kurigan

@Legostone Well you're pretty far along on this one and not likely to turn back, but... the key to changing that shape is multiple cross members. Check out the image of Nonesuch below. The first cross member holds the sides in while the next one back spreads them out. This makes the bow a separate curvature from the bent sides and allows me to control that point of greatest width. The rear most also help by allowing me to change the degree of curvature closer to the stern. In reverse of the arrangement at the bow, the forward member spreads the sides out while the aftward pulls them in tighter. The last version of Ramcat might be helpful reference as well being a similar type of hull I forgot to mention the swivels before. I think it's a good choice functionally and aesthetically.

@Legostone Nice! The three way's I've come to judge the quality of a string rig are: Can you lift her by the masts? Can you haul her over/careen her by the masts? Can you lay her down on her masts? If your ship can handle these three things, your rig should be capable of functioning given a chance to break friction. I figure if it functions like the real thing, it’s a pretty good model. Your stern is very narrow, that could be part of your trouble. In fact it seems the whole thing is kind of narrow. The widest part should move farther astern; somewhere just ahead of amidships. Do you have any plans for this ship other than that side view? Can we get some other views like stern or bow on? Here's a basic drawing of a similar ship, Hanna, which may be of use. http://www.modelshipbuilder.com/e107_files/public/1419958485_4198_FT0_marble_head_-_imported_drawing_.jpg

@Captain Genaro Yes, I forgot about Pride of Poseidon. She worked out very well. The new profile seems a lot more true to the plans. Perhaps you should reaching out to Mr Townsend if you still want to pursue a quarterdeck brig . I believe he had some decent reference material when he did Pinnacle. @Legostone I like the direction your going. Those guns are way to big though. There will be no room to work them. Have you tried making a cannon from something smaller than a 1 X 1? Perhaps something with a technic pin? If you pulled that off, you could possibly get away with a 1 X 1 gunport. You could go with all carronades. Adding that extra gun on the focsle might get quite cramped. You'll have a windlass, pinrails, a fiferail, the bowsprit and cat heads, not to mention a hatchway and if you get so detailed, a Charlie Noble. If you do decide to cram them up there, I reckon it will come at a cost of accuracy and detail inclusion. If you'd want some real world reference for size, check out Providence, despite being a cutter she would be otherwise very similar. Here I go referencing myself again, but... Reckless is only 10 guns. If I reduced the spacing of the battery from 6 to say 4, I could fit two more guns per broadside. Visually and functionally that would be about the limit IMHO. You can figure on the length and breadth, from the images, though I failed to record her final dimensions in studs before sending her off. Where there is enough space for the guns it is bare minimum and else were is truly insufficient but it tricks the eye all the same. It's just one of the problems with Lego shipbuilding. When your base dimension is a single stud, you can only build so small. If both models were true to scale with one another, Reckless and your newest schooner here would have about the same footprint; yours may need to be a few studs longer. Just to be a jerk, not all schooners are small https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_W._Lawson_(ship) Nicely done! Now can ya do this? Now I do like that snow brig, but I have to admit, I'm more enamored with that green and white schooner; such nice clean lines. @Bregir old ground here to be sure, but I think what your not grasping about my image of Reckless suspended above the table, is my grasp. You see, she's not daintily suspended from some point above the shrouds, she in my fist, with all the weight of her stern pulling down. She's not magically balanced, yet her mast is holding against that torque. If I were experiencing the same problem you describe, her mast would separate below my hand and the hull would fall to rest on the transom. Important note: That wasn't a shot at my mate Legostone up there. It was reference to my own image of Bumblebee dangling from her topmast, pinched between my fingers. That ship shares your lateral force dilemma. Because the hull isn't stable enough to support the amount of tension demanded by the rigging, her mast can sheer off and collapse, under less pressure that I'd like to admit. Phred can attest to this, from having to reassemble her after the USPS jostled her and Nuisance through every sorting machine between here and Chicago. Now my larger ships, Nonesuch, Reckless and the late Ramcat as well as Adder and the Fishing Sloop do not share this affliction as their hulls are more than sturdy enough.

@Captain Genaro Wow 1830. Yeah that's a pretty late period ship for BoBS. She's looks very sleek in the plans. I was going to advise, in a general sense that her bow was too pointy, now that I got a good look at the plans for Gazelle I'm thinking quite the opposite. Perhaps the prow should land on a hinge rather than a brick, so it actually has a point to it. There seems to be no bluffness to the bow in the plans. This hull is very similar to the Schooners of the early 19th century and probably intentionally so. If you want to stick with this class, they wouldn't likely be a bad secondary source of information, at least as far a hull design goes. If you want to pick an earlier brig, it'd be a different story, but going with Gazelle, cb4's advice is best. As for deciding upon width in general consider the size of her armament and provide enough space for them to recoil without interfering with other deck accoutrements, like hatches, masts, capstans, etc. Though in my experience it's very difficult to find a balance between a convent scale and realistic proportions you can get pretty dammed close without blowing your budget or sucking up every available brick. On a side note it was a bit hard to get to the actual image so I'm going to do you a favor and fix it here so the plans of Gazelle are easier to get to. Download here Your tumblehome has me a bit confused. In my experience, on sloops like this there tends to be less, sometimes none at all, at the bow and more at the stern. If I'm interpreting your images correctly, you have that in reverse and that's also where from the difficulty/complexity in you construction stems. To this effect I have had no problem using the same #3937 hinges to add a tumblehome effect on a level plane towards the stern. If you want sheer at the same time, your going to have to figure out something I haven't, accept compromise or get really "illegal" like I did on Blanid. It would seem that your putting Dunkleosteus's style to a practical test. I'm intrigued by this and am intensely curious to see how it will hold up. It's not without it's merits in the cyber realm, but I've often imagined it to be prone to misshaping and collapsing. I use hinges on the bow as well. I did little innovation there. My bows started as basic CGH types though in reference to my advice above, you might find the bow on Blanid a useful configuration. As for the destruction of bricks. Ramcat was assembled for 3 years before I tore her apart to make her in to first, a new version of herself and then, into Reckless. I took her down to individual bricks, twice, and recycled everything. Though some of the knock-offs didn't fair as well none of the Lego were damaged by the tension they were under for years. @cb4 Anyone get the license plate of that bus?

I normally don't go in for such things but that is duced odd. You're absolutely right about the thickness and consistency of the plastic. What I noticed as well is that it’s too small as well. A bit earlier in the video (10 seconds or so) you can see a direct comparison to a known Lego version on the fella to his right. Not only does that illustrate the aforementioned differences but on the Lego one you don't see any of the roundness atop the figures head. The brown one in question sits significantly higher. I don't think it's a Lego hat at all.

I guess they scared away all the fish when they opened fire of Santa! It’s a great display. I love when so much can be fit in to a limited space without seeming cluttered. Perhaps it helped to see all the elements separately too. Is this the same system you propose for a collab at Brickworld?

Kudos to you for the recognition! But why no mention of Classic pirates or eurobricks? I do like the liveliness of the battle scene. Very well done.

Ok mates. After the effort I put forth over the last few weeks of long hours and little sleep, including a couple of 40 hour all-nighters, I spent the las two days passed out and exhausted. Though I did make some compromises to get things together in time it was a successful venture. The people at the museum seemed appreciative and I note I’m in good company at the exhibition as well. So, what happened? After having been approached by the museum curator about renewing my interest in participating in the Engineering Brick Art exhibit this began a renewed effort to finish and prepare my fleet for public display. Perhaps I shouldn’t have volunteered so enthusiastically, but I promised 6 of my ship models and their crews, one of which (Reckless) wasn’t anywhere near complete. I dedicated all my free time for a couple of weeks, until it became apparent that I still wasn’t going to make the deadline. At that point preparing the fleet became my primary occupation. The four smaller sloops were easily made ready, Reckless and nonesuch were significant hurdles. Nonesuch never quite made the mark. I planned to compromise with paper sails, if only for this exhibition, but simply ran out of time. Reckless was only made ready once certain compromises were accepted. No doubt she would have been more complete if not for the setback referenced above where her entire rig collapsed and became entangled. I had been trying to install a pair of blocks, I wound up not even using, near the mast head when the wrong brick came loose. The cascade started with the shrouds falling free and culminated with mast exploding in to at least three major pieces. The repairs cost me at least 2 days. Because she lacks a flying jib, which still sits 90% stitched on my desk. I did successfully redress and assemble all their crews. All ships all survived the 2hr drive unharmed and intact. The only hitch was the missing fluke on Reckless’s anchor, which it turns out was under the desk at home. I arrived at the museum several hours late, having worked through the night and well past my scheduled departure, but was politely received and granted access and privilege to set up to my heart’s content. In the end, though I sincerely wanted to sign off on Reckless as done, there are quite a few things I imagine I’ll be looking to correct when she returns home again. Though I’m sure my display will be well received, I still don’t feel it was a complete success and am taking away a valuable lesson about volunteering what isn’t already prepared. Enough of all that, right? We wanna see pictures! Very well the mates, here you go. Some of them are kinds of terrible, but it’s what I had time to capture. Here’s an over view of her on display. Bringing up the rear. The sailing Master gives some pointers on holding course to a quartermaster’s mate. The master gunner takes charge of a guncrew. Some topmen being sent aloft to tend sail. Captain Haldon instructs Mr. Midshipman Burrows on celestial navigation A close up of some of the rigging. Another where you can see the disused blocks that caused all the trouble. There are as always a lot more images here. Many just aren’t up to snuff. You’d really do yourselves a favor just going through the album on your own if you really want to take her all in. thanks for the interest and support. She’s not due back till February, at which point I hope to grab better images if for nothing more than posterity. For now, I'm pretty burnt out. I think I'll take a break from ship building for a while.

Hey, I'm just trying to do my job. Besides. The fleet is a hundred miles away, under lock and key and behind glass. There's nothing more I can do.

The enemy of my enemy...

OK, quick catch up post. It took another all-nighter, but I made my deadline and delivered the fleet safely. It’s still not quite real yet, I think I’m just too wiped out. This was quite an effort. Thanks for the support though! Check out the fan in the background. That’s where from the wind is coming to billow the sails. Unfortunately there will be no wind in the display case, but she still looks pretty slick. That’s all for now, I’ll do it up right later.

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At this point I've lost track how long I've really been at it, preparing my fleet for exhibition. The last two weeks have been a particularly mad dash with little sleep and much stress. This last stretch is now in it's 40th straight hour. Though Reckless may not be quite "ship-shape and Bristol fashion" she'll pass muster. I'll go in to greater detail when I can, but for now, here's how she sits awaiting departure. The ship is ready, but the crew are another thing altogether.

Well the good news, I was already able to recover the standing rig, but that wasn't the hard part. the bad news i still have all the running rug to re rove and two sails yet to bend on after that. the project isn't scrapped. it's just likely to take all, or more, of the time i have left to complete, which means the other ships of the fleet will suffer.

Well folks, looks like that's about it. It took a little over two weeks to get all that rigged up and I'm about 4 days from delivery so... yeah. We'll just have to see if it can all be untangled and reset in time.

I'm not sure I understand how this is supposed to work, unless the horse is employing a pair of hoverboards...

There is a long running topic about this already over here. Though I won't begrudge being overruled on this, I'm making a decision to leave your message here so that others may see it and find their way over the aforementioned discussion. There is also this topic which may be of use and would be overlooked if I just moved you over.

Bumblebee there, purposely has no reinforcing in her mast and doesn't have that problem. it can collapse but it didn't give me any trouble in the rigging. the downward pressure keeps the bricks firmly seated. it's all don by the same principle in my Rigging Tutorial. There's only the one lesson yet but it's the foundation of stable string rigging.

Dude, lets talk...

Captain Haldon had the purser run up some new slops for the crew. Since most are followers from Ramcat who helped him to make so much prize money, he though it only fair that they at least be kitted out a bit less like a rabble of buccaneers and more like a proper man-o-war’s crew. The sails have been delivered but not quite ready yet, so here’s a preview of the Reckless’s snappy new uniforms. Here we see a cranky boatswain’s mate showing a, perhaps over, eager newly the ropes. And here’s one of Nick’s favored followers on lookout for prizes, and it looks as though the captain’s luck hasn’t run out just yet. The print outs are super simple. I did the torsos and jackets in Adobe Illustrator. I tried to print them on my ink jet as I had in the past but something went terribly wrong, so I took my file over to Staples where they printed them on glossy paper with a much better printer. One sheet printed was only $0.79! In the past I used packing tape over the printed paper to match the luster of plastic but it made the jackets hard to bend and was a bit too shiny. This new paper is a far better match. The torsos are glued on with Elmer’s and the jackets are held in place by the mini fig’s own arms. The hats are the same as in my Hat Tutorial.

Pretty neat! I wouldn't mind seeing some detail on that little brown sloop.

Unless he's found inner peace, if that the same old SOB I'm thinking of, fishing's not all he'll be up to in those particular waters. In fact anything in a blue coat ought to be careful of dark alleys and blind corners, of you catch my meaning. Last I heard of him he had developed a strong distaste for the fashion along with a strange aversion for pastries...