[MOC] The Gilded Crow

[ummester]

164C

Ahoy! She is finally complete and here are a whole bunch of photos. She appears in most photos as I have her on display - turning to port under full sail, flying her red flag of attack, with guns ready for a full broadside.

Approximate dimensions of the Crow, based on a 1:40 scale.

Length - 128 ft

Beam - 55 ft

Height from waterline - 115 ft

First, some shots displaying functional minifig areas of the build, like the midships.

Poop deck. "I think this compass is broken, Captain."

Dining cabin.

Then we move fully below decks. Fore to aft, the crew quarters (note the rat in the brig to the left of frame - it took me ages to find one of them and so disappointing that it looks more like a possum then a rat ).

Main gun deck:

And, astern, the galley.

Next, some model type shots, that show the crow as she appears on her display base.

The final crow design on the main course.

The crew bids you and your ships fair winds and following seas...

until such time as her Captain stops playing his organ ( ) and sets the Crow on the hunt.

There are more images on flickr

https://www.flickr.c...57645632299833/

Hope you enjoy the images.

[grum64]

Very nice. Love the detail, especially around the aft end and bow.

[ManInATopHat]

Beautiful ship, I love what you've done with the interior.

[Ratshot]

This looks awesome! You haven't over looked a single thing, koodos for a job well done :-)

[2maxwell]

Wow, this is fantastic.

[Captain Golden Hook]

Wow, not my favorite time period of ships, but the level of detail is amazing! Nice job making it modular, too.

[Ltfalcon]

Very nice ship! I remember seeing it when you designed it on digital designer and thought it looked grand. Great job on bringing it to life.

I'm curious, what material did you print the sails on?

[ummester]

Thanks for the appreciation all.

LTFALCON - the sails, ah the sails. My wife developed a certain disdain for this project because of the sails :)

I wanted them to look billowed and be printed on both sides, with reverse detail, as seen here:

First, I tried calico treated with gesso - as detailed here http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=87124 The texture and colour looks great but calico is difficult to work with, doesn't hold stiff for a billowed shape and doesn't print well on the reverse side.

Then ISRAEL HANDS suggested canvas paper. I tried standard canvas paper and the stiffness and reverse printing were fine, though it was too white and glossy. I acquired a pad of proper artists canvas paper - the stiffness, texture and colour of this stuff was great but at 290 gsm it wouldn't go through either of my printers, it's still sitting there and I really wish I could use it.

In the end, I settled on a medium tooth, textured, watercolour pad of 190 gsm pages.

Here are the final images for the front and reverse of the fore course:

Edited July 11, 2014 by ummester

[Swan Dutchman]

Whoa, you did an amazing job! I really like the ship's shape, colour scheme (especially the use of the various brown colours), the amount of detail and the sails. And my compliments on the photo editing, I know it can be quite hard to do it right and you need a lot of patience for it, but you did really well!

[Kolonialbeamter]

Truely an amazing ship she turned out to be

The amount of details, your choice of colors, your sails... simply stunning! And your presentation is so very well done, especially that first picture... splendid!

Chapeau on an outstanding job.

Regards,

KB

[ummester]

Cheers SWAN and KOLONIALBEAMTER

SWAN - I find the artistic work in Photoshop kind of relaxing - but yea, the initial photo editing, to remove all unwanted parts of an image is frustrating and requires patience. Truth is, I didn't end up with a single 'hero' shot of the whole ship that I was happy with. I like some of the shots of various areas though.

Wish I was a better photographer and had some decent equipment like a green screen and a good camera - I don't take enough photos to justify it, however :)

Edited July 11, 2014 by ummester

[Capt. Stabbin]

This is a beautiful ship! Excellent photos too! That said, Can you please resize them. Site guidelines state no bigger than 1024x768. They rarely need to be over 800x600. There are tutorial links in my signature if you need any help.

Thanks.

[ummester]

Cheers CAPT. STABBIN. I think I got everything wider than 1024 pixels, let me know if not.

[Capt. Stabbin]

Thanks! I really like the design for your sails, they really make the ship stand out!

[Matteo1130]

Wow. Great ship and great diorama. Love all of it!

[Capt. Redblade]

[bloggedcp][/bloggedcp]

[Faefrost]

Ok that is just stunning. What is equally amazing is it seems to be both solidly minifig scale, and of reasonable size. Built on standard Lego hull pieces. And it looks amazing with full gun decks and packed with detail and life.

[dr_spock]

She is a beauty. Excellent work on the sails.

[chofus]

Great ship! Wish i can see it in real life :-)

[ummester]

Cheers for the piratical bloggin' and comments - she is up on LEGO ideas

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/71552

There is an LDD file but it requires some work to get accurate to the final build. I would like to see TLG release a galleon set on par with some of the larger models like the Taj Mahal, Opera House, UCS Falcon and so on. Tall ships work well as display pieces because the relatively narrow width to height and length makes them easy to shelf.

[Matteo1130]

Excuse me for this question but my english is not that good... ldd means I could see the building project of this ship?! This would be great.. (just in case.. how?)

Edited July 13, 2014 by Matteo1130

[ummester]

MATTEO - you can't see the building project of the ship yet, as the file is not the same as the final build. Also, there are some illegal LDD connections that I can't replicate. Most of the build is there - it just isn't sorted and polished to a standard I am happy with yet.

[Matteo1130]

I see. It would be too nice :)

Hope it will be possible in the future, I don't think I will ever make a copy from this ship, since I rather other periods ships.. but this moc deserves a better look!

[Sebeus I]

Very nice! The printed sails look very LEGO-ish.

It truly is a beautiful ship

[Hammerhand]

Gorgeous ship sir! Incredibly detailed, and the angled hull looks superb.