BrickPerfection

Of course! Here ya go:

My entry for Series 11 of the BrickLink Designer Program - please vote if you have a moment! https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-11/5033/Armada-Galleon-Esperanza Legendary for the amount of gold that they carry, the treasure galleons of the Imperial Armada are also heavily armed in order to fend off any daredevil Pirates. Esperanza features an integrated mechanism to run out the cannons on each side. In between the cannons on the gundeck is the massive cargo hold, that is filled to the brim with gold! I worked hard to ensure that Minifigures can still stand below deck and the interior is fully accessible on both the gundeck and the great cabin above it. The pilot house contains a functioning steering mechanism - using a historically accurate whipstaff instead of a ship's wheel: Galleons were built before the ship's wheel was invented (around1700), so they all would have been steered in this fashion:

Looks really good so far! I can see that you're having trouble with the bow - that's normal as it's one of the trickiest parts of the ship to get right. I'm still having to rebuild this section several times myself to get a satisfactory solution even though I have a lot of experience. At the moment, the bow shape is too steep - consult with your reference material. Using slopes in a SNOT assembly and hinging them can achieve a very smooth shape, but it's difficult to arrange them such that they integrate seamlessly into the hull shape. Simply using a bunch of 2429 hinges as you did in the first update is a lot easier, and that's how I did it as a standard methods in the past. The tradeoff is that you get lots of gaps.

Mr. Townsend, you're another very familiar name from many years past here on the forum. So glad to see that you're still active! As always, the work on the rigging and sails - especially the sails in your most recent update - is exemplary. Befitting a proper wooden model ship, it really elevates your MOCs to the next level!

Sebeus, I really admire your dedication to the Dutchman! How many years have you been working on Dutchman MOCs now? The latest version looks like it will be even more impressive thanks to new pieces that have become available. Will continue following this project!

Hmm I think you may be right. We have never had the case that 150k was reached across the Series. You're right that if it's shut down when reaching 150K, they'd indeed be taking a couple of sales from all the sets that are still below 30k. Which BrickLink said they wouldn't do. So maybe they added the additional caps to the better selling ones because in their data they couldn't see the total of 150K being exceeded (by much)? Will be interesting to see how it develops.

Doesn't matter, as soon as the total of 150k has been reached, it'll still be sold out. "Pre-ordering ends on February 23rd, 2026 at 12 PM Pacific time, or once all sets sell out"

Major benefit of the new system is that popular sets no longer sell out in a few hours! Mountain Fortress was gone in 3 hours I think, so here in Australia you had to get up at 3am and by 6am it was already sold out!

I intentionally left those off because it requires additional pieces (and strings) and my general line for Fortuna is that you don't need any additional pieces to mount the Sails! In my defence, LEGO's Endurance doesn't have them either! Probably to make it easier to build the set. I did however prepare attachment points on the hull, so it's easy to add them! Just need a 1x2 round plate with open studs for the blocks and some strings.

It's a beautiful MOC VOC galleon! Thanks to the color scheme, it's really reminiscent of the Batavia! I like that the stern is angled upwards! Great job on the sails too! I know it's not easy if you do them by hand. To be completely faithful to your inspiration, you'd have to make the entire hull curve upwards towards the bow and the stern, but especially the stern. Can't really do that with hull pieces though.

Well, what could that be? Some outstanding box art in the style of the Thieves of Tortuga? Can't wait to see the final reveal!

Very impressive that you managed to finish a model of this size! I like how you built the bow - it curves in two directions and even though the hinged sections are four studs, the gaps are small. Well done!

Brick Quest has probably the most comprehensive review - he goes through the entire crew and a bunch of references, including to the Imperial Flagship and Master & Commander in under 10 min! Brickin Awesome Videos did some jaw-dropping stop-motion animation on the whole building process of the model - it's mesmerising to watch for the animation work alone, and you can also see how the ship is built - without taking too long.

Fixed it and added some more background! Oh, I love these torsos, especially with the dual moulded white and black legs! We also got to include three of the dual moulded tricorne hats with the wig or female hairpiece. I don't want to impose any sort of lore on the community, I think it should develop organically. But here's some ideas: My thinking is that the Privateers are essentially unreliable Redcoats - the 2010 Imperial Flagship was Redcoat and Privateer Frigate Fortuna is the spiritual successor. So they'd be funded and supported by the Redcoats who are overstretched by dealing with all of these Pirates! They fly a false Bluecoat flag, as Privateers often do, and may even be on the hunt for them. But alas, peace breaks out between Redcoats and Bluecoats! The legendary Eldorado Fortress hosts some magnificent treasures, and the Privateers cannot resist the temptation! With their vastly more powerful frigate, they attack and plunder it. Thereby the Privateers go rogue and the Pirate hunters become Pirates themselves! Afterwards, the Privateers make off and spend all of their stolen riches in Tortuga! However, there may be an offer for them to be pardoned for their transgression - they plundered Bluecoats, not Redcoats after all - if they turn on the Thieves of Tortuga, thereby bringing an end to this Pirate haven...

There's another 2 (optional) stickers to add a bit of detail to the galley: they go on a 2x4 tile and a 2x2 curved slope. They're not super visible, but I felt they some people might appreciate the extra detail. I took a photo of the sticker sheet at Brickvention 2026 in Melbourne: You can only see them if you remove the 2 x 12 plate with the bell and look directly at the galley: The 2 stickers on 4x4 Macaroni tiles at the bow are quite obvious, but I include another closeup because I just think they look amazing! My insistence on making the prow one stud wide was a challenge: I had to use the tiles for stability and couldn't add small elements for decoration. I know some people dislike stickers in principle - you can of course leave them off as I did for months on my model. But I do think they look great!