ZCerberus

Well it is certainly the largest... but I kind of like the Sienna a little better! There are some details I would like to add to the Arbiter still. The lower deck and the captain's cabin are fairly bare right now, but I was running a little low on time. Still, thank you for saying so! No help, and it took a little over 2 days to build. I am not sure how many hours, but it was pretty continuous. I guess I had already made a decent plan for it... the mid sections were sort of planned out, and I designed the rest on the fly. I actually ran out of some black pieces, which I thought would never happen! The first time I ever added a weapon on someones back was with Vikings. I would add battle axes to their backs regularly for cool Berserker like figures. The first time I have seen it used for Pirates was by me, on the Sienna... I wanted to be able to make my Marines for the Sienna look different, so I went with white epaulettes, then I was trying to decided if I wanted to use white or black backpack, but it then occurred to me that I could use the Viking technique to add a weapon. I went with all black weapons for a more elite look. Edit: Actually, now that I think about it, I believe I actually added a weapon on the back of the captain of the Arbiter before I built the Sienna while I was rebuilding the harbor. I was going to give him a cape, but it didn't look good with the epaulettes, so I went with the rifle on the back. I think if you look closely at the old Arbiter pics, with the new harbor, you can see it... Here is a little look. The rifle is brown, but that was the first time I tried it out.

It does seem like a general 'Works in Progress' MOC to me. Just because it isn't a single MOC in particular doesn't mean it shouldn't be in the MOC forum! I say move it. Also, I like some of the custom minifigs. Even using Star Wars guys and all! I found some of the old (non fleshy) Star Wars heads work well for Pirate figs. I don't mind a ragtag looking crew for privateers as pirates and hired crews usually wore what was on hand. If it is sailing under Spanish flag, they may have uniforms, but they would not necessarily wear them all the time at sea.

I should also note, if anyone is interested, you may be able to tell by the story that the 'old' Arbiter is mostly still in tact. I had to steal the 9 guns, the crew, and all the sails for the Arbiter II, but the rest of the ship was untouched. That means it is now the 'Venganza', a Spanish ship. It is sail-less right now, and is missing some guns, but some day I will correct both of these errors, and my Spanish fleet will challenge my Imperial fleet! I might make some sort of small deck gun for the upper deck and not use regular cannons like the old Arbiter had, but that is still in the air.

Okay so this thread is mostly about the Arbiter II. As such, you should get a TON of pictures of the new boat. Brickshelf Folder when Moderated.

The origins of the Arbiter II. Aldea de Ensenada was a beautiful trading village, sunk deep in a cove. The people were few, but rich and happy. The peaceful village, however, soon found itself being raided continuously by the feared pirate Gregory Cladwin. Though born British, he received his nickname from the Spanish, who called him La Tortuga Oscura because his ships would often lure in their prey in by hiding behind large rocks, hiding like a turtle in its shell. Though Spanish in name, Aldea de Ensenada was an English trading post. The King commissioned the creation of a fort to protect the entrance to the cove and named it Fort Brighton. --Fort Brighton Fort Brighton's unique drawbridge design allowed friendly ships passage in and out of the cove, while guarding it against piratical attacks. Even though the cove was protected, La Tortuga Oscura still attacked many ships while at sea. The King sent Captain Burress and his ship the 'Arbiter' to protect the friendly waters outside of Aldea de Ensenada. --Captain Burress --The Arbiter The Arbiter, however, was too large and slow to catch "the Tortoise". Burress knew the only way to catch the pirate was to turn to piracy himself. He commission a local merchant Hoy to hunt, raid and capture all Pirate vessels near Aldea de Ensenada. Burress promoted his first officer, Bradely Certich, to command the ship. Certich named the ship 'Sienna' after a girl long left behind. --Certich --The Sienna Though she didn't look like much, the Sienna raided several small pirate camps and captured two small pirate ships within weeks of her commission. The two ships, the Tesoro and the Het Avontuur were Spanish and Dutch trading vessels (never renamed) under Pirate control. Much to Certich's surprise, both were carry a heavy load of treasure. The two vessels were recommissioned as the Fortune and the Adventure. --The Sister Treasure Ships. Fortune and Adventure Though successful, the Sienna had her short comings. She was poorly armed, under crewed and did not sail well against the wind. Burress, however, was happy with the success of Certich and after receiving a promotion to 'Admiral', Burress commission a new ship to replace the Sienna. The ship was an unusual design for the Caribbean using both Lateen rigged sails and oars to move in any wind conditions. The captured pirates from the Tesoro and Het Avontuur did the rowing. --The building of the new Sienna Unable to say good bye to his old ship and love, Certich named the new vessel 'Sienna'. --The Sienna The new sienna proved to be a formidable ship, destroying many vessels flying the Jolly Roger. Perhaps the largest conquest of all, however, was the capturing of El Tortuga Oscura's flagship, the 'The Dark Treasure' (El Tesoro Oscuro). Though the pirate captain was not aboard the ship when the Sienna captured her (he was raiding a fishing village on foot when the Seinna met her), Certich returned the prize to Burress, who quickly claimed the ship as his flagship and renamed it the 'Arbiter II' --The Arbiter II The twin Arbiters could have ruled the seas had it not been for an unfortunate sinking of the Spanish ship, the 'Espada'. The latest edition to the royal navy, the 'Covenant' happened upon the Espada while patrolling Aldea de Ensenada. The Covenant claimed the Espada was a privateer that had opened fire on her. The Covenant sunk the Espada raising the hostility levels between the British and Spanish in the region. To appease the Spanish, the King ordered the sale of the Arbiter to the Spanish. --The Covenant Days after the Spanish acquired the ship, they renamed it the 'Venganza' and sunk the Covenant. Burress declared open war on the Spanish and commission the building of the 'New Covenant' to hunt and kill the Spanish. --The New Covenant NOTE: This topic has been split, since the first post here, the ship was redesigned. Go here to see it completed!

Well no one gave me any ideas, and I needed a name for a story, so I am calling this guy, Fort Brighton

Thanks! I think it is time to merge this thread with the old one...

I suppose it depends on if they are pushing or pulling! I suppose when you are pulling, it would be going backwards... The top sections of the ship are removeable, so I can always go in and flip them around without much trouble. Thanks for the insight

No. I dyed the cloth those sails were cut from long before I joined the forums. Yes! Well I definately tried to make the Sienna different from any other ships we've had here before. Lateen Sails, Oar power and Rigging that actually works were all additions that I think make it one of the most unique ships out there!

Sweet, and Phred is from Wisconsin, so we got the Midwest connection going on here! And luckily for us, Phred doesn't much care for the Packers ;) Phred: I like the realistic interior, and that you now have done a little pirate homework. I didn't know anything about actual pirates until I joined this forum, so it has been one of the fun little suprises along the way, such as Pirates and the names of there ships. Black Bart, Blackbeard, William Kidd, Calico Jack, the Barbarossa brothers, etc. They had some cool ships names too, Queen Anne's Revenge, the Golden Hind, Adventure Prize... Bart was about the only one to man such a large ship, but there is no reason Lego pirates can't have one!

Technically speaking, perhaps it is a Galley as opposed to a Xebec. But I used the design mostly off of a Xebec, so it is somewhere in between perhaps... a Xeballey heehee Okay... who wants some pics? A few shots of the rigging. I actually needed the rigging to be somewhat functional to get the sails to stay in place, so they don't move unless you move the little technic pieces in the right direction! It is actually very cool, but I never intended to do it. It worked out very well though. And a shot of the grappling hooks. They would not stay attached to the fore like this, they are just stored here. You could use all three in the same place, or use them to swing over to another ship as well as hook them on the rigging to pull the ships closer together.

Some parts where 'a little dirty'. ;-) I am working on the rigging right now. I guess it is going to have to be somewhat functional as I found the sails moved around a bit too much without any! Edit: Whoa... Okay the rigging got a bit out of hand... I intended for it to look like something, but I actually ended up needing it for the ship to be functional... pics tomorrow when I wake up... which means today for some of you I suppose!

Yes Xebecs, this kind of ship, evolved fomr the medievil galleons which where strictly oar powered. Latter then the Barbary pirates began using Xebecs with the Lateen rigged sails (good when not sailing with the wind) but removing the oars in favor of guns. This doesn't mean no one in the "golden" age of piracy ever rowed a ship though. Galleys still had oars, some times multiple banks. A famous Pirate, William Kidd, even commissioned his own Galley with sails and oars for battle. I decided to do a Xebec with oars and a gun deck. The only way to do that was to put the guns ontop the oars. I like it because it is different and it has never been done on this forum before. The castle forum did have a Lateen rigged Xebec, the red drake, but it was not rowed and had a castle theme. I finished the sails and hopefully there will be some pics a little later. I will try to find some good light, and clean it off. Tomorrow I hope to start on a new ship.

Some Construction photos. Still to come... clean off, add real sails, decided if I am doing any rigging. An experimental sail. It seems to fit pretty well! I think I am going to try to make some out of cloth, hopefully they will be even better!

so you can see in to the lower deck of course!!

Okay here is another version. The exposure on the camera makes them look orange. They really are red.

Yeah, well even if I do not get immediate feedback, at least we could see it all in progress. I kind of like seeing work in progress pictures, so I might take them anyway, even if not for feedback!

Ah well you can get iron on teeshirt transparencies from any local super store, or computer store. I guess I don't know what they are called in Canada... but Wal*mart in the US in the computer section or at Bestbuy in the printer isle (Future Shop in Canada?) They come in both white (for colored teeshirts), and transparent (for white teeshirts).

It has all the elements, I am just not sure if any of them are complete! In terms of the brown, the camera is also making it look like a lighter brown than it really is I think. Maybe in its real life darker state it isn't as... brown... ;) heehee

I actually kind of like this color scheme! I would name it something creative like 'the Emerald' Not bad for a little guy!

Ha wheely bars! good one Phred. Yeah, not a big fan of the sales with the rest of the ship, or of the castle... the stern castle actually looks like a castle! yikes.

Well my Cam actually has good resolution, but I couldn't get the lighting right to zoom in as I wanted. I am actually going to rework the signature a bit, but it will essentially have the same composition as you see there. Yes, I have looked a few times for the cross section book locally, but no one has it. I may have to break down and order it too!

Yes, good ol' Bryce 3d! No Bryce-s in Aussie land? I hope to make it look a little better later when I have some time. Gotta take a test today! Toodles

Heh- I must be pesky then! :-D We don't have a smiley with his tongue sticking out! Anyway, it is just a concept, who knows if I will implement it!