Posted by
Dan
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8:38 PM
| Name of Model: IMG_9532 |
| Created by: Dan (yours truly) |
| Found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dp3/15424910239/in/set-72157627265274741 |
Details:  Here's a quick look at one of my own recent builds - a microscale Pirate ship (or more accurately, an imperial galleon for the pirates to attack). The original idea was to create a ship that looked good, but was small enough to animate for Mini LEGO Con. That didn't work out so well, but the finished model was nice enough to add a stand (with water). At 8 x 16 studs, it fits into a Mini Con display, but is slightly larger than one of the BrickFair-styled tables.
This was actually a very humbling model, since I ended up using quite a few pieces that I dismissed as unnecessary when they first came out. The base of the ship is a Bionicle Visorak foot - an "action figure part" you'll never use in-system, right? Two of the sails use a 1 x 2 plate with 2 clips (you'd think 2 1 x 1 plates with clips would do the trick, but this is actually sturdier). One of the sails uses a 2 x 2 tile with one stud in the center, which I remember saying was the equivalent of 3 jumper plates, but a plate shorter. Finally, a 1 x 1 round plate with hole (a part once exclusive to LEGOLAND for metal bracing and wiring) connects the tallest mast to the 1 x 1 round brick below it.
Kids, don't try this at home. You would not believe how difficult it is to connect a plate clip into the bottom of a 2 x 3 plate that already has two 1 x 2 tiles wedged into it. At least it looks good, but LEGO rightly considers that to be an illegal connection.
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: H.M.S Imperial Shark |
| Created by: mattbliss83 |
| Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=420890 |
Details:
 Building ships can pose a bit of a challenge - building hulls from scratch can quickly get parts intensive (and thus expensive), but using the large hull elements from the various boat kits makes it difficult to expand the size of the boat. Sure, you could just buy more copies of the kit to make the boat longer, but eventually the proportions just get a bit too out of whack (and realistically, buying multiples of the same Pirate ship just for hull mid-sections can quickly get very expensive). This model strikes an interest balance - there's definitely hull sections from more than one kit, but extra height keeps the proportions in check. The front section shows an excellent use of slopes and sideways plates to expand the shape of the ship. Extravagant detail work makes the ship look elegant enough to be an important part of the imperial fleet. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: PTV2- When fishing goes wrong. |
| Created by: Guss |
| Found at: http://guss.teammu.com/modules/extgallery/public-album.php?id=156 |
Details:
 It's not easy to build a great Pirate ship. Generally speaking, if you build only part of a ship, you're going to disappoint people. Not this time, though - the brick-built sails, water, boat hull and shark (according to this EuroBricks thread it was originally intended to be a whale but morphed into something fairly original that the builder is calling a Giant Sharkiguss) look spectacular and anchor (see what I did there?) the whole model. Not content to stop there, though, Guss has also added in some details and vignettes both inside and outside of the ship. You can spot a sleeping pirate, a captain with a fishing rod, and even barrels of ballast in the bottom of the ship. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: The Slippery Eel | | Created by: -infomaniac- | | Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/-infomaniac-/tags/pillagethevillage/ | Details:
 The whole "Pillage the Village" concept (which has been the basis for a few contests now) is to force Pirate builders back onto land to show us how the non-seafarers of the time lived - and what the Pirates could do to them. This village is a delightful mix of soldiers' fortifications and more civilian buildings, and also features plenty of Pirate action. Don't miss the rounded towers or the rocky landscaping. The pirate leaping into the water shows an interesting technique for the newer style of "fiber optic" cables LEGO has been using to allow the smaller lights to light up a larger area. |
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Posted by
Brickapolis
at
3:00 PM
| Name of Model: Renegade Redcoat Rum Runners! | | Created by: Derfel Cadarn | | Found at: Flickr | Details:
Derfel Cadarn brings us a splendid pirates creation, complete with copious amounts of vegetation, lots of bley, and every other component that great creations are made of.
The dock and the rock surrounded beach is my favorite part of the creation. I'm really liking the studs up water used here too, it shows that you don't have to use SNOT to get decent looking water, (talented builders [cough, cough] take note) sometimes tiles work just as well.
An impressive creation all around, a good deal of time and effort was put into this creation. None of that [effort] went to waste either, the resulting creation is a masterful piece of work. |
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Posted by
Lego Model of the Day
at
9:15 PM
| Name of Model: Lion Of Lübuck | | Created by: maydayartist | | Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=396195 | Details:
 Take a moment to let that image sink in. I try to be agnostic towards photo quality - as someone who tends to take very bad pictures, I hardly feel fair judging other people's pictures. It's also up for debate whether or not photoshopped pictures of models should really count. This is just a striking image, a true work of art. If it weren't for a few distinct LEGO pieces still being visible, you could think this had been painted by a master landscape painter in centuries gone by.
Here's an interesting twist on basing your models on historical reference photos: rather than directly try to build the Adler von Lübeck out of LEGO® parts, maydayartist decided to build a sister ship - and what a spectacular ship it is. The sails are made out of pillow cases, and look surprisingly good (usually the non-LEGO material of choice is canvas, which is stiffer, but doesn't allow for stowing away the rigging like we see in some of the other photos here). The sides of the ship are largely made out of sideways log elements. The rear cabin makes use of hinges to create 7 sides. Most great Pirate ship models impress us with their size or vignettes, but this one does it with style. |
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Posted by
Lego Model of the Day
at
7:39 PM
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Posted by
Duckingham
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: Calamari Calamity! | | Created by: 2 Much Caffeine | | Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24681250@N07/3379751668 | Details:
 2 Much Caffeine has so many things here that are working well that at first its easy to overlook the fact that this is a LEGO creation. The scene is laid out well and the humor (or is it horror? ;D) is immediately evident.
The squid's eye stands out as a well done technique along with the whole scale of the tentacled beast. I like the minifig legs sticking up out of the water as well as the guys hanging on to the boat for dear life! 2 Much Caffeine has a nice use of white and green tiles to represent where the ripples are. Another technique that he's handled well here is angling the chest and box to get across the idea that these things are bobbing around in the ocean. One last thing to note: it's not visible in this picture, but if you check out his other pics you'll see good use of a technique for finishing off the bottom of what is otherwise a flat boat. Very nice indeed!
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Posted by
Lego Model of the Day
at
12:31 AM
For those of you interested in knowing more about the new Pirates parts, I put together a few comparison photos of the new Pirates parts this past weekend:
First, the flags, new parts on top, original ones on bottom:
It's not that clear from the box art, but the new alligators/crocodiles are dark green instead of regular green (also, the new tails fit more snugly and move less once assembled):
The other photos aren't really good enough to bother posting, but here are the details:
The oars and cannon-holders are technically new, but the changes to the mold are extremely minor and not worth mentioning. The oars and boats are in new colors (white oars, dark blue boats, as compared to red and brown oars with brown and black boats). My sources tell me that the "new" shooting cannons are actually the same as the older shooting cannons, but obviously these ones are in a new color (pearl dark grey instead of old dark grey). I was always told that the shooting cannons weren't available to me because of toy safety laws - I have no idea why they're available now, but I'd recommend not pointing these spring-loaded cannons at anybody.
Is there demand for a side-by-side comparison of the new minifigs and old minifigs? The differences on those are easy to spot (printed hats, dark green legs and hats, printed backs on torsos, new fronts on torsos, new faces...)
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Posted by
Lego Model of the Day
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: Aheron mini | | Created by: ShooteR | | Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=315556 | Details:
 There are a ton of great Pirate ships out there, but most of them are done with a custom base instead of the official parts for building ships. This one, on the other hand, looks to be made from several of the wide ship base parts that came out back in 1989 and have been increasingly hard to find ever since. It's also a particularly elegant display piece - if it weren't for the little pirate flags at the top, it would look like one of the good guys. The extra cannons that are actually just sideways 1x1 round bricks look great too. |
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Posted by
Lego Model of the Day
at
1:35 PM
| Name of Photo Gallery: Different sculptures from the Pirat-Ride | | Created by LEGO-employed Master Builders | | Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=215685 | Details:
 Now for something completely different - a gallery of photos from the LEGOLAND Billund Pirate Ride. Captain Roger, shown in the thumbnail to the left, also made an appearance in LEGO magazine many years ago. There's a delightful human element to this set of sculptures - they look like real people, and they have some good non-swashbuckling scenes in here. The fiesta, for example, features more women than the entire Pirates line of sets did (LEGO has made an extremely disproportionate amount of male minifigs). The uniformed soldiers featured here suggest to me that the sculptures in these photos were made in the late 1980's or early 1990's - when similarly-colored soldiers were "the good guys" in the Pirates sets. Of course, the nature of a ride like this is that there are tons of little things hidden in there - many exciting details aren't clearly visible in the photos. I bet most people don't even spot the hanging bats while on the ride. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
2:59 AM
| Today's (Thursday's) model pick has been taken offline by the builder. Apologies for the inconvenience |
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Posted by
Dan
at
10:28 AM
| Name of Model: Pirates-Imperial Ship | | Created by: takamkt | | Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=297877 | Details:
 Wait, don't skip this one, it's NOT the set from the early 90's! At first glance, this model looks like one of the older Pirate Ships, and also a lot like the Imperial Flagship set. This isn't, though, and looking at the details makes that abundantly clear. This original model includes a full interior and hinged walls that allow you to look inside of it. A wide variety of parts were used in this model that weren't widely available when sets of this color scheme were available. Note the brown woodtones used to connect the sails, the lions on the back of the ship, and the fencing used on the balcony. Another useful feature is actual stairs and ladders for the minifigures (the official Pirates sets always seem to expect the people to get places by magic). I'm pretty sure this is the ship you want to be on when the head of the Armada tells you to travel to the new world. Those swiveling cannons ought to be able to protect you from the pirates. | | This is Tuesday's model of the day |
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Posted by
Lego Model of the Day
at
11:01 PM
| Name of Model: Pirate Captain | | Created by: Scaled-Up LEGO Bricks bloggers | | Found at: http://bigbricks.blogspot.com/2007/09/pirate-captain.html | Details:
 This sculpture of an oversized LEGO® minifig pirate captain was created by a pair of enthusiasts to go with an official pirate sculpture that they purchased recently. Unlike the other sculpture that they wanted this one to match, this one is made entirely out of LEGO® bricks. Their design perfectly captures all of the details of the original minifig (note the details on that torso, and don't ask me how they got enough brown parts for that peg leg - which seems to have no problem supporting the weight!)
They are also looking for more info on the "Pirate Lady" sculpture that this Captain was made to go with - if you have any information or photographs to share, please pass them along to them. |
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Posted by
Dan
at
3:00 AM
| Name of Model: Pirate Ship | | Created by: Moko (for our readers that understand written Japanese: his blog) | | Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=237762 | Details:
 This beautiful microscale pirate ship features a number of unusual details. Note the binoculars used for cannons, and the way that plates are only loosely attached to form sales. A number of studs-not-on-top effects are used to add details to the ship's sides. Even the normally innocuous tubes on the bottom of plates are used for details - get a load of the way the rope ladders that lead to the sails are made.
If you've been following any of the other LEGO blogs out there, then you probably already know about this model and a few other brilliant models done by Moko. It should suffice to say that Moko is a genius and a browse through his/her Brickshelf gallery will be rather enjoyable, if you have the time for it. |
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Since there is pitifully little written about today's model, I'm quoting the article I've found in its entirety:
