Tag Archives: Pirates

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.

One Eyed Willy

Snigger. And for once it’s not us being childish! We have Steven Spielberg to thank for the silliness, and his 1980s cinematic masterpiece ‘The Goonies’, in which a group of children set off in search of lost treasure to save their homes from demolition.

Captained by One Eyed Willy, ‘The Inferno’ lay at the end of a booby-trapped labyrinth, floating inside a cavern, and filled with loot.

Inspired by the movie, Stefan Eeckman (aka sebeus) has constructed this stupendous homage to One Eyed Willy’s vessel, with galleries, gun ports, rigging, and a marvellous nougat-coloured hull.

There’s more to see of ‘The Inferno’ at Stefan’s Flickr album of the same name, and you can grab your treasure map, dodge the falling boulders, pit of spikes, and collapsing bone-organ floor in search of pirate treasure 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.

Sloop John B

We come on the sloop John BMy grandfather and meAround Nassau town we did roamDrinking all nightGot into a fightWell, I feel so broke upI want to go home

So hoist up the John B’s sailSee how the main sail setsCall for the captain ashoreLet me go homeLet me go homeI wanna go home, yeah, yeahWell, I feel so broke upI wanna go home

The Beach boys putting it a hundred times better than we ever could. This fantastic pirate sloop comes from Sebeus I, deploying LEGO’s vintage pre-fab hull pieces alongside some beautiful sails and rigging. See more of it here.

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.

Skull and Crossplane

Americans, like TLCB Elves, are excited by decals. There’s the Pontiac Firebird’s Giant Flaming Bird motif, the Ford Mustang’s twin stripes, aircraft with teeth, and many more besides.

Despite this clear appreciation for decal work, that most American of cars – the Chevrolet Corvette – isn’t really famous for any stickers at all.

Fortunately László Torma is here to correct this, by equipping the unloved LS1 crossplane-engined C4 Corvette (see, the title does make sense!) with a giant skull on the hood.

You can also build both the aforementioned skull and the car wearing it at home, as László has made building instructions for his C4 Corvette ‘Skull Edition’ available. Go on, get a boner 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.

Not a Car

This is not a car, but it is beautiful. Modelled after a USS Brig, the ‘Europa’ features a beautifully constructed brick-built hull, complete rigging, a crimson deck (to hide the blood), a functioning capstan to raise the anchors, a working tiller-controlled rudder, and an unusual man-fornicating-with-bull figurehead design. Built by TLCB debutant TomSkippy there’s more to see at the Eurobricks ‘Pirate’ forum – click the link to set sail.