one of the imperial docks, but he guessed that's why he wasn't part of organising the harbour. He spotted the Vif from quite a way off, her tall mast stood out amount the smaller fatter traders in the area. She did look good, nice and shiny in the standard naval scheme. As they got closer, more details became apparent. A guard stood close by, and although she was finished, it appeared that she hadn't been completely outfitted yet as there were no guns on her deck. As they approached the officer in charge of the operation turned to them and said 'Ah Erwin, we figured you'd get the message sooner or later. We did try and get a messenger to you as soon as you arrived back from the patrol but you had vacated the ship by the time he arrived' 'My apologies, is there anything else I should know?' asked Erwin. 'Well I can see you have already met you're second in command who will command your second ship, and that's pretty much it. The Vif is all yours now, and if I can excuse myself we are all very busy' 'Why of course' Erwin replied and stepped aside to let the officer bustle past, followed by his guard. Erwin turned to look at the Vif. 'Well it'd be rude not too; would you like to come for a little test trip?' Erwin asked Pierre. 'Thank you for the offer but I would rather inspect my own ship, it being my first command' replied Pierre. 'Be my guest, I will let you judge the Saler for yourself and won't cloud your opinion' said Erwin. A few minutes later and the Vif had freed itself from the jetty and was slicing its way through the waters of the harbour. It punched through the waves, aided by the slightest of breezes which were neatly captured by the large sails. Erwin held the new tiller, rough and unused, guiding the vessel past the larger ships that lay slowly heaving at anchor in the bay. Yes, he thought to himself, This ship had great promise, great promise indeed. A new ship for the Oleon navy, and my first to be fully rigged and with sails. The design is very simple and based on my previous small ships. I have tried something new for these photographs and used a blank background for the shots of the model on its own. I hope you like her, and I definitely enjoyed making and rigging her. The main flaw is the mast is very unstable, which clouds doubt over her long term survival.

I love that little armoured section on the front, it looks like exactly the kind of thing the sea rats might lash up without the restraints of laws and stuff. I guess she would be rather slow and unwieldy but with a deadly bite!

I really like this ship you've made, the bright colour scheme and details. However, I can't work out how you've lengthened the hull from the original 2 pieces, it is a very smooth transition though

Thank you for all your comments, I am glad you enjoyed the hoarder, or has he prefers to be known, 'collector of fine things' Wow, I always thought this was neat little design lego had come up with, not a real thing! I think I will have to go back and make a more accurate version of it now. The design reminds me of a similar weapon the British used alongside the early Gatling guns, although I can't remember what it was called. Thank you for the heads-up, I guess I was thinking along the lines of a warship, but off-course that would be able to turn! I will have to modify another fort which I have built with the same flaw. Thank you for the advice, especially that one about the paper, I have tried it now and it certainly improves things a lot.

Erwin and Pierre strolled through the streets of Breshaun, heading for the harbour master's office, which was in a corner of a rotting wooden warehouse near edge of the shipyards. However, when they got there, they found that it had been torn down and work had already begun on a replacement building. 'I have reason to believe that the harbour master might not be here any longer,' Erwin commented, 'perhaps one of the workers might be able to help us. ' Erwin walked over to one of the men who appeared to be in charge of a group of builders who were constructing an arched doorway. After a few minutes conversation, he returned. 'He has been temporarily transferred to the house behind Fort XI' 'Well that's very helpful, we passed that way on the way here, if I am not mistaken' replied Pierre. They picked their way back across town towards Fort XI, with the hopes of finding the harbour master nearby. 'Oh yes, he's definitely here, look!' said Erwin as the neared the fort. 'I don't get where you're coming from, all I see is a house surrounded by a whole load of junk' retorted Pierre. He was indeed correct, there was a lot of junk arranged around the house behind the fort, piles of boxes, crates, barrels, chests, with larger objects lodged in between them. The mess sprawled out of the house's two ends and into the streets and alleyways all round. 'Yeah, you haven't met the harbour master yet have you? He's rather, well, eccentric, he collects everything and anything really, and he's been around quite a while' said Erwin 'It's probably best if I do the talking, he can be quite difficult to talk to the first time you meet him.' They entered the house and edged past yet more stuff, mostly piles of books and papers. They climbed a narrow curved staircase and had to duck their heads to avoid bags of fruits and the skeleton of an unfortunate turtle which hug from the ceiling. In the house's single first story room they found a very similar situation to downstairs, with piles of chests and boxes lining either wall with little room to move. At the far end of the room was a large table covered in sheets of paper and other assorted stuff. Behind this was a middle aged man with an impressive beard. As they entered he stood up and said in a low growly voice 'Ah Erwin, are you here to see me about the Vif by any chance?' Erwin nodded, and the harbour master stood up, knocking his table, causing a stack of paper to slide off and cover the floor. 'I really need to find a bigger place sometime, but at least this move has allowed me to tidy things up a little' At this Pierre had to conceal his shock, a task which he achieved with dubious success. The harbour master leant over and grabbed a sheet from the spill on the floor. 'Here we go, one 2 gun sloop, Vif, launched from the royal shipyard 2 days ago, and moored at pier 23 currently. She's quite a nice ship and should be a trifle faster than that old bucket you currently have.' He gestured at Pierre 'My guess is that your friend here has probably been assigned to you to take over the Saler.' Having said this, the harbour master sat back down, grabbed a sheet of paper and began furiously scribbling on it. Erwin pointed at the door and the fought their way out of the house. Once they were out, Pierre turned to Erwin. 'Well I can see why he's got his job, but how does one man acquired so much stuff?' he asked. 'That's just one of the many mysteries of the sea of storms' Erwin replies. This is the second of my sections of Breshaun, this time containing Fort XI and the Harbour master's rented office. I apologize for the yellowing on a lot of bricks and will aim to clean them up a little once I have the time. Taking into consideration the previous comments on photography, I have tried improving, and any feedback to how successful that has been would be much appreciated. The cramped interior of Fort XI, which is a fort only in name being more of a little bastion probably. This photo wasn't so good; I should have probably moved the light overhead. The inside of the office, without all the junk! The triple-gun which is normally emplaced to the left of the fort, here attached to its limber and ready for transit. The gun was based on the classic pirate set 'pirate gun cart' and is probably totally un-historical. Finally a wider shot of the harbour master's junk!

Thank you all for taking the time to reply and give advice, it is most certainly appreciated. Thank you, I have been trying to improve my photographs, but apart from the first photo, I wasn't very pleased with this lot. I will try mucking around with lights during my next photo-shoot. Also, as to the story, I have made most of the mocs to complete this little thread, just a case of finishing touches. Oh sorry I shall have to run it through a spelling check since my English is rather poor

As Breshaun becomes a busier and busier harbour, the navy found that it was no longer safe to load supplies at the waterfront, and a new more secluded area was needed, in case there was an accident. Work began, and within a month, No. 1 Admiralty dock had been constructed. Centred around a pair of cranes which allowed quick loading of Oleon warships, a jetty at the opposite end provided a location where the supplies could be off loaded from the dinghies which transported them from the mainland. In between the jetty and the cranes there is a staging area where the supplies can be sorted before being issued. A permanent garrison crew the dock as if it were a commissioned sloop, with the crew operating the cranes and making sure any suspicious activity was dealt with. Early in the morning, the Saler slipped into Breshaun harbour, still bucking and rolling one the clam waters. Erwin thought that this was perhaps the worst ship in the entire navy, and he was glad that the escort mission had been uneventful. The Saler slowly made its way to the dock and pulled up alongside. [ Erwin hitched a lift with one of the supply dinghies that was making its way back to shore. Once there he made his way to the imperial sector to hand in his dull on the month's actions, or lack thereof. As he was about to leave the building, a lanky young officer hailed him, he turned slowly and introduced himself 'Erwin Clarke, Captain of the Saler, and you are?' 'I am Pierre Landwich, you're new second in command' he replied. 'Well that is interesting' Erwin said, 'Because I only have one small leaky ship, and I'm not sure there is space for a second in command aboard it, are you sure you are not mistaken?' Pierre looked at him in an anxious way, and stuttered, 'I'm sorry but, I was assigned to the armed sloop Vif under a Erwin Clarke' Erwin turned and gestured for Pierre to follow 'I don't know of a Vif in these waters, but hey I'm not in charge around here. Let's go and check with the harbour-master who is really in command of the Vif, and see you get put under the correct captain' The two officers left the building, making their way towards the harbour master's office. Once again, I had nothing really to report on this month, so another botched build. Unsurprisingly the cranes were inspired by the ones in a certain well known pirate film, and originally they were to be mounted on the quayside. However, as it progressed, they felt more like a separate entity, so I moved them to their own little dock.

Wonderful scene and story. I like how you have made an environment for your fort, and that the fort looks much more habitable than most, an important feature for an early outpost