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Hey folks. I am NOT sure if this applies to LEGO, but i recieved this mass-email from ebay today: Now, as i say, i'm not sure whether this will include lego or not, but i would imagine that if this "block" did go through, then even more companies would follow suit and block their items from appearing on online marketplaces. If Lego was indeed banned from online marketplaces, this would be detrimental to... pretty much every community that centres around Lego, as finding almost any brick that isnt in a current set would prove very difficult, as i'd imagine that this could well include sites like bricklink also, if the TLC is involved in this. Again, the only knowledge i have on this is from the email i recieved, and so hopefully someone will be more knowledable than me on the subject and maybe know if lego is at threat from this? Fingers crossed, they are not, and also that this whole "Block" does not happen at-all. Discuss.

Good to see we're not talking anything too complicated with the bowspit Hehe, well i'll have a play about with the bricks i have and then order the relevent coloured bricks of bricklink. Cheers for the inspiration photo!

The new movie will involve the new ship, and those characters being onboard it, and will also involve bluecoats and pirates in a twisting tale of deciet, trickery, sailing, swashbuckling, cannon firing, prison escapes and attempting to communicate with an islander - all with a similar sense of humour of things generally going very wrong very quickly! Also in the meantime while i'm finishing the ship, i'm working on another short film set in a port with the same soldiers Admiral, i would be honoured if you did borrow the techniques used, especially as this is my first ship i'm supposed to be the one stealing ideas . I will indeed have a play around underneath the bowspit, i just need to have a ponder what first Thanks for the feedback!

Many thanks for the feedback guys, i'm really pleased people seem to have enjoyed my films! Nice to know the effort is worth it! I'll probably be placing another bricklink order soon so i guess i'll pick up another couple of hull pieces while i'm there and have a toy around to find an appropriate length. I'll also be ordering the relevent bricks to finish the front and back ends of the ship, so please keep the suggestions rolling in folks! And the front of the ship is probably indeed a good idea for where to place the access to the lower decks, as its a little bare anyway at the moment! Thanks for the feedback and suggestions

No problem, i only failed to post it here originally because i didnt spot the brickfilms forum! Thanks! And glad you liked them

Thankyou very much for the praise, glad you enjoyed it :) My newest short film (To go with my new ship, over in the MOC forum) is here to enjoy: if you would like to rate and watch :)

Update in post 14! Ahoy there! I have recently begun work on my first large(ish) ship! I have largely completed the midsection, and the front isnt looking too bad either. To start with, i created a short animation movie around the construction of the ship, here it is: if you would like to rate and comment!And now, the pictures. So. Please leave whatever feedback is necessary, although i would like some help with the following: 1) The length of the ship. As you can see, i have one more midsection to go and the stern, although i cant help but think that with the height of the ship, it would be in far better proportion if i added an extra few midsection pieces and extended the work i have done on the current midsection. what are peoples opinions on how long the ship should realistically be to match its height? I'm also tempted to add a third mast if it does get extrended. 2) Obviously the crew need a way between decks, and as of now, the top deck is flat. Where would folks recommend putting stairs or a ladder down to the lower decks? 3) I have done my best to make the front of the ship as round as possible, although obviously a figurehead and other decoration is needed, would people recommend going for a grand or simple front to the ship? 4) I currently have no plans for the Captains Cabin and the rear of the ship. The "in" colour seems to be yellow on most ships, but i'm tempted to stick with brown and black to stick with the rest of the ship. 5) I have a red row of cannon-flaps and a blue row, purely because of running out of red ones. When i have enough, would people suggest an all red theme or does the red and blue work? Right, there are my thoughts! Feedback would be much appreciated!

I'm working on my own ship at the moment, but i'll certainly be keeping an eye on this and watching the techniques used! A good idea i must say!

I had indeed thought that the mast is a little on the tall side. I'll probably get rid of the flagpole at the top and find a way to shorten it further! Thanks for the advice! :)

I think its certainly a good idea! I for one am personally taking my first tentative steps towards making my first big-ish ship MOC and so anything would come in handy for me! I'd particually like to see some tutorials on making the stern and bow of the ship, as those bits are the complicated ones from what i've seen, and personally i'm pretty lost on where to start! Good luck with this, Commodor!

The Camera i'm using, IPEVO PoV is designed as a hand held pointing device, so that people on skype can generally point it around as a pen, to show anything from their new sofa, right down to the words on a sheet of paper, so it has an "Oversized focus ring" to allow it to focus on anything far away or close up, adjusting the light to suit the distance being focussed on, so its turned out to be a great camera for movie-making. Not bad for £19.99 Glad people thought it worked well! I decided not to add voices to this one, as it was only a short video and i felt the story was told well enough through pointing and head-turning! I will try and add some to the next project. Perhaps. (Although i have mixed views on other lego videos on youtube, where sometimes appauling voice acting can distract from a good video - Not that i've noticed this in any of the videos made by people from here, they've all been good! ) Thanks for the feedback fella's, it is much appreciated. Also i posted pictures of the ships over in the MOC forum, for feedback if anyone is interested. The topic is imaginitivley entitled "My Ships"

Phew! Hehe! I'm glad people like the blue one. I'll see what detail i can add to it then :) I agree that the bow is a little out of proportion on the dissertation so will fix that, and as for HMS Unknown, i'll just be taking her apart and starting from scratch ;) Thanks for the feedback guys!

Ahoy all! For my film (See sig or clicky here - feedback on that is also appreciated!) i created a couple of probably rather basic ships, which i will probably be dismantling within the next few days to create some slightly better looking and more realistic ships. So, without further ad-do: H.M.S. Unknown (I.e. i've never got around to thinking of a name ;) ) I will probably completely destroy this ship and rebuild it, making it longer and less "Flat" - also i will probably add custom sails as i have a few extra hull and mast pieces lying around, but just no sails. My idea of how this ship would function upon the high seas would be as more of a long-distance anti-land vessal, given the high-mounted cannons. More Pics @ MOCpages Navire Inconnu (Which is apparently "Ship Unknown" in French, although i appologise if i've said something rude by accident!) This is admittedly a very simple ship, although given the small size of the hull, i'm struggling to see how it could really be improved upon, other than the sails being better structured and perhaps abit more detail around the front of the ship - any help on this one would be appreciated! As for how this would function at sea, i would see this as more of a coastal ship for patrolling the area around ports and towns, due to its small size and lack of sleeping space. I would imagine it would be rather quick, though! More photos @ MOC Pages "The Dissertation" This wasnt included in my film, but was a small creation i made on the night that i completed my dissertation at 3am in the morning, and desperately needed something to do before bed which didnt involve staring at a computer screen or reading! (I'm not destroying this one for a good while yet! ) More pics @ MOC Pages Any feedback on any of the ships would be appreciated, in particular the first two as those are the two which will be having work done on them in the near future!

Thanks for the positive feedback chaps! It is appreciated and i'm glad you enjoyed it :)

(Please be sure to watch in High Quality!) Here is a short movie I made in order to test a new webcam i bought, and also to play around with my Stop Motion Pro trial. I havent done any moviemaking for a while so was a little rusty, and so appreciate that the stop motion isnt the best ever (Indeed, the ships move a tad fast at times hehe!). But i have put quite alot of effort into it and hope you'll enjoy it! Plus there is only two minutes or so to endure even if you dont :P This was more of a test/practice to get me back into the swing of Stop Motion, and my next project will be alot smoother, i promise! Here it is anyway! Enjoy! All feedback is of course, appreciated!

Got given this set for christmas (My girlfriend went to alot of trouble to get me a set imported as she knew i was desperate to get my hands on one!). I really like it! though it has a low piece count and doesnt take long to build, its very detailed for the size of the set. I like the figures faces, great stubble effect, and this is the first set i've built (Not being a buyer of current sets) which the figs have decorated backs also, which is good! The octopus as noted before really isnt that impressive, its a nice change from the usual shark attack but the advantage of sharks is the poseable jaw, which can make them look menacing - whereas the octopus just feels a little too ridgid for my liking. Nice variation though. Lastly, the parrot is great. Not sure if i prefer it to the old ones, but due to having many of the old variety, its nice to have a change! So a high score from me for this set :)

What can i say? Some of us just know how to draw a crowd!

Nicely done Cpt. Zuloo! Fluid animation and great vocals! Also the details were nicely kept to the point of PTV!

Thats a fantastic entry! I really loved the different scales used, and must admit that on first glance i thought "Wow thats a big entry!" hehe. And the blood effect on the wall is excellent! Top job!

When looking at the adverts down at the bottom, i spotted this on ebay. Which ship is it from? Never seen it before. Purely out of curiosity. Edit: Never mind, realised its cross-bone clipper. Had just never seen the base up for sale on ebay on its own! Feel free to close/delete this, Mods

I put "They're alright", because i have mixed views. In terms of design, i love them! I cant think of a single one which was badly designed, and the attention to detail was superb. However, i do feel that they made our pirates too land-based, as they rather sqeezed out the soldiers for a few years, and thus our pirates were all running around dry land being chased by islanders, as there werent really any ships to attack at sea. I would like to see the islanders reappear, but i think its essential for the pirate theme that a soldiers and possibly merchant ship are brought out first, to maintain a bias towards sea-fairing pirates over land ones. Just my two copper.

Governor Broadside and the Admiral might have had a much larger fleet that the pirates... but they could equally have been telling porkies when they turned up on the same ship every time saying "The rest of the fleet will appear over every horizon and have you surrounded!...soon!...maybe." Now, Captain Roger/Redbeard, he just had to show off that he had a new ship, every couple of years or so, and thus gets my vote!

Never having bought any of them recently, i cant properly answer. However from years ago, playmobil pirates were my second pirates of choice (after lego ofcourse), plus from when i was in a shop the other day, i spotted no fewer than four (count 'em!) different ships from the pirate era for sale, two of them under £25! So for value and quality, i would say playmobil, from an observation point of view

Okay, well here goes. Sorry about the poor picture quality - my old webcam was the only camera i had to hand! Heres my eight redcoat chaps, what, what? (However, on reflection, one of those is the governor, who might not count in this experiment due to not having the same torso, meaning 2/7 have black buttons.) And here are the two with black buttons. Now, do i win a prize for having the highest black:gold button ratio listed so far?

The bird at the front of the caribean clipper looks neat, and thus gets my vote. BSB's figurehead is a close second however!