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Ahoy Mateys! Are you building Pirate mocs this year for Brickworld Chicago in June? There are several ways to participate: 1. Microscale Modules: Build your microscale pirate ships, islands, & fortresses on modules made of 8x8 octagonal plates connected to 4x4 plates. Last year's builds can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/penfold/27713623466/in/photostream/ Check out the standard here: http://brickworldbts.blogspot.com/2015/01/introducing-microscale-castlepirate.html David Gregory, the castle coordinator, and I will also be selling microscale castle and pirate kits in this modular standard. 2. Modular Pirate Town: Phred has a discussion on a larger minifigure scale Pirate Town modular standard found here: 3. Modular Island Standard: This baseplate free standard can be arranged in innumerable ways. Plexiglas allows for sea life underwater with island scenes above. Please contact me for details on this standard. Example images can be found in my flickr stream here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9321695@N03/7404998314/ 4. Microcrab Pirates: Arm your crustaceans for battle! Examples of the microcrabs can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9321695@N03/7404998898/in/photostream/ 5. Your own table: Some builders prefer their own displays. In that case, you can select the option to have your table near the Pirates collaboration. Please feel free to contact me regarding your display requirements including power for motors / lights, table space, etc. In addition, we are always looking for attendees interested in sharing their pirate building techniques by hosting or participating in a workshop, round table discussion, or presentation. Thank you, Ben Ellermann Brickworld Pirates Coordinator

I think this idea is great! David Gregory (Brickworld Castle Coordinator) and I set up the microscale version of the octagon tiles with help from others. We would love to have your minifigure scale modular layout as part of the Pirates collaboration. Please let us know if we can help in any way. Thanks, Ben Ellermann Brickworld Pirates Coordinator

The Pirates collaboration can always use more ships and forts to go with the various islands and volcano. We will try our best to incorporate everyone's mocs into the collaboration. Other related activities include a micro pirates and castle collaboration (and custom kits for sale) which I will post about in the future. We may also have a presentation / round table discussion on collecting classic pirates and castle sets.

Ahoy Mateys! If you plan to attend Brickworld Chicago in June 2016, please consider joining the Pirates collaboration. Your mocs whether they are ships, islands, fortresses, or sea creatures are welcome. Some builders prefer their own displays. In that case, you can select the option to have your table near the Pirates collaboration. Please feel free to contact me regarding your display or participating in the collaboration. Thank you, Ben Ellermann Brickworld Pirates Coordinator

I suggest using the Brickworld logo for a blog post. You can find one example here: http://brickworldbts.blogspot.com/ Thank you for blogging about the event. Small ships would definitely be welcome. The underwater sea would have a similar height of approximately 6 bricks. I will double check this measurement. We will certainly take numerous pictures of the display to share. Thanks! Ben

Hi everyone, I will be the Pirates coordinator again this year at Brickworld. Please check out the 2014 Brickworld Chicago information: • Website: http://www.brickworld.us/ • Date: Wednesday, June 11 - Sunday, June 15 • Location: Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center • Registration cost: $50 (all access) $70 (full registration – ability to display creations, free goody bag, eligible for prizes, raffles, and awards) • Hotel room costs: $129 per night (Please be aware that you have to sign up through Brickworld to get the special discounted rate. These rooms will sell out well in advance of the convention dates) The Pirate layout will again include underwater scenes in addition to islands and a volcano. Please feel free to bring any type of pirate mocs including ships, islands, forts, sea creatures, boats. Do not forget to register your mocs on the Brickworld website. Click the “Pirate Collaboration” checkbox when registering. Thanks! Questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions about the display can be posted in this thread or sent to me via pm or email. Thank you. Ben Ellermann Brickworld Pirates Coordinator

Ahoy mateys! I know this announcement is late. However, if you are attending Brickworld 2013 in Chicago and failed to register your pirate moc, we will make room in the collaborative display for your ship, boat, raft, island, or fortress. Feel free to contact me via private message for more details. Thanks, Ben Brickworld Pirate Coordinator

Here is the latest update from Jim Foulds of the LEGO Community Team: I spoke with a very helpful LEGO customer service rep this morning. She confirmed that the prepacks are in stock. Shipping to North American customers who call will take approximately 10 business days. Ben Ellermann

The Classic-Castle Team is proud to announce our eighth annual building contest: The Colossal Castle Contest VIII. It will begin on November 1st and end on December 31st, 2010. This contest is a bit different than other contests. We have a variety of categories each with one prize for the winner. Some categories require small creations and others need larger ones. Everyone, even with a limited supply of bricks, should be able to enter several categories. We are looking for creativity, not who has the most LEGO. Check out the prizes. Seven Classic Castle sets including the highly popular Knight's Procession, Knight's Tournament, and Town Square are prizes. There are are also vintage misb sets, custom medieval weapons, and new castle sets. It truly is colossal! Thank you to Rich Stehnach "Blackrock", Ben Ellermann, Trevor Van Aalst, BrickArms, BrickForge, The Brothers Brick, and the LEGO Company for donating prizes. The rules can be found here. Enjoy! Please check out the question and answer thread on Classic Castle for additional information: http://www.classic-castle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19798

Thank you Phes. I appreciate it. Ben

Hi everyone, I will be the Pirates coordinator again this year at Brickworld. Please check out Brickworld information that I pirated from David Gregory’s castle post: The Pirate layout will again include blue cloth for water. Please feel free to bring your blue baseplates for the layout. Any type of pirate mocs including ships, islands, forts, sea creatures, boats, etc are welcome. Do not forget to register your mocs on the Brickworld website. Click the “Pirate Collaboration” checkbox when registering. Thanks! This year’s event theme involves Space. Ideas include classic space sets and themes recreated in Pirate style. The Castle fans may be more supportive of capturing unfortunate spaceships and imprisoning their crews ;) Please bring your Pirate/Space mash-up mocs for the collaborative display. Questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions about the display can be posted in this thread or sent to me via pm or email. Thank you. Ben Ellermann Brickworld Pirates Coordinator

Two prominent custom set creators have offered Pirate sets in the past. Check out Eric Druon's Puerto Brico: http://www.baronsat.net/baronshop/PuertoBr...uerto_Brico.htm Dan Siskind created the Salty Anchor Tavern: http://www.brickmania.com/pirate-theme-kits It is sold out but the instructions can be purchased through the Brickmania instructions club. Ben

One possibility is that the seller set aside that SES specifically for an individual buyer. They could have discussed the set on a forum or in person and used the BrickLink system to complete the sale. In addition, sellers have the option not to notify all BL users with a set or part on their wanted lists. Of course if you or I were selling an SES, we would want everyone to know about it. Ben

Most set archive pages list the original manufacturers suggested retail price for the original year of issue. Sixty six dollars for 6276 is likely found in a 1989 USA shop at home catalog. Looking at the value of a set on eBay and BrickLink is the best way to determine current price. Ben

Fill a bucket or container with warm soapy water. Add a small amount of bleach to the water. Let your bricks soak in the water for a few hours. Rinse the bricks and let them air dry on a towel. It will take a few days for the bleach smell to go away. By then the bricks should not smell like smoke. Unfortunately the sails and string smells are harder to remove. Place the sails in between dryer sheets and place a heavy book on top for a few days. This should lessen the smoke smell. You can also use this method for smoke damaged instruction booklets. It is quite common these days for some eBay sellers to list sets as complete when they are not. It may be easier just to order the few basic bricks. Bricklink sets are usually complete but we have to pay a premium for those sets. Ben

I am glad that you all like my Volcano. It contains a "GoldenDragon" under-cabinet led puck light by Sylvania which runs on 3 AA batteries. More photos of the Volcano can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9321695@N03/s...57620426254700/ My various islands have been linked to above. You can also see my pictures of the Pirates/Castle displays in this folder: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9321695@N03/s...57620427532248/ Ben

How large is your fort moc? Registering the fort as a moc you are bringing would be a good idea. Occasionally people bring things to trade, but most people buy from the bricklink sellers (who have outrageous prices), custom weapon sellers (BrickForge, BrickArms, Little Armory, etc), and at the LEGO Brand Stores. Brickworld has many train afols who like to create their own brick-built roads (snot) and likely would not be very interested in city baseplates. All of those sets sound good for the classic pirate sets display. This weekend I will start new thread with a list of sets and who is bringing them. Ben

I would like to know the mocs that everyone is planning to bring to ensure enough space for the display. Islands, forts, ships, etc will be arranged randomly on a giant blue cloth sea (which will closely match Lego blue). This is what was done on a smaller scale at Brickfair 2008 in Washington DC. We are still waiting to see what the final table allocation will be for the combined Castle vs Pirates theme display area. You are welcome to bring wall or dock/wharf sections that fit into a modular standard. Pirate building standards likely will be a topic of discussion at the Lego Pirates round table seminar. There currently are multiple standards and it would be good to create a standard for large shows such as Brickworld, BrickCon, Brickfair, etc. Ben

Hi NewRight, Please check out the Brickworld 2009 Pirate Planning thread on Eurobricks here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=27596 The Pirate collaborative display will be connected to the Castle display with a giant sea/ocean battle in between. Please post the mocs that you plan to bring (ships, islands, forts, etc) in the thread. Thanks! Ben Brickworld Pirate Coordinator

We will definitely find room for your BSB in the display. Thanks. Ben

Welcome aboard matey's! Will ye be attending Brickworld 2009 and want to display your pirate mocs and sets? If so, post in this thread. Currently the following displays and events are planned: Brian Darrow's is bringing his Pirates of the Bermuda Triangle ( http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/80921 ) This impressive diorama will be in it's own display area. Check it out! More Islanders than you can imagine by Don Cox. No Pirate would dare attack hundreds of islanders and their catamarans, or would he? Pirates vs Castle display and battle. Those neighboring castleheads, lead by Castle Coordinator David Gregory, and their hoards of sheep are up to no good. Bring your seaworthy vessel to defend the Caribbean! LEGO Pirates Set Display We will be displaying many classic sets to celebrate the return of the Pirates theme. Contact me if you would like to bring a certain set. Possible Seminars: LEGO Pirates Round Table - Discuss and plan the future of the theme, online communities, contests, and community standards (fort standard, island standard, ship standard, etc) Sail Making Seminar - Learn how to make replica's of official Lego sails or new custom sails. Awards/Prizes: Best Pirate Ship - Prize to be determined Best Imperial Ship - Prize to be determined Best Pirate Island - Prize to be determined Best Imperial Fort/Building - Prize to be determined Best Sinking vessel/wreckage - Prize to be determined Do you have ideas of displays, events, games, or seminars you would like to participate in? Post your ideas here! Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Ben Ellermann, Brickworld Pirate Coordinator

Check out www.bricklink.com They have what you need: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4624 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4600 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2527 Also you can check out the entire inventory of 6239 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=6239-1 Click on the individual elements to find stores that sell them. Ben

Drdavewatford is correct. The stud and tube building brick patent was issued in the mid 1950's. There is vast legal precedence preventing companies from having a monopoly on a functional design indefinitely. This is why many companies make automobiles, light bulbs, radios, televisions, etc. Now if you trademark a rodent cartoon character, that is an entirely different story... As far as clone brands are concerned, Tyco did have a very high quality product equal to LEGO bricks in many aspects. I object to the poor quality of clone brands more than anything else. If another company had extremely high quality bricks and set designs, I think much of the community would be tempted to use it. Of course there are minimal profit margins when producing high quality bricks, instructions, packaging, and set design. Tyco attempted this and failed. Other clone brands only survive because they can undercut TLG's prices. These companies obviously care more for the bottom line than the educational benefits to children by playing with building blocks. Ben

Currently the main difference I see is the forums. Classic-Pirates is based more on the lugnet model where all Pirate LEGO related conversations take place in one forum which is part of a larger General LEGO discussion site. Forbidden Cove is more like FBTB.net, Classic-Space, and Classic-Castle in that we are an independent site that only focuses on one theme and have many sub forums for different aspects of that theme. Both forum models have pros and cons. I like how theme sites provide more focus to that theme. It is also nice to visit larger general sites to learn about what is happening in other themes that I may not often build in. We at Forbidden Cove are simply offering another option to Pirate fans. I encourage any fan to join either or both sites. All are welcome. Ben

I use this piece as a lever to remove tiles from baseplates: http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/4865 Ben