lord raffles Posted March 23, 2016 New to lego, but decided to get into it now that I'm a father and have a good excuse ;) Always wanted the Black Seas Barracuda as a child, and then discovered the cheaply priced knock-off version on Amazon and decided to get myself one (as well as all the others) - am now hooked and am browsing BrickLink for more pirate stuff! Here's what I came up with, the sails are reproduction ones I got from a seller on Ebay for the Skull's Eye Schooner. The ship itself is based off the Black Seas Barracuda with added features: I decided to give the ship more of a deck than the original Barracuda, so my daughter will be able to place all her minifigs on board! Intend to add more cannons and raise the hull in the future. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cousarmy0001 Posted March 23, 2016 I hope the knock-off wasn't from Enlighten! They look like Legos, but really don't fit very well (I bought the Enlighten Black Seas Barracuda a few years ago, too). You're off to a good start here. I got back into Lego about five years ago now, when I went into the old suitcase holding my Legos from when I was a kid, and rebuilt my old Caribbean Clipper- then immediately started modifying it. It looks like you're following the same path, and you've come to the right place for it. There's tons of tutorials and building advice to be had here, from hulls to rigging to guns. Enjoy! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mattb483 Posted March 23, 2016 Nice little mod you did there to the ship. Also glad to see your into lego again.The custom sails are cool how much were they? The only prob here is what alot of people call the clone lego brands. If you decide to invest more money in lego you will definitely see the poor quality of the knock off brands. Some people don't care but i think its best to atick with the offcial lego bricks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lord raffles Posted March 23, 2016 The custom sails are cool how much were they? £16.99 from this seller: http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/brighton-emporium-sail-away?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 I will definitely be sticking to standard Lego in the future, but these cheap sets were a good and quick means of "jumping in" so to speak (and seeing whether or not my interest was fleeting): already planning on buying the bits to build "Eldorado Fortress" (and a variant of the Barracuda for the Imperials with blue sails/colour scheme). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cousarmy0001 Posted March 23, 2016 I personally don't care if somebody chooses to build with Enlighten or another knock off, but I personally don't recommend it, due to the poor quality of the bricks. That being said, I am glad that I bought the one ship from them, because it came with mirrored swords that look great and do fit will with actual Legos. It's almost worth it to buy a whole Enlighten ship instead of buying swords like these on Bricklink. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Staslegomaster Posted March 24, 2016 The Black Seas Barracuda is a legend of pirate LEGO ships. It was released in 1989 and 2002. If this is your start (a successful one) - what are your LEGO plans? You can also add your LEGO stories if you like. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lord raffles Posted March 24, 2016 what are your LEGO plans? Ultimately to develop a set to be used for wargaming/role playing as well as something for my daughter to play with. I've got a number of Pirate wargame rules I've purchased in the past and think they would translate well to Lego with a few adjustments; I've always wanted to give these rules a go, and have always wanted to collect Lego Pirates - combing two hobbies into one Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cousarmy0001 Posted March 24, 2016 Ultimately to develop a set to be used for wargaming/role playing as well as something for my daughter to play with. I've got a number of Pirate wargame rules I've purchased in the past and think they would translate well to Lego with a few adjustments; I've always wanted to give these rules a go, and have always wanted to collect Lego Pirates - combing two hobbies into one You should look into Brethren of the Brick Seas, the forum is at http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showforum=177 You've already got a ship for it :-) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iammac Posted March 25, 2016 Awesome! I enjoy old pirates sets, but the newer ones really haven't deteriorated much in quality. I purchased the Brick Bounty last year and I think it's a great way to snag all the really important "ship building" parts to get going... Keep it up! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Staslegomaster Posted March 25, 2016 Ultimately to develop a set to be used for wargaming/role playing as well as something for my daughter to play with. I've got a number of Pirate wargame rules I've purchased in the past and think they would translate well to Lego with a few adjustments; I've always wanted to give these rules a go, and have always wanted to collect Lego Pirates - combing two hobbies into one It’s pleasant to know that someone has been fond of LEGO sets for such a long time and wants his or her children to have that hobby, too – as an educational project. It's better than computer games. And isn’t so bad for eyes and helps assiduity. I'm also a LEGO board games fan. Please have a look at my Pirates Battle Island, Your game can have much playability. When you finish it, try to upload it in LEGO ideas. when LEGO fans of all ages support each other, their projects can be successful. And your daughter and other kids will enjoy it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Staslegomaster Posted March 26, 2016 The pictures taken from different angles help see all the details and that's good. This time I noticed and wondered how your sailors could get into the crow's nests. The shrouds aren't high enough. Try to improve that. That's a drawback of all LEGO ships. Otherwise everything is well done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cousarmy0001 Posted March 26, 2016 A *simple* thing you could do that would help gussy up this ship a bit would be to add some deck guns. There are a wide variety of deck gun (aka caronade) designs available on this forum- they're pretty much all brick built, meaning that they're made from scratch, not using the normal Lego cannons. Adding two or three carronades to each side of your ship will do a lot to add some detail and make the ship look more complete. Perhaps adding a ship's boat or two in the center of the main deck might be a good idea, as well. As for more complex improvements you could make, you could try adding "planking" to your decks, via 1x1 to 1x8 tiles of your preferred deck color. I usually go with "brick yellow", which is more of a tan than a yellow, but you could always do white, brown, sand yellow (tan), or any other color that tickles your fancy. It would remove some playability for your daughter, but IMO it looks a whole lot nicer- so much so that I recently redid all of my ships in this way. Additionally, and this one is one of my favorite things to do when I design and build a ship, is to make an interior for your captain's cabin, assuming that you can view it by moving some windows or lifting a deck plate. There are a lot of cool furniture designs out there for beds, desks, bookshelves, liquor cabinets, musical instruments, etc that can really make a ship design "pop". If you want to get your daughter involved in the process, this might be a fun thing for her to help you with. If you don't already have it (you said you're new to the whole Lego thing) I HIGHLY recommend you get Lego Digital Designer (LDD). It's a building program that is free from Lego, that will let you design your own stuff, and then give you a list of the parts you need to order either from Lego's "pick-a-brick" or from Bricklink. It *usually* makes things a whole lot easier. On that note, if you haven't already discovered Bricklink, you should check it out. You can get just about any Lego part you can imagine there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CelesAurivern Posted March 27, 2016 On that note, if you haven't already discovered Bricklink, you should check it out. You can get just about any Lego part you can imagine there. For a price Careful, cos once you start, there's no turning back. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Staslegomaster Posted March 28, 2016 New to lego, but decided to get into it now that I'm a father and have a good excuse ;) Always wanted the Black Seas Barracuda as a child, and then discovered the cheaply priced knock-off version on Amazon and decided to get myself one (as well as all the others) - am now hooked and am browsing BrickLink for more pirate stuff! Here's what I came up with, the sails are reproduction ones I got from a seller on Ebay for the Skull's Eye Schooner. The ship itself is based off the Black Seas Barracuda with added features: I decided to give the ship more of a deck than the original Barracuda, so my daughter will be able to place all her minifigs on board! Intend to add more cannons and raise the hull in the future. I always wonder why most of LEGO ships have striped sails. It was hardly so in real life, I guess. What do you think? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Imperial Soldier Posted March 28, 2016 I always wonder why most of LEGO ships have striped sails. It was hardly so in real life, I guess. What do you think? I think it was mainly to make them more colourful as they are toys. Also I think when the line launched they wanted to clearly distinguish between the Pirates and Imperial Soldiers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Staslegomaster Posted March 31, 2016 I like old front sails because they have printing on both sides, so it's easy to take their pictures. Modern sails have printing on one side only, which doesn't look nice. Do you know about 5007028? - the mini set has a booklet about the best pirate sets of many years. You'd like to combine a few pirate sets in a board game for your daughter - LEGO issues pirate board games every 5 years. So your version can be the next one. Good luck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
