Legostein

Hello everybody! I would like to bring the small DUPLO (row)boat to your atttention. It can be really useful. You can see some examples here. Cheers, ~Chris

Small-hulled boats using the DUPLO rowboat, including a quick "how-to"-tutorial 1. Introduction Hello everybody, today I would like to take you on a quick building journey where we will see how the DUPLO rowboat can conveniently used to build small boats for any standard-brick-scaled diorama. So, let's start! 2. Getting in touch First we get in touch with the DUPLO rowboat. It is widely available on the secondary markets, and is also quite affordable. We will have a quick comparison with the other rowboats commonly used later in this tutorial. 3. The first brick is the hardest DUPLO was once designed to fit with the standard brick system. It still works today (there are some changes to the bottom tubes today, so that you are more limited as in former days, but maybe this will be another tutorial). 4. Completing the deck Now we simply fill up the duplo studs with 2x4 bricks. Already looks nice, doesn't it? You already could start building your boat now, but we want to get more available standard studs on the main deck to build on. 5. Laying deck planks The most quick and simple way is to attach two wedge plates on the 2x4 bricks as show below. The space utilisation is already very good! 6. A tough decision: Overlapping or staying within the railing? With the result of step 5 we now have two options. We can build a boat staying within the railing, or we can overlap the railing a little bit as it is often done when building with small boats. We will start with overlapping first, as for staying within the railing the unfilled gaps are still a little too wide. Later in this tutorial we will see how we can use the maximum of space when we want to stay with in the railing. 7. Overlapping the railing A big benefit of the DUPLO rowboat is that its railing stays at the same height from the front to the rear. This make overlapping quite easy! Below is an example of how it can be done with a few additional bricks. The photo is detailed enough so you can see the construction without any plans needed. There are two separate sections to be attached on the main deck, but you can remove what you have bricked into the row boat's hull already, and make a complete inner hull piece: And this is what our DUPLO boat now looks with the railing slightly overlapped. I bet you can already see what nice boats could be built with that! 8. Staying within the railing When we want to build a boat and stay within the dimensions of the original railing, we can try to use the optimum of space within the hull. At first we remove three of the four 2x4 bricks again to obtain the the results as show in step 3. Instead of bricks we can even attach a 4x6 plate a little lower into the hull. Also the tubes of plates will fit into the hollow DUPLO studs but not as tightly as those of bricks. But this won't be an obstacle. Witha a few more pieces you obtain a really nice main deck with very good space utilisation. You have again two inlay pieces. But this time you have to stick them separately into the DUPLO boat hull. And this is how the DUPLO boat looks with a nicely fitting main deck within its railing: 9. Comparing boat hulls With the two options shown above you get two ready-to-build-on boat hulls. But what other small boat hulls are there, and how are they different? Let's have a quick look: From left to right (or top to bottom on the right side) these are: The Belville rowboat, the Fabuland rowboat, the DUPLO rowboat, the standard rowboat. You can see that the Belville rowboat (was first introduced in the year 1998 in two Belville sets before having been released in brown color in the year 1999 within the Adventurers series) is the longest of all rowboats, being 18 studs in length. All other rowboats are 14 studs in length. The Belville and Fabuland rowboat have 6 studs in width available for building, while the DUPLO boat and the standard rowboat only have 4 studs to build on. But as you have see above, we can give the DUPLO rowboat 6 studs for building with some extra pieces. On the very right you can see that the DUPLO boat has the only railing that stays on the same height level. A minor drawback of the DUPLO hull is that the outer hull is not as detailed as for the other three boats which feature a pattern of outer hull planks. But this won't prevent us from haveing building fun with the two hulls we just designed: 10. Let's build boats! Finally you have made it through the tutorial and we can start building boats! We will start with the overlapped railing, and then continue by staying with the railing. I hope you enjoyed it so far and I hope you will like the two resulting boats! And here you can see them in front of blue background from alle sides: 11. Summary We have seen two possibbilities to use the DUPLO rowboat for stanard brick scaled builds. We can overlap the hull or stay within its dimensions. The DUPLO rowboat hull is a great piece and a welcome addition to the boats hull variety.

Hello everybody, this small-hulled boat comes with a classic brick-built hull in old brown with white and green spots, a color scheme that works nicely. There are angled doors for the cabin, and two of those fancy round window frames at rear. The sails are take in, for the simple reason, that there were no large dark tan cloth pieces available at the time. This little boat was built before the flood of new official sail ships by the LEGO group with sets like 10320 (dark tan sails), 10335 (tan sails), and 76440 (white). While I appreciate more cloth sails on the one hand, the challenge of finding appropriate cloth pieces that could be used as sails became a lot more boring. Anyway, you best use this boat docked at a harbour. For those of you who think this color scheme looks familiar, yes you are right, there is a bigger cousin of this small boat: All the best, and see you around! ~ Chris

Hello! Now seeing some more details of this gargantuan ship, I spotted you used a 1970s Homemaker head and torso as figurehead! All thumbs up for that very nice touch! Cheers, ~ Chris

Very cool catamaran and additional canoes! I also appreciate that you looked for suitable minifigure to fit into the theme. Cheers, ~ Chris

These ships are really huge! Whenever I use the old classic boat hull pieces I think I am building a big ship. But these appear tiny towards those colossal line ships you built! But I realise, this is the more common way to buidl ships these days. Can you give a rough dimensions calculation here, how many studs in length and width? Cheers, ~ Chris

A very impressive layout there! No worries, it is no disadvantage that it is a very long and narrow display. You did a perfect job to use available space for the scene. Are you using old and discoloured bricks in that wall construction? Excellent! Authentic look and authentic building style. Cheers, ~ Chris

Thank you for stepping by, all three of you! You are right, there are quite some ships with yellows sails now. The main challenge for group photos is always: free space. I hope to get a proper light source soon to make a photo of the entire fleet which I will gladly show to you then at this place. Cheers, ~ Chris

Thank you for your comments, both of you! The classic nostaligic era is simply where I feel well the most. A great advantage when building in a simple clear way is that I can keep build bigger layouts for exhibitions more affordable for me. I hope to attend an exhibition someday with the whole theme. See you around! ~ Chris

Thank you Franco for your comment! You nailed it absolutely precisely. I try to make these little builds to look like sets of former days when classci pirates came out. To make ita little more challenging, I try to use pieces - and also minifigures - from different themes than pirates. Cheers, ~ Chris

Hello everybody! Since the start of the official LEGO(R) pirate series, there have been only a few sets representing native people from tropical islands. The Islanders came with several sets in the year 1994 as a part of the first pirate sets wave started in the year 1989. With allthose beautiful ships and locations built by the fine people of this forum, there must be many many islands out there, so it just seems reasonable that there are several native populations out there, too. So, I would like to share the creations of the "Natives of the Archipelago" with you. The small series is designed in a classic playset style to fit within the modular pirate layout you might remember a few years ago. In fact, the natives creations had also begun to be constructed years ago for a local exhibition, but then things went wild, and it has taken me until now to finish the creations. Anyway, have a good day!

Hello again everybody! For those who liked the "Explorer Fleet" with the yellow sails, there is a new ship type joining the fleet: a Polacre (with a large latin sail first, before the masts with square sails). With that the Explorer fleet comes with a... - Galleon - Polacre - Xebec - Carrack - and many small boats (latin sailer, cutter, catboats) But first the pictures of the Polacre: And here for comparison a lineup of all medium-sized ships of the Explorer Fleet, from left to right: Galleon, Polacre, Xebec, Carrack And finally - just for completion - the small boats (the first one is new, too, by the way), from left to right: a Cutter, a Latin Sailer, a small Catboat Thanks for stepping by, take care and see you around! ~ Chris

Hello everybody! It's been a stormy time, but now I made my way out of the storm. I would like to continue with a small pirate sloop for our classic-style "old-school" pirate world. It has a brick-built hull in old brown color. Scala snow pieces are used as sails, no official sail pieces. Such foam pieces were already used for the yellow sails of the "Explorer Fleet". The pirate crew uses classic looking torsos from the themes Space, Castle and Star Wars, all heads are classic ones without white pupils. The former and still ongoing challenge and mission was to invent new pirate factions with ships and figures as alternatives and/or addition to the official pirate theme sets. This is the second "bigger" pirate ship for my alternate pirate world series, maybe you can remember the "Small Pirate Brigantine" which uses a similar 8-wide bricked hull: I really try to be back on a more regular base from now on. All the best and see you around! ~ Chris

Excellence in simplicity.

Hello everybody! During the past months you have seen the more caribbean part of my classic pirate world layout with islands and fortresses. Today, I would like to introduce you to the more european end of the layout. There is a small harbor town called Old Brickstonehall where you can find the stores of the local merchants. You will find below: The Blacksmith The Tailor The Baker The Cobbler The Butcher The Fishmonger The Coster The houses use many different colors and a unique roof for each building. They have flat sides so they can conveniently attached to a long street. They are built on the old 10x20 brick/plates without bottom tubes, so the entire town is modular. More buildings soon! You will find the trade port with its red storehouses on the west end of town, and a special layout on the east end (photos soon). All the best, and have a good start into the new week! PS: Since the boundaries between the eras are smooth, the houses are also suitable for a medieval town for our friends of the castle forum.

Hello everybody! What a month this has been! Still flashed by the flood of endless creativity among people here resulting in all those fantastic creations we were allowed to admire! A very grateful experience, so, thank you! It's now voting time, as I have read, so best of luck to all of you! In the meantime I would like to share some creations of recent times with you. We begin with a small pirate boat in very classic style. A standard rowboat with the standard position for two benches. The more special thing is that it has two masts, one using the brand new pirate sail (part no. 103913) from the Disney Celebration Train (set no. 43212). I wanted to use this for a small boat since I saw the first picture of the set, but it needed some time and a second mast to bring it into a boat creation (the second mast uses a Star Wars Magna Guard cape - part no. 61194 - as it has the same tan color as the new disney sail). Another special feature is the boat's captain. Myself not being the biggest fan of the Vidiyo series, the shark guitar player of Pirate Punk Ship (set no. 43114) caught my attention. His torso (part no. 973pb4322) features a relatively classic looking pirate vest with golden buttons. Vests like these are not that common, and I thought he could be converted into another cool pirate captain once the black arms were replaced. So here we go! All the best and have a great day!

Thank you for your praise! I will do my best expanding the series. Hello again! As requested there is an expansion for Volcano Island! There was once a pirate ship that came too close to Volcano Island when suddenly and unexpectedly its volcano began to erupt. Since then the volcano is spitting fire, and the abandoned pirate ship also seems to burn forever. The crew managed to escape and made their way to lagoon island (see above) where they settled down and built shelters and store supplies for seamen who also have shipwrecked (by storm or volcano). ... making the best out of an unlucky situation.

Thank you for your comment! I will gladly answer the question about the cabin. There is not much space inside, just enough for a trunk map and a rum bottle. All of my ships have a hatch in the cabin's roof, so does the Lucky Seashell, but it's very narrow in there. Thank you! I tried to keep it as flat as possible, as real boats usually have more decks, and the cabin often does not stand out at all. It's a compromise between real boats and playset building. Your comment nails it perfectly. That's exactly why I enjoy building these so much. To enhance an continue the old pirate waves. Thank you, Sir Governor! Thank you for your kind words! In fact you are right! These ARE football torsos. To keep it fair within the crew, they all have number "3" on back. Can you imagine how many photos I had to take to finally have turned all minifigures in the way you can't see their backs? Thank you for the praise! Actually this is the largest little boat I have built so far. Usually being specialised towards mini modeling, even this moderately sized ship, is big for me.

Hello everybody! Today I would like to introduce Captain Fortunitas and his crew of the "Lucky Seashell" - a three-mast privateer barque! All images on FlickR. Thanks for stepping by!

Hello again! I guess it's better to update this topic instead of creating a new one. There are two more islands for our little corner of the ocean! Following are the pearl atoll and lagoon island, giving seven islands of different type in total now. Pearl Atoll The pearl atoll lies more in the outer ocean than the other islands of the group. You need several days to reach it. You will find a big pearl population here, famous for their golden pearls. But watch out, they're not easy to get, as there's a group of sharks patrolling around the island. Lagoon Island Shallow sands allow to enter the lagoon with a narrow boat when there is highwater. The lagoon is not permanently occupied. The pirates have built up some cabins with supplies of all kind that serve as shelter for shipwrecked sailors.

Hello everbody! After having shared some alternative factions in the style of a classic pirate world (Explorer Fleet, Governor's Guard, Order of the Lily, Trade Guild), you might wonder 'And where are the pirates'? They are present everywhere on the small islands in our corner of the ocean. I'd like to share some simple island ideas with you here. I used mainly big pieces (which seem to be a little disfavoured in recent times) to show that even these pieces deserve a chance in the parts universe. Thanks for stepping by and see you soon! Volcano Island A hot and dangerous place that even the pirates don't like to visit that often. All plants have been dried out by the heat. Only a dragon would like it here. Click image to enlarge. Mountain Island A nice yellow beach with a small mountain in the background. Rocky at its feet, more vegetation can be found on the higher levels. Here the pirates can find fresh water, too. And maybe a treasure as well? Click image to enlarge. Cliff Gate A rocky little island, dangerous to travel by. Legends tell there's a hidden cavern with a treasure in there. Many boats have sunk trying to find the secret entrance. Click image to enlarge. Mangrove Island A mangrove "forest" surrounds this little island. The plants grow so fast that it's difficult to reach the inner island. Be careful while you try, otherwise the mangroves will catch you. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Big Beach Island A bigger island with a lovely light yellow beach of fine sand! Also the place where the pirates love to meet: The rum bar has open all hours! The pirates also installed a small lookout post on the small hill of the island. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge. Click image to enlarge.

Very smooth-looking maxifigure! You embedded the hinges and moving junctions very clever! The ear construction is particularly nice, as well as authentic details like the eyepatch (nice use of the boat underside stud!) and the ear ring! (we might need a rat smiley...)

Everything looks right for this lovely built boat! The building technique and original parts use is on a very high level!

This would be wonderful! But let's expand the playset diorama by some locations and more factions... See you arr-ound!

... 'Have some fun' would be the answer of course! The following was just a little fun challange to myself: Can we build something cool when taking two of the Juniors sets 10679? The creation is - of course - not the most impressive one; but remember it's a Juniors set with less than 50 parts of very limited variety. Here are some facts of the set: Set number: 10679 Release Date: 2017 Piece Count: 46 (52 with extra pieces) Minifigures: 2 (each has his own hat gear!) Price: around 10 €/$/£ (new, 2017); used price today probably in the range of 10-15 €/$/£ Availability: Still plenty of them available on the secondary market (Click image to see larger version) Next is what I came up with: Fortunately each of the figures (a living and a dead pirate) comes with its own hatgear. This enabled to build 4 unique figures. There are practiacally no leftover pieces, Particularly difficult was to build proper benches into the rowboat, as the juniors layout used a brick AND a plate on top. For the building I tried to create something with more depth than the orginal stone wall. Eventually one of the rowboats had to be used as floor and railing at once for the first floor. (Click image to see larger version) That's all! Thank you for your interest! See you around! (Click image to see larger version)