Building a Ship with Bricklink

[Lancethecat]

I really want to own a LEGO pirate ship (or maybe even a merchant ship), but all of the ships for sale on the aftermarket are ludicrously expensive and the upcoming Brick Bounty doesn't really appeal to me. Is it possible to build a ship for under $50 using parts ordered from Bricklink? I've had experience with Bricklink in the past ordering parts for a LEGO Ideas project, but all of my MOCs so far have been built using pieces that I already own.

[Matthias]

I would try to buy an old ship on eBay which shall be totally incomplete with no figures and in a bad condition. It should include the sails and the huls and masts. This would be very cheap and you could add you own bricks to make your own ship. I startend with 2 caribean Clippers for building my own MOC ship.

Edited December 29, 2014 by Matthias

[Mencot]

I would try to buy an old ship on eBay which shall be totally incomplete with no figures and in a bad condition. It should include the sails and the huls and masts. This would be very cheap and you could add you own bricks to make your own ship. I startend with 2 caribean Clippers for building my own MOC ship.

Yes this sounds like a better idea becuase you will pushing the 50 $ limit very quickly on Bricklink on some ship parts, I know I have tried it.

And I think many others here also has more experince in this area, will say the same.

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Under $50 will be difficult in my opinion. My observation on bricklink is that - due to missing TLG output - the ship parts are drying out (hull, mast, etc.).

At the same time, the price seems to increase, but that is not as bad as the parts being not available in the first place.

Matthias' idea sounds very practical.

If you want to spend more money, you could go for Metalbeard's Sea Cow and turn it into a normal ship.

The friends ship also offers hull parts in white. (which makes them available on bricklink, but it might be the wrong colour for your purpose).

Good luck!

[dr_spock]

It depends on what you already have in terms of parts that can be used for a ship. Do you want a brick built hull or the large hull pieces? Actual mast pieces or build your own, etc.

[clm]

You could probably squeak by with something like a Renegade Runner for about that price, although you could also probably buy a used Renegade Runnerset for that as well. I am just out of my dark ages due to a box of old Lego in my attic, I realized I always wanted the old pirate ships... so I am bricklinking all 7 of them (about 90% done :p) I am also in the process of buying a couple K.O. sets which mostly fall in your price range and are complete. They are sacrilege of sorts but you might want to look at them if budget is an issue... I can't wait for the 307.. biggest small hull set I have seen heh.

Chris

[Capn Frank]

You could easily get a small brick-built fleet of vessels of your choosing.

• I recommend small brick-built hulls and maybe even using bow bricks from BL. You could get a nice small merchant vessel built.
  
• Your masts could also be brick built or axle/technic.
  
• Yard arms could also be axles or plates.
  
• For sails, you could wander to a fabric store and pick up some fabric for your sails and cut them yourself (see tutorial). Or in the past, I've made them out of paper.
  
• Your cannon could be small brick-built ones too. Here is my personal favorite.

Notice that none of these ideas require expensive, long- retired bricks that you can build cheaply. And you may even have most of the bricks you need already.

[GeneralWashington420]

I

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I accidently pressed ENTER before writing the rest of my comment. I meant to say - I don't thin you can build a lego pirate ship with bricklink for under 50 dollars.

[super_st]

I managed to get the bow and sails and masts for the renegade runner on eBay for £7 and I have just ordered the bricks on bricklink , all in all cost me about £20, don't think that's too bad. Even tho its probably one of the smallest vessels to buy