CCOOK

Here's a little something that I whipped up in the last couple weeks; as usual it's flashed to shit, but it came out pretty good: Up close: Shark attack: A British soldier tries to escape the prison: Side view: Back view: Up close again: Pop off the green roof and you'll find the treasure room: Thanks to ChromeBricks for the gold-plated Indiana Jones idol, and thanks to BrickArms for the custom chrome blades! -CCOOK

Yeah I HATE the new ratcheting design on the opening roof sections - more often than not all it does is tear off the roof section or break the vehicle in question. -CCOOK

Here's something I've been tinkering with off and on for the last few weeks: Here's a black "city tram" in front of the Airport Shuttle 2010: I plan on making a white Airport Shuttle as well; here's a nice way to make a monorail motor shroud in ANY COLOR YOU LIKE: A little fragile, but still works perfectly and is very easy to make - thanks to ChromeBricks for the chrome 2x2 tiles: Enjoy! -CCOOK

Here it is without the flash on: Recognize the cloth triangles on the mill? They're the same ones that make up the top of the "Grand Carousel" set. The gallows cages are made from 3mm LEGO rigid rubber tubing attached to barred plates via minifigure hands; the middle crosslinks are simply overlapped 1x1 plates with vertical grabbers. Here's a closer view of the crane - this is a modular crane and can be made in any size because it is made from technic connectors that I also use for the yards on my ships, and also notice the "Raft Raiders 2010": There's not much contrast at all among the rock walls and cobbled flooring when you see it with your own eyes - the stupid flash from the camera is really taken up by the light gray bricks, and you can't even tell the flooring from the walls! Anyway, enjoy the photos. -CCOOK

You asked me to check this out in my post; it looks pretty good. The action and all of the minifigures adds a lot of character to this. This is like the kind of stuff I made back when I only did what I call "classical" MOCs - I basically made MOCs with traditional styling (lots of open studs and minifigures from the 1989 to 1996 era). It's a different style and is in no way inferior to the newer styling that so many people endeavor to duplicate (i.e. everything decked or cobbled, stairwells to every floor - in other words unlike a traditional LEGO playset). This reminds me of a traditional LEGO playset that's intended for everybody - I still have a really old MOC of a dock with the "Skull's Eye Schooner" and "Black Seas Barracuda" docked with it, all with old minifigures, and I'll never tear it down. Build more and look at some of the other MOCs on here - I've never taken to the tiled water that a lot of the experts utilize, but that's not a big deal - I can buy the necessary tiles to re-vamp my MOCs with this any time. The biggest problem with the larger and more detailed MOCs is the cost and rarity of the parts; I can afford the absurd prices for these parts, but a lot of other people cannot, and it really is not fair - all of this is just plastic sh*t and is worth practically nothing but for the pleasure of construction and display. You should have seen the insane prices I paid for the sails for this beast, but at the time I didn't care and was willing to pay anything for them. Anyway, great MOC and hope to see more from you soon! -CCOOK

Here's a really nasty place that I just finished: These guys are pretty bad-a$$ - notice that they wear chrome cutlasses and knives on the "Prince of Persia" X-shape neck sheath; also note the chained skeleton cage: The right side - 16x8 rope bridge connects the gothic double house to the millhouse's island: The other side - there's a small dock on here that leads to a rope ladder in the back that goes all the way up the mill's structure: Close-up; everybody's drunk and having a ball, except the guy on the gallows tree - this is an real noose that was a huge pain the a$$ to tie: The back of the gothic houses: Technic connectors support the back of the 3-story house and the side of its 2-story counterpart: The set is totally modular; here's the millhouse first floor with the second floor removed (armoire, glass chrome flintlock case, rum cask palette): I really need a big white sheet of paper to reduce the ridiculous amount of contrast from the camera flash: Here's the second floor removed (really expensive rare brown roof bricks - what a rip-off!!!!!): This is the left side of the millhouse second floor; notice the "crack" that separates the front roof from the back four studs of roof section: The 2x2 portion of roof adjacent to the window is actually a ridge, and is connected to a red 1x2 hinge that allows it to fold down: This allows the second floor of the millhouse to be opened on its side hinges, which would otherwise be prohibitted by the overlap of roof edges: A little fun upstairs: Thanks to "ChromeBricks" for the mirror-chrome 2x2 round tile on the middle dresser in here: And that's that. -CCOOK

Yeah here they are below - just got some decent 2009 minifigures in the day before yesterday. Sure that's fine - don't worry about it. Well here it is with minifigures attached; quartering away: Pretty stern: Everything: Another view: Deck: Plank extended: Everything open with full access: Harvest Moon and Hellbound Heart: Enjoy. -CCOOK

Well here is the ship completely finished (still need to add minifigures however): Stern section sides open: Another little spoiler: A retractable plank! You can see here the plank is captured by a 2 x 8 x 1/3 slot that is built into the deck: And of course the side opens to give access to the gun decks: Bow: -CCOOK

Here's a little more; the captain's cabin is pretty busy inside: Next to the Hellbound Heart: -CCOOK

Woohoo - redid the lateral areas - the yellow ridge didn't work out. It's burnin' - straight from the depths of hell: 3mm yellow and black tubing is going to make this thing: Like the Hellbound Heart before it, would you expect anything less? I actually discovered this about 2 months ago, and it's a nice way to make an authentic coffin that looks like it could hold a LEGO minifigure: Like the cross? This is how you put it together: Keep on keepin' on. -CCOOK

Here's a little surprise for all of you - it's nowhere near being finished, but what I've got so far should say enough: For some reason that little yellow arch over the rudder cost me a bundle - I think it's an invalid piece that was never supposed to have been made in that color: Dresser missing a drawer? This is the crew's quarter gallery: Enjoy the photos. -CCOOK

Thanks everybody! I don't really know what to build next - I'm thinking of an "Imperial Outpost 2010" and a "Barracuda 2010," but I will have to wait and see - a new Barracuda needs to be something really special and a little bit smaller than the Hellbound Heart (probably 5 mid sections instead of six). Oh yeah - Derfel and Blackmoor - the mocs at the bottom of your posts look bad-*ss. -CCOOK

Very slick - I like the interior. -CCOOK

All right - I've finished the tiling today via my latest Bricklink order - the ship is now finished. I really need to get a better camera setup like the rest of you have, so that I can take some better pictures that aren't flashed to shit. Here's the ship with most of the pirates (I'm still waiting on some more parts - I want to place some treasure on the deck, and I also want to add an African pirate). Wide view: Profile: Down low: Close-up #1: Close-up #2: Aft: Cargo grating opened: Boring: Interesting: Inside close-up: Stern: Stern again: The other side: I hope you all like it; I really need to get a decent camera setup and Photoshop this onto an ocean background or something similar. -CCOOK

Well, I decided to release one more spoiler here. Here is the ship in front of the Barracuda: How do you access the gun decks in order to move the cannons? Hinge one side of the ship: Everything is tiled with reddish-brown, old brown, and dark brown tiles: The crew quarters are the lower set of red windows, and consist of three sets of double bunk beds on the same level as the second gun deck. The first gun deck leads up to the second gun deck with black ladders - the aft portion with the arch contains a bunch of powder kegs, and each level has plenty of cannon balls and barrels. -CCOOK

Here's the ship nearly completed - I still need to finish the decking and add the pirate minifigures. I'll take better-quality photos of it that show all of the features once everything's finished. Enjoy! -CCOOK

I'll still buy the Toys R Us truck, even though I bought the LEGO truck - the blue parts are worth it. -CCOOK

Nice - you must be as big of a firearms enthusiast as I am LOL!!! -CCOOK

This is just what I have right now - I've purposely cut out the stern and much of the midship section because it still needs completion. This is a 20-gun beast with all the bells and whistles - I'll provide all of you with a new post detailing all of its features after it's done, but here's a little appetizer: The name of the ship is the Hellbound Heart. Enjoy. -CCOOK

The wreck of the Marauder: I need to buy some more pirates off of Bricklink LOL! -CCOOK

Here it is completed; it was quite difficult to mount the rear sail onto the newer mast section. Here's a wider view of it from the side: The new pirate captain's coat can be turned into a vest by swapping the black arms for red ones: I never really showed a view of the stern before: The cannon is also mounted on a turn-table that's attached to an inverted rail sliding base - you can see it in the photos in the first post. -CCOOK

A little appetizer for the big stuff that I plan on building in the next few months: I am going to put the sails from the Renegade Runner onto this ship, only the rigging will be similar to that of the new Imperial Flagship. -Cook

Here it is cleaned up and nearly finished; I think I need more pirates to fill up the two houses: Here it is from the left side: The right side of the second house: The first floor railing of the second house: A buccaneer approches a brothel maiden on the second floor: The dock of the second house: The inside of the first house; I appologize for the off-center central lantern: The dock of the first house; I need to put another cannon on the end of this: A pirate walks the rope bridge, scimitar in hand: The first house close-up: A swashbuckler ascends the rope ladder to lay more wood on the fire, calling home the Hellbound Heart. . . . . . . . -Cook

That's my kind of MOC - keep it up. -Cook

Got a small Bricklink order today - a few mast sections from the Armada flagship, and a bunch of parrots. I have also redone the original building with new log bricks, and have redone the interior, the inner roof support, and have tagged some ivy to the sides of it. The black mast sections that were supporting both buildings have been replaced by brown ones, and I also put some chains over a couple of them. Both floors still need tiling: The black stairs piece will be replaced by a tiled brown one: Ivy vegetation: The outpost: -Cook