gedren_y Posted October 3, 2016 Posted October 3, 2016 (edited) Finally out of the Nova Terreli dry dock, the newest Eslandola Fleet warship, the Golden Grasshopper (5HA Class 6), goes on her maiden voyage. (full image) The Golden Grasshopper is a converted trade ship, sold to the Crown to cover her former captain's gambling debts. (full image) Some things have been kept, like the carved grasshopper head. (full image) Some things are new, like the "stinger" at the tip of the bowsprit. At the helm is Commodore Uthur McIvar. It is he that oversaw her transformation from trade ship to warship. All but one of the Golden Grasshopper's crew believe in the Triuri (including the Commodore), and all but two crewmen come from Uthur McIvar's previous command. The Commodore is one of only four of the crew that were raised in the Truachesh culture. While the Golden Grasshopper is anchored during the live fire testing of her new guns, the Commodore maintains a light control of her rudder. This is Commander Luca McOvey, the ship's navigator. The reason for the wig is that while the Golden Grasshopper was in dry dock, the Commander sat the judge's bench for the local Judge Advocate General Corps. Luca McOvey is Truachesh, and the Commodore's third cousin, on his mother's side. With his duty light today, the Commander is examining a copper blade a "female friend" found after a rock slide near Nova Terreli. Enjoying his recent promotion is Lt Commander Michelle laVoyi. In his left hand is his new trench sword (the actual weapon that Bilbo's/Frodo's Sting is based on), and in his right hand is a bone necklace made by one of the native island tribes. Michelle hopes to have the necklace delivered soon to his sister in Terreli. (full image) In the forward, lower crow's nest is Master Chief Tolan duBrahae. His current duty is to monitor the starboard bow gunnery fire (manned my the new crew members), but he has just noticed a lone orca. Tolan takes a moment to estimate its trajectory, and finds the orca's course to be safely outside the Golden Grasshopper's guns' field of fire. (full image) In the rear, higher crow's nest is Chief Pierre laCong. He is pleased with the fire coming from the port bow battery. At the starboard stern battery, Chief Hadrian Cole carefully follows the path of the shot. The gunner, Crewman Juan Valdeev, thinks the shot is good, but his loader, Crewman Padrig Harris, isn't so sure. (full image) At the port stern battery, Chief Xuan Lo angrily awaits the slow gunner, Crewman Kief Maseur. The loader, Crewman Oskar Pock, isn't helping the situation much. As you can guess, Chief Xuan Lo is the only crewman who doesn't follow the Triuri faith. He emigrated as a young man from some place far to the southwest of New Oleon, and has proudly kept his faith. Down at the starboard bow battery, the newest crewmen, a Truachesh pair of brothers, are arguing. Crewman Birac Prewis, the gunner, growls at his younger brother, Crewman Dannel Prewis, that the ramrod is in his line of sight. The brothers each found one of those light blue, conical shells at the beach on their last day of liberty. (full image) At the port bow battery are Crewman Wott Danners (gunner) and Crewman Yannic Dole (loader). There isn't much to say about them, but from here you can see the Lt Commander's pipe stuck into his hat. Most of the crew wish he would give up that foul weed. (full image) All of the standard long guns, and small guns, are standard muzzle loaders, but these are the latest in breach loading bombards. Because of this, the rate of fire from these beasts is quick and deadly. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After today's live fire training, the Golden Grasshopper will make sail to Isla de Victoria. There she will begin patrols in the waters around Fuerte Unido. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (I did my best to make a good interior.) (full image) A look into the Commodore's cabin, this image with the bed folded up. (full image) And now with the bed down. (full image) The Commodore's desk and cupboard. A stool too. (full image) This angle shows the window ledge better, and what pretty stern windows she has. (full image) Inside the hold are the bones of what the Commodore claims is an "other realms beast." On one of the new supports added to the hold is a map of Chief Xuan Lo's homeland, and on another is a painting done by the Commander. You can see some bed rolls, too. Those include, not only bedding, but a pup tent for clear nights on deck. and it doubles as a hammock. (full image) Pistols and muskets galore, each with powder horns and bags of shot nearby. You can also see how the hold was reinforced, not just with supports, but the hull itself has been thickened considerably. This left no room for a proper galley, so the simple food stores are in the ballast hold, down the central hatch. More bed rolls in the back. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can find dozens of detail images in this Flickr Album. The full crew images can be found in this Flickr Album. To explore her further, you can download the .lxf file on this Brickshelf page. Comments extremely desired! Edited October 7, 2017 by gedren_y Updated the ship class for the new rating system, and fixed directional mistake of a character's homeland. Quote
Capt Wolf Posted October 4, 2016 Posted October 4, 2016 (edited) Good looking ship, with lots of interesting details. I like that you've given the ship a backstory. And you've got some great piece usage in the build (like the elves fencing for cabin windows). My only complaint is that I would have liked to see her with spars and sails. But nonetheless she's a fine ship and I'm glad she is on our side, contributing to Operation KMA. Edited October 4, 2016 by Capt Wolf Quote
TitusV Posted October 4, 2016 Posted October 4, 2016 there she finally is, and a really Nice one! Aside frome the ship, the water looks great as well! Quote
Franco Clarke Posted October 4, 2016 Posted October 4, 2016 Nice looking warship, it fits the converted theme well, by lacking a more usual gun deck. I like how most of the guns are on very flexible mounts, making the ship's cannons far more efficient than the more common mounts. Quote
Kai NRG Posted October 4, 2016 Posted October 4, 2016 Neat work on this ship, I really like how you've managed to fit so many details into it! Nice colors too, the green and gold go together really well! Quote
gedren_y Posted October 5, 2016 Author Posted October 5, 2016 Thanks all. 21 hours ago, Kai NRG said: Neat work on this ship, I really like how you've managed to fit so many details into it! Nice colors too, the green and gold go together really well! The colors made sense this time. On 10/4/2016 at 1:47 AM, TitusV said: there she finally is, and a really Nice one! Aside frome the ship, the water looks great as well! The water is a modified version of what I did for the Island Rose. In the wake, though, some of the trans on top of trans pieces seem to disappear. On 10/4/2016 at 4:57 AM, Franco Clarke said: Nice looking warship, it fits the converted theme well, by lacking a more usual gun deck. I like how most of the guns are on very flexible mounts, making the ship's cannons far more efficient than the more common mounts. The brick built hull design I came up precluded a gun deck. The design I came up with was closest to a British East Indiaman, but her size meant she was always intended to be a faction warship. The small, swivel guns came from my memory of an A&E history program. On 10/4/2016 at 0:22 AM, Capt Wolf said: Good looking ship, with lots of interesting details. I like that you've given the ship a backstory. And you've got some great piece usage in the build (like the elves fencing for cabin windows). My only complaint is that I would have liked to see her with spars and sails. But nonetheless she's a fine ship and I'm glad she is on our side, contributing to Operation KMA. In my book, story is key to showing the build's intent. The details are what took this build so long. Just positioning the figs, and putting things in their hands, took a full day on my well used Windows 7 netbook. The rotation control kept making the system slow to respond. Representing line rigging gave me the same problem. The build rigs needed to create those bombards took a lot of thought and planning, since one of my early designs proved too big. Setting the standard guns to show the act of firing was also a challenge. Of course I was able to use the same basic set-up for all of them, but giving each a different fire trail took some time. Getting the rope coils onto the pegs was another one. The furled sails were a compromise to cut down on the line rigging, which was already difficult to place because of the guns, and to make it easier to get good sceenshot angles. Then there was the matter of doing justice to all those details. Am I too much of a perfectionist? Quote
blackdeathgr Posted October 5, 2016 Posted October 5, 2016 Nice shape and colors! I cant imagine the workhours it took you to finish it! Although i would like to see it with sails, (brick built ones i guess), this is still a fine vessel with a lot of love given during her creation! Quote
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