“10320 Eldorado Fortress Fan Mods” by Various

If the carrier pigeon who delivers LEGO news not reached yer, we regret to inform 10320 Eldorado Fortress is retiring soon!

Now, some of yer probably don’t care!  Yer didn’t like the set so blah! Let it be gone!

Well, a fantastic aspect of LEGO is you’re not strictly locked into the design plastered over the box.  You can modify the structure to your salty heart’s content.

And as you’re about to observe, that’s just what some fans have done…

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Creative Buggers!

There be no shortage of ways you can customise, modify, or expand 10320 Eldorado Fortress to suit yer esoteric desires.

Here be a small sampling of creative ingenuity…

Iragam’s Extension

Aye, the age old practice of building more on to an official LEGO set design.

Iragm has expanded Eldorado Fortress to include a Sabre Island, aesthetically designed to match the fortress’s contemporaneous style.

Iragam writes:

One of the best features of 10320 is that it’s modular — that is, it can be reconfigured to be displayed in different ways. This means we can create custom components that seamlessly connect with the fortress.

This expansion includes 3 examples. First, a remake a Sabre Island (6265) using similar design language to Eldorado Fortress, which can be added to the right side of the set.

Eldorado Fortress is just the beginning – imagine continuing along this trajectory to construct an entire harbour layout!

Ido Modifications

Extending the original layout is one option, making little tweaks and refinements is another.

Ido provides us with a complete video overview of such enhancements.

Ido writes:

I summarized my mods in a video. I think the video shows them more clearly than the pictures I posted earlier, plus I’ve made extra mods since then. Please excuse the camera work, I’m really not experienced in making videos. Enjoy!

Trikus 2nd Floor Upgrade

The governor’s office, once occupied by Broadside, is an integral component of Eldorado Fortress.

Some fans felt the updated office wasn’t executed to its fullest potential and incorporated their own revisions.

Fortunately Trikus offers us a solution which is available on ReBrickable.

Trikus writes:

The Eldorado Fortress set is fantastic, until you get to the 2nd floor of the main building. The office looks stunted. My MOC makes the office look better scaled […]  the original did have some living space for the Governor.

MightyThorngren’s Mods

MightyThorngren took a different approach to upgrading the officer.

MightyThorngren writes:

So I checked all my “extras”. I had enough spare parts to fix the walkway to nowhere near the Governor’s office, but not enough to make a wall and finish the tower behind the office.

I took cue from this thread and made it into a lookout.

But the modifications need not stop there…

MightyThorngren continues:

I’ve actually changed the Admiral’s office since my last post and I turned it into a war room. I want to tweak it more before showing though. However, I like new ladder situation a lot more.

Another significant feature of Eldorado Fortress is the crane which underwent a robust upgrade from the 1989 original.

MightyThorngren decided it could be improved even more…

MightyThorngren continues:

I just today changed the crane and absolutely love it. The new remake crane was way too large and imposing, not even giving a figure room to operate it. It was my least favorite part of the new remake set. I tried to fix all that and give the crane a classic look.

Filibboo’s Classic Colour Scheme

Some fans were disappointed to discover the new Eldorado Fortress deviated from the colour scheme of the original 1989 version.

Most notably the yellow brickwork beneath the front cannon had been substituted with white.

Filibboo decided to rectify that!

Filibboo writes:

I also decided to return to the 1989’s color scheme of the front cannon base. It’s worth it, in my opinion.
I ordered the replacement parts very early before I ordered the set itself!

Now, some folk may find this colour change trivial, buy devout fans immensely appreciate designs that remain as authentic as possible.

Capt.Dark.Shark’s Classic Colour Scheme

Filibboo was not the only AFOL who found it necessary to make this substitution.

The second I saw this set I decided that having the white cannon turret was a mistake on lego’s part, so I ordered some yellow pieces once the instructions became available to the public. Shout out to @ace.of.bricks for being the only bricklink shop in the US that I could find at the time to have all of the pieces I needed.

TheOriginalVideono’s 2 X Combined

You could buy 10320 Eldorado Fortress purely for building purposes… or maybe two… or maybe even three…

TheOriginalVideono stitched two fortresses together for an even more imposing stronghold.

When asked if much modification was required…

TheOriginalVideono responded:

They actually fit together quite nicely! since the back of the governors office connects to the front in the “shelf-layout”, it means just connecting the two square fortress layouts via the same clips as the shelf layout. I may change the layout of the walls up there since it seems weird to section off the balcony in two.

The best part? I had about 5-6 people helping build while we marathoned Pirates of the Caribbean for the first film’s 20th anniversary. And yes, we were all dressed like pirates.

Building your Eldorado Fortress layout has potential to be a joyous social occasion – so buy a couple and invite yer maties around!

Darth Tool’s 2 X Combined

Your subsequent 10320 Eldorado Fortresses need not mirror the original, here be the opportunity to exercise creativity.

Darth Tool writes:

With a slight mod to the office, a 10 min job really and minor alterations.

Bricksonville 2x Combined

 

Cearthenn’s Imperial Trading Post

Perhaps you fall into the camp of loathing the design of 10320 Eldorado Fortress!

Fortunately the set offers a plethora of useful elements which can be repurposed for entirely different builds.

Cearthenn demonstrates by transforming the fortress into 6277 Imperial Trading Post, albeit with blue coat occupation.

Cearthenn writes:

Hello, I wanted to share my Imperial Trading Post remake from the new Eldorado Fortress and the island from PoBB.

This is my first adult MOC so as you can see I reused a lot of the design from Eldorado Fortress but adjusted it where it was needed/possible. I’m still reworking it and will probably add some islands since I have a lot of sand and stone left from PoBB, but this is the version that is the closest to the original. I had a lot of fun with it, I can definitely recommend this as an entry level MOC.

But don’t think remastering official sets is mandatory!

Illumination

Third-party LED lighting kits are a popular customisation choice for many official LEGO sets and 10320 Eldorado Fortress is no different.

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Last Chance!

Aye, 10320 Eldorado Fortress is retiring at the end 2024!

Meaning The LEGO Group will cease to manufacture the set and it will vanish from retail, limiting its availability to extortionary high prices on the aftermarket.

The exact date has not been officially announced, so let’s assume 10320 Eldorado Fortress is available while stock lasts.

Nonetheless, various fan sources state 31 December, 2024, so let’s use that as an unofficial deadline.

If you were considering buying one, yer better act now or it might be too late!

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What Do Yer Think?

If time permits, we may dig even deeper into the treasure trove of Eldorado Fortress custom builds to explore some layouts and dioramas born of the set.

Until then, swing by the LEGO Pirates Forum and let the Classic Pirates know how you’ve modified or used 10320 Eldorado Fortresses in your MOCing endeavours.

Or let us know if we’ve missed any noteworthy customisations you’ve seen floating around the interwebs.