Well, ever since I got the Black Pearl at the LEGO Store in Arundel Mills at the beginning of the month, I've been slowly, but surely working on this beast. Now, at the end of the month I finally have something to show for it:


CSS Baton Rouge, Side WIP by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr


CSSBCWIP1 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr


CSSBCWIP3 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

As you can see, I've got the main hull exterior and the main deck finished (with the 10" gun turrets, the funnels and the interior of the main deck (which includes the Captain's Cabin and the Combat Information Center).... Now all I need to do is finish the 01 Level (Bridge and Radio Shack) and the 02 Level (basically open deck on top of the Bridge for the Lookouts and some additional Machinegunners and/or AA guns). I ended up buying two extra black hull sections on BrickLink, because the hull parts that came with the original Black Pearl set were too short and the resulting ship was far too stubby, so I ended up lengthening the ship. As a result, the interior of the superstructure is now two studs longer than it was before, allowing me to add an additional watch station to the CIC and let the Tactical Action Officer (officer in charge of CIC) to sit down. This, however requires me to re-design the level the Bridge is on as well as the one above it. Once I get that done, I'll be making a new list of parts required and ordering more stuff through Pick A Brick (which will hopefully not take nearly as long to arrive). Once the ship is finished, I'll post additional pics and a full backstory.

Wow! Can't wait to she her finished!

She's huge and looking great so far!!

Glad you guys like her! You know, to date, this is the LARGEST single LEGO vehicle I've ever made (prior to this, the FNS Hawkwing and the SS Merry Maid held that title)... I'm not sure, but it MAY have a higher piece count, when all is said and done, than the City Island Keep! :lol:

Well, I've made some progress: I spent about 5 hours last knight working on finishing up the main structure of the 01 Level (where the Bridge and Radio Shack are located) and the 02 Level (open upper deck with walls and the main mast), and I'm happy with how its shaping up so far. I just ordered what should be the final parts I need to finish this thing up (well, I do need more crew, but I'll have to order them on BrickLink, since they use the green and white striped Pirate Torso from the 2009 Pirates line... It was a good thing I bought some dozen or so Cannon Battle sets, otherwise I'd not have enough sailors to man all the bridge and CIC watch stations ).

Anyways, here they are:


Baton Rouge WIP part 2 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

Side view pic... You can see some sailors manning the bridge-wing mounted heavy machineguns and an AA-vulcan cannon (I'm most likely going to convert that thing into a Phalanx CIWS or Goalkeeper mount). Yes, it is, in fact, a BrickArms Minigun. I'm also going to add one to the aft side of the 02 Level, for complete point defense.


Baton Rouge's Bridge and Radio Shack by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

This is the Bridge and Radio Shack interior... This picture didn't turn out too well for some reason, but you can still see the Captain's Chair (which is currently occupied by the Officer of the Deck), the Navigator's radar station and the Quartermaster of the Watch at the helm. The light-bley thing with the lever next to the helm is supposed to be the Engine Order Telegraph, which is used to convey engine speed orders to the Main Engine Room.

The red cabinet in the Radio Shack is a weapons locker, and holds two MP-40 submachine guns (for the QMOW and Duty Radioman) and two .45 Colt Revolvers for the Officer of the Deck and the Navigator, to be issued in case of an emergency combat situation (security alert, hostile boarding action, etc).


Baton Rouge's CIC and CO's Cabin by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

This is an updated pic of the main deck interior, showing the Combat Information Center and the Captain's Cabin (yes, that IS Blackbeard commanding this ship... One of the side-effects of all the blasted time-space portals that keep popping up since the Final War). The officer sitting at the fancy console with all the widgets is the Tactical Action Officer, the commissioned officer who is in charge of coordinating all the weapons systems in CIC with each other and the bridge in order to make most effective use of the ship's offensive and defensive capabilities. The other consoles are fire control stations for the various gun turrets.


Baton Rouge Below Decks WIP by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

Finally, the still very much WIP belowdecks.. You can see part of the updated (but still far from complete) main Engine Room, and the Mess Deck, with three off-duty sailors enjoying a bite to eat. The big barrel was going to be a water tank/hoop boiler, but I can't figure out any good lit arrangement, so It's going in the Berthing area as a Shower/bath tub.

Hope you enjoyed the updates! Hopefully the PAB order I just placed won't take another 3 weeks to a month to arrive, otherwise I might not have this finished before Christmas.

This is as awesome as I hoped it would be. Great work! Keep it up!

Thanks! I would have replied earlier, but I didn't have anything else to add until now:

I just recently found this place called modelflags.com that makes high-quality cotton flags for model ships, including a wide variety of Napoleonic, Civil War, WWI and WWII naval flags, and my confederate flag order just arrived:


BECC Flag Review by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

As you can see, it's something of a "some assembly required" proposition, but it wasn't hardly any trouble to treat the entire flag with the anti-fraying treatment pictured and then trim it down after it dried.... The flag is thin enough to be securely fastened to the flagpole using two (or possibly more) BA monopods or U-Clips.

The only thing I'm not particularly happy with is my own fault: I should have ordered each of the flags in the next size up from the one I ended up getting them in (i.e. got a "C" sized "Stars and Bars" flag and a "D" or "E" sized flag for the Confederate battle flag, but I can still use these on smaller ships)....

Also, my final parts order from LEGO just shipped (although I probably should order some more of the green-striped pirate torsos from Brick Link, just to make sure I have enough crew for this beast), meaning that I MIGHT just get this done before Christmas.

...Oh, and I just realized I made a huge gaffe: The sailors on the messdecks should NOT be wearing their hats... That is a BIG no-no in the Navy.

Looks awesome so far Hikaro! I love the way the water tight hatches look!
I'm kinda glad I didn't spend too much time with the BIG Navy and have been in the Expeditionary side with the MSRONs, but I do like the old traditions they've held onto for so long though.

Those flags are awesome! They have Napoleonic? Hmmm... *thinks about buying Grande Armee flags*

EDIT: Huh, I didn't see any Napoleonic flags. Could you shoot me a link?

Well, they have the "Star Spangled Banner" (15 stars and 15 stripes flag from the War of 1812) here: http://www.modelflags.com/acatalog/USA.html

Ever British flag from 1700 on up is here: http://www.modelflags.com/acatalog/Great_Britain_2.html

...And they've got other flags in the scanned version of their print catalog (which has French napoleonic banners and such).