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Ahoy!
The newest arrival in the waters around Port Brique is the whaling brig
Egregious. Whalers have tended to operate further south, but Port Brique was a
resupply stop for Captain Warning in his hunt for a peculiarly coloured great
whale.
The story has it that young Neville C. Warning Junior, then only a mate aboard
his father’s whaler Tendentious, lost his leg to a huge red hued southern
right whale – the notorious Moby Dique, the legendary Rouge Whale – in the
waters near Port Brique over twenty years ago.
| | Despite the loss of his leg, young Neville has now achieved his own command, and, going by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father, Captain N. Civility Warning, returned to the South Pacifique, determined to find and kill the great Rouge Whale.
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A small whaler by any standard, the Egregious is a fast and handy vessel, carries a skilled, if somewhat eclectic crew.
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The Egregious is built on a four centre section hull, and includes the
challenging construction combination of short ratlines and Vikings masts. I have
gained a newfound appreciation of the possibilities of the short ratlines – I
had previously written them off as next to useless for serious vessel
construction… and even after I used them on the cutter Trésfroid and the
hermaphrodite brig Ratsée, I doubted that they could be used successfully on a
wide hulled vessel. They support the 2x2 columns that form the masts nicely, and
secure the tops which provide a stable base for the Vikings masts.
| | I know the stability of the Vikings masts has been questioned, particularly in that they have only a 4x2 footprint, compared to the 4x4 footprint of traditional pirates masts. My technique to secure the masts uses a 4x2 ‘socket’ in the top – only one plate deep, but that seems to be enough to keep things sufficiently rigid.
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Attaching yards, gaffs and booms to the Viking masts is, I think, more difficult than with the old style masts, and some of the solutions I used are fairly inelegant. This is my first vessel to include “crow’s nest” style lookouts…. Which are reasonably authentic in that masthead lookouts are very important for whalers, but seem a bit heavy compared to the masts.
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| | I’m particularly pleased with the colour scheme of the Egregious. I didn’t originally intend to have quite so much tan (in fact using tan was only a chance thought as I was looking through my box of inverted slopes, and I realized I had the necessary 32 inverted 2x2 slopes in tan), but as I built it up, I became more and more enamored with it. The black/tan/brown scheme also dictated that it would be brown rowboats sacrificed to make the whaleboats, rather than red ones – although I guess it’s not as if I have a particular shortage of either colour!
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The bowsprit and jibboom are the second try on the Egregious. I originally used a bowsprit SNOTed from plates and 1x1x5 bricks, in tan. It looked a lot like a microfig skyscraper mid collapse, but was, at least, the right colour. A third Viking mast (if I had one), wouldn’t have been effective because of the 4x4 top, and the Viking topmast section alone wouldn’t have been long enough. A near ideal solution might be a tan topmast section, with a column of 2x2 rounds making up the base, but even that wouldn’t produce the bowsprit-jibboom look. So in the end, I went with the tried and tested traditional pirates mast sections for the bowsprit and jibboom. It would be perfect if it were in tan, but alas.
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| | As alluded to above, the whaleboats are cut down rowboats, in the manner pioneered by Richard Parsons of Port Block fame. I made a jig out of expendable (old grey) bricks secured 3 studs forward of the stern, and carefully cut through with a fine toothed saw. On the first couple I needed to use a craft knife & sandpaper to trim and tidy, but the last two – by which time I’d figured out it was better to cut from the bottom up rather than the top down – a light sand was all that was needed to get them ready for joining. I could have made the whaleboats a little longer, but I was going for the look of a whaleboat, rather than length particularly.
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The sails are once again parchment type paper. I’ve now been using this paper for a while, and can report favourably on its durability as well. Not only is it easier to work with than stiffened fabric, it is much more durable and doesn’t sag over time (particularly an issue with jibs and staysails). It’s also very cheap. I know that many people don’t care for the look, and I even tried using standard Lego sails – but they just weren’t large enough. A bonus of using short ratlines alone is that it allows the arms to be properly angled for beating. I particularly like the look of a big square rigger pointing up into the wind.
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Here are some more pics:
As always, any comments, suggestions or feedback would be most welcome.
Cheers
Richie Dulin
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: The Whaling Brig 'Egregious'
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| A wonderful write-up on an interesting ship. The longboat looks real good and the crew is certainly eclectic. You were going for some sort of record for harpoons? I mean really, I don't see how you could have fit any more on there. :) Does the stern (...) (17 years ago, 7-Dec-06, to lugnet.pirates, FTX)
| | | Re: The Whaling Brig 'Egregious'
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| (...) This ship really looks awesome. I also appreciate the very nice detailing both in the model and its fine descriptions, while preserving the minifig scale simplicity.. If only you wouldn't spoil the game by cutting an authentic lego piece into (...) (17 years ago, 7-Dec-06, to lugnet.pirates, FTX)
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