jan kusters

So of course I extend my gratitude to include Mister Phes; you guys are doing a great job with Classic-Pirates.com!

Thank you very much Marooned Marin! You made it into a fantastic article, I feel deeply honoured by it all!

Late to the party as I spend a lot of time looking for info, so I might have little to add to this thread. One thing in this video that realy surprised me, at 14:45, the castle is split into two 'towers' with very little trouble. Both towers look, at least from this side, as rather complete buildings. I think that is awesome, it opens up so much possibilities; two castles? Or throw in a low MOC castle wall and create a much larger castle with as much inner court as you like? I do love the overall design of this castle, walls high enough, awesome entrance with draw bridge and portcullis, fantastic small timber frame building. The fold in and out system looks fantastic, and I do like how the interior can be displayed and hidden at wish. I also love the fact that it is mainly brick build, no large number of big panels to make up walls. Great selection of minifigs and animals. I am very happy with the two horses in different barding and the two faction included. It will allow for a simple MOC build tournament in the fields in front of the castle... (and what an awesome background this castle will make!). Similar, the ox(?)cart will allow for a small peasant cottage outside the castle and the goat begs for a witches hut in the woods (witch not included, but I am sure the wizard needs a friend!). O dear, my minds already starts drifting towards all that could be added once I have this set... For my own use, I see only one real downside; the rooms inside look very nice, but all are rather small for 'story telling'. The rooms are more or less all 'one trick ponies', useful only for the interior and vignette placed in the set. I would have loved a bigger 'great hall' somewhere. But I also realise that would have made the castle a lot bigger and even more expensive (and as is, it is already not cheap, I am still trying to decide whether I can afford it). Minor disappointment -again, just for me- is the full grey wall thing. I loved the 3in1 castle from last year for its colours. But I can see how many nostalgic Castle fans would balk at that. Besides, it can be easily remedied with a few additional bricks. Anyway, still up to my ears in Space 2019, I've got a year or so to save up for this beast...

Thank you very much! I like reading these kind of stories from others, so I decided to give it a try too...

Thank you! You dug into an oldie!

Fantastic, I love the exciting story -will they get away- and all the funny moments in telling it. Special tip to the hat for the excellent sail handing and ship manoeuvres! This is an awesome production!

Awesome looking lighthouse! I love the creepy look, but it would work as well as a normal lighthouse I think!

Great design!

This looks fantastic! Not too big, very nice detail, and the combination with a treasure cave is a great idea!

Season is hitting hard on Whale Rock Island... The Briney Brick 84 (a); back for an old friend... by Jan Kusters, on Flickr Sssssssh... Be very quiet now... Douse the lamp... We're going to find that dead soldier that was in the fortress too... The Briney Brick 84 (b); AAAAH! (and more panicy sounds...) by Jan Kusters, on Flickr 'ALARM!!! They're back!!!' 'Who's ba...AAAAAH! A walking skeleton! That's a walking skeleton! Another walking skeleton! More walking skeletons!' 'Up! Up! Get up to the tower!!!, move, move' 'Get that lamp out of my eyes Soldier, and take this ladder! Move!' 'What about the lieutenant, sergeant?' 'Trapped in his room, I could not get to him! Probably looking up how to kill dead people in his military handbook! Forget the lieutenant...' The Briney Brick 84 (c); Parley!!! by Jan Kusters, on Flickr 'Sorry about that sword, old man, it's just when you burst in like that... Anyway, tea? Now let me see, a dead soldier, yes, we found a dead soldier when we came here. He is on route to the main land right now. You want him? Why? Hapier with your lot? Hmmmyes, you might be right Sir, he certainly did not like to stay in his coffin... Tell you what. He was in no way fit for duty, I'll sign the papers for his release from military duty. If you hurry, you might very well catch up with them, they are in a row boat going west...

Joining in a bit late, but I just bought a few of those 2019 City Space kits. Yes, I am a slow starter... I remember seeing a build up 'Classic Space' display in a toy-store when I was in my twenties (yes, my dark ages as far as Lego went, but I always kept an eye on bricks in the windows). I remember back then wondering why they did not make a clear choice; real space, or SF space? What I saw back then felt pretty much '10-minutes into the future'. The triangular spaceships clearly had a link to the Space Shuttle, al be it without cumbersome big megablocks fuel tanks. The rovers and vehicles in their smallest form clearly linked to the original Lunar Rover from NASA, while the bigger machines had a link to concept studies and drawing board designs. Looking back now, I love their choice. It gives Classic Space a nostalgic future feel, pretty much ,like old SF magazine covers. Fast Forward 40 years... The new sets do look like the same '10 minutes into the future' now as Classic Space did back ten. Clear links to present actual space, just taken a little bit further. The design has been 'cleaned up' a bit compared to reality, and lightened up a lot compared to the old blue and gray from Classic Space. It certainly looks more modern. It takes stuff a little further when it comes to rovers and vehicles, but the 'strapped together' rockets and side boosters, the launch controls and 'robots' or remote controlled stuff is real or very close to real space at the moment. The -not perfect yet- interchangeable rocket parts and coupling devices are a fantastic addition to the latest series. The inner detail in some stuff is just awesome, and it had great play possibilities. I am pretty sure, were I 9 or 10 now (like I was during the Apollo age), I would be completely bonkers about this stuff... Ad in 20 or 30 years, it very well might have the same nostalgia feeling that Classic Space has for me. So yes, in potential, this looks to me like a New Classic Space. It seems this series had been going on for a while already, with releases in 2011 and 2015. It seems those were pretty limited releases, and only in 2019 things really came to blossom. I completely missed out on those, and checking them out now, City Space 2019 certainly takes things a step further. I can't speak for others, just my own feelings about this stuff. I named it New Classic Space for myself, and I am curious to see where the 5 sets I bought will take me...

Over on the Island, Pip has noticed a new crop popping up... The Briney Brick 82 (a); 'tis the season to be... by Jan Kusters, on Flickr 'Hey honey, look! These big orange banana's are back! I remember them from last year...' 'Pumpkins dear, they are called pumpkins. And yes, I brought you a bunch last year. Just cut them loose and stack them, the Thin Men will take care of them in a few days. And bring a few for us, I do feel like pumpkin latte...' ************************************ Thin Men? What!?! Story getting away from me again... Anyway, for those missing Pip; he's just turned landlubber for a while, he has not disappeared completely... The Briney Brick 82 (b); 'tis the season to be... by Jan Kusters, on Flickr *muffled sounds* 'Good grief! Lemme get a knife...' *muffled protesting sounds* *********************************************** Adulthood: / aedalt / adj The ability to resist putting everything on or over your head. ===> see cats / if it fits I sits. The Briney Brick 82 (c); 'tis the season to be... by Jan Kusters, on Flickr 'Aaaah, that's better... Thank you...' **************************** (I am pretty sure this is how carved pumpkins were invented...) The Briney Brick 82 (d); 'tis the season to be... by Jan Kusters, on Flickr 'Now smash the pumpkin...' *Frantic muffled sounds.* 'Careful with his head! He might still need it some day!' *Slightly offended muffled sounds* 'Hah, pumpkin soup tonight...' The Briney Brick 83; Harvest... by Jan Kusters, on Flickr 'Just leave them Pip, those are the Thin Men, they just want the pumpkins...'

Better shots probably on the way... I am not sure how to work the size yet with this one (it's on Imgur, not yet public there). The ship has no name as far as I know, I just think of it as 'The Black Ship'...

(while working on more 'story' shots of the ship, decided to take a few for future reference for myself first).

While working on the story shot a series of 'archive' pictures of the Black Ship for future reference for myself...