Captain Dee

Yes, nice build again. That style always looks great even if we have seen it a few times before. My favorite part is the clock which makes a nice centerpiece. Where is the cup & saucer from, by the way? Nice job with the story too, even if such formal affairs tend to be a little on the dry side...

That sounds familiar. I live in the so-called "Moonshine Capitol of the World," which happens to be the home of the Great Moonshine Conspiracy of 1935 (look it up - hot stuff, lemme tell ya), one of several locations raided by the Feds and the state of Virginia during Operation Lightning Strike in the late 1990s, and the stomping grounds of the Bondurant brothers (featured in the kinda-true film "Lawless," from 2012). When I was in high school the resource officer (a deputy sheriff whom I'll call by his first name, Tim) told us a story from his grandpa's moonshine days. Way "back in the day," deputy Tim's grandpa and his buddy made 'shine like lots of people did then: just a small back-woods still, nothin' fancy. Their condenser fed into a barrel with a removable lid, and after they made a batch, they'd dip it out of the barrel with a big ladle and fill glass jars. They would liberally sample the goods while they were jarring it - hey, somebody gots to make sure it's drinkable, right? - and on one occasion, when they got to the bottom of the barrel they found a drowned raccoon. Apparently it had followed the scent in the night, climbed up and got its nose under the lid, fell in, and couldn't get back out. Tim's grandpa was of the opinion that it tasted a lot better going down than it did coming back up again. (I strongly suspect they sold what they'd already jarred - a little fermented raccoon never hurt nobody, right!) A neighbor of mine who goes by the nickname "Rooster" enquired about making legal moonshine about 20 years ago. Times have changed, but back then, the total tax bill (federal, state, & local) was about $32/gallon. He didn't go into business! (He has a colorful history. He once took a, how you say, "all-expense-paid vacation" after getting caught smuggling low-tax Virginia and North Carolina cigarettes into New York City, which is highly illegal. He took another "vacation" in the mid-90s for shooting his son's dog in an argument; his son reported him, and since he's a convicted felon he wasn't supposed to have a gun. He was also once "raided" by the DEA after a helicopter spotted his collection of several hundred small potted shrubs in the clearing in the woods behind his house. They thought they'd found the mother lode of Mary Jane, rolled up in force, and nabbed him while dozens of agents stormed the place. They came out shaking their heads, empty handed, and he just laughed at them. I still wonder what he was really up to with all those tiny shrubs - he used some of our farm equipment to mix a giant batch of stuff to plant them, and acted like he was Mr. Big Shrub Salesman - but I never had the nerve to ask! Maybe it was legitimate. Real nice guy anyway.) My family has farmed for generations. (Nope, never made no 'shine. Never.) Sometime in the late 80s/early 90s my dad went to the Helm's Farmers Exchange warehouse outside the town of Rocky Mount (the county seat) to buy some rye to plant a fall cover crop. Dude manning the warehouse calls his boss in Rocky Mount - their store was immediately next to the courthouse -- and my dad overheard him say, "There's a fella down here wants to buy some rye to plant - we got any of that kind?" His boss said, "sell him some", so dad follows this guy through a warehouse packed floor-to-ceiling with one-gallon plastic jugs - thousands of 'em. They opened a container packed full of pallets of rye and an electric grinder that was grinding so fine, it made powdered dust. Dad loaded some bags, went on his way and planted his rye. The Helms brothers were raided and had all their assets seized in the aforementioned "Operation Lightning Strike" including nearly 10 thousand one-gallon jugs and a sizeable quantity of sugar. Ramsey, one of the brothers, shot and killed himself shortly thereafter, before it went to trial. I could tell more stories, but I'm already hijacking this man's topic! Apologies.

"Rough joint" is just a reference to the seedy parts of town, where you might expect these things to happen...

I'm referring to the fact that almost every LEGO pirate treasure island set or MOC is just above sea level, so the bottom of the treasure pits are probably a bit damp/moist/wet. That, and just wondering if climate change in BoBS is real or fake noose.

Yes, excellent underwater scene. Those are always fun to look at, especially when parts use is creative. Nice to see a lobster and that shell piece (PoTC?) in there too.

Hmm... I wondered how long it would take before we'd see this sort of thing in BoBS. Looks like a rough joint. The lighting helps convey that feeling I suppose.

Nice one. The first pic looks a bit boxy, and perhaps the prow is a bit sharp, but the others look fine. I agree, the bowsprit looks rather short and I wonder if perhaps the masts could be a touch taller as well. But the overall shape is nice and I like the colors in the first few pics especially.

Overall this fort is a neat arrangement and I like the use of tan on grey. Certain aspects look a little light but the angle of the two cannon towers is nice. The way the base is arranged I get the feeling the water is shallow on each side and deeper in the middle?

Nice still. I'm really liking the irregular base and all the palm trees, but I'm concerned with all the wildlife overhead, birds in particular... Overall an appropriately busy arrangement.

Ah, more builds and stories. @Bodi The latest vessel looks pretty good - what we can see of it anyway. @Captain Genaro Lovely interior. Excellent use of the hair/crown piece on the statue. The columns and stained glass look great and the alternating Technic parts is a neat idea. I really have to force myself to read these longer stories; it's just too easy to skim the pics and move on. But I can't expect anyone to read my stuff if I'm not willing to return the favor. This looked kinda dry at a glance but proved to be a very good read after all.

Works for me. And good job getting all the prior material together at the top. Gotta love those new candle & flame pieces. 'Bout time they made 'em if you ask me.

Ah, more buried treasure... Question: are the Brick Seas rising? That dude in the middle looks, like, totally stoned, man.

You did it! These are all good but that chocolate bar is just brilliant. I didn't know the ingot piece even came in brown.

Beautiful build! The "illegal" arches are fantastic, and I have the urge to try the technique myself. Those barrels are really nice too and the depth of the light-tan structure on each side frames the scene well. I think the floor would look better in solid grey though; as-is the small number of dark tan pieces is somewhat distracting and the lone grey palisade piece looks a bit out of place. But that small quibble aside, very nice build.

Nice vessel. Those curve-slope pieces work great once again. The warehouse is rather uniquely styled, though I wonder if some black across the top-center might balance it off. And there ain't near enough black on that carriage. It needs black wheels. Good to see the story of Montoya's return unfolding.

@Phred A couple of quick questions. Is it "6 and only 6" builds, or is that a minimum? Likewise, must each build be ~32x32, or can they be significantly smaller/larger as long as it meets the minimum total area of 6k+? Also on that thought, Mesabi is required to build 4 of the 6. Any total minimum size? Does this: ...mean that he has to build 3000+ studs, or just a minimum of 4 builds? (Sorry for all the questions. Just trying to help out.)

Lush, vibrant, active, just like a jungle scene should be. The tower and accompanying storyline with cats and natives is cool, but the various plants are the highlight for me. They all look nice, (especially the tall spiral made from the newer plant piece) but I really want to get my hands on one of those "telephone flowers."

You have definitely mastered the tower on irregular base concept, again. I agree, it looks very durable. But for some reason I find myself wanting more vegetation... Good build anyway.

Beautiful use of color. I don't care what anyone thinks - I like dark purple, thankyouverymuch. The staircase is clever and the scene with the painter is just so fitting. But I wanna see what that outwardly beautiful domed bedroom looks like inside...

This is a beautiful build, but the presentation lets it down - not for effort, but the white-on-white look. My eyes want to dart back and forth between the base and the roof, with the tower mostly disappearing in between. I suspect it looks fantastic in person though. The irregular base is beautifully done and you really populate it nicely with a few well-placed minifigs and cannons. The trees look nice apart from the viewing angle and of course both the tower and its roof are lovely. I agree with @Bregir regarding the tower-fortification concept, but good build otherwise.

@Ayrlego Yes. I was adding the link when you replied!

Very nice rope-works. (And here I was expecting something in LDD!) Both the exterior and interior look really nice and the rope-twisting equipment is cool. Overall good work. I keep wanting to build a full-length ropewalk, but the dimensions are just impossible for photography. Maybe a cross-section at minifig scale and a full-length microbuild would work better. Not sure about @Captain Braunsfeld but kabel definitely built one in Nova Terreli early on.

This is absurd in so many ways, yet equally brilliant. I imagine it makes quite the conversation piece. I'm thinking about those dimensions - that's really big, and doesn't come through in the photos. Excellent work. P.S. I don't think I ever commented on your jewelled eggs, but I plainly remember seeing them. They were beautifully done as well.

Very nice composition. I'm really liking that house with all the subtle architectural elements, especially the roof and the split windows. And the hedge design is quite good, too. (I wanted to do just that when building my own, but didn't have anywhere near enough of the required pieces!) The story is a pretty good read too.

Haha, looks like fun. Love that base and the figures on horseback look nice. Too bad they're hunting fox... if it was me they'd be shootin' deers. (Thievin' rascals.) Keep it up.