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My second ship is here - the Spanish xebec Delfín!
You can see her here: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=91804
A xebec (or chebeck, if you prefer) was originally a ship built by the North
African Barbary Coast pirates and operated from such cities as Tunis, Tripoli
and Algiers. They were very fast, shallow draft craft, designed to emerge from
a port at high speed to intercept merchant ships, and originally all lateen
rigged (like mine is). Later versions had square sails on the main and mizzen
masts. They could also be driven by oars during a calm, or to maneuver. The
French, and especially the Spanish, copied the design and built their own to
counter this threat, and to provide effective anti-pirate and escort craft all
over their empire.
The Delfín (Dolphin) is one of these, constantly cruising to deter and capture
pirates and help protect treasure fleets from attack.
I only had two large oars when I made these pictures (I have four now) so I
couldn’t show the entire ship under oars. The sailcloth material is from
Wal-Mart (believe it or not!) and the stripes are only slightly thinner than the
official Armada sails. The sails were measured, marked in pen and glued along
the edges and where the pegs would go with thinned white glue, allowed to dry,
then cut out and hung. (My thanks to an old article by Steve Jackson for this -
you can find it here: http://www.io.com/~sj/legosails.html). I didn’t have a
leather punch so AI simply cut an “x” with my hobby knife and pushed the pegs
through that. The jib was attached to the black embroidery floss rigging with
black thread and needle.
The overhanging stern on the prototype was actually a grille-work, but I wasn’t
able to replicate that and keep it strong at the same time. It’s attached with
two hinges at the back in such a way that the front is at just the right angle
to lock together with the studs below. There are two pins above the front for
it to pivot on.
There isn’t enough room for the ship’s boat on deck, so it’s towed astern.
I’d like to thank Anthony Sava for his wonderful Photo-Shop minifig torsos that
I used here for my sailor shirts. You can find the articles (and many other
useful articles that can be used in .pirates) here:
http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/creation.html
If anyone has any questions/comments, please let me know!
Aaron :)
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In lugnet.pirates, Aaron Walsh wrote:
-snip-
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I only had two large oars when I made these pictures (I have four now) so I
couldn’t show the entire ship under oars. The sailcloth material is from
Wal-Mart (believe it or not!) and the stripes are only slightly thinner than
the official Armada sails. The sails were measured, marked in pen and glued
along the edges and where the pegs would go with thinned white glue, allowed
to dry, then cut out and hung. (My thanks to an old article by Steve Jackson
for this - you can find it here: http://www.io.com/~sj/legosails.html). I
didn’t have a leather punch so AI simply cut an “x” with my hobby knife and
pushed the pegs through that. The jib was attached to the black embroidery
floss rigging with black thread and needle.
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Nice work on the sails. The X cut sounds like a good idea - I’ve used a paper
hole punch, and have often found that the hole is slightly too big. And
threading the jib seems like a good option to save them slowing travelling down
the forestay!
Is there a reason for the different orientation of the stripes on the jib and
mizzen?
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The overhanging stern on the prototype was actually a grille-work, but I
wasn’t able to replicate that and keep it strong at the same time. It’s
attached with two hinges at the back in such a way that the front is at just
the right angle to lock together with the studs below. There are two pins
above the front for it to pivot on.
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Angled decks are always tricky - particularly if strength is needed. You’ve
come up with a good solution.
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There isn’t enough room for the ship’s boat on deck, so it’s towed astern.
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As would probably be the correct procedure for combat. My preference (in real
life, as well as in Lego) is to get the boat out of the water.
The absence of a bow chaser surprises me... but then the xebec’s not a vessel
I’m familiar with.
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I’d like to thank Anthony Sava for his wonderful Photo-Shop minifig torsos
that I used here for my sailor shirts. You can find the articles (and many
other useful articles that can be used in .pirates) here:
http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/creation.html
If anyone has any questions/comments, please let me know!
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There’s a bowsprit just poking into the edge of
Is that the Kestrel? I’d love to see a pic of the two side by side.
Adieu
Richie Dulin
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In lugnet.pirates, Richie Dulin wrote:
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Nice work on the sails. The X cut sounds like a good idea - I’ve used a paper
hole punch, and have often found that the hole is slightly too big. And
threading the jib seems like a good option to save them slowing travelling
down the forestay!
Is there a reason for the different orientation of the stripes on the jib and
mizzen?
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Umm - the mizzen is a mistake. Oops. The jib was deliberate - I didn’t want
the jib and fore sail to clash. (Real Xebecs often had sails of two different
colours, but I couldn’t find material with different colour stripes, so I
orientated them differently instead).
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The overhanging stern on the prototype was actually a grille-work, but I
wasn’t able to replicate that and keep it strong at the same time. It’s
attached with two hinges at the back in such a way that the front is at just
the right angle to lock together with the studs below. There are two pins
above the front for it to pivot on.
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Angled decks are always tricky - particularly if strength is needed. You’ve
come up with a good solution.
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Thank-you!
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There isn’t enough room for the ship’s boat on deck, so it’s towed astern.
|
As would probably be the correct procedure for combat. My preference (in real
life, as well as in Lego) is to get the boat out of the water.
The absence of a bow chaser surprises me... but then the xebec’s not a vessel
I’m familiar with.
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Actually, Xebecs DO have bow chasers - unfortunately, I ran out of cannons :(
The Lego cannon doesn’t really fit there - I’ll have to build something smaller
and put one on each side. Good eye noticing that, though!
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There’s a bowsprit just poking into the edge of
Is that the Kestrel? I’d love to see a pic of the two side by side.
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Yes, that’s the Kestrel. And yes, after I took these photos and put the two
ships side by side, I knew someone would ask for that! Pics coming soon...
Aaron :)
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