Shipwrights Guild Hall (WIPs, feedback, and advice)

[Darnok]

Looking good already!

[Bodi]

Printed sails, can't wait to see more.

[Bregir]

LS that is looking good, and Elos, you are quite a tease! ;)

I too have a little something in the works

WIP by Christian West, on Flickr

[LM71Blackbird]

58 minutes ago, Bregir said:

I too have a little something in the works

I'm liking the look of those masonry bricks!

[Bodi]

Interesting, the hull is nicely curved and the brick-bricks work surprisingly well here, so far there are 13 gunports on each side, looks promising.

[Bregir]

On 8/27/2018 at 11:44 PM, LM71Blackbird said:

I'm liking the look of those masonry bricks!

Yes - I figured they would look like heavy planking and give a nice texture to a hull :)

1 hour ago, Bodi said:

Interesting, the hull is nicely curved and the brick-bricks work surprisingly well here, so far there are 13 gunports on each side, looks promising.

Thanks - and actually, it is 14 plus a chaser (if I remember correctly) ;)

She is planned as a 28/30 gun (on maindeck) frigate, but the scale will mean she is actually bigger (although not taller) than the two decker I have in the works. I just received a large Bricklink order, and she should start progressing again. (I did not have near enough black plates, dark red masonry bricks, etc.)

In prefabs, she is more than 9 long, so I think we might need to revise the pre fab guidelines for the larger classes. (Although probably not as long as you lovely SOTL!)

I am thinking she will be a class 8, similar to my two decker. She is longer and wider, but will not be as heavy. And I am super excited to progress. I do, however, expect to take my time with her, to get her to look right. And be sturdy.

Securing the chainplates properly for the shrouds will be a difficult task, I fear. With the rigging as tall as it will be on her, they will have to be able to take quite a strain. How did you manage that on your SOTL, particularly considering the decks can be removed?

[Bodi]

20 hours ago, Bregir said:

She is planned as a 28/30 gun (on maindeck) frigate, but the scale will mean she is actually bigger (although not taller) than the two decker I have in the works. I just received a large Bricklink order, and she should start progressing again. (I did not have near enough black plates, dark red masonry bricks, etc.)

Can't wait to see your twodecker done, since I've seen the wip photos on the first page of the guild, I always wished to see completed and posted in this forum. 

20 hours ago, Bregir said:

Securing the chainplates properly for the shrouds will be a difficult task, I fear. With the rigging as tall as it will be on her, they will have to be able to take quite a strain. How did you manage that on your SOTL, particularly considering the decks can be removed?

In fact the chainplates (or should I say "chainbricks") on my sotl are tied to the hull through ring plates, here's a photo:

And the different sections of the hull are secured with turnable plates and plates, I used turnable plates to allow me to adjust the angle of each section.

The whole thing is quite sturdy, the main mast hit the door frame once and it's still intact. Although, if I want to pass the "lift it by holding the main mast" test, I'll have to find a much better solution.

[Roadmonkeytj]

@Bregir

Im really digging the look of the mason brick as well ... Cant wait to see it come together.

[Bregir]

Maybe I should start finishing some of them... :P

busy shipyards by Christian West, on Flickr

[Roadmonkeytj]

4 hours ago, Bregir said:

Maybe I should start finishing some of them... :P

busy shipyards by Christian West, on Flickr

Masts and sail work not your favorite  I take it lol

[Bregir]

2 hours ago, Roadmonkeytj said:

Masts and sail work not your favorite  I take it lol

I quite enjoy the rigging part, but sails are... not my favourite part of the process. :P I am missing some string for rigging, though.

[Bodi]

14 hours ago, Bregir said:

Maybe I should start finishing some of them... :P

That's a entire fleet you're building here, should I be worried?

[Bregir]

Progress on the soon(tm) to be HMS Sirius (I think). I will need to redo the beakhead, and figure out how attach the bowsprit properly.

I have also reworked the stern galleries on my SOTL, which I will try to finish up "shortly".

As well as the breakhead:

And an overall shot of her progress so far.

Any tips on the string used for rigging? Where do you get it, and what type do you use?

[Roadmonkeytj]

5 hours ago, Bregir said:

Any tips on the string used for rigging? Where do you get it, and what type do you use?

I use heavy embroidery thread that I spin into rope...  It's roughly the thickness of Lego cord.   I can make it thinner or thicker by using more or less loops on my rope machine.     It takes about 10 min start to finish for a 6' finished "rope".

So I found one...  

it's not the prettiest but I can work this by myself the weight and spinner hook hang over the back of a chair across the kitchen.   As the rope becomes...  Well rope the spinning hook travels closer to the rig.  My cord is three foot.   It does 6' rope just fine but I have to stop and move the weight for 12'

If you google DIY rope machines theres some neat ones out there and after watching a few you will understand how to run them. 

Here's the dead eyes I made with this method:

 

Edited September 24, 2018 by Roadmonkeytj

[Bodi]

That's a pair of superb ships Bregir.

For the string, you may take a look at shipmodeling shops, they sell strings specialiazed made for the rigging, like waxed twine, and they usually come in black, tan, and brown.

[LM71Blackbird]

@Bregir, those are truly works of art! Beautiful work so far!

[Bodi]

I have here some photos of a wip, it's inspired from fluyts of Compagnies des Indes (French East India Company), their layout differs from regular twodeckers, they didn't have a faux-pont (spardeck?), to maximize cargo capacity. So I'm not sure if I can license it as a class 7, it has two decks but it's lighter than a two deck warship. What do you think, a class 6 or a class 7?

The upper deck can be easily removed, to facilitate access to the cargo. 

[Mesabi]

Looking great, @Bodi, my vote is class 7. 

My turn!

Ship WIP by North White, on Flickr

Ship WIP by North White, on Flickr

She's a Carrack, and a little fat, but I like the general look of her. Any thoughts? She'll need sails of some sort, and some finishing touches, but that'll need more bricklink orders. 

[Darnok]

@Mesabi

I like her a lot, definitely your best ship MOC so far!

The dark red and white (or is it light grea? tough to tell...) works well, my only issue is that dark red and reddish brown do not contrast at all. Sometimes it is hard to even tell them apart in a build. But do not change the colours here! It could use some more white (in place of those 2x2 tiles with one stud maybe).

 

Anyway, great work so far, and I can not wait to see it finished!

[Bodi]

@Mesabi I agree, it looks very good, your best ship so far! I'm  like it chubby appearance, as it should be. The colour scheme looks good too, dark red goes well with brown, as to the sails, you could consider to try to build some brick built ones, for example using curved bricks to represent furled sails.

[Wellesley]

Hey fellow shipbuilders,

it's a shame, I only get here now. Wonderful ships overall. Was just reading the first and a few f the last pages.

@Mesabi Maybe one more midsection solves the problem of looking a bit too high? But for a carrack that is acceptable. You might also want to look at some pictures of cogs. They would be placed a bit earlier in time, but one could treat her as a relic that made it through history.

@Bregir The HMS Endeavour is nicely shaped. Given the coulour scheme you could try something I always wanted to do on a white ship.
Using this horse head as a figurehead:

Apart from that I am a bit concerned about the black stern. Maybe you could lighten it up a bit with a more or less continous white stripe of one plate thickness, seperating both decks. Also I want to pick up @Legostone's recommendation of using some regular blue stones for colour variations. My tip would be to use regular blue gun ports instead of black. In my mind that would just give a more fitting picture.

[Bregir]

On 9/24/2018 at 3:58 AM, Bodi said:

That's a pair of superb ships Bregir.

On 9/25/2018 at 4:57 PM, LM71Blackbird said:

@Bregir, those are truly works of art! Beautiful work so far!

Thanks, guys - after finishing the first version of deck details on the SOTL, she is really begging for some rigging! :)

On 9/24/2018 at 3:52 AM, Roadmonkeytj said:

I use heavy embroidery thread that I spin into rope...

I have actually done the same on a similar rig built entirely by lego/technic :P It gave some rather thick ropes, that I will be using for anchor cables etc. I simply used sewing thread, spinning 6 strings (I think) into one cable. Looks great, although the black is hard to show in pictures :)

On 9/24/2018 at 3:58 AM, Bodi said:

For the string, you may take a look at shipmodeling shops, t

And so I did, buying string in different thickness and both black and tan. Aaaand a sheet of sailcloth that I will be looking forward to trying (although actually sewing it is not my favourite prospect... :P )

On 11/16/2018 at 9:44 AM, Bodi said:

I have here some photos of a wip, it's inspired from fluyts of Compagnies des Indes

Look great, Bodi - although I didn't know you knew how to build trading vessels! :D She is really lovely - great details all around. Looks like you might have forgotten chainplates, though?

On 11/16/2018 at 9:44 AM, Bodi said:

What do you think, a class 6 or a class 7?

Being a twodecker, if she has 5 mid sections, I would say she is comparable to the Margot and can be a class 7. If she has 4, she would be a class 6.

On 11/17/2018 at 3:52 AM, Mesabi said:

She's a Carrack, and a little fat,

As she should be! She looks like a massive improvement on your past ships, and I really like her. Her shape may be a bit exaggerated, like a comic book ship, but I quite like it, and it reminds me of something I have seen in RTS games. Colourscheme is spot on too.

I would suggest moving the boats to davits either on the quarter galleries or stern, as currently, they look a bit out of place.

Further, I suggest removing the brown round 2x2s as part of the masts. Instead, use the prefab pieces for lower masts, and then make topmasts in technic connectors. (Similar to how Bodi did his topgallant masts) In a carrack, the masts would probably only be in two pieces, not three as in later vessels. And like bodi did, the topmasts should overlap the lower masts somewhat. Imagine they have to be tied together. You can't do that end to end, but need the overlap. That is also where you would create the tops, from whence marines can fire muskets or swivels, and where look-outs can reside. :)

Overall, great vessel. I really like where she is going. How many midsections does she use?

On 11/18/2018 at 11:14 AM, Wellesley said:

Hey fellow shipbuilders,

And welcome to you too!

On 11/18/2018 at 11:14 AM, Wellesley said:

@Bregir The HMS Endeavour is nicely shaped. Given the coulour scheme you could try something I always wanted to do on a white ship.
Using this horse head as a figurehead:

Apart from that I am a bit concerned about the black stern. Maybe you could lighten it up a bit with a more or less continous white stripe of one plate thickness, seperating both decks. Also I want to pick up @Legostone's recommendation of using some regular blue stones for colour variations. My tip would be to use regular blue gun ports instead of black. In my mind that would just give a more fitting picture.

Might have to get my hands on that piece! :)

And I have reworked the stern cabins many times already, so I may consider your suggestion of a white stripe. I am not too fond of introducing another colour so close to the light blue (and I do not have any blue gunports... :P )

She is very close to being done, though, basically "just" needing rigging, and rear-admiral Fletcher has been without a flagship for so long, I think it is time to do something about it. (And then there are all the other WIPs I really should get to finishing... :P

[Legostone]

@Bregir I liked the old stern on the ship of the line a bit more tbh, the lower level windows look odd in the hull. I've already mentioned this vessel a fair number of times, but following the idea of a single decked cabin in a SOTL like La Fama seems pretty good: 

Also, moving the top headrails ends further up (but keeping the middle part down) would drastically improve the bow I'm pretty sure, you should try that. 

 

@Bodi Nice Fluyt :D I want to build one of those too at some point, and class 7 seems spot on for me ;)@Mesabi Your best looking vessel yet! The Steering Wheel is a bit out of place though, that only came into use around the 18th century, but I guess in BOBS everything is acceptable. Regarding size - given the obvious bulk of a carrack I'm unsure how it would fit into the current class system, class 3 seems a little small to me here. I think despite it being only a single midsection I wouldn't be opposed to a class 4 here (@Bregir ?) For the masts either listen to Bregir or keep them a single piece - I'm pretty sure carracks with pole masts (=single piece) weren't an unseen sight.

Rowing boats at the side are fine (though I think I prefer hanging them from the stern as suggested by bregir), but not in the current way. How would you release them? Tipping them over the side? A pair of davits per boat should solve it, either at the stern or on either side is fine. 

[Ross Fisher]

@Mesabi it looks a bit Captain Pugwash to me. But that's all fine with me!

[Professor Thaum]

On 11/17/2018 at 7:15 AM, Drunknok said:

 

I like her a lot, definitely your best ship MOC so far! 

 It could use some more white (in place of those 2x2 tiles with one stud maybe).

 

Agreed !

On 11/17/2018 at 12:38 PM, Bodi said:

 I agree, it looks very good, your best ship so far! I'm  like it chubby appearance, as it should be. The colour scheme looks good too, dark red goes well with brown, as to the sails, you could consider to try to build some brick built ones, for example using curved bricks to represent furled sails.

Agreed too

 

Well done !! That's a pretty good carrack @Mesabi

 

I like it's fat looking, that's cool for such a vessel, there is only the rigging left !! Go on !!