[MOC] Under Jolly Roger!

[Dreamweb]

Hello there! After quite some time (as always), I’m returning with a new ship. However, this time let me begin with a story.

As you may or may not know, I got into LEGO Pirates not long after the series started back in 1989. I was 8. The theme obviously blew my mind, and I started collecting whatever I could with the little money I had at the time. Then I convinced my parents to buy my a Caribbean Clipper for Christmas and I couldn’t be happier. Fast forward to maybe two years later. Either in our local marketplace, or in one of the shops, I don’t exactly remember, my mother saw this sweatshirt with a pirate ship on it. She knew I liked pirates and LEGO Pirates in particular, so she thought I’d like it and bought this for me. Of course I liked it, and I still have some pictures of myself from back then, wearing it. Fast forward again, to one or two years later. I guess the sweatshirt was initially a bit too large or something, because I kept wearing it for some time while growing, obviously. But then a new guy came to our school. A bit older than me, and he was a metalhead of sorts. He was the one to explain it to me, that the image was actually the cover of the “Under Jolly Roger” album by the German heavy metal band Running Wild, of which I previously had had no idea. He also explained that the band basically sang songs about pirates and stuff like that.

He even lent be two cassettes with their music, although they were different albums, with different covers. I must admit I liked the music right away, and I got to like it even more as time passed.

Meanwhile, I got more and more LEGO Pirates stuff, started building MOCs, posting here, etc.

And now let’s jump right to the present year. Early in 2024, a thought occurred to me. Why not build this? Why not build the ship from the cover of the “Under Jolly Roger” LP? Hell yeah! Let’s do this!  And right here and now, I need to mention that the author of this beautiful artwork is a Turkish illustrator named Ertuğrul Edirne, who has done a lot of other great stuff for comic books, etc.  So I printed a few copies of Mr. Edirne’s cover art, I even found one on-line without the band’s name and the title. This one was very useful for the upper parts of the ship which are obscured by the letters on the actual cover.

And I started building. Of course, certain artistic liberties had to be taken. After all, I was trying to recreate a drawn ship which doesn’t really exist, using LEGO bricks. Also, the cover more or less only shows the bow of the ship. So the stern, the interior and some other details are entirely by my own design.

So, over three decades later, the story has now come full circle. I built the ship from the sweatshirt which I wore as a kid due to my fondness for LEGO Pirates. This is Adrian, named after Running Wild’s mascot, along with the record it is based on standing right next to it.

 

 

The sails are of course customs, and it took me A LOT of effort to make them look more or less the way I wanted. I even printed two complete sets of sails, put them on the ship, and threw them into the waste bin because I didn’t like the colours. This is the third and final version, not counting all the attempts that were not printed!

 

By the way, the ship has several allusions to Running Wild songs, which I might explain later (or maybe someone else dares to find them  ).

This is my second ship with a working rudder, but the mechanism is a bit different compared to my previous ship, the Kiss of Death (also a title of a Running Wild song). I’m planning to make a film showing how it works and upload it to Instagram.

By the way, pictures of Adrian are also available there already, so go check them out on INSTAGRAM!

As with most of my ships, the interior is fully accessible... You can see the captain's cabin below!

The white rope operates the rudder.

The gun deck with some custom cannons!

And that's it! It was a tough one for sure. But I'm glad I finally managed to build it!

Thanks for watching and as always, any comments are very much welcome!

 

Edited December 8, 2024 by Dreamweb

[GeoBrick]

Wow, you did a marvelous job on the galleon (the foremost deck area). And the complete bow is quite reminiscent of the picture it is based on.

[Max_Lego]

Very interesting background for a Lego ship MOC! Magnificent work. The ship looks absolutely splendid

[NOD]

I like the ship, it looks like the one on the album cover!  The sails look great, the effort was worth it. I like that there are stairs to the quarterdeck and forecastle. A very good selection of minifigures used.

[thewatchman]

Incredible!

 My favorite lego ship moc iv ever seen. 

[Franco Clarke]

Awesome build, I'm not familiar with the original source material, but this is a spot-on recreation. The heavy use of dark brown is not a common choice, but fits will here. 

[Jack Sassy]

She turned out beautifully!  Though I be not familiar with the source material, the original design itself is very impressive and imposing. As for the references, my guess would be that the pile of skulls and that masked individual on the poop deck certainly allude to something. Most likely many other characters are references to certain songs. Good job on the vessel! 

[Feuer Zug]

Wicked ship and great backstory. I can hear the pounding drums as they close on their prey.

[MarcoMak]

I love the backstory, the ship is beautiful, thank you for sharing, ahoy

[Dreamweb]

On 12/6/2024 at 12:24 PM, GeoBrick said:

And the complete bow is quite reminiscent of the picture it is based on.

 

On 12/7/2024 at 1:38 AM, NOD said:

I like the ship, it looks like the one on the album cover!

Thanks! There are some differences obviously, but overall I am happy with the result!

On 12/6/2024 at 5:48 PM, Max_Lego said:

Very interesting background for a Lego ship MOC!

I must say I loved the idea right away when it occurred to me! Thanks!

On 12/7/2024 at 3:13 AM, thewatchman said:

My favorite lego ship moc iv ever seen.

I must say it's easily my favourite of all the ones I've built. For now, anyway.

On 12/7/2024 at 10:02 AM, Franco Clarke said:

The heavy use of dark brown is not a common choice, but fits will here.

I agree, it looks pretty dark actually, but that was the general idea and the look of the original!

21 hours ago, Feuer Zug said:

Wicked ship and great backstory.

 

7 hours ago, MarcoMak said:

I love the backstory, the ship is beautiful, thank you for sharing, ahoy

Thanks! This really reminds me of my childhood and the times when I wore this ship on my chest.

On 12/9/2024 at 9:04 AM, Jack Sassy said:

As for the references, my guess would be that the pile of skulls and that masked individual on the poop deck certainly allude to something

You're right in both instances, even literally in the former case.

I am planning to make a video showing all the references. Meanwhile, I have prepared a short film showing how various sections of the ship can be removed for easy access, and also presenting the working rudder mechanism! You can watch it on Instagram!

[Jack Sassy]

10 hours ago, Dreamweb said:

You're right in both instances, even literally in the former case.

The illustration reminds me of Powerwolf album covers, Dio too. Then again, they all seem to follow a similar style, it looks impressive. 

10 hours ago, Dreamweb said:

You can watch it on Instagram!

A well thought out system! How did ye work out the staircase stability once the deck was removed and when it was in place? I would like to see the removal of that last deck section closer, if possible. 

[R0Sch]

Awesome job!

[Dreamweb]

14 hours ago, Jack Sassy said:

A well thought out system! How did ye work out the staircase stability once the deck was removed and when it was in place? I would like to see the removal of that last deck section closer, if possible.

Do you mean the part of the deck from which the stairs go up? The stairs are just built on that part of the deck, and they reach the quarterdeck but are not attached to it in any way. I can provide more pictures if this is what you mean.

1 hour ago, R0Sch said:

Awesome job!

Thanks matey!

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Congratulations 

[Dreamweb]

1 hour ago, Captain Braunsfeld said:

Congratulations

Thanks a lot! I appreciate that very much!

[Jack Sassy]

8 hours ago, Dreamweb said:

Do you mean the part of the deck from which the stairs go up?

Possibly? The stairs that lead to the poop deck, right where the captain's cabin be.

8 hours ago, Dreamweb said:

I can provide more pictures if this is what you mean.

Aye, that would be greatly appreciated. 

[MAP Tec]

I love the color of the sails, it matches the ship perfectly. Well done!

[_TLG_]

Cool!

[Dreamweb]

On 12/11/2024 at 10:39 PM, Jack Sassy said:

Aye, that would be greatly appreciated.

As I still wasn't sure which parts you meant, here's a group photo of three detached sections, all of which have stairs:

Left: the aftmost part of the main deck, with stairs leading up to the quarterdeck.

Middle: the quarterdeck and the (higher) poop deck. The opening in the quarterdeck is for the helm, which is not removable as it has its mechanism attached to the rudder.

Right: this section can be removed once the quarterdeck/poop deck piece has been removed. This is a portion of the captain's cabin, below which you can access a storage area with treasure chests and a rope operating the rudder (seen in a photo in the first post).

Hope this clarifies things a bit.

18 hours ago, MAP Tec said:

I love the color of the sails, it matches the ship perfectly. Well done!

Thanks! The custom sails were a real challenge! Not easy to make them the right colour at all!

10 hours ago, _TLG_ said:

Cool! 

Thank ye!

[Jack Sassy]

On 12/13/2024 at 10:34 AM, Dreamweb said:

As I still wasn't sure which parts you meant, here's a group photo of three detached sections, all of which have stairs:

Aye, thank ye! I meant the part on the left hand side. 

 

I suppose those stairs hold stable. An impressive system of removing different parts of the vessel! I meself am struggling with this at the moment, so I look for good solutions anywhere. 

[Dreamweb]

On 12/16/2024 at 11:49 PM, Jack Sassy said:

I suppose those stairs hold stable. An impressive system of removing different parts of the vessel! I meself am struggling with this at the moment, so I look for good solutions anywhere

Aye, the stairs are quite stable! In all my ships, I always try to make them as accessible as possible, with removable deck sections wherever possible. The only place not really accessible in this ship is the forecastle section, a solution which was necessitated by the complicated structures used to build the ship's bow, which in turn had to look as similar to the album cover drawing as possible!