The Neighborhood Merchant

Wow! Thank you so much @blackdeathgr! I tried the printable canvas sheets before with my "Boreas's Haul" from last year, and while it was amazing that I had zero issues with fraying, they sadly looked very similar to paper and could only be distinguishable for me by touch. I think I'll go with your idea and go to my local fabric store and ask around, maybe pick up some kind of paste to harden the sails as you said. Thanks again for your help, it is GREATLY appreciated, as well as the in-depth response! @Bregir Speaking of drawing the lines, could someone tell me what the purpose of those are on any square-rigged ship? I never took a sailing class nor have any knowledge as to how those are supposed to function. I figured that if I drew them, I probably should know their purpose so I do so correctly.

Happy birthday, @Fraunces! The Barracuda Bay will be a wonderful birthday gift to treat yourself!

@Fraunces Glad I could make your day just a little bit more ridiculous! @Mister Phes

You are a true genius, @Captain Dee! Thank you for the laughs!

Thanks, @jimmynick! If anyone has any other wonderful knock-off names for the ships I missed, I'm sure we'd be happy to hear them!

You're absolutely right @Dreamweb and @Mister Phes! It would probably get 10,000 votes within a day! Glad you both enjoyed reading my insanity!

Glad I could give you umm...-whatever this is to you @Captain Dee! Also (and slightly relieved, after the last couple fell flatter than Kyrie Irving's world) may perhaps be one the best criticisms I have ever heard. I am honored to have this particular sentence on this forum page.

Those are wonderful minifigures! Nice backdrop and wonderful posing as well! The lantern was really well done, and is my favorite.

Haha, thanks @PacificDuck! I had way too much fun making this!

After 113 years of development (that's right, before the release of lego), I present to you a MOC which could possibly revolutionize the lego industry as we know it. Prepare to be blinded by my all-powerful, Barracuda of the BLACK SEAS! 2050315ebbb0fc5011dce3acad2ab0db by The Neighborhood Merchant, on Flickr As you can see, this is truly a breath-taking MOC. Now don't faint just yet, because I have to run you through the one of the kind play-features I included in this ingenious build. 8806820d6bb259bcf7f982af89de36f8 by The Neighborhood Merchant, on Flickr Let's start with the rowboat. "Simplicity" must be the first word that strikes your mind when seeing, but alas, if you look closely you will notice a string. That's correct, but that isn't any string, it's A CORD and I used a truly spectacular method of creating a knot only the greatest minds of this generation would begin to comprehend. ee554e016dd55577db957e4f44cd6230 by The Neighborhood Merchant, on Flickr Enough blabbering. Here's our next piece. Yes, it's a rudder, but perhaps the first-ever moving rudder presented to us by an intellectual (me of course). To create this ingenious design, I used a clip and attached it to some handles. It may seem simple to the weak-minded, but this practice took around 1,500 minutes to master. 2583388e83eb4c6ef2b71d9b6a80c82d by The Neighborhood Merchant, on Flickr Next, we have a fully functioning Captain's room. After 1.3 years of thought, (after achieving transcendence) I was able to imagine the perfect layout for this room, a treasure chest, a goblet, and a map. These are all necessities that we all have in our rooms so I figured a pirate captain would have them. Quite a long shot, but we all have to take a chance once in a while. 9ab5e0a6e5c4c38c78c25f4952f923cb by The Neighborhood Merchant, on Flickr Yes, the windows open as well. Take another second to bask in the glory of this MOC, take your time please as many before you have fallen trying to take this all in. Also, sorry, I've had a copyright on these play features for around 20 minutes now so if you use these play features ever, your MOC will be considered mine for all of eternity. c4bcefd74242df9d26c70c1da9223b9f by The Neighborhood Merchant, on Flickr Next, we have a custom flag I've created. Yes, I know, it's not official Lego, but I've spent around 15,000 hours and had to create an app called photoshop to make this intricate of a design. 13cb150028cfae413370599dccff8180 by The Neighborhood Merchant, on Flickr Back to play-features. I've also included a board that can be used to recreate the Gollum scene from LotR. Quite ingenious to include it on a pirate moc if you ask me. 358c2a9e43df0ba6667d8a75c71e91ee by The Neighborhood Merchant, on Flickr Second to last, I have to introduce these sails I also custom designed. Took around 1.3 Trillion seconds, but that was the easy part. The difficulty was in getting lego to custom make a new rigging piece for me, because I couldn't keep tying those "truly spectacular method of creating a knot only the greatest minds of this generation would begin to comprehend" knots all day. 2a1b43b71130ee6545b384dbf1bfae2a by The Neighborhood Merchant, on Flickr And lastly, the greatest piece: the figurehead. This may look like a normal minifigure to you, but I assure you it was created using the most prestigious tactics. I traveled in space to NASA's Jupiter Juno Probe to infiltrate and "borrow" it's minifigures (I suggest you look it up if you haven't already), then proceeded to melt them down to craft this figurehead mold. Shhhh don't tell NASA! So what'd you think? I hope it wasn't too much for you to enter another dark age, but please, contact me anytime if you'd like to become an apprentice. Stay tuned for the following other MOCs I have planned within the next few millennia: -Red Beard's Rummer -Skull Eye's Stalker -Caribbean Clifford -King Anne's Avenge -The Plastic Pearl -Armada Ship of Flags -Loud Mary and most importantly -The Imperial Bankbreaker Happy Aprils Fools Day everyone! Honestly, I had a blast making this, and I think I went just a little bit overboard. Hope you enjoyed and stay safe, my friends! Take care and here's to another year of goofy times!

Oh my goodness, Capt, this is gorgeous! Such beauty and life in every building, detail, and minifigure. I absolutely cherish this build! The old red brick warehouse is my favorite, but everything here is breathtaking! I also love the old windows in the tram. Great job again, and I'm going to go take another look!

That's a good idea! I personally don't think Lego has any plans to release a new pirate series yet, but they may be closely monitoring the sales of the bay set to determine if nostalgic sets or a new pirate series may be profitable. That's just my outtake. I do hope they bring back a new pirates line soon. Honestly there hasn't been a proper pirate, space, or castle theme in a while so one can hope! How cool would be to finally get an armada fort?

Yeah, that's a nice torso! Does anyone have plans so far as to any possible modifications they'll make to the set?

I'm sure this has already been asked before, but does anyone have recommendations for what kind of material/brand to go with for sails for a frigate? I tried just picking up some generic brand bed sheets at target and the material I found frayed way too much and were too thin. Something durable, thick, and white would be really nice! I was kind of hoping to achieve sails similar to Swan Dutchman's De Ruyter. Also, thank you for sharing your cutter hulls @Bodi! They're gorgeous!

How have I not seen these updated photos yet? This is absolutely GORGEOUS! Once again, your ship-of-the-line is an amazing piece and it turned out excellently. You did an excellent job on everything, and I love it all!

I definitely agree with GR! I'm really looking forward to see how the ship is built, and looking forward to those minifigures! I was hoping for the slight chance we got some kind of green uniform to use for Eslandola but we'll just have to keep waiting. I'm very eager to get the set and I'm happy to see it come out this early. It's a pain that it is an unfortunate time for most of us right now. I'll keep you all in prayers!

The level of detail is amazing in this creation! The SD card and the battery being removable is a beautiful addition. Also, I love the tiny brick-built house that the camera is supposedly taking a picture of. Such a lovely design, great work! It honestly took me a good two minutes to realize this was Lego. I just thought you were showing you the camera you took photos with.

Wow! This is gorgeous! I love the whole scene that was created in the first picture. You did an excellent job with the landscaping and rockwork and the walls of the castle are very realistic! The sailboat also looks very nice for its scale. Great job!

Those colors are absolutely beautiful! This is a gorgeous replica of the cathedral!

Lego has some light yellow and the newer bright light yellow colors for some bricks, Do you think these would look good on the unicorn you're currently making, Pearl?

Welcome to Eurobricks, BillyG! Your design of the Unicorn is absolutely stunning! The details and curvature of the ship are eye-catching, and you did an excellent job on them. The stern of the ship is very, very nice! You also did a wonderful job replicating the color pallet of the unicorn as well as the overall aesthetic of it. The fully modular features make it even better, and the interior looks just as good as the outside! I especially like the dining hall for the crew and the captain's quarters. Also, love the last photo. Brings back memories. Wow, simply wow. Love it!

That was a great read, thanks Blackbird! Definitely a wonderful story with a very colorful scene to go along with it.

Lovely little island! The hut looks very fragile but very realistic! Those droid arms look very nice for what was sought for. The hammock and the statue are very, very well made as well as the foliage and rowboat. Wonderful MOC! Perhaps the monkey climbing the tree trapped the other one in the cage. Did he steal his rum?

Welcome to Eurobricks, Mister AlexSam! This is an absolute beauty of a ship you have here! I love that you included all the classic looks and playful elements of the old ships. The turnable rudder and the hook hanging off the mast for the chest are very nostalgic and always bring me joy to see. The sails look very nothing short of excellent! You also did a wonderful job with smoothly sloping the bow and stern! Thanks for posting this ship and making my morning that much better! Look forward to seeing more from you, and once again, warm greetings to Eurobricks! Captain Roger will be very pleased with conquering the seven seas with this beaut'!

Absolutely gorgeous, Kai! As always with your MOCs, I find the pictures to be constant eye candy due to your gorgeous color schemes, angles, and parts usage. Absolutely love the way you did the wall with just the tiles (forgot what the term is called). The sand green with the aqua really gives the fort a marina feel. Also, wonderful job with the waves, vegetation, and light yellow! The way you GIMP the outfits really makes me wish there was a green uniform for lego. How awesome would it be to get an islander/armada reboot?