Ahoy my fellow captains,

kind of a strange feeling to start this post, since I have been browsing this forum for more than a year now, admiring these countless pieces of art posted here. Actually, it's been my six-year-old son who constantly asked me to post our progress here - his father was a little shy and reluctant to do so, since he is never truly satisfied with his construction and still in awe regarding your astonishing models.

But, you know, "Arrrrghh", what the heck, no need to hide anymore, I've been utterly in love with LEGO since I got my first bricks and can still vividly remember sitting on my child room's floor next to my brother, listening to "ALF" cassettes and (re-)build our barracuda for the 100th time.. The first pictures show the results of my sons' and my christmas-constructing period of 2016. Ever since, we weren't really happy with its form and as we were blown away by the exellency of ships like the  "Le Fleuron" or the "Sang Royale" (and especially, of course, Cpt. Greenhair's unbelievably helpful ideas - THANK YOU, CAPTAIN!!), we wanted to do it differently this time.

The pictures after the "Barracuda" show the process of our current project with the (according to my most patient, wonderful and tolerant wife...) fitting title "HMS Effortless".

I think you know this feeling of always finding something to improve... lately, it's the positioning of the masts - the distance between the fore-mast and the mainmast seems to be too far.

Please let us know what you think and where you see room for further improvement - my son and I are happy about every feedback!

 

First the "old" Barracuda:

 

And this is supposed to be legendary HMS Victory's "secret" sister ship, the HMS Effortless:

(The balcony was my son's wish )

It's planned to give her full rigging, sails and of course the many missing details she deserves. it's always a question of time and money

Here are more pics from her construction so far as well as more of the Barracuda.

What a great way to introduce yourself! Welcome to Eurobricks!

The ship looks awesome!

Such a remarkable difference between the designs! It's breathtaking. 

I also am a major fan of play-ability over historical perfection, so the fact that the sides hinge out really excites me. I hope you're planning on finishing this one.

 

Astounding.

 

MAC

Nice job, I never thought it was possible to build such a large ship with prefabs, you just proved me wrong. The openable side gallery is a clever feature, and it should certainly enhance playability. The distance between the main and foremast is good, if you aren't content with the current arrangement, I think you may consider to displace the mizzen mast further aft. 

Wahou, this is not a small part ! Very nice. What is its weight at this time ?

I hope you will come to post the next steps until the end of the MOC.

 

Little New Years update!

Happy new year to all of you!

Wow, what a nice project!!!

I was blown away by the pictures, especially compared to your Old Barracuda. The difference is huge!!!

 

Anyway, good luck with the rest! You got a huge supporter here :)

Edited January 7, 20196 yr by Maxim I

On 12/31/2018 at 5:49 AM, Buccaneero said:

 

Little New Years update!

Happy new year to all of you!

Can't wait to see rigging and sails on this bad boy!

Thank you all for your feedback - I'm working on it :)

Buccaneero great job ! HMS Victory's "secret" is awesome !!

Ahoi,

here are some updates on the rigging ( ... mainly due to a cruciate ligament rupture ...) 

 

 

 

Very impressive work. I love the shape, size and overall look of your ship. It's a massive beast!!

Have fun with the rigging (been there and it's a bit of work :)).

 

Underestimated the sails... it's been hours of measuring and cutting and I am not at all satisfied with the result...

 

Note that these are just the paper prototypes! I have some cotton fabric ready but I needed to see the shapes on the ship before I seriously start to work with the final fabric... the brick-part was more fun :)

Wow, what an absolute beauty! I can't wait to see her with cloth sails!

23 minutes ago, Buccaneero said:

Underestimated the sails... it's been hours of measuring and cutting and I am not at all satisfied with the result...

Seems like the HMS Effortless takes a lot more effort than the name would imply ! Haha, don't worry, we've all been there!

Thanks for your comment. It's the sails' shape which wont really come to live on my model... still working on it... actually just right now

12 hours ago, Buccaneero said:

Thanks for your comment. It's the sails' shape which wont really come to live on my model... still working on it... actually just right now

I find that if you curve the lower edge of the sail inward (in the middle), you get sails that look a bit more dynamic - might work for you.

Also, your sails should be short enough that they do not overlap the yardarm below. Otherwise, they cannot be sheeted home! ;)

Thank you, Bregir!

I tried to apply your ideas and that's what happened:

 

I still have the impression that the "length (hull) - height (masts) ratio" is not ideal, the ship seems to be too "flat". I used some online pictures like this as reference:

(hope it's ok to link it here - if not please let me know!)

Edited August 21, 20195 yr by Buccaneero
spelling

I am not a fan of the "flat" paper sails - and that is the only minor point of criticism I'd raise.

 

Other than that: breathtaking build, absolutely awesome from front to end! This is one of the things I want to do one day, and you have achieved it close to perfection. I'm in complete awe!

2 hours ago, Buccaneero said:

I still have the impression that the "length (hull) - height (masts) ratio" is not ideal, the ship seems to be too "flat"

Generally, on a full rigger, the main mast should be aprroximately as tall as the hull (ex bowsprit) is long. It seems to me that your ship generally have good proportions.

A ship like this would often be able to carry royals above the topgallants (from below, the sails are named courses, topsails, topgallants, and royals (and above, I believe some carried "skysails")). So imagine in quiet weather, she may carry a smaller sail above, which would probably make her look very tall.

So I think the proportions are fairly good :)

8 hours ago, Buccaneero said:

I still have the impression that the "length (hull) - height (masts) ratio" is not ideal, the ship seems to be too "flat". I used some online pictures like this as reference:

I think that Bregir's method worked really well. As for the overall flatness, I think what you want is a wind blown effect. My guess is this can be achieved by making the sails larger and then tying each corner to the yardarms.  You'll have to make sure not to make the sails too much larger, because all you're doing is just basically folding extra sail to give a wind blown effect. Also, make sure to tie the knots extra stiffly so that way your sails would be nice and tough. Hope this helps! 

Also, just want to put an emphasis again on how well done this ship is. Sails or no sails, this is one beautiful vessel!

Edited August 21, 20195 yr by The Neighborhood Merchant

Well...,

since my wife is on holiday and I am at home with my two boys, I have to be honest: I am enjoying our male houshold a lot :) It consists of being outside with kids at daytime, being on our "dining table" (not much left of it :)) at nightime and finding the (hopefully) final sails-shapes which are going to be used as a stencil for the upcoming cloth version.

And I think I am finally happy with the overall shape - thanks to your ideas, advice and competent information! Thank you! (Love this forum!)

Even though the rigging definitely is a pain, I try to enjoy these last adjustments - I actually can't really image the idea of being finished :). Maybe a French frigate is next ... but it is still a very long way to go, so I'm already looking forward to continuing tonight.

 

Thanks again, you are fantastic!

 

Damn looks so great. My son'sbiggest wish is that Ship as I started already a raw build. Unfortunately the lego store in Berlin doesn't have that pieces I need.

Not even some of them... so I will wait and the raw ship stays like this for a while.

But you had the pieces and you did a great job, respect! 

I am focusing on different ships now first. Or take the bigger hull parts and build a newer bigger caravel for my sigfig... I will see. I wanted talk to my son that I will build another ship where we have a lot of parts, but he doesn't want that. He wants the Victory. So I will keep the raw build on the side first focussing in playing and waiting too I have all parts I need.

Hi DonRamon,

thanks for your kind comment and greetings to the captiol! :) Berlin is roughly a 5 hours drive away from us, so basically neighbourhood :) I'll send you a link to where I ordered most of the parts online - it was basically directly from LEGO, which isn't as expensive as one might think.

I am still working on the rigging, which doesn't seem to have an end... I am full of respect for what people did 254 years ago... incredible

Oh yes you are right. It's not that I don't have opportunities to get bricks. I can get here bricks new parts also for 5 cents. 

I like challenges ;-)

Right now I am doing the instructions and pictures with the Studio IO 2.0 for my ship. Pictures will be better and if I need the parts and build something else I have the instructions to quickly rebuild that...

And oh yes the rigging but also the navigation back than was really tough. I am a big fan of History and what the British Accomplished at the Sea, wow. I mean like Trafalgar with Nelson.

Imagine... combined Spanish / French Fleet because they needed to destroy the British Fleet for the invasion plans of Napoleon. 

Admiral Villeneuve was the French Admiral...

The stats... 33 ships from Spain/France vs 27 British Ships.

The British had less canons, less manpower... but has been best equipped and the crew was very well prepared. While British Gunmen could fire two shots the French and Spanish were way too slow, in the same time they just been able to shoot once.

In the End... after Nelson with his famous anti traditional approach to attack them with their front, split the enemy lines and fire them from both sides.... the End? French and Spanish lost 22 Ships, Admiral Villeneuve was imprisoned in England, and the British? ZERO Ships lost! 

That's unreal but it is. And dislike the Spanish Armada being beating by the English and destroyed by a storm, this time it was no storm helping the British. The storm came AFTER the battle and the British were unlucky this time, because they had to sink like 6 ships that they took from the enemy, on the way back to Britain. But still, no British Ships lost...

That's crazy but just an example how their power on the Sea has been. 

But back to topic I love sailing ships strategy and tactics, history... 

Again GREAT SHIP ;-)

So, my wife decided it's time she moves to another room... she needs her dining table back :)

I actually overhauled almost all the sails for an 8th or 9th time and decided to leave them like they are right now. I am finally (really) satisfied with the sail's shape.

Next step, finish rigging, use stencil paper sails to make proper cloth ones... I'll be posting more as soon as there's progress.

 

Thank you again for your motivating feedback and your kind advice!

Edited September 11, 20195 yr by Buccaneero