[ENTRY] Pirate's Dock (Mini Set)

[Elephant Knight]

New category, so new build from me! A total of 48 parts, though I think in those days, Lego called the head and torso one piece, so only 46, from a certain point of view 

Pirate's Dock by Elephant-Knight, on Flickr

Pirate's Dock by Elephant-Knight, on Flickr

Pirate's Dock by Elephant-Knight, on Flickr

Nothing special, but it was a challenge to build something interesting with 50 parts or less. I wanted a palm tree, but with a dock, a boat was more important.

EKnight

[Mister Phes]

  On 8/5/2023 at 11:23 PM, Elephant Knight said:

New category, so new build from me! A total of 48 parts, though I think in those days, Lego called the head and torso one piece, so only 46, from a certain point of view 

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Splendid! Good to see you're aiming to create a new set!

It a way, it's a fleshed out version of 1492 Battle Cove.

[thewatchman]

This is incredible.

 For a small classic style build I could be tricked into believing this was official.

Pros:

I love the style of the dock; and how it’s perfect for the small row boats.

perfect part selection.

minifigure choice is perfect.

 

cons:

I would have made the blue dock support part a little bigger, lego when using blue water parts always over estimated the size requirements. Only more recent sets used smaller plates for support. 
 

All up, great classic set!

[Horation]

An excellent classic set

Theme

The two pirates compliment one another well, and the small boat with a chest allows for the small fortifications to serve as a good cargo bay and defended storage point. There's quite a bit of space on the island, a pirate parrot, and weapons aplenty. Now I'd love to see a bottle of rum (1 piece) or a barrel of rum (2 pieces) which would really flesh things out and add some more playability.

Build 

This really feels like and old timey design, with a good mix of yellow sand, black and grey walls and those palm foliage pieces. I will however complain about the entirely black second wall piece ; it should have some light grey brick print on it to give it some texture. So I'd either order such a part from bricklink or use waterslide decals and the likes to make my own version. But really that's fitting for the era (cost-cutting) so I can't complain too much, good job @Elephant Knight!

Edited August 7, 2023 by Horation
Mild modification

[Rogue Redcoat]

 An excellent set that I could totally could have come out back then, my only suggestions are fixing the plain black wall and adding a place to hide the treasure. The only other thing is their gold in that treasure chest or did they lose it on the way to the dock? 

[Elephant Knight]

  On 8/6/2023 at 4:07 PM, Rogue Redcoat said:

 An excellent set that I could totally could have come out back then, my only suggestions are fixing the plain black wall and adding a place to hide the treasure. The only other thing is their gold in that treasure chest or did they lose it on the way to the dock? 

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With a 50 piece limit, I don't think I would be able to add 2 parts to hide the treasure. I do have a set of coins in the chest, I guess the pictures didn't show it.

EKnight

  On 8/6/2023 at 6:31 AM, thewatchman said:

cons:

I would have made the blue dock support part a little bigger, lego when using blue water parts always over estimated the size requirements. Only more recent sets used smaller plates for support. 
 

All up, great classic set!

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Yeah, I wasn't sure if I should have used a bigger plate or not, but with the small size of the set, i figured smaller was better, might be a bit too fragile otherwise, as well.

 

  On 8/6/2023 at 6:18 AM, Mister Phes said:

Splendid! Good to see you're aiming to create a new set!

It a way, it's a fleshed out version of 1492 Battle Cove.

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The use of the printed panel on yellow does harken to that set, the printed panel was a big part of the set, but this one has no cannon, alas.

[Rogue Redcoat]

  On 8/6/2023 at 6:44 PM, Elephant Knight said:

With a 50 piece limit, I don't think I would be able to add 2 parts to hide the treasure. I do have a set of coins in the chest, I guess the pictures didn't show it.

EKnight

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As long as there's a set of coins for playability it thinks your good :)

[iragm]

You pretty much nailed it with this one!   I'm thrilled to see a new classic style set.  It's very hard to find any issues with it, great use of parts and accessories.  But, here goes:  I wish that the palm leaves were angled, they would add quite a bit of dimension to the set.  Also, there's no need for 2 swords (save yourself a brick there!) and a larger plate for the water would help balance the colors.

Excellent design, nice minifigures, tons of play value, this has it all.  Great job as always.

[Mazin]

It looks charming, but I'd either use a larger baseplate for that dock or ditch the dock to make room for a larger beach as it's kinda weird the way it is. Don't get me wrong, it's still playble, it looks 90s, it's quite attractive actually, but to be honest the best photo in this presentation is the last one, and i like it from the back perspective :)

But looking at the back, how does Your pirate get on top of that structure? Surely he's a physically fit fellow and can climb up, but maybe he could use a small ladder just in case someone else would like to take a look at that view too? ;) 

One other thing, is this a case of the "door to small to fit the character without bending or hitting it? ;) It seems kinda low for this guy in a hat to be able to go trough it with his hat on ;)

[Elephant Knight]

  On 8/6/2023 at 11:49 PM, iragm said:

You pretty much nailed it with this one!   I'm thrilled to see a new classic style set.  It's very hard to find any issues with it, great use of parts and accessories.  But, here goes:  I wish that the palm leaves were angled, they would add quite a bit of dimension to the set.  Also, there's no need for 2 swords (save yourself a brick there!) and a larger plate for the water would help balance the colors.

Excellent design, nice minifigures, tons of play value, this has it all.  Great job as always.

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I did toy with having the leaves angled, but I felt it was too fragile. Though a lot of sets back in the day were a bit fragile, so it wouldn't stick out too much. I personally think 2 swords is better. what if you wanted to have the two pirates fight over the treasure? It's a bit unfair if one has a gun, but misses with his one shot!

  On 8/10/2023 at 7:59 PM, Mazin said:

It looks charming, but I'd either use a larger baseplate for that dock or ditch the dock to make room for a larger beach as it's kinda weird the way it is. Don't get me wrong, it's still playble, it looks 90s, it's quite attractive actually, but to be honest the best photo in this presentation is the last one, and i like it from the back perspective :)

But looking at the back, how does Your pirate get on top of that structure? Surely he's a physically fit fellow and can climb up, but maybe he could use a small ladder just in case someone else would like to take a look at that view too? ;) 

One other thing, is this a case of the "door to small to fit the character without bending or hitting it? ;) It seems kinda low for this guy in a hat to be able to go trough it with his hat on ;)

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Giving it the dock is what this set is all about, I feel it gives it some uniqueness and would stand out among the sets back in the day. May Lego structures left out access to towers back in the day, while it is a bit irksome to some, it was well within the design of classic sets. the doorway is technically tall enough for a minifig, if just barely.

EKnight

[durazno33]

The way the chest is opened, I too hoped to see some treasure sticking out? Maybe adding some gems? If you don't have the room for the piece count, you could convert the 2 cylinders under the dock into a 1x4 black arch and remove one of the seats in the row boat to make room for the treasure chest. That should give you 4 more pieces to use for gems or other treasure in the chest.

[The Reader]

This is really „classic style“!