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Paused Bava's HMS Southampton-32 guns, 1757

Captain Armstrong

Shipbuilding Coordinator
Storm Modder
Ahoy all!

Recently I have been occupied with finishing up Bava's HMS Southampton, which was begun long ago: http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/the-hms-southampton.16490/ The Southampton was designed by Thomas Slade, and was one of two prototype British classes of 12pdr 32 gun frigate, (the other being the more traditional Richmond class http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66457.html ) introduced at the beginning of the seven years war to counter the french ones. It is generally thought of as the first English frigate, though Thomas Rauzy has recently turned that on its head, finding that her hull form is an almost exact match to a french 64 gun ship of the era. http://www.piratesahoy.net/attachments/southampton_monarque_compar_lores-jpg.14631/

Though the class had decent performance, there was room for improvement. The perfected design by slade became the Niger-class frigate, which was produced in larger numbers than the Southamptons, and formed the backbone of the British 12pdr frigate force by the time of the american revolution.
The events that Bava included in the original post are quite interesting, definitely worth a read. This ship had a very active and (especially given the vast changes in frigate design and size since her launch) remarkably long career. her history can be read in full, along with other specifications here: http://richardsmodelboats.webs.com/pdf/Southampton Reconstruction Rev 01.pdf

Anyway, what I have done with the ship so far is certainly noticable, but there is still much work to be done. I have done much UV mapping, added vertical divisions in the bow ( the stern really didn't seem to need them) Added detail to the headrails, built hinged gunport lids that fit snugly into the gunports, held secure against a raised inner wall. I added vertical supports to the quarterdeck railing shown in the plan, added detail to several areas on the stern,added a proper rudder with hinges, cut stern chase ports in their proper place, and did a general cleanup. Oh and I added masts and yards using the sailplan. I have yet to touch the interior or decks, apart from cleanup and some UVs, so after chainplates that will be next.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/6.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/7.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/8.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/9.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/10.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/11.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/12.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/13.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/14.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/15.JPG
 
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Beautiful little ship, isn't she?

Hard to believe she served so long and took part in so many actions, I can almost imagine Southampton was the real inspiration for Aubery's Surprise...
 
Indeed it is hard to believe! Especially considering she was in the Caribbean in 1812, I shudder to think of the decimation had she run into one of the American 44s and tried to put up a resistance. But yes, a similarly long and illustrious career to the Surprise, despite being entirely outclassed by most every other frigate at sea by the end of her career, just like the Surprise. Hell, she even took on a larger hostile frigate (Amethyste) at the end of her career and beat her with nimble maneuvering and superior gunnery, which seems very surprise-esque
 
Hey all! Another update on the Southampton here. I’ve added the chainplates with corresponding shrouds and deadeyes, the capstan, stove, gratings, wheel, and pinrails. I will be adding a file for belaying pins on the FTP parts library with at least an LOD 0 and LOD 1. I’ve had to make an odd alteration to the chainplates because of the unusual height and size of the wale below the gunports, I am not entirely sure the metal could bend in that way and retain its strength. I may also yet add camber to the hatches. Hopefully I have a bit more of the interior to show off by the time the next update comes around. :dance

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/16.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/17.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/18.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/43901618/CArmstrong/misc/screens/Southampton/19.JPG
 
Beautiful work! This ship is coming along very well. :keith

Your last image is a little hard to see with the aliasing effects, though. Is there any chance you could take another shot of that perspective with Viewport 2.0 and anti-aliasing turned on?
 
Your last image is a little hard to see with the aliasing effects, though. Is there any chance you could take another shot of that perspective with Viewport 2.0 and anti-aliasing turned on?
Alas my computer/ graphics card is not powerful enough. :modding I suppose that's what I get for modeling on a quite basic dell laptop. :facepalmPerhaps I should see about upgrading my desktop, it'll certainly be necessary at some point in regards to HoO.
 
Alas my computer/ graphics card is not powerful enough. :modding I suppose that's what I get for modeling on a quite basic dell laptop. :facepalmPerhaps I should see about upgrading my desktop, it'll certainly be necessary at some point in regards to HoO.
Does your card support DX11? That should allow you to use anti-aliasing via the Preferences>Display>Viewport 2.0 setting, which works for my otherwise not-so-great laptop.
If not, it doesn't matter much. Sounds like you're in the same situation as me, with a desktop lying around that desperately needs an upgrade. :rolleyes:
 
I'll be sure to keep that one in mind! When the time comes I'll need to replace pretty much everything, so I'll probably ask around here first for recommendations.
Value for money is never a bad thing. :cheeky
 
Off topic. :oops:

Right now and for the next few years the most bang for your buck is the AMD Kaveri APU. The A10 7850K rocks right now and its performance will only get better as software gets written to use it fully. It is future proof.
AMD A10-7850K Kaveri 12 Compute Cores (4 CPU + 8 GPU) 3.7GHz Socket FM2+ 95W Desktop Processor AMD Radeon R7 series AD785KXBJABOX - Newegg.com

Of course you are probably as broke as I was at your age............:modding
I'll definitely consider it! For someone who is a developer for a video game, I know surprisingly little about the latest advances for the computers themselves.:modding So it's a good of a place to start as any!:dance
 
Any new progress on Southampton? I'm trying to set up material test scene on one of the ships, and would like to use the one that's most completed. St Albans lack of detail is a bit hard on the eye, when setting up realistic materials, so something nicer would be good. Does Southampton have standing rigging?
 
Hmm, I'm nearing another update, just want to finish getting the beams and knees under the f'csle and quarterdeck first. The rest of the gun deck interior is physically complete, including cabin and quarter galleries. Otherwise I'm missing a few details like anchors, rudder chains, and a few bits and bobs, but the exterior and interior above the waterline is pretty complete for testing, and likely more detailed than the St. Albans in many respects. However, I haven't done any more work on the rig since the last update, is that a limiting factor? Also there are no LODs or proxies yet.
 
I will do one of 2: take Southampton and add anchors, compass housing, guns etc. from parts pack; or take Sphynx hull and add shrouds with deadeyes from Southampton. Those are single thing that has tarred rope material. So I'd have use for Southampton anyway. All I need is a playground for materials and make it as beautiful as possible. So no proxies or LODs needed. Also, I will model and texture at least one sail for it, for upcoming sails shader test.

EDIT: So, would be cool if you uploaded Southampton on FTP in next couple of days, I'll use it's shrouds on Sphynx.
 
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Ok sounds like a plan. I'd like to finish the beams first, but with a deadline if the next couple days. Also, the shrouds I used on Southampton are from the FTP, should be in Wedori's ship parts folder, if you want to play around with sticking those on the Sphynx.
 
No, I'm not rushing you to finish everything in 2 days :) Sphynx looks more finished as of now, just has no standing rig. So I just wanted Southampton's shrouds, because I'm too lazy to tweak individual ones to the ship. With yours I probably could do with simply moving and rotating them in engine.
 
hmm, well I can say from the experience of placing shrouds, its more complex than it looks, there is quite a bit of curvature involved in every direction...but then again I'm not familiar with the tools in-engine, so I'll leave it up to your judgment. I'll see what I can do about uploading the shrouds.:keith
 
Ashi, will your computer troubles postpone this? If it does, I might hold off on separating shrouds, because the Southampton herself might be much closer to being ready by the time you're back up and running
 
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