HMS Scorpion, a WIP

[kurigan]

All I'll say right now is, I found some bricks (insert evil laugh here)

[De Sandman]

That's a real teaser! i like the shape so far.

[streifen]

indeed a real teaser! looks like a ship appearing out of the mist!

[Deadna]

Oh, the suspence!

[Bjornu]

I hate to get teased like this !

Me wants, me wants to see the ship !

Greetz bjornu

[kurigan]

Here is the still unfinished WIP, HMS Scorpion, a rebuild of my old brig, and perhaps the premier vessel of my plastic fleet. I didn’t want to post anything on her until she was finished but I find myself at an impasse. I’m afraid, for all that I’ve managed to make her, she still isn’t quite what I wanted. My goal was to create a rated ship, to finally be able to call one of my mini-fig commanders, Captain. Unfortunately, even with all the bricks and creativity I could muster, I still seem to have only wound up with a ship sloop, or at best a corvette.

Scorpion’s design is meant to look like something of an early to mid 18th century vessel inspired by HMS Blanford (the historic reference for Grand Turk, Indefatigable in A&E’s “Hornblower” series). Her guns are quite large on her deck, representing, perhaps twelve pounders or greater, but alas they are only nine to a broad side. In my topic "A Question about Ship Ratings" I sought a consensus but one could not be satisfactorily reached for my purposes, good points made in both favors, as to whether or not Scorpion in this form would rate a frigate. Though she does sport two equally large bow chasers there is just is no way to count them amongst the broad side. Intended to be a British ship, deeming her a corvette is out, in either the time frame of her construction or in contemporary terms to the rest of my fleet (mid 18th and turn of the century, respectively). Wanting so bad to have finally built a Ship, I’m loath to resign her to an 18gun sloop, but unless I can come up with something really clever, it seems to be her fate.

To create the shape of her hull from what bricks I have available I needed to devise a whole new (or new to me) method, of construction. I took the idea of SNOT to something of an extreme, building the lower portion of Scorpion’s hull upside down out of plates, bricks and roof slopes. The focsle and stern gallery are built top to bottom in this fashion while the mid sections are set in with studs on top. The walls are upside down but use their studs more like cleats, sinking into the bricks below but not actually attaching. An offset between the inserted deck sections and the upside down walls allows the walls to lean in wards, creating the illusion of a tumble home. I’ve taken Mini figure illusion scale to something of an extreme and for photographic purposes; she is best represented without her crew. A mini figure standing on her deck and assumed to be of the same scale would likely stand about 8-10 feet tall.

So far the only solutions I can foresee to increase her broad side are unattractive at best. Firstly I could just cram another pair of guns on her already crowded focsle, or to add the same port intended to turn the bow chasers to the side when necessary, but the extra port just doesn’t look right. I could eliminate the stern cabin all together and add in the last port on the quarter deck but I just plane don’t want to lose the gallery or over all sloping shape of the profile. I could also add a hatch to the stern cabin and fake their being a gun behind it, but this would further skew her scale. I’d be very interested to hear if anyone has any creative solutions and positive feedback on my designed is welcomed.

Full-rez images

Disclaimer: My situation has not changed; my brick supply is still extremely limited. I have only the contents of a few lots of assorted used bricks (including some of those nefarious knock-off brands) and what was deconstructed from Classic Pirates sets from my child hood. There is the occasional gift of a tiny mini fig set, but that hardly constitutes enough to augment my designs, mostly just gives me new characters. I did recently rediscover a cache of bricks I had been overlooking in my last few projects. They are all of the same variety, but granted me enough to attempt upon a ship.

Edited October 16, 2011 by kurigan

[Captain Blackmoor]

Please resize your pictures to a maximum of 800x600 first.

Thank-ye!

[Big Cam]

You're teaser was great, and I must say your ship is looking awesome. I like how the masts are brick built, I look forward to seeing it finished.

[kurigan]

Please resize your pictures to a maximum of 800x600 first.

Thank-ye!

Apologies Captain Blackmoor, I seem to keep forgetting my default settings on Photobucket are set to 1024. The original post has been appropriately edited.

[Admiral Croissant]

It's too bad that you have to deal with a limited amount of bricks. Still, I think you did a good job.

Although the shape is a bit edgy, overall it looks very realistic.

The 1750's colourscheme is original and I also like the figurehead.

The only thing that bothers me a little bit is the stern.

Perhaps you could place it higher (on the Grand Turk the windows are on a higher level than the gunports).

I don't know the best way to add more cannons, but I think if you place every gunport a bit forward you could add one in the back.

Good luck. The small cannons are very nice by the way!

[kurigan]

Could the title of this topic be changed to ""HMS Scorpion,a WIP"?

[Hiawatha]

Looks great! I like how you made a non minifigure scale ship. Fantastic build!

[BrickPerfection]

I'm really glad you finally found some real bricks! I think LDD is a great developing tool, but only bricks can really make something a true MOC!

The brickbuild hull is rather interesting on that small scale as are the capstan and the inverted build.

I don't quite like that weird mast design, since it doesn't look quite smooth. Any reason you didn't use 2x2 round bricks?

I also have to agree with Admiral Croissant on the stern. Some gallerys would be nice too!

Overall it looks a quite like the Grand Turk, so that inspiration is very visible; and it's a very decent MOC

Keep it up!

[kurigan]

Scorpion exploded!

When an unstable floor lamp fell over in the night, it came down upon Scorpion scattering her super suture. Fortunately as her parts are all individual components, loosely fitted together there was little reconstruction, it was just a matter of putting most of the pieces back in place. While she was apart is did however do a little bit on her stern. I added the last gun port and put gun barrels on slides behind, so it looks from the outside that there are 20 to her board side. I’m not sure I like the effect though. I also raised the windows a trifle but don’t think it changes much. At the very least she now rates in the 6^th for sure and is suitable for a Post Captain.

As for some of the concerns raised in previous replies. I don’t know that she’s not mini-fig scale at all, I just figure she’s on the edge of consideration. The capstan is essentially the one I originally designed for Lively. The masts are made with those parts as they are what I had. I did use 2X2 round bricks to simulate the rope or iron bands but I don’t have enough of a good color to make the rest. I’m pretty pleased with the guns too. They were something of a compromise but ultimately worked out to a nice design, thanks. Now I just need enough 1X1 rounds plates to make wheels.

[Hiawatha]

It's good to hear that you could get her back together after the accident!