Corweena Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 (edited) Hey EB! I've been bored in between classes at school, so I started messing around in LDD in my spare time. I decided that along with the ships I am creating in LDD, I might as well make a story behind them. I will be building the ships one by one, and will update this thread with my progress. If you don't want to read, just skip to the bottom of the post for pics So, without further ado, I present to you..... The Titan Initiative The Story The year is 1805. Under the increasing threat of war in Europe, the United States government has commissioned the building of a top-secret fleet of warships codenamed Titan Initiative. The ships are all named after notable characters in ancient Greek mythology. The government purchased a large plot of coastal land in what is present day Southern California from Spain, in order to build the ships in complete secrecy. Retired Admiral Rodney Jackson was chosen to oversee the project. The goal of the project was to create a new fleet of warships that are faster, stronger, and more advanced than any other ships in the world. Four ships will initially be built, with the option for more if needed. The Captains Admiral Jackson, the project Commander, was given the authority to choose any 4 captains to command the ship. He chose who he considered the four best men, each with unique qualities and attributes. The senior captain, Captain Corwin Hoogland, is the admiral’s nephew. His mother is the admiral’s sister, and his father is a wealthy Dutch merchant who immigrated to America. He speaks Dutch, German, Latin, and Russian. Even though he is only 25 years old, he is considered the best seaman in the U.S. Navy and a brilliant engineer. He was the main designer of the Titan ships. At 6’3” tall and 225lbs of muscle, he is a physically imposing man, and an excellent fighter. Although a strict disciplinarian, his men love him, and would follow him to the gates of hell. He commands the Achilles, a 44-gun heavy frigate. Next is Captain Ethan Tracey, age 26. He is a childhood friend of Captain Hoogland, and has served with him most of his naval career. His father is an Army general, and his mother was a German Duchess. He is fluent in German and Italian. Standing at 6’7” and 250lbs, he his even larger than his best friend. In battle, he will sometimes work a cannon all by himself, and still keep pace with a full gun crew. Because of this, he was given the nickname “Goliath.” He is the best gunner in the Navy. He commands the Hephaestus, a 74-gun ship of the line. Captain Rene Sahagun is the youngest of the captains of the Titan project at age 23. His father was a French army Captain who retired to America after losing his leg. His mother is the daughter of the most powerful Shogun in Japan. He is fluent in French, Japanese, and multiple other Asian dialects. He is an excellent navigator, and despite his young age, he knows the East Asian waters like the back of his hand. He commands the Prometheus, an 18-gun brig. Lastly is Captain Ephraim Mariani, the oldest of the captains at 35 years of age. He was born in the Hawaiian Islands, and as a young man sailed around South America many times. He never knew his parents, and was raised by an American merchant. He is an extremely stubborn man, and will never run from a fight. Captain Mariani is a brilliant tactician; Captain Hoogland often consults him before any major battle. He commands the Cerberus, a 32-gun frigate. The Ships The first ship being built is the Cerberus, a 32-gun frigate. It is exceptionally fast for a frigate, and very maneuverable too. On the gun deck, the Cerberus carries twenty 18-pound guns, and on the spar deck, twelve 9-pound long range guns. The Cerberus was given its name, because its Captain, Ephraim Mariani is nicknamed "The Hellhound," because he is an unrelenting man in battle. bow design. Gives the ship a normal profile sitting on top of the pre-fabbed hull. I know the ship looks a little high, even without its upper deck. That's because the waterline is supposed to be right at where the black and brown of the hull meet. Also, the stern cabin is still a WIP, I am just messing around to get the shape I want. The colors on some of the pieces are not final, I just have them that way so it is easier to design and move pieces around. The next ship is the Achilles, a 44-gun heavy frigate, specially designed by Captain Hoogland for himself. It can carry a greater press of sail than any ship of equal size, and is the fastest frigate in service. The Achilles is equipped with twenty-eight 24-pound cannons on the gun deck, twelve 18-pound cannons on the spar deck, and four 9-pound guns as bow and stern chasers. The Navy’s top sailors and gunners were recruited to serve on the Achilles, making her the most dangerous ship of the fleet. Named after the legendary Greek warrior, the Achilles was given the nickname “The Backbreaker” after its Captain and crew, who are renowned for utterly destroying ships. Questions, comments, and criticism are welcome. Let me know what you think! Corweena Edited October 22, 2011 by Corweena Quote
WilliamWalls Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 I see some good ideas in this MOC! I like the combination of a brown and black hull mold, and the front constucted with hinges in layers! Making the side white is not only historically correct, but also makes decorating the interior easier (I used a combination of white tiles and special plates to make the interior white and the exterior yellow). Some suggestions: >Add a longitudinal curve in the white stripe, by that I mean: let the white stripe be lower in the middle that it is in the front and back. >Add gunports, black or white, as you prefer. >Make the deck brown or tan, with plates, or with tiles if you like. >I would leave the combination of black and white hull, but lower the deck in the captain's cabin (and perhaps the gundeck too), right now your captain is not be able to look out of his windows. Since it's still under construction, you might had planned some of these things already. Will you build this ship with real bricks? Keep up the good work, I would love to see it finished! WilliamWalls Quote
Hiawatha Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 this looks very good! I like that you are making an American ship! Quote
Admiral Croissant Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 You've done a rather good job on this ship. Usually I like a curve on the gunline, but this ship also looks good without. It's more typically a frigate of around 1830-1850 now, also because of the sharp bow. The only thing you can improve at the moment (IMO) is to make the deck get more narrow towards the stern. Keep it up! Quote
Corweena Posted October 15, 2011 Author Posted October 15, 2011 I see some good ideas in this MOC! I like the combination of a brown and black hull mold, and the front constucted with hinges in layers! Making the side white is not only historically correct, but also makes decorating the interior easier (I used a combination of white tiles and special plates to make the interior white and the exterior yellow). Some suggestions: >Add a longitudinal curve in the white stripe, by that I mean: let the white stripe be lower in the middle that it is in the front and back. >Add gunports, black or white, as you prefer. >Make the deck brown or tan, with plates, or with tiles if you like. >I would leave the combination of black and white hull, but lower the deck in the captain's cabin (and perhaps the gundeck too), right now your captain is not be able to look out of his windows. Since it's still under construction, you might had planned some of these things already. Will you build this ship with real bricks? Keep up the good work, I would love to see it finished! WilliamWalls Thanks for your comments! -For the white stripe, I'm debating adding some curve to it. If you look at this pic of the USS Constitution, it also has very little curve. http://www.fas.org/man//dod-101/sys/ship/sail200f.jpg I may just add some curve to the bow. -Gunports will be added, I'm just not putting them on in case I change the sides of the ship again. less pieces = less work hahahaha. -The deck will be changed to brown, but not until I get the final shape done. -and the cabin windows will definitely be raised, I just started working on the cabin, and just wanted to try out some basic shapes. I don't think I will be building this one in real bricks....I hope to build the next ship I am designing. But even for that, it will be a long time until I do. this looks very good! I like that you are making an American ship! With all of these Bluecoat and Redcoat ships, I had to give us Yanks some sea power You've done a rather good job on this ship. Usually I like a curve on the gunline, but this ship also looks good without. It's more typically a frigate of around 1830-1850 now, also because of the sharp bow. The only thing you can improve at the moment (IMO) is to make the deck get more narrow towards the stern. Keep it up! Thanks for the kind words and suggestions. I gave it a sharp bow on purpose, to look like a more modern ship. That's why these ships will be the most advanced on the seas! And after looking around at some other MOCs and real ships, I will be making the deck a little more narrow in the rear, thanks for making me realize that! Quote
ZCerberus Posted October 18, 2011 Posted October 18, 2011 Looks like it is going to be similar to the "super frigates" of the US navy (Constitution esp). Also, love the name of the ship ;) Quote
Corweena Posted October 18, 2011 Author Posted October 18, 2011 Looks like it is going to be similar to the "super frigates" of the US navy (Constitution esp). Also, love the name of the ship ;) Hahaha glad you like the name Its kind of based off the Constitution, but smaller. The next ship I'm building will be a 40+ gun heavy frigate, and will be based fairly heavily on her. Quote
Captain Blackmoor Posted October 19, 2011 Posted October 19, 2011 Please resize your pictures to a maximum of 800x600 pixels, as that is the standard we maintain here on Eurobricks. A tutorial can be found in my signature. After that I'll comment on this fantastic vessel. Thank you! Quote
BrickPerfection Posted October 19, 2011 Posted October 19, 2011 Cerberus sounds good to me! The story is quite interesting and well written too; you're putting in a lot of effort here! Although I'm more in love with the more ornamental 18th century designs, it's great to see someone doing a 19th century frigate with the clean white on black colors. Overall you captured the appearance of such a vessel really well, that's also why so many people are congratulating you on her! However there's still something to be improved : The stern should be a bit narrower, so that the including the galleries the stern is not much wider than the widest part of the hull (which should be pretty close to the bow). Take a look at this model of USS Constitution to see what I mean I'm also a bit worried about the bow technique, it looks fine in LDD but I doubt you'll get it to hold in place in real bricks, maybe for a photo or two but they will alway bend inwards when you touch them! Even though you're only planning on doing them in LDD, transforming the construction into real bricks would be great! That also allows for some illegal...err I mean awesome techniques Promising start, keep it up! Quote
Corweena Posted October 19, 2011 Author Posted October 19, 2011 Please resize your pictures to a maximum of 800x600 pixels, as that is the standard we maintain here on Eurobricks. A tutorial can be found in my signature. After that I'll comment on this fantastic vessel. Thank you! Done! Cerberus sounds good to me! The story is quite interesting and well written too; you're putting in a lot of effort here! Although I'm more in love with the more ornamental 18th century designs, it's great to see someone doing a 19th century frigate with the clean white on black colors. Overall you captured the appearance of such a vessel really well, that's also why so many people are congratulating you on her! However there's still something to be improved : The stern should be a bit narrower, so that the including the galleries the stern is not much wider than the widest part of the hull (which should be pretty close to the bow). Take a look at this model of USS Constitution to see what I mean I'm also a bit worried about the bow technique, it looks fine in LDD but I doubt you'll get it to hold in place in real bricks, maybe for a photo or two but they will alway bend inwards when you touch them! Even though you're only planning on doing them in LDD, transforming the construction into real bricks would be great! That also allows for some illegal...err I mean awesome techniques Promising start, keep it up! Thanks for the kind words! I'm currently working on the stern right now, and trying to give the ship a more realistic shape. I'm not gonna go too crazy though, since I never plan on building this ship. The next ships will have brick-build hulls, and I may redo this one in the distant future with a brick built one. Quote
Corweena Posted October 20, 2011 Author Posted October 20, 2011 Hey guys, I just laid down the keel for my next ship, whose name I will reveal tomorrow. Here are a few teaser pics Quote
Skipper Posted October 21, 2011 Posted October 21, 2011 Great project! Very inspiring, especially to a primarily LDD builder like myself. The first ship looks excellent so far. I'm especially looking forward to seeing your finished stern, if you can get the angles to work out I'll be forced to go rework mine. I had expected to see all the ships built using relatively the same aesthetics (since you'll probably want to "display" them together), but the keel/rib technique on the second ship should be interesting to see as well. Keep it up! Quote
Corweena Posted October 22, 2011 Author Posted October 22, 2011 Great project! Very inspiring, especially to a primarily LDD builder like myself. The first ship looks excellent so far. I'm especially looking forward to seeing your finished stern, if you can get the angles to work out I'll be forced to go rework mine. I had expected to see all the ships built using relatively the same aesthetics (since you'll probably want to "display" them together), but the keel/rib technique on the second ship should be interesting to see as well. Keep it up! Thanks! I originally planned on doing all of the ships the same way, but with the bigger ships, I wouldn't be able get the proportions right. And, on the Cerberus, I think I finally found a solution for the stern I just need to perfect it. Quote
hobbes5a Posted October 22, 2011 Posted October 22, 2011 I am amazed to see this huge project! Keep it up! BTW it would be nice if we could share our ideas as we are both working on US frigates. Quote
Corweena Posted October 22, 2011 Author Posted October 22, 2011 I am amazed to see this huge project! Keep it up! BTW it would be nice if we could share our ideas as we are both working on US frigates. Thanks! Just shoot me a private message if you want to talk! Quote
Corweena Posted October 22, 2011 Author Posted October 22, 2011 so I present to you The Achilles, the next ship being built for the Titan Initiative. It is a 44-gun heavy frigate. Full details in the original post. More updates to come! Quote
Corweena Posted November 6, 2011 Author Posted November 6, 2011 Hey guys, a little update for you. I haven't had free time until this weekend to work on the Achilles, but I got to do a little work today. I pretty much finished all of the ribbing up front and got it shaped pretty well, except for the bow. I'll be working on the rear next. I also ordered a couple books on sailing ships from the library, so I can make an accurate deck plan. Quote
Skipper Posted November 6, 2011 Posted November 6, 2011 (edited) Looks good! Maybe too straight but I can't really tell from the pictures. It looks great in the first and then straight in the second. How are you planning to plank this without the hinge showing? Keep it up! Edited November 6, 2011 by Skipper Quote
Corweena Posted November 6, 2011 Author Posted November 6, 2011 Looks good! Maybe too straight but I can't really tell from the pictures. It looks great in the first and then straight in the second. How are you planning to plank this without the hinge showing? Keep it up! Thanks! I know the top of the ribs are too straight....I won't shape them until I get the rear ribs finished, so then I can get a realistic taper going.. I've mostly been focused on getting the shape of the lower hull how I want it so far. I'm also messing around with a couple of different methods to plank the outside of the hull. Hopefully more updates tonight or tomorrow. Quote
Corweena Posted November 16, 2011 Author Posted November 16, 2011 (edited) School has bee crazy this past week, preventing me from doing any work on the Achilles until today. Here is just a quick shot, I'm just finishing working out the shape of the aft end of the hull. And, I just picked up some books today from my school's library on American Frigates, Sailing Ships of War and a 2-volume set on Ships of the Line. Hopefully, with these, I can make my ship as accurate as possible. Edited November 16, 2011 by Corweena Quote
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