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Creative => Customs Gallery => Ships & Vehicles => Topic started by: Hadoque on May 08, 2011, 07:03:26

Title: French fleet-ships get longer masts & forwards-firing deckguns
Post by: Hadoque on May 08, 2011, 07:03:26
Hello

Wanted to show an example of one of my French Navy "corvettes" (basic 3940/3286 ships), which are being equipped with longer fore-masts.

I'm doing it exactly like with the "Unicorn/Licorne" (such a trimaster I consider appropriate as a "frigate"); on which Macgayver enlarged the middle mast (also like shown in the pics) and I the fore-mast as well after I purchased it.

I've seen other ways to enlarge masts, but I still consider the use of this 80's circus act-disc the best. It's historical accurate, gives good distance between the riggings left & right on the upper part of the mast, and the disc is usefull as a platform to put sailors on.


Btw, I find the lanterns from the 4290-ship awesome for use on the heck of the 3940/3286!  :)



Title: Re: French fleet-ships got longer masts
Post by: Wolf Knight on May 08, 2011, 07:15:32
A very clever idea!!!  :)9
Title: Re: French fleet-ships got longer masts
Post by: Hadoque on May 08, 2011, 07:16:36
Another perhaps small but usefull thing is the wheelless gun that comes in the US-exclusive set 5865; the colour of this gun matches exactly the colour of the standard 3940/3286's deck.
So I thought I could use it as a forwards-firing deckgun, but appropriate space is limited, except on the bridge.
Attaching sails on masts and bowsprite is no problem; the gun on that position is able to just shoot between the deck and the sails without hitting any parts (sailors on deck of course have to seek cover  ;D)...
Two such deckguns can be installed on the bridge; one left and one right of the aft-mast.
Since the guns have no wheels, when firing they can also act as brakes for the ship  :lol:
Title: Re: French fleet-ships got longer masts
Post by: Giorginetto on May 08, 2011, 07:40:11
Since the guns have no wheels, when firing they can also act as brakes for the ship  :lol:

 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Title: Re: French fleet-ships get longer masts & forwards-firing deckguns
Post by: playmofire on May 08, 2011, 08:30:50
No room for deviation in aim there!  Maybe they are most useful for quelling mutinies! 

I thought at first that you'd fitted a pair of bow chasers.
Title: Re: French fleet-ships get longer masts & forwards-firing deckguns
Post by: Hadoque on May 08, 2011, 18:21:02
No room for deviation in aim there!  Maybe they are most useful for quelling mutinies! 

:lol: And yes, room for aiming-deviation is very limited, but  :shhhh:, the common sailor on deck shouldn't know ;D

I thought at first that you'd fitted a pair of bow chasers.

Thread-title perhaps a bit misleading  :-[
Bowchasers would be nice!
But this gun doesn't fit on the bow; the ship's railing is too high and I don't want to cut in it. Putting something beneath the gun-carriage to elevate it doesn't look good. And putting a lid over the gap in front of the main mast and installing the gun there doesn't work eather; the gunbarrel-elevation is way too high then.

This specific gun comes only in 2 sets: the take-along-green knights-tower 4775 (black gun-carriage) and the small US-exclusive 5865 (the colour as in the pics)...
So I wonder if it was designed for use in other sets that never got realised... Maybe for the new 5135 ship (3940/3286 variant) but they didn't use it in the end?  ???
Title: Re: French fleet-ships get longer masts & forwards-firing deckguns
Post by: Bill Blackhurst on May 08, 2011, 19:24:30
Excellent ideas Hadoque! Well thought out, & implemented! :)9
Title: Re: French fleet-ships get longer masts & forwards-firing deckguns
Post by: WarriorOfToys on May 08, 2011, 22:29:18
Very good looking ship! :wow:
I hope I can get to work upgrading my ship soon... ;D
Title: Re: French fleet-ships get longer masts & forwards-firing deckguns
Post by: BlackPearl2006 on September 22, 2011, 05:30:37
 i want to see more of this ship, especially with full sail and full rigging!

It'd be funny though if the cannoneer ended up hitting their own ship's mast, then he's whistling like it wasn't him, lol.  OOOPS! lol  :toot:
Title: Re: French fleet-ships get longer masts & forwards-firing deckguns
Post by: Wesley Myers on October 06, 2011, 00:26:40
Those masts look really good!
Title: Re: French fleet-ships get longer masts & forwards-firing deckguns
Post by: Justindo on February 24, 2012, 17:36:13
Those are some very nice additions to the original ship, Erwin.  The taller mast with platform and extra sails make it look more authentic and the new gun matches perfectly.

So you have classified this type of ship as a corvette or a sloop of war for its British equivalent?  Based upon the the number of masts and guns, this would be the correct classification, I think.  Out of curiosity, what do you classify Playmobil's smaller ships as?  I was thinking of classifying the older design large ship as a merchantman or brig, the older narrower ship as a cutter, and the new small vessel as a gunboat.
Title: Re: French fleet-ships get longer masts & forwards-firing deckguns
Post by: Hadoque on February 27, 2012, 01:39:25
Out of curiosity, what do you classify Playmobil's smaller ships as?  I was thinking of classifying the older design large ship as a merchantman or brig, the older narrower ship as a cutter, and the new small vessel as a gunboat.

Plan for the old Playmobil pirates' ships (3550/3750) is to use those as late 15th/early 16th century ships (f.e. for my Spanish "conquistadores"), the odd 4290 (with possibly a few modifications) as a late 16th century English galleon (like Sir Francis Drake's ship), Playmobil's one-masted "schooners" indeed as cutters and the small vessel as a gunboat, or as a harhour-vessel to (re)supply the bigger ships (which at the time didn't allways "dock" in ports as seen in some displays/dioramas, but used to anchor some distance from the shore).
And if I succeed in fabricating  a few more trimasters like the Unicorn, those will be classified as frigates, for my English and French navies.
Title: Re: French fleet-ships get longer masts & forwards-firing deckguns
Post by: Justindo on February 27, 2012, 03:32:39
Plan for the old Playmobil pirates' ships (3550/3750) is to use those as late 15th/early 16th century ships (f.e. for my Spanish "conquistadores"), the odd 4290 (with possibly a few modifications) as a late 16th century English galleon (like Sir Francis Drake's ship), Playmobil's one-masted "schooners" indeed as cutters and the small vessel as a gunboat, or as a harhour-vessel to (re)supply the bigger ships (which at the time didn't allways "dock" in ports as seen in some displays/dioramas, but used to anchor some distance from the shore).
And if I succeed in fabricating  a few more trimasters like the Unicorn, those will be classified as frigates, for my English and French navies.

Thanks for the information about what your classifications for Playmobil's various ships are, Erwin.  Your trimasters are incredibly impressive, but I'm too timid to attempt anything like that, so I can only have hope that Playmobil will produce a true trimaster in the future that we can use as a frigate in the future.