RocketSeason

Weird. It worked for me... I had that happen once before though. I've updated the post. Try it again.

Thanks! Yeah, that is really my entire point in doing this project. I want to see how much fun and playability and story and life I can squeeze out of one MOC. I don't want this to be just another pretty model to stick on a shelf for display only. (not that there is anything wrong with that.) ;)

The sun dipped low to the horizon, as Smit and Combs walked the length of ship’s interior examining the integrity of that day’s work. They stopped occasionally to yank at a beam or lean their weight against a plank to check the strength of the repairs. Surprisingly most of the work was of an acceptable quality, a surprise as the shipwrights in this port, though generally well meaning, were often lured from their work by rum and women. Combs peered cautiously around the gloom of the deck before turning to Smit. “I ain’t never served on a ship this old and broken b’fore.” Smit stopped to examine the young man. Combs was rather inexperienced, having only ever served on perhaps one or two other crews. Yet he seemed ambitious and eager for adventure, a trait largely beaten out of experienced sailors. Perhaps Smit could guide that ambition in a direction he’d find useful to himself. “Aye” Smit said leaning toward Combs and lowering his voice. “But I know a secret about this ship that you don’t.” Smit’s mouth opened into a wide grin. “A secret the Captain has been trying to keep from the rest of the crew.” Combs turned and stepped closer to the older man. “Yeah, And what’s that?” Smit noted the skeptical look on Combs’s face. “This here isn’t just some creaky old broken down ship.” Smit leaned in close. “This entire ship is a map. One that leads to an ancient island of vast and unspeakable fortune.” The young sailor frowned for a moment noting the smell of rum which hung heavy in the air around the old man. Combs grunted, turned away from Smit and pressed his palm into the center of a fresh plank. It groaned under his weight but held strong enough. I'm currently waiting on a couple of Bricklink orders that may never come however, I was able to complete pretty much the entire gun deck of the ship so I'll be showing off that more and more in coming updates.

Love the secret tree monkey. Missed that detail when I looked at this for the first time. "shhh... secret tree monkey..."

Quartermaster James Horton lowered himself into the hold and immediately fought for control of his heaving stomach. The pungent smell was completely overwhelming. All manner of loathsome sea creatures had once squirmed their way into the ship’s ballast only to die and rot. “Great.” He said out loud and into the darkness. “Seems the ballast will need replaced lest our bread start tasting like rotting fish.” Horton forced the lock on an ages old chest and exhaled heavily. Whatever useless paperwork that laid inside had long ago turned to pulp. “Nothing worth nothing here.” Horton spat as he slammed the lid back down. He began to reconsider taking this particular job under this particular captain aboard this particular ship. This little hold is only a few bricks high, but does add some fun play features to the build. It can be accessed via removable planking on the gun deck. The ballast technique I used came from another builder on these forums years ago (though I can't remember who it was now.)

Ah. The 2015 line. My second dark ages.

Looks great! I started my own Black Pearl a while ago and I know how hard it can be to get the shape of that back stern to look convincing. You did a great job there. Love Jack on the beach. Great work with that! where does the hair for the girl with the gun come from? I want that for myself!

Thanks! I've been buying a lot of it lately. I'll be looking into that for sure. I've mostly been spending my build time building and rebuilding the same sections of the ship over and over to get the curves right and to smooth out transitions. I'm getting there though!

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me." He mumbled to himself as the bristles of his brush scraped along the planking of the old ship's hull. A little bit of the outer hull here. Also, I've taken inspiration from Nova Team and decided to give this series a piratey identity.

Thanks Prof Thaum, thanks Capt Wolf, thank you all! You've been very helpful thus far.

Never shall the two touch my MOC. ...though I did find some interesting accessories amongst my daughter's Barbie construction blocks...

In the deepest bowels of the old ship a key turned in a lock that had not opened in many years. “So this is where you belong.” A man named Smit said to the old iron key as he placed it in his pocket. The bars of the door creaked as it swung open. Smit stepped into the gloom and allowed his eyes a moment to adjust. “Ah yes, and this is where you’ve been hiding.” Smit said to a bottle of rum resting among a variety of canister shot in an old rack. Smit pulled the bottle from it’s resting place. It resisted for a moment before breaking free from years of accumulation. Though the bottle was covered in dregs and brine, the cork was surprising still good which bode well for the rum contained within. Smit removed the cork, drank deeply from the bottle and sank to the floor. “It is probably my duty to tell the captain about all of you...” he said to the other bottles in the room which sat patiently in racks and clinked softly in chests as the ship rolled with the waves. “...My duty.” Smit sighed before returning the bottle to his lips. The photograph you see here is from the very lowest portion of the stern of the model. This ship project started it's life a number of years ago as a super-detailed system-scale model of The Black Pearl. I originally modeled this section to recreate the scene from the second PotC movie where Jack receives the black spot from Bootstrap Bill. I've since decided to go a different direction with the ship, but the little room remains. It will soon be covered with "removable" planking but will likely not see the light of day again. (though I will always know it's there.)

Ok, so here is where my ignorance really shows itself. What exactly is a monthly "free" build? Also, this is for a large galleon I'm building that will likely take longer than a month to complete. Does it still go in the Monthly free build pool? I'd like to get doubloons for the final ship for sure, but I'm not sure what I spend that on. (A license for the ship?)

So I've got these little pictures and narratives I'd like to share as I work to build my ship, but I don't know where I should be sharing those here and how they should be titled and formatted. Should I start a new MOC build thread and title it a specific way to indicate this is part of the BotBS game?

What makes this so great is how you've clumped like-plants together. Looks far more believable than just randomly scattering plants throughout.

Thanks gang! Looking forward to sharing more of my ship soon. Also looking forward to that message group invite. I do have plenty of questions about my role in the world!

Captain Matthew Hawse wishes to sign with the Sea Rats. Not much is known about Captain Hawse other than he has commissioned a re-fit of an old galleon in the MOC Shipyards and is currently recruiting a crew to set sail within the month. Rumors are that he lost his leg as a young midshipman with the Corrington Navy. Others say he lost it as an adult (along with his entire first command) to a great tempest at sea. Rumors being what they are, the truth may never be made known. Hey gang, I dont know much about the game rules or requirments, but this looks like fun (and I'm building a pretty serious ship for myself) so I figured I'd throw my hat in the ring and read up on everything as I get time. Thanks!

Very lovely! You did a great job with this piece. The lines are beautiful and the shape is perfect!

Wow! You've been busy! I've gotta say, those black hulls look great. I think you've just convinced me to go buy some more. I think the Sirène is my personal favorite, but they all look great. I'd love to see your technique for creating the bow and stern. That might be something I'd be interested in using myself. Thanks for sharing!

This is really fun! I love the triple guns.

It's all in how you do it. LEGO hulls help a lot, but the organic angles, the tumblehome, and the attempt to create a convincing size and shape in Minifig scale add to the complexity of the build. The biggest challenge for me is to get that organic shape and have a full interior at the same time.

Excellent! That is a huge help. Thanks!

This is looking good. I am working on a "Minifig Illusion" scale version of the ship myself right now. Tell me, where are you finding your schematics at?

I really enjoy the colors. It's got a good shape and the crew looks awesome as well!

I was able to grab this set at my local Walmart marked down to 70 bucks. Great deal at that price. The ship actually looks a lot better in person than you might think. The sails look pretty good, though I feel like they could have done some printing on them to include stains and patches to better reflect the way the black pearl looked on film. Queen Anne's sails were so nice that this is kinda disappointing. Overall the ship is more impressive than I was expecting, but still the weakest of all the ship offerings in recent years. Figure selection is totally awesome! Davy Jones looks great as well as the shark guy and Turners dad. These guys are a must for any LEGO POTC fan. One last critique. I am not a giant fan of the grey/black combo, but That is something I can easily remedy myself! Great review btw.