Fixing my Skull's Eye Schooner

[SBCMayor]

Okay so I know some of you are going to read that title and ask, "How can you fix perfection?" It's a fair question. For those of you who know I am a complete novice when it comes to building techniques, it's an even more reasonable question. How can a novice fix what a professional engineer designed? 

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! 

 

Edited May 17, 2025 by SBCMayor

[GeoBrick]

Those are good changes.

One more I would do is replace the cabin doors with those that come with the Medieval Town set.

Oh yes, the set has definitely aged. I first thought you used a mix of tan&white plates&bricks. 

[SBCMayor]

17 hours ago, GeoBrick said:

Those are good changes.

One more I would do is replace the cabin doors with those that come with the Medieval Town set.

Oh yes, the set has definitely aged. I first thought you used a mix of tan&white plates&bricks. 

Yeah some of those white pieces are definitely in need of replacement. I had a few left over from when I replaced all the yellow trim on one of my BSBs with white but I have a lot more to replace. That is one thing that is so awesome about these older sets though. Sometimes the only pieces that need to be replaced are pieces that are still readily available. It's an investment for sure, but with a little extra money one can really breathe new life into these vintage works of art! 

As for the cabin door, yeah. Those plain white ones are pretty lame. I haven't looked into alternatives yet but I will probably do so eventually.

One last mod I am considering, I may dispense with the rudder, freeing up the cabin space for me to do something cool in there. The working rudder isn't all that compelling a feature to me, but a nicer cabin is. Haven't decided on that yet.  

[Jack Sassy]

These be some good modifications! I feel that the colours for the first wave were perfect, while later these models had too much colour. The cabin works quite well. We shall wait for the next step of yer modification! 

[The Reader]

I like your modifications. Well done, especially the gun deck.

On 5/17/2025 at 7:01 PM, GeoBrick said:

One more I would do is replace the cabin doors with those that come with the Medieval Town set.

10 hours ago, SBCMayor said:

As for the cabin door, yeah. Those plain white ones are pretty lame. I haven't looked into alternatives yet but I will probably do so eventually.

Just my personal opinion: No, I wouldn't change that type of door (perhaps just take them in another colour). Those 5 bricks tall classic doors are IMHO still the best choice as they fit the minifigures perfectly. Those modern doors are 6 bricks tall which is too much in my opinion.

 

 

 

[SBCMayor]

Thank you, @Jack Sassy I appreciate your kind words. I agree it would be hard to swap out those doors with newer ones because of the size difference. My son has a Black Pearl and before I had looked at it very closely I thought it was using the same piece for a door, just in a darker color. I figured I'd maybe find it on Bricklink or something like that. But on closer inspection that is also a 6 brick high door with the frame. So I may just have to leave that element alone for now. I'm fine with that, I really like the changes I made to this ship. 

[AViewToALego]

Skull's Eye Barracuda! 

I always enjoyed the Schooner! Not only does it look imposing, but it's great for playability. The Red Beard Runner was the best for play, because the sails sat high on the masts and did not get in the way of the action. But the Schooner is great as well. All that deck space was perfect for cutlass fights!

Nowadays I always remove the rudder functions from my ships. 6271 was subjected to that treatment, as was the Schooner. At any rate, I enjoyed the modifications!

Edited May 26, 2025 by AViewToALego

[SBCMayor]

On 5/26/2025 at 6:39 PM, AViewToALego said:

Skull's Eye Barracuda! 

I always enjoyed the Schooner! Not only does it look imposing, but it's great for playability. The Red Beard Runner was the best for play, because the sails sat high on the masts and did not get in the way of the action. But the Schooner is great as well. All that deck space was perfect for cutlass fights!

Nowadays I always remove the rudder functions from my ships. 6271 was subjected to that treatment, as was the Schooner. At any rate, I enjoyed the modifications!

I think with a few minor mods a good builder can get a respectable cabin on 6271. It would obviously require removal of the rudder function but I think it's doable. 

Edited May 28, 2025 by SBCMayor
Clarified rudder comment.

[Fletch]

I much prefer it with the removal of the red! I've been thinking about a scratch built Skull Eye Schooner myself and removing most of the red and green. I'm wondering if you made anymore changes or if anyone else has done similar?

[Captain Pirate Man]

Finally, a man of taste. I had the SES as a kid, and I LOVED it then. But as an adult, I see how flawed it is. So many Lego fans, and even pirates fans tend to look at this ship through rose colored glasses. Is it a good ship? Yes. Great? No, especially NOT for the after market price, you can MOC your own ship for cheaper, and that will be better. 

Congrats on getting it at a good price (is snag one as well, for the right price). Also your modifications look great 👍 👍 

[BillytheKid]

The first thing I noticed were the discolored parts, exspecially the white. I would change that first for (new) white parts first. And what all ships missed were proper decks over the guns. Yes it is made for kids for easy access. It does look funny. 

Color change of a set with great value, it decreases it looks. I think replaced the discolored/damaged parts, replace the sails for new ones (some can make really good, maybe even better replica's than original). And add like a proper deck which can be removed, so than it is original. That's a great mod. Than you keep the looks, first reason why you liked the set at first place.

And the sails were hanging out after time, I hated that. There are enough solutions for that at internet. Turnable guns is, I think, a great idea to save weight on a ship. Lucky there is bricklink to buy the parts you need to upgrade the ship how you want.

[SBCMayor]

On 11/30/2025 at 6:26 PM, Captain Pirate Man said:

Finally, a man of taste. I had the SES as a kid, and I LOVED it then. But as an adult, I see how flawed it is. So many Lego fans, and even pirates fans tend to look at this ship through rose colored glasses. Is it a good ship? Yes. Great? No, especially NOT for the after market price, you can MOC your own ship for cheaper, and that will be better. 

Congrats on getting it at a good price (is snag one as well, for the right price). Also your modifications look great 👍 👍 

Haha, you are being way too nice to me. I can’t actually MOC my own, I’m nowhere close to being that skilled! But I also enjoy the simplicity and innocence of these early pirate sets, so I’m okay with not being able to do my own MOC. When I first started exploring expanding my Lego collecting, my first choice was pirates, but I was leaning toward the new Eldorado fortress and maybe picking up Barracuda Bay and leaving it at that. But the more I looked the more I found I love the older sets more. They’re are amazing designs without being overly detailed. They are clearly toys that make for cool displays rather than displays first.

Thank you for your kind words though. I do think the ship looks better with a main deck rather than being hollowed out. I may make a few additional mods eventually, such as adding a few of the brick built cannons to the main deck. I also want to remove some of the red from the stern. That red just does t look natural on a pirate ship unless it’s the red striped sails of the Barracuda! 

On 12/30/2025 at 5:28 AM, BillytheKid said:

The first thing I noticed were the discolored parts, exspecially the white. I would change that first for (new) white parts first. And what all ships missed were proper decks over the guns. Yes it is made for kids for easy access. It does look funny. 

Color change of a set with great value, it decreases it looks. I think replaced the discolored/damaged parts, replace the sails for new ones (some can make really good, maybe even better replica's than original). And add like a proper deck which can be removed, so than it is original. That's a great mod. Than you keep the looks, first reason why you liked the set at first place.

And the sails were hanging out after time, I hated that. There are enough solutions for that at internet. Turnable guns is, I think, a great idea to save weight on a ship. Lucky there is bricklink to buy the parts you need to upgrade the ship how you want.

I couldn’t agree more on the discolored parts, I just haven’t gotten around to ordering replacements. Fortunately for me most of the pieces that need an upgrade the most are easy replacements. I’ve done this with a few other vintage sets. 
 

As for the main decks, it was more about playability than design, which made a lot of sense. I think Lego as a higher end display piece for adults is a much more recent thing than these original pirate sets! 

I’m not too concerned with color swapping and value here. First, my copy isn’t anything close to mint condition. I actually now have 2 of the SES (more on the other one coming soon) and only one of them came with instructions. I don’t have the box for either. So if I am ever looking to move one of mine I’m already low on value because I won’t sell the only set of instructions I have. Plus I can always color swap back to the original if I were to do that. I’d also likely provide updated replacement parts for old, discolored pieces. 

the hanging sails bothers me too, but I have a couple ideas on how I want to address it. I’ve seen a few structural suggestions, but I haven’t gotten around to anything yet. 

As for the swivel guns, that is the one thing about the SES I truly dislike. I get why Lego did this because actually equipping this set with 8 cannons would have driven up the price even more than its initial MSRP. And while I appreciate these old models for their playability more than accuracy, on a wider hull model this one really bothers me. No ship in the age of sail would have been able to shift all guns to one side for a full broadside without creating significant weight imbalances. I do understand why narrow hull models don’t have guns on both sides, but the SES I just can’t overlook this.

On 11/21/2025 at 8:13 AM, Fletch said:

I much prefer it with the removal of the red! I've been thinking about a scratch built Skull Eye Schooner myself and removing most of the red and green. I'm wondering if you made anymore changes or if anyone else has done similar?

I have some changes to the base SES coming! I have a second copy of this ship and I am making a few similar changes to the gun deck and color scheme, but taking it a little further this time around! More to come! 

[Fletch]

4 hours ago, SBCMayor said:

I have some changes to the base SES coming! I have a second copy of this ship and I am making a few similar changes to the gun deck and color scheme, but taking it a little further this time around! More to come! 

Please do share!