Frank Filz

I think he was saying he saw Ben's model in person... I have both seen Ben's model in person, and been aboard the real ship. I grew up in Massachusetts, though I'm not sure I visited Old Ironsides until I was in college or later. Frank

http://www.bigbenbricks.com/ben/lego/ussco...tion/index.html Frank

That's Ben Fleskes's USS Constitution, and it is nice. We decided to leave it out of the pirate display because it just dwarfs the rest of the pirate stuff. On the other hand, it looked quite nice in front of Adran Egli's massive bridge (which is just ever so barely tall enough to clear the Constitution... Adrian and I checked it out...). Frank

I won't be participating in Brick World. Here's their web site: https://registration.brickworld.us/ Frank

There is Brick World in Chicago, much more reasonable to drive to from Minnesota. Frank

The easiest way to submit a MOC is to show up at BrickFest (or for that matter any of the other US brick conventions) with your MOC in hand. It's helpful if you contact the area coordinator ahead of time and/or use the MOC registration form on the website, especially if your MOC is large (though in this case we just had a general plan and ended up deciding at the last minute how to actually merge everything). PDX is Portland Oregon's three letter airport code. It's frequently used by Portlanders (especially geeky ones) to refer to their city (lots of e-mail lists and Yahoo groups and such are pdx-something). It's quicker to write and (to those in the know) differentiates from other Portland's in the world. Frank

Hi, been a bit busy to post here... Indeed, the Pirate display has (almost) no new MOCs. As noted, we have discussed the light house before and I was involved in that discussion. I hadn't realized the island had also been discussed, that was built by Thomas and Kristin Rafert from Seattle Washington. A last minute decision was made Thursday morning to include all the official pirate ships (perhaps at a future fest, we'll have a Pirate Sail In simular to the Space Fly In and have all the official sets). There is one large custom pirate ship that is new (or at least I had not seen it before). Also, I included most of my cutsom ships (including my Red Seas Barracuda which is a color variant of the Black Seas Barracuda with a few modifications - another cannon, the foremast moved to line up with the bracing correctly, and a couple more minor changes). Frank

No, but it would be easy to rebuild. Frank

The Fabuland rowboat is actually different from the Bellville one. It's a little less deep and is more rounded. The Bellville boat is the one that has come in more reasonable colors in System sets. This MOC is mine. It was created in about 5 minutes at BrickFest 2000 when we discovered that we needed a few more ships for Evil Stevie's Pirate Game. It was made from available parts at the time (fortunately I had loaded up an SUV with several boxes of parts and such). I actually made two of them. With a bit more work, this idea could be turned into a decent ship, though it looks a little funny with the rounded stern. Frank

The Wolfpack sails were made for my by Sheree Rosekrantz back when I was building my Wolfpack Castle By The Sea (which was abandoned before completion). Frank

One thing one has to understand about NWBrickCon displays is that there is friendly interraction between the themes that has the various themes attacking each other. Sure it isn't realistic, but it's lots of fun, and it is nice to see castle and space folks talking to each other. I really enjoyed participating in this display (and anchoring the left end of the display, the black castle and the wharf scene are all mine, pretty much that whole end of the scene is mine). I also enjoyed how it actually worked out that there was a consistent story. Someone else (sorry, I'm horrible with names) was setting up this battle scene with dragon knights and Vladek's forces attacking - and I had already decided to join those two factions together myself, with the big castle for Vladek!). The Wolfpack are neutrals playing both sides. At some point, I will take good pictures of my MOCs. The black castle and the wharf scene both disassemble so you can see inside every room. The black castle is made up of more than 30 separate sections that fit together. The wharf scene is more than 20 sections. I also rebuilt the Blacksmith Shop to come apart in layers instead of being hinged. And I modified the Harry Potter graveyard to fit on a 32x32 baseplate. I have my part of the scene set up in my living room, with my pirate light house also displayed. I had plans to extend the table in my living room from 5'x5' to 5'x10', however, a girlfriend has entered my life and put a stop to that plan. However, if I get storage built in my garage, the plan is to set up the table there. Frank

Must not be my MOC, no bley in it (unless the baseplate has bley, can't recall...) Frank

Note that the lighthouse folks have visited is the old Cape Henry light house I posted the link to above. There was no specific inspiration for this MOC (unlike my first light house which was based on the Cape Fear light house in Oregon). Frank

I was looking through my old photographs the other day and realized I had been in that lighthouse (in Virginia) myself. Thanks for all the comments. As to my pirate web pages, sadly, keeping up my web page was basically a full-time job. I did all that work during a period when my work responsibilities were in flux, and basically I was being paid to keep my desk and office chair from floating away. It gave me new appreciation for work, realizing how boring it is to sit all day and have to entertain oneself. Frank

I meant to mention the tourists with the video camera... They are Colin and Wanda of minifig world tour fame - well, actually their clones. They go to every brick con with me (at NWBrickCon they were touring my new Scorpion Castle). I enjoy putting in anachronisms. Inside the tavern, we have Yoda levitating so he can pay (for his fruit juice...) and Princess Leia in Jabba the Hutt slave garb dancing. Oh, and minor correction - that's Filz not Fitz... When I take more detailed pictures, you'll note the light house tender carrying an oil can for topping of the burner for the light... In additiona to the parrot infestation, there's also a monkey infestation. Frank