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Subject: 
Insignia della Infanta (was Re: 6291 Armada Flagship)
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.loc.au
Date: 
Mon, 15 Oct 2001 02:32:29 GMT
Viewed: 
865 times
  
Beware building a canoe!

   I've built these ships with as many as 4 center sections,
   and they still look passable--4 is a bit much, but 3 is
   definitely OK.

   *lol*  That's brilliant!  :)  To build proper caravels, though,
   a ship like 6280/6291 needs to have higher fore- and sterncastles.
   That's been my only real complaint about the set, and now that I
   have a bit more free time I may actually build one.

I am about half-way through my rebuild (damn tendonitis!) to be
christened "Insigna della Infanta".

I have 2 centre sections and it isn't looking like a canoe. But still, I
felt more height would help balance the greater length. So I've built
the forecastle a little higher (probably only a brick height though) and
replaced the hatch into the forecastle with an arch doorway so you can
get a good view of the chest full of gold coins and some daggers on the
wall. The hatch (originally intended for the collapsing rear sail) is
now in the deck in front of the mast, so you can look in from the top.

I'm in the process of building the sterncastle higher, with a larger
arched doorway so you can get a good view of whatever I end up putting
inside. As my ship will be carring the Spanish Infanta, I wanted a regal
kind of cabin, but the narrow hull is a limiting factor. At the moment,
there is rocking chair cum throne (one of the Technics chairs on a
hinge) which might be stretching historical accuracy, but at least she
will be able to lie down if she's feeling seasick. Provided, of course,
she removes her skirt first; those minifig skirts are a bit inflexible!
Obviously if I put a false floor in, I can increase the floor area in
the stern cabin a bit, but at a cost of having to make the sterncastle
even higher (unless the Infanta wishes to crawl about in her cabin).

Incidently, the Infanta is quite a babe, all decked out in a red veil
and a red cloak, courtesy of those Star Wars Imperial Guards. She has
big black eyelashes and very red lips, but I have no idea where the head
came from. The effect is one of alluring modesty, most appropriate for
an Infanta! She has a a magnificient silver crown (a silver crystal from
the Aquanaut sets). The crown however adds to her height, which in turn
impacts on the design of the stern cabin.

The limiting factor in the rebuild of the sterncastle is my shortage of
white and blue inverse slopes. I seem to have lots in black and various
shades of grey (despite having many of them in use as the centre
sections of my Wobbegong (the poor woman's Black Seas Barracuda) but not
a lot in white/blue. I'm disemembering my UCS X-Wing (it had to happen
one day, sob!) to get a few more white ones, but they are the shallow
slopes and I really need the steeper slopes. Some pixelation may be
inevitable.

The rear mast will be the front mast and sail from the 2nd 6291 set. I
might use one of the rear sails as a jib. I'm undecided about a
figurehead at this point; the head of Sir Walter Raleigh perhaps?

I'm uncertain about what I will do with the cannons. Clearly they spoil
the white-and-blue theme, and despite having a longer center section, it
is still too narrow to have cannons back-to-back in each direction. I
could have two side-by-side pointing in different directions. I do not
like the swivel cannon on the 6291. Is there any historical support for
this form of armament? At the moment, I think I may leave the cannons
out and make it more of a pleasure yacht for the Infanta to go
inspecting her territories. There will be a crew of 6 Spanish dudes
(i.e. two sets of 6291s).

Those of you who reject the works of the Dark Side should stop reading
NOW!

I have found some lovely blue deck pieces in the MB Pro-Builder series.
The 9743 Blue Thunder aerobatic fighter has a number of large
triangular(-ish) blue plates, and fortunately this is one of the colours
that is identical to the Lego colour. These pieces are partly tiled and
partly studded, and give a very nice shape and appearance to the bow
(and eventually I hope the stern) of my new vessel. I just didn't have
anything suitable in my Lego collection for doing this deck in blue (but
no problem if I had wanted black or grey).

Kerry



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: 6291 Armada Flagship - waddya reckon?
 
(...) At AU$50, I'd buy some more, yes! But alas, here they're all still *US*$50. :( I did get the original batch of 6280s for US$20 apiece, though. :D (...) I've built these ships with as many as 4 center sections, and they still look passable--4 (...) (23 years ago, 15-Oct-01, to lugnet.loc.au)

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