Over the years LEGO Pirates fans have plundered every uncharted sea, forbidden island and hidden cove in search of that long lost and almost mystical treasure known better as the original idea. Many have gone onto this perilous journey only to return beaten and empty handed, or worse, with another Black Pearl MOC in their hands arguing that there is no originality left out there, so why bother.
So when a newcomer Pizzasemmel humbly sailed into the Pirate port holding LEGO scale model of the HMS Victory main top, eyebrows were raised in astonishment. Not only is this eye catchy and well built model, but more importantly, it shows that there is still originality out there waiting for those who will search harder or sail further to get it.
What a masterful rigging skill, pure beauty to watch and think about the time and energy spent
Pizzasemmel writes:
Here you can see my LEGO scale model of the main top of the British ship of the line HMS Victory. It shows the main top and main yard in 1:45 scale. The base does not represent the deck of the ship, only two thirds of the main mast are shown. The main top is ~30 meters above the sea level and the yard is 33 meters across, just to give you the scale of a real thing.
Most of the time on this creation was not spent on actual design of the model itself but on getting knowledgeable in rigging and understanding the workings of it all. Because there is so much contradicting information out there that was no easy task. Eventually I realized I must choose a certain set of building plans and just stick to it. In time the more I understood the more I was stunned by the engineering and the amount of foresight needed to build and sail those ships, it is just so impressive.
And speaking about the building plans, for any of you pirates trying to get your dirty hands on vessel plans, after extensive Q&A torture session Pizzasemmel disclosed the source of many available free plans HERE.
Here we see the built section model in reference to the whole ship
The masterful rigging was accomplished with five different types of ropes, a proper scale modeller’s ropes mind you, in a total length of whooping 40 meters (131 feet). Ropes were obtained from a specialized rope maker since the price for this section model clearly wasn’t an issue. Feeling so generous, Pizzasemmel gave us the contact of his rope master, so go on and check it out HERE, if you think the price isn’t an issue your MOC deserves a professional touch.
A skillful seaman is ascending the mast to relieve from duty a lookout who is bad at his job. (One can really see the land of opportunities through an eye-patch)
General information
- Parts: around 1600 parts
- Dimensions: Width 75cm (29.5″) | Height 50cm (19.7″)
Time consumed
- Research: 50-60 hours
- Digital design: 20 hours in BrickLink Studio 2.0
- Rigging: 20 hours
All was done over the course of three months.
If you could have one decorative set for your living room, which one would you rather choose: LEGO® Ideas 92177 Ship in a Bottle or this?
Will there ever be a full size HMS Victory?
Pizzasemmel continues:
When I had 80% of the whole main mast done in digital form, I realized it was getting too big, almost 2 meters tall (6 ft). I just don’t have enough space to store or display it. Then I switched to the section model. But maybe, one day I’ll build the whole main mast section, which would look pretty cool, but the whole ship in this scale… it is too much for my taste.
As one would guess a reply like this was not well received by the gathered crowd in the LEGO Pirates forum. Soon enough ideas of collaboration started to pop-up and good folks of Imperial Armada and treacherous Pirates decided to join their bricks and plates and deliver to the world the first and only full size 1:45 LEGO scale HMS Victory!
Really?? Nah! Just kidding.
More than a decade ago a talented builder Big Boy, a.k.a. Dirk Delorme, spent a whole year dreaming big dreams while carefully planing and purchasing all the necessary parts. Three months and 45,000 LEGO pieces later he made his dream a reality as he produced a full size LEGO scale HMS Victory. Want to see this massive piece of art, well click HERE and begin to marvel. Full size vessels not your cup of tea rum? No problemo. Check out Nick’s Barret ‘minimalistic-build’ HERE.
A stroll down history lane
HMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She is best known for her role as Admiral Woodhouse’s Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.
In 1922, she was moved to a dry dock at Portsmouth, England, and preserved as a museum ship. She has been the flagship of the First Sea Lord since October 2012 and is the world’s oldest naval ship still in commission, with 244 years’ service as of 2022.
Admiral Horatio Nelson by Lemuel Francis Abbott, and HMS Victory at The Battle of Trafalgar by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield
About the Builder…
We don’t know much about Pizzasemmel plans for future Pirate-themed creations as inspiration can be a treacherous spirit, but we do know he wouldn’t mind if you followed up his work on Flickr or Bricksafe.
As the rigging of HMS Victory Main Top requires exceptional patience and skill, Pizzasemmel thinks about sharing the instruction plans for free in the future via his ReBrickable profile, so take occasional glace now and then.
If you find yourself impatient till next Classic-Pirates post, check out the LEGO Pirates MOCs subforum and join one of the most heated discussions ever held ‘Under which pseudonym the Governor shares his MOCs?’, or simply give us your two pieces of eight about the HMS Victory Main Top model.
If you are more into adult stuff, then immerse your head in the BoBS (not to be confused with BOOBS), the most spectacular Pirate game ever made since MI1 and its sequel.
