Sailing Into History: Evancelt's Imperial MOCs from the Age of Sail

If you are a fan of Imperial-inspired MOCs, you might be familiar with the work of Evan Crouch aka Evancelt. He builds vibrant ships, houses, battles and more from that era (and always with sharp photos so you can feast your eyes on those splendid MOCs).

We asked Evan how his interest started in building in this theme and how he puts the LEGO bricks to good use.

Sailing the Brick Seas

Marco: Looking at your Flickr and Instagram accounts, I see an abundance of historical-based MOCs. Some are Wild West-themed or Castle-themed, but even more MOCs are based on the Imperial/Age of Sail era, including ships, fortresses, battles, and vignettes. What is the reason you like this theme so much? Where do you get your inspiration from?

Evan: I grew up in Pennsylvania in the eastern United States, specifically in an area that had lots of history tied to Colonial America and the American Revolution. As a child, I would attend reenactments at a local Revolutionary War battlefield and take school trips to old colonial houses where reenactors would pretend to be settlers from the 1600s and 1700s. I thought this was so cool—the reenactors always smelled so much like woodsmoke.

This early fascination with the history that was around me was compounded when my parents got the 1989-1993 LEGO Pirates line for my sister, brother, and me. My sister is older and ended up with the first sets (Bluecoats) and my brother and I then received the latter sets (Redcoats). As a child, my siblings and I would have naval battles on the carpet in our living room.

More recently, I’ve continued my fascination with the Age of Sail era with movies (Master and Commander, Sharpe, etc.) and books (Temeraire, Horatio Hornblower). These serve as a great way to keep my imagination searching for new aspects of the time period.

Marco: What does your building process look like? Do you sketch first, make a digital example, or just start and go through trial and error? For example, ships can have odd angles—how do you get that right?

Evan: I got back into MOC-building during COVID lockdowns in 2020. During that time period, I had more free time and would create at least one build a week, which led to lots of trial and error! These initial builds were all done by “winging it” with real bricks and little planning. As I completed more builds, I began to create a mental catalog of techniques that were successful (and looked cool!). I would then reference those techniques as I made new builds. One way that I found inspiration for new builds was to try out at least one new technique or piece usage per build, which meant every build was a chance to broaden my skills. I don’t really build official sets other than a couple of times a year with my kids, but I’m sure I’d learn a lot of cool techniques if I did.

Marco: When did you start building bigger? And how does that building process change when the scale increases?

These initial 2020 - 2021 builds were on the scale of one to two baseplates in size. In the past few years, I’ve started making much larger and more complicated builds on a scale of 20 - 60 baseplates. These larger builds definitely need sketches and blueprints prior to execution so that I can plan where to run electricity and place motors and how much of a certain color I will need to stockpile prior to the build. Additionally, I’ve begun working on larger collaborative builds alongside other builders in my LUG—this often requires a high level of planning to ensure the build style and colors match up!

Here is an example of a plan for a build created in Google Sheets and then the execution:

planning layout

layout result

Marco: Some of the pictures are linked to the “Brethren of the Brick Seas.” Can you tell me a little bit about what that is about?

Evan: I credit Brethren of the Brick Seas (BoBS) with getting me back into building. When looking at Revolutionary War things on Google searches, I came across MOC builds from Ayrlego that featured marching Redcoats, and this caught my imagination. As I looked into BoBS more, I discovered it was a LEGO building game centered around the Age of Sail. It is hosted on the EuroBricks forums and open for all builders to participate in. Builders get to create one or more Age of Sail characters and then lead them through adventures with LEGO MOCs as the artistic medium. BoBS is planning to introduce a new interactive map game mode in 2025, so I definitely recommend you check it out!

Pictures and Purism

Marco: Your pictures are quite sharp. Do you have any tips and tricks on how to achieve that?

Evan: I’ve learned a lot about photography through the process of trying to artistically capture my LEGO builds in image format. If a build is compact enough, my current photography process is to place the build in a popup photo tent on top of an “infinity curve” piece of white posterboard. I then light the photo tent using multiple cheap table lamps with daylight LED bulbs. This means I can control the lighting and don’t have to wait for a well-lit day to achieve good lighting. I take handheld photos using my iPhone 14 Pro—using a tripod hasn’t seemed necessary as smartphone algorithms can deal with a little hand-shake.

This process yields a well-lit photo with a white background. I then often recolor the background to be something more eye-catching using Photoshop. Here’s an example of my lighting setup:

photo tent

Result

photoshopped result

Marco: Looking at your minifigures, you can see custom printing and custom accessories, which are nice additions to LEGO’s offerings. What is your take on this by not being a “purist”?

Evan: The minifigures I use in my builds (and create for Rocky Mountain Minifigs) maintain the classic LEGO aesthetic while adding a few more historical details. Some examples are classic imperial guard torsos printed in colors LEGO never made (green, yellow, orange, etc.), gold rims on tricorne hats, hair under hats, or cloth coattails attached to LEGO legs. I will also use elements like BrickArms flintlock muskets to add a little more realism. As I mentioned earlier, though, I try to have the finished product look like something LEGO could have released—yellow heads in particular are a favorite.

custom weapons

these minifigures being used in a build

With regard to your “purist” question, I think it all comes back to context and purpose. In the context of a MOC/figbarf contest, it can make sense to include rules limiting part usage to official LEGO ones so that there is a level playing field between contestants in the competition (e.g., so some of them don’t attach pieces with glue or use Playmobil hats!). However, unless you like challenging yourself to only use available pieces, it can be freeing to give yourself a little latitude during builds with custom pieces.

In my Thomas the Tank Engine build, I sanded a few studs off a plate to make a plate/tile hybrid to accomplish the SNOT-numbering on the side. The Thomas face itself is made with clay. In the end, the purist parts of the build (e.g., using antlers for leaves on the tree, etc.) keep the overall MOC firmly planted in LEGO territory I think.

Thomas the Tank Engine

One other thought on purism and pieces, if LEGO makes a piece but doesn’t offer it in a specific color, that seems like an oversight on LEGO’s part that builders shouldn’t suffer from! Spray paint a piece the color you need and be done with it! :)

Favorite MOCs

Marco: As we wrap up, I’m curious if you have a favorite MOC? And what makes that one so special to you?

Evan: Two of my favorite earlier MOCs are “Naval Intelligence Office, Port Woodhouse” and “The Sea Rat”. In the Naval Intelligence Office build, it was one of my first times creating a build using the SNOT-edge base technique Ayrlego introduced me to—I also had a blast aligning macaroni tiles around the fountain to make an ornate patio.

office

I really like the Sea Rat build because it features both a daydreaming pirate and the pirate’s dream of riches—I think this sort of build has endless possibilities with regard to builders’ imaginations.

sea rat

More recently, I really like this “Winter Kingdom” build. In that build, I tried out using construction digger shovel pieces as yellow castle parapets—it worked pretty well!

Winter kingdom

Marco: Thank you so much for chatting with us. And to finish, the most important question… Bluecoats or Redcoats?

Evan: Redcoats of course! Bluecoats are my sister’s.

Which faction do you like most and what would you build with them? Let us know in the comments below.

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