[ENTRY] Skulls Eye Schooner remake (6286)

[Quotenotto]

On 8/18/2023 at 6:20 PM, Mazin said:

Truly remarkable craftmanship mein herr. Estethically this might be the best ship in Lego pirate theme ever. I like it's shape, both color versions, and sails, even tho they are not made out of a real material ( not yet at least ), and that additional little island is a nice bonus. Then again, maybe it's a presentation, maybe it's this gothic feeling, this overhelming darkness that it doesn't look like a legit classic Lego set. I know that Lego went a bit away from the first wave colorful vessels and islands into territories of different tones, but this one carries this a bit depresive autumn vibe, instead of fun, that i'm looking for in Lego ;) I know that these colors rule because this is a remake that's supposed to use original colors, but there something darkmarish about it ;) And then again, original Baracuda had a lot more soul and charm the the original Schooner :)

Anyway, i'd realy like to see some closeup of it's interiors if possible. You've mentioned that the stern is openable and that there are secret compartments, it would be cool to have them photographed/visible on renders as well. Same goes for the gunk deck, so far i've been able to see that there 4 gunport and a huge space behind them for the artilerrymen. I believe that there's a staircase just by it and probably some door to captain's cabin, so it would nice for reviewers to see it, as all those elements would probably let You score some additional points, since You seem verys skilled at brick building :) 

And, when i went to Your gallery on flickr i saw that You've made an another version of Your corvette, in Imperial colors, so i wonder it it could be possible to merge those two versions, like, since pirates used to attak under false flag tactics, maybe they could also sail with exchangable boards on the hull? So that Your ship could be used as both a legit pirate ship and a pirate ship disguised as an Imperial vessel, and then it could be used as an imperial craft if prefered. Two-three toys in one :) But it's just an suggestion that popped up in my mind upon seeing that Your corvette/schooner is sort of a chameleon, cause obviously i have no idea if such proposal could be doable ;)  

Unfortunatly, it is not easily possible to exchange the hull colour pieces, so a two in one variant is not really an option. The imperial corvette is just another project of mine, for which I used the structure i developped, because I think it it quite customizable.

On 8/19/2023 at 4:00 PM, TheCosmicTravelers said:

I think the problem with so much grey (the original set did not have this color extending as far into the stern and sterncastle along the sides and rear of the hull) is that it makes the ship look rather drearily monochromatic. When I first saw the earlier renders, I initially thought I was looking at a grayscale image with dark red and tan colors added for highlighting! The green canon covers and golden scroll work in your color variant version definitely helped to dispel this impression.

 

5 minutes ago, _R_R_ said:

I love how imposing the she looks but must agree with everyone else, having the bright red and green would make her pop more and perhaps a bit more white along the edges. I feel like TLG would use regular hull pieces instead of going for the brickbuilt route but I understand this is your design and you probably can't change it now anyway but perhaps changing the color from sand to brown will make it more vibrant? The little island is a nice addition and is a foreboding foreshadowing of what will happen to the poor sod walking the plank! 

I totaly understand the criticism concerning my colour choices, but I stand by my point, the rugged, worn down look is something I wanted to capture, it should be quite period accurate, because pirates had little to no acces to extensive maintanace and would just capture the next best ship and abandoning the old one.

As for more colours, in design theory, three main colour types are optimal, anything more can be irritating (yes, accent colours are possible, but I chose not to use them and the pirates are quite colourfull themself). Here is a good explanation of the concept (starting at 4:13):

For design, capturing the shape and silhouette is the most important part and that was my main goal. Big mocs can often be really detailed, but a very fine level of details can distract from the overall picture. Therefore, Lego-sets often use details sparingly and in fitting places (like the brick detailing in the new eldorado fortress), something I try to recreate in my designs.

I have used the standard Lego hull pieces for mocs, but they are to rigid to work with for my taste. the biggest Lego ship (10210) uses two bow pieces on front and back and four hull pieces. That was for a flagship, I wanted something smaller. With the usual numbers of 2-3 hull-pieces, the ships do look more like swimming bathtubs than sleek and fast sailing vessels and don't get me started on those high stern castles, they remind me of modern cargo ships with masts, but not pirate ships (as mentioned before, there are ships from the 16th and 17th century with beautiful high stern castles, but they rise up more gradually and dont look like somebody placed a castle on the back of a boat). I know that a lot of period art does depict ships in that way, but that has different reasons, for example, the stern of a ship is quite an identification mark and for artists depicting the ships, it was important that they were recongnisable, therefore they accentuated those parts, but in reality, ships build in that way would capsize pretty easily (there are even real examples of ships capzising without looking that ridicoulus like the Mary rose or the Vasa). If you compare them to actual period plans or models, they look really different. But that shall be enough ranting about ship depictions for today.
My hull is actually as long as the new black seas barracuda, but a little slimmer and with the tapering towards the stern sleeker. I wanted to create something that is a little smaller an therefore better sizes up with the eldorado fortress.

Unfortunatly, my missing parts havn't arrived yet, therefore I am going to create some more renders for the final presentation, also with more details. In my opinion, Stud.io renders don't present colours acurately, or if somebody knows how to adjust the settings, tips are greatly appreciated.

[_R_R_]

2 hours ago, Quotenotto said:

Unfortunatly, it is not easily possible to exchange the hull colour pieces, so a two in one variant is not really an option. The imperial corvette is just another project of mine, for which I used the structure i developped, because I think it it quite customizable.

 

I totaly understand the criticism concerning my colour choices, but I stand by my point, the rugged, worn down look is something I wanted to capture, it should be quite period accurate, because pirates had little to no acces to extensive maintanace and would just capture the next best ship and abandoning the old one.

As for more colours, in design theory, three main colour types are optimal, anything more can be irritating (yes, accent colours are possible, but I chose not to use them and the pirates are quite colourfull themself). Here is a good explanation of the concept (starting at 4:13):

For design, capturing the shape and silhouette is the most important part and that was my main goal. Big mocs can often be really detailed, but a very fine level of details can distract from the overall picture. Therefore, Lego-sets often use details sparingly and in fitting places (like the brick detailing in the new eldorado fortress), something I try to recreate in my designs.

I have used the standard Lego hull pieces for mocs, but they are to rigid to work with for my taste. the biggest Lego ship (10210) uses two bow pieces on front and back and four hull pieces. That was for a flagship, I wanted something smaller. With the usual numbers of 2-3 hull-pieces, the ships do look more like swimming bathtubs than sleek and fast sailing vessels and don't get me started on those high stern castles, they remind me of modern cargo ships with masts, but not pirate ships (as mentioned before, there are ships from the 16th and 17th century with beautiful high stern castles, but they rise up more gradually and dont look like somebody placed a castle on the back of a boat). I know that a lot of period art does depict ships in that way, but that has different reasons, for example, the stern of a ship is quite an identification mark and for artists depicting the ships, it was important that they were recongnisable, therefore they accentuated those parts, but in reality, ships build in that way would capsize pretty easily (there are even real examples of ships capzising without looking that ridicoulus like the Mary rose or the Vasa). If you compare them to actual period plans or models, they look really different. But that shall be enough ranting about ship depictions for today.
My hull is actually as long as the new black seas barracuda, but a little slimmer and with the tapering towards the stern sleeker. I wanted to create something that is a little smaller an therefore better sizes up with the eldorado fortress.

Unfortunatly, my missing parts havn't arrived yet, therefore I am going to create some more renders for the final presentation, also with more details. In my opinion, Stud.io renders don't present colours acurately, or if somebody knows how to adjust the settings, tips are greatly appreciated.

That's perfectly understandable matey, it's your build your rules! 

My suggestion is mainly due to the fact TLG doesn't really care about lore or period accuracy when it comes to colors, take the Barracuda in PoBB for example it's supposed to be parts of a shipwreck but they're all in mind condition. 

As far as the hull I suggested the hull pieces because gain TLG would probably use those in an official set a brickbuilt hull feels more like MOC territory.

But again it's your build and you should do what you think is best for it! Btw I forgot to mention I really like how you designed the cabin section and it's windows, any interior shots?

[durazno33]

Color wise the Skulls Eye Schooner wasn't my favorite of the classic pirates because it lacked the bright colors like the Barracuda or the red or blue of the imperial ships. These colors lend themselves to having a ghost or skeleton crew. When you add a crew, I think that would be a cool addition to the classic build.

[Quotenotto]

9 hours ago, durazno33 said:

Color wise the Skulls Eye Schooner wasn't my favorite of the classic pirates because it lacked the bright colors like the Barracuda or the red or blue of the imperial ships. These colors lend themselves to having a ghost or skeleton crew. When you add a crew, I think that would be a cool addition to the classic build.

A ghost- or skeleton crew would be an interesting option, together with torn sails, a few holes in the hull or something simlar, I think I'm gonna try that down the line. If TLG would produce something like that, I fear nowadays they would just have one ghost- and one normal side (like the terrible lastest fluffy design from the Harry Potter set).

[Quotenotto]

By some miracle the missing parts have arrived! Now the race to finish the build and make some pictures is on.

[Quotenotto]

Finished the build and sails, final update is in the main post.

[MstrOfPppts]

Wow, love the brick built final version! And the custom sails turned out great! Still missing the green flags for the cannon covers but it's a personal aesthetics matter. Very well done!

[Mazin]

If i could suggest something, the photo of Your hand made model is more attractive than Your rendered version, in my own oppinion, for some it may make no difference, but i believe it would look better in the Index of Entries, than the rendered pic visible there. If that could be changed of course, and if You'd like too ;) 

[iragm]

On 8/20/2023 at 10:44 PM, durazno33 said:

Color wise the Skulls Eye Schooner wasn't my favorite of the classic pirates because it lacked the bright colors like the Barracuda or the red or blue of the imperial ships

Blasphemy.

 

13 hours ago, Quotenotto said:

Finished the build and sails, final update is in the main post.

Wow, the physical build looks great.  Even though the photos aren't the best, but it still looks so much better than the renders did.  I actually can't believe the difference, this went from being a good build to one of my favorite entries in the contest.  It looks like you hand drew the sails; if you printed them, they'd look a lot cleaner.  But still, this is downright excellent.  I hope it makes it to Rebrickable.

[Quotenotto]

13 minutes ago, iragm said:

Blasphemy.

 

Wow, the physical build looks great.  Even though the photos aren't the best, but it still looks so much better than the renders did.  I actually can't believe the difference, this went from being a good build to one of my favorite entries in the contest.  It looks like you hand drew the sails; if you printed them, they'd look a lot cleaner.  But still, this is downright excellent.  I hope it makes it to Rebrickable.

Thank you, I'm a terrible photographer. Yes, the sails are handdrawn, but I have scans of them and I'm gonna get some help to properly digitalise them. Before I put the instructions on Rebrickable (or some alternative), I need to figure out, how property rights work with those kinds of builds, because I remade an original Lego creation. Worst case scenario, I'm just gonna sell the imperial corvette version and everybody who has purchased that, can message me and I'm gonna send them the instructions of this set with parts list aswell. But first, I need to make some corrections to my instructions and highlight some difficult parts and then I'm gonna testbuild this moc again, before I can make them available.

[Rogue Redcoat]

Perfect, not much to critique now, 

[Brickander Brickumnus]

I generally dislike brick build hulls but yours is superb!

Excellent ship! Kudos!

[Sebeus I]

Well done!

For me, the custom hull is the real highlight of this creation. I never quite liked the colour scheme of the original SES, good call to go for dark red and neglect the green gun flaps .