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THIS IS THE TEST SITE OF EUROBRICKS! ×
THIS IS THE TEST SITE OF EUROBRICKS!

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Posted (edited)

Hello all. Please take a bit Learn from my bricklink adventure of this set.

I would like to thank both Cavegod and cjd223 for the work they did to make this build so that the average guy can assembe this awesome model.

I start by saying that i live in the USA and all parts were bricklinked in the USA. So if i mention this part is rare i mean it is rare to the US market. It could be plentiful and cheap in another region.

As everyone alerady knows, this build contains over 6200 parts. I say over because the parts inventory is a bit off. I tried to buy all new parts and i made an effort to obtain the rare parts when possible.

Im going to go over all of the pitfalls and highlights that i came across when bricklinking this build and a few work around for some of the parts.

Parts list https://rebrickable.com/mocs/cjd_223/cavegod-ucs-at-at-instructions. This parts list is 95.45% accurate. If you are concerned about having to go back and reorder then please use the instructions to make your own list and have one that is 100%.

The biggest problem with ordering parts for this build is the amount of lots. Trust me there are lots of lots. 433 to be exact. There are many rare pieces and peices that are not that rare but only a few sellers have them. All this equates to many orders. More orders equals more shipping. I had 27 lots to get all the parts and the cost is a little over 1100 USD. So you are looking at 18 cents per piece.

I hope to share a few ways to reduce cost and help others save some money. Any ideas to help further the savings are more than welcome.

First. Reduce the lots. This build contains black, blue, dark bluish grey, light bluish grey, yellow, red and white. I would just use LBG for the red, yellow white and blue. This will remove around 45 lots and lower the possibility of a few special orders to get a few colors that wont be seen. They are not visible in the final model. Only the red transparent cheese blocks are.

Second, replace rare parts with readily available bricks.

The build requires 4ea 32532 LBG 6x8 tech brick with open center. These are 2.50-4.00 each and can be replace with any bricks of any color to fill in the area that it is required. Saving $10 plus shipping

Also required are 6ea LBG 75535 tech pin connector with no slot and 12 62462 LBG tech pin connector with slot. 75535 are 2.50 used 17.50 new. 62462 are 10 cents all day. 75535 also has limited sellers with the number required in stock. 20-30 dollars and a few orders saved. Minimum shipping per package is 2.50 usd.

(Will add photo somehow got deleted off my phone)

You will need 10ea LBG 2695 30x13 model team wheels. Nobody had more than 2 when i bought mine and two different sellers gave me 60208 by mistake. 2695 is rare and cost 2.50 up used with no new stock. 60208 in LBG 31x15 tech wheel is a 15 cent part. So that is another 20 dollars saved an 5-10 orders removed.

11928709-DD62-4886-B1A7-B41D61C2CF5F_zpspquepryk.jpg

Surprisingly it is rare for dealers to have enough of both 6565 and 6564 LBG (left and right wedge bricks) in stock at the same time. Replacing them with 3 each wedge plates left and right 43723 and 43722 will reduce two possible special orders because you will need to order 13 of the plates anyway. You will now need 16 of both wedge plates if you choose to use them. The L&R wedge blocks are 2-3 bucks each and plates are 10 cents each. So after shipping on two orders you can save another 8-10 dollars.

29BD1565-FFAD-48FB-9B25-FF01AFDBBACA_zpsuk6hmr5e.jpg

You can see the plates stacked up. They get covered by the side panel. Check out the amazing detail of the lower canons. WoW

Big money 3961 LBG 8x8 dish. What can i say $$$35$$$ each. Many people just use the old light gray for this. The problem with this is that it is on the head of the AT-AT. The most visual part of the model. The light gray dishes are getting rare as well but are only 2-3 bucks each. They just dont look good either. CAVEGOD himself gave the idea on another post to use the 8x8 printed dish off the USC tie fighter. I used the Novus system plastic polish to remove the printing. There could be a bunch of ways to remove it. The UCS tie 8x8 dishes are 10 dollars each. Saving 50 dollars (if you were going to buy the big money dishes).

(Novus system can also make a scratched up brick look new again) only novus 3 is required. 1 and 2 are used to make plastic shine. I use it for model cars. It comes in two sizes. My local motorcycle shop had this huge jug for less than the hobby shop had the small hobby size

ADA5854E-08C9-41A0-99DE-941AB0011DBB_zpsup8thfsr.jpg

With old light gray

F808F7A4-FBBA-42E2-A03D-5219A359D9DA_zps8ocelyvf.jpg

With LBG from UCS tie print erased

C6D9A9AE-9E6F-494D-9114-8C0F0EAFA626_zpslvf3hdtv.jpg

32017 BLack tech beam 1x5 beam thin are 50 cents each. LBG are 8 cent each. You need 38. So either pay 20 bucks or 3. LBG are also more available and you can get them from one dealer. Potential savings of over 20 bucks because of multiple orders required. Part is hidden in the neck.

605686EC-1214-41E8-A345-1665933B6EFD_zpsufmlurr6.jpg

Here is the neck. Only 2 of the beams are visible. And if you did not know you would not notice. Be on the look out every store for those 19 long flexibe tech shaft. Not many dealers have them. May end up a special order.

41126 is another golden brick. Most sellers only have used stock and 1 for sale. You need 4 and the sell for 5-8 bucks. Many people just sub for DBG but two are on the face and stick out big time. This LBG curved slope 6x2 brick can be made with pates and one other curved slope. All you need are one 2x4 plate one 2x3 plate one 2x2 plate and curved slope 93606. All this times 4 needs to be added. All are very common bricks

7EE81223-6FEF-4E86-B43A-E388691D28D1_zpsvtlrtvcr.jpg

Installed

CAB64994-D3BB-4C88-A740-85921966D508_zpsabqoakma.jpg

Here is the AT-ATs bum. Well that is what my kid called it.

42E33A43-A35A-4962-831C-93FCF9B534DA_zpswyz8oxgg.jpg

There are some expensive/rare parts in there. Some have few sellers. The DBG robot arms are not expensive but are rare. The little DBG phones are not rare but are 1 dollar each. (They are used in the UCS falcon. Anything used on the falcon is expensive). The wing wedge peices are 3-5 bucks in DBG and not many sellers have them. I chose to get them all because this is a highly detalied part of the build. It is hard to see but there is a 4865a stuck down in there. None of the 24 sellers i used had one so it would have taken another order just to get one piece required. I subbed it for a 1x2 hinge base in DBG. You can not even tell the difference. It even adds some to it

Now i point out some booger bears. Those sneaky bricks that add on the price quicky or cant be replaced but need to be ordered.

Number one and two are 41770 and 41769. LBG wedge plate 4x2 L&R. Together you will need 89 of these. They cost .50 cent each and most dealers only had one or the other. (Edit. Buy 6 more each than what is called for. I ran out and had to reorder)

43898 LBG 3x3 dish. They range from 2-3 dollars. 20 bucks total.

3675. 33 deg 3x3 slope 4 needed. 5 dollars each (used) getting hard to find a dealer with 4.

5F660CDE-1753-41C0-9C69-DA48D3AFA27A_zpssdvyeayk.jpg These are needed. I dont see a work around

3675. 33deg 3x4 slope brick. No seller had more than 18. 32 required. .60 cent each new. 28 dollars because of split orders.

30565 LBG 4x4 plate with rounded corners. These were 1-2.5 each all used stock. There was no new when i bought mine and no seller had the 18 required

4276(b) and 4275(b). I could not find any (b). I got what they had. No seller had both in black. One did have half in black and the other half in LBG. Not expensive just a challenge to bricklink.

Now. You will need to have total control of the Force to find the next two Easter eggs

2489 LBG barrel X2. There is one on brick link now. For a mere 45 dollars plush shipping from Europe it can be yours.

6135 LBG palm tree trunk x4. Nobody has more than one. It will be in light gray, used and not cheap. Most sellers also had high minimum buys.

Im struggling to figure out a fix for those two. The palm tree trunks make up the gun ends on the head. I may have no choice but to paint them

Edited by lanesteele240
Posted

Wow you certainly did an excellent job documenting the whole process of obtaining and replacing bricks, a lot better than simply summing it up shortly, you definitely helped make this model more affordable. I cannot wait to see how your build progresses and I am glad that my manual helped you out. One thing is that could you please edit the cmj223 in your one paragraph to cjd223. I assume it was just autocorrect or you trying to finish the post as quickly as possible given you got it right in the heading.

Posted

Thanks for the detailed walkthrough of your building process!

I would love to build this but it's out of reach for me, unfortunately, so I will just read your thread! :)

Posted

That's very nice document! Good points, interesting notes and some good advices. I wouldn't realize till this very moment how special it actually is to build this model without excessive paiting or mods!

Anyway, this makes me bring up my usual comment - isn't it time for new (or at least updated) design? :) Some with parts&techniques available today? Being designed a decade ago, Cavegods masterpiece is getting aged and this hunting for rare species is taking over the build itself. Like 90% of the 'fun' is part aquisition and the rest goes to the actual build. To be clear, I have nothing but admiration for those who manage to finish such project, just thinking whether the effort couldn't be better put into more fundamental design updates from which others could benefit rather than from conclusion that building a model will remain possible for only few further individuals :D

That is though question for everyone :) Good luck with finishing your endeavor! And if you keep posting this journal, I'm happy - reading this brings me as close to ayctually building it as I can (probably) ever get :D

Posted

Anyway, this makes me bring up my usual comment - isn't it time for new (or at least updated) design? :) Some with parts&techniques available today? Being designed a decade ago, Cavegods masterpiece is getting aged and this hunting for rare species is taking over the build itself. Like 90% of the 'fun' is part aquisition and the rest goes to the actual build. To be clear, I have nothing but admiration for those who manage to finish such project, just thinking whether the effort couldn't be better put into more fundamental design updates from which others could benefit rather than from conclusion that building a model will remain possible for only few further individuals :D

Good points, but that would be a massive undertaking to say the least. I thought bricklinking 10179 was a major undertaking but this is another animal all together.

Posted

There has been a few attempts to modernize this build. The UCS ISD rear engine wheels were were swapped out for those large motorcycle wheels.

They also removed the part on the right with the one on the left D2BB7C16-CFD2-4000-B688-A330A413F429_zpsreavvqq2.jpg

The 1/4 round peice is 50 cents or less. The triangle is 2-5 each. You need 16 of the 1/4 round an 32 (i think) of the triangle. The triangle is also rare. 1/4 round is plentiful

Posted (edited)

Well, it might help some Europeans :classic:

Well, it might help some Europeans :classic:

Well, it might help some Europeans :classic:

What are you trying to say?

Edited by phaelon
Posted

I really enjoy seeing this process. I bricklinked a custom minifig scale AT-AT, so I know the struggle of sourcing a lot of these pieces. Those 8x8 dishes were by far the biggest pain. I have 3 on my UCS ISD, but I have the old gray version, and I think they stick out like a sore thumb on the head of the AT-AT. As for the legs, due to how the AT-AT itself looks, there really is not asthetically pleasing way to construct them in a sturdy way. Cavegod's model is a big larger than mine(his is larger than minifig scale), but I noticed that once you get the entire walker standing up with the body on it, the 4 legs in conjuction actually work together really well in keeping the large model upright.

  • 2 months later...
Posted (edited)

Nice description of the of the difficulties met while gathering the needed parts to built this awesome model. I've built it recently, and the hardest part for me was to get it to stand on its legs...In my opinion, this is where an update would be welcome (make the legs much more stable).

But, hey, even the real thing looks like it is ready to fall if it winds a little too much...I can only imagine what Darth Vader did to those engineers who designed it...

Edited by legocharles
Posted

Wow, both of yours profile pictures are so similar that I for a moment mistook you two for the same person, but I remember that legocharles did his a while ago…

I send my profile pic to my wife when im mad at her and she says "i love you". Kinda sucks when she returns the favor

  • 7 months later...
Posted (edited)
On 3/27/2016 at 1:00 AM, lanesteele240 said:

Number one and two are 41770 and 41769. LBG wedge plate 4x2 L&R. Together you will need 89 of these. They cost .50 cent each and most dealers only had one or the other. (Edit. Buy 6 more each than what is called for. I ran out and had to reorder)

Lego Bricks and pieces sells these for 0.25$ CAD a pop & sells 43898 for 0.36$ CAD 

Edited by apoupada
  • 11 months later...
Posted (edited)

39935880432_f43d794a24_b_d.jpg

Our LUG had a show over the weekend and we were able to display two of Cavegods mighty AT-AT's. I built mine back in 2015 and it hasn't been out of the box in two years so was happy it got to see the light of day again. Mine is the one on the left. A fellow club member completed his (with CJD223's instructions) just the day prior and was able to bring it on the second day of the show for it's inaugural display. I've always wanted to see a couple of these guys together and the display was a real crowd pleaser. The AT-ST in the middle is the Anothergol's version 1 design.

25096755207_85659e8579_b_d.jpg

Edited by ecmo47

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