Bricverson

A little introduction before the review Hi fellow eurobrickers, My name is bricverson and I just registered on this forum yesterday. All I want to say about this place is AWESOME. I never know there are so many AFOLs around the world and could even gather in such a wonderful community like here. So with the beginning of my membership, I want to contribute with a little review of my latest purchase: 6289 Red Beard Runner. I've just got out my decade long dark age and is in the process of collecting sets I've always dreamt of in my childhood(poor kid from a poor family). The Red Beard Runner, though being heavily criticized by many serious Lego fans, is not a set that I would afford to miss. As there is currently no other reviews on this set in this forum, I'll make it up by presenting to you my pictorial review. Name: 6289 Red Beard Runner Theme: LEGO System / Pirates Year: 1996 Pieces: 703 Minifigs: 7 minifigures Price: USD$99 Red Beard Runner is an official pirate ship set released back in 1996. The ship is a large pirate vessel featuring an unique red 16-stud wide hull, two mast and three sails. The ship is designed with "playability" at heart so that the front mast and stern could "collapse" once triggered by certain mechanism. Let's begin with the usual "instruction shots" This is the instruction booklet that came with the set I purchase. It is in very good condition clearly showing her glory in full. A random page of the instruction. This page gives you the exact lengths of the studed rope required for the step and some close-up picture on smaller component build. Here comes the three war-torn sails of the ship. The grey and white stripes are one of my favorites and I think it looks better than the main sail of 6286 SES. I wish TLC has ever released smaller sails with this color scheme so I can MOC them to the lower part of the mast. The next big thing about this set is its unique RED ship hull. It looks very elegant in real and makes it stand out among other brown-hull ships. Here I've added several other red pieces to give you an idea about how "red" they are. Some of the interesting pieces: three non-shooting cannons, studed ropes at different length, a rope fish net and a working compass. The set comes with some nice animals such as monkey, shark and a parrot. The minifigures are not quite interesting except for Captain Red Beard. The print and color on the torsos looks extremely mediocre especially the one in the green vest. Anyway I don't care too much about minifigures so I can accept whatever I get as long as its genuine Lego. The Build: I do take some pictures during the build to share with you some interesting designs in this ship. The stern: As you can see, the treasure chest is perched on a hollowed spot so it can be removed easily. As to the hole, I'm not sure what it is made for. Maybe a hidden passage to the cabin? One of the signatures of this set is probably white skull design at the stern. There are some great details with the skull head including the use of white stud as teeth and the red tongue(throat?) inside the mouth arc. There is also a string comes out through the eye of the skull head which the other end ties to a little landing boat. This is the trigger mechanism that will cause the stern to "collapse". All you need to do is to pull the technic beam from both side and the cabin floor will be leveraged by the weight of the skull head in the back. It will also be used to topple the upper deck once the build is complete and we'll come to that in a second. The bow: This little trapdoor at the front of the ship is where the front mast is going to sit on. The flat grey piece is connected with a 1x8 black plate and will be used to control the tilt of the mast. Finished Model: Here it is, the completed Red Beard Runner ready to sail the high sea! She is fully equipped with a working crane, fish net and a landing boat(safety boat) to ensure it's crew's survival on the sea. She's three cannon broadside also gives it enough fire power to gun down any imperial/armada vessels(before the year 2010). A clear shot on the tilt front mast. This design could be perceived in two ways: 1. The mast was shot broken by an enemy ship and is now crippled this way. 2. The Red Beard Runner was after some merchant ship and only until the last moment, will it tilt its front mast and sail to reveal its true identity: Pirate, Arrrrr! A close-up on the trap door below the mast. Interestingly enough, the yellow flat pieces around the trap door serves both functional and aesthetic purposes. It helps stabilize the mast when its straight-up and does a good job keeping the bow consistent in color. OOPS! The stern collapsed and captain Red Beard is about the fall into the water! What happened to this mighty ship? faulty design? or else..... Bad! Bad! Bad! Looks like the even mightier Imperial Flagship has just arrived~~ RUN! As her name suggests is the only chance to stay alive.... Summary: It took me 4 hours to build this ship and the process is generally interesting. Nothing is repetitive and the building of these "collapse" mechanisms do add a lot fun to build. Here are some Pros and Cons I found after the build: PROs: + Unique ship hulls in RED color, very elegant. + Detailed white skull head design at the stern. + Simplistic cannon track on deck. + Great sail patterns. CONs: - Not enough riggings, the studed ropes are extremely annoying and are likely to break after repeated use. - Three sails are not enough for a ship this size. The lower part of the mast simply looks too empty. - Not enough details throughout the ship. - No real cabin for the captain, every space inside the stern has been occupied by the "collapse" mechanism. I cannot say I particular like or dislike the tilting/collapsing designs of this ship as it seems to be a attempt for TLC to make breakthrough from its traditional ship designs. It compromised a lot of details and displayability in return of increased playability for kids. As an AFOL, however, this ship is a must-have for every Pirate collector as it give you great many MOCing possibilities. You can use your imagination to "stabilize" the stern and masts, adding as many detail as you want, and even redesign the rigging to your liking. I should admit that Red Beard Runner is a perfect set for both children and AFOL alike and it deserves it's long due credit!

Thank a great deal Dreamweb! I noticed the screw inside the ship hull one day when I was working on my ship. I tried loose them but the hull parts just fails to come apart. It never occurred to me to use a butter knife on my Lego but it seems working indeed. I'll experiment this sometime later, only after I get more spare hull pieces. :)

WOW! That's a surprise. We really need some heads-up here!

Welcome to the forum, Mike. You've got a pretty decent Moc in your post, great job! I've always thinking of building a solid merchant ship with my limit bricks at hand and your's is definitely a good reference. I like the white hull from 6280 and IMHO it's the best ship hull ever for a non-military vessel. I've ordered a couple of used 6280 from eBay and will began my Moc right after I receive them.

Age: 23 Age you started building: 8 Country: Australia Occupation: Self-Employed Married: No Children: No Does your spouse or child/children build: Girlfriend, she only builds official sets. Do you have close friends who build: No Do you build together with your friends: No Do you regularly attend Lego conventions: No How much money do you spend on Lego product a year: >$4000 How much time do you spend building/playing a day: 2-3Hrs Favored theme/themes: Pirates/City/Castle Do you primarily collect retail sets, build MOCs, or both? Collect retail sets Did you experience a "dark age": Yep If yes, what age did you enter your "dark age" 14 y/o What age did you exit your "dark age": 23 y/o Other hobbies (other toy collecting, sports, drawing etc.): Not really In your own words what makes Lego bricks so special: It carries many good memories. May I PM you with a request for a personal interview: Yes if you like.

Bought a lot vintage Pirate sets from both ebay and BL over the last 30 days. 1x6286 1x6289 1x6271 1x6280 (on the way) 1x6279 1x6256 On my way to collect all the official pirate ships...

Hey, guys! This post is a follow-up of my review of 6289/6290 Red Beard Runner. As I have said, there is a lot you can do(moc) about the original build and here we go: my improved Red Beard Runner! Every last detail on the exterior has been retained while I took some effort to remove the collapsing stern castle and tilting front mast. Now the ship looks and works pretty solid and is by all means another great modular ship from Lego. Now a bit walkthrough around the ship: 1. The improved version looks exactly the same as the original but I managed to add an overhead rope for improved masts stability. 2. Here goes the ship bow. The nice little handrail is an extension from the original and I put on two black "deck pieces" under it to make the bow feels more streamlined. 3. Take a look at the new mast placement. I add a lower mast base and let it penetrate the upper deck. Now it is much more solid with little effect on the feeling. 4. A closer look at the base of front mast: ultra-firm placement with red color to go with the hull. 5. Let's move on to the stern. The once-cluttered, nonsense cabin is now fully cleaned up to make room for its captain and crew. As you can see, the white arc design on the outer wall was left intact, even the blue wall inside is exactly the same. I yet to make up my mind on how to add a little furniture or make a little cabin door but that's another story. 6. The simplistic cannon rail that I love, I keep them that way. 7. With the front mast now higher, I replaced the original short rigging with the longer ones. The crane is working properly and you may have found that I changed the way of sailing. The original string-hung sail is giving too much creases to the sails and I just want to go with the tradition way. 8. I add a little trapdoor to the cabin floor which now leads to an extra level beneath. This design aims to utilize the space below the cabin which was then used to place the leverage. Now since the leverage is gone, a little storage for the crew. Time to fill it up with Rum and Bacon! 9. The opening cabin walls are also working perfectly on both side. 10. The castle deck piece now can be slided back and forth to reveal the cabin. 11. If you leave the cabin floor open, you can see right through to the storage. I add some barrels in it to represent goodies. 12. Last but not least: the skullhead! This is the best part of the ship and I dare not to dampen it in any way. 13. However, instead of the red tongue/throat inside the mouth. I decide to add a little spice to it and placed a red cannon right in the mouth. Now taste death! 14. BONUS shot: the storage revealed! Thank you for reading! Any comments?

I only took photos on the module inside the cabin during the build but here's a scan of the instruction on that particular page showing what's inside. It's basically a huge leverage that will be lifted by the weight of the skull head in the back. Lol，a faded RR sail might do.

She's just got out of the shipyard and the crew is yet to board. Actually I've packed them away for protection.

Hey guys! My MOCed version of this ship is now complete, come take a look: MOC - Red Beard Runner Improved

Thanks Deadna, As to the minifigs, are you sure the 1st and 4th ones are fake? I double-checked this set on Brickset and it shows exactly the same thing. Maybe the photo doesn't do them justice. Here are the pictures FYI: I did mix-match some accessories (like the black bandana) on these minifigs but it doesn't matter.

I suppose everyone is aware of the cannon variety back then so I didn't address too much. Yes there are two types of cannons around: the U.S non-shooting cannon(with a cross-sword engrave on it) and the non-U.S shooting ones. I bought this set from a U.S seller on BL so it doesn't surprise me and these are my first nonshootings by the way. Definitely! Bjornu, it feels wonderful to buy myself sets without having to ask consent everytime from my parents. The new problem is: I still cannot afford those vintage MISB sets, lol. That's what can truely make up those lost memories.

Thank you Dreamweb. I'm really happy to be here. I have actually built a refined version of this ship, or as you may say, the v2.0 RBR. I have removed both the tilting mast and falling skull-head. The cabin is now quite empty and can afford as many furniture as possible. I've also added a cellar below the cabin floor to address the space once occupied by the leverage. Besides these, the ship looks exactly the same as the original: opening stern walls, white arc below the mast, beautiful white skullhead. I'll be adding some pictures of the refined ship to the post and hope you will like it.

Yes, I am also annoyed by the absence of the extra cannon. Perhaps TLC intentionally left it out to make it less powerful than 6285 or 6286. But that's no big deal as it's easy to add cannon to the empty slot. As to the cannon rail, I'm totally fine with the design. I used to love the 6286 design but it kinda occupies too much space and implement it would probably need another mid-section to make it feel less crowded. Anyway, I'm not satisfied as she is so I'll probably carry on with some MOCing. I'm thinking of removing the collapsing triggers of both the mast and stern and adding some real riggings to her. A string overhead for example. But I cannot find triangle sail with decent color pattern to go with her. Any suggestions besides DIY?