Tag Archives: galleon

18th Century Idiocy


The sailing boat is the 18th century equivalent of the Ford Mustang. At least it was in our home nation, where hundreds, if not thousands, were smashed into sand bars, rocks, each other…

Cue this excellent Imperial Ship by Flickr’s Brick Knight, which has just crashed into a rock probably whilst doing something reckless leaving a boat show.

Being the 18th century, the spectators can’t video it to put it on YouTube, but we’re sure the taverns will be filled with reenactments tonight.

There’s more of the historic idiocy to see at Brick’s photostream and you can join the scene of the accident via the link above.

In Pursuit of Pirates

We might be a car blog here at The, er… Lego Car Blog, but we do like ships too. Particularly piratical ones. Of course LEGO’s ‘Redcoat’ soldiers were not pirates, but they were armed to fight them, and Flickr’s Evancelt Lego has equipped his Redcoated mini-figures with this fantastic napoleonic galleon to do just that. A suite of brick-built cannons, a neat yellow hull, and a curious wake (considering the sails are furled) can all be found at his photostream – click the link above to don your red coat, and take to the seas in pursuit of pirates.

The Lego Ship Blog

We’ve heard people call us a ‘ship’ blog before. At least, it sounded like ‘ship’…

Anyway, today we are a Lego ship blog, courtesy of BrickPerfection and this incredible privateer frigate ‘Fortuna’.

Constructed from around four thousand pieces, the ‘Fortuna’ measures over 80cm long, 62cm high, and is equipped with three triple-section masts, twenty canons, a pair of swivel guns, a working two-anchor capstan with a selector gearbox, and a gorgeous fully equipped and accessible interior.

Complete with a crew of twelve mini-figures, beautiful detailing is in rich abundance throughout the build, and you can help to make this phenomenal ship a purchasable set through Bricklink’s Designer Programme.

Full details on how to vote, further imagery, and a video of the ship’s features can be found at the Eurobricks discussion forum, and you can set sail on BrickPerfect’s perfectly-bricked ship via the link in the text above.

Scalawag Sloop

Yarr! Today we be pirates, thanks to Captain Tom Skippy and his ‘Scalawag Sloop’! Though she be built from fewer than six-hundred pieces, her sails and hull be brick-built too, and you can board her at Port Eurobricks or Flickr Harbour before she sails for Barracuda Bay.

Treasure Planet

Losing Disney around $74 million, 2002’s ‘Treasure Planet’ is a film the studios would probably like to forget. Which is a shame, because it was well received, but was sadly at odds with the computer-animation boom of the early ’00s, and Disney’s traditionally animated movies were all but gone within a few years.

It’s this traditional animation however, that sets ‘Treasure Planet’ apart from its computer-animated peers today, being infinitely more beautiful than the CGI films of the time.

Measuring a metre tall and a metre long, this spectacular 4,000-piece recreation of ‘Treasure Planet’s ‘RLS Legacy’ solar galleon captures the movie’s gorgeous animation wonderfully in brick form, and comes from Flickr’s Daniel Church who designed it for the Brickworld Chicago show.

Presented (and edited) beautifully, there’s more to see of Daniel’s incredible otherworldly ship at his ‘RLS Legacy’ album, and you can join the Legacy’s crew at the Crescentia Spaceport at the start of their adventure via the link above.

Certified Ship

This is the ‘HMS Certitude’, an early-1800’s 26-gun ‘fourth-rate’ warship, as built by the rather talented hands of TLCB newcomer Powder Monkey.

Monkey’s creation packs in a boatload of features, including 26 working cannons across two decks, opening hatches and grills to reveal a beautifully detailed interior, a functioning capstan, woking rigging to set the sails, and an extensive crew of ‘Redcoat’ mini-figures.

Whilst a Navy ship, the Certitude does also feature a few ‘illegal’ (you could say piratical) techniques, including cut rigging, polyester cloth sails, and a few parts connected together in ways that LEGO wouldn’t countenance in an official set, but the result is a first rate, er… fourth-rate ship.

An extensive gallery of superb imagery is available to view at Powder Monkey’s ‘HMS Certitude’ Flickr album, or you can join the discussion at the Eurobricks forum. Click the links above to weigh anchor and set sail.

It’s a Pirate’s Life for Me

Following our recent advertising shenanigans, this TLCB Writer is ready to find another more radical source of revenue, and Eurobricks’ Supersick_ might have the answer.

This incredible creation is a late-18th century heavy frigate, and one of the finest ships to feature here in many a year. Forty-eight brick-built cannons, a working double-deck capstan to weigh anchor, a highly detailed interior complete with cabins and stove, and working rigging that can accurately replicate real-world sailing profiles all feature, as does a skull-and-crossbones flag flying from the stern and first mast…

Which means both that this galleon is operating somewhat outside of maritime law, and also that these some very well equipped pirates.

Whether stolen from an Admiralty fleet or bought from plunder, it’s clear the piratical mini-figures aboard ‘The Supernaut’ are a mightily successful crew, which this TLCB Writer would rather like to join. Fortunately he (and you) can, as builder Supersick_ has produced building instructions for this astonishing ship.

There’s much more to see, including full build details, the real-world inspiration, digital renders, and further imagery – as well as a link to those building instructions – at the Eurobricks discussion forum. Click the link above to set sail, and consider beginning a lucrative new occupation.

Shadowy Seas

The Lego Car Blog is not the best place to find intricate techniques for realistic castle walls, thatched roofs, or ocean waves. This is because the aforementioned items rarely appear on vehicular creations, and if they did we wouldn’t know how to talk about them. A flat-plane crank V8 or the subtleties between super and turbo-charging – yes, the finer points on lifelike rock-work – not so much.

Except today, where here at The Lego Car Blog is the most spell-bindingly beautiful – and somewhat haunting – brick-built landscape we’re sure you’ll see in brick form. Constructed from over 50,000 pieces, this is Huynh Khang and Ky Duy Phong’s ‘Kraken Shadowy’ pirate ship, and the astonishingly real ocean beneath it.

A literal sea of transparent 1×2 bricks and plates, layered over a rolling base varying in hue and elevation, Huynh Khang and Ky Duy Phong’s creation is perhaps the finest example of a brick-built ocean it’s possible to conceive. Jagged rocks stretch out of the waves like a hand from the depths, looking perilously close to the wonderful mini-figure-crewed pirate ship navigating the waters around them.

Beautifully lit, photographed and presented, there’s a whole lot more to see of the ship – and the spectacular ocean it sails upon – at Khang Huynh’s ‘Kraken Shadowy’ album. Click the link above to jump into the ocean.

A Pirate’s Life for Me

Today’s creation is not a car, which means we’re well out of our depth. But, despite not knowing which way the wind is blowing, even we can see just how swell this magnificent 72-gun pirate galleon by Flickr’s Robert4168/Garmadon is.

To parrot a few stats from Robert, the ‘Buccaneer’s Dread’ measures 165 studs from rudder to bowsprit, 58 studs crossbeam, 170 studs tall, is crewed by 36 mini-figures (including obligatory skeletons), and features over 85 LED lights from third-party specialists Lightailing.

Robert’s voyage to complete the ‘Buccaneer’s Dread’ took three years, and the finished model is now up for sale, with much more of this piratical masterpiece available to view at his photostream. Sea dogs, buccaneers, freebooters, hearties and swashbucklers set sail via the link above!

*One hundred doubloons if you can spy all the piratical puns.

Barracuda Redux

The 6285 Black Seas Barracuda is probably one of the greatest LEGO sets ever released. Launched back in 1989 with just under a thousand pieces, 6285 is a high watermark for LEGO’s Pirates range that the company is yet to better. But that hasn’t stopped SuperSick.

Loosely based on the original set, SuperSick’s Black Seas Barracuda Redux adds a host of smooth techniques and piece upgrades, plus an additional twelve cannons, to create very possibly our favourite pirate ship ever. In fact, apart from the flags flying in the wrong direction (sailing basics SuperSick!), it could be the perfect ship.

Join the piratical adventure at the Eurobricks forum via the link above.

HMS Texas

This is ‘HMS Redoubtable’, an Imperial Guard ship by Flickr’s Elephant-Knight, and it has absolutely definitely got more guns than you. Even if you live in Texas.

Despite Texas having the highest number of guns (and the highest number of gun deaths – go-figure?), even a Texan is unlikely to match Redoubtable’s three gun decks and one hundred and twelve separate guns. That’s even more weaponry than is carried at an average ‘MAGA’ rally.

At over fifty inches long (that’s over 160 studs) and nearly forty inches tall, Elephant’s ship is impressive in far more ways than just than its gun tally, and there’s a whole lot more to see of this spectacular ship eleven-months-in-the-making at Elephant-Knight’s photostream.

Join the one hundred and twelve gun salute via the link above.

Not a Carrrrgh!

Aarrrgh, this be a fine vessel. She be a twenty-four gun barque, plain to the eye yet a beauty where it counts, from her Harrrry Potter wand rigging to her 12-pounderrr cannons. She be captained by Sebeus I and you can request to join her crew on Flickrrrr.

Pieces of Eighty

OK, we’re not sure how many pieces Flickr’s Robert4168/Garmadon has actually used to build ‘Montroy’s Flagship’, but it’s not many. What we are sure of is that Robert has demonstrated brilliantly that with just a handful of bricks you can create something blogworthingly wonderful. See more at the link.

Yaaar! Not a Caaar!

The more astute among you may have noticed that this build is not a car. But it has allowed us to write a post title in a pirate voice and pirates are cool, which is a good enough reason for this TLCB writer. It’s also a properly excellent build, and there’s more to see of ZiO Chao‘s magnificent mini-figure scale ‘Black Queen’ pirate ship on Flickr via the link.

Broadside

Blam blam blam blam! You don’t frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur-king, you and all your silly English knnnniggets!* Blam blam blam blam!

This French vs. British battle might not contain a car, but it’s about as good a scene as you’ll even find in Lego. Wesley of Flickr is the man behind it and there’s more to see at his photostream via the link above.

*If you have no idea what we’re on about…