Horatio

How is that bow so smooth? I just want to give up everything now- Seriously, this is one of the finest models I've seen, lego or otherwise. Really, how was the smooth texture aquired? Was it just a boat load of hinges? (ha, I made a pun.)

She's amazing! I love to see good galleons. My only critique would be that the stern is a little too wide- try 4 studs wide at the stern of the poop, rather than 6. Also, the ratlines could use some work. The overall hull shape and the bow are great though, as are the details (and the fact that she has a crew!)

She's beautiful- I only have a few suggestions. First, the bases of the masts on the top deck are too big (with the slopes) one 4x4 round brick would do it just fine. Also, it might be worth noting that the columns holding the decks up are a little thick- Here are some of the ones i've used (in white) sorry that it's blurry- but here they are on the victory: They are actually very skinny. She is looking great, though, and the shrouds look awesome!

I love it when people build American ships- some forget how well we Yanks built 'em. To offer some constructive feedback, you might want to make the white gunport strip two bricks tall as opposed to 4- also, the gun deck should only be around 5 bricks tall, if even that (sailors had to bend down a good bit). that will help in making her look sleeker. Also, our ships weren't as ornate as some other warships- the bow could be a little more simple (some of our ships didn't even have figure heads). She does seem to be very versatile, though- and thus able to handle adjustments as you make her better. Keep it up!

I did find the tutorials helpful- especially the one on frigates. I was actually inpired to build a powder magazine on my old ship because of the tutorial. As to the steering mechanism, it looks like this: Here, (shown at an angle) there's the wheel, and a black rectangle meant to represent the deck, and on the wheel is a barrel (enlarged in the green rectangle) with a rough surface to catch a rope that's drawn over it. When one turns the wheel, the barrel turns with it, moving the rope up on one side, and down on the other. The black circles on the rope represent blocks (I just use pins) and the two ends of the rope are attached to the end of the tiller. when One rope is pulled one way, the tiller will turn with that rope, and the slack of the rope coming off of the barrel with allow movement of the tiller. My old ship had this system working perfectly, just like real ships, but I don't have any pictures. It really can work, but there's a lot of fine tuning to do.

Actually, 24 would probably be closer to realism, because the hull of a man of war should be circular at the waist. Because you didn't build below the waterline, she might look too fat, but she'd really be just right. This is, of course, depending on your amount of bricks available. Also, is she going to be a whole ship, or just a cross-section? Because either way, she's beautiful.

Well, I've started off with building a new Frigate to replace the Surprise, and she shall be larger, sleeker, and more powerful. So far, her hold is deeper, which allowed for an orlop below the mess deck. Here will be the magazine, the cockpit, and the cable store. Overall, she's about 2 bricks taller, 2 studs wider, and about 30 studs longer. I've spent the last few days reading over ship plans, as well as the basics of 18th century marine architecture. Here, the light should really bring out some of the contours, and it was especially in the stern where I made the most improvements.

Since being heavily hit by some of ole Boney's men, the HMS Surprise foundered on 7th October, at 10:00 pm. She sank while back in port, when her hull proved un-reparable. She was then broken apart underwater, and most of her cannons, salvaged. Also salvaged: Her galley, her figurehead, her wheel, and majority of her keel timbers. It is from these timbers that the Admiralty decrees the construction of a new frigate that shall be faster, heavier, and more grand. GOD SAVE THE KING So, basically I'm rebuilding her.

Personally, I like the black- red would conflict with your gun carriages. Whatever you decide though, she is an excellent ship- actually, I hope you don't mind, but I used your plans to build a small wooden model. Hope to see some more shots soon! (I hope she has an interior!)

Thank you for the suggestions- I was thinking about the shape and slope, and now I geuss it wasn't just me. I do have some bad news though, because as I was detaching the keel to do some work, well... Luckily I'll get her back together, but it'll take a while. (i did find that piece I lost in the bilges a long time ago, though!) Also, thank you Admiral for the reference to the HMS Trincolomee- I've considered building her as my next project.

Here's some more pictures- really not too much done, but it does make her look a lot nicer overall. Also, i was going to post some pictures of the Helm, but they didn't load for some reason, so I'll have to take some new ones and get them up later. As you can see, she now has two heads at the bow, with the grating underneath. Also, if you can see it, ignore the crank on the helm- Unfortunately, the stud on the wheel is worn, and doesn't quite grasp the barrel, so i need to put a crank on to operate the helm system. Still debating turning her into a 3rd rate...

Nice- It definetly has the overall feel of the Black Pearl. I've never responded to another MOC before, though, so sorry if I'm too frank. Cons -It does indeed look like a muffin -The foc's'le is a little high -The sterncastle has one door in between two stairs -The mainmast is a little far forward Pros -She is very detailed -She has what appears to be an interior, or at least in the great cabin -She's the bloody BLACK PEARL! THE MOST AWESOME SHIP EVER! She really is a great ship though, and I hope that there's an interior. Anyway, kudos.

I've been wondering, has anyone besides me ever classified model ships by weight? Length is an ok way to measure the size of ships, but some are slender while others are heavy. I've always found weight to be a simple number to remember in my head, just to compare the actual amount of Legos. For instance, my RMS Titanic was 1.5 meters long, and 5.5 kilos in weight, while my old HMS Surprise was .9 meters long, but 6 kilos in weight. I therefore classify my old HMS Surprise as larger. Now in building my new HMS Surprize (though I'm thinking about changing the name) I have a numerical goal to beat, which is 6 kilos. Am I alone in this rating system?

I've only made some minor changes recently, though I've also built a powder magazine. It's a little father forward than I would have liked, but It's fine. The foremast rises through it, as you can see in the pictures below, and I also have some racks for the canisters, the lantern window, (the clear piece) and a bin over which to load the canisters with gunpowder. Access to the magazine is through a long corridor, itself accessed through the starboard door at the forward end of the mess deck. The larboard door leads to the hold, with a ladder down to the bilge. I'm also still trying to figure out how to rig the helm, as niether yarn nor dental floss worked. EDIT I feel kind of stupid- I was working on the helm, and realized that I hadn't tried thread- it worked. So soon I'll post some pictures of my working, historically accurate helm. I also made a few adjustments to the stern (by removing that thick yellow line on the quarter galleries) and the headrails on the bow have been adjusted. Also, I've been playing around with the idea of doing some reconstruction, and making her a two decked third rate. However, I lack enough guns for the lower gun deck, and I would have to intergrate some gray window frames at the stern, mixed in with the brown ones. I'm still wondering if its worth it.

Sorry about the pictures- I was trying to hold the camera, but I have a twitch, and evidently it showed. I did just about finish the mess deck, but I'm trying to rig the helm, and I as wondering if anyone had suggestions for a good line to use- I tried yarn, but it got caught on the barrel, so I tried dental floss, but it didn't stay tied. It's modeled like a real helm, with the rudder and the wheel and all of the pulleys inbetween. I just don't know what to use for line.

She sure is a beautiful ship (or He- I'm not sure what you meant by a "hemaphodite ship"). She's probably my favourite kind of ship- that is, one that maybe small, but has a lot of detail. The bow is especially impressive (and I think my British Spies might steal some ideas from that, [insert cackle here]). There are also fire buckets in front of the wheel, which I have not seen much of on this site. My only beef is with the capstan- it's a little tiny, and seems like it would be hard for the men to grab onto to turn. That's the only flaw in this work. Other than that, she's perfect.

Here's the plans that I made for the mess deck (the bottom one). The top one is the gun deck, which has undergone some changes, mostly at the stern where the Great Cabin is smaller, but also towards the bow I added a manger and a hatch above. The galley was also moved aft to behind the foremast. (igonre the brown rectangles on the gun decks- they're supposed to be cannons, but there's a few more than there should be, and I only drew them in on the starboard side. The Mess deck has brown rectangles meant to represent tables, with the Wardroom at the stern. I'm not sure what exactly to do with the yellow space at the bow- I want to build a powder magazine, but I'm not sure exactly how to build one- My only influence is the HMS Victory, which is much larger. Right now, the two doors at the forward end of the gun room just lead straight down to the bilges. Here's the key: 1 Quarter Gallery 2 Wardroom 3 Mess Deck 4 Empty space 5 Galley 6 Great Cabin 7 Manger 8 Chain pumps (forward of the Main Mast) The light grey lines represent the hatches above The green represents doors Again, I'm not sure how I would go about building a Powder Magazine- I'm hoping someone might help me with that.

There is a reference for using minifigure heads as intermidiate pieces in the "Ultimate Lego Book" if you own it. It really doesn't look too bad, and they do make these pieces in brown, and black (if you want to use black. You can also find them in plain white and plain yellow, if you're building a naval ship).

Well, I've started work on the mess deck- more detailed pictures will follow. For now, here's a couple of mid-construction pictures: You might notice that the main mast doesn't line up- I'll fix that, i just put a plat in backwards. I am wondering if I should strive for having the columns line up or not- right now, unalinged, they provide the best stability, though. I think I've gotten to the point where I won't expand her anymore- I could scrape up a 3rd rate ship of the line with all of my present pieces, but I don't have the guns, crew, or details such as windows and hatches. But here's the mess deck in her first stage.

Well, unfortunately, I don't have enough yellow resources to put a line in the gunport strip. Also, I've been wondering if the black area below the gunport line is too big? it should make sense based off of refernec pictures, as this one: Where the waterline appears somewhere around the mess, deck, and the black went down to the waterline, as in this picture: I think it might just be me though. I'm also in the process of building the mess deck, as my wardroom is isolated below the gun deck while all around it is just an empty shell, and since the Millenium Falcon is no more, I have more grey to complete that deck. Also, I'm going to get rid of my preliminary green rigging for some more accurate coloured rigging, which will go nicely with my more accurate (I don't know the proper name) ledges to attach the shrouds to on the gunwhales. Also, I found parts to build at least two more cannons.

OK- so I've finally decided to add a tumblehome to my ship, by stealing most of the hinge pieces of the Millenium Falcon (may she rest in piece(s)). I've increased the beam by 3 studs, which gives a little more space on the gun deck, and also rounds out the overall structure. I also learned that on Frigates, the Wardroom was often on the mess deck, and the Great Cabin was the Captain's separate cabin, so I built a wardroom (pictures will come soon) and the Great Cabin is now smaller, but more detailed (you'll see the "tiled" floor). The prow was also enlarged. Here, the Tuumblehome is most evident.

Well, I did move the galley behind the foremast, and added a manger behind the forward bulkhead. I made foremost hatch on the main deck smaller, and I did some work on the aft cabins. First, the canvas bulkheads for the Captain's sleeping cabin go all the way to the ceiling, and I put a "hanging" cot (it's actually attached to the floor) and in the wardroom, there's the old Grandfather clock from the Cucumber, a dining table, a desk with an inkwell,some random tables and chests, and also an enclosed quarter gallery, with an arched doorway from the wardroom. I also fit in two more cannons to replace my "invisible" cannons. Here's some pictures-

In an effort to increase her draft, I have added two bricks of height below the waterline, to look more like this: I have also improved the deck plan a little, represented by this layout: The brown rectangles represent the guns, with two open gunports at the bow, and the numbers correspond as follows: 1-Wardroom 2-head 3-galley 4-chain pumps 5-captain's sleeping cabin The black rectangles represent hatches, while the light gray outlines represent the hatches above. I just want to know if this is accurate, or if I need more hatches, less, a smaller wardroom, a larger Captain's sleeping cabin, ect.

Love the snow on the roof of the church. Does it have an interior? You could do a lot with the interior of a half burned church. Also, how do you do the tails on the french soldiers? Are they tucked in the pants, or a whole piece on the back, cause it looks seamless?

Here's some new pics of the stern (with hinged bulkheads) and the bow, with the carronades in place (and also of me as a midshipman).