[MOC] Leviathan, a Cancer-class warship

[Khorne]

A new parts shipment arrived today and I was able to build up the rear of the ship. Here's some pictures, more will come. I took these before leaving for work, so please ignore the background (i.e. my bed ).

Rear curve, light bley slopes will be replaced by bricks in a matching colour.

Image of the side. Holes are for the oars.

Bird's eye view of the rear.

As I said, I try to make some more pictures for you. I will lengthen the ship, but I still haven't received my new hull pieces yet . Stay tuned!

[Khorne]

Sorry for the double post (again ). I made some progress and thus I have some pictures to share .

I lengthened the ship by one hull piece. I think it looks much better now . I still need to replace some black parts with the proper dark red ones. Dark Red 2x8's or 10's sure are rare to find in big quantities .

Interior shot showing the front side. Behind the stairs the Trident of Atlantis can be seen. In the background you can see the open landing ports.

Interior shot of the rear. It's till pretty empty at the moment here. Maybe I'll turn it into some storage compartment .

Detail shot of the outrigger's inside. The holes are where the oars will go. The benches for the rowers still need to get placed.

Outside shot of the outrigger, here the oarholes are more visible.

Aerial view featuring some lousy Photoshop work .

So, whaddya think so far? Expect more updates this, or next, week. Normally I should be working on the rear soon .

[2maxwell]

I think this is going really well, and I cant wait to see what the finished product will look like. I'm especially interested in seeing how the benches pan out.

Seeing as you're going from a fictional perspective, its difficult to comment on the design of it. However, I see that the unloading doors are in the front of the ship. This would preclude the inclusion on a ram, which I think is quite vital to any ancient galley. It was the main method of naval war in that period. Personally, I happen to think that the fronts of biremes and triremes are also the most visually appealing part. Still, its your call. Maybe its just a transport ship?

Edited August 17, 2011 by 2maxwell

[Abu Dun]

This is starting to look really promising. Despite the more fantasy-inspired approach this looks surprisingly similar to an actual triere, something you probably intended from the beginning if you took your inspiration from Age of Mythology

The colours really match well and I think dark red and reddish brown go together very well, as do the golden highlights at the side. Using the aft as some sort of storage area may be a good idea, as it'll likely be the most secure place on the finished ship and therefor is best suited to store important things.

I'm looking forward to your updates and how the finished product will be like

[Khorne]

Seeing as you're going from a fictional perspective, its difficult to comment on the design of it. However, I see that the unloading doors are in the front of the ship. This would preclude the inclusion on a ram, which I think is quite vital to any ancient galley. It was the main method of naval war in that period. Personally, I happen to think that the fronts of biremes and triremes are also the most visually appealing part. Still, its your call. Maybe its just a transport ship?

Yeah, it's meant to be some sort of transport ship, transporting soldiers ready to attack some coastal village. The ship would sail in convoys with "normal" triremes to protect it. I'll give the ship some protection, too, though. I'm thinking about putting up some ballistas to scare off enemy vessels.

Plus, the front (with the unloading doors and stuff) can come off pretty easy, so it's not a lot of work to put on a classic trireme bow if I ever wanted the ship to depict such a ship.

This is starting to look really promising. Despite the more fantasy-inspired approach this looks surprisingly similar to an actual triere, something you probably intended from the beginning if you took your inspiration from Age of Mythology

I heavily based it on the Age of Mythology ship, indeed, but I really wanted it to look realistic, like something like this could've actually have existed. So in order to achieve that, I blended in some elements you can find on a real trireme.

Thanks for the comments !

[iamded]

This is looking really awesome Khorne! I love with W.I.P MOCs, seeing the advancement and development of the build. This one is certainly looking fantastic this far, and I look forward to seeing the final product with it's unique sail and a crew of Atlanteans manning it! Keep it up man.

[Captain Green Hair]

This is turning out to be a very original and cool looking ship!

I especially like the sloped oarholes.

On the stern I don't really like the tiles sticking under the curved part, if you build the middle part 1 stud out, the hinges curve around the hull piece very neatly. Will you make the rudder with 1 big oar, or are you going to make a rudder with a whipstick?

Here's an example of how the hinges can bend around the hull:

[Khorne]

This is turning out to be a very original and cool looking ship!

I especially like the sloped oarholes.

Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it !

On the stern I don't really like the tiles sticking under the curved part, if you build the middle part 1 stud out, the hinges curve around the hull piece very neatly.

Oooh, so that's why my hinges couldn't properly line up with the rest of the ship. Now I get it. I did look at your tutorial when building the rear section, but I didn't figure I had to build one stud out in order for the hinges to align/curve around the hull correctly. I used the regular width of the hull piece (without building one stud out) and the hinges just wouldn't line up, so I raised the whole hinges part with one plate. That left me with a gap, so I had to fill it with tiles, thus giving it the look it has now. I'll see if I'll go back and change it, or if I'll just leave it as it is.

Will you make the rudder with 1 big oar, or are you going to make a rudder with a whipstick?

I'm not an expert in nautical terms, but what's a rudder with a whipstick? I tried to google it for pictures, but I couldn't really seemed to find a picture to enlighten me on this. Do you have a picture per chance, or the Dutch translation?

I will give the ship rudders like those seen on this ship:

One oar on each side of the ship.

[Brickdoctor]

Looking very good so far! The oar hole area is nicely smoothed out.

[Skipper]

I'm not an expert in nautical terms, but what's a rudder with a whipstick?

I think a whipstick is just a long wood beam (a tiller) attached to the rudder, but since you're using quarter rudders it doesn't matter.

Your ship's design is very interesting and the dark red is beautiful. I'm looking forward to seeing how you build the back end.

Keep it up .

[Jabba the Brick]

Very cool very cool indeed I love it

[Bricksandparts]

I have made some decals for you if you'd want them.

[Khorne]

I have made some decals for you if you'd want them.

Thanks! They look really good! I saw your PM yesterday, but I experienced some computer difficulties and forgot to reply later on. Sorry ! I appreciate you making these, but I don't use decals that much to be honest. My printer isn't good enough to print them, so when I print decals, they come out all grainy and blurry . Thanks anyway!

I have another small update for you guys. First off, I need to excuse me for the quality of the pictures. The weather's been awful here all week, so the pictures are a bit dark and womewhat grainy due to a lack of proper lighting. I tried to fix 'em up in Photoshop, but to no avail . I'll try and take new ones when the weather takes a turn for the better. Anyway, here they are:

I changed all remaining black bits to proper dark red ones. The railing is in place and I also started building the masts.

This is where the rudder-oar-thingies will come. Right now though, this Atlantean soldier is still king of the world .

The front. I finally got to change the orange parts for brown ones. I still need another winch and some rope to add to the other gate. Other than that, the front is largely finished.

I also have some bad news. I tried to work on the back again, following a suggestion brought up here. I tried to emulate Jabba's Sail Barge and used these pieces. It didn't work. At all. Frankly, it looked like crap (no offense to the person who made the suggestion, I'm glad you did make the suggestion). The pieces aren't wide enough to cover the entire rear and leave large gaps . So my question to you: any other suggestions to make the back? Pretty please?

[Captain Blackmoor]

So my question to you: any other suggestions to make the back? Pretty please?

I will see where I can come up with. Might take some time though.

Your ship is making nice progress, and somehow I can't wait until you add the rower benches and oars.

It's probably becoming the best Galley-type ship I've ever seen in LEGO, I'm still planning to build a Venetian Galley once. And this can be an excellent reference.

[kabel]

oh, wow, this is starting to look really cool!! As for the double-tail, I actually really like it the way you created it!

[Pallantides]

I know I'm reviving an old thread, but something made me think about it, and I'm curious if you ever finished it Khorne (if you see this).

[Khorne]

I know I'm reviving an old thread, but something made me think about it, and I'm curious if you ever finished it Khorne (if you see this).

It delights me to see there's still interest in this. I'll have to disappoint you, though, as I've haven't been able to finish this yet. Right now, I can't spare the money to order more parts to finish it, plus I still haven't quite figured out a way to construct a pleasing stern. This looks like something that might work, though .

I'd love to finish it, but I don't have the time nor money now.

[Pallantides]

It delights me to see there's still interest in this. I'll have to disappoint you, though, as I've haven't been able to finish this yet. Right now, I can't spare the money to order more parts to finish it, plus I still haven't quite figured out a way to construct a pleasing stern. This looks like something that might work, though .

I'd love to finish it, but I don't have the time nor money now.

Something to look forward to in the future then.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

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 .

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 !

Very nice custom soldiers!