Black Beacon and Yellow Bee

A Space Pirate Castle Story

# The model

I love galleons, castles, and space!

Hence this model, composed of two sub-models:

The Castle (aka Black Beacon)
The Pirate Ship (aka Yellow Bee)

The "Yellow Bee" - initially meant as a marooned ship for the castle - became its own model and is also submitted separately.
The model is intentionally silly, imagining a world where an old pirate ship has been converted for travel in space, and somehow force fields allow working outside without full space suits.

It uses in total 3975 parts: 1999 for the ship and 1980 for the castle.

The ship is about 77 studs long, 30 studs wide, and 50 studs high, for a total of 62 x 24 x 40 cm3 (24 x 9 x 16").

The castle sits on 42x32 studs wide custom base and is 55 studs tall (double with extended tower), and it's about 34x30x44 cm3 (13x12x17.5").

# The story

On the Yellow Bee
- The "Captain" is controlling the ship at the helm. The old wheel has been replaced with a top-notch navigation computer and it's now hanging on the back, just above the powerful rockets. In his quarter, the Captain keeps models of his favourite space vehicles.
- The "Navigator" (known also as "the Kid") supports the Captain from the "Crow's Nest", on top of the main mast. Nothing better than an old reliable red telephone to give clear "wrong" directions to the captain!
- The "Carpenter" is on the main deck and she's repairing some piping: a space ship needs a lot of wires and pipes to work! She is the only one who knows how to make this old ship go.
- Her assistant, the "Boatswain", is repairing the side of the ship but he just lost his helmet. There is an open porthole: will he make it back inside on time?!
- The "Cook" (known also as "the Dandy" for his clothes), is checking the new barrels on the main deck. He's also the ship Surgeon, the Bard, and a skilled swordsman ...that's why he uses his broadsword to open them.
- The "Master Gunner", who is also the best fighter in the crew, is checking the bow cannon. It's a converted old galleon cannon and it's a pain to operate, but it looks so classy!
- The "Quartermaster" is keeping everybody in check. He swings his phaser around but nobody really listens to him!
- Under the deck,
  - The engine room is powering the ship’s rockets with its powerful anti-matter crystals.
  - The crew sleeping quarters are in the middle of the ship, with four "comfortable" bunk beds!
  - Passing the base of the main mast and proceeding towards the bow, there is the armoury and the torpedoes launcher.
  - Next, the storage, and in front of it, the "sonic toilets”.
  - Finally, the galley with food replicators, drinks dispenser, automatic dishwasher, and table.
  - The Yellow Bee just arrived and is being "recharged" through the crane arm of the castle.
In the Black Beacon
- The "Scout", in his turquoise space suite, is coming back to the castle after exploring the red sand planet and its rainbow vegetation.
- The "Engineer", is in the main pressurised module checking the force field and windows with his mighty hammer.
- The "Armoury expert" is on the back, in the armoury, inventorying the weapons.
- The "Cannons Operator", in its golden space suits, is on the cannons tower ready to defend his castle.
- The "Gatekeeper" is on the lower tower monitoring the perimeter.
- The "Seneschal" is inspecting the living quarters, making sure the crew left it in a decent state.
- The "Main Operator" is on the top tower and from the main round window she handles all the operations in the castle.
- The castle has multiple areas:
  - the main pressurised module, which hosts also the main kitchen and communal dining area
  - the top pressurised module, with the sleeping area, and a terrace
  - the two pressurised modules are connected through the tower by the toilets and the armoury
  - up in the main tower there is the operation center
  - when extended, the tower has additional floors
  - in the basement, built between the rocks, there is the treasure room (accessible also through a removable panel)
  - on the right there is the cannons tower, equipped with old ship cannons converted for modern/space use
  - on the bottom left, the lower observation tower
  - there is also a communication tower that can be moved to a higher position when the tower is extended
  - a crane attached to the main tower allows moving containers in and out the Yellow Bee, as well as recharging it

# Minifigures (14)

Ship
- Captain
- Quartermaster
- Navigator
- Carpenter
- Boatswain
- Cook
- Master Gunner
Castle
- Engineer
- Cannons Operator
- Scout
- Main Operator
- Armoury expert
- Seneschal
- Gatekeeper

# Stickers

This model doesn't have stickers.