Creating a Brick Film requires immense patience and dexterity, employing meticulous stop-motion animation that requires each element within the shot to be minutely adjusted by hand.  Once, adjusted the camera rolls for a single frame, before stopping so all the elements can be minutely adjusted once again.  This process repeats until there are enough frames to animate an entire sequence – and usually,  animation requires at least 15 frames to look reasonably smooth.   So a single minute of footage can accumulate up to 900 frames!

Now imagine the amount of work that goes into a complex naval battle, with multiple ships, crewed by multiple minifigs, with explosions and other visual effects… Well, that’s exactly what Captain Edward has achieved at the tender age of 16 with this recreation of a battle from the 2003 film, “Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World”,  starring Russel Crow and directed by Peter Weir.

Captain Edward has depicted the scene (see video below) in which the crew of the HMS Surprise sneakily allows their enemy’s ship, the Acheron  to approach… before opening fire.

Captain Edward writes:

I was cleaning up my YouTube channel and thought I’d share it with you all. So here it is, for those that haven’t seen it yet!
I was quite inexperienced when I made this, and I am not at all happy with how it’s turned out, but for nostalgic reasons I decided to publish it anyway. Enjoy it for what it is; it was my first experience working with a green screen, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Movie Synopsis

During the Napoleonic Wars, a British captain. Jack Aubrey pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America. The film’s plot and characters draws inspiration from three novels in Aubrey–Maturin series  by in author Patrick O’Brian’s which features 20 completed novels centering around Jack Aubrey’s naval career.

Here is the scene which inspired the brick film:

And if you’re interested in historic recreations of tall ships blasting each other to smithereens, here is the final battle, which, at the time of writing, has not been depicted in LEGO form.

About the Builder/Animator…

Captain Edward (also known Jiskodisco on Twitter) is a lover of LEGO and pirates (who in their right mind isn’t?) and you can watch more of his highly skilled brick animations on his YouTube channel or visit his Flickr stream to see some skills.

Behold the Charlemagne! A Téméraire class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy in service between 1807 and 1814 before being transferred to the Dutch Navy.  Ordered by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte himself, this vessel was packed to the brim with firepower and now reimagined in LEGO Soldiers form by BrickDuvel.

BrickDuvel writes:

Here’s my minfig scale MOC of the Charlemagne. (Charles The Great)

I’m posting my MOC on this great Pirate MOC forum so this can also inspire other builders in the future.

It’s a 3rd rate Téméraire class 74 gun ship of the line of the French Navy. It’s big brother was launched in 1807 in Antwerp under the Napoleonic rule in Belgium.  It had a length of 54m (177ft) and a beam of 14,3m (47 ft).

This MOC at about minifig scale counts 150 studs long from stern to the bow at it’s longest point and 42 studs at its widest point at the lower gun deck near the main mast.

Don’t know the brick count (never made it in digital form) but it took about 2-3 years to finish of which several months were spent on the rigging.

I want to pay a small homage to the builders of these lego ships who inspired me to build this lego ship which gave me hours of fun:

• Achille
• Gallus
• HMS Bulwark
• HMS Lively
• HMS Prince of Wales/Minerve
• MS Victory
• Le Fleuron/Prins Willim
• Le Fourageux
• Phantom
• Pinnacle
• Rapscallion
• Revenge
• VOC De Ruyter
• USS Poseidon

(And I’m sure I forget to mention quite a few superb ships on this forum, sorry guys)

And a special thanks to the builders of :

• HMS Agamemnon for it’s colour scheme and stern technique
• HMS Enterprize for it’s hull technique and steering mechanism
• HMS Persephone for it’s modular build technique and it’s perfect composure at a it’s own (smaller) scale.

“It’s not enough!” yelled the Canon. Monsieur Gallo knew better than to interrupt him. “Meloche’s influence still lingers over those Isles. Heresy is everywhere, and all we have to fight it are spies among our own people? A lowly rat-catcher?”

“He is dedicated…” the notary volunteered, reluctantly.
“And so he should be!” his master retorted. “Bertrand would’ve swung for murder if not for me. But that is not the point! How are we going to convert the heathens if we do not take action?”
Gallo shrugged inwardly. It was not his place to strategise.
“Then what does your eminence intend?” he ventured.
“More,” Canon François responded, “we must do more…”

Another exciting LEGO ship has docked at the Pirate MOCs forum!  But the HMS Unsinkable II is not just a MOC build, it also includes a stop animated video titled “Being Pirates: Battle at Sea” to provide some insight into the challenges faced by Soldiers when dealing with LEGO Pirates (even if they claim otherwise).  So if you’ve never heard of “flying the Jolly Roger ironically” you better watch the video right now!

VaneStream writes:

I present the Unsinkable II, a 40-gun imperial ship of the line.

After the terrific Barracuda Bay got me back into buying LEGO for myself again and led me down a lego-nostalgia rabbit hole I decided to get all the lego from my childhood out of my parent’s basement, sorted it and started building again. I wanted an imperial ship as an antagonist to the Black Seas Barracuda, so I built this ship of the line, using mainly parts from the 90s and early 2000s. It’s not built on prefab hull pieces, instead the hull is completely brick-built.

The Unsinkable II is not modeled on any specific ship, but I did use the HMS Victory, the HMS Vanguard and the HMS Melville as references.

The Unsinkable II and Barracuda Bay then inspired me to resurrect another old hobby: making stop-motion animation. Watch the Unsinkable II and Shippy McShipface (Black Seas Barracuda) battle it out in this new episode of Being Pirates:

For more pictures, visit the Flickr album.

About the Builder…

VaneStream is a regular contributor on both Eurobricks and YouTube. You can see more of his fantastic brick films on his YouTube Channel or more piratical photos in his Flickr stream or Instagram.

BrickHammer’s project “Imperial Island Fort” is the latest project to reach 10K supporters on LEGO Ideas. This 1,500-piece build is a remake of 6276 Eldorado Fortress and includes 4 minifigures which makes it suitable for playing. This project will be the first to join the Second 2021 review stage.

It’s been 24 years since anyone has visited this island… The last person to visit came by raft and decided to make this island his home, the island was once a small simple dwelling but over the years the occupant has built and built turning this into his own hideaway where he could stay and protect his riches.

Now 24 years later shipwrecked pirates with nothing more than a raft have stumbled onto this land, What secrets are waiting for them? What treasures will they find? And what of the old occupant? Perhaps you can find out by supporting this project…

This project was inspired by the 6248 Volcano Island set from 1996.

Eurobricks member NOD has created this beautiful pirate ship, come check it out in the Pirate MOCs forum!

Estrella 14by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 13by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 12by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 11by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 10by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 9 by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 8 by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 7 by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 6 by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 5 by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 4 by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 3 by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 2 by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 15by Philippe, auf Flickr

Estrella 16by Philippe, auf Flickr

This small island fortress is therefore supposed to be a blend of nostalgic classic LEGO red coat fortresses like the 6267 Eldorado Fortress and actual real life Caribbean architecture! Well not really, but it sure does look great in LEGO form!

The island consists of a big main castle on top of a rocky cliff and a pier beneath it. The castle contains a gatehouse tower and the governor’s house!  The pier beneath the castle is fortified with 2 cannon bastions to guard the island from incoming pirate ships or Armada attacks!

Includes about 1,500 pieces.

Visit this submission’s  LEGO Ideas webpage for additional updates.