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Many thanks to you all for your compliments, I'm glad everyone seems to like it. No need to worry Asuka, those vines have adventitious roots of the climbing variety! Anyway, I thank you for the kind reply. Thanks very much, Mr. Phes. I designed the little "fun" features in the style of an official playset - so hopefully they should be look a little familiar to what we're all accustomed to! Ahhhhh... So that's what they are. Yes, they're very effective. First time I've seen this nifty trick! Ironically, the same goes for me - here it was, I thought I had stumbled upon something new and unique! Mr. Norro, would you mind shring with us the instance in which you have seen this technique used in the past? Thanks.

Choosing between the seagull and the chicken proved somewhat difficult for me, but I ended up voting for the underdog - or perhaps "underbird", in this case. However none of these birds constitute an actual species, but instead several taxonomic families with the exception of the chicken which is more specifically a member of the genus Gallus. Gulls compose the family Laridae, toucans; Ramphastidae, pelicans; Pelecanidae, and flamingos; Phoenicopteridae.

Thanks guys. I've used a bigger baseplate as it's the only blue one I own. I wish there was a dark blue one I could use, that's more like something a new pirate theme would have. But alas, now that the poll has been made it wouldn't be fair to make any adjustments, so this one will just stay as a "MOC". Here's the second and third picture -

Military 10-C Well, it seems I missed the deadline for the Pirates contest by a mere couple hours. Here's the first picture for the large entry catagory at 200 pieces. Two more to come...

Ooh, I was thinking you'd issue a warning for a deadline before closing....I have my large entry built and photographed but I haven't found the time to edit the pictures yet. I was so close....hmm......

Thanks! If the piece were ever theoretically produced, I would indeed hope the joints would be articulated and thus poseable. Today I spiffed it up a bit with a crudely photoshop'ed background - I'm hoping to get my larger entry in this weekend....

Claim the mainland in the name of the royal crown, uncover new species of colorful bird and fruit, pioneer the Columbian Exchange, and live the Age of Exploration with the LEGO® Impulse Imperial Armada Captain, the mightiest conquistador of the Spanish Main! The brick-built breeches design, courtesy of Michael Jasper, sort of "represents a new mold" akin to the then new pegleg that was released with the original pirates product line and therefore only counts as one single extra piece.

I have a quick question as well. If I were to include one whole minifigure in the impulse set and no left overs, only replacing the standard legs with brick-built legs to sort of "represent a new mold" akin to the then new pegleg that was released with the original pirates product line, would that be accepted as genuinely legitimate? Thanks.

Yes, I definitely agree that the new Brickarms M1 has much potential for integration in 17th and 18th century settings as a useful alternative to the flared muskets that were produced for the Pirate product line. In fact, I've been planning on buying some for use in various models of the British militia at the time of the American Revolution (because that's primarily what I build when it comes to pirates...) ever since I spotted the first photographs of the protoype, only it always takes me about six months to get around to it considering how lazy I am when it comes to arranging purchases online. Also, I'd like to mention that I really like the progress on Old Ironsides. She looks to be coming along exceptionally well! Edit: Now since the topic is split I think that seems a little non sequitur.

Ahh yes, those are another two marvelous works of American adobe architecture. I was actually meaning to cite Apophis' work as another use of dark orange, but it seems I missed it! Thanks for getting that for me. But as far as "Tex-Mex" Southwest settings go, I also admire to OldHamk's American Indian cliff dwelling and Joheru's Alamo, both of which are very realistic. And I trust you know the pleasure of sharing is mine, but I would be like to thank you guys for the awesome compliments. At least the composition of the image you have doctored makes the white look more tinted than it would actually be; when you first posted this beauty I had to think twice in order to confirm the difference between the white and tan.

Indeed the most iconic dusty, dry frontier atmosphere of the American Old West is achieved through the use of tans and browns. Nathan Wells combines dark tan, dark orange, and brown with added tan colored soil out front in his saloon mega-vignette - Our member Sir Nadroj exhibits another excellent use of dark tan integration in the Western theme with the "Broken Spoke" Gold Mine - I myself have used similar tan and brown chromatic schemes (with the limited dark tan available) along with highlights of dark red inspired by the 10182 Caf

Howdy all, I have recently been admiring photos of the Colorado & Wyoming Lego Users Group's (CoWLUG) Old West themed layout uploaded by flickr user and CoWLUG member Duane "Legozilla" Hess over the past week or so. As he describes, "CoWLUG has a display on at the Colorado History Museum from April 12th through April 29th. The theme was Denver (this was toned down to more generic western) circa 1862. It is a theme that none of us really build in, so it was a fun new challenge. We had a weather system move in the night before setup which left our Wyoming contingent stranded in Laramie. We quickly constructed some filler buildings and replacement parts so that we could pull the show off. On the 15th we went back, pulled out some filler, rearranged some buildings and dropped in the delayed stuff. I'm not sure the general public would have noticed the difference, but I think that the before and after is quite apparent." My particular favorite aspects are as follows, although I do suggest checking out the full folder since the whole layout is very large. Yup, there's surely a lot of stuff to see here and even some additional photographs in this folder.

Ahh, it's great to see some good ol' Western stuff from the Brickster, even things so simple yet nice looking. The fedora is surely an obvious inclusion used increasingly more frequently in recent Western themed material. Nice stuff overall; so much so that I'm hoping we'll see some further scenery for these guys later on.

I haven't been getting any error messsages of the type myself, but if this occurrence is one unique to recent times I bet it is most likely a result of the eBay affiliations Mr. Phes has arranged.

Yes, but I wasn't really thinking of theoretically allowing for something in the leagues of 900 piece frigates (no pun intended) but rather 400 piece outposts on a small, flat baseplate. That could be potentially beneficial, especially for someone like me who likes to build with a high concentration of small pieces per alloted area for a higher level of detail, one who typically uses many pieces still resulting in something relatively small. Anyway, I do understand your preference for nice sized smaller things. ;-) And you are most certainly welcome regarding the input, thank you for taking the time to respond to it.

Firstly I'd like to say that this is looking to be an awesome contest that will hopefully stimulate further interest for the themes of later historical era in the community! If only the new theme month wasn't diverting so much of the attention.... I think I'm going to have to agree with some others here and say that these restrictions seem a little too limiting in some cases. I'm thinking - would one consider the Imperial Outpost a large set? That particular product weighs in at just about 200 pieces and is designed in a very simplistic mid-nineties style - lots of prefabricated walls, roofs, and rock. Even official sets produced by The LEGO Group today contain more pieces for the overall size than they did a decade or so ago, largely due to the increased amount of detail and even the decreased use of the old wall pieces. Back then a really big pirate ship set would have 875 parts - that would arguably be a good bit higher if a set of the such where to be made today. I hope you understand my thoughts and think nothing more of it, as there is no need to take them into consideration unless you seriously find a valid point in it. Regardless, I will begin to build an entry or two of my own under the current piece count restrictions which I am not expecting nor particularly hoping to change. :-) That being said, I want to express my love for Phred's most recent entry; a work being both historically educational and creatively incorporated in to the pirate universe as well as one masterfully crafted in the style of an authentic Lego set. *y* Big/Little Ugly Rock Piece.

The Imperial Trading Post, my first and only Pirate set. I bought it about two years ago off a guy on Bricklink; it was one of the best purchases I have ever made. :-)

Feel free to add yourself to the EB map! http://www.frappr.com/eurobricks *sweet*

These are two very impressive opposing regimental groups indeed! Your collection is quite admirable as is your knowledge of American military companies of the period. I like the fact that you've made this especially realistic by including an independent African American fireteam and integrating various custom facial hair elements produced by Brickforge. However, I do agree with Emperor Bonaparte on the account that an extended infantry color guard and perhaps something more of an army band would improve your forces a good bit. *y* And now it looks like somebody's going to have to update the western index....

Many thanks to you, Mr. Brickster! I recall you mentioning your liking for this one in you Casablanca thread, I found it a very touching complement for you to make. I'm also very glad you took notice of the black water running in the brook, I hoped that would make the whole scene look more like it was set in the dark of night. ;-) And if I may digress, I would like to note how I reflect back upon this and lament about how much I could improve it now that I have some dark grey and brown foliage from the Indiana Jones Temple Escape. Previously I only owned green plant elements and decided to resort to using the bottoms of broom pieces sticking out from the ground to represent autumn brush. Although it really didn't really matter in retrospect, I had to get the entry in by the contest deadline that October.... Anyway, I am also quite impressed to learn that your covered bridge or the Grave Stone line was also inspired by the story. I don't think I've too familiar with this particular one, but I can tell you now that applying the story to a Old West setting, horseman and all, is quite imaginative. It's especially nice you have set it over a dusty dried up riverbed as well! *y*

Yes, integrating some official Lego rope would have been a cool addition to include at the time I built this. However, in recent times I've found a much better solution for the canvas covering than the one I used here. Check it out - http://www.flickr.com/photos/legozilla/2245978010/ Thank you very much, Mr. Kaboom! I am curious; have you been browsing through the western index or did you find this thread through other means? Not if you had built this back in the year 2006 as I did. ;-) I appreciate the feedback anyways, thanks.

Ahoy there, folks! I have decided today to share with you my entry to the Eurobricks Pirate Halloween contest held last October. After the voting ended, I never got to posting a separate topic on this as I intended to until now. I also figured I'd post here in the History forum in order to obtain a new and different audience to present to. Anyway, my entry included several scenes that accompanied excepts from Washington Irving's classic American short story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow..... "Over a deep black part of the stream, not far from the church, was formerly thrown a wooden bridge; the road that led to it and the bridge itself were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, which cast a gloom about it even in the daytime, but occasioned a fearful darkness at night. Such was one of the favorite haunts of the headless horseman, and the place where he was most frequently encountered. The tale was told of old Brouwer, a most heretical disbeliever in ghosts, how he met the horseman returning from his foray into Sleepy Hollow, and was obliged to get up behind him; how they galloped over bush and brake, over hill and swamp, until they reached the bridge, when the horseman suddenly turned into a skeleton, threw old Brouwer into the brook, and sprang away over the tree-tops with a clap of thunder." "This story was immediately matched by a thrice-marvellous adventure of Brom Bones, who made light of the galloping Hessian as an arrant jockey. He affirmed that on returning one night from the neighboring village of Sing-Sing he had been over taken by this midnight trooper; that he had offered to race with him for a bowl of punch, and should have won it too, for Daredevil beat the goblin horse all hollow, but just as they came to the church bridge the Hessian bolted and vanished in a flash of fire." "About two hundred yards from the tree, a small brook crossed the road and ran into a marshy and thickly-wooded glen known by the name of Wiley's Swamp. A few rough logs, laid side by side, served for a bridge over this stream. On that side of the road where the brook entered the wood a group of oaks and chestnuts, matted thick with wild grape-vines, threw a cavernous gloom over it. To pass this bridge was the severest trial. It was at this identical spot that the unfortunate Andre was captured, and under the covert of those chestnuts and vines were the sturdy yeomen concealed who surprised him. This has ever since been considered a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of the schoolboy who has to pass it alone after dark." "An opening in the trees now cheered him with the hopes that the church bridge was at hand. The wavering reflection of a silver star in the bosom of the brook told him that he was not mistaken. He saw the walls of the church dimly glaring under the trees beyond. He recollected the place where Brom Bones' ghostly competitor had disappeared. "If I can but reach that bridge," thought Ichabod, "I am safe." Just then he heard the, black steed panting and blowing close behind him; he even fancied that he felt his hot breath. Another convulsive kick in the ribs, and old Gunpowder sprang upon the bridge; he thundered over the resounding planks; he gained the opposite side; and now Ichabod cast a look behind to see if his pursuer should vanish, according to rule, in a flash of fire and brimstone.Just then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very act of hurling his head at him. Ichabod endeavored to dodge the horrible missile, but too late. It encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash; he was tumbled headlong into the dust, and Gunpowder, the black steed, and the goblin rider passed by like a whirlwind." "The next morning the old horse was found, without his saddle and with he bridle under his feet, soberly cropping the grass at his master's gate. Ichabod did not make his appearance at breakfast; dinner-hour came, but no Ichabod. The boys assembled at the school-house and strolled idly about the banks of the brook but no schoolmaster. Hans Van Ripper now began to feel some uneasiness about the fate of poor Ichabod and his saddle. An inquiry was set on foot, and after diligent investigation they came upon his traces. In one part of the road leading to the church was found the saddle trampled in the dirt; the tracks of horses' hoofs, deeply dented in the road and evidently at furious speed, were traced to the bridge, beyond which, on the bank of a broad part of the brook, where the water ran deep and black, was found the hat of the unfortunate Ichabod, and close beside it a spattered pumpkin."

Ahh, how wonderful! My dear Mr. Brickster, please let me know if you would like an imaginary Mister double O reprise. ;-) Oh, and I also enjoyed reading the interview. The added photography was nice too. *y*

Ahh, I see. I had assumed you were further pursuing Turkish reference material asked for previously. That certainly makes a good deal of sense, desiring a more traditionally Islamic style architecture for your fictional setting. Anyway, perhaps another Wikipedia page could prove more useful, one such as the mosques by country catagory. Mosques are probably the clearest and most refined example of the Arab architectural design so just choose whichever Middle Eastern country you feel suitable. :-) Either that, or just search for photographs of Arab mosques using an image search engine....