Sebeus I

Thanks, I hope it still works when the ship is complete . Thank you. The motor is very unhappy. Looking back, I might have done better using an XL motor or two. Though that would have brought other challenges for sure.

After many hours of designing, test-building, trouble shooting, optimizing, fine tuning, it is finally done. The Triple Cannon feature is a fact . It's not entirely working as intended. The turning speed of the barrels is a little too high and is not in perfect sequence with the recoil loop. This on itself causes mechanical issues as the friction is rather high when rotating occurs during retracted state. The motor has difficulties handling the variable power curve, which gets very high when running out the starboard gun and very low when both are recoiling (I can smell the motor if I let it run for half a minute)... This was a very ambitious endeavor to begin with. I must say, everything considered, it is quite a neat feature. I will probably leave it like this. Frankly If I want to properly fix these issues, I'd have to start over, the whole thing needs to be redesigned. I want to get this ship finished by summer and there are still many other challenges in prospect.

They are synchronised albeit with an offset of about 1/4 of a sequence. The firing sequence is pretty much like it is in the movies. I did however not include the initial outrunning of the cannons (due to constraints with the visible parts of the forecastle). The sequence goes like this (rotating occurs in pause 1): Sequence: A - B - C - D Cannon 1: Extend - pause 1 - Recoil - pause 2 Cannon 2: pause 2 - Extend - pause 1 - Recoil That means that there is a short interval during phase D, where both cannons are retracted. I decided that was good enough to compensate for the lack of initiation mechanism. I hope to share a video of the thing in work soon . definitely! I might use some door rail plates, brackets and the like to fill those gaps. Since I plan to add a lot more barnacles and other sealife to this deck, I believe I'll have plenty of opportunities to find a solution. My old model actually had those gaps left open, it wasn't that noticable .

I made a little progress yesterday. The lower gun deck is now complete. Unfortunately I was not able to find a suitable place to hide the batterybox for the triple cannon mechanism. It will have to come right in the middle of the gun deck. I had ordered some more little lamps to spread around the ship. The lower gun deck interior will be barely visible on the finished model, you may catch a glimpse, looking through the grates from the upper gun deck, or peering through the gun ports. In the end I had to dismount 2 more 36-pounder cannons from their carriages to make them fit with the triple cannon mechanism in the bow. The thing took more space than anticipated. Of its 20 heavy guns, only 14 are contained in the interior-built part. The tiller room has no interior since I reserved the space for the battery box for the lights. An interesting area I'm looking into now, is the rearward bulkhead. I've extensively rewatched specific scenes from the movies to try and understand how this area is supposed to look. Unfortunately, I have not been able to come to a conclusion. I've built the contours of an asymmetrical bulkhead, based on a very nice sketch from one of the set/prop designers. Below drawing is not of the actual ship but rather a separate set which I believe was used to film the Liar's Dice scene in. The way I see it, I have three options. I go for the asymmetrical bulkhead, as in the sketch. I go for a straight bulkhead, placed more forward to maximize Captain Quarters space. I go for a straight bulkhead, placed more rearward At the moment I feel like abandoning option 1 as I can't confirm this layout in the movies anyway and it would have the disadvantages of both option 2 and 3. Option 2 seems very interesting since that would allow me to contain a broadside cannon in the captain's quarters, which can be seen in the movie (though in the movie they're probably meant to be cannons from the lower gun deck). Once I worked that out, the challenge will be to cram as much of this in as possible . Either way, I'm going to begin on the stern and work my way towards this bulkhead to get a good sense of usable space I actually have in the Captain's Quarters. If I don't work on the stern next, I'll give the bow some more love. The triple cannon mechanism is finished but I cannot show if off yet because I need to reinforce some bits that require a great deal of the forecastle to be completed.

It is a different sight for sure. Though honestly, if I would have had the possibility to use more dark tan on the first version, I would have definitely opted for that. I think the dark tan is more in tune with the darker look of the ship in the movies. While the light grey may better reflect the ship set as displayed in Disneyland. Nevertheless, there is more light grey to come near the upper parts of the ship. I want to reflect the more wet parts below and dryer parts upwards this way. The biggest limitation with using old grey is that there are no new parts available, like 1x2 round plates, wedges, modified bricks and plates, etc. I must say it's a real pleasure to work with new parts and figure out new constructions.

Thank you, that is what I'm going for . Thanks. Thank you, there are 42 gears in there, all put to work to support this particular feature: The triple cannon rotating and recoil mechanism! I'm almost there, it's been rather challenging.

Somewhat . I stripped some parts from it, most of the starboard side is already gone. I hope I can keep at least the port side intact so I can take a comparison picture when the new one is finished. That one is eating parts like there's no tomorrow though. This is true. Thank you, yes the curvature is a great improvement compared to the old version .

A few weekends before I brought some stuff to an exhibition event. Almost all of the cannons (there are 4 heavy ones missing still). And some of the details I intend to use, along with the crew and what's left of the captains' quarters. Since then I've been experimenting with little lamps. I installed two in the aft main gun deck. These are from Game of Bricks, incase you were wondering. I made a short video to show the effect. I'm going to need many more lamps to fill the ship Old dark grey tiles are a little hard to come by these days. I don't intend to cover up all studs though, I kind of like the raw look. I've made some progress with the triple guns. Incase you were wondering why that is taking so long; I've got all of this to manage . It's funny that, even on a ship this big, I'm still struggling to get everything in. Once the mechanism is done, I can cover up the technical spaces and finish the main cannon deck. When that is done, I can get started on the upper cannon deck and the captains' quarters. To start on the prow I really should have the forecastle finished. Or at least the front of the forecastle. I have some idea's for the lower balcony already too. It is still my ambition to have the ship finished by summer.

Looking great! I know the struggle with taking pictures of oversized creations 🙃. I hope you find a solution!.

It's great to see you're picking up again on this one!

Thank you! Inherited from the old model I'm happy with the staircases, I made a pair for the upper deck as well and added some seaweed, more pictures soon! I was looking for a printed tile, featuring dice but the best I could find was this: A Liar's Dice scene will probably be limited to some cups (or simple 1x1 round bricks) and a barrel with plate to serve as table. If I can fit it in, the area below the quarter deck is going to be quite cramped I imagine, with the staircases (one up, one down), which are left out in the movie and the rearward bulkhead, for which I will probably place the doors in such a way that they fit my other design needs best. Now it's time to finalize the triple cannon mechanism so I can finish the lower gun deck. Because next, I want to begin on the visually more interesting area's, the upper gun deck and the captain's quarters .

I made a little progress this weekend. I've gotten started on the staircase, connecting lower gun deck with upper gun deck. Steeper than those on the previous model. This is still a prototype, I'm considering making it 3 studs wide instead of 4. It sits after the main mast, right after the staircase leading to the quarter deck. My previous model had them right on top of each other. I imagine there would be another staircase connecting lower and upper gun deck somewhere near the bow as well. However, since that area is taken by the triple cannon mechanism, this center staircase will be the only one I build for this deck. I fiddled around with some ideas for the battle tops as well. I'm considering using a flex tube to create the railing. An impression of the outer hull: Quite similar to the previous model. Though most bricks have been replaced by a combination of plates and the outwales are more prominent. The hull shape is keeping up so far. I might get into light functions next.

I'm still waiting for a moment of hyper-focus to finish the Triple Cannon mechanism. In the mean time I gave the aft hull some more attention. While I still prefer to have the galleries in dark/light gray, I do think that the dark green curved arches work well, a little too clean perhaps though. I may remove an arch here and there to allow for some crusty barnacle attachments. I'm loving the hull shape so far, my best ship so far. My supply of jumpers and headlight bricks is depleting fast. While my previous model had around 7000 pieces, I think with this one I easily go over 9000.

Not much to report for last weekend. I worked a little on the stern. On the previous model I used a pair of standard sharks to portray the demon fish sculptures that support the lower balcony, which I quite liked. However, since there are supposed to be 4 supports, rather than 2, I needed something else now, given the limited space. Quite challenging at this scale.

Progress is slow but steady. The bow section was going to take much time and study, I anticipated that. The Tripple Cannon mechanism is not finished yet but I had to make certain that the barrel positions were correct relative to the gun ports first. It's a tight fit though it's supposed to be. Must remember to swap the brown chains with dark grey ones still. It's all a bit messy still but it will get better once the mechanism is finished. I expanded the crew, along with the official minifigures the Dutchman will have 22 crew members. I hope that will be enough to populate the weather deck. Much to do still...