SBCMayor

Haha, you are being way too nice to me. I can’t actually MOC my own, I’m nowhere close to being that skilled! But I also enjoy the simplicity and innocence of these early pirate sets, so I’m okay with not being able to do my own MOC. When I first started exploring expanding my Lego collecting, my first choice was pirates, but I was leaning toward the new Eldorado fortress and maybe picking up Barracuda Bay and leaving it at that. But the more I looked the more I found I love the older sets more. They’re are amazing designs without being overly detailed. They are clearly toys that make for cool displays rather than displays first. Thank you for your kind words though. I do think the ship looks better with a main deck rather than being hollowed out. I may make a few additional mods eventually, such as adding a few of the brick built cannons to the main deck. I also want to remove some of the red from the stern. That red just does t look natural on a pirate ship unless it’s the red striped sails of the Barracuda! I couldn’t agree more on the discolored parts, I just haven’t gotten around to ordering replacements. Fortunately for me most of the pieces that need an upgrade the most are easy replacements. I’ve done this with a few other vintage sets. As for the main decks, it was more about playability than design, which made a lot of sense. I think Lego as a higher end display piece for adults is a much more recent thing than these original pirate sets! I’m not too concerned with color swapping and value here. First, my copy isn’t anything close to mint condition. I actually now have 2 of the SES (more on the other one coming soon) and only one of them came with instructions. I don’t have the box for either. So if I am ever looking to move one of mine I’m already low on value because I won’t sell the only set of instructions I have. Plus I can always color swap back to the original if I were to do that. I’d also likely provide updated replacement parts for old, discolored pieces. the hanging sails bothers me too, but I have a couple ideas on how I want to address it. I’ve seen a few structural suggestions, but I haven’t gotten around to anything yet. As for the swivel guns, that is the one thing about the SES I truly dislike. I get why Lego did this because actually equipping this set with 8 cannons would have driven up the price even more than its initial MSRP. And while I appreciate these old models for their playability more than accuracy, on a wider hull model this one really bothers me. No ship in the age of sail would have been able to shift all guns to one side for a full broadside without creating significant weight imbalances. I do understand why narrow hull models don’t have guns on both sides, but the SES I just can’t overlook this. I have some changes to the base SES coming! I have a second copy of this ship and I am making a few similar changes to the gun deck and color scheme, but taking it a little further this time around! More to come!

Not related to the discussion on where sets were sold, this is just a pure nostalgia comment. I didnt' have a lot of Castle sets but this was one of them. I'd all but forgotten about it until seeing these pics!

Man I really love the small, simple display. It gives me ideas for how to use more of what I have even if I can’t use it all in a single large display.

Your restored ship looks great and I love the display you’ve put together here! Ironhook should have his crew turn that cannon toward the shore and give those imperials something to think about!

I can sort of relate though it's less to do with the color of the sails and more about overall color scheme for me. On another recent thread I shared a few pics a couple modified Renegade Runners I have in my collection. While I did order custom sails from a very talented vendor on EBAY, one of the other major changes is swapping out the original Renegade Runner's grey, red, and blue for black and yellow to make them consistent with 1989's Caribean Clipper and Black Seas Barracuda. I figure an imperial force like the Imperial Soldiers would have a few smaller escort/patrol ships while a reputable pirate captain such as Captain Redbeard would have a couple small, light, shallow draft sloops in his fleet. But changing the sails wasn't enough for me, I also wanted the ships to appear more consistent with their 1989 counterparts. Obviously this isn't how a purist would do it, but I'm not a purist! The same rationale can also explain why the background elements in my display are as basic as they are. I've seen some very elaborate displays and tutorials, but I'm actually trying to keep what I'm doing stylistically similar to the sets from 1989-1994. I do acknowledge from 1989 to 1992/93 the theme took a significant leap forward with its designs. I love the innocent simplicity of the red and blue striped sails. But the Imperial Flagship does look like a more serious (albeit smaller than its bluecoat counterpart) vessel. And I love the way the Skull's Eye Schooner and Renegade Runner combine for consistently styled "fleet" potential. And of course, while tactically unsound, the skull on the sails with the black stripes makes for a more intimidating appearance! And I definitely agree, I think the Barracuda is amazing!

Thank you! The one thing I wish I could do was get that yellow bird to put on the front. That piece is extremely rare and consequently it’s a bit pricy. But overall this modification is still a cool concept.

Here are a couple pics of the Renegade Runners I've modified: This first one I used to match the red striped sails of the Black Seas Barracuda. I also replaced a lot of the grey and red on the hull and bow for yellow, again to be reminiscent of the BSB. The Renegade Runner also makes a nice imperial ship: It's basically the same modification as the last, just using blue striped sails. I did have to ask a vendor on Ebay specifically for the sails in these dimensions in these colors and I can share said vendor if anyone is interested to know. And as much as I love being able to make my own little modifications, I really do love the Renegade Runner in its original form. I really do think it's a must-have for anyone interested in collecting these vintage pirate sets.

I'm glad you're doing it. I think the Renegade Runner is a very underrated set. I love it. I have 6 of them, 2 of which are in their original form and the other 4 are customized. It's such a great fleet builder of a set and even though I don't need another one, I sometimes have to really resist the urge to do it.

I love displays like this!

I already have! I call it the Cutthroat Clipper! Basically anything blue I swapped out for red.

I saw this recently and love it! I have some extra hull pieces and am on the prowl for a nice CC donor set so I can do something similar. It may not end up a bluecoat ship though, I might make it into a pirate ship.

I agree about the newer imperial mini-figs. But at the same time I recognize my own bias in favor of the more vintage sets. Ultimately I am glad they did a new Eldorado even if I never buy it. It is what prompted me to start looking at pictures of the old pirate legos with my son, and ultimately take a chance and start collecting them again.

I love this! Great mix of the new and vintage sets in the same space. Since you basically have them side by side, how do you like the new Eldorado Fortress compared to the original?

Love the display. I love the way you're able to integrate the vintage sets with some of the newer models out there, as well as your MOCs.

That's actually true. They do not play as important a role, especially after the first movie. Interestingly enough, in the first movie, the battle between the Interceptor and the Black Pearl is without question one of the coolest sea battles in film! Even though it's not tactically accurate (How does the Black Pearl stop where it does to exchange a broadside?) in a movie about curses and turning into zombie pirates in the moonlight, I'm willing to forgive a little of that! The way the Interceptor drags its anchor, catches, and then heaves around to get into firing position is so cool! For what it's worth, I always interpret the Imperial Flagship (6271) as a Lego version of the Interceptor or similar ship.

I think with a few minor mods a good builder can get a respectable cabin on 6271. It would obviously require removal of the rudder function but I think it's doable.

The minifies are great. That background...

The Dauntless would be cool. It's based on the H.M.S. Victory, the oldest commissioned ship. Victory is notable for numerous engagements, perhaps most famous for being Lord Admiral Nelson's flagship in the Battle of Trafalgar. It's a 104 gun first rate ship of the line, and as stated served as the inspiration for the Dauntless in the POTC movies. While a ship of that size 1) would never have been on station in the Carribean (historically too large, heavy for Carribean waters, and important/needed in European theaters) and 2) would me an incredibly ambitious set for Lego to issue, there is no denying it would be cool.

Thank you, @Jack Sassy I appreciate your kind words. I agree it would be hard to swap out those doors with newer ones because of the size difference. My son has a Black Pearl and before I had looked at it very closely I thought it was using the same piece for a door, just in a darker color. I figured I'd maybe find it on Bricklink or something like that. But on closer inspection that is also a 6 brick high door with the frame. So I may just have to leave that element alone for now. I'm fine with that, I really like the changes I made to this ship.

Thank you! That classic look is what I am really going for. I do have a few newer minifigures as residents of the town, but that's ok. I feel really fortunate to have a space in my home for this kind of thing. When I bought this house last summer, as I was moving in I had this thought and a couple months later embarked on my adventure collecting these vintage sets! It really has been a lot of fun. You are right, Lagoon Lockup and Eldorado look great side by side. I love the way they look when combined into a single fort. Add in a Sabre Island or two and you've got a real stronghold. I think this is one of the biggest advantages to the first wave over the second wave imperial sets. They really did have more potential to complement each other whereas it's harder to add to the ITP with any of the smaller imperial sets like Cannon Cove. It's obviously doable, but I don't like the look as much as with the bluecoat sets. Thankfully the color scheme is close enough in both waves that you can just swap out the flags on Lagoon Lockup and Sabre Island and you've got a pretty nice redcoat stronghold too! As for dust, it is a never ending battle! Vacuum the room regularly, and for the display itself, since I'm going for classic look, all the surfaces have studs. So I've used stuff like this compressed air duster. I think most people use these for computer keyboards/laptops, etc. It's good for Legos, but the trick is to blow the dust to the edge of the display, not just unsettle it and then let it settle back into place. That's tricky because the dust doesn't always cooperate, but overall this helps me keep the display relatively clean.

Yeah some of those white pieces are definitely in need of replacement. I had a few left over from when I replaced all the yellow trim on one of my BSBs with white but I have a lot more to replace. That is one thing that is so awesome about these older sets though. Sometimes the only pieces that need to be replaced are pieces that are still readily available. It's an investment for sure, but with a little extra money one can really breathe new life into these vintage works of art! As for the cabin door, yeah. Those plain white ones are pretty lame. I haven't looked into alternatives yet but I will probably do so eventually. One last mod I am considering, I may dispense with the rudder, freeing up the cabin space for me to do something cool in there. The working rudder isn't all that compelling a feature to me, but a nicer cabin is. Haven't decided on that yet.

Okay so I know some of you are going to read that title and ask, "How can you fix perfection?" It's a fair question. For those of you who know I am a complete novice when it comes to building techniques, it's an even more reasonable question. How can a novice fix what a professional engineer designed? Well I gave it a run, and I actually think the results are halfway decent! Some background. I've expressed my enthusiasm for the first and second wave of pirate sets, but even as I did so, I've maintained a little skepticism that the Skull's Eye Schooner was deserving of the respect it gets, rivaling some in enthusiasts' minds, the Black Seas Barracuda. I've always thought the SES was standard sequel: What it lacked in originality it made up for in being bigger, meaner, darker, scarier, etc. But it has never hit home for me the way the BSB has. I wondered if maybe seeing one in person would win me over, and recently I bought a reasonably priced but "seasoned" copy on Ebay. After cleaning and assembling it, I was underwhelmed. Again, I had hoped that seeing it in person would help me overcome how much I disliked the color scheme and those awful sliding cannons. It didn't. Not even close. So I fixed it. Thankfully I was able to piece together some modifications from a few pieces in my stash, timely and overly generous Ebay lot purchase full of random pieces from the Islanders sub-theme (that purchase is its own story), and a stop at a local vintage Lego store in my area. I had two main areas of focus. The first being the gun deck and the second being the color scheme on the side of the cabin. I was able to address both, and I think it's a significant improvement. I'll share a few pics and let you all decide. Original gun deck: My modifications: You can sort of tell I modified it using building techniques from the BSB and CC. I think this makes for a far more realistic ship design with way more deck space to position these scurvy dogs. One last thing I want to modify along the port and starboard sides is a rail, again similar to the BSB. The modifications bring the deck up to just 2 plates of height for the rails, so I'll need to address that. Because, you know, safety first. Even on a pirate ship! I really like being able to fit additional guns onto this deck as well as make more space on the main deck! The second big area I wanted to address is the color scheme on the side of the cabin. Here's the original: It's just too much for me. Too much black, red, and white. Add in the grey from the deck area and it's just to much. So I fixed it. Here it is with my changes: I think the removal of the red settles the appearance and improves it significantly. One thing I am probably going to add now that this is available is an actual window with the lattice on the side of the cabin. This was not available in 1993 when this epic set was released. And yes, I finally have described the SES as "epic" now that I've made these changes. I have a few additional changes coming, mostly removing some of the red from the stern of the ship, as well as the red wedge piece that is holding in place the cabin sides, but you get the idea. I am insanely excited about this little project. Most of the mods I've made have been limited to swapping out color scheme to make a pirate ship an imperial ship or the other way around. This is by far the most ambitious modification I've made because it involved what is to me a significant redesign of the original set. And while I recognize this is probably just another day in the Lego room for some of the MOC artists who frequent this page, this is actually a pretty significant step for me. So I'd love to hear your thoughts! If anyone wants to see pics of what I did to support the deck space I created I can share those pics too!

Great collection. My son and I have watched and enjoyed a lot of your videos!

Well, I finally broke down and bought the Skull's Eye Schooner. As I've done with a few of these older review threads, I'm reviving this thread with a few thoughts and pics of my own. I wasn't sure if I would ever get this ship given the price on the secondary market combined with just not liking this as much as the BSB. With that said, I've always liked the idea of having at least 1 each of the first and second wave pirate ships. And as I stated in another thread, I think I may have liked that idea more than the SES itself. I did find this copy for less than most on Ebay. I paid $460 USD for mine, and it was near complete (I'll get to what it's missing momentarily). It did not come with the box or instructions. Thankfully, the instructions are available right here! As for the price, it may sound like a lot, and it certainly is, but I feel like I went cheap on mine. Other complete or near-complete but without box/instructions range about $550-575. I think a complete copy with box and instructions can easily run north of $675 USD and again, buying on the secondary market there's always a risk of the actual condition not being all that great. The person who sold mine did a horrific job packing it. The ship was just placed in a box with some packing paper fully assembled. Needless to say, it was not fully assembled when it arrived. Assembled or not assembled, that wasn't the worry for me, since I didn't mind building it from the start. But the way it was packed was a mess. I had to go through each piece of packing paper to make sure I didn't lose any pieces in the folds. Also the pieces were filthy, which is not uncommon for a vintage set. I took the ship completely apart and washed all the pieces, laying them out to dry before putting it all back together. When I saw how it was packed I had some concerns, but after cleaning the pieces and inspecting the sails I concluded I once again got lucky on another vintage set. Many of the white pieces have some yellowing, as you'll see in the pictures. But those are pieces that I can easily replace. The most important thing is the pieces are all in very good condition, and of course so are the sails. I was hoping by building it and seeing it in person I would fall in love with it. I'm glad I bought it, and I do like it, but it will never compare to the BSB for me. More on that later. Some pics: Overall view: Even though I have voiced some criticism for this ship, I do think it's awesome in its own right. Most of my criticism comes from direct comparison to the BSB. This ship is infinitely better than any pirate ship Lego has made since, and I'm including the Imperial Flagship and Barracuda Bay in that, as well as any of the POTC ships. There is just something about this first generation of pirate ships that just rocks. And even though there are some features on this ship I do not like, I think the overall design is spectacular. I love the sails. I'm not crazy about the color scheme, and I may swap out the red along the cabin structure for white or black. I felt like whoever designed this ship with these colors must have been an Atlanta Falcons fan with all that white, black, grey, and red! But as far as the basic shape and design, this really is a remarkably well-done set. Stern: Mine is missing the two blue lanterns. That was the only thing this set was missing, and likely had something to do with why this set was less than similar copies available when I chose this one. The blue lantern pieces are actually pretty rare. Since I am planning to make some modifications to this one anyway, I don't mind eventually color swapping in some black lanterns. Also, note the yellowing on the white bricks. I will replace a lot of those and I think the influx of new white pieces is really going to breathe new life into this classic! Quartermaster: My copy was NOT missing this guy, and that is another reason why I chose this copy over some of the other ones available. I may need to double check that the tricorn hat is color appropriate for this minifigure on this set, but that'll be an easy fix. Gun deck: My copy is not a collector grade copy by any means and because of this, I have no qualms about modifying it to my liking. This is the biggest area that I intend to overhaul. I really do not like the swivel guns. With that said, I think this ship will look incredible with 8 guns so that'll be a project I take on in the coming weeks or months. I am also going to install a deck above it, similar to the BSB. I'll share a few pics once I've completed it, as well as refreshed some of the white pieces! Ironhook instead of Redbeard: I actually have appointed Captain Ironhook to command this ship instead of the original Captain Redbeard. I know this might sound like sacrilege but I've actually built both captains a decent fleet, with Redbeard's ships all featuring the red striped sails and Ironhook's featuring the black striped sails. This specific minifigure is the one that came with Enchanted Island. Most other Ironhook figures do not have the peg leg. Since he's different from my other Captain Ironhook minifigures I picked him to command this ship, and by default, the entire fleet! Ironhook's fleet: It's actually a pretty solid fleet especially for a guy who started out with just the Renegade Runner! Now he has 2 of those to go with his SES, and the BSB and IF I've modified. These guys along with their frenemies in the red striped fleet are going to keep the both the Bluecoats and Redcoats alike working overtime! I really think the black sails make for an awesome looking fleet, Overall I am glad I went ahead and added this ship to my collection. It is the last major purchase I will make. I definitely recommend to anyone who is considering purchasing this on the secondary market, really decide what is important to you. For me, I was okay with it missing the blue lanterns as long as the overall condition was solid and it had the quartermaster minifigure. The sails show a little age in their coloration, but are otherwise in great shape too, so I feel I did well on this one. But if you are looking for a cleaner copy and want the box and instructions, you may need to be willing to pay over $600 USD, and honestly, you might need to be ready to go closer to $1,000 USD. I've always wondered if seeing this ship in person and being able to do a side by side comparison with the BSB would sway my opinion of it. I've had it for a little over a week now and so far it hasn't. But I still consider it a "must-have" for any avid collector of vintage Lego. I am looking forward to making the mods I want to do to mine. Again, that's one of the beauties of focussing on a balance of cost and remaining "lifespan" in the sets: I don't feel pressured to maintain every set in its original form. I'll keep reviving these older review threads. Even though the discussions are all several years old, I still enjoy reading them and seeing what others have to say. I hope we can keep the discussions going!

I've checked out that site, there are a lot of great options there.