I've seen quite a few virtual classic tallships a la Pirates of the Caribbean. They usually suffer from the technical limitations of the virtual world. Putting so many details into a moving, sailable object is simply not possible. This one is a bit different.
 |
| Ahab and me talking about spring and blizzards |
There are at least three differences. It can't sail. At least not yet. It's quite detailed, while still being work in progress. It is more of a modern ship than the typical romantic pirate ship. It looks like a somewhat modernized tallship with an iron hull and wooden decks. Technically speaking it's a Barque.
 |
| Through the window |
Details, details, details... here's a picture taken through the window of the boatshop at Tradewinds. You can hardly see it, but the hull is definately not made of oak like those oldtimers we used to have, back when my country was a superpower at sea. Crazy thought btw.
 |
| Obviously a modern ship |
What you can see is that there are no canons. This next shot here shows the deck house and low parts of the mast. Lots of details, and obviously it is a modern ship. Those round things in the windows, "wipers", dunno what they're called. Does anyone know? Anyway, they clearly need electrical power to function.
 |
| Interior |
The interior wasn't quite finished, but here's a glimpse of it. There's a lot of tricks applied in virtual boat building. This one works quite well; Until you try to walk through the door. It's sort of a bonk-auch- wtf-experience.
 |
| Size is big |
There's room enough though. The size of this thing is... It's not like the
aircraft carrier, but it is comparable to
this oiler. The word is BIG, and I wonder if it will ever sail. Perhaps it will be able to sail by engine, but by sail? I seriously doubt it. Hope to be surprised though.
 |
| It's tallship day at Tradewinds |
Here's another shot that indicates the size. In the back left side there's a tiny
Nacra sitting in the sand. Back center the Tradewinds lighthouse sticks out. Back right side there's - lo and behold - another tallship heading north it seems. I have no idea what kind of sandspeeder is hovering beside the tallship in the back, but that's the virtual world. You never know what you're gonna get.
 |
| Full view |
Here's a full view picture of the ship in all it's glory. It is - of course - built by master builders over at Kiku Craft. Check the details on the
Kiku site here. It appears as if Kiku Craft expect this to sail eventually. Whoa! Talk about a
liveaboard. Better keep an eye on this one.
PS: You can catch a glimpse of a true classic, wooden
tallship over at Timo's. Oh, and I also posted a few pics of them when I sailed the
Nautilus submarine.
