[SR-FB2 SHIP 3A] Great Scott

[dr_spock]

Freebuild #2 Mar 2016

Great Scott! The White Skull captured a 3A ship in the last MRCA. The ship is called the Great Scott. Presenting my MOC of the captured ship to make use of the license. She is armed with cannons, swivel guns and blunderbuss.

Great Scott by dr_spock_888, on Flickr

The rigging was hand laid. The ratlines were a repetitious knot tying endurance test on the shrouds.

More photos on Brickshelf (when moderated)

[Ayrlego]

Your effort with the rigging was definitely worth it – it looks stunning! A very nice, ‘clean’ vessel.

Hopefully you’ll forgive me if I don’t wish her well this month!

[TitusV]

She looks very neat! I really like her, good job on the rigging!

[TenorPenny]

Very neat, indeed!

[Tomsche]

Great job on the rigging, insane one on the ratlines

[BrickOn]

Very nice, a great capture! Love that rigging (I'd like to steal your technique, but I know I only have one of those yellow pieces at the moment) and as a whole the ship looks fantastic!

[Bregir]

Very nice gun-brig, Dr. Spock!

I wouldn't exactly call her lines elegant (For that, I would like some more curvature in the hull), but they are very clean, and she looks very well tended with those shiny black sides, and the gleaming decks. It seems her capturers have done a great job in putting her ready to sea! If it isn't just spit and polish, of course...

I like the use of those shudders for the hatch, and the curved, integrated cabin and the flush deck works very well too.

(BTW, I don't think I have ever seen a brig with a closed gun-deck. Most/all carried them on the open upper deck.)

Those shrouds are amasing, but my fingers almost hurt at the thought of putting on those ratlines! (Insta-arthritis, anyone? ) I do think the hard work paid off - it really looks fantastic!

With that in mind, I would have liked to see a little more in terms of stays (fore- and back), but that is your own faults for raising the bar with those shrouds!

As to the sails, I think another headsail would fit her well, and she seems to be lacking a foretopgallant (3rd square sail on the foremast). This makes her look somewhat overrigged on the mainmast, and I fear she would have a tendency to gripe!

Additionally, the mizzensail would typically be a gaff-sail, (The boom below complemented with a gaff at the top, increasing the sail area. Sometimes without the boom, even. ) instead of the triangular type, which name escapes me currently.

Generally, you are raising the bar on rigging, which is why I raise the bar for my feedback! :pir-grin:

Lastly, a general comment on armament. I would generally like to see builders give some thought into armament, aside from just the number of guns. Afterall, 4 pounders and 32 pounders are two very different creatures!

For a small gun-brig like this, it would probably be 4, 6, or 8 pounders. I am not too concerned with them being represented by Lego cannons or brick built versions, as the scale can be hard to achieve, but a lot of people seem to assume that a 8 gun cutter (eg. 4 pounders) has half the firepower of a 16 gun brig (eg. 8 pounders), when in fact the broadside weight is 16 vs. 64 pounds. (Thus, I also find think that the gun-rating of the ship-licenses should be thought of as a representation of broadside weight.)

All in all, great vessel though. I suppose this could be considered a MRCA result build, or a freebuild, depending on the choice of the builder?

[Kai NRG]

A great ship here, the rigging looks really nice and the curve at the front is very smooth. Looks well armed too, wouldn't want to meet her on the high seas!

[Kwatchi]

Dang Dr Spock. Could you lower that bar back down a bit?

[SkaForHire]

Wow! Excellent! This is a beautiful looking MOC!

Remember, even though it doesn't cost you anything, you need to license the ship so that it is in the database.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

It's the rigging, the RIGGING.

Oops, sorry for shouting.

[Elostirion]

Great job.

Nothing else to say.

[Garmadon]

Very nice ship Dr. Spock, and congrats on being the first one to post a ship with custom ratlines (you've beat me by a bit!) The cleanness of the ship is excellent as well, although I do agree with Bregir that a bit more of a curve on the sides would make it look better (at least to my taste!) Great job here though, I'll make sure to steer clear of this one (or place a few more guns on board )!

[Bregir]

*snip* although I do agree with Bregir *snip*

You are making a nasty habit of this recently, sir!

[kurigan]

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!

[dr_spock]

Your effort with the rigging was definitely worth it – it looks stunning! A very nice, ‘clean’ vessel.

Hopefully you’ll forgive me if I don’t wish her well this month!

She looks very neat! I really like her, good job on the rigging!

Very neat, indeed!

Great job on the rigging, insane one on the ratlines

It's the rigging, the RIGGING.

Oops, sorry for shouting.

Great job.

Nothing else to say.

A great ship here, the rigging looks really nice and the curve at the front is very smooth. Looks well armed too, wouldn't want to meet her on the high seas!

Thank you all very much.

Wow! Excellent! This is a beautiful looking MOC!

Remember, even though it doesn't cost you anything, you need to license the ship so that it is in the database.

Thank you for the reminder.

Dang Dr Spock. Could you lower that bar back down a bit?

Ok, I can try for the next captured ship.

Very nice, a great capture! Love that rigging (I'd like to steal your technique, but I know I only have one of those yellow pieces at the moment) and as a whole the ship looks fantastic!

Thank you very much. Being a Technics builder, I have those half bushings coming out of the whazoo. They also come in bley colour. I don't think I am the first to use them that way.

Very nice gun-brig, Dr. Spock!

I wouldn't exactly call her lines elegant (For that, I would like some more curvature in the hull), but they are very clean, and she looks very well tended with those shiny black sides, and the gleaming decks. It seems her capturers have done a great job in putting her ready to sea! If it isn't just spit and polish, of course...

I like the use of those shudders for the hatch, and the curved, integrated cabin and the flush deck works very well too.

(BTW, I don't think I have ever seen a brig with a closed gun-deck. Most/all carried them on the open upper deck.)

Those shrouds are amasing, but my fingers almost hurt at the thought of putting on those ratlines! (Insta-arthritis, anyone? ) I do think the hard work paid off - it really looks fantastic!

With that in mind, I would have liked to see a little more in terms of stays (fore- and back), but that is your own faults for raising the bar with those shrouds!

As to the sails, I think another headsail would fit her well, and she seems to be lacking a foretopgallant (3rd square sail on the foremast). This makes her look somewhat overrigged on the mainmast, and I fear she would have a tendency to gripe!

Additionally, the mizzensail would typically be a gaff-sail, (The boom below complemented with a gaff at the top, increasing the sail area. Sometimes without the boom, even. ) instead of the triangular type, which name escapes me currently.

Generally, you are raising the bar on rigging, which is why I raise the bar for my feedback! :pir-grin:

Lastly, a general comment on armament. I would generally like to see builders give some thought into armament, aside from just the number of guns. Afterall, 4 pounders and 32 pounders are two very different creatures!

For a small gun-brig like this, it would probably be 4, 6, or 8 pounders. I am not too concerned with them being represented by Lego cannons or brick built versions, as the scale can be hard to achieve, but a lot of people seem to assume that a 8 gun cutter (eg. 4 pounders) has half the firepower of a 16 gun brig (eg. 8 pounders), when in fact the broadside weight is 16 vs. 64 pounds. (Thus, I also find think that the gun-rating of the ship-licenses should be thought of as a representation of broadside weight.)

All in all, great vessel though. I suppose this could be considered a MRCA result build, or a freebuild, depending on the choice of the builder?

Thank you very much for raising your feedback.

Would an aft triangular sail make it a hermaphrodite brig? The LEGO sails are a bit small to fill that space. Custom sails may be the way to go.

Is there an armament guide available? I came across a British ship rating based on number of guns but they don't seem to list the type of guns. It would be interesting to add to the MRCA ship building guide.

Very nice ship Dr. Spock, and congrats on being the first one to post a ship with custom ratlines (you've beat me by a bit!) The cleanness of the ship is excellent as well, although I do agree with Bregir that a bit more of a curve on the sides would make it look better (at least to my taste!) Great job here though, I'll make sure to steer clear of this one (or place a few more guns on board )!

Thank you very much. I put ratlines on my first BoBS ship. They didn't come out as nice as this time. Curved sides is on the list of things to learn to build.

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!

Thank you very much. I used to live in Boston. I may have had some USS Constitution (which was launched in 1797) influence on how I picture sailing ships...

[blackdeathgr]

I like this ship a lot! Using prefab totally worked on this one. The masts ar a case study for me and so is the rigging (countless working hours tying ropes for the (ratlines?) or whatever these ropes you use for climbing, are called). The green hatch is a nice feature as well and the number of cannons is realistic. And despite the fact that the cannons would usually be on the main deck, i cant seem to find any real problem with your version. My only concern (which i have seen many people do it) is the plate above the round windows that leaves empty spaces. I dont have much experience using them, but surely there must be a way to circumvent this. Overall a solid ship that can match any rival at sea.

[Legostone]

First - great job on the rigging, that must have taken ages! It does look really convincing!

But not everything on this ship convinces me completely, her sides seem a bit to flat - a tumblehome implemented using Captain Green Hairs technique would've worked wonders there! You have a straight line without change in height, angle or width for more than half the length of the ship as of now; even just sloping the tan stripe upwards towards the stern could help giving her a bit more smooth curves. I do not want to sound to negative here - I just want to give you some hints about what could be done better - maybe on this one, maybe on the next ship you build!

[Captain Dee]

This is unmistakably one of the good Doctor's creations.

It's a very neat and tidy design and the colorscheme looks lovely. The dark red sails alone give her a commanding presence. The custom shrouds and ratlines looks great and the rounded cabin is nice too.

You've already received a good bit of constructive input, so I'll shift the focus slightly. Yes, it's possible to create more realistic vessels on the prefab hulls, but introducing curvature in multiple planes to parts that weren't designed for it isn't always necessary. This being a relatively small vessel with a flush cabin, I won't fuss about all the straight lines; it's what the designers of the sets/parts have always had in mind anyway. There's no harm in building off the basic concept.

Regarding the guns, Bregir brought up a point that I almost mentioned a while back (before chickening out due to fear of rambling on about something that people might not care about). Broadside weight was the most important metric - the number of guns by itself meant little. The big triple-deckers had much heavier guns and shot weights on average than small single-deckers, so their firepower was much higher than a simple comparison of gun numbers might suggest. I like the idea of broadside weight factoring into the ship classes and licenses for this reason.

During the 1700s the British adopted standard weights of 8, 12, 18, 24, 32, and 42 pounds and often dropped the names (demi-cannon, culverin, etc) to avoid confusion. The other nations used similar weights but there were some differences.

The arched windows in the stern look good, but the resulting gaps, though distracting, are really hard to work with. I've seen some ways of partially closing them in, but no perfect technique exists that I'm aware of. Too bad Lego doesn't offer a 2-stud-wide smooth-bottom studded-top curved top that would fit, besides just the standard 4-wide arch; this would allow lots of creative uses of continuous rows of those lovely arched windows.

Oops, I'm rambling on too much here. Good work.