Wes

I voted BSB because it's the quintessential Lego pirate set. It's the most useful, well-built, and most attractive. The SES is nice, but its midsection is a gun tub with no personality or historical accuracy.

Brilliant MOCing. I love it! I feel all inspired now (sadly my LEGO bins are hundred of miles away).

Sadly it seems the domain expired and some spammers put up an ad page in its place. I need to remove the links to it on my MOC pages.

For general purposes I keep the flags blowing towards the front, since the wind should be coming from behind the ship. However, during Evil Stevie's Pirate Game, I tend to rotate the flags to face the same direction as the game wind, for the visual effect and to keep track of the game wind more easily. The only times I have my flags face aft are when the ship is anchored, or if it's a hanging flag. There might also be exceptions for fore-and-aft ships that sail mostly into the wind. The picture below is the exception rather than the rule: Basically all of my other ships have forward facing sails.

I would like to see a return to the traditional masts. 2537 Boat Mast Section Middle 13 2/3 H, (Newer version With Bottom Connector Prong) 2538 Boat Mast Section Top 16 H with 4 stud holes at bottom (With Bottom nipples) 2539 Boat Mast Platform 2541 Boat Mast Rigging Long 27 x 5 4844 Boat Mast Section Base 4 x 4 x 9 6057 Boat Mast Rigging Short 16 x 5 6067 Boat Mast Section Base 4 x 4 x 1 2/3 30047 Boat Mast Section Top 11 2/3 H with 6 studs at top I would also like to echo the requests for cloth sails, boat hull pieces, and those nifty working compasses. Side note: Am I correct in hypothesizing that the very useful part 2540 (Plate Modified 1 x 2 with Handle on Side) was introduced in the legendary 6285 Black Seas Barracuda set?

Here's a neat one I found. Sadly no front view available. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=3068327 Good use of the headdress thing.

For the schooner Geisha, I used a yellow torso (representing gold) but used a blank white head and black straight female hair to kind of go with the name. In the hands are a black pistol and a yellow goblet. Works okay I think.

You might also consider having lots of little ships rather than a few big ones. They're easier to transport and often just as fun. Think of the little trade boat from 6277 Imperial Trading Post.

Imperial Soldiers! I have about 125 or so, but less than ten Imperial Guard (reds). I have over 900 pirates, though...but hey, you have to have someone to shoot those spring-loaded cannons at!

Am I the only one who noticed the pubic hair in the first picture? :-X

Same here. I'm waiting on the Army to give me my paycheck. :/

Any extra ropes added to the rigging increase the surface area that side-winds have on the ship, and increase the likelihood of potentially capsizing. Schooners were historically as light as possible with the rigging for this reason (it's also why many sailboats have deep, weighted keels). I like the classic cannon, actually. :)

Hmm, interesting notes and suggestion. I imagined her to be a later-era privateering craft whose mission was to raid merchants and beat up on small to mid-size pirate ships. I didn't want her to be too fancy, or to use too many pieces (though in all honesty I considered coating her in 1 x 2 chrome gold tiles) ;) One of her sister ships actually has 4 small carronades on the rails of the foc'sle and quarterdeck, along with a huge mortar amidships (made with a 4 x 4 kettle). I'll post more pictures soon (I've got to be off to campus now though).

Some improvements since the original pictures: I went with pink for the size window lattices because they make a good accent. Can you believe they cost a dollar each? :/

What do you mean by "with clear plastic on?" Did you add a spray-on coating to the printed stickers on something?

I agree with the comments on the railing. It's got a great overall shape, though.

This is my schooner. Notes: *The sterncastle (yes, it is a word) overhangs the end of the hull piece by only four studs. The base is one brick thick. *The heavy crew is needed to properly crew prize ships. For longer voyages, the crew is reduced to 24 (There are about 40 aboard in the pictures). *About me: I am 23, and have over $3000 USD of Lego pirate items. I have thirty-six ships assembled right now, and use them to play Evil Stevie's Pirate game. *I found the green hair on Bricklink. Green female hair appeared in 6713 "Grip 'n' Go Challenge" and 6617 "Tough Truck Rally." *Not every ship needs to be built high over the hull pieces. With mine, every available surface of the hull pieces of this ship is covered with decking. It isn't "empty." *Since the webpage was posted, the sterncastle has been modified to have an angled back (like the 6285). I also added a staysail. I will post pictures soon.