The RTS Zavala Steamship-of-War

[RTN LNA]

67b

I am pleased to announce my newest MOC

The RTS Zavala Steamship-of-War

This vessel is a side-paddle-wheel sailing steamship.

The model is almost 4 ½ feet long (1.36 meters) and it uses 13 hull center sections.

Although called a schooner, the Zavala is more properly "hermaphrodite brigantine". Some drawings of the Zavala show 3 masts, but the best research (the INA article), however, confirms that she had only two masts. My model of the Zavala has working Lego pneumatic side-paddle-wheel walking-beam steam engines; it also has a working ship's wheel with steering gear reduction to the rudder. Things I like about this model: the curved inverted sloped stern, the full length gun deck mounting 24 cannons, the ship's bell, the boats, the way the schooner's gaff sail booms attach to the masts, the steer down the length of the hull, the curve around the bow and along the sides, and the paddle wheel shells. As you can see, the RTS Zavala has her guns run out and is firing up her boilers (two pneumatic air-tanks) - no doubt she has spotted her prey.

-- begin edited in

BE SURE TO -> checkout some of the posts below (esp. #16, #18, #21)

Parts list and construction details on the ship's bell here.

Parts list and construction drawing on how to attach your boom in the middle of the mast here.

NEW! The links to the uploaded videos are here.

RTS Zavala was

Nominated for Best Sea Craft

at Brickworld 2009!

AND WON!!

-- end edit

The TWO paged brickshelf gallery is here.

Some links about the real Texas Navys Zavala:

Wikipedia entry for the Texan Schooner Zavala

INA Article about the Zavala starts on page 10

Texas Navy ship list

NUMA article about the Zavala

enjoy

kurt

Edited September 21, 2009 by SlyOwl

[Siegfried]

Well that's just stunning. This could be the first Pirates-Technic crossover ever! Pneumatic Pirates!

I'll try to find the time to look at the rest of your pics.

[CPT. Jr]

Man that is awesome, i don't think i have ever seen anything like it before. I like all the work you put ino it by reasearching ect. (im a history buff)

Edited December 16, 2008 by CPT. Jr

[Guss]

huhu , amazing, the shape of it is really cool that's a really amazing ship, + you "motorized" it ! technic + steamboat = win ! great job ! 12/10 !

[Captain Zuloo]

HOLY CRAP!!! Someone put this on the frontpage pronto! As soon as PTV is over, expect to see this on the frontpage asthis is AWESOME!!! The shape from bricks is brilliant as are the lines. Best ship I've seen!

[Captain Green Hair]

Amazing work, looks very accurate!

Might i ask why you haven't made a brick built hull?

[Teddy]

Dear Kurt (RTN LNA) ,

that's a beautyfull creation.

Do you have a movie of the working paddle wheels?

I would like to see them in action.

Although I'm not a fan of big hull pieces on such large vessals,

you did a real good job in using them.

Kind regards,

Teddy

[RTN LNA]

Well that's just stunning. This could be the first Pirates-Technic crossover ever! Pneumatic Pirates!

I'll try to find the time to look at the rest of your pics.

I hope you enjoyed being "stunned".

And now I have the appellation "Pneumatic Pirate"?

That sucks err.. blows...

kurt

Man that is awesome, i don't think i have ever seen anything like it before. I like all the work you put ino it by reasearching ect. (im a history buff)

Awesome is good!

I like building MOCs where nothing like them has ever been seen before!

I put more research in to RTS Legitor. The books I have on the Texas Navy made me aware of the Zavala, I had been planning to model it for some time now. The design challenges are what made this MOC so interesting.

kurt

huhu , amazing, the shape of it is really cool that's a really amazing ship, + you "motorized" it ! technic + steamboat = win ! great job ! 12/10 !

I am glad you enjoyed it, however it has no motors, just an incoming air hose (you can see it in a few photos)

it comes in through the hull on the side.

HOLY CRAP!!! Someone put this on the frontpage pronto! As soon as PTV is over, expect to see this on the frontpage asthis is AWESOME!!! The shape from bricks is brilliant as are the lines. Best ship I've seen!

High praise indeed!

Have you seen some of my other ships?

Kurt's ship MOCs

[Guss]

just an incoming air hose (you can see it in a few photos)

it comes in through the hull on the side.

yay I saw it after I posted , , did you try to fit a motor inside it and it didn't work ? not enough room ? or does a electric motor coupled to a airthing is just not enough to make the wheels move ?

[RTN LNA]

Amazing work, looks very accurate!

Might i ask why you haven't made a brick built hull?

Thanks, I do try for accuracy.

Why haven't I tried to make a brick built hull? I have tried a number of times! Both with the CAD tools and with bricks in hand. I just have not been satisfied with the results, the fairness of the lines just wasn't there for me.

Dear Kurt (RTN LNA) ,

that's a beautyfull creation.

Do you have a movie of the working paddle wheels?

I would like to see them in action.

Although I'm not a fan of big hull pieces on such large vessals,

you did a real good job in using them.

Kind regards,

Teddy

I am glad you think it's beautiful.

I will work on getting a movie made and uploaded somewhere.

I am using the standard 2557c01, N x 2560, 2559c01 hull parts, so I don't understand.

[Zorro]

I am glad you think it's beautiful.

I will work on getting a movie made and uploaded somewhere.

I am using the standard 2557c01, N x 2560, 2559c01 hull parts, so I don't understand.

Well, it REALLY is beautifull ...

I am looking forward to that movie of the ship as well, its easier for us then BL.

Brick build hulls are usually used for such large ships, but don't worry too much, your ship turned out just fine!

Edited December 16, 2008 by zorro3999

[RTN LNA]

yay I saw it after I posted , , did you try to fit a motor inside it and it didn't work ? not enough room ?

or does a electric motor coupled to a airthing is just not enough to make the wheels move ?

No, I could have easily fitted a motor in there, but then how do I power it?

If I use a battery then it will always be dead, (I don't play with my models,

they just set there) so to avoid that I have to wire to the motor to power it.

What have I gained? The hose is just as easy. And then I have not trapped

a motor in this model (motors are not cheap!).

Good questions!

Well, it REALLY is beautifull ...

I am looking forward to that movie of the ship as well, its easier for us then BL.

Brick build hulls are usually used for such large ships, but don't worry too much, your ship turned out just fine!

The RTS Zavala is approximately minifig scale, it’s 1.2 feet per stud.

The scale was set by the width of the hull center pieces with two rows of inverted slopes on each side. That set the beam width width, and on the original Zavala that beam width was 24 feet.

Working off of the drawing from the INA article:

I then could know the length and width of the model in studs, I could then figure out how many hull center sections.

[Captain K.]

Hello Kurt,

Excellent work!

This is a very imposing ship.

I like it very much.

The steamengine is impressive.

Greeting,

Capt. K.

[Bonaparte]

Kurt, this is one of the best ships I've seen in some time. This morning I looked for about 10 minutes at all the beautiful pictures in your BS gallery. It's got a perfect line! I like how you managed to build this on a standard hull and still made the deck so very wide. It must have taken some time and re-building to get the line of the ship looking this good. Thirtheen mid hull sections... that's amazing! I'm building a ship on 7 mid-sections and thought that was already mighty long. Might I ask how long you've worked on this beautiful vessel?

I would do two things differently: Go for 'real' sails out of canvas iso paper and go for 'real' rigging using ropes. You can still do that, but it will take some time and patience.

PS: I've resized the picture in your first post and made it a bit brighter.

[RTN LNA]

Excellent work!

This is a very imposing ship.

I like it very much.

The steamengine is impressive.

I am glad that you like my ship, and I did work hard to make the walking-beam steam engine(s) look good, as well as work!

[RTN LNA]

Kurt, this is one of the best ships I've seen in some time. This morning I looked for about 10 minutes at all the beautiful pictures in your BS gallery. It's got a perfect line! I like how you managed to build this on a standard hull and still made the deck so very wide. It must have taken some time and re-building to get the line of the ship looking this good. Thirtheen mid hull sections... that's amazing! I'm building a ship on 7 mid-sections and thought that was already mighty long. Might I ask how long you've worked on this beautiful vessel?

I would do two things differently: Go for 'real' sails out of canvas iso paper and go for 'real' rigging using ropes. You can still do that, but it will take some time and patience.

PS: I've resized the picture in your first post and made it a bit brighter.

High praise indeed, and many good questions, I will try to answer them.

"It's got a perfect line!" well when you have an accurate drawing and you follow it, to scale, fairly closely (with a few calculated changes), I do think you get a better looking model.

"I like how you managed to build this on a standard hull and still made the deck so very wide." the early fast packet steamships (see packet ships) wanted to go as fast as possible, to achieve this they made their in-the-water hull very long and narrow. Why? because the speed of a hull through the water is proportional to a constant (called a Froude number) times the squareroot of the length of the hull at the "moving" (not resting) waterline divided-by the width of the hull (ie. drag).

The Zavala was built in 1836 as a "fast" (for her time) packet steamship named the Charleston she had a hull waterline width (beam) of 24 feet and a waterline length of ~190 feet, ie. very long and narrow. However from port outside paddle-wheel shell to outside starboard paddle-wheel shell (measured from the scaled drawing) was ~50 feet.

The scale of my model was set by the width of the hull center pieces (16 studs) with two rows of inverted slopes on each side (16 + 4 = 20 studs) (see the reply I made above about scale). The "paddles" are a 2x8 plate with holes, in a 9 stud inside width paddle-wheel shell, so 11 studs outside width paddle-wheel shells, overlapping one stud with the side of the hull, means a overall width of 40 studs.

"It must have taken some time and re-building to get the line of the ship looking this good." not to bad all-in-all, other issues took much more time, like the steering!!! (I should have never wanted it), and the ships bell!

"Might I ask how long you've worked on this beautiful vessel?" off and on the last 2 1/2 years, it's been my major lego project all of that time.

"I would do two things differently: Go for 'real' sails out of canvas iso paper and go for 'real' rigging using ropes." I had, as you might recall back in the lugnet pirate days, thought of making sails from cloth, but everyone keeps telling me how much they like my sails... maybe some day I'll try make some cloth sails for one of my smaller ships. As for rigging, I tried a number of "looks", I will write more about that later, I need to run.

Thanks again, and good to hear from you.

kurt

[Paul cantu]

Great ship. I like the sails and wheel. Texas pride for life.

[RTN LNA]

Great ship. I like the sails and wheel. Texas pride for life.

I am you glad it. My sails are just paper (see the above discussion) but I am glad you like them, I think that what people like about my paper sails are the billowed shape (ie. wind filled) I can easily form in them, Is that what you liked about them?

I glad you like the ship's wheel, I do too, I like that it looks close to correct:

vs mine:

and I like that it works!!

The ropes on my ship's wheel goes down through the wardroom below:

To be taken up by the "wooden" reels connected to the reduction gears to the rudder on deck(s) below the wardroom:

I like my lighted binnacle(compass) stand too...

kurt

[Captain Blackmoor]

Waw, that's just awesome! Not only it is "new" but also very detailed. The rigging is just stunning and the wheels in the middle are great and look very realisitc. The whole ship is realistic by the way.

Keep up the good work!! Can't wait to see more MOC's of you in the future!

[RTN LNA]

Great ship. I like the sails and wheel. Texas pride for life.

Maybe you and...

Waw, that's just awesome! Not only it is "new" but also very detailed. The rigging is just stunning and the wheels in the middle are great and look very realisitc. The whole ship is realistic by the way.

Keep up the good work!! Can't wait to see more MOC's of you in the future!

Are talking about the paddle-wheels?

paddle wheels gallery

I am glad that you like the the newest. Although the 1840's aren't that new! However, it's not common to see any side-paddle-wheel sailing steamships modeled in lego, in fact the only other one I know of is the USS Potempkin, 21 Gun Steam Sloop of War

"Can't wait to see more MOC's of you in the future!" have you seen my other MOCs?

Kurt's ship MOCs

Thanks for the praise!

kurt

Edited December 17, 2008 by RTN LNA (Lego Naval Architect)

[RTN LNA]

Wow! people no questions on how I did some of these things?

I figured that the working ship's wheel steering would cause excitement,

and generate a number how did you do that questions.

I may go back and rebuild some of my older ships to have working steering.

I figured that curved inverted stern would cause how did I do it, and attach it, questions.

Even the ship's bell:

I figured would cause questions

It's not like I am on this forum much.

kurt

[Iron Corsair]

Nice job RTN LNA! Your attention to detail is amazing, and accurate. Nice job!

Edited December 18, 2008 by Iron Corsair

[RTN LNA]

Nice job RTN LNA! Your attention to detail is amazing, and accurate. Nice job!

I am glad you enjoyed it, I like viewers who can appreciate the details, their praise is worth more!

I had my fleet in texlug area at the Austin Maker Faire,

where thousands of people came through looking at all of the lego's on display,

and most common question was --- "Are they all made out of legos?" -- Duh!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thethiers/295...57608198393413/

http://www.texlugsa.org/blog/2008/10/20/post-maker-faire/

so thanks again!

[CPT. Jr]

maybe no one else is gurios, but what exactaly did you use for the bell, i got the steering figured out i was already working on a similar system. Great fleet very, i mean VERY impressive. The paddle wheels are great too, however to make it look like it should, i don't think they should be a circle, they sgould be a circle with a flat side if you get what im saying. But great real great.

[RTN LNA]

maybe no one else is gurios, but what exactaly did you use for the bell, i got the steering figured out i was already working on a similar system. Great fleet very, i mean VERY impressive. The paddle wheels are great too, however to make it look like it should, i don't think they should be a circle, they sgould be a circle with a flat side if you get what im saying. But great real great.

You are a better man that I am! I build the steering 15 or 16 different ways over about 4 days, and I mean 15 or 16 times at a cost of and hour or more for each build! I was trying to get the clean real look and real (ie. number of turns of the wheel) operation. And I hear you on the paddle wheels, I just didn't like the look of paddles if they are more than one plate thick.

So about the bell, I ordered a number of odd chrome parts off of bricklink to try, so this time on the design of the bell the pain was that each test trying to get a better look, took a bricklink order wait for shipment to me cycle, so I worked on the bell off and on for three months before I got to the current look.

First credit where credit is do, the ships bell idea I got from this thread Useful Fabuland, Belville and pieces from other themes?, Useful parts, even for SYSTEM builders!! by ZCerberus and his bell on his ship the Arbiter I/II:

as nice as his is, I wanted a round bell top, so off to peeron:

search peeron dome 2 x 2

533 doesn't come in chrome, I tried (bought some PearlCopper ones) NO

search peeron dish 2 x 2

I bought 4740 in chrome it worked poorly and looked worst "flatish" NO

search peeron round 2 x 2

what's this:

Electric Light Reflector Round 2 x 2 x 2/3

I bought a couple of "x85"s I never knew of this part! wait....

Hey this works OK, and it looks better, not perfect but until I find a better way,

SAY if any of you see a better way ......

So the parts list...

note: the pics are linked

For the bell it self:

1 ChromeSilver 70973

1 ChromeSilver x85

1 ChromeSilver 382

3 Gray 4274

bucket plug in 4274 through x85 insert the cut T of the Sprue from 382 (I wrapped 2 turns of scotch tape around it to make it thicker and stick)

my mount:

trap 2 Black 6541 on the harpoons with 2 4274s

4 black 4589 2 each on each side of the mount

5 black 3623 one above and below the "4589-6541-4589"

and the last on the top of 2 black 3665

make 4, 3 high legs of 12 Black 3062b

edit -- opps forgot 2 black 3070b on each end on top of the 3665s

top it with 1 black 3399 in the anti-studs!!

see picture above

NOW a building tip at: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/88405

hope this is clear

kurt

Edited January 13, 2009 by RTN LNA