Mr. Townsend

Your army is getting quite large Sire Pirol. I like your different regiments and it looks like you've put a large amount of your time into this. My favorite troops are the ones with the yellow brims on their hats. I do miss more LEGO in the display however. I understand the use of clay but what if you had some bits of brick land in there with some trees or rocks. You've made a hill out of clay. How cool would that be if it was a brick hill placed on the clay terrain?

That looks pretty slick Ummester. I'm a sucker for a good galleon and this one is very well designed. I'm impressed how quickly you turned this from LDD to brick, and excited for a proper photo shoot.

Thank you Admiral Bejaune. I'll look into make a short tutorial on the windows. They are time consuming to make but worth the effort. For some reason I never thought about the blue seats in the boat being inaccurate, but your are correct. I picked that up looking at other MoCs rather then the references I use now. I'll have to revise that and keep it in mind for future ships. At current Matterhorn's boats have white seats.

Interesting points brought up by Kurigan. I do agree that the hawse holes are low to the water and it certainly might be cool if the cables were shown above deck but that would also require a space below deck behind the capstan for the excess to spool. I think the easiest way to raise the holes would be to move the forward gun back a stud and place two holes to the cable tier. This way it still coils underneath but the holes are places above deck. . I do notice now that the capstan is probably exactly where you will want to place your mast. You'll likely want to move it forward. Normally on a ship this size there would be a windlass instead of a capstan but I'm not sure it matters too much. Placing the hull under tension is also a really cool technique but it would be difficult on a ship of this size. I think this http://www.modelships.de/Bermuda_Sloop_Herk/Fotos_Bermuda_Sloop1.htm is a good reference ship for yours. It has a cabin though it is small. I hadn't realized that was a light brick in your stern. That will look cool in the end. This reference also suggest you could add two more guns. Can you ever complain about more firepower?

Looking great Captain Golden Hook. And with a working capstan too. Keep it going! You've got me excited.

This is a very early stage of building but I think I can offer some advice. Having the bow out that far is unnecessary. In my opinion you should eliminate it completely having it extend one or maybe two studs out. Also, having the belly of the ship protrude a full stud so close to the bow looks odd. I don't think its needed. You should extend your bow curve out those two studs to make it smooth. I imagine you are low on bits such as hinges so I do think that having the stern taper out a brick at a time would be acceptable. This photo can illustrate as I'm not sure my words paint a very convenient picture to work with. You can see how I taper the stern with a single hinge point. For the rest of the ship I work with a one width. You can also see my bow here. You wouldn't have headrails so if it protrudes to far nothing will be there to make it flow to the rest of the ship. I look forward to seeing progress.

Exciting to see a WiP thread from you Sebeus. I like the way you've done the stern above the prefab. It will look excellent once its no longer yellow. I also enjoy that you are using the smaller windows at this point and hope you'll keep them. I do think closing that gap on the galleries will be difficult. I too would love to shamelessly plug in my solution to your thread. The way I did it here is to have the side galleries attached directly to the back rather then the hull. This gave them a rather pleasing angle I think, and completely eliminates the gaps. (I apologize the photos aren't more direct on the subject matter.) I hope you include a working capstan and maybe some lighting as I've come to admire and expect these functions in your ships. Seeing as this one will be the jewel of your fleet I think it deserves the effort. I agree with Frank about the weather deck being straight from bow through stern and I'm interested to see if you'll keep it this way. I do think this will offer a very stable deck, though it may not be as dynamic as the standard CGH method provides.

She is coming along nicely Kabel. I like that you applied tension to get the hull to slope in like that. I also really like the use of black windows for the gunports. I do however, think that to achieve the best look with those windows the black line at the bottom needs to come into contact with the windows rather then having the yellow underneath. I apologize that I hadn't noticed this last time I mentioned raising the line but I hadn't noticed the use of the window frames do to the port covers. I support your having gotten rid of those covers by the way. I'm curious which way you will decide to build the masts. 2x2, 1x1 technic connectors, or prefab masts. I too am disappointing about the loss of the Endeavor. That ship inspired me to use tan on Pinnacle. Understandable of course, and I'm glad to see you are using her bits to keep your building in the pirate's era.

I missed this until I saw the new picture in your comment. I like the custom cannons now in the belly of your ship but I'm not 100% sold on the sails. I think they look really cool in your signature picture because it is so small but with closer inspection it they just don't look right. This I think, is because of the size of the bits available. Since the bits are so small you had to make too many individual sails to make the masts look full. I like your brick build sails on your other ships and I in my opinion you should keep with that style. They are simply more full and offer more accurate options. Still, as I said it looks very dynamic in that tiny picture and I always enjoy seeing you ships.

This sounds like an ambitious project Louie. I see that brickfair is on May 9-10. Does this mean you have two weeks to bring this plan to reality? I did look through my normal modeling websites for a model of Discovery but unfortunately I was unable to find one. A waterline build would most certainly work with these ships and it would be best if you plan to incorporate them into a display. I'm excited to see a few WIP pictures of the ships once you lay the "keels".

Outstanding Swan Dutchman! I love how you edited the photos into the painting. My favorite part of this is how the white line across the top of the railing continuing through the waist. Your sails are very clean and I'm interested if hand sewn means you didn't use a machine. If that's the case I'm rather impressed. Though I am impressed either way. I searched through your flickr but I wish you had more pictures of your interior. The editing really is amazing. I have photoshop elements and I find it extremely difficult to edit out the entire background without losing bits of my rigging. Maybe its easier with black string since the brown on my ship blends more to my background. Do you find GIMP easier to use? Before now I'd not heard of it. I hope to see more ships in the future Swan Dutchman. Brick on!

A great quick build Done. I too am curious about how you build the bow section. I've not seen this technique used before now. The nets work well for the ratlines giving the appearance of custom rigging without the tedious time sink. Mainly I think you did a very good job building in almost all reddish brown without making a big blob. I like that you sewed the sails and its definitely good to have the practice before tackling the rigging and sails on your ship of the line. Well built!

Looking excellent Frank! The angle on the side galleries really is impressive. The stern as a whole is extremely well built.

Thank you everyone for the comments. Thanks Bonaparte! It was extremely exciting to be on the front page! If you mean the ship as a whole, she would sink like a rock. Crewing the Stella Maris in the Caribbean sounds like the experience of a lifetime. I can only imagine hanging out on one of the spars. On my next large ship I will try to make the rigging as accurate as possible and add the footlines so my figs won't have to be as scared. Thanks Legogal! Thanks DPW! Its great to have you comment as your waterline ships inspired me to move in that direction as well. I worked very hard in the sails indeed, remaking each one two or three times to get them satisfactory. Haha. When it came to restringing sub-par rigging I certainly had some choice words to share. With this being my first attempt at rigging everything was guess work until I developed adequate techniques so I had a large amount of double work.

This has come quite a ways since the first pictures you posted! It looks great so far and its exciting to see some string coming down from that masthead. I sure love some custom rigging. My knowledge of ships from this era is minimal but I do wonder where you will put the steering mechanism, which I imagine would be a simple tiller.

These are great classic ships Captain Braunsfeld. I like that they are each unique, and would sit perfectly next to the old Armada Flagship. Brick on!

This is undoubtedly one of the coolest Bionicle creations I've ever seen. My favorite bit is his boot followed by his peg leg. You used the perfect bits to make each one. I do however wish he had more face, though this is understandable for how it had to be done. Great build Sparky!

Some good progress going Bluenote07. I do think that the dragon wings are too much on a ship of this era as well as the red atop the rails up front. The red rails at the back however I think fit well. It would be nice to see a lantern set in place of the red dragon plume that is on the taffrail. I do wonder if you could get some old gray to finish out the line of old gray off the prefab hulls. And though you may dislike me for saying so now after you've received your second mid section I feel she would look better shorter. Normally on a Bermuda sloop the spanker booms would end at the taffrail or after. If you followed this reference you would shorten it to one mid and set the mast back a few studs. Also look at the bow and see how the jib boom is set. I apologize if this seems a laundry list but I think you could accomplish a very nice looking ship with a few small tweeks.

I really like your fairy tale style buildings, and I think the style transferred well to a pirate hut. NPU on the cutlasses and the uneven board on the door is a nice touch.

You did a excellent job recreating Captain Redbeard. He is my favorite classic fig and I would love to have one of these in my home.

Not Philly Brick Fest but Brickfiesta 2014 in San Antonio, TX. Display your ships with mine in the warm south Kurigan.

Your new technique is so spectacular Kurigan. I'm excited to see this, and that dark green looks great. Its that technique... It looks sooo good. It has tumblehome too...

She is certainly coming along nicely Done! I like that the rudder and the capstan will be functional in the end and I also enjoy the colors you've used. You might find the book Anatomy of the Ship: The 74 Gun Ship Bellona by Brian Lavery. DPW had this ship for his 64 gun build I believe and that lead me to buy it. Its about $25 dollars on ebay. There are a number in the series and each is very informative. I've build the newest version of the Matterhorn off the HMS Pandora edition. I've bought the USS Essex as well, so I definitely suggest them.

Thanks Kolonialbeamter. I really think Perfectionist nailed it with his NextGen but after I saw DPW's ships I couldn't resist my desire for waterline ships and NextGen transferred so well to fit my new goal. I'm excited to expand into a fleet of waterline ships that hopefully will all get combined into a large layout.(I have grand schemes in mind ) I had originally gone for the trans clear window panes on the stern and had to file down only one pane. With this small lack in purity, stepping up to butchering 11 lattices didn't seem that big of a deal. I think if its just something purely aesthetic its forgivable. But now I'm morally compromised. My poor bricks... I'm glad you like it Captain Becker. I did the photo shoot outside for this after having difficulty getting even lighting in my makeshift light box. It happened to be a cloudy windy day, and I was very excited when the wind started to blow the flag and streamer! I too am a big fan of a good brig. When I saw the model of Duke of Bedford it had everything I was looking for in my next project. I really liked the raised quarterdeck and the tiller rather then a wheel. The windows were a "pane" to get right. Each side of the frame had to be shaved down to fit the dimensions and then part had to be chopped out and the framing bit glued back on. They took a few hours but I think that is the fun part of going into so much detail. I had hours of fun for the price of a few latices. Thanks Swan Dutchman. I used a stiffening spray to get the shape I wanted out of the sails and flags. It worked well to make them look like they are catching wind, but it makes the ship a static model. On my next large ship I'm excited to experiment with the wires through the sails as your doing. I hadn't heard of the superstition over the name change but I'm not sure it would have stopped me. Pinnacle seemed to fit so well after so many countless hours of correcting each flaw I could find. It also still fit into my theme of mountains for names. The figurehead I had decided to be white long before I had a color scheme for the ship. The Matterhorn was white to match her angel of a figurehead. This figurehead is the ships guardian angel as well, and angels are always white. Its funny that you recognize she is a snow, as it was something of an afterthought. I hadn't planned to add that small mast until I realized I couldn't attach the driver with the booms set as they are. The way you did the chains on the Ram Cat didn't escape my when first I saw your pictures. It really is a clever way to do it, and though its too late to work through here I will keep it in mind in the future. That capstan too...

Off to a good start Kabel. I agree that 2x2 rounds will end too thick. The prefab masts would work well though. I had thought about using those on my schooner but I would have had to pull from my Imperial Flagship. I think that the yellow line sags too far in the middle. I think if the lowest yellow 1x8 was black it might look more sleek. Have you ever contemplated building waterline off the prefabs? I saw your port on flicker and it would be awesome to have your ships sit perfectly in your display. Brick on Kabel!