[MOC] Leviathan, a Cancer-class warship

[Khorne]

Greetings!

I'd like to present to you my latest project. It's a ship based on ancient Greek and Roman designs, albeit with a touch of added fantasy . I wasn't sure if I wanted to show you WIP pictures or not, but I ended up doing it anyway. I think it's good for me to show the WIP, cuz it's always interesting to get some C & C! Anyway, on to the MOC .

"As the might of our Glorious State grew, so did the animosity of our jealous neighbours. As is so dreadfully common amongst us Humans, our differences again led to bloodshed and war as a means to settle the disputes. The following Fisherman's War placed the young Human Republic in the face of many new challenges to overcome. The main adversary of Atlantis were the Someans, an Islander nation that was used to waging war at sea. So, unlike the wars Atlantis had fought to unify the island of Thallasa, this new conflict was fought at sea and on the beaches of the Southern Islands. The Atlanteans, always adapting and innovating to overcome their problems, added a new type of warship to it's fleet: the Cancer-class ship, a heavy warship capable of bringing the fight to the enemies doorsteps. Its name alludes to the shellfish plagueing the beaches, biting invaders with its dual pincers. As a crab, the ship, too, is characterized by its dual landingramps built in the nose of the ship, ready to bite the enemy where they least want it."

-Flavius Inventius, "I'm On a Boat: a Guide to the Arsenal of Our Great Nation"

So far the background part. The following WIP pictures are pictures of a mock-up a made using various parts I had lying around (BL-orders have been made, so I'll geet the parts in the right colors soon!). I built this mockup over my LEGO Viking Longboat (didn't want to destroy it ), so the "tail" of the ship is DEFENITLY NOT representative of the eventual MOC.

I loosely based my design on this:

It's the Atlantean Heavy Bireme from Age of Mythology.

Pre-build phase 1: the mock-up

Side view, red parts will be replaced by dark red ones.

Close-up of the side. Still need to lengthen the outrigger and add paddles. Dark grey will be replaced with reddish brown.

Another side view. It's the only side that kid of "finished" and presentable .

Frontal view show the bay and landing ramps from which the Atlantean soldiers emerge to defeat the enemies of the Eternal City!

As I've said, this is very WIP, but I can always use some C&C. The thing I'm kinda struggling with the most, is the color of the ramps. Can't decide wether they should be black, dark red or reddish brown . Any suggestions?

EDIT Changed the resolution of second picture, apparently I forgot to shrink it.

[Khorne]

Sorry for the double post! Apparently, nobody is really interested in my WIP . Anyway, I received some BL orders and I've made some progress in the build. Here are the pictures for those interested.

Side view. Atlantean soldiers are inspecting the new vessel.

Side view, this time without the soldiers.

Bird's eye view. I still need to work on the left side.

Semi-frontal view, the bay doors will be changed, most likely to Dark Red.

There you go! Obviously it's still WIP, but maybe there's more for you to comment on than my last post. I'm still puzzled on how I should make the back of the ship. C & C is welcome .

[airsoftg36c]

Wow! I really like it! How long has it taken you to build?

[Vindicare]

Very nice start. As for the loading ramps, dark red would be appropriate. And, as for the back, I'm not sure the name, but the 2x1 hinge pieces the "click" together, the end has two prongs and the other has one. Then attach some plates with a sloped edge, like on 2507 Fire Temple from Ninjago roof pieces. That way you can tilt the plates in slightly to get the angle desired(looking at the model picture you posted). Hope that helps!

[Khorne]

Wow! I really like it! How long has it taken you to build?

Thanks! The stage I'm at right now took me about a day or two to reach. I always try to build a mock-up first, when working on a big MOC, so I can test several techniques and such before ordering the final parts.

Very nice start. As for the loading ramps, dark red would be appropriate. And, as for the back, I'm not sure the name, but the 2x1 hinge pieces the "click" together, the end has two prongs and the other has one. Then attach some plates with a sloped edge, like on 2507 Fire Temple from Ninjago roof pieces. That way you can tilt the plates in slightly to get the angle desired(looking at the model picture you posted). Hope that helps!

I understand your idea, I could try to do it like that. My main gripe here is that I'm afraid the studs of the sloped plates would clash with the otherwise nearly studdless sides of the ship.

A classical bireme rear would also look nice, I guess. But those are mostly even harder to build due to the round shape of them.

A twin-tailed rear like the ancient Byzantian dromon would also look nice and suitably "fantasy"-like.

Hmmm, choices, choices, ....

[kabel]

wow, that's actually pretty cool, and I didn't know before that biremes had two tails.

What I'm wondering though is, how are you going to do the oars? I've always wanted to build a galley and never came up with a cool idea for the oars.

As for the lack of response, well it's the middle of summer, most likely many of the members are on holidays right now, so don't worry

[Ecclesiastes]

That's really awesome! I also like the soldiers you've made!

[Mythos]

I think the ship should be bigger, both Bi-remes and Tri-Remes and so on were much larger ships then some people think, but it is still a very nice looking ship.

as to responses don't worry about it since even my husbands big yellow paper weight hasn't had many responses either.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Mythos

[Raider]

I don't mean to be mean but i would make the ship longer and the helmets you used for the men are Roman Soldiers helmets you might want to try BrickForge's Hopilight helmets

[Pallantides]

Excellent job, looks quite awesome. Keep up the great work, I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[Khorne]

wow, that's actually pretty cool, and I didn't know before that biremes had two tails.

What I'm wondering though is, how are you going to do the oars? I've always wanted to build a galley and never came up with a cool idea for the oars.

As for the lack of response, well it's the middle of summer, most likely many of the members are on holidays right now, so don't worry

Biremes didn't really have two tails or a split front in reality. The first picture I showed (which I'm basing my MOC on) comes from a PC game called 'Age of Mythology', it's a fantasy game and Atlantis is one of its factions. All of Atlantis' units are highly fantastical, for example the Heavy Bireme unit.

My own Atlantis faction is also very fantasy-like as I try to blend real-life Romans and Greek in with LEGO's fantasy Castle line, so I wanted the ship to be a bit over the top as well, just like LEGO's ships .

As for the oars, I'll be using the same set-up as the oars in 7018 Viking Ship, meaning I'll take one of these and add an oar, so I get really long oars .

I don't mean to be mean but i would make the ship longer and the helmets you used for the men are Roman Soldiers helmets you might want to try BrickForge's Hopilight helmets

Yeah, I have been thinking about making the ship a bit longer, because now, it's width is too much compared to its length. The reason I only used 4 hull pieces is because I wanted it to be about the same size as the Viking longship and the Orc Warboat LEGO sets.

As for the soldiers, I know these are Roman helmets and Roman-esque equipment. I based my Atlanteans on Romans, because I try to follow "offical" LEGO background as much as possible and on the Atlantis website, a Roman-looking soldier can be seen in the background:

I have some of my own background history/stories about the Atlantean army. You can read it in my flickr stream.

Thanks for the comments everybody !

[Vindicare]

I like the use of the cheerleader legs for your soldiers.

[Gabe]

Wow, it's looking amazing so far. I love the dark red curves and gold accents on the side of the ship, they look really smart. The shape of the front is looking great too.

I'm with those who are calling for a longer vessel though, i think it will end up looking a bit stubby as it is currently. As far as the back end goes, i'd favour a single bireme tail - hard to shape, but there has to be a solution out there somewhere, right? It'd look brilliant, anyway.

I really like yr Atlantean troops, with all thier backstory - gives yr creation that much more depth and colour. I can't wait to see yr finished ship in action!

[HumanPackMule]

To go for a stud less rear, why not try using a similar technique to what was used on Jabba's Sail Barge. I think that could help to achieve what you're aiming at.

[Pallantides]

I like the use of the cheerleader legs for your soldiers.

I agree, they fit quite well and look great as a kilt or pteryges (if that's the look you are going for). It might look a bit nicer if the boots were either a different colour, or were shorter, but even with the white boots it still looks great.

Where'd you get the Phyrgian cap for the minifig on the right? I've been looking for something like that for a while and have been unable to find any.

[HumanPackMule]

Where'd you get the Phyrgian cap for the minifig on the right? I've been looking for something like that for a while and have been unable to find any.

it's from the CMF series 4 gnome

[Khorne]

Wow, it's looking amazing so far. I love the dark red curves and gold accents on the side of the ship, they look really smart. The shape of the front is looking great too.

I'm with those who are calling for a longer vessel though, i think it will end up looking a bit stubby as it is currently. As far as the back end goes, i'd favour a single bireme tail - hard to shape, but there has to be a solution out there somewhere, right? It'd look brilliant, anyway.

I really like yr Atlantean troops, with all thier backstory - gives yr creation that much more depth and colour. I can't wait to see yr finished ship in action!

Thanks! The colours I used are based on the colours LEGO uses in their Atlantis sets (such as the Shark Castle), plus it also looks good .

Also, I ordered the parts to make the ship longer, because as many of you have stated, it might end up looking really stubby otherwise.

To go for a stud less rear, why not try using a similar technique to what was used on Jabba's Sail Barge. I think that could help to achieve what you're aiming at.

That's a great idea, actually. I checked BL and those Jabba's Sail Barge aren't that expensive, so I'll give it a try .

I agree, they fit quite well and look great as a kilt or pteryges (if that's the look you are going for). It might look a bit nicer if the boots were either a different colour, or were shorter, but even with the white boots it still looks great.

Where'd you get the Phyrgian cap for the minifig on the right? I've been looking for something like that for a while and have been unable to find any.

To me, the tennisplayer legs just represent the long tunic the Roman soldiers wore, not necesarily the pteryges (although they'd work for that, too). About the boots, some early Roman troops wore ankle-high boots in an off-white-ish colour, so the boots aren't really that out of place (plus, it's fantasy; everything is possible! ).

As for the Phrygian cap, it is indeed the Garden Gnome's cap as pointed out by HumanPackMule .

EDIT Didn't want to double-post, so here is a preliminary design I made for the main sail:

Cancer is Latin for 'crab', so I figured the Atlantean crab would look nice on the sail .

NEW EDIT Should I go with the 'classic' trireme/bireme sail design, or give my boat sails like the Age of Mythology one (the double-masted, four-sailed boats)?

Edited August 8, 2011 by KhoRne

[Hollander]

A very neat build KhoRne! I really like the overall look and color scheme, it seems very realistic to me. Very smooth too, I only see a couple of studs.

As for the sails, I think the ''classic'' would be better, just more realistic. Nice design for the sail by the way!

Edited August 8, 2011 by Hollander

[Pallantides]

Thanks for the info about the cap HumanPackMule, and KhoRne. Looks like I'm going to have to pick up a fair number of those gnomes.

And that sail looks quite nice. Will it be paper, or will you do an iron on transfer of the design onto cloth?

[Vlad]

Khorne Congratulations! I really like your ship and especially the main sail. Did you take ideas from here?

[blueandwhite]

This is going to look fantastic when it's finished. The colour-scheme and unique shape of your make it quite eye-catching. I know this has been asked before, but is that the final length or are you looking to acquire more hull sections before you finish it? She looks quite impressive but she could certainly stand to be a tad longer. I'm looking forward to seeing the final build soon.

[Khorne]

Thanks for the info about the cap HumanPackMule, and KhoRne. Looks like I'm going to have to pick up a fair number of those gnomes.

And that sail looks quite nice. Will it be paper, or will you do an iron on transfer of the design onto cloth?

I'll most likely just print the design out on paper. I wouldn't know how to make a transfer to iron it on cloth .

Khorne Congratulations! I really like your ship and especially the main sail. Did you take ideas from here?

Yep, the sail design is based on the one you posted. My design is not finished yet, though, still need to add details and shading.

This is going to look fantastic when it's finished. The colour-scheme and unique shape of your make it quite eye-catching. I know this has been asked before, but is that the final length or are you looking to acquire more hull sections before you finish it? She looks quite impressive but she could certainly stand to be a tad longer. I'm looking forward to seeing the final build soon.

Thanks for the compliments . Yeah, I'll be making the ship longer. I've ordered some more hull parts, but it'll take a while for them to get here .

[Brickdoctor]

Thus far this is looking terrific. You've kept it true to the basic fictional design, but it still looks realistic. Love the color scheme, too.

[Khorne]

Brickdoctor, thanks for the compliment. I really appreciate it .

I quickly whipped up another sail design, this time based on the fictional AoM Atlantean "bireme". It's also an early WIP, so there's no shading or any details there. Behold:

Mast configuration would be the same as in the game, i.e. 2 masts.

What are your opinions, thoughts? Realistic "classic" sail design or fictional "Age of Mythology" sails?

[Brickdoctor]

I think I prefer the realistic design. Keeps the craft looking like an advanced prototype rather than something out of a fictional game and establishes a better connection between this model and the iconic trireme.