[ENTRY] 31109 Pirate Ship Creator 3 in 1 revisited

[eldiano]

This is my entry to the contest, Although the brick built sails that came with this set are good, I wanted regular sails. I took the liberty of changing the masts to fit the sails and also modified some areas to make them minifigure height around the deck and added a wall to separate the front of the ship from the rear. 

It’s a decently sized small ship but my vision was to add a few details and building techiniques I found from the 2015 Brick Bounty and the 2020 Barracuda!! 

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by eldiano

[Eggyslav]

It's a good MOC, but I find some issues here. Firstly, I find the choice of the source material a little bit unfortunate, since it's a very recent set, and in result, it's bound to look just like the original, except for some details, like the sails and the presence of the hold. This makes it a MOD, not a redesign. Second of all, I'm not sure it even counts, since it's a CREATOR set, not a Pirates one. 

[durazno33]

The design of the sails on the original creator set was one that bugged me for sure. I really didn't like the brick built sails so it's nice to see that you fixed that. I also like that you added in a proper "ship's wheel" instead of that odd wheel from the original.

Another thing that I didn't much like about the original  was that there were only 3 pirates. A ship this size could definitely use at least one more pirate.

I'm not sure the purpose of adding a wall between the front of the ship and the back. It would make it harder for sailors to move around and without a door is hard to understand. Maybe add some ladders or a doorway?

[iragm]

This is a great little modification to the 3 in 1 set that fixes my biggest complaint with it -- the brick-built sails.

I like the inclusion of several elements from Barracuda Bay -- specifically the dolphin striker and 8x8 grill piece in the deck, both of which serve to make the ship seem more "real"

Good figurehead usage, and nice inclusion of the ship's wheel.

Some things don't work here IMHO:

• Red + green + gold is an awful lot of color.  The end result looks a bit "cluttered" (I have the same complaint about the original 3 in 1).  I'd remove the green altogether, and use the red only in the aft cabin and as the gunport covers.
• A chain as the jib sheet doesn't work at all
• Placing a skeleton in the crow's nest changes the feel of the build.  It goes from "pirate ship" to "ghost pirate ship", and the fact that there's no other references to an undead crew makes that figure stand-out as odd.  Either go all in and give everyone skull heads, or replace the skeleton with a regular pirate.
• The colors (big flag) are facing the wrong way, they're somehow blowing into the wind :)

[Horation]

This set has some good, but it could use some changes

What I really like :

The brick-built hull has been kept, and there are a lot of details in such a small ship. 

1-The theme (story)

-The boat looks lively and busy, these pirates are ready for a fight! Good on you for not putting too many minifigures (it would look like a MOC), I would personally keep that skeleton, but perhaps hang it with those chains you're using as jib sheets and make it look like a warning, it would look great and add some realistic-ish aspect to the ship (trying to scare merchants without a fight was always an important part of the job)

-I have to ask, why the pirate skull flag? It would perhaps be more logical to have this be a small merchant ship that was reconfigured. Or if you really want to keep it, show how the pirates have modified the ship in other ways (maybe throw in a couple of different colours on the hull here and there to make the ship seem like it has been used for a while and the pirates have made it their own)

-Why are the pirates there? Are they carrying some gold shipment? Do they have a key colonial officer on board? Are they just looking for unlucky merchants to plunder? (this seems to be the likely answer). Whatever the answer, make that the central part of your design, don't tell it to us ; let the build speak on it's own, the ship looks very clean and well-maintained, hence why it looks like a merchant vessel to me.

2-The build

Ok, so how are the pirates getting to the top of the ship? Are they jumping into the gun deck? Add some accessibility features (ladders and rigging). Alternatively you could make these be flying pirates (by giving them wings), I don't think it would be the most classic-pirates looking thing but it would be in the spirit of Lego for sure!

And try to remove that front lookout wall (or make the ship a two-decker), like this it looks awkward, as if though the middle of the ship was removed by a giant and the remaining parts put back in place. Maybe expand that front pole and add a lookout on the bottom of that pole instead?

The colours aren't bright enough, make that with classic yellow instead of this pearl colour, and unify those red, yellow and green parts on the deck line with a single colour instead and it would look a bit better (again-an opportunity to make the ship lived-in is given here.

Finally, space out the cannons, and try to make the ship seem like your own, not just an update of a currently available set

 

[Dreamweb]

This looks too much like the original. The sails work with the hull, but you should consider making the ship more customised. It's a good thing that you have added a full deck above the cannons, and you should go further from here. I would start with modifying the sterncastle even more. I would actually try to make it lower, not higher like you did. Your railing at the back is a bit too high for my personal taste. I would also try to flatten the forecastle a bit. This would be more fitting to the smaller overall size of the ship compared to larger sets.

Another thing which I would do as an improvement over the original Creator set and a step towards further customisation, is to remove the nougat flexible ropes on both sides of the masts and replace them with proper ratlines as seen in classic Pirate ships. That would make it much more realistic and practical for the pirate crew, providing a proper way for them to climb the masts.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Creator set (still have it assembled in my collection) and I like your take on it, but I would advise making it stand out more compered to the original thing. The sails are a very good beginning!

[thewatchman]

Ok!

 The three in one creator is a cool little set that I own a few of, and in terms of smaller build and age you set yourself a hell of a task here.

pros:

a second deck over the cannons is rad.

higher stern castle is striking.

cons:

sails look oversized for the vessel 

still too similar to original set

if I’m being reallly picky, wouldn’t you be required to submit the b and c models since it’s a 3-1?

while I don’t hate what you’ve done, I’d love to see a different coloured sails, maybe brick built and rolled? Or take advantage of parts choice knowing that you don’t require to make 3 others sets!

Fun build though!

[Seaber]

As others have said its still quite similar to the original set, but the sails and proper wheel are a big improvement. 

I think making some modifications to the interior would make it more 'yours' too 

[eldiano]

On 6/28/2023 at 12:13 PM, durazno33 said:

The design of the sails on the original creator set was one that bugged me for sure. I really didn't like the brick built sails so it's nice to see that you fixed that. I also like that you added in a proper "ship's wheel" instead of that odd wheel from the original.

Another thing that I didn't much like about the original  was that there were only 3 pirates. A ship this size could definitely use at least one more pirate.

I'm not sure the purpose of adding a wall between the front of the ship and the back. It would make it harder for sailors to move around and without a door is hard to understand. Maybe add some ladders or a doorway?

 

On 6/29/2023 at 11:28 AM, iragm said:

This is a great little modification to the 3 in 1 set that fixes my biggest complaint with it -- the brick-built sails.

I like the inclusion of several elements from Barracuda Bay -- specifically the dolphin striker and 8x8 grill piece in the deck, both of which serve to make the ship seem more "real"

Good figurehead usage, and nice inclusion of the ship's wheel.

Some things don't work here IMHO:

• Red + green + gold is an awful lot of color.  The end result looks a bit "cluttered" (I have the same complaint about the original 3 in 1).  I'd remove the green altogether, and use the red only in the aft cabin and as the gunport covers.
• A chain as the jib sheet doesn't work at all
• Placing a skeleton in the crow's nest changes the feel of the build.  It goes from "pirate ship" to "ghost pirate ship", and the fact that there's no other references to an undead crew makes that figure stand-out as odd.  Either go all in and give everyone skull heads, or replace the skeleton with a regular pirate.
• The colors (big flag) are facing the wrong way, they're somehow blowing into the wind :)

 

On 6/30/2023 at 10:42 PM, Horation said:

This set has some good, but it could use some changes

What I really like :

The brick-built hull has been kept, and there are a lot of details in such a small ship. 

1-The theme (story)

-The boat looks lively and busy, these pirates are ready for a fight! Good on you for not putting too many minifigures (it would look like a MOC), I would personally keep that skeleton, but perhaps hang it with those chains you're using as jib sheets and make it look like a warning, it would look great and add some realistic-ish aspect to the ship (trying to scare merchants without a fight was always an important part of the job)

-I have to ask, why the pirate skull flag? It would perhaps be more logical to have this be a small merchant ship that was reconfigured. Or if you really want to keep it, show how the pirates have modified the ship in other ways (maybe throw in a couple of different colours on the hull here and there to make the ship seem like it has been used for a while and the pirates have made it their own)

-Why are the pirates there? Are they carrying some gold shipment? Do they have a key colonial officer on board? Are they just looking for unlucky merchants to plunder? (this seems to be the likely answer). Whatever the answer, make that the central part of your design, don't tell it to us ; let the build speak on it's own, the ship looks very clean and well-maintained, hence why it looks like a merchant vessel to me.

2-The build

Ok, so how are the pirates getting to the top of the ship? Are they jumping into the gun deck? Add some accessibility features (ladders and rigging). Alternatively you could make these be flying pirates (by giving them wings), I don't think it would be the most classic-pirates looking thing but it would be in the spirit of Lego for sure!

And try to remove that front lookout wall (or make the ship a two-decker), like this it looks awkward, as if though the middle of the ship was removed by a giant and the remaining parts put back in place. Maybe expand that front pole and add a lookout on the bottom of that pole instead?

The colours aren't bright enough, make that with classic yellow instead of this pearl colour, and unify those red, yellow and green parts on the deck line with a single colour instead and it would look a bit better (again-an opportunity to make the ship lived-in is given here.

Finally, space out the cannons, and try to make the ship seem like your own, not just an update of a currently available set

 

 

On 7/1/2023 at 8:31 AM, Dreamweb said:

This looks too much like the original. The sails work with the hull, but you should consider making the ship more customised. It's a good thing that you have added a full deck above the cannons, and you should go further from here. I would start with modifying the sterncastle even more. I would actually try to make it lower, not higher like you did. Your railing at the back is a bit too high for my personal taste. I would also try to flatten the forecastle a bit. This would be more fitting to the smaller overall size of the ship compared to larger sets.

Another thing which I would do as an improvement over the original Creator set and a step towards further customisation, is to remove the nougat flexible ropes on both sides of the masts and replace them with proper ratlines as seen in classic Pirate ships. That would make it much more realistic and practical for the pirate crew, providing a proper way for them to climb the masts.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Creator set (still have it assembled in my collection) and I like your take on it, but I would advise making it stand out more compered to the original thing. The sails are a very good beginning!

 

On 7/2/2023 at 12:19 PM, thewatchman said:

Ok!

 The three in one creator is a cool little set that I own a few of, and in terms of smaller build and age you set yourself a hell of a task here.

pros:

a second deck over the cannons is rad.

higher stern castle is striking.

cons:

sails look oversized for the vessel 

still too similar to original set

if I’m being reallly picky, wouldn’t you be required to submit the b and c models since it’s a 3-1?

while I don’t hate what you’ve done, I’d love to see a different coloured sails, maybe brick built and rolled? Or take advantage of parts choice knowing that you don’t require to make 3 others sets!

Fun build though!

 

On 7/4/2023 at 4:12 AM, Seaber said:

As others have said its still quite similar to the original set, but the sails and proper wheel are a big improvement. 

I think making some modifications to the interior would make it more 'yours' too 

Thanks Everyone, I wasn't trying to expand this set that much, I should had used my words more carefully haha, i wanted to keep it the same size as the original, my goal was just to add the sails, but my main problem was converting the sails from brick to fabric. The original set had room for double sails, the second were folded, the only sails I could find close to that size were torn up from the Silent Mary Set.

I had to study and analyze how brick beard's bounty and barracuda 21322 did theirs, and mixed and matched their building techniques to make it work. I wanted to use the extra sails and pirate flags that I had leftover, this set is just me re using extra parts I've had over the years. The wall was a 1 for 1 copy of the one in the 2015 brick beards bounty that actually fit and the interior was a mini copy of the blackseas barracuda to an extent. 

I've seen some amazing expansions of two of these ships on this forum but I wanted to keep it similar in size to something lego would had done if they went with the fabric sails I think.  The hull was a challenge, I wanted to convert it using the regular molds but 31109 is actually two studs wider and I would had required more bricks to do so, I wasn't trying to spend that much money on making this MOC so I just used already existing parts and pieces I've had and then some! 

This is me on a budget, I haven't found the treasure yet! haha 

What kills the original set is the overabundance of the red green and gold I agree, but I just wanted to flesh it out more than being a 3 in 1 set!! 

 

I agree the sails are overly huge for these set, but I'm not cutting up original lego sails considering how expensive they are at the moment, I know it looks odd but I just wanted to see how they would had looked like 

I'll walk the plank if needed hehe 

Edited July 11, 2023 by eldiano

[Rogue Redcoat]

First, the moc looks pretty good, however, there is a major problem, the ship just looks too much like the original, but as you stated you did a great job of fixing the brick-built sails and adding a bit more beauty to the ship overall. The only problem is the ship is too similar other than that your overall goal was aced. Anyway, Happy building :) 

[JeffBuilds]

I have, to date Five copies of this set. I built two into the ships, one into the tavern, one into the Skull Island (with smaller 2-masted ship; Instructions can be found on ReBrickable) and one into an original Airship design, (Also from Rebrickable, credit to original Posters)

I love what you have accomplished with this set, using techniques from the 2020 Barracuda and the 2015 Brick Bounty. All I'd suggest is fill out the other Gunnery ports with Cannons.

 Sadly, it's not a Classic Pirate set.

[Mazin]

It's one of those ship designs that seems bulky at first sight, but grows on me the more i look at it :) I realy like the way You did interior on this vessel, aftercastle is just amazing, stern is perhaps the best ever made in Lego Pirates, and it's nice that You've added all those ways to reach captain's quaters. Mast are very unorthodox, but they are charming, something very cool about them. I think that it could use some changes in the crew tho, perhaps there's one skeleton too many? If he could be replaced by an another worthy sea dog it would give it more value, say, a female pirate perhaps? Or if You'd want to keep that second skeleton then maybe he could take a position in a cage hanging from the mast, or tied up to the mast, as a warning to never disobey captain's orders ;)

And that hook, seems like it a thing that could wreck a real havock during a storm or a battle, as it could swing dangerously around and injure or even impale someone. I'd totaly advice to secure it somehow. 

But maybe, maybe that hook could be used for some more important role than a decoration? With Lego sets and ships i believe they should differ not only with size but their purpose, they all could have a different specialization, and this one seems like a vessel that still needs a real soul. So maybe it could a whalers ships? Maybe there guys are hunters, praying on sharks, orkas, walruses and other animals of the sea. Or they could be still pirates, but doing some fishind during their free time ;)

This whole hunting and corpses may be a bit creepy, but what i mean is that we've had plenty of ships in the line, official or fan made, but they lack something that coud be a real addition to the franchise. And i think it could and should be done by focusing on more diversity in new ships, not even the way they are designed, but by bonus features coming with them. Then again the question is if a whalers ship, i've suggested, would actually fit into the classic vibe of the line ;) But it's awlays better to do some brainstorming and even throw those ideas away, then don't do any at all ;)