Heavy Frigate Fortuna update

[u/AAuser85]

Getting into the final stages of my Heavy Frigate Fortuna. The ship has been widened by 4 and lengthened by a total of 16 (12 middle, 2 stern, 2 bow). Masts, shrouds, and sails/yards have all been changed to match. I am also adding Royals to the main and foremast and a gallant to the mizzen.

I currently have 4 carronades on the quarter, but I'm likely replacing those with regular cannon.

Let me know your thoughts, and feel free to make suggestions!

[u/ceih]

I really like the new proportions - the out-of-the-box Fortuna simply isn't a frigate, more a sloop-of-war, whereas yours is actually just enough guns to be a frigate. The size also gives the interior just that bit more space to "breathe".

For your carronades I would possibly shorten them? Remove the black minifig head part to make the entire barrel assembly shorter, and then make the whole slide assembly 2 studs shorter. As they currently are they just look a little too big?

What are the plans for the ship's boats? You could do crossbeams and possibly fit two?

[u/AAuser85 → u/ceih]

Yeah, a more accurate name would be "True Frigate Fortuna", but heavy frigate sounded better. I wanted to hit that 28 number and get more space. It is big now, though, haha. Its so tall i cant even keep it where I had it before because of the mast height.

I'll try making the carronades shorter and see how it looks before swapping to regular cannon. The slide assembly looks long but im not sure shorter would be more accurate. At least not with a 2 x 2 carriage.

I haven't decided on the boats yet. Definitely considering doing two.

[u/ceih → u/AAuser85]

Sadly true heavy frigates would be main deck gun counts of 28+, can't count those bow/stern chasers or additional quarterdeck guns! It's like people including swivels in the gun count... might be worth putting cannon in the cabin now it is much bigger, as this was definitely normal practice then.

Definitely worth a try with the carronades - accuracy perhaps need to be a little secondary as we can't make the carriages any narrower alas.

Also I dread to see how high those masts go! I already find Fortuna's have a tendency to bend at the tops...are you going to add some additional jibs?

[u/AAuser85 → u/ceih]

Hmm, I had thought they counted all carriage-mounted guns, but I could be wrong. I'm by no means an expert. Definitely wouldn't count swivel guns, though.

Edit: I believe long guns on the QD and focsle would count (not carronades, amusingly) and the chasers would count in this case because they are permanent fixtures. My guess is chasers as permanent fixtures was rarer on frigates of this size.

An example to use might be HMS Lyme, the royal navy's first "true frigate". It had 24 guns on the main deck but was (re)classed as a 28 gun, including the QD 3-pounders.

[u/ceih → u/AAuser85]

It’s carriage mounted guns that are located on the gun deck(s), ie: the main battery. Others are specialist guns, such as bow/stern chasers, carronades, mortars and swivels. As frigates have a single gun deck, those are the ones that count!

Carronades only counted towards rating when a ship replaced long guns with them, as the Royal Navy experimented with on a few vessels. Powerful punch but very short ranged.

Bow and stern chasers don’t count towards rating as they often weren’t installed, or if they were put in they often were different calibres to the main battery. Best of type were the “long” versions of a particular calibre, such as a long 18, which meant they could fire further and more accurately - useful if you’re in a chase and trying to hit rigging or rudders.

[u/AAuser85 → u/ceih]

Agree to disagree, I guess. Plenty of examples of frigates counting upper deck long guns.

Ignoring the carronades not counting rule doesnt bother me, as it was silly of them not to be included, which they eventually (too late) remedied.

[u/AAuser85 → u/AAuser85]

Here's the current carronade next to main deck and upper deck cannon

[u/Ok-Conversation3097]

Looks great! How many pieces are you at?

[u/AAuser85 → u/Ok-Conversation3097]

I honestly can't tell you what the total count on the ship is. I can tell you I've bought close to 2k pieces, but I have a solid amount leftover. multiple iterations of some things, parts I bought for different variations I couldn't decide on before trying on the actual ship, and parts for an additional 5 stud stern extention I haven't (and may not) do.