The Golden Snake

[Kai NRG]

The Golden Snake is under weigh!

A MCTC messenger is aboard with important dispatches for Viceroy Renato Filamento

C&C are welcome! I'm sure all you ship savvy people have plenty to say about my very landlubberish sail-do, so - fire away!

This is my fourth free build this month, by the way!

[Captain Dee]

...I'm sure all you ship savvy people have plenty to say about my very landlubberish sail-do, so - fire away!

You asked for it, buster! :grin: Uh, make that "madam."

You should just sail this thing right off a cliff. Do us all a favor! :pir-grin:

Actually I rather like this design. It's small, yes, but it reminds me of an advanced remake of the trade ship from the old Imperial Trading Post. The shape of the custom hull is nice, the colors are good and the sterncastle is just tall enough without dominating the design, although a flush deck would probably look better. The masts and rigging look pretty good too although fore-and-aft would probably be more realistic than square-rigged on this scale. I like the custom gun - a little firepower, but not excessive. And your namesake figurehead is a neat idea (as long as the crew isn't afraid of snakes!)

My biggest concern is the rudder. Your depth is about right but with that much length that thing would be freakin' HUGE!! Actually on a vessel this size the entire rudder wouldn't be much bigger than the above-water portion you've shown here and would have a similar shape, just turned upright if that makes sense.

Overall this has a nice enhanced classic look and is a fine start to shipbuilding. Keep it up.

I approve.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Captain Dee

[Graham Gidman]

Very cool, especially the sails.

[TitusV]

that's just lovely! i, owning no hull-parts, really like your brick-built hull!

[blackdeathgr]

Lovely! Nice colors, nice design, nice crew, realistic armament for its size. I approve!

[Tomsche]

I like the use of the barrels incorporated in the masts

[Maxim I]

Very cool brickbuilt ship!!

I agree with the very large rudder comment of Captain Dee and it is a bit bulky, but for a ship without hull parts, it looks very nice!!

Class 2 T?

[Sir Stig]

Smooth rounding of the stern. Nice touch with the scroll, and adorable little vessel. Fearsome, I meant fearsome.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Sir Stig

[Garmadon]

Nice ship Kai, I'm really liking your cannon, and the barrel masts and green stripes on the vessel are great as well!

[Kai NRG]

Thanks everyone!

You asked for it, buster! :grin: Uh, make that "madam."

You should just sail this thing right off a cliff. Do us all a favor! :pir-grin:

Actually I rather like this design. It's small, yes, but it reminds me of an advanced remake of the trade ship from the old Imperial Trading Post. The shape of the custom hull is nice, the colors are good and the sterncastle is just tall enough without dominating the design, although a flush deck would probably look better. The masts and rigging look pretty good too although fore-and-aft would probably be more realistic than square-rigged on this scale. I like the custom gun - a little firepower, but not excessive. And your namesake figurehead is a neat idea (as long as the crew isn't afraid of snakes!)

My biggest concern is the rudder. Your depth is about right but with that much length that thing would be freakin' HUGE!! Actually on a vessel this size the entire rudder wouldn't be much bigger than the above-water portion you've shown here and would have a similar shape, just turned upright if that makes sense.

Overall this has a nice enhanced classic look and is a fine start to shipbuilding. Keep it up.

I approve.

Thanks Capt! Flush decks always look funny to me, so I just popped the back up a tad. You are right about the rudder. I knew it was way too big. But I ran out of more suitably sized slopes.

I'll have to investigate the whole square rigged vs. fore and aft thing before I build another ship!

Very cool brickbuilt ship!!

I agree with the very large rudder comment of Captain Dee and it is a bit bulky, but for a ship without hull parts, it looks very nice!!

Class 2 T?

Class 2 WR.

Thanks Maxim! As I have no hull parts that was a matter of necessity!

Smooth rounding of the stern. Nice touch with the scroll, and adorable little vessel. Fearsome, I meant fearsome.

Thank you!

[kabel]

funky ship. wonder what is in that envelope though ...

[TenorPenny]

Lovely ship, nice overall shape. The snake figurehead is great, too.

[Puvel]

Perfect amount of green, looks great!

[Brickwolf]

I approve.

[Kai NRG]

funky ship. wonder what is in that envelope though ...

Lovely ship, nice overall shape. The snake figurehead is great, too.

Thanks! I wanted a figurehead that wouldn't be glaringly large!

Perfect amount of green, looks great!

Thanks Purvel!

I approve.

Thank you!

[Bregir]

Well, hello there! I know I am late to the party, but a little bird told me someone had prayed for feedback on rigging!

First of all - nice little vessel - I think you did a good job with a custom hull, and although her sides are a little straight for a sailing ship, it works fine for the size. The cabin is my personal dead horse, so I will flog it a bit here too

On such a small vessel, it would be a highly irregular thing to have, really - on the other hand, I like how it is integrated in the hull, not being full minifig size over the decks. In reality, though, the quarterdeck (on top of the cabin) should probably not be raised more than one brick, if at all.

You ahve got a lot of nice details on deck, like the gun, the coils of rope, and the swapping of the foredeck.

As to the rigging:

For smaller vessels, 2 masts are really rare. If you want to experiement with a smaller vessel with two masts, I would suggest looking up lugger and ketch.

These two masts appear to be entirely square rigged, which again is rare on small vessels.

I would suggest a single masted fore-and-aft rig, probably a sloop, maybe cutter, or even cat-boat rig for a vessel this small. Generally, fore-and-aft rigs are easier to handle, and performs better on most points of sailing. Square rigs divide the sailplan into several sails, making them easier to handle in tough winds, and making it possible to "stack up" sails like on the full rigged ships. However, they would typically also wear elements of fore-and-aft rigs, to perform better close to the wind.

In your particular case, I think the masts are a bit short, and placed a bit too far aft.

If you would experiment with a single masted rig, the placement of the mast would depend on the type. For a sloop, the main driver is the mainsail (spanker) on a boom and gaff extended backwards from the mast, so the mast should be moved forward a bit, for a big mainsail, and a single jib could be added before the mast. For a cutter, the balance is shifted towards relying more on the headsails (jibs) before the mast, which means it carries more jibs, and a smaller mainsail, which means the current placement of the (main)mast is probably about right.

This should give you something to work with, if you ever venture into the mysterious land of shipbuilding once more!

Currently, I think you have a very cute looking little chibi vessel!

Well done, and I hope this answered some of your prayers!

[Kai NRG]

Thanks Bregir for the detailed critique! I really appreciate it!

I'll keep this in mind for my next ship; hopefully I can do a little research and come up with something realistic looking!

[Captain Green Hair]

It's quite a nice looking ship you've made!

I do wonder what type of ship you had in mind when you placed the masts? The main mast is placed a bit too far to the stern, it will be hard to handle.

But this was quite a common practice on bomb ketches to make space for the massive guns.Besides that some small windows in the stern would be nice I think.

[Kai NRG]

It's quite a nice looking ship you've made!

I do wonder what type of ship you had in mind when you placed the masts? The main mast is placed a bit too far to the stern, it will be hard to handle.

But this was quite a common practice on bomb ketches to make space for the massive guns.Besides that some small windows in the stern would be nice I think.

<snip>

Honestly I didn't really have any kind of ship in mind when I put the masts there. I was just going with what I thought looked okay. You guys are inspiring me, though. Next time I think I'll do some research first!

Thanks!