Well it is done; and I could not be more pleased! A few painted pieces, 4 glorious hours of building and I have a gorgeous Skull's Eye Schooner added to my fleet.
Ok the big question I know you all are asking is: did he pull it off? Did he do the project for less than the original MSRP? I am happy to announce the answer is yes. Including shipping the grand total for the project was $116.53 in 2011 dollars. The really cool part is that if you account for inflation the MSRP for the Skull's Eye today would be in the $190s so I really did get a deal.
Two quick notes, however, on the cost in case you are considering doing this yourself. As I mentioned earlier I had about 30% of the parts I needed already and the cost for those pieces is not included in this total (my guess is it would have added about $20 to the project). Additionally I had extra minifigs lying around that I used as well as all the different parts/alterations I have described. If you went for pure authenticity (all the correct minifigures and no alternate or modified pieces including the sails) I do not think this would end up being any cheaper than buying a complete model on eBay or Bricklink. If, however, you are of a similar mind to me and bending the rules of purism does not bother you the Skull's Eye can be yours for much cheaper than any other option.
In addition to the actual model I also took a little bit of creative liberty and added walkways on either side of the cannons creating a cannon well along with a way for figures to traverse from the front to the back of the ship. This is a feature included on 6285 Black Seas Barracuda and I felt it was sorely lacking on the Skull's Eye.
In the wake of this success I have decided to up the ante and try to resurrect the remaining 5 ships that I still don't have in my fleet in one fell swoop. I have already sorted out the parts I have for each one and will make the big purchase when my budget recovers from this project. Once complete I will have every ship produced by Lego!
For those of you actually interested in trying this I will be posting a detailed walk through of how to make your own Lego sails soon (I am about 50% done with that entry) as well as PDFs of my tracings.
Feel free to email me with any questions. A few pictures of the final product:
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| The green flags are painted. You would never have known if I had not told you! You can also see the railing and walkway I added. |
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| I painted the latticed window and the blue lantern bases. The Jolly Roger is a sticker applied to a standard panel. |
