ghoulrealm

apricot ,Lol X-D I don't think I've ever seen a moc so bad that I'ld throw fruit at it.... maybe the +4 sets!

Nice catch! I edited the design in favor of a manual rudder. It was a small brown steering wheel. I'll get some more pics up shortly. I didn't feel intitrely comfortable posting this blatant ripoff without Vahkimetru's permission. Let me know your feelings on this issue in general. I however don't have any qualms about stealing moc ideas for personal use, I am a pirate after all :-P

This is my version of the kraken...

Here are the deconstruction pics of my batmobile

Here is some more info on that... The word 'krake' is Norw. in origin. It means (a sickly beast or twisted.) kraken is the noun form. It was probably a more common term. Anyway, getting back to sets. I'm working on mocs of the giant and the kraken. I'll post them when I work out the kinks. I don't have all the parts to make exact replicas, but maybe I can even improve them more to my liking using my available inventory.

I thought I'ld add some good reference links on real pirates and ships; Arrr! It be a Pirate Glossary! Glossary of nautical terms Simplified US Frigate Drawings Pirates of the Caribbean fact and fiction sail types (on stamps) Sail Names and Rig Types This should help land lubbers know what some of us are talking about or what to call specific parts of ships and best of all inspire more active shipyards and pirate related mocs.

The whole horn thing seems to be poetic license. There were many mythological giants and viking helmets none of which appears to be horned. Vikings did however did use war horns as instruments and horn cups. Here is more on Norse mythological characters if your interested.

How good can it be without a pirate theme specific discussion? *n*

I agree the small long boat is emensly better but I really wanted a kraken so bad :-( I looked every where for better pic or a good moc version of that squid... I guess I'll have to moc it myself.

I like my minifigs defleshed if you couldn't tell allready.. mwahaha! but seriously i dont care about the skin tone either, as long as theyre system.

I have some tweaking to do yet but here is the latest version.

Lol :-D I'm sorry but that's just really funny to me for some reason! how about "Mic Cool" make it more australian due to the hat.

I would welcome any release of system lego pirates! Currently I wouldn't have faith in the quality of the overall set designs ie.[they would likely use +4 hulls and mast even if they used system minifigs. (Durmstrang Ship)] However, even if they did, I'ld find some uses for some of the set parts in more classic mocs.

I was really dissapointed with the new silvery grey color used mostly for bionicle weapons. They have some extraordinary shapes but the plastic and color makes them seem cheap. My biggest fear when buying sets is missing pieces, It only happened once, but happen, it did. :-(

It is called steering wheel, ship's wheel, or simply 'the wheel'. The moc is really neat. Considering you have no or limited pirate parts, I think it turned out rather well. Awesome hull, I guess I'll have to go get the passinger plane set now!

They don't stick, but the outer wall 'stone' button does'nt quite return flush with the wall when you reclose the door. The torch remains upright with a small rubber belt.

Here is a pirate related joke for your birthday. I hope you haven't heard it before... "So there's this Pirate with a parrot. And this parrot swears like a sailor, I mean he's a pistol. He can swear for five minutes straight without repeating himself. Trouble is, the pirate who owns him is a quiet, conservative type, and this bird's foul mouth is driving him crazy. One day, it gets to be too much, so the guy grabs the bird by the throat, shakes him really hard, and yells, "QUIT IT!" But this just makes the bird mad and he swears more than ever. Then he gets mad and says, "OK for you." and locks the bird in a cabinet. This really aggravates the bird and he claws and scratches, and when the guy finally lets him out, the bird cuts loose with a stream of invective that would make a veteran pirate blush. At that point, he is so mad that he throws the it into the freezer. For the first few seconds there is a terrible din. The bird kicks and claws and thrashes. Then it suddenly gets _very_ quiet. At first the guy just waits, but then he starts to think that the bird may be hurt. After a couple of minutes of silence, he's so worried that he opens up the freezer door. The bird calmly climbs onto the man's out-stretched arm and says, "Awfully sorry about the trouble I gave you. I'll do my best to improve my vocabulary from now on. By the way, what did the chicken do?"

I like the slight inward slope of the hull sides(most tall ship mocs i've seen were 90degrees vertical.) I also like the gun deck and the stern gallery. *y* I wish the bow was less blocky and I agree it's a tad bit tall for it's length. Keep it up though, the main reason I jioned this forum was to see MOC ships of this caliber.

This is fuller than most, still a bit too open for my taste, esp. behind the 3 doors. That being said this is one of my favorite and first large sets. I had this long before I even got any large ship sets.

I live in the midwest US. I'm curious why you'ld want to buy from US stores? If anything we would have to order from europe. As for one example, we don't typicaly get scala or belville sets. I may not nessesaraly get those sets (possibly for parts) but it would have been nice to have the choice. I was also wonderering since they may be building a Legoland near me(rumor), If you have to buy park tickets to shop at the Lego parts stores, or if theyre even in the parks?

They were very minor changes. The first alteration was simply the removal of the main mast, and second was to lengthen the ship. I personaly like the original version best, although I'll admit it is a bit "crowded." I'm working on a way to increase the hull height of the extended version to try and gain back the original morphology while allowing for ample mast spacing.

When you wrote to "British man-at-arms" it sounded like you are refering to a ship, but the only meaning of that term is a Medieval soilder (whose British) and the Eldorado Fortress along with the reat of the pirate line is set well after the Middle Ages so now I'm the one getting confused. You Probably meant men-o-wars, although that refers to many classes of ships outfitted for combat. ""First-rate vessels carried over 800 crew." Pirates would have avoided these vessles and forts, and typically seized or plundered lone merchant ships

Here are some modifications by popular demand. 2 masted version and additional hull

I believe both ponts are valid. From purely official set designs this is a huge fortress, on the other hand, if you're mocing wouldn't you wan't to do something more substantial as "the ne all end all of protection against pirates". Lego has to consider cost when designing sets. Castles and forts at that time don't get much bigger than this set. My main peeve of lego designs is the lack of back walls. It's like a movie set build. Sure it makes playability easier, but detracts to much from the overall appearance.

It is 8821: Rogue Knight Battleship with the wings/sails moved up front, a mizen sail added, and slightly altered to look a little more like 6057: Sea Serpent. If your really interested I'll add details to the "here there be mocs" post.