WIP-USS Constitution...kinda

[Dirty Bert]

I have been working on this for a little while now but I know it needs a lot of work. Just curious for some feedback.

http://www.flickr.co...N03/5232975150/

http://www.flickr.co...N03/5232383109/

http://www.flickr.co...N03/5232975876/

[Dan the Brickman]

Is the gallery set to private? It wants me to sign in with Yahoo...which, I dont have. (never will)

[Skalldyr]

Is the gallery set to private? It wants me to sign in with Yahoo...which, I dont have. (never will)

It is even not visible when you are logged in...

[Captain Blackmoor]

Nope. Seems to be you have to adjust your private settings.

[Dirty Bert]

Sorry about that...I didnt realize it was set to private. Changed and ready to view.

[Admiral Croissant]

It's already a recognizable Constitution

The colourscheme, the tan decks, the captain's cabin and the arrangement of the ship are all good.

But there is also room for improvement. I would try to make more of a curve in the white gunports line, and let the gunports open upwards.

And your deck is the same width everywhere. You could try to make it more narrow towards the back. And turn the wheel a quarter turn.

With these changes, it will look very close to perfect. Good luck!

[Dan the Brickman]

If you are going for realism, you might want to re-build the front end a bit, build it "up" so the front is more, level, while on the back end, cut off a window or too, or make it round inward a bit more, to get the shape better.

I do like ship MOCs that put the lifeboats on the deck, rather then pulling them behind like most of the official Lego ships.

[ZCerberus]

A very solid start.

Good color and I like the tan decks. It has the right flush deck look.

Things that could use some work:

1) head rails are not quite there. I think the headrails on the Constitution are white/black and not gold. The ones you have now don't seem long enough to me.

2) The shape is a little too "boxy". At a minimum, it needs to curve inward as it goes up to look more accurate.

3) The railing on the top deck is way too low. The flush deck frigates like this had guns mounted the whole length of the top deck, so they are going to need some serious protection!

[Capn Frank]

I always enjoy looking at other creations related to American ships.

This is a great start to my favorite sailing vessels

It looks great so far Dirty Bert!

I'll post the pictures from Flickr onto this topic so that it may be more easily viewed:

(Dirty Bert - Feel free to reply to this post and copy these image locations onto your first post)

For your information:

Our own member Paladin has made his version of Constitution utilizing pre-fab hulls a while ago. (and I could not find a topic for this MOC )

I highly recommend checking out his MOC, which will hopefully give you some ideas to improve your MOC.

In agreement with Z, I do believe that the "railing" on the spar (or top) deck ought to be taller with gaps only for the cannons or carronades. The railing is not as tall in the gangway (or middle) portion of the ship.

Here is a pic of the actual railing from the inside on the spar deck of Constitution:

and here is a pic of a model I've found of Constitution that kind of shows where the railing is not as high along the gangway.

I believe the captain's cabin and stern of this MOC is too boxy. Below is a pic of the model that shows a good view of the shape of the stern:

Link to my Majhost Image gallery that I use to compile some of my reference images for Constitution.

The figure head for Constitution is a simple billet head as opposed to a wooden sculpture.

The original figure head for Constitution was Hercules, but I have not found any images for this figurehead. I do plan on using a Hoplite MF as an alternate figurehead to the Billet Head I have already created.

I hope the comments help in the progress of this MOC and look forward to additional updates.

[gotoAndLego]

Its a very good start but the whole ship seems boxy. When comparing against the model photo posted the cabin is huge and its walls to thick. You might want to decide whether you want to focus on getting its shape right, or having a playable interior. You could also do a combination of the two and build version one to nail the details and shabe and then rebuild it, using what you have learned in v1 to add interior details. Regardless, good work so far.

Edited January 4, 2011 by gotoAndLego

[Dirty Bert]

I 100% agree that it is boxy. It is almost at the point now though that if I were to go back and rebuild it would be virtually a complete redo. I have continued on the road of boxy and hope the other detail can overcome the squareness. This is my first real attempt at a large scale ship. If I could start over again I would change so many things. Maybe I might as thats half the fun?!?! I have some new pics that I can post to show my progress.

[Claus von Nassau]

starting all over again might be very hard, but i have all ready taken my Phoenix apart for 6 times, and each time i've rebuild it with the advice of the best builder around on this forum, and believe me its al worth the work of rebuiling it when you have made a schip that really looks like a miniature of the ship that your rebuilding. the ship looks very nice as it is right now, but it is very boxy and square. keep p the good work!

claus

[Capn Frank]

I look forward to your update Dirty Bert. Thanks for keeping us posted. We all get better and better and building as we continue to build and gain feedback for our models. My first large scale ship that I posted on this forum was very colorful.

[Dirty Bert]

Ok...I am now leaning for a little deconstruct and a redo do reduce the boxy feel. I first want to post some new pics though. Let me do that and then after that round of feedback I will most likely redo a good portion.

[Captain Blackmoor]

That would be great, I'm looking forward to it!

[Dirty Bert]

Here are some updates:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55910652@N03/5343946600/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55910652@N03/5343339037/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55910652@N03/5343947286/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55910652@N03/5343338027/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55910652@N03/5343947604/in/photostream/

Not sure what I am doing wrong but the pics never see, to work for me?? Links is all I have. Sorry...

[Admiral Croissant]

That's some good progress you've made

It's still a little bit boxy. Maybe you can make the stern and side galleries a bit more round. You could take a look at other builders and Mr. Phes his information.

The colourscheme is nice and I really like the tan decks and red cannons.

The decks are also good, but you could improve it. The lattice works with the sloops is usually between main and fore mast instead of between main and mizzen.

There's also one stairway on the ship which is placed a bit too far too one side IMO. Right in the middle will look better.

Looking a but more closely at the real ship will probably be very helpful for things like that.

Goo work on the crow's nests by the way. The fences are a great detail. Perhaps they are too large but that makes it also more playful.

Good luck, Keep it up!

[lt.Gonville brickhead]

It's a good start.

The middle mast seems a bit high but I am not an expert so I may be wrong.

(Eh,Phred It might just be my computer but some of your pictures are posted twice???)

[Dirty Bert]

Admiral Croissant, I still agree with you totally that the stern is boxy. Those corners are making me crazy. I think I am going to do a bit of a reconstruct on it down to the white line and start over. I am going to try to add a slight curve to it to break up that straight line all the way across the ship. I also might add in slopes in between the gun ports like those that are on the Imperial Flagship. It could break up that flat look on the sides. Just some ideas For now. I am looking for any feedback out there...I wont get offended. I promise.

[Dirty Bert]

Claus, I just got through reading all 5 pages of your Phoenix thread and after seeing all of the work you have put into your ship, I will do a major tear down and redo the middle of the ship. I will try to "round" out the middle and also tackle the sterns boxy feel. So close...yet SO far away from done. Thanks guys for the feedback!!

[Claus von Nassau]

Claus, I just got through reading all 5 pages of your Phoenix thread and after seeing all of the work you have put into your ship, I will do a major tear down and redo the middle of the ship. I will try to "round" out the middle and also tackle the sterns boxy feel. So close...yet SO far away from done. Thanks guys for the feedback!!

so close and still so far away, that is excatly the feeling i have during that build. if you click on my prfile you can also see the very first post i've made with my phoenix, and those pic's there wil show the progress you can make with the right help!

i'am realy looking forward to see a next update.

claus

[Capn Frank]

Not sure what I am doing wrong but the pics never see, to work for me?? Links is all I have. Sorry...

Dirty Bert,

If you go to one of your Flickr links, follow these steps:

- Select "Share This" above the photo in Flickr

- In the popup menu, select "Grab the HTML/BBCode

- Then, select the "BBCode" button instead of the "HTML" button

- The window tells you to copy and paste the code below, but you do not need all of it

-- The portion you need to highlight and copy is the first portion of the code that contains the following (Without the asterisks) [*url=webpage][*img]the image's webpage[*/img][*/url]

- Finally, paste the "code" that you copied (whether it's the whole or a portion of it from Flickr) onto your post

On a side note, you can go back and edit your posts with images instead of just links.

(Eh,Phred It might just be my computer but some of your pictures are posted twice???)

Yeah you're right. I fixed it, but I don't know how a messed url link would cause the last half of my post to be doubled.

I think I am going to do a bit of a reconstruct on it down to the white line and start over. I am going to try to add a slight curve to it to break up that straight line all the way across the ship. I also might add in slopes in between the gun ports like those that are on the Imperial Flagship. It could break up that flat look on the sides. Just some ideas For now.

I would check out Captain Green Hair's topic: Build a Frigate w/ Captain Green Hair Thread He uses a technique where regular bricks can be used instead of using sloped bricks to get the Tumblehome Effect.