Sets that Make Great Part Sets

[WesternOutlaw]

Over the past several weeks, I've been pulling out a number of old sets to pull various pieces from, for my Ghost Train MOCs. As I did so, I realized that so many of the sets that I pulled pieces from, are sets that I use for various themes (WW, Adventure, and Castle to name just a few). Some of the sets are great stand-alone sets, but so many of them also make great part sets.

Just a few that I'm really fond of include:

- Orient Expedition Scorpion Palace

- HP Shrieking Shack

- HP Graveyard Duel

- Fort Legoredo

What sets do you pull pieces from routinely to build your MOCs (or) what sets have added to your specialized piece collection?

I'd be interested in hearing about other great sets for parts.

-----------------------

List of EB Favorites - updated 5/28/08

-----------------------

3829 Fire Nation Ship (large amount of bley pieces)

4508 Titan XP (for space and military: dark bley, black, orange, sand blue)

4756 Shrieking Shack (brown latice windows, brown door, brown slopes, and large dark orange windows)

4766 Graveyard Duel (white and black skeletons, wagon wheels, hooded capes, black gates)

6211 Imperial Star Destroyer (grey)

6769 Fort Legoredo (brown log pieces, union army figs)

7036 Dwarves' Mine (brown, grey, barrels, dark blue cheese slopes, goblets, stockade doors)

7041 Troll Battle Wheel (dark brown 2x6 plates, 1x2 bley tiles)

7418 Scorpion Palace (white arches, dark orange columns/posts, Indian-printed pieces)

7622 Race for the Stolen Treasure (bley plates and tiles, silver studs)

7624 Jungle Duel (weapons, food, pan, and tent)

7626 River Chase (foliage, reddish-brown and dark brown bits, and dark green pieces)

7626 Jungle Cutter (foliage, spider web and spider, five ants, frog, dark green pieces, lots of treads)

7627 Temple of the Crystal Skull (nice parts)

7784 The Batmobile: Ultimate Collectors' Edition

8158 Speed Racer & Snaker Oiler (slopes)

8159 Racer X & Taejo Togokhan (slopes)

[Ricecracker]

If you are looking for bley bricks (especially 2x6s) then 3829 fire nation ship is perfect for you!

[Athos]

I agree with Legoredo, the Shrieking Shack and the Graveyard. I'm not sure about the Palace. It has a few very nice printed parts, but as for general bricks it relies too heavily on large pieces.

The new Indy Akator temple set is a nice parts pack.

Steve

[Flatfoot Thompsen]

Well, WW sets had very good amounts of tan.

[Batbrick]

The new Indy Akator temple set is a nice parts pack.

Yes, I agree with that one. I also think the Jungle Cutter is a great pack. It comes with loads of foliage, a spider web and spider, five ants, a frog, loads of dark green pieces, lots of treads, those two saws, and some nice bley pieces.

The speedracer small sets and large set are also great parts packs for slopes.

Batbrick Away!

[WesternOutlaw]

I'm not sure about the Palace. It has a few very nice printed parts, but as for general bricks it relies too heavily on large pieces.

I like it because of the dk. orange pieces including columns and fences. In addition, the white arches are very nice, as well as the printed (non-decal) pieces. It also has a set of small brown arched-doors that come in handy.

[CP5670]

The UCS Batmobile seems to be a prime candidate for this, given the prices it goes for on ebay (new ones can sometimes be as low as $30). I have one built but I'm going to pick up an extra one or two for parts while they're so cheap, especially since black is my most used color in MOCs.

Edited May 28, 2008 by CP5670

[Erdbeereis]

I actually really like the indy jungle duel for weapons and food, as well as a nice pan and a lovely tent.

[lego.ryan]

I think the Dwarves' Mine set is pretty good for parts, especially for builders who use brown and grey a lot. There's tons of other useful pieces though, like the barrels, dark blue cheese slopes, gold goblets, and the stockade doors in reddish-brown. Overall, it's a really nice-looking set and it has great parts, too.

Others I would mention include Race for the Stolen Treasure 7622 (bley plates and tiles, silver studs), River Chase 7625 (foliage, reddish-brown and dark brown bits, and dark green pieces ), and Troll Battle Wheel 7041 (dark brown 2x6 plates, 1x2 bley tiles). All three Hogwarts sets are pretty good parts packs too, and they all have tons of accessories.

Ryan

Edited May 29, 2008 by lego.ryan

[General Zen]

I think the Dwarves' Mine set is pretty good for parts, especially for builders who use brown and grey a lot. There's tons of other useful pieces though, like the barrels, dark blue cheese slopes, gold goblets, and the stockade doors in reddish-brown. Overall, it's a really nice-looking set and it has great parts, too.

Others I would mention include Race for the Stolen Treasure 7622 (bley plates and tiles, silver studs), River Chase 7625 (foliage, reddish-brown and dark brown bits, and dark green pieces ), and Troll Battle Wheel 7041 (dark brown 2x6 plates, 1x2 bley tiles). All three Hogwarts sets are pretty good parts packs too, and they all have tons of accessories.

Ryan

Couldn't have siad it better myself! I agree with all of your suggestions, lego.ryan!

One of my favorite parts pack is the imperial star destroyer. (the one with minifigs! ) Whenever I need some gray pieces I always find myself using parts from that set.

[Brickmaster]

If anyone is a big space builder, or military builder, you definitely need a set of Titan Xp, 4508. I got 2 of these babies and have build solid mocs just from these parts. Utterly great dark bley selection, aswell as lots of black, orange, and some nice sand blue.

As for bulk bricks, my current capitol ship moc would be impossible without the huge amounts of 2x6 bley bricks from 3829, fire nation ship. This is actually excellent for other parts aswell, pleanty to keep you busy and a parts count that's almost second to none for a non creator, non technic set!

Those are my two, favorite sets, aswell as ANY bionicle system playset. I love, LOVE these.

[WesternOutlaw]

Great sets indeed. Since a number of you had some really good ones, I started a list on my original post. I may categorize by theme/subject if we get a lot more.

[Eilif]

I've been working on town building MOCs recently, so the large "building" models with lots of modern colors and architectural details are one of my best source for alot of necessary pieces.

I've already been using parts from, Engine Shed, Cafe Corner, and part of Market street. Townhouse, and Green Grocer will probably be torn down and canibalized next. The pieces from Building Bonanza and House are pretty good also, but being based around white, they weren' t quite as usefull as the Red, Dark Red, Sand green, Light blue, Tan and Grey and Bley of the earlier mentioned kits.

Lastly, Arkham assylum is one of my all-time favorite parts packs. Lots of dark colors, interesting minifigs and accessories, and architectural elements, such as rock roofs, quarter round tall clear windows, cast iron gates, lots of black railing pieces (curved and strait), and 2 kinds of brown doors. It was half off (39.99 USD) for so long that I can't understand why AFOL's weren't snapping them up. Next to Hobby Train (also half price for a long time), Arkham was probably the parts pack deal of the year for 2007. I rarely buy a set twice, but I got one when it went on sale, and then got another when I realized just how usefull the pieces were.

[Sandy]

If you need female parts, you can't miss Paradisa. ;D

Then again, you needed some serious balls to go and buy them back in the day. Luckily one can safely and anonymously order them from the internet nowadays. I know how straight guys react to everything pink... ;P

Edited June 4, 2008 by Sandy

[Dufresne]

Lastly, Arkham assylum is one of my all-time favorite parts packs. Lots of dark colors, interesting minifigs and accessories, and architectural elements, such as rock roofs, quarter round tall clear windows, cast iron gates, lots of black railing pieces (curved and strait), and 2 kinds of brown doors. It was half off (39.99 USD) for so long that I can't understand why AFOL's weren't snapping them up. Next to Hobby Train (also half price for a long time), Arkham was probably the parts pack deal of the year for 2007. I rarely buy a set twice, but I got one when it went on sale, and then got another when I realized just how usefull the pieces were.

Absolutely agreed. I got my Arkham from TRU for $50, (not quite half-off,) and it was an amazing deal. I had barely any of those black railings, and now I have enough for whatever I want!*

*To a point. I'm not much of a large-scale builder, I like building at the same scale as official sets.

Now, looking back, I really wish I'd bought more of Sabre Island. It's a great set for minifigs, a cannon, and those brick-and-plaster wall pieces, if you like that sort of thing. But I was, like, six at the time, and doubles of sets were BAD. The only set I ever had doubles of before coming out of my dark age was the Spyrius Saucer Scout.

[brickbitz]

I've recently acquired some of the Insectoid /UFO sets.

Although the set design can be a bit weak the larger models are a great source for the more unusual parts, which you don't see a lot of these days.

[Sir Dano]

Then again, you needed some serious balls to go and buy them back in the day. Luckily one can safely and anonymously order them from the internet nowadays. I know how straight guys react to everything pink... ;P

Well, I must have some then, 'cause I bought this when I was eight years old. Solely for the pony, of course.

[Svelte]

Absolutely agreed. I got my Arkham from TRU for $50, (not quite half-off,) and it was an amazing deal. I had barely any of those black railings, and now I have enough for whatever I want!*

I third Arkham. Back in the dark days of 2006 - before we even knew about the modular houses coming around the corner - Arkham was one of the best large buildings we'd seen for a long, long while. As noted above, lots of useful window, door, arch and detailing pieces. The figs were good for customisation too. Shame it didn't seem to sell but being a TRU exclusive probably didn't help.

Apart from that definitely the 4956 town house, just because there's so much tan, windows and good roof parts. A lot of large MOCs on brickshelf rely on this one and I can see why as it is often hard to accumulate so much of a colour that doesn't come in the basic primaries.

4757 Hogwarts Castle - the 2004 version - was great for the same reasons as both above - lots of windows, slopes and log bricks in nice colours - and it went to clearance as well.

[kill will]

The UCS AT-ST 10174 has a ton of light bley plates and useful parts. My friend built an amazing post-apoc boat solely with those parts.

[M'Kyuun]

I just finished putting the Agent's Turbocar Chase #8634 and Mobile Command Center #8635(huge friggin truck), and I was really impressed by the parts in these sets. Lots of dark blue and silver parts, esp the 1x1 cheese slopes, and the new 1x4 curved slopes. The truck comes with lots of accessories and some great figs, including a female with the new ponytail hair that is designed with enough clearance to allow her to sit in a minifig chair.

Arkham and the HP castles sets, and the second Hagrid's Hut were all great parts sets as well. For black slopes, the UCS batmobile is a winner.

Edited June 7, 2008 by M'Kyuun

[Zarkan]

Well, for space and mech builders, all the sets in the 2008 exo-force line are awesome - as they have tons of great parts like the new cheese slopes, curved wedges, and lots of other stuff.

Also, the agents line this year is looking to be amazing for parts. There's tons of dark blue, black, and orange. And the smallest of the Indy 4 sets - the duel set - has a ton of awesome acessories for only 10 dollars.