At last, Drakesbreath

Ser Loktar · Post by **Ser Loktar** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:43 pm

So it's taken me quite a while to get a friend with a digicam to come over and help me out but here we are. Note that it took a while to get the pics and just as long to get them on my system so this is v1, the catapult and aft section have since been torn down and replaced, this is why there are no pics of the captain's cabin or the crew quarters.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2748583
As a kid I made a ship for the good king but this past year I realized I wanted to have a Bismarkesque supership in the 'evil camp' and this is the result.

I REFUSE to use cannon or any gunpowder at all in my castle creations and decided to use Ballistas and the catapult as principle armament.
Top deck has the pitchflinger and two small revolving crossbow stands borrowed from the JT emporers ship.
Below that the deck is given over entirely to ballistas (partly borrowed from BS user lordofthelego) with some space given to weapon storage.
The bottom deck is the cargo hold and where the oars are pulled.
Though I'm not much of a nautical engineer I was trying to give it the look of a ship in transition between the galleys of Greece and the galleons of Spain. These boys aren't quite out on the open ocean yet but are fast on their way.
All together looking at 15 oarsmen, 5 ballista operators, 10 archers, 10 men at arms/sailors and a captain and first mate.
Hope you like,
Ser Loktar
P.S. CC quite welcome but bear in mind the ship in the pics looks considerably different from the one in my basement. I'll try to get some updated pics soon.

Spongey · Post by **Spongey** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:17 pm

This is an excellent MOC. I really like the intricate design of the hull, and the colour combo perfectly compliments your soldiers (or do the soldiers perfectly colour complement the ship?)

The Shadow Knight · Post by **The Shadow Knight** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:28 pm

wow this is great. There are not that many ship Moc's, so it is pretty unique. The full dragon head in the front is ausome!!!!! i wouldn't want to be sailing the seas when that ship leaves it's port!

Morgan19 · Post by **Morgan19** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:50 am

I was admiring this the other day on BS... Very nice work, I really like how you managed to get a "tall" feel to the ship without it feeling clunky or unwieldy. Seems like it might make a good base for a majestic airship as well, if you're into that.

(I know it was an effort to obtain the pics in the first place, but you really should resize those images: almost 4000 x 2500 is waaaaaaay too big! It took me at least a minute to load just one of the pictures on a T1 at work. It'd be a shame if someone bypassed your awesome MOC simply because of how long it takes to load!)

m19

CastleMann · Post by **CastleMann** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:15 pm

Morgan19 wrote:I was admiring this the other day on BS... Very nice work, I really like how you managed to get a "tall" feel to the ship without it feeling clunky or unwieldy. Seems like it might make a good base for a majestic airship as well, if you're into that.

(I know it was an effort to obtain the pics in the first place, but you really should resize those images: almost 4000 x 2500 is waaaaaaay too big! It took me at least a minute to load just one of the pictures on a T1 at work. It'd be a shame if someone bypassed your awesome MOC simply because of how long it takes to load!)

m19

Lol That's too true. I have dial-up and it was loading about 1 line every five seconds. O_O It would have taken half an hour to load the whole pic.

But what I can see from the thumbnails it looks very nice! Very impressive and towering, and I like the dragon head on the front, but Ican't see much of the detail.

Blue Monarch · Post by **Blue Monarch** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:26 pm

Hurrah for not using gunpowder. I hate a castle theme with gunpowder. I do love Pirates, but that is a different era.

I always loved a multi-tiered deck and you did a great job of that. The only thing I don't absolutely love is the color red, but that is a personal preference.

DARKspawn · Post by **DARKspawn** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 10:11 pm

Cool! From the few pictures I viewed (those images are incredibly HUGE) that looks really well done, you have done a great job on the Dragon's head. It would be a good idea to reduce those images to at least 1024 x 768, my poor 17Mb Cable is straining to suck those babies down

Ser Loktar · Post by **Ser Loktar** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:25 am

Thank you all for the your kind words. Many of you mention you want smaller pics and I'll do just that once work gives me more than 5 minutes at a time to myself.

Blue Monarch: Fight the powder!

I figured red was the only color for a ship called Drakesbreath except D red which I just don't have enough of yet.

Morgan19: Thanks for the link,I'll have to take a look in the next couple days.
It's funny you mention the height as I spent a lot of time trying to fit all three decks in there without making the outside profile too tall. The final product has 3 decks all 4 1/3 studs tall. Poor ballista operators keep nocking their noggins.

It's also funny that my only major problem with it (aside from no galley) IS the head. I spent too long working and reworking it with my minimal reds and just settled on this as a temporary solution. I want to spend lots more time on it someday, once I have more reds.
Again thx for suffering my enormous pics,
Ser Loktar

Shoes · Post by **Shoes** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:17 pm

I like the primitive feel to the boat contrasting with the sophisticative details.

PunkRockCowboy · Post by **PunkRockCowboy** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:23 pm

Oh SNAP this is awesome! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE It. A great Castle ship. However, I suggest replacing those Conquistador helmets as they look a bit 1500ish suggesting cannon and such. That dragonhead is a great use of a variety of pieces. I also love the spear racks and the ballistas...and you used a black flag <3.

JPinoy · Post by **JPinoy** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:23 pm

Cool ship!

I remember when I made brick-built ships using catamaran hulls.