Laura Beinbrech

Now this is definitely more like it! This is what the official version should have looked like, IMO.

As a former blue-water navy sailor (3 years on a Spruance-class DD and 1 on a Tarawa-class LHA), I'm definitely loving these! While I was more than happy to get out of the Navy when my enlistment ran out, I still have a soft spot for military vessels of all stripes, particularly mid 1800's and on (i.e. steam era). One thing though: Shouldn't these go into the Historical forum, since they seem to be in the Wild West era? Also, does that mean that I should have posted the WIP thread for my neo-Confederate battle cruiser here instead of in the Sci-Fi forum?(aside from the radar, radio and computer consoles, the ship would fit in with early dreadnought era ships...) Anyways, thanks for bringing this thread back to life, especially since it has links to the very informative brick-built cannon thread... Now I'm going to have to start trawling bricklink for Bellville buckets (they would work as finals for my heavy cruisers' 10" guns)...

That is one awesome spaceship! It looks EXACTLY like what LEGO would make if they decided to resurrect the Classic Space line, the colors and parts are perfect! I also may just have to swipe your bomb design.

This is one massive MOC! BTW, England expects every man to do his duty. ;) *(That was the message the signal flags on Admiral Nelson's flagship spelled out)

The name of that story is The Count of Monte Cristo, and it was quite interesting... All 1300 pages of it!

Ok, my flags finally got here (actually they got here Wednesday afternoon, but I didn't have the time or materials to finish them out and post a review until tonight), and so on with the promised mini-review: The flags arrived here from the UK after only 6 days, which is impressive, considering how long PAB orders usually take to get here (i.e. about 3-4 weeks). The flags arrived inside their own individual, cardboard-backed zip-lock bags and were in excellent shape. BECC Flag Review by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr As you can see from the pic, they are a "some assembly required" proposition... First you need to seal the edges of the flag, either by using model glue, as shown in the video below: ...or using some kind of anti-fray treatment, like the Fray Check (shown in the photo above) that I used, then trim off the excess material... When I fray-checked the flags, they felt almost identical to official LEGO cloth products and had the same aroma, meaning that LEGO possibly uses this anti-fray treatment on its stuff... In addition, I found that the cloth was of a thickness that allowed me to use Brick Arms U-Clips or Monopods (also pictured) to fasten the flag to a LEGO flagpole, without being loose or putting undue stress on the Monopods. The pictured flags are their size "B" and "C", which are 25mm and 38mm, respectively, and how they stack up compared to official LEGO flags in size... For my massive ship project, I should have ordered the "Stars and Bars" flag in the 38mm size and the Confederate Battle Flag in the 50mm or 75mm size (D and E), and they also have flags up to 150mm in length. All in all, I was very impressed with the quality of these flags, both material and printing and wouldn't hesitate to order more flags from this outfit. Oh, and in addition to flags they have vinyl decal sheets (i.e. the same exact type as the official LEGO DSS decals) for applying to ship hulls and/or aircraft and vehicles. I hope this review and resource proves helpful.

Ah yes, I remember reading a novel that involved this event by one Alexandre Dumas... It involved a young merchant seaman being wrongly accused and imprisoned, an awesome breakout and his epic quest for revenge.... Good MOC, though.

Thanks for indexing it, Big Cam! I just hope someone will find it useful.... Well, my first order from them is on its way... Expect a proper review when I get it. ;)

Thaks! BTW, I just found out that the flags aren't treated for anti-fraying, so you have to do that yourself (they have a tutorial on the site)... I was just planning on more, or less soaking them in Model Airplane Dope (basically a thin glue/varnish), which would give them a similar finish/feel to the official LEGO flags. They also have hull decals (vinyl, IIRC) and signal flags as well.

Well, my brother and I kind of took a third option: The Pirates theme came out after our first major LEGO war against the fascist forces of the evil oppressor, King George Bush I, who siezed control of the US government and was taxing everyone to death, and before the invasion by the Galactic Empire (yes, we were making Star Wars MOCs a good 10 years before LEGO came out with the official stuff). Basically, the pirates were a rogue's gallery of all the most famous pirates in popular fiction, namely Captain James Hook (from "Peter Pan"), Captain Long John Silver (from Treasure Island) and Captain One-Eyed Willy (from "The Goonies") all lead by Captain Redbeard (Mr. Smee of Peter Pan fame was in the mix as well, but as the Boatswain, as he was in Peter Pan), and were raiding up and down the coast of the recently-restored USA. Our Heroes (i.e. my brother and I), with the help of Governor Broadside and his bluecoats, managed to eventually bring the Pirates to heel. Once we finally had captured them all, due to the fact that they hadn't committed any other crimes, they were given the choice of either swearing an oath of fealty to the US Constitution and being re-organized into a proper Navy, or getting one chance to see if they could stand on air with a noose around their necks... Needless to say, they chose the first option. As a result, the US Navy in our LEGO timeline, as well as its various successor states (the latest of which is the Federal Republic of America) have used the Jolly Roger as the Naval Ensign (Of course, the NATIONAL ensign is flown on the yardarm, which immediately distinguishes Federal Navy ships from your run of the mill pirates, that and the fact that Federal Navy ships don't look like floating junk heaps). So, long story short, my brother and I (although he no longer messes around with LEGO) have always had the philosophy of "screw the official story: we'll do what we want!"

Yeah, that Japanese LEGO Pirates commercial is definitely epic... WAY better than the US one, IMO.

Nice, I like this little ship, and I must say that is a good use of the new DINO 2012 torso.

Actually, I found that one of those 4x4 round plates or radar dishes would sorta work, but then the whole assembly was too high for me to attach the hoses and such to, so I decided to just add another horizontal boiler/accumulator assembly like the one in the lower left side of the pic and make the barrel into a shower (I'll need to move one stack of lockers, but I got enough space to do that)... Yeah, I was kind of afraid of this... I kinda wanted to post it in the Pirates section, but even leaving aside the fact that it's a post-apoc ship built in 2105, it it still far to modern for that (like a kind of Schizo-technology WWI/WWII battle cruiser), and again, it wouldn't quite fit into the "Historical" section (although if I were to eliminate all the radar consoles and replace the radio with a wireless telegraph, it would kind of fit into the Wild West era) or the Military section of the "Other Themes", so here was the best fit for it. I'm glad you guys like it, thus far.... BTW, I just found an awesome source for LEGO-Scale cloth flags on the internet, and ordered two each of their Confederate first national flag (a.k.a. "Stars and Bars") in the 1" length (slightly larger than the small LEGO flags) and the confederate battle flag (a.k.a. "Rebel Flag") in the 1.5" length (i.e. slightly smaller than the large LEGO flags)... Now we'll just have to see whether the flags beat my PAB order over here.

[pid][/pid]Libraries Updated links to new sites that currently sell the Becc Flags & ship internationally Well, some of you might know about my Neo-Confederate Battle Cruiser that I've been working on (using the black hull pieces from the Black Pearl set), and I was trawling the internet for a good online shop for suitable cloth or plastic confederate flags (I'm using the first national flag or "stars and bars" as the national ensign and the battle flag or "rebel flag" as the naval ensign). Update: Since the original Becc dealer, Modelflags has retired, and I'm finally getting back into LEGO stuff after a rough 2 and a half years since I was last active, I decided to do some digging & found two other sites that sell these flags & decals & will ship internationally: Cornwall Model Boats (Direct link to the section with all the flags) Always Hobbies (Direct link to the section with the flags) Sorry it took me so long to update this info. I thought I'd share this with you all, since it could be a handy resource for Pirate MOCs....

Absolutely wonderful Spanish Galleon! I guess I wasn't the only one who was disappointed by the way LEGO abandoned the Imperial Armada theme before it really got good. ;)

Well, I can tell that everyone is excited about this project, due to the overwhelming response this thread has received, so I decided to post some additional WIP pics. I spent about 5 hours last knight working on finishing up the main structure of the 01 Level (where the Bridge and Radio Shack are located) and the 02 Level (open upper deck with walls and the main mast), and I'm happy with how its shaping up so far. I just ordered what should be the final parts I need to finish this thing up (well, I do need more crew, but I'll have to order them on BrickLink, since they use the green and white striped Pirate Torso from the 2009 Pirates line... It was a good thing I bought some dozen or so Cannon Battle sets, otherwise I'd not have enough sailors to man all the bridge and CIC watch stations ). Anyways, here they are: Baton Rouge WIP part 2 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Side view pic... You can see some sailors manning the bridge-wing mounted heavy machineguns and an AA-vulcan cannon (I'm most likely going to convert that thing into a Phalanx CIWS or Goalkeeper mount). Yes, it is, in fact, a BrickArms Minigun. I'm also going to add one to the aft side of the 02 Level, for complete point defense. Baton Rouge's Bridge and Radio Shack by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr This is the Bridge and Radio Shack interior... This picture didn't turn out too well for some reason, but you can still see the Captain's Chair (which is currently occupied by the Officer of the Deck), the Navigator's radar station and the Quartermaster of the Watch at the helm. The light-bley thing with the lever next to the helm is supposed to be the Engine Order Telegraph, which is used to convey engine speed orders to the Main Engine Room. The red cabinet in the Radio Shack is a weapons locker, and holds two MP-40 submachine guns (for the QMOW and Duty Radioman) and two .45 Colt Revolvers for the Officer of the Deck and the Navigator, to be issued in case of an emergency combat situation (security alert, hostile boarding action, etc). Baton Rouge's CIC and CO's Cabin by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr This is an updated pic of the main deck interior, showing the Combat Information Center and the Captain's Cabin (yes, that IS Blackbeard commanding this ship... One of the side-effects of all the blasted time-space portals that keep popping up since the Final War). The officer sitting at the fancy console with all the widgets is the Tactical Action Officer, the commissioned officer who is in charge of coordinating all the weapons systems in CIC with each other and the bridge in order to make most effective use of the ship's offensive and defensive capabilities. The other consoles are fire control stations for the various gun turrets. Baton Rouge Below Decks WIP by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr Finally, the still very much WIP belowdecks.. You can see part of the updated (but still far from complete) main Engine Room, and the Mess Deck, with three off-duty sailors enjoying a bite to eat. The big barrel was going to be a water tank/hoop boiler, but I can't figure out any good lit arrangement, so It's going in the Berthing area as a Shower/bath tub. Hope you enjoyed the updates! Hopefully the PAB order I just placed won't take another 3 weeks to a month to arrive, otherwise I might not have this finished before Christmas.

Well, since this thread has been bumped, I figured I might as well add a few notes/things of interest: Enlighten is the company that was recently sued by LEGO (and lost) due to their bootlegging of LEGO Pirate sets (and it seems they're still up to their old tricks with the train sets now). I don't mind competition, but blatantly ripping off someone else' design is a big No-No! as far as I'm concerned. Secondly, after doing a bit of research, it appears that the Ban-Bao/Sluban trains (the ones that have the non-built locomotive) are, in fact, bootlegs of OXFORD trains! (Yes, the Chinese bootleggers are even bootlegging clone brands), but in this case it's probably because, at least according to most reviews I've seen, Oxford's quality is close to or equal to LEGO's quality standards, and they're big in the East Asian Market (heaven help LEGO if they ever break into the North American/European toy market, if their quality is as good as everyone makes them out to be). I've just recently ordered the one Oxford Navy Ship (King Sejong the Great DDG), and I'll see for myself how they stack up against LEGO in terms of quality (they already have LEGO beat on price: This set is about twice as big as the Black Pearl, and even with outrageous overseas shipping fees, still costs at least $20 less), and if I like what I see, I may order one of their train sets. I'll be sure to post the review in this thread or over in the Community forums. I hope that this information might help sort things out a bit when it comes to Clones vs Bootleggers... It seems that BanBao/Sluban also bootleg other Oxford sets, particularly the Oxford Military line....

Very interesting vehicle... Definitely fits the general "Dieselpunk" vibe, although I find the fact that a GERMAN tank has a Browning .30 mounted on it somewhat amusing.

Well, I've posted several MOCs based on the main Good-aligned faction in my post-apocalyptic LEGO setting, so I figured I'd post one of the "Bad Guy" factions vehicles. This is a steam-powered Battle Cruiser of the Confederate States of America, or Neo-Confederacy (after the Final War, the South did, in fact, rise again). Ever since I got the Black Pearl set at the LEGO Store in Arundel Mills at the beginning of the month, I've been slowly, but surely working on this beast. Now, at the end of the month I finally have something to show for it: CSS Baton Rouge, Side WIP by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr CSSBCWIP1 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr CSSBCWIP3 by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr As you can see, I've got the main hull exterior and the main deck finished (with the 10" gun turrets, the funnels and the interior of the main deck (which includes the Captain's Cabin and the Combat Information Center).... Now all I need to do is finish the 01 Level (Bridge and Radio Shack) and the 02 Level (basically open deck on top of the Bridge for the Lookouts and some additional Machinegunners and/or AA guns). I ended up buying two extra black hull sections on BrickLink, because the hull parts that came with the original Black Pearl set were too short and the resulting ship was far too stubby, so I ended up lengthening the ship. As a result, the interior of the superstructure is now two studs longer than it was before, allowing me to add an additional watch station to the CIC and let the Tactical Action Officer (officer in charge of CIC) to sit down. This, however requires me to re-design the level the Bridge is on as well as the one above it. Once I get that done, I'll be making a new list of parts required and ordering more stuff through Pick A Brick (which will hopefully not take nearly as long to arrive). Once the ship is finished, I'll post additional pics and a full backstory.

WOW! I loved Serenity and you captured the details of the ship and crew perfectly! The use of the light-up brick for the main engine is pure win!

I love the "vintage" photographs... I'm a big fan of steampunk, and you captured the look perfectly, from what I can see... Can't wait for the full-color detail shots.

Excellent work... You know, the first thing I thought of when I saw this was, "Hey! That looks just like the research/support ship from The Abyss!" As such, it fits in with the Atlantis theme rather nicely.

Man, that is one awesome pirate ship... I shudder to think how laggy your LDD is running at this point (my Armored Cruiser, which isn't quite that big has my system begging for mercy). I really like the interior details and the accurate set-up (i.e. the crew quarters being in the Forecastle, i.e. "before the mast")... The only quibbles I have are that they wouldn't be using open flame for interior lighting... Too much risk of a fire (shipboard fires are a fairly major hazard even on modern ships), and would use lanterns instead... But that's just a small gripe.

I agree as well... I loved the fact that they made LDD available for free, and that you could get stuff from PAB, but I always wished for some way to have the program directly send a parts list to PAB or generate a parts list WITHOUT having to pay $20 extra for a box that I didn't want or need! ...As a matter of fact, I posted that very statement on the official LEGO DBM forums, but as far as I could tell, nobody paid any attention to it. The only thing that concerns me is I just hope that they'll leave in the "Check to see if this model can be purchased" menu option and/or keep DBM as a "Pick A Brick" mode that allows you to keep track of which pieces you can order through LEGO PAB and which ones require going to BrickLink....

I just bought about 500 parts on Pick A Brick as well as two black Hull Sections (to add to my Armored Cruiser project) and a few other miscellaneous parts (most of which will go to said project) from BrickLink. This ship is getting to be awfully expensive (weighing in at over $200, and that's just for the hull! I'll probably have to make another large PAB order to finish the superstructure).