Everything you always wanted to know about LEGO Model Ships

With the introduction of the new LEGO 10355 Endurance , it is fascinating to discover the variety of sets that LEGO has produced over the years featuring ships or boats. Initially, the focus of LEGO System was mainly on the Town Plan theme, making ships a rarity.

However, as early as 1959, the box of the Town Plan set showed 200 building ideas that resembled ships. The year 1968 marked the release of LEGO's first set with a ship as its centerpiece: the 343 Ferry. Although minifigures had not yet been introduced in 1968, the set was designed to be compatible with the final scale of minifigures.

Minifigure sized ships have since appeared in many themes such as City, Pirates and Vikings, but you may be surprised to find ships and boats in other themes such as Adventurers, Indiana Jones and Vidiyo.

In this article, however, we want to talk about "Model Ships". In other words, LEGO sets with ships that are not populated by minifigures, but are instead scale models of real ships. The most recent and famous example of a LEGO model ship is of course the huge LEGO 10294 Titanic set , but did you know that there were many interesting sets before that?

Ferries

Let's go back to 1977. That's when the LEGO set of a ship called Finnjet came on the market

This LEGO set was unlike any other. It was only available for purchase on board the ferry. The Finnjet was the largest and fastest ferry in the world at the time, this set was the first in a series of promotional ferry sets.

Although detail is limited at approximately 1:500 scale, it is an accurate representation of the ship, especially considering the range of parts available in 1977. That year, LEGO also introduced a promotional set for Silja Line Ferries, who would become owners of the Finnjet a decade later.

These first two sets used clear panels for windows. They are also the only two sets ever to use 1x4 clear panels. Later sets omitted clear elements and instead relied on printed bricks for the rows of windows.

Between 1981 and 1999, LEGO produced another 13 promotional sets for various ferry lines, all of similar size and level of detail. Unfortunately, the quasi-theme did not end on a high note.

The last two sets, both made for Stena Lines, were more focused on playing and the models were much simpler.

After a gap of 18 years, set 40227 was released in 2017 (and re-released two years later as 40318 ) as a promotional item for MSC Cruises. Despite having a similar number of parts, this model is smaller than the previous ferries, only 4 studs wide, and is covered in stickers for details (as is normal these days).

Floating ships

While we consider the Finnjet to be the first true LEGO model ship, we can go back even further in time, to 1973, for even more non-minifigure ships.

That year, LEGO released a number of sets with hull sections that would actually allow them to float on water. They had a weighted keel to keep them upright, and you could attach a small AA battery motor with a propeller to the keel.

There were two more sets in the first wave, a ferry ( 311 ) and a tugboat (310). The latter almost looks like a minifigure ship, but remember this is only 1973. No one knew what a minifigure was back then. Although these ships are not modeled after a specific prototype, they do look realistic. That same year three more floating ships were released under the Minitalia brand, but they look simplistic compared to 311 and 312.

In 1974 a long and popular collaboration began in the form of the 1650 Maersk Line Container Ship. With seven hull sections it was the longest of the floating hulled ships. In 1976 there was a generic container ship and in 1978 a fire ship but unfortunately that is where the story ends for the realistic ships in this series. A police boat with a crew of two 'stiffies' (not really minifigures with no movable arms or legs) was also released in 1976 and that was the writing on the wall. The floating ship idea continues to this day with a new hull design every few years but all sets include minifigures.

The real deal

In 1978, LEGO released its first large ship model: the legendary USS Constellation (LEGO 398)

With nearly 1,000 pieces, this was the largest (non-basic/educational) set of its time. It would hold this record until 1990, when a Model Team set finally broke the 1,000-piece barrier. But it wasn't just the sheer number of pieces that made this set unique.

The year before, the 'Expert Builder' theme was launched, now better known as Technic. The USS Constellation makes creative use of some of the new parts of this emerging theme. It uses three different SNOT techniques, several tricks that are now absolutely illegal, such as holding a rope between two plates, and it is the only set to include wheel holder plates without their metal axles.

All these parts and techniques are put to good use. The model still looks impressive today. (We do wonder why this set wasn't released in 1979, since the original USS Constellation was launched in 1797...)

In the early 2000s, LEGO received many requests from fans to re-release classic sets. They tried their hand at the short-lived "Legends" theme, and the USS Constellation was one of the sets chosen. However, in the 24 years since the original was released, the available part palette had changed. Most notably, the 1x1 window was discontinued, so in the Legends version, those windows were replaced with backwards headlight bricks. (Fans were not impressed... as they sometimes like to be.)

In the years between the release and re-release of USS Constellation, only one notable ship set was released, and unsurprisingly, it was in the Model Team theme. In many ways, Model Team was the successor to the Hobby Sets theme that the original USS Constellation was a part of. The majority of the theme is based around cars, but there was one ship set, the 5521 Sea Jet.

Shortly after the re-release of Constellation, model ships came back with a bang when LEGO released set 10152 Maersk Sealand Container Ship in 2004.

30 years after the first Maersk ship mentioned above, the "special blue" collaboration returned to LEGO ships. The set was large, detailed and made with beautiful colors such as Maersk blue with dark red. This set was even so popular that it was re-released six years later. There are a few minor variations in shades of blue and decal sheets between the two releases that I won't go into now. The collaboration continued until 2014 with the Maersk Line Triple-E, an even larger container ship, both in real life and in brick.

After the apparent end of the Maersk partnership, things went quiet around model ships again... until the original Ship in a Bottle passed the LEGO Ideas review process and became the 20th Ideas set. For many people, this is what model ships look like: tiny and in a bottle.

And then LEGO went from one extreme to the other with a set of Titanic proportions... Set 10294 is the largest ever, at just over 9,000 pieces and measuring over four feet long. (It doesn't float.)

It's big, it's beautiful, it's detailed… you wonder: what now?

Honorable Mentions

Although not scale models, the LEGO ships from the Pirates of the Caribbean theme are larger and more detailed than most minifigure ships, such as set 10210 Imperial Flag Ship .

Even Technic made an attempt at a realistic looking ship with 42064 in 2017, pictured below. While the submarine and helicopter are a bit disproportionate, the ship itself is a decent representation of a scout ship.

Another fun fact for the numbers lovers. The first wave of floating ships were set numbers 310/311/312 and 314/315/316. For some reason, the middle number, 313, was inexplicably a model of a London bus. 45 years later, the LEGO Ideas Ship in a Bottle was released as set 21313. As Detective Benny Griesel would say, I don't believe in coincidences.

LEGO has a long history of producing model ships, and hopefully that history will continue. To keep track of all of these ships, I've created a Brickset Bricklist with all of the sets mentioned in this article: Model Ship Sets. And until LEGO comes out with their next model ship, I look forward to seeing what you all build for our own nautical contest.