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Another fine Corrington national is looking to join the Empire's exploration and expansion effort - William "Daring Billy" Dodger. The son of a respected architect, Billy has recently graduated from the Belson Royal Engineering University, where he was known for his practical jokes and some rather unsuccessful experiments in the development of a safer type of gunpowder. Billy is now pursuing his lifetime dream: a career in the powerfull Corrington Navy. To this end, he has used his professor's connections to get an audience with a renown Navy admiral. "Uhm.. yes... well.. your references are certainly uhm... impressive... uhm.. Well, I suppose I could always use a decent engineer. We're quite short of hands, with everyone in the country losing their bloody minds and heading east to the New World and all... Uhm.. Well... Let me think.... Ah! I think I've got the perfect assigment for you! Follow me to the shipyard." "One of our captains found this ship abandoned and adrift near Tiberia. It's a little banged up and all, but still quite.. uhm.. seaworthy. The shipyard can't keep up with the demand for new ships, so we're refitting this one. You know.. uhm.. the weirdest thing happened, one of the crew that found her almost had his uhm.. foot bitten of by a crocodile that had crawled on board." "What was the ship called, admiral?" "Oh.. uhm.. the Saint Vitus Dance... Our intelligence suggests she was under command of an inexperienced captain by the name of.. uhm.. Croquet.. but never returned from a trade run" "I see" "Bloody Oleon scum with their weird names... But we're renaming her Torrent. I want you to oversee the overhauling. See if you can make this uhm.. primitive piece of crap.. into something worthy of the Corrington navy." "Aye sir!" And so Billy sets of, drawing up plans and overseeing the construction process. And two weeks of hard work later, the Torrent is ready for inspection by the admiral. Billy, however, has a little joke in mind to play on the admiral.... "Well sir, there she is! I made some changes to the rigging as well. The first sea trials were a bit dissapointing though...." "What the?!?!" "Stand still so I can cut off your head! You good for nothing bungler!" "Whaaaa! It's a joke, admiral, it's just a joke!" One beating and two hours reconfiguring the rigging later.... "She's a fine ship Billy, she'll be a fine addition to the merchant fleet. I could use someone like you on the crew!" "Thanks lieutenant.. But I'm not sure the admiral is keen on having me in the Navy though..." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In real life of course, the Torrent and St Vitus Dance are two different builds, but similar enough to conceivably be transformed with some barrels of paint and some minor woodworking. Also, instead of being just a piece of scenery, the Torrent is a sturdy ship with play features, taking me back into my comfort zone. Both the anchor and the tackle are functionial, and can be controlled by either turning the capstan or the little knob at the back of the ship. Switching between the two functions is done by turning the barrel in front of the foremast. Implementing these features in a small prefab hull was a real challenge! Oh, and Lego, could you make those technic 2x8 plates in brown please? She is armed with four 12-pounders, and a large cargo hold, fitting a class 3 trade ship. The sails are waterproof and tearproof paper, so they will probably last me a while. The stern with the dinghy removed. The black gear can be pulled out 2 studs length and then drives the capstan mechanism. The quarter galleries turned out quite nice. I may have to redesign the stairs to the poop deck though. More pics in the Brickshelf gallery! (Edit: typo)
