kurigan

There's a quirky kind of brilliance here. Those papers are novel yet instantly recegoniziable. I just feel bad for those poor, ignorant sailors just hoping to stave off the scurvy.

I like her. Small hulls are always awkward but a Dutch style yacht is very clever. She’s well-made also, from what we can see. Do please make good on more pics. I even like the color scheme with the checkers.

I’ve got to comment on this in two different lights. One the MOC: this came out rather well. I feel as though you could have given her rig a bit more attentions, but overall she’s pleasing. It’s challenging to make small ships all fit together well and think you did that here. Two, the story: I don’t understand. The king is expected to sell his entire nation for a single, tiny marble head? Why she’s barely a sloop, a revenue cutter more like. I’d think even the worst country would be worth at least a few line-of-battle. If it’s schooners you want, King Fernando, I can get you a bunch; and at a bargain price, when compared to that! :D

I too like yours. You've got a good shape and the "dogs" (is that the right term. Those things that hold the curtain open. Im thinking shutter dogs) are a nice touch. IMHO as long as they are background you don't need a lot of detail, so what you have already would work well if it were well rendered or in real-bricks. Where you really want to be looking is over in Town.

She’s simple, elegant and not overly ambitious. I like her. Your sails look pretty good from what I can see. The shrouds you have could be doing a lot more work for you if you added a block and tackle system, Something like bull’s eyes, dead eyes or just a couple of pulleys belayed off. There are a number of bricks which can be quickly installed to serve the purpose. Though they don’t need to be “drum tight”, just pulled taught, I would then recommend mounting them to the side of the hull rather than the top of the rail so they don’t pull off. I’m curious as to why you have two masts joined rather than one continuous? It’s not at all necessary on such a small ship and may be contributing to your stability issues. Also having a gaff sail span both is odd and would misshape the sail. Could those mast pieces not have been stacked? (I find it hard to tell which ones they are from the image.) What you have here kind of reminds me of this thing I did, which development eventually lead to Bumblebee. I don’t know, but maybe there’s something helpful or inspirational in there.

Honest first reaction: "wo, that's cool!" Great job on capturing the action. The buckling deck is a nice touch. It's quite the engaging missive and your hero isn't even looking back at that cool explosion; that's how you know he's BA. with an intro like this, how can I not want to see more?

Dude...I don't think he asked for all that. Some unsolicited advice of my own; wait till some one shows an interest before providing a page long list of corrections. What's more to the point, I've noticed that the more times you say "no offense" the more apt people are to be offended; I mean who are you trying to convince? I feel a little guilty in all this, having started out the replies with a correction of my own, but I must admit, I was just being cheeky. No offense..? Hey! Didn't even notice that before, "Saucy Gibbon" huh? I have a particular affinity for that little sloop, good lines. Great job on the escort then!

The sails on this one certainly stand out as brilliant parts usage. I might suggest, however, hanging them upside down. In the current orientation the bolster seems to suggest wind coming from underneath the ship, which is rather impossible, what with all the water down there :)

i quit.

Dude... I don't think I've ever seen such an intense MOC presentation before. I love the level of detail you put into this. Not only is it a rather complete spaceship, but it also a movie set. What's most impressive, is that you seemed to have planned out how it "works", which will no doubt figure well in to your comics. I won't lie and say I love everything about her. She kind of loses me at the bow, but I still respect and understand how and why you made it that way. If I had any concern it would be over stability, only where external shots are concerned. Is she too fragile to get different and interesting angles? A lot of times you look at a MOC and think "yeah, that's great, but I could do that too if only..." Not this time though. Sure I've thought about it, but looking this over I can't convince my self I'd have the necessary skills or patience to pull something like this off. I am most definitely impressed! I'm glad I came by to catch this. I hope you get a front page for her; after all your hard work you really deserve the exposure.

Oh, wow! This is some of the best forced perspective I've ever seen. What an effort, too. Multipule sets, careful lighting, narrow depth of feild. This is good.

Merchant vessels my Mega Blok! What need do merchant vessels have for such prominent bow chasers, and brass ones at that? I call shenanigans! Clearly Oleon intends to dupe their rivals into a false sense of security. If I were in any position of authority amongst those other nations, I'd be sure to see this pair of ship killers to the bottom forthwith! I kid of course. I must admit that I wasn't exactly overwhelmed until I noticed that they were a matched set. The SNOT deck as well as other features do lend these beauties a certain high quality. I do like the working rudder/tiller. In my experience I've not found any brick which really makes a convincing tiller on any larger of a scale, at least not with out modification. Perhaps on your larger builds a simpler tiller hooked up to a wheel and reliving tackle system may be in order? If I were to throw my humble two cents in to the conversation about their classification, I might note the similarity to xebecs, despite the square courses. Perhaps they represent some sort of polacre?

Maybe I'm being a bit of a jerk pointing this out, but this seeems to be a very fine building on a rather nice lot on what I can only assume is a plesent residential street of the highest class. Though the build is impressive, I wonder what having a ship yard in the vacant lot next door has done to property values; and what must the neighbors think? Well. I suppouse if it's all for the glory of the empire they can endure a bit of construction noise... Great designe all around. I want to steal the design for theat chair in the first floor office now.

There is just something well done about this and I like it. It looks effortless but I'm sure hours of trial and error went into getting it just right. Great job!

Recently I took apart Ghost and Old Narthex to recycle their parts into a new ship done in my current style. Though I’ve pressed on towards completion with the likes of Ramcat and Nonesuch, I have been aware of certain lackings in the style, which I always intended to solve. Key among these are sheer curve and counter (the concave underside curve which can be seen above the waterline at the stern on most wooden ships). Once I’ve decided on a hull design and chosen an appropriate rig for her I believe I can document my rigging process as to provide a guide for those who find it mystifying or wish to emulate it. I’ve once again used the bricks flexibility and natural tolerance to create a curving effect along the sheer in conjunction with the breadth and tumble home shapes as before. For the counter at the stern I made the lower portion of the hull, near the water line, two levels which bend inwards two different distances. Though the overhang is still imperfect I don’t think there is too much more I can do at this scale. So, what am I asking? Is the effect immediately noticeable? Is the effect convincing? Does anyone have an interest in the fore mentioned demonstration? Please pay no attention to Spiderman or my mess of a work space More Images Here

I'm sorry this went so long with out a reply, doesn't seem right. Any way, although I'm a fan of the show, I'm less a fan of the ships. I'm sure it has to do with production demands, but something about them is just lacking. Now, despite that I can still say, positively, that you are defiantly off to a good start. What you have certainly does look like Walrus. Omething you might like to step away from is the rather "hot dog" shaped profile of the production ships. Unlike period sailing ships, the one(s) used in the show are round on the ends and tubular in the middle. Though it would differ from her apperence in the show, using some thing more CGH like to bolster the hull amid ship might make her look more natural. Adding on a focsle would also make her look more realistic and pleasing to the eye, by counter balancing that massive stern cabin, but again detract from her likeness to the TV version. I think what you have here is worth perusing. I'm surprised there havn't been more Black Sails fan creations here already. I'm curoius what your pland re: rigging and real-world building are?

I'm glad this popped back to the top because I almost missed it. This is so simple it's awsome. The action, while being marvelously well executed, is humeriously ludicrous. I kind of want to see a version where your sig-fig is holding a remote control instead of a flag, like a toy sail boat on a pond.

Well, most of what I would offer in criticisim has been covered so I'll just leave me compliments. She really is neat and clean. A nice vessel all around. I do appreitaited your string rigging and commend you for the effort. If you want to compare noted send me a message. Though she has a certain 19th century appeal which may not best fit BoBS, I love it! The flush and rounded stern, the dower paint job, the clean decks, it all comes tighter to make one fine ship. Thanks for sharing her!

Oops. Well all credit to W. Navarre then as that really is a neat one.

"Cheat"! Put the under-water part beneeth glass (plexiglass or lexan would work too) and build the ocean's surface on top. You could try to brick-build it like Phred did but it will limit your span. With that method you'd have to find clever ways to add supports which go from the floor to the surface. If you want a more engineering based opinion on how to span great distances as such, you should hit up the Technic forum, some of those guys really know their stuff!

I always loved this ship but when I finally got the set I found it disappointing. It just seemed too blocky to do the original movie version any justice and the canopy seemed like a cop-out on Lego’s part. (Makes me wonder if anyone has ever done a master’s version with a brick-built cockpit before.) What you’ve done here seems to take advantage of that blocky-ness though. I’m inspired to think that perhaps that sleek, angular body needed to be cut into or built up to accept improved Imperial technology. The whole concept just works really well. Your decal work is impressive too. Did you have any trouble with color matching? Just a thought, but it’d be a great touch to change those technic pins on the back from blue to black or gray. P.S. it appears the the rearward cone on the starboard side gun is on backward. is that intentional?

*Sorry for the bump. I just haven’t had time to comment on everything I want in a timely manner. The game just moves too fast for me.* Wow, so glad you posted the broken down shots. There is just so much going on it’s difficult to take it all in. It’s an ambitious project at the very least. I like the cranes and think them a clever use of what I find to be inconvenient pieces. The ships boat construction is neat too; makes me wonder if there is something to that as a small boat building method. The dark tan plates registered in my mind as lumber right away, but hadn’t thought about the relative dimensions until you sad something about it. But hay, who’s to say the Corrys haven’t figured out ply wood yet? They’re build a lot of replicas that way anymore. Though the finished vessel would be something of a “butter box”, the method is still interesting. Real-estate management in MOC-ing is one of the greatest challenges. The more detail or realism you want to put in, the larger they seem to get. By not having more curve you save on a lot of shelf space. Had you not said something I would have assumed that was your intention and approved all the same. It only has to be so convincing and everything else can be explained away by her incomplete status. The flipped studs with technic pins, as you will well know, doesn’t bother me at all. Other bricks that may work though would be: 4274, 32002 or even 4081. The gap doesn’t bother me, but if you had the parts and it so bothered you, those may help limit or eliminate said gap. I rarely read the word before I look at the pictures. If what I interpreted from the images matches up with the builder’s descriptions, I consider it a success. If all you posted was the one shot no one would be lost as to your intent. You’ve done a great job here, thanks for sharing! One final note though: Why are you forcing all those gentlemen to get their expensive tie wigs filthy laboring away in plate armor? The poor guys must be exhausted. Good thing they’re only plastic and can’t unionize against you!