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Click below to go to the first nine digital pics of my eventually to be over
six foot long (when completed with bowsprit) Lego model of a 100 foot (deck
length) 300 plus ton generic New Bedford whaler.
I started out to build the Nantucket based whaleship 'Essex', but scale
questions between its ship length and its whaleboat length in the plans in
the Philbrick book left me confused, and saw me switch to a longer and more
generic New Bedford whaleship.
All dimensions are based on connecting two Lego set #5986 (Amazon Ancient
Ruins) 5 and 5/8 inch rowboats together (stern to stern) to create a 25 foot
whaleboat. Whaleboats were pointed at BOTH ends for safety reasons, but the
whale's tail was still often quicker.
Five extended height minifigs (hopefully properly dressed) laid end to end
(and five feet tall) equal the length of a 25 foot whaleboat, and everything
follows that scale.
As the pics show, I only had four rowboats, so I so far have only two of the
six whaleboats a whaler of this size normally carried. I am still seeking
more 5 and 5/8 inch long brown rowboats.
I named the whaleship 'TESS', because I wanted to deal with only 'square'
letters, that is, those letters with horizontal and/or vertical members.
The top of the mainmast will tower about 40 inches above the tan weather
deck. Bracing it is already a challenge, and it will get worse as I go higher.
Pirate ship pieces have been used where applicable, but since this ship is
much larger, I have had to scratch build most of it. The whaleboat davits
are a good example, and so is my 'crazy' rigging scheme. If anyone has any
better ideas for whatever, please share them with me.
If you wish, please go see the pics at:
http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=6602
More pics will be added as building continues.
Thank you,
Don Bruce
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In lugnet.pirates, Don Bruce writes:
> Click below to go to the first nine digital pics of my eventually to be over
> six foot long (when completed with bowsprit) Lego model of a 100 foot (deck
> length) 300 plus ton generic New Bedford whaler.
>
> http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=6602
Love the whale boats, and the davits. The work around the ratline bases is
pretty cool too ;-)
Richard
Still baldly going...
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In lugnet.pirates, Don Bruce writes:
> http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=6602
>
> Click [above] to go to the first nine digital pics of my eventually to be over
> six foot long (when completed with bowsprit) Lego model of a 100 foot (deck
> length) 300 plus ton generic New Bedford whaler.
Excellent! I like how it's in winter trim in the pictures. :)
Think cool...think cool...not hot and humid and nasty, nooooo...
> All dimensions are based on connecting two Lego set #5986 (Amazon Ancient
> Ruins) 5 and 5/8 inch rowboats together (stern to stern) to create a 25 foot
> whaleboat. Whaleboats were pointed at BOTH ends for safety reasons, but the
> whale's tail was still often quicker.
!!! Those are big whaleboats (we call 'em "Filz-class Emergency
Cutters" round these parts ;) ). They look surprisingly nice,
and you've done a great job filling them in. I had to settle for
"flat" whaleboats on FdG (no 5986s and a serious height restriction),
but yours is a great solution.
> Five extended height minifigs (hopefully properly dressed) laid end to end
> (and five feet tall) equal the length of a 25 foot whaleboat, and everything
> follows that scale.
NEW FROM PARAMOUNT PICTURES: "Moby Dick" starring Sly Stallone,
Bruce Willis, and virtually every other short guy in Hollywood!
:) Considering how warped minifig-scale is, I think it's a well
made decision to call them 5'.
> As the pics show, I only had four rowboats, so I so far have only two of the
> six whaleboats a whaler of this size normally carried. I am still seeking
> more 5 and 5/8 inch long brown rowboats.
If I had any, I'd loan 'em to you for the cause. Alas, I don't
own any. I know that some people DO have the Belville white ones,
which might in some instances be better--weren't some of the
whalers' boats painted white? Also, how are you going to make
the extended-length oars used?
> I named the whaleship 'TESS', because I wanted to deal with only 'square'
> letters, that is, those letters with horizontal and/or vertical members.
I love that stern gallery. Is the interior detailed, and
is it fully accessible to the minifigs? I can't help but
think that the white and black deckhouse foundations look
extremely tentative.
> The top of the mainmast will tower about 40 inches above the tan weather
> deck. Bracing it is already a challenge, and it will get worse as I go higher.
> Pirate ship pieces have been used where applicable, but since this ship is
> much larger, I have had to scratch build most of it. The whaleboat davits
> are a good example, and so is my 'crazy' rigging scheme. If anyone has any
> better ideas for whatever, please share them with me.
Can you use the "straws" for extending the rig pieces? You
might have to shift to black--not unauthentic, given that NE
vessels usually had their hemp lines dipped in tar--but you
might be able to create larger and broader rig with those and
a bunch of 1x1 top-clip tiles/1x8 plates/etc.
The hull curvature is going to plague you. Not much one can
do about that. You may, however, consider varying the angle
at the fore by toeing in at an increasing rate towards the prow.
But your ship is roughly _Gloire_'s dimensions, and I got away
OK with a hinged, single-slope bow, so maybe I'm just talking
crazy.
The masts: I had this problem in spades when I built that
big quasi-sailer of mine. I used the rig to hold the masts
stable, which is what I've done on every ship since (including
FdG). If you switch to single-segment rigging using straws,
some of the stability issues may correct themselves. I think
your rig-bracing matrix is really very ingenious, though.
A shift to 2x2x11 pillars may also help--on BrickBay these are
around $1-$1.50 each, and well worth the investment. I almost
wanted to pull my hair out dealing with 2x2 bricks--I even made
a study of using black 2x2 tiles and a long string of overlapping
plates to make the masts to get away from that.
Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of _Gloire_'s retrofit
for black one-piece rigging, which increased mast stability
about 1000%. Knocking over a mast would carry away a piece of
the hull after that!
Anyways, just a few thoughts and ideas. I like the way the
ship's shaping up. Then all you'll need is a LEGO whale...
or LOTS of yummy dolphins.
all best
LFB
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In lugnet.pirates, Don Bruce writes:
> Click below to go to the first nine digital pics of my eventually to be over
> six foot long (when completed with bowsprit) Lego model of a 100 foot (deck
> length) 300 plus ton generic New Bedford whaler.
> http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=6602
>
> More pics will be added as building continues.
> Thank you,
> Don Bruce
Don,
I can't wait to see more. Are you going to throw a few Islanders into the
crew (Call me Queeg-Queeg)?
George
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In lugnet.pirates, Lindsay Frederick Braun writes:
> > As the pics show, I only had four rowboats, so I so far have only two of the
> > six whaleboats a whaler of this size normally carried. I am still seeking
> > more 5 and 5/8 inch long brown rowboats.
>
> If I had any, I'd loan 'em to you for the cause. Alas, I don't
> own any. I know that some people DO have the Belville white ones,
> which might in some instances be better--weren't some of the
> whalers' boats painted white? Also, how are you going to make
> the extended-length oars used?
I almost hate to say this, but Richard has set the precedent for clone
brick use in larger vessels... The MegaBloks Viking Ship from the Legends
series a few years back included a number of quite long oars.
Dave!
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In lugnet.pirates, Lindsay Frederick Braun writes:
> Anyways, just a few thoughts and ideas. I like the way the
> ship's shaping up. Then all you'll need is a LEGO whale...
> or LOTS of yummy dolphins.
> In lugnet.pirates, Don Bruce writes:
> > http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=6602
> > ...New Bedford whaler.
Hey. I'm searching for whales and not finding any. Someone here must have a
whale! Where are all the whales?
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