Trent

I predominantly have Pirate sets, and I've splurged a fair bit on eBay just recently, so I was trying not to spend any more money. I know that I'm going to want a fair few of the POC sets, and I'm also coveting Tower Bridge (the landmark has a special significance to me, so I'm trying to save to buy it before it disappears because I know I'll regret not getting it). However, I've been watching Medieval Market Village for a long time because it seems that it's very useful for Pirate MOCs. I'm not really interested in Castle sets in and of themselves, but I really want to bulk out my Pirate collection. Would you say that the set is worth it and is useful for a Pirate collection? Or would you hold onto your money and use it for the POC sets (or even put the money towards Tower Bridge)? I am very short on cash at the moment, but I don't want to be stuck in a modular style situation where you wouldn't mind having a set, but it's selling for £500+. Or are there other sets that are useful for MOCs that you'd go for first? Any help appreciated - thanks guys! :)

Just in case you were wondering, it's less than 5 miles from RHUL to Legoland and it's on a public bus route to Windsor as well. I know this because I studied there for 3 years. :) I would be very surprised if you weren't allowed in the student bars or if you couldn't negotiate with someone there on the day for a room to use, but if that happened, there are heaps of bars around the campus and in the local town which are quiet and friendly. As it's summer, there's acres of land to be outside too - it's a very green, forest filled campus and gorgeous to be outside in during the summer. The bedrooms are pretty huge as well, so it's easy to cram into one or two to do Lego-style activities. Anyway, it seems that you're all sorted - but it might be helpful for future reference. :)

I got Rock Island Refuge the other day, although it was missing quite a few pieces. I will make a list at some point and try and fill the gaps from Bricklink. It still built after a fashion though, so I think it was worth it. Today, I received Eldorado Fortress, which I've been after for ages. I'm looking forward to building it!

I wasn't allowed to keep the boxes when I was a child, because they would've taken up too much space (I had a small room!) - but we used to cut the boxes up so we had pictures of the alternative builds available for us to refer to, and I keep those with my instruction books.

Have you tried Royal Holloway? It's part of University of London, but it's only 5 miles away from Windsor. It might be worth giving them a call and seeing what they can do - they do all sorts of conference booking, so you might get a decent group offer, and then you could all stay together.

This is brilliant. I love all the the little details in it, right down to the homemade cannon!

Thank you very much for all of your help. :)

Hiya, I've been lurking here for months, so I decided it was about time that I joined. I particularly love the Pirate theme and I've got mixed feelings about the upcoming sets - on the one hand, it's great to get Pirates back into the shops but on the other, I'm wondering if there's going to be a price explosion on some of the older sets that I've been trying to pick up cheap for a while! I'm really interested in getting more out of my Lego. Apart from a little bit of messing about, I've never made a full MOC - mostly due to a lack of bricks (I only had a handful of sets as a kid, and lots of those were the 'build a racecar with 40 bricks' type!). So I'm really interested in any advice I can get about making my own scenes, particularly using Pirates. :)

I really like your MOC. I have very limited bricks when it comes to Blue Coats / Red Coats etc (as most of my sets are Pirates themselves or Islanders). Out of curiousity, which Soldier sets do you have? Is this primarily made up out of other sets (e.g. Imperial Trading Post) or out of loose bricks? I'm new to MOCs and I'm trying to get some pointers as to how to create a worthwhile Soldier base. :)