Imperial Fort From Idea Book 260

[SpacePolice89]

Today I got the flag by mail so I've been able to finish the Imperial fort from idea book 260. This is something I've wanted to build for a long time. I've had most of the parts as extras for for a while but I didn't want to remove the flag from my Eldorado Fortress or Lagoon Lock Up because of fear of damaging the clips and I also want to display all the sets together. I ordered the flag from the new Eldorado Fortress and it's almost the same as the old one. I really like how this set looks and I feel really happy to have a "new" set in my collection because I like the design and aesthetics of the early Pirates sets. It isn't 100% accurate because the wall panel on the right side is white with no printing and the palm tree is the smaller one.

   

@CvS It's nice to hear that others are also building this beautiful fort. If you want to please feel free to post pictures of your version here when you have all the pieces.

[PxChris]

I love this little fort build!

I've kept one displayed with my Pirates collection for quite a few years now! It's definitely worthy of a place next to the other "official" sets.

[SpacePolice89]

42 minutes ago, PxChris said:

I love this little fort build!

I've kept one displayed with my Pirates collection for quite a few years now! It's definitely worthy of a place next to the other "official" sets.

Yes, it looks like could've been a retail set. I believe it would've been really popular if it had been sold with the other sets.

[SpacePolice89]

Here is my version of the fort from idea book 697 and the pirate boat from idea book 260

 

[karrit]

Do these old books you are referencing actually have instructions for these sets?  All the newer books just have photos of builds and often seem to make use of parts that weren't and/or aren't widely available.  I'd love to actually have some instructions to follow rather than trying to reverse engineer from a single photo or buying individual moc instructions.

[Captain Becker]

There arent any offical instructions other than one singe picture as far as I know. So you had/Have to reverse engineer it from that often

EDIT: There might be some fanmade model instructors online these days though who have made the instructions already, but I dont know any sites for em.

Edited November 15, 2024 by Captain Becker

[SpacePolice89]

1 hour ago, karrit said:

Do these old books you are referencing actually have instructions for these sets?  All the newer books just have photos of builds and often seem to make use of parts that weren't and/or aren't widely available.  I'd love to actually have some instructions to follow rather than trying to reverse engineer from a single photo or buying individual moc instructions.

The idea books have official instructions for the main builds

 

[Captain Becker]

3 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

The idea books have official instructions for the main builds

 

You know what, I had totally forgotten about that video and these..... Thanks for bringing it up again! 

Edited November 15, 2024 by Captain Becker

[SpacePolice89]

@Mister Phes Can you please help me to remove the [MOC] part from the name of the thread that someone has added because this is not a MOC but an official design with instructions bought from Lego (260). This has been discussed before in the thread linked below.

 

[Mister Phes]

40 minutes ago, SpacePolice89 said:

@Mister Phes Can you please help me to remove the [MOC] part from the name of the thread that someone has added because this is not a MOC but an official design with instructions bought from Lego (260).

 

Done!

[SpacePolice89]

1 minute ago, Mister Phes said:

Done!

Many thanks!

[karrit]

11 hours ago, SpacePolice89 said:

The idea books have official instructions for the main builds

 

Thank you for the video.  I guess I'll have to see if I can find some of these. 

[SpacePolice89]

@karritThey are available on Bricklink

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?B=260#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?B=697#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

Edited November 16, 2024 by SpacePolice89

[karrit]

@SpacePolice89 I actually found a website that has downloadable pdfs of several of these old books so I've saved several of them.  They've also got instructions from older sets that I don't own.  Down the rabbit hole I go.

 

[PxChris]

Brickset has good scans of pretty much all of the old LEGO Ideas books.

https://brickset.com/library/ideasbooks

[SpacePolice89]

On 11/19/2024 at 5:12 PM, PxChris said:

Brickset has good scans of pretty much all of the old LEGO Ideas books.

https://brickset.com/library/ideasbooks

Those idea books are fantastic. My favorites are 260 and 697. 

[CvS]

On 11/5/2024 at 8:47 AM, SpacePolice89 said:

@CvS It's nice to hear that others are also building this beautiful fort. If you want to please feel free to post pictures of your version here when you have all the pieces.

 

Sorry! I totally missed this post/mention...

If I build this set, I want to do it with parts from the 90's. So that it is a 'real' Classic Pirates set.

I was busy gathering all the necessary parts from that period.
However, that turned out to be quite difficult, especially because 99,9% of Bricklink stores do not distinguish between the different brick variants/ages. 
I don't have a store nearby that sells a lot of individual parts. Let alone a store with a distinction between variants/age in their bulk parts.

The store I do know that does make that distinction is about an hour and a half drive away. 
I still haven't gotten around to visiting that store.

I had the opportunity to purchase the set from someone via Marktplaats (Dutch eBay).
With the guarantee that the parts were all 'period correct.' That turned out not to be the case...
The set contained quite a few very 'modern' parts.

So I'm still looking for a number of parts from the '90s. Once I have the correct parts complete, I will build the set.

A while ago I found a BL store that does make a distinction between the different stone variants/ages.
So now it's only a matter of time until I complete it. Hopefully.

Once I do, I will post some pictures!

Edited January 11 by CvS

[SpacePolice89]

9 hours ago, CvS said:

Sorry! I totally missed this post/mention...

If I build this set, I want to do it with parts from the 90's. So that it is a 'real' Classic Pirates set.

I was busy gathering all the necessary parts from that period.
However, that turned out to be quite difficult, especially because 99,9% of Bricklink stores do not distinguish between the different brick variants/ages. 
I don't have a store nearby that sells a lot of individual parts. Let alone a store with a distinction between variants/age in their bulk parts.

The store I do know that does make that distinction is about an hour and a half drive away. 
I still haven't gotten around to visiting that store.

I had the opportunity to purchase the set from someone via Marktplaats (Dutch eBay).
With the guarantee that the parts were all 'period correct.' That turned out not to be the case...
The set contained quite a few very 'modern' parts.

So I'm still looking for a number of parts from the '90s. Once I have the correct parts complete, I will build the set.

A while ago I found a BL store that does make a distinction between the different stone variants/ages.
So now it's only a matter of time until I complete it. Hopefully.

Once I do, I will post some pictures!

My fort has mostly the correct parts except for the palm tree leaves (small version, 1994) and flag (New Eldorado Fortress version, 2023). All the rest of the parts are the correct ones but some are definitely newer than the late 80s-early 90s. For example the white 3x3 bricks with modified facet are brand new and so are also some of the other small white and yellow pieces. All gray parts are the original gray except one not so visible plate (under the tower structure) that is bluish gray. Do you want all your pieces to be from the correct period or only those that have small differences like the 1x1 modified plate with clip that has changed a bit over the years?

[CvS]

1 hour ago, SpacePolice89 said:

 Do you want all your pieces to be from the correct period or only those that have small differences like the 1x1 modified plate with clip that has changed a bit over the years?

Yes, my aim is to have all parts 'period correct', with the brick variants from the '90s.

[SpacePolice89]

5 hours ago, CvS said:

Yes, my aim is to have all parts 'period correct', with the brick variants from the '90s.

I'm looking forward to seeing your fort when it is ready.