Vincwat

I have worked on the guns for my ship. I have come down to 3 designs that could work. I wanted to get more accurate colors, using images I could find online from the HMS victory. But not all Lego parts are available in all colors. Here is the result : I personnaly prefer the one on the right on the first image (left on the last 2 images).

Hello everyone, Winter is coming in Belgium. It gives me more time to spend on my HMS Surprise. I have bought the parts I will need to build the hull and I should be able to start in a couple of days. In the meantime, I have kept on working on the guns. They looked fine, but I realised there was a construction flaw. So I am spending time with real parts to find a design that would suit the ship's scale. Expect more photos soon. Vincent

Hello everyone 👋🏼, Work and family have taken most of my time lately so I haven't been able to work much on my replica and post about it. But in the meantime i have built Legos. That has enabled me to get the grasp of some parts I have never used before. I have change the stairs. They take less space, use less parts and look better. But the biggest change is the stern. I have looked at other creator's ships and tried to replicate what they have done. Let me know what you think. Pictures are below 👇🏼

A quick update : I have been working on the gundeck floor, guns and the bow. I am still not 100% sure about the staircases size. But it is moving in the right direction. I siometimes find myself limited by the parts availability in certain colors or by the price. Some parts are available in a lot of colors but the price can be 10x higher. Lego's guns are very nice but too big and since the Surprise was equipped with caronnades I looked for a self made option that is shorter. Here is the result so far :

What do you think of this hull concept ? I love it but I am not sure it can work.

Design/construction update. Last week I decided to sort all my Lego pieces in cases with adjustable compartments. That being done, I decided to build a small portion of hull in order to see how much space is needed for the guns. Bear in mind, that this is just a research build. Colors, parts, are not final. But now I know the space needed for the guns, more importantly their height.

Hello, Thank you for your message. I am glad to hear that your son loves it. My son loves it too. It is a serious challenge. It is only recently that i started building Legos again, I still have all the parts and instructions of the sets I played with as a child. But building a ship is something else. And in these last 25 years so many new parts have been created that I have never seen nor manipulated. As per the instructions. One thing at a time . But why not ?

I am nearly done with the berth deck. Next I must start looking at the gundeck floor and keep building the hull.

I have looked at various models online and even found some plans for a very nice one. I am using these to help me for the bow and stern and the junction with the Hull. Compared to most models that I have seen I am trying to get a ship with a better hull width and lenght balance. I am also trying to design a more or less faithful berth deck where most models start with the gundeck.

I would love to see your models made on CAD. Bring them on please 🙂

Thank you so much for your reply. I have already changed it. I am working on the officer's quarters and storage area. Next will be berth deck access and ceiling.

A quick update. After some trial and error i think that I am now more or less confident with the direction I am taking. I am starting with the berth deck. I have been working on the sick bay and the dispensary. Would the beds have been facing the other direction ?

Hello, This is my first construction report. Using the frigate's dimensions found online I have worked out the scale that I am gonna use for the ship. The ship is about 10m wide and 38,4m long on the gundeck. Using the Lego hull parts as a base, it is the width of the ship that dictates the scale. I can get it to about 14,4cm for 10m. So it is a scale of 1/69. Using that scale the 38,4m lenght would be 55,3cm. I am probably gonna be a bit longer than that. But not far off. In the meantime I have been working on a basic hull shape. I have tried different options, many that didn't work, either too complex or too fragile. I have now found something that should work and used other Lego construction as an inspiration. Here is the result using the bow and a first hull section. Let me know what you think.

Hello everyone, I am a new member. I have recently joined the forum and introduced myself here 👇 I am starting a new construction log for a well known ship the HMS Surprise. It took me some reflexion and thinking to settle on that ship. So one might ask how i decided to build her and not another one. I am passionate by the islands of Polynesia. After a tchat with a colleague about Polynesia, the Bounty and the mutineers' descendants I started reading books about the discovery of these islands. Among them the excellent " The discovery of Tahiti" written by Dolphin's master George Robertson. One thing led to another, i found myself dragged into Patrick O'Brian serie and voilà. The HMS Surprise seems like a perfect choice for a lego construction. It is both an historical and fictional ship allowing for a personnal creation that will fit the restrictions imposed by the famous bricks. I have been through a lot of research online to find information about the ship. So far, this page has been of great help : http://www.jotika-ltd.com/Pages/1024768/Research_Surprise_01.htm So was this log by David @Navis Factorem what a magnificient work ! What is the next step for me ? Well I am gonna start creating a virtual model of the ship using Studio 2.0 a Lego creation software. It seems to me a mandatory step so that i have a better idea of the parts needed before i order them online through various second hand shops and individuals. Do i need help ? Yes ! So far i am struggling with the ship measurements. So if anyone can give me a better understanding of these numbers : The real Surprise was built as the French L'Unite from August, 1793, to April, 1794, at Le Havre, captured by the Royal Navy on April 20, 1796, and taken into service as the Surprise. Her specifications (taken from page 225 of Rif Winfield's "British Warships in the Age of Sail. 1793-1817", Chatham Publishing, 2005) were as follows: Length: 126' 0" Keel: 108' 6 1/8" Breadth: 31; 8" Depth: 10' 1/2" Tons burthen: 578 73/94 Once I have a better idea of the ship's dimension i can compare it to the Lego hull parts and figure out the scale. This is as far as I have been so far. Vincwat

Thank you everyone for your kind words. I am gonna start a log once my project takes shape. Indeed, Waterloo is a very interesting place. Visited by people from everywhere around the world but very little frenchies. I wonder why 😉