Mr. Townsend

Beautiful. You've given this ship an amazing makeover. The stern looks excellent and I love the balcony. I agree that the 4th mast needs removal and the mizzen gaff-rigged. I also think that the anchor's beam should be reddish brown or even tan to offer contrast.

The boats are actually based off Dread Pirate Wesley's boats that he placed on Persephone. They are very close to his original design but with a technic beam as the keel and the addition of flooring details. You can see his boats and my breakdown in Ship's Boats Thread.

The colors here are quite striking Captain Braunsfeld! The white hull compliments her well. I like the crowned monkeys at the stern and as the figurehead and very much your lantern design. Let me compliment you as well on the brick-build sky and sea. Its a very nice touch and fits in well with your build style.

She looks excellent Frank! It will look cool with the one side open showing the interior of the gundeck and lower deck. I can't wait to see the cannon and details on those two decks. I do think that you could build the headrails in a more grand way. They by no means look bad but they are not flamboyant enough for me. Maybe if the lowest rail was yellow rather then black or if the middle two rails were set higher and bent down. As for connecting a figure head, I connected the figure on Pinnacle with two clips to the lowest rail. This should work with your current structure.

Thanks Matteo! I'm pretty close now to getting the deck completed! I have an update on Matterhorn, and as promised this update comes with headrails! I'm pleased with the way the headrails have turned out. It was quite the project and took me about three days to be satisfied with them. I've learned just how important preflexing the tubes. If you over-bend them and hold them into an extreme version of the shape they will end in they are much more cooperative. I then tied the whole thing up for two days to hold the structure firm. It still wants to explode a bit on the front to to the SNOT design, but will sturdy up with Gammoning in place. Also in this picture you can see her spare anchor. In this photo you can see that there is a slight tumblehome in the bow as it connects to the SNOT hull resulting in a smooth transition. As advised by Kolonialbeamter I brought the stern inward a stud. He had advised more but it would have made for a weak construction. I also shortened her by two studs to place the aft most gun port closer to the side gallery. In this picture you can also see the lifestock pen around the bowsprit. Currently there is a chicken calling it home but I plan on BrickLinking some goats. The ship's boats have been added and I've posted a breakdown in DPW's ship's boats thread.

I've built two boats for Matterhorn based off DPW's design. I've added reddish brown flooring and some grates to add just a small amount more detail. I really love these little boats. They are sized as a 24 foot launch, and a 22 foot yawls. These would have had small masts, spars, and sails though I don't think I will makes those for these two. I think I will try to make a shorter version at only 2/3 the height for a more waterline look for when the boats are off the ship's beams. I would like to include the sails on one of these.

I really like the designs of HJ Studios. The I prefer the one on the left and especially enjoy the emblems on his buckle and shako. Leg printing is also very cool. I would like to see a classy officer design in this style.

Excellent work Moomin! She turned out great with the cloth sails and custom rigging. I like how much space you were able to get in the captain's cabin. It allowed you to incorporate some great furniture and accessories. Next time for the ratlines I think you should use a thinner string though it works well everywhere else. Brick on Moomin!

She looks excellent Sebeus! The doubled decked capstan, lanterns, and staircase are exciting to see in this small space. The stern is quite striking. You've taken the colors in the wings and put them into the ship and made that piece fit so well. Congratulations on another great build!

Quite the beautiful galleon you've created Ummester. The sails are very cool! Tiles certainly compliment this building style well. You've made them blend with the prefab so well, making the ship flow from bow through stern very smooth. It was exciting to see this come from LDD to a finished model in such a relatively short period of time. I look forward to seeing more ships!

She's coming along nicely Captain Genero! This model is this ship on which I based Pinnacle. This is why I added stern galleries. I think that the chains off your channels could be improved if you eliminated the first 1x1 Modified brick and made the third one to stern have both string 3 and 4 in it. On a real ship they would have each chain vertical with only the ones over gun ports bent around them. Also before you start to string the upper masts I would suggest adding one more technic connector to each level as the uppers are slightly too short. Looking forward to future progress!

Thanks Captain Braunsfeld! I'm afraid to make any sort of a timeline for this project or guestimate at a completion time. I can say that I plan on a presentation with diorama for this ship when she has her lower masts rigged. She will likely sit like that for awhile before I tackle the more extreme part of rigging. Matterhorn takes her name from the mountain, but what brought the name to mind was it is my favorite scent of Oldspice Deodorant.

You're certainly correct about the stern being too wide. I'll look into adding one last taper at the stern which will bring it in 1 stud and I'll have to find a way to bring the galleries in one further stud. I think that would solve the issue. The change in the dark brown aft is temporary and due to how many times I had to move the dark brown line to make it work. I had originally wanted to make it a straight five plates tall stem to stern but ended up with problems when it came to the bow due to the lack of dark brown 1x2 plates.

I've made a small amount of progress on Matterhorn in the past few days. She now has her next-gen stern and a template of the stern galleries. I think the side galleries work well though stern will need work and decoration. I do plan on keeping the stern section purely white. I've ordered from five different stores in three countries to obtain the white flex tubes necessary for the headrails so expect to see a completed bow in the not too distant future. I'm very happy with the transition from studs on top for SNOT with the Next-Gen stern. I don't have the black 1x1 tiles just yet but you can see that at four studs into the black/white the floor "tiles" get slightly longer. I've also managed to retain a whole in the floor of the side galleries for toilets. Walls and a door will separate those from the great cabin.

That was awesome Capt. Braunsfeld! I recognize that handsome fella with the beard. I didn't realize just how big your harbor is. Incorporating all of your land MoCs including the Governor's Manor. I want to do that at some point. Though I will actually have to build land MoCs for that to be a possibility.

LIFEVESTS! REDICULOUS! A fun comic Sebeus. I almost didn't recognize myself.

Off to an excellent start. I like that you've decided against prefabs and I don't think it looks too wide at all. I am curious why two sizes of cannon are needed. I look forward to seeing progress on this!

Looks great Captain Golden Hook! Red Beard's Runner is my favorite of the classics and I love seeing remakes of it. You did an excellent job staying true to the classic running two masts and the red hull. I also think that you did an excellent job with your string rigging. You've picked a good string type for the project. I really like the round stern but I think it flows better when the back wall is wider then the hull rather then the end of the hull being around the stern. That way you don't have the gaps around your lovely roundness. I think this ship deserves some headrails but whatever the case you've built a quality ship. Keep pushing them out this quickly and you'll be able to contest Sebeus' rather sizable fleet.

I was scrolling through your flickr stream yesterday when you posted this and I noticed you had rigged up your sloop and used the same string you utilize for anchor cables . On this ship I think you should find some form of string that might match better. The twine you use overpowers the LEGO due to its thickness and the tiny strands that always hang off. Something thinner would be best. I go for nylon but there are large assortments at any of your local stores.

Looks great Ltfalcon! The cloth you did your shoot on is perfect. At first glance I thought you had put the ship on water. I'm unfamiliar with the mast bits with all the pin holes used as your sprit and top masts. What set did those come in? I would love some close ups. It looks like you have custom cannon. I also wonder if the roof of the cabin comes off. Excellent build and brick on!

Looks excellent Gabe. I love the bird shaped ram and the design on the sail is awesome. That was hand drawn? Brick on Gabe!

Thanks Kolonialbeamter. There is vertical curve on the hull once you get above the base but I do agree that it could use more. Unfortunately I don't think its possible with this technique. The bow section will end up being a completely vertical wall. Aft from there all the walls do angle in though you can't see it too well in the picture. I'm hoping with the weather deck on it won't be too much of a problem. Pinnacle certainly sits lower, as does DPWs Persephone but this is do to Matterhorn being a frigate. A frigate's gundeck would sit higher in the water then a brig or a 64. Currently the ship is lacking its stern section completely. In this picture of Pinnacle you can see the the stern is made in Perfectionist's Next-Gen style of a large snot section composed of slopes. In the LDD you can see I planned for the bottom of the hull being dark brown and ordered to match. So I'm lacking those pieces as well. The attachment points are on Matterhorn as well as two bars set to reinforce it. Without this section she is about 16 studs too short and so looks stumpy at the moment. Not only are the side galleries missing but another section of hull with gunport as well. This is making her lack that sleek dynamic look. I also think that since this ship is built from the beginning without the prefab it makes her able to have a more accurate width/length ratio which equals to a fatter less streamlined ship. Now that I'm looking at the two pictures though I'm unsure if I don't want to go dark brown. Thoughts? Again thanks for the comment and I look forward to your ongoing digital shipyard. I strongly urge you to bite the bullet and pick up one of those books. There is one for Victory as well.

This is looking very good Kolonialbeamter! I would suggest this book http://www.amazon.co... ship bellona�� Ebay generally has good prices on this line of books. I own Bellona, USS Essex, and HMS Pandora. They are incredibly detailed and you will learn everything you could want to know about the ship's construction and interior. My frigate is based solely on the book of Pandora.

I'm pretty excited to be digging up this WIP thread again to show you the start of the new Matterhorn. At current I've run out of dark red bricks for the bow and the Next-Gen stern is completely absent. The capstan will not function due to the lack of space below decks. Originally I wanted to run the rope through the technic frame but that would have been too difficult. I may run it in the more conventional manner attached directly to the capstan on the gundeck. The grates will be tan instead of black and at current I have no red bricks to make riding bits, fore riding bits, etc. I also still plan to make the mast portions on the gundeck red but I lack those pieces as well. You can notice in the picture below that the technic axle in the mast goes through the bottom to go into the deck. All the masts are done in this fashion so the project should be very stable. The white pillars are 1x1x5s that run through the deck as well. This is what she should look like upon completion.

You have a knack for finding interesting bits to use on your sterns Sebeus. The wing piece may top the dragon arch, which is one of my favorite NPUs from this forum. She is looking quite slick and I agree that Corvette is a more fitting classification. Brick on!