Review: 6280 Armada Flagship

[Captain Becker]

This is my favorite imperial ship after the Carribean Clipper, i like how it looks and i love those spanish soldier`s too, but if i have to say something at this set on two word it would be: Almoust perfect

and nice rewier btw.

Captain becker

[Admiral William]

A very good review! It may be the "rainbow ship" but the most noticable colors are actually blue and white.

[prokletbio]

Thank you for this review, i just ordered the set and plan to mod-ernize it a little.

[Capn Frank]

I've always liked this set. I really wish it had come with more pieces for its price.

I remember seeing rainbows when building this set too, but it all comes together very nicely.

Even though TLG was thin on the pieces for this set, it does contain a lot of detail.

Cargo net and "crane", cat heads & anchor, movable main sail, great looking MF's, and compass.

If TLG had been a little more piece-full, then the rigging rail could have been built better, proper figurehead, and a more ornate stern.

[Olivesaxer]

I am going to kick up an old thread since I just acquired this set through a bulk buy (missing the rear misen sail, however, I am going to have to source my own).  

I, quite frankly, hate this set.  It looks like many things that came out of the "cash-grab" era of poorly designed lego sets.  This one just doesn't look finished.

Can't figure out what the masthead is supposed to be? - that means it is a poorly designed masthead!  The gap between the green railing and the red 1x2s...  The anchor that is just hanging off the side.  The misen-sail dangling, unsecured from the bottom.  The uncovered 1x1 red cones next to the steering wheel...  there is just so much that frustrates me about the design choices they made.

And - can someone please tell me what the technic axle is for?  As I was building it, I thought that perhaps there was a way to collapse that rear mast during a battle, but the hinge plate is secured from top and bottom - so they eliminated the ability to hinge the hinge plate!  Just seems like another thing that they had an idea for but changed their mind and instead of designing properly, just rushed it to market.

This will go on the shelf with the rest, but aside from the Skeleton Ship Attacks boat, this is my least favorite thus far.

Edited March 17, 2022 by Olivesaxer

[sahidko]

For me the collapsing function works, not sure what you did to secure it from the bottom. It should rest on the technic axle only and collapse when pulled.

Edited March 17, 2022 by sahidko

[AViewToALego]

On 3/17/2022 at 3:00 PM, Olivesaxer said:

I am going to kick up an old thread since I just acquired this set through a bulk buy (missing the rear misen sail, however, I am going to have to source my own).  

I, quite frankly, hate this set.  It looks like many things that came out of the "cash-grab" era of poorly designed lego sets.  This one just doesn't look finished.

Can't figure out what the masthead is supposed to be? - that means it is a poorly designed masthead!  The gap between the green railing and the red 1x2s...  The anchor that is just hanging off the side.  The misen-sail dangling, unsecured from the bottom.  The uncovered 1x1 red cones next to the steering wheel...  there is just so much that frustrates me about the design choices they made.

And - can someone please tell me what the technic axle is for?  As I was building it, I thought that perhaps there was a way to collapse that rear mast during a battle, but the hinge plate is secured from top and bottom - so they eliminated the ability to hinge the hinge plate!  Just seems like another thing that they had an idea for but changed their mind and instead of designing properly, just rushed it to market.

This will go on the shelf with the rest, but aside from the Skeleton Ship Attacks boat, this is my least favorite thus far.

This ship has definitely grown on me, and it was very much a part of my childhood. But I can totally understand the disappointment, especially if you first got the 6271 (The masterpiece!) and then this one later on. But there's something about this ship, I don't know what it is, that just wins me over. Thinking about it, it must be the the front sail. It's just so versatile. You can use it for a pirate ship, an independent vessel or anything you like and it would still work very well.

Just to get a little philosophical - I think this and Red Beard Runner, despite their flaws, have one thing working for them; Their uniqueness. Brickbeard's Bounty and The Brick Bounty are technically better ships than RBR for instance. But they play it safe - They are merely Black Seas Barracuda clones in a way, but not as good as the original. At least these two ships attempts to be unique. The Armada Flagship could easily be mistaken for a small trading vessel, which is why it only has a single rotating cannon. It's not gonna outgun anything, but it will make those kleptomanic pirates work hard for their loot!

Btw, the mast is interesting when you think about it. On one end of the box, there is a small image of the ship where the mast is tilted. It looks a bit weird, but maybe it was intended as a way to twist the sail, not as it being broken. Be careful displaying it though. Since it's white, it gets yellowed very quickly during the summer (I'm talking from personal experience...). I had a lot of fun with this ship when I was a kid.

[jodawill]

On 3/17/2022 at 10:00 AM, Olivesaxer said:

I am going to kick up an old thread since I just acquired this set through a bulk buy (missing the rear misen sail, however, I am going to have to source my own).  

I, quite frankly, hate this set.  It looks like many things that came out of the "cash-grab" era of poorly designed lego sets.  This one just doesn't look finished.

Can't figure out what the masthead is supposed to be? - that means it is a poorly designed masthead!  The gap between the green railing and the red 1x2s...  The anchor that is just hanging off the side.  The misen-sail dangling, unsecured from the bottom.  The uncovered 1x1 red cones next to the steering wheel...  there is just so much that frustrates me about the design choices they made.

And - can someone please tell me what the technic axle is for?  As I was building it, I thought that perhaps there was a way to collapse that rear mast during a battle, but the hinge plate is secured from top and bottom - so they eliminated the ability to hinge the hinge plate!  Just seems like another thing that they had an idea for but changed their mind and instead of designing properly, just rushed it to market.

This will go on the shelf with the rest, but aside from the Skeleton Ship Attacks boat, this is my least favorite thus far.

If you don't want it, you can give it to me! I can see how someone would hate this set if they didn't grow up during this era. I've never owned one, but I spent hours looking at the pictures in the Armada issue of Mania Magazine when I was a kid, imaging all sorts of adventures with them. I love the minigures, and even the color scheme.

The only thing I don't like is the way they built the yards in the '90s. I have Redbeard Runner, and I love that set, but the yards don't really fit correctly and I'm not a fan of the way they're built with plates. I would have preferred some specialized pieces for that.

[PxChris]

Having now actually built the Imperial Armada ship myself, I feel like I can have an opinion on the matter.

In general, the Imperials really got the short end of the stick on all of their ship designs. The Caribbean Clipper is without a doubt my favorite of them still in pretty much every way. But there is a heavy amount of nostalgia tied to that set for me since it's the only one I had as a kid. But none of the Imperial ships hold a candle at all to the Pirates ships. Even the Renegade Runner is a better design in my opinion than probably both the Imperial Flagship and Armada Flagship (the same cannot be said of the Crossbone Clipper though!).

Having now built them though, I would say that I actually prefer the Armada Flagship over the Imperial Flagship. I enjoy the colors on it and the design felt just slightly better to me on the whole.

 

[jodawill]

On 4/5/2022 at 11:34 AM, PxChris said:

Having now actually built the Imperial Armada ship myself, I feel like I can have an opinion on the matter.

In general, the Imperials really got the short end of the stick on all of their ship designs. The Caribbean Clipper is without a doubt my favorite of them still in pretty much every way. But there is a heavy amount of nostalgia tied to that set for me since it's the only one I had as a kid. But none of the Imperial ships hold a candle at all to the Pirates ships. Even the Renegade Runner is a better design in my opinion than probably both the Imperial Flagship and Armada Flagship (the same cannot be said of the Crossbone Clipper though!).

Having now built them though, I would say that I actually prefer the Armada Flagship over the Imperial Flagship. I enjoy the colors on it and the design felt just slightly better to me on the whole.

Have you also had trouble with the plate-built yards from that period? I always felt like I was building it wrong. But I followed the instructions, and it just didn't fit right.

[PxChris]

41 minutes ago, jodawill said:

Have you also had trouble with the plate-built yards from that period? I always felt like I was building it wrong. But I followed the instructions, and it just didn't fit right.

The only one I really have major issues with is on the Red Beard Runner. Otherwise, I haven't really experienced issues with the other ships really. Even the Armada Flagship, which has a similar mechanism for the sail rigging as the RBR I didn't experience major issues.

[De Martinez]

Its a great set with a fantastic colour sheme. Its a pitty, the theme included as few sets and discontinued so early!

[Horation]

An interesting review, the set has a weird colour scheme I didn't really like, with somewhat random bits of yellow, green and blue, the barracuda had a more unified colour scheme, but 6280 does have excellent minifigs, so overall I'd say it's a little below average for me (but I get why it's so popular). 

Also, @Inconspicuous the correct sum is 54/60 (6+9+9=24. 24+3*10=54).

Edited August 4, 2023 by Horation
added quote

[Pirate_King_1982]

I prefer this to the Redcoat ship, but it’s not as good as the Clipper. The minifigs are excellent. I think it’s a shame these guys didn’t get more sets, lacking especially was a real base. Both the Bluecoats and Redcoats got a smaller ship than the Pirates, but a bigger base, but they shied away from this trend with the Grrencoats. However, this ship and Redbeard Runner were both very good, even though the rest of the range wasn’t that good by comparison.

[Captain_SoyBeard]

My set didn't come with a canon like that. It had a regular canon.