Skipper

I'm echoing Rufus here but I love this, a great vignette of a classic holiday scene. Happy holidays to you, Walt (and EB)!

Cool idea, a rather original way to display the minifigure. But I think the execution could be a bit better. The first thing I notice is that the base is maybe three times taller than the Lady herself, which should not be the case. Take a look at this (by 2MuchCaffeine), it also uses a minifigure so it should show you what kind of scale you should be working at. A good start though, I'm excited to see where you take this. I might have a crack at it later too.

As I mentioned here I would love an Edoras set, more specifically the Golden Hall, which by itself is already unlikely enough without the palisade. Basically, anything with a lot of Rohirrim. Forth Eorlingas! I also echo the call for Lothorien, though more as a source of great parts.

Thanks for the link PirateDave! Had some time this morning so I've finished already. Remembered seeing this awesome Playmobil set a while ago, so I turned the tower into a lighthouse and added a cannon and crane. I'm quite happy with it. Have fun Masked Builder!

Awesome, some Lord of the Rings MOCs already! I like the simple TLGness of the build, even if the scale is a bit beyond what they'd do. I hope the license will produce Rohan sets - I always thought they were the most badass in the movies. Nice work!

Frank Brick Wright is right. This site, The Ships of Jack Aubrey should help you with the history (and it has a nice diagram as well). And for interior layout, here. Hope that helps.

Here you go. Fonts start about 2/3 of the way down, there's studs facing viewer, studs up, studs sideways (vertical), and a "mixed" version.

Thanks guys, I'm glad you liked the article. Foremast Jack, DaMaximus, you're all lucky megablocks to have visited the San Marcos! I've been to Jamestown, Williamsburg, the like as they're nearer to where I live (but not anywhere as cool) but never an actual stone fort. Maybe someday. And thanks for the blogging, ZCerberus! (Could you also index it like the other tutorials? Thanks in advance. )

Brilliant, I'd love to have a fleet of these on my desk. The ship of the line is awesome, very impressive that you could condense two decks onto such a small base and still have good proportions. I hope you don't ditch the full size Black Pearl though. I've been considering downsizing recently as well, I want to brickbuild my frigate but then to make an appropriately sized fort would take half my room. Great work!

I really like this, it's got a nice neo-classic pirates feel. Any plans to expand it? That would be cool, at the moment it almost looks like the front of the Eldorado. Nice avatar, by the way.

No. If you were using CGH's flat hinge method it might be a complication but as you are using hinges on the side it's no problem. Although having half-stud offsets might make it more difficult to make a deck that lifts off, but that just goes back to my earlier question about how you're planning to make these decks accessible.

I actually intended it as a tutorial like Horry's so that's why I posted it in the regular forum. I'd prefer if you could move it back but if you want to keep it here that's fine as well. Thanks Erdbeereis!

I encourage you to find your own techniques, but two brickbuilt small hulls I've seen are this and this (nine-stud). Hope that helps.

A similar tumblehome technique as your Constitution, I like it. Looking at your past build my only suggestion is to try and get more curve into the gundeck. How are you planning to make all the decks accessible? Will it split apart by hull section? I'm excited to see a new frigate being built!

[pid][/pid] TUTORIAL: OUTWORKS As some of you may have guessed by my first MOC ever posted here, I am very interested in the Vauban Forts of the Napoleonic Era. I had been working on a tutorial on the subject on and off since I joined, but since Horry beat me with his fantastic tutorial I have cut most of mine as to avoid redundancy and thus this tutorial will focus only on outworks - defences constructed beyond the main fort, designed to to engage the enemy away from the main works for various reasons: to protect the main fort from enemy field batteries, increase general firepower, fortify a weak area, or simply to extend their control further in that direction. Where possible, pictures are links to real life examples. C&C welcome. Welcome to Fort Carillon, a fictional Napoelonic Era fort. Built in the Medieval Ages to protect the mouth of a vital waterway, it once stood as a mighty castle. But with the invention of gunpowder in the thirteenth century, it has by necessity been modified over the past centuries to better suit its purpose - ramparts lowered, walls thickened, bastions and cannon emplacements built. Now, with rumors of a coming war, the commander has initiated a series of projects, with the singular aim of strengthening the fort's somewhat lacking offensive and defensive capabilities through the creation of outworks. GLACIS Our first, most obvious step is to create a glacis. The glacis, the natural result of the evolution of walls (by Horry), was an artificial earthen slope that surrounded most Vauban fortresses. It functioned to shield the walls from direct cannon fire, such that the walls could not even be fired upon until an attacker had passed it: and it gave the defenders a direct line of fire, thus they could fire upon attackers all along the glacis without changing their firing angle. The ditch formed between the glacis and the fort had its own uses. In permanent fortresses, the ditch would often be lined in stone. Its inner face was called the scarp, while the outer was called the counterscarp, along which a covered way was often built. This was a high walkway slightly below the top of the glacis that gave the soldiers a safe firing area as well as a line of communication around the fort during a battle. In some fortresses such as the Castillo de San Marcos, the ditch could be flooded before a battle through floodgates. There could be other defensive mechanisms worked into the ditch, which we will examine now: the caponier and counterscarp battery. CAPONIER/COUNTERSCARP BATTERY Realizing the entryway to be a weak point in the fort defenses, the commander has ordered the building of a caponier to protect the ditch before the entrance. A caponier was essentially a bunker that was sunk into the ditch. It could serve as a simple secured route to an outlying outwork such as a redoubt or bastion as well as to sweep the ditch to prevent the enemy from assembling there. Its armament would not exceed several light guns, and most often consisted of only a few rifle ports (by Horry) for the soldiers. To avoid destroying each other, they were placed either at corners or singly on a wall. They were susceptible to plunging (high trajectory) fire from enemy cannons, thus they were often built with rounded tops or covered in earth. A counterscarp battery (not built into Carillon) was a battery built into the outer face of the ditch for which it was named. It would be accessed by a tunnel. It had an advantage over the caponier in that it was invulnerable to plunging fire, but its location outside of the ditch made it easier to undermine. RAVELIN In an effort to further protect the entry, (though this time it is protection from direct bombardment, not infantry) a ravelin is built in front. The ravelin is an evolved form of the demilune (half moon - this should help you realize its shape) outwork, which takes the shape of an arrowhead pointing outwards. The ravelin's guns cover the approaches to the curtain wall, while its own sides are covered by those of the main fort bastions. In general, the inward face of a ravelin will be open so that if overtaken it will not offer any shelter to the enemy. The glacis has been expanded to accomodate the new construction. This will happen for all future additions as well. Note that the ravelin could be used not used only to fortify the entrance but as an additional battery, for example in the inspiration for Carillon's "base model," Ticonderoga. While the ravelin was being constructed, the fort was attacked by the enemy navy. Though Carillon survived, this attack exposed a major flaw in the fort's positioning - it's right was too far away from the river, thus many of its shots missed their mark. Rather than demolish the existing fort for relocation, the commander has ordered the building of a hornwork, to provide a larger base for seaward artillery. HORNWORK The hornwork is one of the more complicated structures we will go through in this tutorial. Before we begin we have to define the term demi-bastion: a bastion with only one face and one flank (a regular bastion has two of each - it's as if one of the angles had simply been flattened). What you see above has more parts to it than just the hornwork, which is simply just the largest, central structure there (the rest are supporting ravelins). The hornwork had two demi-bastions (the "horns" for which it was named) at its outermost edge which led straight back to the fort. These long edges were always protected by the bastions of the main fort, and at Carillon two extra ravelins were built at its base to increase the defensive power. The expanded form of the hornwork was the crownwork, which had a full bastion bordered by a demi-bastion on both flanks. REDOUBT Down the road apiece we have built our final outwork - a redoubt, to intercept the enemy before they reach the fort. The redoubt was a semi-independent outwork built to defend soldiers outside of the main fort complex. It differed from, say, a ravelin in that it was completely enclosed. Most redoubts were simple triangular, square, or pentagonal enclosures made of stone or earth. However, the one built at Carillon is similar to those at Niagara (see the linked picture), thus it is much more elaborate. So there you have it, the finalized Fort Carillon. One thing I have tried to emphasize throughout this tutorial is that there is no set formula for creating a fort - though you will see many perfect pentagonal, square, and star (as was the Renaissance ideal) forts, this was more often than not not the case. Rather, the fort's design would often be formed on the basis of its natural surroundings. I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial, if there is anything you'd like me to add (this tutorial is not at all comprehensive, but I don't think any more would be necessary - for a more complete diagram (albeit in French) click here), correct, or discuss, feel free. The LDD file can be downloaded by clicking here. Thanks for reading, have a good night. Cheers!

Scary how fast we went from 10000 to 20000. Maybe the next "10000" topic will be in a month. I found EB a couple years ago looking for reviews to help me decide between getting the Eldorado Fortress or Imperial Trading Post. At the time there was no review of the latter so decided to buy it and review it as my introduction to the website, but it was an abject failure so I didn't post it. I lurked in the Pirates forum for maybe two years and was really impressed with the quality of the ships and suchlike, they were completely above most things I'd seen on Mocpages, which I'd discovered previously. Then I realized that EB actually existed and the Classic-Pirates website was just an adjunct to it. . I finally registered in August and have loved being part of EB, many thanks to the admin.

I've been following this topic, just waiting for it to be finished to comment. A fearsome battle cruiser you've got there, with some huge guns. I like the chunkiness of the superstructure - looks like something out of a comic. The interior adds something special, a surprising amount fits in there. I like the mess and engine rooms especially, and the various doors connecting all the rooms are a great detail. Nice work!

Looks like the Black Pearl to me. You've kept it inside the style of the official sets, which could be detracting from the accuracy when compared to for example gatorzip's recent post. But I like this style too - I could see this being released as a counterpart (if only ) to the 10210 Imperial Flagship. Is there an interior to the gundeck? There's definitely space for it. And as others have said the lighting function is great. Nice work!

That Forbidden Cove contest sure spawned some awesome creations, didn't it! I like his interpretation of the Armada colorscheme - white walls with a grey band at the bottom and green roofs. A great technique for the palm tree too. I'm not too sure about the green crenellations, but overall it's a fantastic MOC . He's got a neat Black Pearl in his photostream as well. Thanks for posting.

Nice find, Dreamweb. All text really doesn't stand up to a pictorial review but it's still interesting to read some different perspectives on the sets, especially since they've done many of the more obscure ones. I saw this Pirate's Ambush set in the index a while ago, and have always wondered about it because in terms of coloring and design it's very different from the other Classic Pirate sets - the bridge isn't molded, the palisade bricks are more reminiscent of the Wild West theme, etc. I still don't like it, but the jail and bridge dropping features are pretty cool.

I'm not really a fan of Ice Planet but I like the drop-ship idea and you've executed it very well - especially the "claws" that come down from the Stallion to stabilize the Spear in flight, they remind me of the Star Wars LAAT. Interiors are surprisingly spacious, and I like the use of the trans-orange pieces for the roof. As usual you've done a great presentation as well. Nice work!

Looks great Darkdragon, interesting three-tiered design on your watchtower. Striping the beacon tower was a nice way to integrate more Mitgardian colors. That mountain path looks like a great place to rain arrows on the enemy! I didn't even notice the Duplo parts at first, they integrate really well, I guess Duplo's not useless after all. Only thing bothering me a little is that you have a huge stone tower built on wood, but hey it's just LEGO.

Hey, it's Karlo from EB! I thought that wall panel pattern looked familiar. The scale is tremendous, as is the colorscheme. Some great details, I like the fisherman and grassy pasture off to the side. Some other awesome piratey MOCs on his flickr as well, I like his simple, studs-up, almost TLG style building. Thanks for posting!

Damn, those are some nice collections. If I had just a third of them . . . I have the Trading Post and Barracuda now, looking for the Eldorado next.

An interesting alternate history he's created, with some fantastic ships to go with. Very original choices too - a side-paddle steamer, and maybe the first Monitor I've ever seen in LEGO. The RTS Zavala is best IMO, looking at the smoothness of the shape and line it's hard to believe it's just LEGO. Astonishing that he built such a monster on normal hull pieces, yet the proportions still look perfect. And the wheels work too! Jeez, this guy's a genius.