After my last project (HMS Diana in minifigure scale), I wanted to build a 50-gun ship, as I think this might be the upper limit in terms of ship size that can be done really well in a close-to-minifigure scale. I wanted this to be HMS Leopard, and I was happy to discover that one of the reference books I found contained detailed plans to build a model of HMS Leopard. The book in question is Rif Winfield's "The 50-Gun Ship". 

My goal with this moc is to stay as close as possible to the real construction of a ship like this and to include as much detail as possible. I plan for everything from the lower gundeck and above to be removable as a single structure. For the masts and rigging I am planning to use the same approach I did for HMS Diana while incorporating some significant improvements I have devised. 

Starboard view of the hull. Getting the shaping right at the bow and stern was a massive challenge, and involved multiple re-builds. The bow and stern are also the areas where I have had to compromise the "realism" of the internal structure the most to ensure stability. In reality these areas would have more open space inside them, but that just wasn't possible for me to achieve. 

Full view of the removable orlop deck. Almost all of this deck can be removed to access the various compartments of the hold below. 

The orlop with the removable sections gone, giving views into the hold. 

This is my current prototyping progress for the lower gundeck, which will support the top half of the ship that can be removed from the hull. 

I'm hoping to make a lot of progress in the coming weeks with some new shipments of pieces arriving, I'll post more progress pictures once I finalize the design of the gundecks. 

The design I have in mind is grande, a rough 15 procent larger than what I'm showing now.

I wanted to wait as long as possible with buying additional bricks and that was a good thing because I see there's quite some space for improvement already.

Anyway, this is what I've build so far:

She's a bit longer than my Black Pearl, taller but about the same width.

Either way she's an improvement compared to my first version of the Flying Dutchman. Back then I was under the impression that you can't build a ship without prefab hull parts

The color sheme stayed mostly the same though I think the grey looks rather boring.

personally I'm disturbed by the long black line along the ships' side, I would have prefered grey or dark grey instead but I didn't have enough parts. Incase you were wondering, the black line is what makes the angle on the side, I used hinged car roof plates you see, they make a less agressive angle than the hinge plates as used in Captain Greenhairs' Frigate. I did that because the FD is much taller compared to a frigate.

I left one side of the ship open, you might find that cool so you can view the interior but the actual reason was that I don't have enough parts for a complete ship. On that note, you don't see the port side in the movies anyway.

Anyway there will be an interior

I had to reduce the size of the organ in order to make it fit in the captains' quarters, this might sound strange considering my previous Flying Dutchman was smaller yet it had a bigger organ. However, in the previous version the whole captains' quarter was situated on the gun deck, not where it is supposed to be.

I think the new organ looks nicer than the old one though.

The stern still needs a lot of work, there's no place on this ship where part selection is more critical.

But the bow needs the most work of all, apart from the fact that she's missing her "teeth" she could look a bit more elegant.

Now, I'm gonna have to order parts but I haven't made up my mind wether I'll finish this ship or start building an improved version right away.

You see I found a colorscheme that could work:

A combination of old grey and dark grey, dark tan, trans. yellow and some dark green and trans. green accents, actually I'm not so sure about the trans. green anymore.

Oh well. C&C is appreciated.

I'm under the impression that the Flying Dutchman is a Galleon, correct me if I'm wrong on that and while you're at it I'm also confused about POTC Queen Anne's revenge, a ship I would say she's also a galleon.

The HMS Flirt

My version is based on the wonderful Barracuda Brig by @Supersick_
Thanks for this great template!

My modifications mainly concern the rigging, the deck layout, the armament,
and of course, the paint scheme. The swivel guns are still work in progress...

For the rigging I will most likely choose simple strings or maybe in combination with
LEGO strings with climbing gribs.

I look forward to your comments, and if you want to know more about the
real HMS Flirt, just read to the end of this post. 

Take care, Timo

History:
HMS Flirt was ordered together with HMS Speedy in 1781, and both were built by Thomas King, a private shipyard owner based in Dover.
The Flirt/Speedy class of brig-sloops were the second class built to the new flush-decked brig-sloop designs, the first being the Childers class of 1779.
oth the Childers and Flirt/Speedy classes were almost identical. Both were around the same dimensions, mast plans, armament, and crew.
They also shared the same very graceful lines, more cutter-like than brig. These early flush decked brig-sloops had a graceful sheer and steeply raked stern,
unlike the later ‘mass-produced’ Cruiser and Cherokee classes.

The term ‘Brig-Sloop’ means that she was a two-masted vessel, and on the Navy List sloop was a term given to a vessel which was commanded by an officer
ith the rank of master and commander. Flirt was 207 tons, the length of her upper deck was just over 78 feet and her width was 25 feet, 8 inches.
She had a crew of between 84 men and 6 officers, with only two of the officers being commissioned, the commander and his lieutenant.

Her armament consisted of 14 x 4-Pounder carriage guns and 12 x half-pounder swivel guns, but posts for 20 guns, as the swivel guns could be taken
out of their posts and moved and placed in another post.

A reimagining of the classic Armada Flagship. At under 700 pieces, it’s designed to fit seamlessly into any MOC fort, stay under the $100 mark, and help round out those extra-large BDP entries.

I experimented with a modern recolor, but the original palette turned out to be too fun to pass up.

Morions not included (I slipped this picture in as the last one on the BDP) Getting the sail to curve AND have room for a sticker took some time. As did redesigning the top rails.

Note the voluptuously curved hull!

Anchor and Capstan work!

Let me know what you think! And don't forget to vote here!

I've been working on several designs, mainly ships, and this is my interpretation of a Portuguese round caravel from the 16th-century.

It has 955 pieces.

This is what I wanted to reproduce:

You can find my MOC on this link:

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-253571/virgiliodias/round-caravel/#details

I’m happy to share my submission to Series 10 of the BDP Program and my first Pirate MOC/Project.

I love dioramas, and I put a lot of time into making sure this had as many features as possible. The shipwreck has a fully accessible interior, as does the research ship exploring from above. I love the new translucent support pieces (4042), so I included a multitude of different places to swap out the divers and the fish for different poses. 

Support and feedback is very much appreciated!

‘

Tried to populate this part as much as I could, I put the map and sextant in to make it easy to imagine and fill in the blanks regarding what the Captain’s last voyage might’ve been. 

Extra airtanks and masks are available at the research ship, with a captain making sure everyone is accounted for. 

If anyone’s interested, I’d be happy to show off some of the older versions of this project as it slowly morphed into this final version (started designing back in December of 2024)! 

Here's my newest ship - Batavia inspired VOC galleon, that carries emblems of Amstredam and Amsterdam department of VOC.

Ship is build on old-type hull, carries coffee-dyed, machine-sewn, PVC-fabric sails and hand painted flags.

The crew is inspired by Night Watch painting by Rembrandt

With so many others remaking Enchanted Island, and with  so much time spent on Saber Island, I thought this would be a fun project.

The thatched roof does work with real bricks, there can be a little tension on stray cactus pieces, but nothing worse than being stored in a plastic tub with 6000 other pieces. The frame holding it up is sturdy.

Islander minifigures are sourced from the new Indiana Jones set. The triangle stonework is as well.

I'm sure you'll notice several things. Yes, I took 90% of the Tiki mask from the new Indiana Jones set. Yes it is crooked. And no, I'm not sure what that red stuff is in the little pool.

If you straighten the Tiki mask, a door to the cave opens up!

Inside we have headless skeletons strewn around, some roots, and a golden treasure. With real bricks you'll want to grab x276 (Sun Disk from Amazon Ancient Ruins) or 73681 (Golden Idol from Indiana Jones), but since those models aren't in Stud.io I used a skull with metallic gold. 

If you turn the zebra-print drum on the back...

The mouth opens! The gap is enough for a figure to squeeze through (2 studs wide by 4 bricks tall).

There you have it. Flickr album is right here

Rebrickable instructions will eventually be up. Got a few more contest builds first! 

Let me know what you think!

I tried to blend the classic Pirates style with an intricate ship design. It is my first large-scale Pirates MOC, so any feedback is appreciated! And don't forget to vote for the submission if you like it ;)

I'll share a few pics, hope you enjoy, and welcome your thoughts.

Overall view:

Even with the changes, a quick glance and any fan of vintage pirates recognizes 6286. Like my other copy, on this one I removed a lot of red and white along the side of the cabin to settle the appearance a little. I still have a little color swapping to do but I think you get the idea here. 

Bow and Figurehead:

A couple things might jump out at you here. First, the white parrot. It's a bit of a nod to the Carribean Clipper and I really like the way it looks. Secondly, I know I still need to clean or replace some of these white pieces. Lastly, if you look closely you'll see the original red-lined hull of the Skull's Eye Schooner has been swapped out in favor of the all brown hull piece found on the Carribean Clipper or Black Seas Barracuda. More on that in a moment. 

Stern Cabin and Broadside: 

Again, the cabin got the same treatment as my other copy of this set: Removed a lot of the red and white and replaced with black. Even without any further modifications to either copy, I consider this a must. The red and white really gave it too busy a look and the all black is stylistically similar to its counterparts. Also, again notice the hull swap and resulting color swaps. The red bow and stern pieces are gone, and the resulting red stripe on the middle hull pieces have been replaced with black. The grey elements have been replaced with white. This change really brings this modified version of the ship to appear more consistent with its smaller counterparts in the Imperial Guard fleet (6271).

Crew:

I actually really like the way Lego designed the crew of the Carribean Clipper so I've modified all my red coat sailors to match. It wouldn't make sense for sailors to walk around on a ship in shakos or carrying backpacks. Sailors generally look different from infantry soldiers, and I really like this small modification. 

Gun Deck: 

This one got the same basic modification as my other copy. I really tried to give the swivel cannons a try but they were just awful and I think this is exponentially better. The modification also allows for placement of some main deck space to pose members of the crew. 

The Stern: 

I still have a little color swapping to do back here, but I've removed a lot of red and replaced with white. I've also replaced the skull and cross bones panel and replaced with a window.

I actually really like the way the sterns look on both of these ships. With the right color swapping they look like they were designed to be in a fleet together. 

Main sails:

The actual mainsail itself is basically the same as what you'd find in 6271. For this mod I had to ask an Ebay seller to produce replacement sails for 6286 but in the color of 6271, specified that all remaining sails be left plain. I've noticed this seller now lists this as an option for others to buy so hopefully we see a few more of these conversions! The canvass color is a little lighter than the rest of my redcoat fleet, but I know I can live with that. 

Speaking of the rest of my fleet...

My Redcoats are still not quite as powerful as their Bluecoat rivals but with this addition to their fleet they are pretty close. The smaller ships are light and fast enough to pursue smaller pirate vessels into shallow water while the larger ship provides a deterrent to the Bluecoats when they start getting ideas about territorial expansion. 

And of course, who can forget this heavy weight bout: 

In my little corner of the Legoland Seas, the Redcoats and Bluecoats are rivals with each other and they are both rivals with the pirates. I primarily pit the Redcoats against the black striped sails, led by Captain Ironhook. I know the original Skull's Eye Schooner belonged to Redbeard, but putting all the black stripes under Ironhook makes for a natural extension to my childhood when the only two ships I had were the Imperial Flagship and the Renegade runner. (Well, my little brother had the Renegade Runner but I might have commandeered it.) This pairing of factions by color scheme makes a lot of sense to me and is a big part of why I like finding older sets and semi-restroing/modifying them. 

So let me know what you think of this mod! 

The sturn

The Bow

A few details on the deck 

One last shot of the ship

Please let me know what you think!

Watchtower of the Damnwd is my latest pirate submission for BDP10.

This moc is a dark, haunted pirate stronghold built on a rocky outcrop.

I wanted to move away from the classic tropical pirate island and explore a more gothic, atmospheric approach — something that feels abandoned, mysterious and slightly cursed. Why not introducing a new pirate sub-theme.

The model features:

• Multi-level vertical tower structure

• Detailed balconies and arch work

• Integrated cannon defense at the base

• Small landing boat scene

• Haunted interior elements and storytelling details

The main focus was creating a strong vertical silhouette while maintaining modular access between floors.

I tried to balance display presence with playable elements in a total 2253 piece count.

As always, feedback is very welcome — especially regarding structure and architectural detailing.

If you enjoy the concept, you can also support it in BDP10 via the link below (there you will also find detailed pics, model description & full story)

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/3834/Watchtower-of-the-Damned

Thank you for looking!

here is my submission for the Bricklink Designer Program Series 10. There are some more Pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/QKgNyFS

"Captain Cutlass and his crew took over the Imperial Outpost in the Bay of Plenty. Only the life of the Admiral was sparred and he is kept in the prison. The Crew is unloading supplies and treasures while fighting of sharks. Meanwhile the Captain is enjoying some rum with Anne. Rumors say that the Admiral's Daughter is trying to rescue her father."

I used 1396 parts and there is a fun play feature that will launch some barrels towards any enemy kicking them right out of the gate. It also features a young Roger Dagger Redbeard when he still had both eyes, hands and legs. Set 6263 Imperial Outpost gave me some inspiration to start with. 

Any critique or feedback is very appreciated. 

Hope you enjoy it, I had a lot of fun building this,

Pepe

The 

Well I gave it a run, and I actually think the results are halfway decent! 

Some background. I've expressed my enthusiasm for the first and second wave of pirate sets, but even as I did so, I've maintained a little skepticism that the Skull's Eye Schooner was deserving of the respect it gets, rivaling some in enthusiasts' minds, the Black Seas Barracuda. I've always thought the SES was standard sequel: What it lacked in originality it made up for in being bigger, meaner, darker, scarier, etc. But it has never hit home for me the way the BSB has. I wondered if maybe seeing one in person would win me over, and recently I bought a reasonably priced but "seasoned" copy on Ebay. After cleaning and assembling it, I was underwhelmed. Again, I had hoped that seeing it in person would help me overcome how much I disliked the color scheme and those awful sliding cannons. 

It didn't. Not even close. So I fixed it. 

Thankfully I was able to piece together some modifications from a few pieces in my stash, timely and overly generous Ebay lot purchase full of random pieces from the Islanders sub-theme (that purchase is its own story), and a stop at a local vintage Lego store in my area. 

I had two main areas of focus. The first being the gun deck and the second being the color scheme on the side of the cabin. I was able to address both, and I think it's a significant improvement. I'll share a few pics and let you all decide. 

Original gun deck:

My modifications: 

You can sort of tell I modified it using building techniques from the BSB and CC. I think this makes for a far more realistic ship design with way more deck space to position these scurvy dogs. One last thing I want to modify along the port and starboard sides is a rail, again similar to the BSB. The modifications bring the deck up to just 2 plates of height for the rails, so I'll need to address that. Because, you know, safety first. Even on a pirate ship! 

I really like being able to fit additional guns onto this deck as well as make more space on the main deck! 

The second big area I wanted to address is the color scheme on the side of the cabin. Here's the original: 

It's just too much for me. Too much black, red, and white. Add in the grey from the deck area and it's just to much. So I fixed it. Here it is with my changes: 

I think the removal of the red settles the appearance and improves it significantly. One thing I am probably going to add now that this is available is an actual window with the lattice on the side of the cabin. This was not available in 1993 when this epic set was released. 

And yes, I finally have described the SES as "epic" now that I've made these changes. I have a few additional changes coming, mostly removing some of the red from the stern of the ship, as well as the red wedge piece that is holding in place the cabin sides, but you get the idea. 

I am insanely excited about this little project. Most of the mods I've made have been limited to swapping out color scheme to make a pirate ship an imperial ship or the other way around. This is by far the most ambitious modification I've made because it involved what is to me a significant redesign of the original set. And while I recognize this is probably just another day in the Lego room for some of the MOC artists who frequent this page, this is actually a pretty significant step for me.

So I'd love to hear your thoughts! If anyone wants to see pics of what I did to support the deck space I created I can share those pics too! 

The main obstacle for building larger ships in theme-scale is obviously the age old question: to prefab hull or not? Building the lower hull to Fer Maiden that mates up w/ the prefabs taught me a few ways to do a brickbuilt hull that can at least live in the same universe as them. That gave me the confidence to try this.

I then used Fer Maiden’s dimensions to get a theme-scale equation and have my 3rd rate at 70x18 studs along her gun deck. Total width at her waterline is slightly more due to the SNOT curved slopes. 
 

Anyway, enough of that - I know you want the goods. This is still very much a work in progress with some gaps and test techniques so bear with me! I feel like you guys enjoy seeing a bit more of the process.

This project has been progressing super quickly thus far (surprisingly) but I will really need to build her in real life and the instructions are going to take a massive effort. 

Enjoy!

You may notice that this is a digital build. GASP! Elephant Knight doing digital builds? I admit, this is a first for me, but as you all know, a digital build is required for submitting to BDP. It was quite a learning curve for me.

I went into this project with a couple things in mind. Number one was to keep the piece count under 2000, to have a more "affordable" boat available, if it gets that far.  It currently sits at 1812 pieces, so I have some room to plat with. I also wanted it to be a merchant ship, as I felt that is what Lego is lacking. There are plenty of official Pirate ships, but nothing for them to plunder! And while there aren't many "good guy" ships, there still are some. Merchant vessels are almost non existent, and the colour scheme was chosen to reflect that of the ship found in the Imperial Trading Post.

I do have a physical model built as well, but I am waiting on a couple Bricks and Pieces orders to arrive before It is finished. As well as completing the cabin. I will also have some more pictures of the virtual model up soon, but for now, let me know what you think, areas that need improving, and what sort of details would be needed!

EKnight

The key pieces are the pipe organ and stern window of course. These will go on the ship. Though I'll replace the starry purple bricks by transparent yellow and orange.

Interesting fact; in At Worlds End, there are two broadside cannons in the captain's quarters, however, there's no opening in the hull to accommodate them. Ah yes, if you study the movies and source material as much as I did, you'd find lots of inconsistencies. These wouldn't be a bother unless you're trying to build an exact replica .

I hope you like it. At some point I'll attempt to cram all of this into a ship.

So I introduced myself a couple of days ago showing to you my past projects. I mentioned that I planned something big for the future. So here it is, first photos of a project that was on my mind for some time already - HMS Victory in minifig scale. 

First, a few details:
I've assumed a 1:40 scale. Due to the nature of LEGO bricks and certain technical limitations, I’ll be adjusting the scale where needed — allowing for deviations of around 10% or so.
At this scale, the hull will be about 1.7 meters long. Because of the size and my desire to showcase the interior, I’ve decided to split the ship into three sections: bow, midsection and stern.

I'm not sure if I’ll end up building the entire ship, but my plan for the coming months is to focus on the bow section.
I’m OPEN to criticism, so please feel free to share your thoughts and comments!

One of the challenges: limited possibilities to represent the curved shape of the bow: 

I found at rebrickable a desgin for the other small pirate ship, 6268, Renegade Runner. I really love that desgin and would be perfect for the 6280, Coss Bone Clipper. Only need a colorswap and I wanted also a front and back sail for it, for better looks. It looks more like a ship, than the childish build set. I made also small modications to mine own liking. To mine opnion it turned very good. Let's share some pictures and talk you through.

First the whole look. I mounted the rope too, started at the back and forward to mount the front sail like set 6271 redcoats ship. In this way the front sail won't fold down. Only needed to make the mainmast a bit higher for it. And added a back sail like set 6280 spanish ship.

Well, captain redbeard, why not give him a reb beard .

The other side of ship and added a printed tile with setnumber on it. And why not a non-firing-canon that fires.

The back looks awesome and added also a printed tile with name of ship.

And this was very challanging for designer to put this in back in the ship, but good job form him .

What you think, what I have done  ?

So, here they are. The orange soldiers at the right, the governor, 2 officers, 6 soldiers and 3 sailermen. At the right 5 english soldiers and the yellow proper spanish governar and 2 soldiers. Toro's are printed by Rocky mountain minifigs. 
A dutch voc is already build with impressive 8 canons at one side. Build for one goal, hunt and sink pirate ships. Pictures will follow later. Just found out that brickshelf is online again for normal use.

I have a older picture of the dutch voc ship 'De KaasKop' (The Cheeshead), which is modified a little afterwards. I will explain and show more pictures soon.

This is the second part of my modular port for the Bluecoat Army, which fits perfectly with the first part posted some time ago.

This part presents the Monument of Explorers, paying tribute to the great LEGO sailors of the past, and those who are yet to come. 

You can also find it on Instagram.

Enjoy! 

Ended up at 3999 parts. :)

Edit 1: Updated image:

https://www.reddit.com/34c7b879-0a8a-401c-af0e-c07346016863

__________________________

So turns out with the new palette reducing many of the available bricks and generally having time to work out the issues I had with my BDP8 version, I'm working on a large revamp for BDP9.

Since I've also gotten myself a new laptop (the ten year old one was kinda in need of replacement), the rendering goes a bit faster, so I could do an early trial render.

There have been quite a few changes since making this render though, but it gives a good general idea of the redesign.

Feedback requests:

1. What do you think of the display value of the set in the WIP state (render) below?
2. Should I go with my own cannon designs, or old school projectile firing cannons and save on parts to be used elsewhere?
3. Should I replace the sturdy 2x 2pin connections (top and bottom) with El Dorado click system so it can be attached to that?

The link below holds more images that give a general idea, but of course since these are even earlier, a lot of changes have been made since. Still, gives a reasonable idea of what can be expected.

Main critiques

Below I'll give a list of changes and reasonings. The main critiques I got from people online, was a lack of suitability as display piece(s). It was considered a little big too big, despite its attractive pentagonal form, unless if it were possible to place on a shelve and lacked beautification. So on the one hand I've been aiming to reduce the amount of parts required to the whole (merging parts where possible, using rocks, slightly reducing structure sizes etc.), while making each individual section more attractive to look at (as individual or combined display pieces), embellish the interiors and make them connect better as modules and standalone. I also tried to give a bit more room for organic material and natural outcroppings.

In the spoiler below you can find a non-exhaustive list of changes and reasonings for them.

General lay-out changes:

I wasn't quite happy with the amount of lay-out combinations that were available in the original as you couldn't put everything in any order you want. In the new setup, only two sections (for now) can't sit directly next to eachother (lighthouse and harbour), I'm pondering on making the sea side a bit more modular so this can be reconfigured entirely as desired. The main wall sections have each become 16x16 baseplates with some having additional large plates attached, while the bastions have been integrated with the corners and the connection tunnels have been mostly removed to free up parts for elsewhere. The bastions can now form their own mini Star Fortress, but can also be reconfigured to 24 stud wide 180° wall section! You can combine these sections to create either a star fortress, or (a) seawalled city street(s) of up to 1.6m long!

Below (an again already somewhat outdated) screenshot of what you can expect in terms of lay-out options for the set: a city wall and mini star fortress, a big star fortress or a combined sea wall. Note that in the below version I still had to make a small adaptation (elongated the neck to the star fort by 1 stud) to ensure it could easily fold out to a 180° connection. Unfortunately the 180° mode will have some small gaps in the walkway as is.

I fully expect more changes need to be made if the BDP9 palette changes further. However, I got a reasonable idea of render times now and don't expect as many last second surprises and stress as last time. ;)

Changes to the various sections:

Some parts of the ship always brothered me, yes even as a child. The sails were hanging out after time, the front sail foiled up down and no properdeck over the guns. And were is the name of the ship at the back, as every ship had at that time?
And after time, light grey and white discolors too. So needed to fix that too. First some pictures and I tell what I have done and why. 

And does it not look awesome:

I added a tile with setnumber, I don't remember all setnumbers.


And the name of the set at the back of ship.


I added a steering sail at the back. Actually in real life not possible, it would have to much stress at the mast. It does look cool. The sail is made by Towarzysz Klocek - Sails and Fabrics for Lego sets. Really good quality. Also the flags are from him, looks better than the plastic lego ones. The original flags are stored beneath in the ship's belly.

This looks way better with a proper deck over the guns. Even fitted a small boat as in real life.

You can remove it and it does looks like the original set.

Even the gunner still fits in this way.

What me bugs me were the sails. I needed to replace them with replica's, the old ones were dirty and bad shape. This solution I found to keep them in the wind.


More updates are coming............

"Imperial Island Fort" has qualified for the Second 2021 LEGO Ideas Review.

--------------------------

UPDATE

BrickHammer's project "Imperial Island Fort" is the latest project to reach 10K supporters on LEGO Ideas. This 1,500-piece build is a remake   Imperial Guard rival of 6276 Eldorado Fortress and includes 4 minifigures which makes it suitable for playing. This project.

Quote

The Idea

 

Since I was a child I have been a big fan of pirates and the old pirate Lego theme! Now as an adult I am still an avid fan of history! This small island fortress is therefore supposed to be a blend of nostalgic classic Lego red coat fotresses like the Eldorado Fortress and actual real life caribbean architecture!

Quote

The Build

 

The island consists of a big main castle on top of a rocky cliff and a pier beneath it. The caslte contains a gatehouse tower and the governor's house!

The pier beneath the castle is fortified with 2 cannon bastions to guard the island from incoming pirate ships or Armada attacks!

 

About 1500 pieces.

I am looking for a Studio.io file or a parts list for Bricky Brick's Barracuda Pirate Bay design. But without the extruded base plates. Everything should be built (. It would be great if someone could send me the file.

Thank you

The substructure should be built.

My first upload.

I created Royal Navy's 3rd rate ship of the line 'HMS Vanguard'

with 'HMS Surprise'

With that in mind, I picked up a cheap set of hull parts and set to work building a bigger 40 gun frigate. I took my inspiration from the ever-useful CGH build a frigate tutorial, and Perfectionist's Achille. For colours, I went with dark red, with dark blue highlights, inspired by Zcerberus' Phantom II and the Acheron from the Master and Commander film. 

I proudly present the 40 gun frigate Petit-Acheon.

Unfortunately the dark colours don't photograph too well, but the blend works better in person I'll assure you.

I was particularly taken by the technique of using headlight bricks to attach the cannon flaps, thus bringing everything flush in together, which I will take forward into future buildings.

Which open to reveal a broadside of 14 heavy 24 pound cannons. 

The stern is a good opportunity for nice guilt details, with a pair of 9 pounders for chases.

Up at the front are another pair of chasers, two anchors and heads behind the figurehead. The horse was originally just a placeholder, but as it fit the colourscheme, it ended up staying to the final design.

Behind the foremast is the boatdeck and capstan. In a first for me, I went for a full tiled deck, which does gleam nicely.

Tiling continues to the mast platforms. These were my first attempt at handmade ratlines, so they are still a bit wonky, but they give the masts a good level of stability.

Finally, there is a lantern and a pair of carronades on the poop deck.

I designed this ship digitally, and halfway through the build process I recoloured the model into the same scheme as my older ships. This was a mistake as I quite liked the resulting design, and felt compelled to build it in the flesh. Classes of ships do tend to have more than one member after all!

Hence, I present the 40 gun frigate Glebe!

Immediately, the bright colours come across better digitally, contrasting against one another.

Whilst they are both sister ships, Glebe and Petit-Acheon do have some design differences, learning from the downsides of the first build. I split the broadside into smaller sections, lengthened the ship by a stud, and widened the stern by a stud. 

Although more awkward to build, the odd stud width allows for a more satisfying overall shape.

Another notable difference is the Glebe carries lighter 18 pounder guns on her main deck.

Naturally, she carries a different figurehead, and the anchors are attached differently.

Finally, here are some shots of the pair together.

I hope that you like the new sisters, it's been a long build (twice the rigging was certainly not twice as fun!), but I'm pleased to have them both finally done, and look forward to taking them to shows around the country next year. 

The next step is to finish off the ship of the line, and refit the old Pharaoh.

Here's a bibliography of the amazing builds that I referenced in the text, for those not familiar, check out the true masters!

I haven't posted here in a while (since I've made some mods to the Eldorado fortress when it just came out). Since then I come a long way and shifted heavily towards MOC building. I'm aiming to make my entire pirates layout my MOC. 

I have started with a beach cave, then an old lighthouse, and then came a big project in the shape of an imperial fort (inspired by El-Morro fort in Puerto Rico). Lastly, I've added a small village to be guarded by the fort.

You can see the entire layout in this video:

Pirates Diorama Video

My Instagram has more pictures of it.

I continue making tweaks to it and I intend display it in a convention very soon. My next goal is to create a MOC of a pirate ship - not sure I have the skills, but I ordered another copy of the 3in1 ship and we'll see where it goes.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and let me know if you have any questions. 

Ido

We present: The Inferno!

Soon after 71391 Bowser Airship was released, I collected enough medium nougat coloured hull pieces to build a ship. Initially my intention was to build a replica of the famous Inferno, as seen in the move The Goonies. However, upon closer inspection of the reference material, we eventually decided to deviate and add some more interesting features. 

David came over to my place for a Ship Building Weekend, we had done one of those before, resulting in the creation of the Revenant.

This is what we started from, on a Friday evening:

(I typically collect potential useful parts in the hull of a WIP ship, that's just my process ) 

And this is what we had at the end of the weekend.

Needless to say, we had been quite productive. One might even call this speed-building.

From there on I continued on my own to finish this beauty. Though we continued to discuss solutions via whatsapp.

I had never built a ship with a sprit topmast before, for a more classic galleon rig. It's more tricky than a modern bowsprit, meant for jibs, but I think it works. Some things we didn't like about the Goonies' Inferno are: the not so glorious stern (we wanted galleries!), the odd position of the main mast  and the lack of fire power (Our ship now runs a compliment of 18 12-pounder guns on a dedicated gun deck and we left some room on the upper deck for additional 3 pounder guns, though I've only placed two near the capstan.

The colour scheme is one I am very happy with, On top of the medium nougat hull sit the walls, which are made out of (old) dark grey. It more brownish tone, compared to the newer Bluish Grey, works great on a "wooden" ship. David and I had collected just enough rust-coloured gunport flaps, before Bricklink decided that Rust is not an official colour . To be fair it's not that different from regular red but still, regular red might have been too bright to play nice with the rest of this particular colour palette.

Above the main gun deck, we have a splendid marriage of dark orange and dark red, continuing all the way up to the beakhead. On top of the stern medium nougat makes a return. I find that the reuse of the hull colour elsewhere on the ship often works well to bring some balance in the colour scheme. Pearl gold serves as decorations, ornamenting the prow and stern.

I've taken some pictures before I added the sails, as it is often easier to see more of the ship itself that way.

The deck is made entirely of dark tan.

I personally find that reddish brown is easily overused so I've tried to limit it for little details on deck only.

I had these printed tiles from the Snow White set, which goes well on the binnacle.

Concerning the helm, a ship like this really isn't supposed to have a steering wheel. A whipstaff would have been more appropriate 

There is no interior, on a fully rigged ship it doesn't make much sense investing time in details into an interior that can never be accessed anyway.

I'm very happy with these grates, I had these built already for another ship but it just felt right to use them on this one. (It's going to hurt collecting more reddish brown fences, they're quite expensive )

I think medium nougat would work well for the masts, instead of the current tan. Unfortunately I only considered that when the standing rigging had already been applied.

Captain William B. Pordobel, can't forget about him.

And that concludes our business, let me know if you like it.

David and I are already discussing a new ship to build on another ship-building weekend .

Fortuna is a fast sailing frigate designed as a Privateer. As a true frigate, Fortuna is equipped with 20 cannons and 2 swivel guns.

With your help, Fortuna can become a limited release set! Please vote  for her on BrickLink once voting opens: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-6/2056/Privateer-Frigate-Fortuna

Please have a look at the video to see the working capstan in action:

I am honored to present this lovely frigate on the Eurobricks Pirate MOC Forum first. After all, my journey into Lego sailing ships started on this very forum back in 2009!

Please do take a moment to vote   for Fortuna on Bricklink once voting opens: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-6/2056/Privateer-Frigate-Fortuna

Here's some overviews of the lower hull at this point, got a large expanse of deck space for lots of big guns, just a ship of the line should.

Having learnt from taking models to shows in the past, I wanted this to be modular, which allows a closer look at the bow section.

At the stern there's a rudder post and the beginnings of the ports for the four chasers.

The next step was to map out where the gun ports would go. I wanted to avoid having ports on the joints between the sections, so planning this out was a helpful step to reduce rebuilds later on. I also positioned the mast stumps too for the same reason.

The net result of this was that it is actually 1 gunport too short for the plan, and the grating would need to move. This will require a lengthening of 6 studs, which will be the next step. I'm planning to periodically post updates as the ship grows, with an aim to launch her before the end of the year.

Here they are. I hope you like them.

If you are interested in my MOCs, you can find more details, pics, a video and instruction on my rebrickable:

Sabre Island Remake

Lagoon Lock-Up

If you connect this two remakes to the new 10320 Eldorado Fortress, then it looks like this:

And if you add also my Eoldorado Extension - Forward Base V1 to it, then you get a proper Bluecoats Base:

Here is the instruction with more pics, video and details on my rebrickable for this extension.

Eldorado Forward Base V1

My Moc: The Captain’s CabinBy the flickering glow of the lantern and the warm light filtering through the window, the pirate captain leans over his precious map. Every drawn island, every charted course, holds a promise of adventure and hidden treasures.At his side, his faithful cockatoo watches the scene with a mischievous eye, while a rat scurries by, a silent witness to the secrets being plotted. In the privacy of his cabin, surrounded by his loot and travel mementos, this old sea dog prepares for his next journey into the unknown.

My minifig: Captain « Tanglebeard »

Captain Mordecai « Tanglebeard » is a master of secrets and forgotten lore. He puts his faith not in brute force, but in his ancient maps and the unerring needle of his compass. Only his cockatoo, « Whisper, » knows the true destination—a secret the old captain guards as closely as the gold he seeks.

I wanted to complete it before the pictures leaked, and I did, I just never got around to finishing the sails. I wasn't too happy with what I came up with at first, and really put off remaking them until I saw LEGO's new one. The sails not looking right are my biggest grip with 10365, and with a lot of ship MOCs (My own especially)

Version 4 probably looks a lot like my version 3, and in some ways it is. But extending it 8 studs, or one hull section, meant I had to completely rebuild almost the entire ship. The cabin was actually changed on it's own before I extended the hulls, and I did that back when 10365 was first rumored to be coming. Another big thing I did was add dark brown molting to the hull, and I think it really looks sharp, help break up the solid black, and helps sell the look that the ship is burnt wood.

Once again, there is no detailed interior, though the ability to put one there kinda exists. I just don't like doing interiors, ok?

A comparison shot of my Black Pearl MOCs over the years:

Let me know what you think! 

EKnight

The stern is the part I’m the least happy with, and since so many good versions have been built since I made this I would probably rebuild this part. Now I might just buy the upcoming set instead and perhaps mod it a little.

Of course with a full interior, although some parts are a bit hard to access.

The lower deck continues beneath the captains cabin. The interior of the lower deck goes along the entire length of the ship.

Submitted as an entry for the Bricklink Designer Program Series 9
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-9/3199/Pirate-Shores-Myriorama

Vote for your favorites here! (October 6th-17th, 2025)
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-9/main.page

Full Gallery

The Raven is the delayed result of a building challenge where the objective was to build a good-looking boat using the old small prefab hull type. I had a previous attempt at this but I didn't quite like it. You'd think a small sloop would be rather easy, it really is a challenge in less-is-more, doing my best not to overdo it.

A special thanks goes to @Legostone, for designing the small entrance hatch to the cabin.

The Raven next to the Spectre:

I hope you like it!

I'm considering starting up a comic series again, it would take a lot of preparation though.

Next we have my first successful attempt at a classic-style lego pirate ship, like the ones that were sold in the 80s and 90s, which I call the Crossbone Cruiser. It exclusively only used parts from that era:

Lastly, here's my other classic-style ship, painted with the same color scheme as the smallest Lego pirate ship set of that time. I call this one Maximus, though it's likely I'll be building something bigger in the future.

I'm hoping to some day be able to sell these designs, either online as instructions at the very least or even get into contact with 3rd party groups that can mass-produce my stuff. Considering the amount of 3rd party ship sets I've studied, I think my builds should be good enough (granted, they can't quite be as retro and simplistic as the Crossbone Cruiser or Maximus. Probably something more modern like the Night Owl)

That's all for now, expect more later!

Full size image: http://bricks.kalais.net/post120#1

High resolution images and full original post:
http://bricks.kalais.net/post120

Features: a working capstan to weigh anchor, standing and running rigging with yards that rotate to accurately portray various sailing profiles, removable grates in the hatches for loading cargo or crew*

*There is minimal height below deck due to the prefab hull so she does not have a modeled crew quarters. 

Now go find some prey, me fellow scoundrels, and lay waste to anyone who tries to stop you.

I've been working on this one for what feels like AGES. I couldn't decide on what type of brig to build. I first wanted to do an Imperial brig but in the end I thought I'd give Redbeard a reinterpreted BSB flush-deck brig sloop armed to the absolute teeth. I figure this suits his lifestyle at Barracuda Bay - needing something that can sail quickly into shallow waters with a decent hold size.

As for techniques this is very much in line with my design for the Fer Maiden frigate, just scaled for a brig. A workhorse sloop of war, devoid of the fanciful carvings and figureheads but still customized and special enough for a veteran sea dog like Redbeard. In these local waters around the Bay, he traded lush quarters and privacy for more guns and a life with the crew below deck. 

Originally I had a few versions with aft quarter galleries, cabins, etc. and like any good brig-sloop class, there will be different versions built.

Find the instructions and .io model on Rebrickable here: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-76499/supersick_/barracuda-brig/#details

I grew up with Lego in the 70’s and always loved pirates, but building sailing ships with the parts available wasn’t easy, and the result wasn’t pretty, but I spend many wonderful hours trying my best, in absence of proper minifigs I used  Arial soap-powder/detergent premium figures.

Now, many years later, I am the proud owner of set 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay, witch I bought mainly for the ship version but the desert Island deserved a upgrade.

When I saw set 43223 Asha in the City of Rosas I thought, colonial architecture, bottles everywhere, it’s a Pirate set! btw, congrats to @KolonialbeamterdeMartinez and @The Reader for their variations on this set. 

So, with minor color modifications (that teal roof…) José’s Inn is back in business in the now not so deserted Barracuda Bay.

Well you get the Imperial.... Flagship? Uuuuuh, mixing the two names together just doesn't seem to work. The Flagship flagship? Imperial Imperial? Oh, I know, the Flagship Imperial!

I like to build MOCs in the classic style, but this time I actually told myself to only use parts available during the classic era. No part on this is newer than 1998 (With the possible execption of the string lengths, I didn't actually check which lengths were available back then.

The cabin is accessible, though perhaps not easily.

And there even is detailing in the interior! Gasp!

There is also a kitchen below, just like 10210.

The crew:

I wanted to give the figs some more character, so I didn't use the stock figs available. I swapped out most of the heads. I am 99% sure all the heads were available in 1998.

Let me know what you think, I always like to hear feedback!

EKnight

This designed to look like the British fifth-rater HMS Lively

HMS Lively LDD by Anders Thuesen, on Flickr

HMS Lively parts by Anders Thuesen, on Flickr

HMS Lively boats by Anders Thuesen, on Flickr

HMS Lively top by Anders Thuesen, on Flickr

HMS Lively Side by Anders Thuesen, on Flickr

Fully rigged ship - Frigate - 22D

From my most productive year(so far) 2011. This model represented quite a leap forward in my designing ambitions.

Last year Lego presented the Harry Potter tournament set (76440) with the Durmstrang ship. I found that ship beautiful but a little small so I decided to build a brig based on the same ship body design and named it the "Scepter" because the figurehead has a staff with snake head in her hands. 

It's build as a little brig without a cabin or interior. For defense it has 6 little cannons, 2 on each side and 2 in the back. The vessel relies heavy on its speed and maneuverability.