Skull's Eye Schooner Restoration

[Pannkake1990]

Hi all, this is a restoration thread of my Skull's Eye Schooner. As a child I really loved seeing this set in promotional materials that I was given by older family friends, along with Lego they were no longer interested in, but unfortunately by the time I could ask for the set as a birthday present, it was no longer available (that was when it was replaced with Red Beard Runner). It probably didn't help that all the catalogues and posters I was given were about five years old haha. I did see the set in person though, my cousin gave me tours of his Pirate collection and I remember being so fascinated by Schooner. I was really into pirates and old sailing ships and it was my favourite Lego ship I had seen, I must have been seven or eight at the time. 

Years later, my cousin got rid of his Lego collection, but unfortunately a lot of his collection was given away before then or missing. He saved the Schooner for me which I will always appreciate but unfortunately, quite a lot of the parts were missing. As a broke teenager, I did throw the ship together with parts that I had, I was happy enough with it but it wasn't quite right.

And for quite a few years I just kept the Schooner either displayed or in storage, but I had a nagging suspicion that I had more parts for the ship than I had used, buried in some of the massive crates of assorted Lego I had, I just never really got the motivation to do a deeper search. 

Which brings me to now, I watched a few YouTube videos and got inspired to restore the Schooner to her former glory. I did a massive search through lego and found way more spare parts I needed than I expected, and I have purchased the rest. At this point I have enough to have the ship itself completed. I don't have all the minifigures, so that will be the next project. I really wanted to restore the Schooner instead of just buying a replacement or alternate ship because of the memories attached to this one. 

Here is a photo taken a while ago, from my bodged repair of the ship. Sails are missing but I have a new set along with all the parts I need on order, so shall update here when I get them. Since this photo I have disassembled and cleaned the parts, so I will update soon when the ship is together again but correctly. The ship was quite dusty here, and I will add it is nowhere near as faded as it looks in the photo: 

 

 

[Mister Phes]

18 hours ago, Pannkake1990 said:

Which brings me to now, I watched a few YouTube videos and got inspired to restore the Schooner to her former glory. I did a massive search through lego and found way more spare parts I needed than I expected, and I have purchased the rest. At this point I have enough to have the ship itself completed. I don't have all the minifigures, so that will be the next project.

So phase one of the restoration is complete?

18 hours ago, Pannkake1990 said:

 I really wanted to restore the Schooner instead of just buying a replacement or alternate ship because of the memories attached to this one. 

So the sentimental value has inspired you to take the long road, rather than the short one?

[Pannkake1990]

3 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

So phase one of the restoration is complete?

So the sentimental value has inspired you to take the long road, rather than the short one? 

Yes, I am really just waiting for a few parts to arrive now before rebuilding the ship 

 

You are right that the sentimental value plays a large part, it’s definitely a lot more work as sorting through crates of unorganised Lego took forever but it should be worth the effort  Might inspire me to restore a couple of other Pirate sets I have 

[Mister Phes]

31 minutes ago, Pannkake1990 said:

Might inspire me to restore a couple of other Pirate sets I have  

You have more pirate sets? Which ones?

[Pannkake1990]

1 hour ago, Mister Phes said:

You have more pirate sets? Which ones?

I have the Armada Flagship (in pieces but I have most if not all of the pieces) and a few other Pirate pieces along with a flat baseplate with an island print (not sure the exact set as that lego was never built just given to me as mixed parts when family friends downsized their collection. I also have a few rowboats along with the small masts and pirate sails that go with them (and countless small Jolly Rogers), as well as a couple of Islander boats but again, not sure the exact sets they came with. I have one large and small Imperial flag and a couple of Schooner/Barracuda size large ladders, but sadly never got anything else to suggest the Imperial Flagship or a larger set, honestly I have no idea where those came from. 

One set I really want is the Caribbean Clipper, and the Black Seas Barracuda is another. The 'Barracuda was before my time but I love the ship and can also see why people love that one so much. I'd say that the Skull's Eye Schooner is probably my favourite Lego ship of all, but that is probably largely nostalgia. The Clipper just has such a cool look, and in my mind the Barracuda and Schooner would have had the same colour sails and fittings as the Clipper, before they were commandeered by pirates and became pirate ships, but that's just my own created lore haha. Then again I'd like the Renegade Runner as I can imagine that sailing in convoy with the Schooner, used for missions where speed is of the esscence but at this point I may as well collect them all haha 

[Pannkake1990]

Just as a fun little extra- while I wait for new parts, I was inspired by the "Caribbean Ribbit" in the MOC section by Legostein, and I made this out of the leftover parts. This is a little boat to go alongside the Schooner in my collection, I call it the Skull's Eye Sailboat. My apologies if this should be put in the MOC section but it is small even compared to small boat it's inspired by, so thought I should just put it here. I am a noob at MOCs (and sorry if the sail is a little haggard) so no idea if it's any good but it was fun to build! 

 

Edited June 15, 2021 by Pannkake1990
Spelling

[Mister Phes]

12 hours ago, Pannkake1990 said:

Just as a fun little extra- while I wait for new parts, I was inspired by the "Caribbean Ribbit" [...] I am a noob at MOCs (and sorry if the sail is a little haggard) so no idea if it's any good but it was fun to build! 

It's a fine little vessel but have you tried using a brown hull?

[Pannkake1990]

14 hours ago, Mister Phes said:

It's a fine little vessel but have you tried using a brown hull?

Good idea, sadly I only have one and it is the Schooner's lifeboat, but will see if I can get another! 

[Mister Phes]

5 hours ago, Pannkake1990 said:

Good idea, sadly I only have one and it is the Schooner's lifeboat, but will see if I can get another! 

I suspect the brown hull will work better with the colour of the sails.

Currently the "curtains don't make the carpet"

[Mister Phes]

On 6/16/2021 at 3:59 AM, Pannkake1990 said:

One set I really want is the Caribbean Clipper, and the Black Seas Barracuda is another.

This is an expensive past time...  those sets don't go cheap on the secondhand market, even if they're incomplete.

I'm very thankful I got mine back in the mid 2000's before it became popular to collect LEGO. Back then you could get quite good deals on classic sets, sometimes in MISB condition.

On 6/16/2021 at 3:59 AM, Pannkake1990 said:

I have the Armada Flagship (in pieces but I have most if not all of the pieces)

What about the rarer minifigs?

On 6/16/2021 at 3:59 AM, Pannkake1990 said:

a few other Pirate pieces along with a flat baseplate with an island print (not sure the exact set as that lego was never built

How big was the basebase? 16x16 or 32x23? Does the print resemble an island in the centre or a river?

[Pannkake1990]

On 6/17/2021 at 5:33 AM, Mister Phes said:

This is an expensive past time...  those sets don't go cheap on the secondhand market, even if they're incomplete.

I'm very thankful I got mine back in the mid 2000's before it became popular to collect LEGO. Back then you could get quite good deals on classic sets, sometimes in MISB condition.

What about the rarer minifigs?

How big was the basebase? 16x16 or 32x23? Does the print resemble an island in the centre or a river?

Yes, for sure it isn't cheap- I will probably just wait and see if a decent price Clipper comes up. You are certainly lucky  I am just glad I have the Schooner as well as Black Knight's castle (I loved that set as a child and when I was a teenager I found it for £25), and Royal Knight's Castle.

I should have all the minifigs for the Armada Flagship, I would never have purposely got rid of any Lego 

I just realised I have two baseplates, one is 16x16 and the other is 32x32 (both blue with island print in the middle). 

[Mister Phes]

7 hours ago, Pannkake1990 said:

I just realised I have two baseplates, one is 16x16 and the other is 32x32 (both blue with island print in the middle).  

The 16x16 base plate could be found in 6265 Sabre Island or 6260 Shipwreck Island.

While the 32x32 island base plate was found in 6270 Forbidden Island.

But the question is... what are you going to do with these base plates now you've found them?

[Pannkake1990]

On 6/19/2021 at 9:05 AM, Mister Phes said:

The 16x16 base plate could be found in 6265 Sabre Island or 6260 Shipwreck Island.

While the 32x32 island base plate was found in 6270 Forbidden Island.

But the question is... what are you going to do with these base plates now you've found them?

Thanks for the information! I actually have the rope bridge from 6270 so I am sure it is that set! Shame I don't have the brown boat. Not sure what I will do to be honest but I am thinking of putting a little display together when I move house soon. So I could use them for a MOC perhaps, or attempt to rebuild them.  

[Mister Phes]

9 hours ago, Pannkake1990 said:

Thanks for the information! I actually have the rope bridge from 6270 so I am sure it is that set!

Well, it's the only LEGO set which includes that baseplate so...

[Pannkake1990]

Finally have the Schooner back together. It is I would say 99% complete, I need to put the minifigures together correctly (and find a few from my boxes of Lego), and I have a big jolly roger for the back on order. But I am really happy with how she looks, and glad I could save the ship! 

 

[Wurger49]

2 hours ago, Pannkake1990 said:

Finally have the Schooner back together. It is I would say 99% complete, I need to put the minifigures together correctly (and find a few from my boxes of Lego), and I have a big jolly roger for the back on order. But I am really happy with how she looks, and glad I could save the ship! 

 

Looks so fresh! beautiful ship

[Pannkake1990]

47 minutes ago, Wurger49 said:

Looks so fresh! beautiful ship

Thanks! It was a lot of work but I really wanted to save the ship. I still can’t get over how massive it seems to me haha 

[jan kusters]

On 6/23/2021 at 2:44 PM, Wurger49 said:

Looks so fresh! beautiful ship

Well done! It is great the oldies are preserved in such a loving way!