Time to update my pirate set up

[RosierPosier]

It's been a while and in this heat I've retreated to the coolness of my basement... where most of our lego lives... And somehow I've found myself obsessing over my pirate lego set up.

It's way too cramped and all of the factions are living completely on top of each other. So I figured I could double the size of the set up and give everyone a bit more breathing space to plot their next move...

Here are the before photos:

And here is the start of the reorganisation...
 

The current plan is to have the redcoats and bluecoats on one side (they are not friends but the redcoats currently only have one fort, but all the ships), a volcanic island in the middle inhabited by islanders and the pirates on the other side...

I might acquire more sets while I'm building but I think my main focus while be on building up the island. So any tips on how best to get all the bricks needed to build up my rocks are welcome :)

But if there is something missing that you think I really need, I can use that to justify the other purchases I want to make?

[DonQuixote]

Nice to see you have the redcoats imperial flagship. Was in my dark age when that out. Now it's unaffordable. Looks like you already have everything except for the 1989 Bluecoats Caribbean Clipper.

And is it that hot over there in Norway?

[RosierPosier]

Ah yes, technically the Imperial flagship came out during my dark age... but it was not sooo long after retirement and I found a fairly decent deal second hand and my partner found the little one around the same time. I'm currently looking at the Caribbean Clipper, there is someone selling one near me, but also for a similar price there's an original black seas barracuda with an incomplete soldiers outpost... sooooo decisions..

It was very hot for one day and now and it is way more comfortable in the basement... but perhaps I just suck at any heat/humidity. Also it's a good excuse to start a new project.

[Mister Phes]

15 hours ago, RosierPosier said:

The current plan is to have the redcoats and bluecoats on one side (they are not friends but the redcoats currently only have one fort, but all the ships),

It also looks like you could fit in some more shelves above Eldorado Fortress...

Yer know, for when yer expand yer collection. 

 

[SBCMayor]

I love this! Great mix of the new and vintage sets in the same space. Since you basically have them side by side, how do you like the new Eldorado Fortress compared to the original? 

[DonQuixote]

1 hour ago, SBCMayor said:

I love this! Great mix of the new and vintage sets in the same space. Since you basically have them side by side, how do you like the new Eldorado Fortress compared to the original? 

I am curious as well. The only thing better with the new Eldorado Fortress is the brick build base. For the rest I prefer the old one. It has better doors, no facade office, more yellow and better looking minifigs. The white printing on the new Bluecoats is bad. 

[RosierPosier]

I like both fortresses for different reasons. The original works much better a toy, the raised baseplates mean that you can build and pack a way quickly and its just more playable. I didn't have the original as a kid, I only had pirates who resided on the outskirts of a large paradisa complex, but I guess it's the same deal - slightly different play scenarios.

I kinda think the new set is a great re-imagining but it's built for nostalgia and displaying, more than playing. I like the fact you can arrange it in different ways... although my partner insisted we had to have it in the original config for the new set up because the big pier is too short to dock one of the big ships and needs extending...

I have a lot of the new bluecoats because I got back into lego just before the 2015 wave came out, so I majorly stocked up on all those set and the chess board. So I like them for that reason, but the readcoats are probably my preferred faction. I like ri have a mix of both old and new, but mainly whatever I got my hands on.

[SpacePolice89]

What an impressive collection! It is nice to see all the sets from different eras together. Basements are great for displaying Lego, no daylight means no yellowing. 

Edited July 30 by SpacePolice89

[SBCMayor]

On 7/25/2025 at 10:41 AM, DonQuixote said:

I am curious as well. The only thing better with the new Eldorado Fortress is the brick build base. For the rest I prefer the old one. It has better doors, no facade office, more yellow and better looking minifigs. The white printing on the new Bluecoats is bad. 

I agree about the newer imperial mini-figs. But at the same time I recognize my own bias in favor of the more vintage sets. Ultimately I am glad they did a new Eldorado even if I never buy it. It is what prompted me to start looking at pictures of the old pirate legos with my son, and ultimately take a chance and start collecting them again.