kurigan

If yellow were not the appropriate color for a man-of-war of this era and I didn’t like it, I might agree, that there was too much. That not with standing; understand the colors are what they are, as the entire model was made from scraps, cast offs from other projects. I have enough bricks to make this ship in yellow and another in red, but not to make just one large ship in one color :P I know the gray doesn’t make for a particularly tidy looking ship, but I used most of my white and tan on "Snake". Thanks for the comments and I’m glad you like the stern.

Bed sheets. Push a table, like the kitchen table up against a wall, tape a bed sheet to the wall above and allow it to drape, evenly across the table with a no creases. Should give you more than enough back drop to photograph against. Also if you make it smooth enough it’ll not only look like a professional studio, but you can later use a photo editor to replace the background with scenery. The ship looks great!

I just really wanted to reply to this, even though it looks like everything’s been said. Aside from the backwards gun carriages, it’s a master piece. Excellent work! Thanks for sharing!

Huh, I was really hoping to see a lanteen or lug sail on her, more like before, more like the gun boats common in the Mediterranean around the turn of the 19th century. Square rigged, she’ll likely handle more like a floating brick than any kind of weatherly craft, and you’d need more crew crammed aboard to work both sail and gun. All my criticisms aside, however, I still rather like your project. Vessels like this are a huge part of naval warfare but are rarely attempted upon due to their lack of prestige. I applaud you for it and thank you for sharing.

I like your ship. Your hull is ambitious to say the least, and where as I won’t lie and say there isn’t room for improvement, your model is very inclusive and detailed. It shows knowledge of ship design and a reverence to historic precedence. Thank you for that. I can’t say I was a fan of her as a brig, but I’m glad my chance to draft a reply was delayed until you stretched her out and made her, as you so accurately put it, a post ship. Now I can only offer high praise, for what it’s worth. Thanks for sharing her.

Though still a WIP she’s very close to complete. I started her as a side project, but she took on a life of her own. I sat down today to finish her, building on what was essentially a hulk. A few hours of work, brought me to this point, and where I am disappointed she isn’t more complete, I’m already quite satisfied with the overall result. She’s an 8 gun cutter rigged Sloop. By simply placing the bricks askew, I managed to create something of a tumble home, without the need of any articulated pieces. I wouldn’t try the method with any larger of a vessel, and am aware that the necessary gap running around the hull lends a certain “cheapness” to the model. Considering she’s not just made from what I have on hand (with no custom orders) but rather from spare parts, it works just fine. I tried my hand at a little “ginger bread work”, which has never been a strong suit for me, but again, like what I came up with for what it is. I rigged the rudder and till in such a way that moving one will necessarily affect the other. It doesn’t work very well in all honesty, but still makes for an interesting novelty. I’ll finisher up with a capstan /windlass, some string rigging from which to hang stay sails, her 8 carronades and of course some sails (likely just paper) in the next few days if the terrible weather keeps me indoors. She’ll need a name as well, but at the late hour I’m writing this and calling it quits, I’m at a loss. MORE IMAGES HERE

I'm a huge fan of innovation, great job. I do have to agree with the others, however, some step -by-step photos would help out a lot. I wouldn't be too worried about the stripe, in history the design of a ships paint job was at the discretion of its commander. For my part I like visual ques that set one ship apart from others like an extra stripe. Until Lego releases a hull bottom in "White Wash" or "Copper Plating" it seems to matter little what color you use as a base. It’ll mostly be over shadowed by the upper works any way. The interior looks good too, but I might suggest, if you're modeling off "Grand Turk" (or any other frigate for that matter) you'll want to go with smaller guns. The Lego guns look neat, but in terms of scale can't represent anything smaller than a 36lb-er gun. For a frigate, something more in the 9-18lb range would be more appropriate. There are lots of examples of good brick built guns in the MOC forum here, I sure no one would mind you using. It might look better and save space. A note; “Grand Turk's” guns all occur on the spar deck and are quite small, something like 6lb-ers if memory serves. The actual HMS Indefatigable, which served as the literary inspiration for Horatio’s ship in the original books, was 38gun frigate, made by shaving off the upper deck of a 64 gun third rate. That ship seems more in line with the method you’re devising. You can find plenty of information on her on the internet as well. I like what you have so far, and only want to encourage, thanks for sharing.

love it! looks like "The Candy Barrel" from "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flap Jack"

I grow weary of being vilified, for what people read between the lines here. I cannot conceive how I could have been kinder or more benevolent in my post. At no point, did I suggest that any one’s work would or should be used without permission. Though it’s not unheard of, it is unlikely to find someone who has put so much work into a personal project and is at the same time, willing to share it with the general public. I do suggest that if you want to make use of such models, that you appeal to their creators on an individual basis, rather than asking in such an indirect way as this. It shows a great deal more respect for the man (or lady) and their work to approach them personally and privately. You may very well find someone willing to share with an individual, but not with the whole world. Say for instance you asked me, I’d defiantly say “no” in public, lest every one privy to the post want a share of their own. If that request came over a privet message or e-mail, however, the answer may be very different. Think about a class room of young children where one has a goodie or treat to share but just enough for one other classmate. Never goes quite well with the kids who miss out, does it? Don’t turn your nose up at free advice, or attack the messenger, it’s poor form and only serves to alienate people who may have turned out to be amusing companions or useful colleges. A note about “credit, where credit is due”: When you find someone willing to share, use it, take full advantage of their assistance, but when the time comes to show off, or to profit from your work, be sure to acknowledge the help you had from those others’. For instance, if I build a Lego ship, using the “Build a Frigate Tutorial”, it should be part of my post, to mention Captain Green Hair and his tutorial. In this post, the mention has nothing to do with permission, it assumes permission has been acquired, and is offered as free advice.

Please understand that I offer this submission with real empathy and benevolence, however, It’s a tall order you place, if that's the sort of thing you'd like as a template. Your gentleman "ToiletseatPhilosophy" has some very nice (and I really many, excellent) ships there, but I’m not sure how much he'd appreciate anyone butchering his works of art. Such models are painstaking projects, which the designers put their time, expertise and a great deal of effort into. Though I am humbled in comparison to "ToiletseatPhilosophy", I too have an extensive collection of LDD model ships, but understand, I made them for my own purposes and would be very displeased to find any one passing them off as their own, especially for the sake of a few color changes. I think the solution here is to appeal to someone personally, and directly. Make a friend, rather than hoping, or expecting someone's prideful work of art, simply be tossed to the public domain. Moreover, there’s something to be said for the gratification of having done the work yourself. If you truly take an interest, you’ll find that along the way you learn a lot, particularly if you venture out and do some research. There is little better for comprehension than the direct application of new information to task. I can only encourage, anyone to learn, grow and do for themselves. You have the internet at your fingertips along with the wealth of information available out there, as well as a knowledgeable and helpful community here. If you’re still looking for models to use as templates, search the MOC forum, for LDD entries. Some builders have offered their “.lfx” files for consideration, but I do stress “give credit, where credit is due.” Good luck and happy building.

Great find! Thanks fir sharing, I know it'll help me out with my own MOC.

what do you meant by "template"? I do a lot of LDD ships, but each hull and rig is unique to the particular type of vessel.

She looks pretty awesome to me already. I wouldn't to worried about the size. some more detail or randomness down the side may help though. "Queen Ann's Revenge", as seen in the film is obviously a redressed "Black Pearl" model/set, so what ever you figure she is, they're essentially the same.

With the inclement weather plaguing my area as of late, I’ve had a lot of time indoors to fill, so I’ve gotten quite a bit done on Snake. I’m not entirely happy with all I have so far though. Her standing rigging is about done, but I can’t seem to get it quite right. Tension and counter tension is giving me a great deal of trouble. As can be seen in the picture, for instance, the foremast back stays slacken and sag once the main mast is secured in place. I’m seeking advice on better techniques, than my own rudimentary approach. Perhaps my approach is too simple, but this is perhaps where my nautical knowledge is weakest. I’m unsure about the width of her yards as well. Without canvas they seem a bit to narrow, but I’ll have to just see how best she looks with some quick paper templates later. I’ll appreciate any constructive, input. More Pictures of Snake in my Photobucket album I’ve almost built the entire model from what I have on hand, much scavenged from other builds. I have two bricks I just can’t find one more of and regret I may have to buckle down and just order them . In both cases the offending components occur on the starboard side. One is the all too obvious stern window in gray, the other a white 1X1 brick with side studs on all four sides, the hub on one that side of the windlass.

I find myself painfully ignorant as to the hierarchy here, so I find I must address this request to whom it may concern. The title of this topic is a mistake, that’s I’ve lamented this many months. It should be “Snake” instead of “Spider”, the latter being a LDD MOC of mine, very similar to Snake. I do apologize for my informality, and greatly appreciate assistance in this matter. This post may also be deleted outright, if the title gets changed. Thank You

Curious, what sort of vessel are you going for? Depending on that, I might want to suggest that either the bow rises to high or the stern not enough. I feel your pain in lacking bricks, but I already like your color scheme. Maybe having some blue in there on purpose wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

This is really nice, so simple yet so full of little details. I particularly like where it looks like two different eras of construction, as if it were captured and take over by a different force and added on to. The gashes with bricks visible behind is really slick too. Thanks for sharing!

Don’t know why I didn’t comment on this earlier but I’ve been inspired. I just plane like your ship. I suppose there could be some refinement, but I don’t see any of it as entirely necessary. If this were the Patrick O’Brien “Surprise”, some of the suggested refinements might be inline as he wrote about a light French built vessel. From my understanding however, the “Enterprise” class, “Surprise” of history was a bit more of a “slab sided” sort of, bulky English build ship. Still more if your inspiration is the real world reproduction, formerly “Rose”, she is a but bulky for O’Brien’s “Surprise” as well as she was fist built as a 36 and re fit to play “Surprise” in the movie. All in all I think you’ve gotten pretty close to the mark and should be proud of what you have so far.

Looking good! As I studied these latest images I found myself wondering what methods you used to plan out the design. Are you using MLCAD, LDD or the like or is this genuinely off the cuff?

I finally got some time to work on Snake. I started by shoring up her hull and finishing off the railing/gun wall. I also placed her guns and then set her lower masts and bow sprit, while starting on her standing rigging. More in my album here

I appreciate the invitation and in time may take you up on it but the whole idea is to be non exclusive, if the three of us take the idea “behind closed doors” and run it with it, isn’t that exactly what we’re doing? And again as I stated all aspects of design would factor in, if you’re like me for example and all you can muster is a tiny brig with fourteen or so “pop guns” on deck, consider building her for speed, this way if anything throws up an unfriendly signal, don’t fight, “run like smoke and oakum” and you’ll still win the day.

Have to add on just one more clarification, i said nothing about voting, that far to political. you never get a fair ruling it's clearly just turn into a popularity contest. It’d be more creating set values to judge your own work on, then volunteering it for "registry". Furthermore aren't most of these war ships, built for direct and deadly competition? IMO that’s a big part of the fascination with them, so why not make it part of the sharing. Be honest to yourself; you don't compare in your own head any way?

You get me wrong entirely and I don’t want the confusion to perpetuate and ruin the idea before it has a chance. Perhaps my chosen language is a bit complex, allow me to clarify. History shows that competition encourages innovation. Conformity nor exclusion are in no way part of my intentions, particularly as it would be a voluntary thing and more over that no one aspect of design is considered over others. In my own head, I had envisioned a system that would be fair and encourage inclusion of ships of all kinds. This is just an idea, on which I want to gauge the community’s reaction, and presents no danger of being forced on any one. As for starting my own web site, the internet is far to full of mediocre sites, simply for the sake of over simplification. What draw would anyone have to go join a different blog when there is already such a well populated one right here? Besides, just because there is something going on that you don’t want to be involved in; you shouldn’t feel excluded, or threatened. In fact it might be just as interesting to create a similar thing for mini figures and the characters created through them. All in all, don’t be offended if you don’t like the idea.

excellent! thanks for the pics, color me impressed :)

Though I have no model to present, I do propose a discussion about MOCs, so I’ll place it here and if it should be moved I’ll ask the indulgence of the moderators’ to make it right. Perhaps it's a bit arrogant of me, but I feel as though the plethora of LDD ships I’ve bombarded the forum with have in at least some small way, inspired some other "brick built" hulls in MOCs from others, both in the digital and plastic variety. What I’ve noticed, in all of these, is a lack of consensus in the type of models produced. For my own part I purposely kept my hulls "abbreviated" (a term I coined for myself to describe the shape which my own technique provides) in order to stay more in line with the underlining theme of Classic Pirates. All the vessels of Lego Group’s design are "water line" (stopping at the level where the hull rises above the water) models. The intent of this is so that the ships can be played with or displayed as though they were at sea; making the surface they sit on representative of the ocean's surface. Many of the MOCs I’ve observed as of late are of the full hull variety, requiring some medium in which to bury the hull partially, to achieve the same effect as the water line type, but being of a more accurate disposition. I don't feel there is any superiority either way, nor do I seek to make one more standard than the other. I do, however, wonder if for the sake of direct comparison, (if not healthy competition) has a consensus ever been attempted upon. That is to say is there any standard, written or otherwise, by which models of either type can be fairly judged and compared to counter parts in of the opposite variety? I may be alone in my desire, but I would be very interested to see how all the vessels of this community would rank amongst one another. Not just by the craftsmanship of the builder but in terms of models as though they were actual ships in a real world setting. Comparing such things as a vessel’s fire power, sailing qualities, overall size, etc. might serve to invigorate discussion and serve to propagate new techniques. I would be very interested to hear what the rest of the community thinks on the subject. If a consensus could be reached, perhaps some sort of registry could be developed. EDIT: by Big Cam, the rules, tables, and spec sheets are on post 104 of this thread