Pimbo

Personally, I love adding fun play features to my builds, although I do not "play" with them as such (I swear ). Literally my first build after coming out of my dark ages some years ago, I created a mechanism that rolls out all guns of a ship simultaneously, and pulls them back in just enought to be able to close the gunports, by means of a knob at the rear of the ship. So, I thought I would share this here. In this boat (I would hesitate to call it a ship) three guns on each side are attached to axles, actuated by a crank mechanism. The axle underneath is for added rigidity. Obviously, the rigidity of the axles limit the overal lenght at which this mechanism could work. If I were to have 14 guns along one side of the ship, the forward guns probably wouldn't roll out as far as the aft ones. But on larger vessels, presumably the outward curvature of the hull wouldn't allow for a mechanism like this anyway, if you choose to build a ship with a curved hull. In this ship, the 24-t crank gears are both driven by the axle underneath it (with 8-t gears on it). This improved the rigidity and allowed for all guns to roll out and back perfectly. A picture taken from the rear, guns out. Guns rolled back, gunports closed. The 1 stud of horizontal movement that is allowed is just enough for the gunports to close, and enough to look menacing with the guns run out (although I don't have any pictures of the ship with the guns out ) So, I hope you can find a use for this mechanism and probably improve upon it. But in all probability someone already did something like this, maybe you can post pictures here! Steady as she goes!

I had already posted these vessels fighting a battle in the BoBS forum http://www.eurobrick...howtopic=119198, so at the small risk of bein branded a double-poster, I'll give you some additional, more clearer photo's. The 14 gun brig and its crew, colorprinted paper sails, some templates for the sails taken from the sail library topic and edited for Sea Rats duty. The mainsails were too big to print with an a4 printer, so I made partial sails and had them in raised position, so that they wouldn't cover too much of the action that's going on on the decks. The color scheme is present in the stern as well Interior is fake, but the deck turned out quite nice if I may say so myself. View from astern. The brigantine, in Oleon colors. Four guns on deck, raised poop deck, and again, fake main sail. Astern. More pics on the brickshelf! http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=561303

Well, there is this topic which has a nice collection of sailing plans

I had thought about extending it to include a SLBM silo section, but that's a little too violent for my taste, and the sub already makes ominous creaking sounds when picking it up... the middle section is almost too weak. Heh, hadn't thought of that But now that you mention it, my minifig captain does have a neatly maintained beard and 'stache like captain Ramius...

Anyone know the European prices? I find it somewhat weird Lego doesn't mention the cup prices anywhere...

Nice little ship! Compliments on the custom hull, it looks very fast. The sails are expertly shaped and cut, I'm guessing construction paper of some kind? I've been considering attempting a custom hull, I doubt my first attempt will look this nice! And I think we can expect more pictures as the story develops? That would be awesome!

Well, thanks everyone, for the compliments! I've been really busy these days (not Lego related unfortunately) and I pop back in, and suddenly the submarine is on the Eurobricks frontpage! I still have several MOC's to photo-edit and post here, so keep an eye out on the Action theme forum!

Very nice build, it certainly has a tropical and pauper atmosphere about it. I wonder how these folks would protect themselves should a tropical storm reach their shores without windows or shutters though! By the way, would you care to divulge what that trans-clear part is you use to fix those shirts to the rope?

Thanks everyone for showing love for this fantastic underwater theme! A custom Stingray vessel, I'm still on the fence on that one. Sure, it should be present in an Aquazone world, but it's a tough theme - kinda sloppy colorscheme and uninspired sets. But that's where we come in, right? I might "upgrade" my Stingray Stormer, it's the only cool set in that theme (but does suffer somewhat from poor design).

I love it! There's so much going on in this ship - full interior, rowboat, working crane, details everywhere. And the gunports can be closed, even though the guns are fixed, that's quite clever! Oh, and the apple theme really gives the boat character! I'm not sure about the rather crude anchor though.

"When something happens in the sea of storms, nothing happens, it's just another vessel lost" - intro to an old pirate song Prepare to repel boarders! A small Oleon brigantine enroute from LeBellan to Granoleon has come under attack from a pirate ship. The inexperienced Oleon captain has inadvertently allowed the pirate vessel to come withing boarding distance - grappling hooks were thrown, it seems there's no fleeing from this fight. The Oleon crew fiercely resists the attack, but it's clear they're outnumbered, outgunned, and no match for the bloodlusty pirates that eat a crew like this for breakfast, every day! The pirates are commanded by the vicious Guillaume "I'd rather cut in half than give quarter" DeBurgess. He is the kind of man people tell horrific tales about to scare kids and adults alike. The small Oleon marine complement knows - this is going to be a fight to the death, and honestly, their chances are slim. The Oleon gun crew has already been incapacitated - but their four cannon are no match for the large pirate ship's 14 guns anyway... Juan Gabriel de Companhia, a renown Oleon scholar and avid collector of... stuff... is travelling aboard the ship as a guest. Realising his predicament, he quietly opens the cabin window and prepares to lower his travel trunk into the water. Inside it is stored his most prized posession - and Juan Gabriel is determined to do everything to prevent this from falling into the wrong hands. And so the chest, with it's mysterious contents, is cast off, drifting in the Sea of Storms... while the unfortunate Oleon vessel is starting to burn, and will never reach it's port. So - here's the challenge. Post a picture of you BoBS character retrieving the chest from the sea, be it washed ashore or sighted while afloat in the water, and revealing it's contents! Is this a contest? No, I just thought it would be fun! Are there any prizes? No - well yes, whatever is in that chest. Could there be something in the chest that influences the game mechanics? Obviously not, this building challenge is unsanctioned. Can multiple BoBS characters recover this chest? Sure, why not, the more chests the merrier

I love the tumblehome and the colorscheme, but it seems to me she's riding rather low. Maybe it's just too hard to visualize the size of this ship. Or, did the pirates perhaps manage to take a successful shot below her waterline?

As mentioned before, the balconette is brilliant (the architectural one, not the other meaning of the word although it may well be present in this moc). Just a few bricks but it's instantly recognisable. So far this might be the most true to life moc of life in an age of sail pirate town!

For a while there I was afraid the chest wouldn't be recovered... But the first recovery efforts are taking place! Who would have thought the man's most prized possessions could be such a valuable source of potassium!

and

Yes it is. No, they were built for the sole purpose of a photoshoot for a small story, so they don't have any interior, and even the portside of both vessels are only partially built. Well, the stern and quarter gallery indeed are very difficult to build, on these ships they're attached by just a hinge here or a single stud there. So building a sturdy, playable and still good looking ship is still very much on my to do list. No character yet, I'm still minifiguring it out I might include one or both of these ships in a build as soon as I've joined the Brethren!

Have a teaser! I'll try to post this somewhere in the upcoming weekend Thanks!

Don't worry, there's a chest for each and every one of us - this is age-of-sail quantum mechanics at its finest! It is my understanding that the free ships have to be very small. Sea Rats already hold a special place in my heart, but Corrington, with its philosophy, is calling my name.... Well, I suppose the build would just have to show your character revealing the contents of the box, so it wouldn't have to be very elaborate. In the meantime, the real contests have already started so you'd better invest your percious time in those! But yes, a simple photo in this topic would be fine - I'm just curious as to what you all think could be in that chest......

Thanks, it's from Pirates With Attitude if I'm not mistaken! I was truly caught off guard by the launch of BoBS, so yes I built all of this in a weeks time. The color schemes were a surpirse to me. So, this was a hasty build, the ships are just for this photoshoot. They don't even have a full larboard side (portside for you modern people). The sails are just colorprinted paper, I used some templates for size from the sail library topic here on Eurobricks and the flags from the intro topics. No, like I said, it's unofficial, it has nothing to do with the BoBS game system. I'm not a BoBS admin, even worse: I don't even have a BoBS character (yet)! This is just something that happens in the world of BoBS, and the world is bigger than the game.

Both the artificial structures and the planet's scenery absolutely have that classic Ice Planet vibe. This is really cool, literally!

Looking very closely at the bar's price list, I think I know why the bar makes so much money off drunk customers But really, the detailing is fabulous, if my historic interiors will one day be half this good, I'll be a happy man.

No, all hatches open outward so coupling two subs isn't possible. The idea would be that is a sub becomes stuck, you radio the base to send help, put on a diving suit, and open the hatch or activate the emergency pyrotechnic fasteners in the hull.

Awesome! As a HL fan since 1998, this is instantly recognisable. The Black Mesa facility really lends itself well for a Lego creation, and you've nailed it! A nicely assorted brick collection is like a physical WorldCraft! One suggestion though - wouldn't this be a better face for Gordon? http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?P=3626cpb0803

It's a better investment than gold, for sure. For if gold someday becomes worthless, what are you going to do with the bullion you have laying around? Throw it at barking dogs? If sealed Lego sets lose their monetary value, you can always open the boxes and build. So yes, I see it as an investment opportunity without any risk whatsoever. As long as you invest money you could miss you're fine. You'll end up with Lego or with spare money to buy Lego.

As a kid, drooling over the early 90's Lego catalogues, I imagined the Eldorado Fortress as having a vast complex of dungeons and storage rooms inside that large raised baseplate. Before heading off to the Dark Ages of college, I had been thinking about building a huge imperial fortress. To allow access to the interior, it would have to fold open. So, when I started building again a couple of years ago, this project was first on my list. The fort, situated on a hollowed out rock (because bluecoats apparently are incredibly crafy engineers). The rear provides access to the interior. Most openings are large enough for a humand hand. The sides of the fort come off... ...to provide total access to the interior. I really enjoyed the challenge of building this largest building I had ever built, thanks to excess time and my discovery of bricklink. But during the build I discovered I had little inspiration to create a nice and detailed interior. And, looking back, my skills were really basic. Oh well, at least it has some cool play features.... A large set of doors is built into the rocks at the front of the cliffside... ...allowing access for small boats to the little docking area inside. Once offloaded, supplies can be hoisted through several floors to the storage room, using a crane. On the other side of the fortress, the small windows of the dungeons can be seen. But it would be hard to place a minifig in them through the prison doors on the inside... ..so the dungeon outer wall just comes off, revealing the interior. Most of the interior is just... empy rooms and hallways... but you can spot the bunk beds, dungeons and governor's office. The dining room The armory The rotatable 48-pounder. The fine men of the classic bluecoat army. This has been an excellent study in large scale building, and it has taught me that I really need to pay more attention to interior detail. Since then, I have built some classic castle things, but for now, I'll stick to sci-fi, there's a lot more freedom when it comes to detailing. More pictures in the brickshelf folder here http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=535371 Thanks for viewing, and victory to the bluecoats! (..since I don't have any redcoats)