Dread Pirate Wesley

I wonder the same thing! Though I assure you it is based on a real ship. Thanks again everyone for the comments. This weekend I spent some time on the sails and completed the fore-topsail, and the jib and staysails (though I haven't attached the staysail yet): The topsail I sewed onto the yard arm at 1cm intervals and I think it turned out rather well The jib I sewed onto rigid 3mm tubes, connected in the middle and secured on the ends by technic pins. I then tied it to the rigging on the top and bottom. Next up is the mainsail and attaching the staysail. This is my first time making custom sails so any advice or criticisms is welcome! DPW

This is the picture I was looking for! I like the curve on the underside of the barge which is hard to do. Looks good with the sail. Only suggestion I would make is the stern looks a bit too square, dont know how you could taper it in though. You could also connect the two pieces of the sprit with a standard technic pin I think DPW

Thanks for the compliments again! I think I will outfit her with carronades as this seems to be correct for a schooner of this period rather than small cannon. I dont think a ship is ever truly finished. Ive been working on my frigate Praetorian for almost 2 years now and a ship-of-the-line project for about 6 months and still think of new ways to improve them. Thats the beauty of Lego, easy to tinker! Ive begun working on the sails this weekend: My first time doing sails so we will see how they turn out! Stay tuned DPW

Looks good! Id like to see a shot of the bow from the water line. For some reason this reminded me of The Fort by Bernard Cornwell and all the anecdotes of Paul Revere rowing around in his white Castle Island barge. Good book for those interested in lesser known naval action during the American Revolution. Dread Pirate Wesley

Just saw these yesterday on your Flickr! Good stuff, definately my favorite attraction at Disney, though I havent been there since the movies were released. Welcome to the forum! Dread Pirate Wesley

Thanks for the blog Admiral Croissant! And thanks to everyone else for the comments. I've been playing around with cannon designs to find something a little more suitable for this ship based on some suggestions. For a 12 pounder carronade, which is quite small in real life, I came up with this design (looks simple but took me a while to think of it!): It is actually shorter than the current cannon, which to me represents smaller cannon in the 4-6 pound range. I also tried a more conventional looking carriaged 8 pounder cannon which turned out to be a little too long, especially in the narrow part of the sloped deck. Here are some shots for comparison of size, you can see all three cannon types: Here's a shot from the starboard side. I also tried closing up the gun ports to make them seem smaller. Personally I like the original looks better but thats probably because Ive been working on it for so long: More comparisons on Flickr and Brickshelf Let me know what you think! DPW

That's more like a ship in a jug than a bottle! Cool video though, despite the song DPW

Yup you're right Aalak! Some have it some don't. I didn't use the replica Pickle for inspiration very much since it doesnt really seem to fit the specifications of a ship of that period. There are no actual plans for the real Pickle, nor even a correct displacement, so everything is a guess. My chief inspirations were the Caldercraft kit here: And Geoff Hunt's fantastic paintings which both represent a more accurate and period correct version to me, both sporting only the gaff on the foremast and no boom: EDIT: it's kind of hard to tell in that painting, but in the full version the gaff is being lowered, or perhaps raised into position. If anyone knows why they would prefer one rig over the other Id be interested to know. I always guessed it was easier to pull the sail out of the way when heading into an engagement, no boom in the way, but that's mainly an assumption. As to the cannon I agree with Captain Becker, they do seem small. I have mixed information on the armament, but most seem to concur on 6 x 12 pounder carronades, though others say 8 x 6 pound cannon. I went with the cannon since Im still struggling with developing a small accurate carronade. Standard Lego cannon though takes up almost the entire ship so it looked a bit ridiculous. Something in between is what Im trying to develop while still having room on the deck. Thanks for the comments everyone! Always appreciated DPW

Actually, it is not needed. As you see from my original sketch I had intended to make one, but it looked quite short to fit between the two masts. After more research I found that 2 masted schooners actually did this quite often, perhaps the best example is La Recouvrance: Since she is gaff rigged, most of the work is done from the top of the sail. I admit it seemed strange to me at first too but it will make more sense once she has sails I assure you! DPW

113C Allow me to present my latest creation, HMS Pickle. Pickle was a topsail schooner of 8 guns who has the honor of being the smallest ship present at the Battle of Trafalgar. She was also the first ship to bring news of the victory at Trafalgar (and Nelson's death) to England on November 4th, 1805, 14 days after the battle. This is my first attempt at a historical ship. The inspiration came from one of my favorite Caldercraft wooden kits so I decided to build my own version out of Lego borrowing some details from various other interpretations. Although the ship is well known and represented in the art community, there is surprisingly little information available about her. I sketched out some of the details I wanted, most important of which were raked sails and a sloping, non-digital deck and stern. I also wanted to incorporate many techniques I had been experimenting with, including using only one prefab bow piece. The overall shape came out quite nice and I really enjoyed figuring how to get this little ship to look as accurate as possible. The raked masts were tricky, but by connecting them near the top by a rigid 3mm tube and hinges at the bottom the angle was fairly easy to adjust. I've always wondered why she was named Pickle, but Ive grown quite fond of her despite the odd name. She would have had a complement of around 40, here the crew are preparing for action against a Caribbean privateer. And finally, a scene from the aftermath of Trafalgar. Pickle rescued 200 French crew from the burning Achille before she exploded. Please excuse the terrible attempt at photoshopping She is still a WIP, so comments and criticisms are most welcomed. The ratlines will be refined a bit more, and sails will be added once I finish refitting the Praetorian, but the hull and masts are mostly finilized. More shots on Flickr and Brickshelf Thanks for looking! The Dread Pirate Wesley

Fantastic! I really love the model ship What's that piece holding the lantern on the string? I dont think Im familiar with that one... DPW

This is a very refreshing technique, ingenious! Looking forward to seeing what direction it takes. It would be very interesting to make a ship like this with planks on one side and just the frame on the other, kind of like a cutaway model or something. Good work! Dread Pirate Wesley

Nice Love the army men green theme, and storyboards! Gotta get me more green bricks... -DPW

This is great! I think my favorite part is the way you built the tail rotor, very clever and realistic too. Wish they made all those pieces in dark green, would look just like the real thing! Does the 30mm chaingun move at all? -Dread Pirate Wesley

Thanks everyone for the comments! Yes I think there is a lot of potential here, Ive seen a lot of tanks so far so maybe a halftrack, or artillery or something that usually comes with a bag of green army men! SpaceMonkey, I swapped out the skids for lightsaber blades and it does make it look a little more natural, unfortunately all I have is brown right now so Ill have to order some black ones then take a pic. I wish they made 1x10 plates in black I think they would complete the look but to keep the plasticy green army men feel I had to use 1x8. Maybe someday though -DPW

Thanks! C&C please, still a work in progress, more pics added to the original post... -DPW

Everyone knows its faster to get around by air than by jeep! Here's a sneak peak of my Green Army helicopter, not sure if this belongs in licensed or other. Uses most of the parts from 7595, even one of the jeep wheels! Special thanks to SpaceMonkey for the inspiration. This is still fairly preliminary so comments and suggestions are appreciated! -Dread Pirate Wesley

Thats excellent, love the sail (singular but still looks good). I think my favorite part though has to be the name-plate, excellent way to get that decorative scroll look, mind if I borrow that?? Cant wait to see it in full sail! Dread Pirate Wesley

Black without doubt for me! Almost every ship of the line, whether it was British, French, even American had a black hull with copper plating below the water line. Although before copper plating and massive fleets many ships were not painted, but we already have 2 very good wood tones imo... Dread Pirate Wesley

Excellent! A true pirate brig, love the colors and the sails! Oh and of course the tiled deck! Great job, does it have a cabin?? Dread Pirate Wesley

My ship has 8 midsections and maintains a 5 to 1 length to beam ratio, like many frigates of the day. She is a 32 gun frigate but only 24 of those are on the gun deck, so a 74 would presumably have to be longer and accomidate a second gun deck which would require some extra width to look accurate imo. Whether it looks right you may judge for yourself DPW

Indeed sir! Here is an excellent article on the refits needed to change the Rose to Surprise if anyones interested. It is quite detailed but helps with the little details while building! DPW

Uh, you mean Patrick O'Brian? Would love to see WIP pics of the HMS Sophie, I made a wooden model of that ship after reading Master and Commander many years ago and love to see her recreated in any medium. You definately came to the right place to start building! Heres a Link to my first ship the HMS Praetorian that was almost entirely based on HMS Rose (Surprise) in San Diego. Good luck! Dread Pirate Wesley

Wow I really like this ship! I think my favorite parts are the capstan and the brick built anchor. It seems to really fit on this ship. The sails are quite nice too, thats the next step on my ship but havent come up with a good method yet. BTW where did you get the compass?? I definately need one of those... great job! Dread Pirate Wesley

I like it! Dont see too many schooners here, or American ships for that matter as you said. What material did you use for the sails? DPW