MOC: Return to Sabre Island

Welcome back in the 90s, with my MOC of the Sabre Island LEGO set to revive the golden age of the Pirate theme.  

I believe that one of the most successful and effective theme ever made by LEGO was the Pirate theme. It included iconic pirates on one side an Imperial troops on the other. As a child, I remember, I did plenty of battles between the deadly pirates and the brave soldiers.

The pirate theme is for me one of the most fascinating and it was great to see the new Barracuda Bay set released in early 2020, and the Pirate Girl in the Minifigure Series 20, as well.

This MOC is my version of the historical Sabre Island set released in 1989: a small set numbered 6265. It included the small island with the watch tower, a boat, a palm tree and three imperial soldiers.

So far there are several MOCs of Sabre Island, as well as the bigger sets like the Eldorado Fortress. I was inspired by several of these MOCs but I wanted to replicate one of them with my personal view. Among all the MOCs, my main inspiration is the version created by SleeplessNight artist and you can find it here. Thank you for the inspiration!

Overview

My sabre island MOC is my personal version of the historical set. Likewise other my MOCs, I wanted to create the tower to be functional for the minifigures, as much as possible at their scale. I used a similar approach also for the Turbolaser turret or the Piadina Brick. In particular, like to create the interior and spaces where minifigure can well fit.

As for the original set, the MOC is a small sandy island with a watchtower, protected by a cannon with some Caribbean vegetation. The tower is an imperial outpost, home of a small garrison.

The Tower

The MOC rotates around the watchtower: a three levels structure in the middle of the sea. It is sheltered in a tiny island, where part of the basement is on the water. 

The front side of the MOC is where there is the entrance of the tower. It includes a wooden dock and the main part of the island.

The wooden dock is the main design add on with respect to the original set. Small boats and tenders can easily dock, so it is much simpler to move goods and equipment to and from the isle. 

As far as the front side of the tower is concerned, there is the main entrance: a double wooden door and the a window, with decorations.

Facing the door and rotating clockwise, we will now start a tour around the tower to explore each side.

The right has a small window with a huge crack along the wall. Moreover, part of the right side is on the sand and the other on the water, in particular on a rock where the basement is connected.

The back side is again part over the water and on the rear side of the island. It is not very much used this part of the island, because there is a high palm tree and several other plants.

Likewise the other sides, there is a small window also in the back facade of the tower. The idea is to offer the possibility to look in all directions also from inside the tower.

Finally, the left side is all on the sandy beach where there are several vegetations and the small wall to protect the cannon. 

The left side is the one exposed to the ocean, for that reason it is protected with the cannon. Furthermore, the window on this side is quite large and important.

Interior View

As anticipated, the tower includes the interior of the basement and the first floor. On the other hand, the top level has only the flag and  the trap door.

The basement is the storage area for food, beverages and equipments for the garrison and the maintenance of the tower. 

The soldiers store food, water and Rhum in barrels and chests on the left side of the basement. While, on the right side there are spare weapons and cannon balls.

Moving up, there is the first floor: the office of the commander of the tower.

The front part of the floor has the desk with a chair where the commander notes the movements of the ships and prepares correspondences and communications with the headquarters. 

On a side there is a small drawer and a library with books and papers. Of course, a bottle or Rhum with glass completes the interior design.

The Minifigures

As usual, the MOC includes several minifigures. Since it is a military installation, all the characters are soldiers and officers. Despite the size of the island and the tower, the number of soldiers is high. It is a training period on Sabre Island and the increased number is due recruits just arrived. 

The soldiers have the British like red uniform and different epaulette and hat differentiate them by rank. 

The soldiers wear the typical shako cap, the uniform is red with blue epaulette and white trousers.

On the other hand, officers have the same uniform as the soldiers but with yellow epaulette and the tricorne cap.

At the top of the tower, the officer observes the sea while his assistant is helping with the compass for pointing computation.

In the mean time, at the bottom, a cannon crew makes shooting exercises. The officer give pointing indications while the two artillerymen take care of the cannon.

Finally, there is the commander of the island. As a high rank officer, the commander has a special uniform with white epaulette and gloves. As part of the uniform, the commander has the typical bicorne hat.

The Boats

The last part of the MOC, I want to describe are the boats that can dock at sabre island. Due to the size of the island, only small boats and rowboats can dock. So, galleons and heavy ships have to mooring far from the island. 

The garrison has a small sloop and a rowboat. To carry supplies they use mostly the sloop, on the other hand, to board to and from ships they use the rowboat.

I created the sloop based on the LEGO boat: I included the mast and the rudder. 

Since the sloop is docked, the main sail is folded. Furthermore, some sacks are still onboard as well as the oars.

Finally, the rowboat is just the LEGO boat with a brave soldier rowing, and place for other soldiers or officers.

Final thoughts

Here we are at the end of the presentation of my Sabre Island MOC. I enjoyed a lot building it, it was fun to create the different parts and to see the MOC taking shape.

Finding a nice place for the minifigure was one of the reason for me to create the MOC. But I limited the modification of the characters. My preference, was just to organise them as a garrison.

Once more, I would like to thank all the AFOL who inspire me to create my MOC and my friends for suggestions and feedbacks. 

I hope you enjoyed reading my description, I will really appreciate your comment here below or any thoughts and suggest. 

Thank you for reading.