Posted May 25, 20159 yr The Green grocer was my start in collecting the modular buildings. Since then, my collection yearly grew towards the 8 buildings I own right now. Besides that, I started also to collect the advanced models like the Sydney Opera House, the Tower Bridge and the Taj Mahal. I really wanted to have the Modular buildings Cafe Corner and Street Market. Plus the Eiffel Tower as well. But these buildings are too pricey for my budget. So I started to collect the separate bricks and rebuild with sources as Pick-a-Brick, Missing Pieces and of course Bricklink. So all new bricks for these projects. The Cafe Corner is almost complete. Unfortunately, some parts are too expensive (the price of one door is about 50 euro!) And some parts (like the windows) I have replaced with cheaper solutions. The result is good enough for me. About 1/3 of the bricks I already had in my collection of new bricks. The rest of the bricks were just below 200 euro's. Not a bad price if you compare with a completely new one. And now I am going to wait if the doors will be cheaper one day. For the Street Market, the same applies: I have collected most of the parts, but not all of them. Still thinking of some cheaper solutions with (almost) the same result. The bricks are waiting in a box, ready to be build. Currently, I am in the process of building the Eiffel Tower. The good news is that I have ordered all of the parts. Half of the bricks were already in my possession, the other half I needed to order. Total cost of the order is appr. 300 euro's, so in comparison with buying it new for the current price, it is relatively cheap. The base plates were delivered in the wrong green, so I need to re-order that one day. Can't build right now, I am still waiting for the "Missing pieces" delivery. On the picture, you see the Work-in-Progress. Not only building the sets is nice, but the process of searching all the pieces was nice too. I found out that Bricklink is normally the most cheap (or should I say, less expensive) but this is not always true. Next, the Missing Pieces site and Pick-A-Brick (both officially Lego) have different prices. And sometimes one site says "sold out" although the other site has still availability. Strange but true. Enjoy. /Hans
May 25, 20159 yr Nice and looking at the price, I would choose this way as well for the Eifel Tower Been into the modulars, started with the fire brigade. Now working on the Cafe Corner, but I decided to use a different color. Done with the 1st floor which was aprox. somewhere between €80 and €90 (including some parts for the 2nd floor). Will be ordering parts for the 2nd floor probably this week, which would be around another €50, and then the last floor. The door indeed is very expensive so used a black one which I still had.
May 25, 20159 yr What you did ( replacing the expensive parts ) is Great and looks so nice with these alternative parts!
June 6, 20159 yr Author Yesterday, at last... the last order of bricks that I ordered for the Eiffel tower arrived. Started building (of course), but two problems occurred: I think that there is a problem in the building instructions. This was also mentioned in the following Eurobricks thread: http://www.eurobrick...+eiffel +error. The number of pieces that is mentioned on Brickset.com. It seems that the maximum number of pieces is cut at 200.... in the official building instructions, a couple of elements exceeds the 200. For example elements with 4211109, 4211098, 4219725 are all listed at Brickset at 200 pieces. In the instructions, it is set to 304, 268 resp. 254. So, if you plan to build the Eiffel tower by buying the separate bricks like I did, please take care of these two problems. The first is easy to overcome (see my solution in the same thread that mentioned this problem in the first place), the second problem can be tackled by crosschecking the Brickset numbers with the instructions. Until now, I only found the incorrect number if it is greater than 200. Meanwhile, you can find some new "Work in progress" photos on my Flickr page: https://www.flickr.c...068@N06/069M0m. /Hans Edited June 6, 20159 yr by Hanso
June 8, 20159 yr Thanks for the compliments /Hans This looks very nice. Might start something like this myself. Does the total cost you have spend on the Eiffel Tower include your own bricks or not? I just received most of my bricks to build the second floor of my Cafe Corner MOD. Still waiting for a small shipment from Spain. Edited June 8, 20159 yr by Dennan
June 9, 20159 yr Author The total cost mentioned, is excluding the bricks I already had (approximately 100 - 125 euro if I would buy it new). Today the missing bricks should arrive, so I can resume building. Next, I have almost finished my Market Street, also waiting for a small shipment from Berlin. When ready, I will post some pictures. /Hans
June 9, 20159 yr Author Another problem... not a big one, but hence... order the wrong '2543' pieces... I order the ones with the solid stud on top (2543b). Wrong, wrong, wrong ... See image why this is so very wrong :-( Have ordered the right bricks now... so be warned if you're going to order the separate bricks as well! /Hans Edited June 9, 20159 yr by Hanso
June 10, 20159 yr Author Almost done! See my updated Flickr page with some additional pictures: https://www.flickr.c...157653925657018. Enjoy. /Hans Edited June 10, 20159 yr by Hanso
June 21, 20159 yr Author And finally done! I'm impressed by the size of this Lego structure. Glad I took the step to build it by buying the separate bricks. /Hans PS As you can see in the left-bottom corner, I started building the Taj Mahal. This is a set I've bought just before Lego stopped the production. So, I got it for a 'normal' price of 440 euro's. If you look at the current price, you can almost add a zero ... Edited June 21, 20159 yr by Hanso
June 21, 20159 yr Congratulations on this build. Indeed worth the money Nd time.... Looking forward for the Taj Mahal :-)
June 25, 20159 yr Nice looking Taj Mahal So far. You did the best thing you bought it when it came out. Now the price is just super crazy..... following it to see the final look!
June 26, 20159 yr The Cafe Corner is almost complete. Unfortunately, some parts are too expensive (the price of one door is about 50 euro!) And some parts (like the windows) I have replaced with cheaper solutions. The result is good enough for me. About 1/3 of the bricks I already had in my collection of new bricks. The rest of the bricks were just below 200 euro's. Not a bad price if you compare with a completely new one. And now I am going to wait if the doors will be cheaper one day. May i suggest you go on bricklink and look for this set: 4886 - Building Bonanza. It is quite cheap, the cheapest one you find is in Netherlands, and you get 700 pieces of Lego fun. I am mentioning it because for the money you say the door costs, you get this set, which HAS the same door you need, in black...plus 700 pieces. Update: the door is around 20 € on bricklink in Europe these days, but i would still buy the Bonanza and get the pieces. Best regards B
June 27, 20159 yr Author May i suggest you go on bricklink and look for this set: 4886 - Building Bonanza. It is quite cheap, the cheapest one you find is in Netherlands, and you get 700 pieces of Lego fun. I am mentioning it because for the money you say the door costs, you get this set, which HAS the same door you need, in black...plus 700 pieces. Update: the door is around 20 € on bricklink in Europe these days, but i would still buy the Bonanza and get the pieces. Best regards B Thanks B for the suggestion. Will have a look at the prices and will let you know what I'll do. Nice looking Taj Mahal So far. You did the best thing you bought it when it came out. Now the price is just super crazy..... following it to see the final look! Started a new thread for the Taj Mahal: http://www.eurobrick...owtopic=111290. /Hans Edited June 27, 20159 yr by Hanso
July 15, 20159 yr Author Talking about the Eiffel Tower. This build by Sean Kenney is really cool. Total height is 220 cm, 67470 pieces and took two months of designing and building. More information about this super structure can be found here: http://mocpages.com/moc.php/415991. /Hans
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