UCS Bricklinking, times 12...

[thndrmatt]

I've lurked a while and gained a wealth of knowledge from this forum, so I figured it was about time I posted. I've been lucky enough to acquire some UCS Star Wars sets over the years, including a Millenium Falcon when it first came out. It was discovering the value of that set that led to me collect others over the past few years (10179, 10188, 10212, 10221, 10227, 10240, 75060, 75095). The one I didn't have that I always wanted was the ISD, so I spent quite a bit of time bricklinking one with some substitutions, and realized how it looks just as cool on the shelf with a few substitutions as it would have if I'd paid loads more for an exact match.

This in turn led me down the path of wondering if it would be possible to Bricklink EVERY UCS set that I didn't already have. After subtracting out the old X-Wing (I have the new one) and the Snowspeeder (planning on a new one there too right?), that turned out to be 12 sets. Three of them (7194, 10186, 10215) I actually found 99% complete and purchased them as full sets, filling in the missing few pieces. For the other nine (7181, 10018, 10019, 10026, 10134, 10143, 10174, 10175, 10225) I spent a truckload of time sorting and organizing the few huge boxes of parts that I'd kept for a few decades, and that allowed me to figure out I had about 3300 pieces that I needed, and thus figured out I would need to bricklink the rest up to a total of a little under 18,000 pieces.

Those of you familiar with the UCS sets will immediately recognize some of the color substitutions I chose to do purely for expense reasons. In all cases, I substituted in light bluish gray for light gray, and dark bluish gray for dark gray, so the sets all go together as a whole in the modern colors. In the cases where the pieces were only made in the old grays, I stuck with those when not cost prohibitive. Specific additional substitutions follow:

7181

4095 Black Bar 6.6L with Stop Ring (Patio Umbrella Stand) – instead of blue

30374 Light Bluish Gray Bar 4L (Lightsaber Blade / Wand) – instead of dark gray

2618 Light Gray Cockpit 10 x 10 x 4 Octagonal with Axle Hole – instead of dark gray

30364 Dark Gray Hinge Brick 1 x 2 Locking with 1 Finger Vertical End – instead of changing to dark bluish gray

7191

32039 Light Bluish Gray Technic, Axle Connector with Axle Hole - instead of blue

30374 Light Bluish Gray Bar 4L (Lightsaber Blade/Wand) - instead of dbg

2489 Dark Bluish Gray Container, Barrel 2 x 2 x 2 - instead of lbg

2653, 6565, 6564, 30155, 4275, 6069pb03, 2625 - used dg instead of dbg

6259, 3185, 4315, 30361a, 78c06, 2744, 3708 - used lg instead of lbg

32007 Pearl Light Gray Technic Tread Hub - instead of lbg

2507 Trans-Red Windscreen 10 x 4 x 2 1/3 Canopy - instead of lbg

2645 White Cylinder 4 x 4 x 1 2/3 with Axle Holes - instead of lbg

10018

30562 Dark Bluish Gray Cylinder Quarter 4 x 4 x 6 – instead of black

10019

3961 Dark Bluish Gray Dish 8 x 8 Inverted (Radar) – instead of light gray

2440 Dark Bluish Gray Hinge Panel 6 x 3 – instead of light gray

2903 Dark Bluish Gray Wheel 61.6mm D. x 13.6mm Motorcycle – instead of dark red

2515 Dark Bluish Gray Wheel Hard Plastic Large (54mm D. x 30mm) – instead of light gray

30565 Dark Red Plate, Round Corner 4 x 4 – instead of light bluish gray

30374 Light Bluish Gray Bar 4L (Lightsaber Blade / Wand) – instead of dark gray

30562 Light Bluish Gray Cylinder Quarter 4 x 4 x 6 – instead of white

30386 Light Bluish Gray Hinge Brick 1 x 2 Locking with 1 Finger Vertical End and 2 Fingers Vertical End – instead of white

30283 Light Bluish Gray Slope, Inverted 45 6 x 4 Double with 4 x 4 Cutout – instead of white

4625 Light Gray Hinge Tile 1 x 4 – instead of tan

2362b Light Gray Panel 1 x 2 x 3 - Hollow Studs – instead of white

2418b Trans-Black Windscreen 6 x 6 Octagonal Canopy with Axle Hole – instead of white

6177 White Tile, Round 8 x 8 – instead of dark red

10026

41748pb004 Black Wedge 6 x 2 Left – instead of with Silver Windscreen Pattern

41747pb004 Black Wedge 6 x 2 Right –instead of with Silver Windscreen Pattern

3942c, 6233, 41531, 42061, 4266 – all custom chromed instead of original

3007 Light Bluish Gray Brick 2 x 8 – instead of dark gray, not visible

10129

30374 Light Bluish Gray Bar 4L (Lightsaber Blade/Wand) - instead of dbg

4735 Light Bluish Gray Bar 1 x 3 with Clip and stud receptacle - instead of dbg

4161 Light Gray Slope 33 3 x 3 - used 3x2 +3x1 in lbg

44570 Light Bluish Gray Hinge Plate 3 x 4 Locking Dual 2 Finger - instead of trans-black

30363 Orange Slope 18 4 x 2 - instead used orange 60477 4x1

6070 Trans-Neon Orange Windscreen 5 x 2 x 1 2/3 - instead of orange

4474 Trans-Neon Orange Windscreen 6 x 4 x 2 Canopy - instead of trans-black

32530, x131b, 2536d, 4266 - used lg instead of lbg

3939, 32007, 2413 - used dg instead of dbg

10030

32018 White Technic, Brick 1 x 14 with Holes – instead of black

40345 Light Bluish Gray Technic, Brick 6 x 8 Open Center – instead of black

2356 Light Bluish Gray Brick 4 x 6 – instead of blue

32016 Light Bluish Gray Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Angled #3 - 157.5 degrees – instead of blue

2625 Black Wedge, Plate 7 x 6 without Stud Notches (Boat Bow Plate) – instead of dark gray

3961 Dark Bluish Gray Dish 8 x 8 Inverted (Radar) – instead of light gray

30342 Dark Bluish Gray Rock Arctic Globe, Bottom – instead of light gray

73092, 2607, 2476, 3673, 30159 all replaced with mod that includes technic and pins instead of magnets (37x2476 Light Bluish Gray Plate, Modified 2 x 2 with Pin on Bottom; 14x32557 Black Technic, Pin Connector Perpendicular Double 3L; 14x42003 Light Bluish Gray Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with 2 Pin Holes)

2573 Black Wheel Hard Plastic Giant (71mm D. x 47mm) – instead of light gray

6249 Dark Bluish Gray Brick, Modified 2 x 4 with Pins – instead of red

4519 Light Bluish Gray Technic, Axle 3 – instead of red

4285b Trans Light Blue Dish 6 x 6 Inverted (Radar) Webbed - Type 2 (underside attachment positions at 90 degrees) - instead of 30159 Trans-Light Blue Dish 6 x 6 Inverted (Radar) - Hollow Studs

10134

30236 Dark Red Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Handle – instead of dark orange

2412b Dark Red Tile, Modified 1 x 2 Grille with Bottom Groove / Lip – instead of dark orange

78c02 Flat Silver Hose, Ribbed 7mm D. 2L – instead of white

75c14 Light Bluish Gray Hose, Rigid 3mm D. 14L / 11.2cm – instead of dark bluish gray

6538b Light Bluish Gray Technic, Axle Connector (Ridged with x Hole x Orientation) – instead of white

32039 Light Bluish Gray Technic, Axle Connector with Axle Hole – instead of white

30183 Light Gray Slope, Inverted 45 6 x 4 Double with Recessed Center – instead of light bluish gray

32077 Metallic Silver Wheel 70 x 28 mm Futuristic – instead of white

10143

3937 Black Hinge Brick 1 x 2 Base – instead of tan

30364 Black Hinge Brick 1 x 2 Locking with 1 Finger Vertical End – instead of tan

32555 Black Technic, Brick 5 x 5 Right Angle (1 x 4 - 1 x 4) – instead of red

50990b Light Bluish Gray Dish 10 x 10 Inverted (Radar) - Hollow Studs – instead of 50990a solid studs

32034 Light Bluish Gray Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Angled #2 - 180 degrees – instead of blue

32278 Light Bluish Gray Technic, Liftarm 1 x 15 Thick – instead of pearl dark gray

2413 Light Gray Wedge, Plate 4 x 9 without Stud Notches – instead of light bluish gray, visible

10174

4095 Black Bar 6.6L with Stop Ring (Patio Umbrella Stand) – instead of light bluish gray

32324 Light Bluish Gray Technic, Brick 4 x 4 Open Center - instead of black

10175

4095 Black Bar 6.6L with Stop Ring (Patio Umbrella Stand) – instead of light bluish gray

47405 Black Wedge, Plate 8 x 12 (Boat Bow Plate) – instead of light bluish gray

44375a Light Bluish Gray Dish 6 x 6 Inverted (Radar) - Hollow Studs – instead of Tie Advanced pattern

2618 Light Gray Cockpit 10 x 10 x 4 Octagonal with Axle Hole – instead of light bluish gray

2413 Light Gray Wedge, Plate 4 x 9 without Stud Notches – instead of light bluish gray, visible

2598 Trans-Dark Blue Windscreen 10 x 10 x 4 Canopy Octagonal – instead of Tie Advanced pattern

10225

None

Alas, the "project" is not yet complete, as I am still short a few shipments. One came from the Czech Republic and the tracking says arrived 4/1 "in destination country" but I haven't received it yet. I'm also still on the hunt for 31 lots of 136 total pieces. And as luck would have it, there's at least one or two lots missing from each of the sets, so I have held back on building so far. It's likely I may tweak a few of the sets as I build them since some of the substitutions might have a more negative affect than I anticipated.

But I figured given how much information I've gained from this forum, I might as well share some of the knowledge since I haven't seen this volume of UCS bricklinking taking place in one thread. More to come!

Edited July 8, 2016 by thndrmatt

[Sucram]

This is going to be a monster task. Good luck!

[Patgeo]

It looks like you were having some harsh hours! I hope that everything turns out well! Good luck with your project!

[Midlife-crisis]

good luck on this task after bricklinking 7 Lego UCS sets i know this is a huge project.

currently i bricklink the 10030 myself with magnets.

you use the "2573 Black Wheel Hard Plastic Giant (71mm D. x 47mm) – instead of light gray"

have you thought about redesigning the 3 engines? or am i the only one who really hate this annoying hard plastic wheel style?

buying the giant wheels in black or orange and painting would be my plan C or D.

[thndrmatt]

It looks like you were having some harsh hours!

I did the standard excel spreadsheet I'm sure everyone does, combining all the inventories into one for purchasing quantities but still broken out into columns so I could tell which sets were demanding which pieces. It just became really tedious given there were 800+ lots/rows. That is a TON of unique pieces. And then of course every time a big shipment would come in having to inventory it all... And trying to keep the big Bricklink wanted list updated to the spreadsheet every time I was buying partial quantities. Mistakes were made a few times and I had to rebuy partial quantities of some things. Once I've gotten everything I'm going to price it all out per set including shipping to the US so people have a window into what Bricklinking each UCS set is costing with today's prices/exchange rate/shipping costs. While it's easy to see the $5k+ in potential value from the sets I think a lot of people underestimate the shipping especially when looking to get 800+ lots/18k pieces. If I include the ISD I'm at approximately $2.5k for the 13 sets.

Fun fact, the most common piece was Dark Bluish Gray Brick 1x2, with 465 of those being needed including 458 just for the DS2... Several others had 200+ quantity.

buying the giant wheels in black or orange and painting would be my plan C or D.

I have a tall entertainment center with two pillar display cases on either side of a big screen tv, and I have the Millenium Falcon and ISD facing each other angled partly forward and tilted slightly towards the room via risers, so based on the angles visible to the room the engines aren't a focal point. I also just randomly happened to have six of the wheels in black from a set I had in the early 90s, so it was one less thing to purchase. It's actually the arctic globe bases which bug me more but again not enough to change them out.

The color change that appears to be problematic thus far is the 2413 Light Gray Wedge, Plate 4 x 9 without Stud Notches that will be very visible on both the DS2 and Vader, they're $0.05 for light gray which I got the right quantity in, but $2+ in light bluish gray that would match everything else. Going to try it out and see how bothersome it is visually.

Edited April 13, 2016 by thndrmatt

[slenos]

Just so you know you can get those 2413 Light Gray Wedge, Plate 4 x 9 without Stud Notches from Bricks and Pieces for $.94 ea. I'm thinking they would make a pretty big difference especially on the death star.

[Midlife-crisis]

The color change that appears to be problematic thus far is the 2413 Light Gray Wedge, Plate 4 x 9 without Stud Notches that will be very visible on both the DS2 and Vader, they're $0.05 for light gray which I got the right quantity in, but $2+ in light bluish gray that would match everything else. Going to try it out and see how bothersome it is visually.

S T O P

wait a second :)

until now cheap in light bluish gray

Wedge, Plate 4 x 9 with Stud Notches - Item No: 14181 http://alpha.brickli...&O={"color":86}

Edited April 13, 2016 by Midlife-crisis

[slenos]

The problem is you need 16 of them for 10143 and trying to get any quantity from a bricklink seller they quickly go over $2 a piece.

[Midlife-crisis]

i know but alternate part is 0.68€ in germany for 20pieces - new in the correct colour thats a good deal for me. compared to 2.5€ for 1 or 2 pieces.

[slenos]

Ah sorry I thought you had linked the same part.

[took9]

good luck on this task after bricklinking 7 Lego UCS sets i know this is a huge project.

currently i bricklink the 10030 myself with magnets.

you use the "2573 Black Wheel Hard Plastic Giant (71mm D. x 47mm) – instead of light gray"

have you thought about redesigning the 3 engines? or am i the only one who really hate this annoying hard plastic wheel style?

buying the giant wheels in black or orange and painting would be my plan C or D.

Painting them was impossible, even with primer. But you can copy or improve my solution:

[Midlife-crisis]

^^ thank you, i really like it especially the cone shape i miss with the plastic wheels, already ordered 3 dishes 3960 in trans-light-blue :)

[SnowDog2112]

That's a realy neat brick built engine design. I had seen someone else use the death star planet halves (that came with the mini tie interceptor a couple years ago) as an alternative to the wheels as well. That gives you the cone shape while maintaining the round footprint, vs the octagon those panels form. You've certainly given me more to think about when I convince myself to bricklink 10030.

[thndrmatt]

Wedge, Plate 4 x 9 with Stud Notches - Item No: 14181 http://alpha.brickli...&O={"color":86}

Hmmm that's an idea, but I wonder given the placement in the DS2 if the stud notches will actually leave visible gaps between them visually that weren't intended...

[jdm44]

Painting them was impossible, even with primer. But you can copy or improve my solution:

Wow that looks amazing. I like how the whole rear end embraces the LEGO studs.

I just Bricklinked the 10175 and got all of the 4x9 wedges from B&P. I'm curious to see how it looks with the Trans-Dark Blue Windscreen. I ended up doing what a few other members have done by using the new UCS TIE Windscreen.

[thndrmatt]

I just Bricklinked the 10175 and got all of the 4x9 wedges from B&P. I'm curious to see how it looks with the Trans-Dark Blue Windscreen.

B&P has them about $1 each, which means $24 between the 10143 and 10175 :/

I'll be posting pics of what the substitutions look like since some of them are definitely "unique" which could easily be seen as good or bad.

[H_Solo]

Just finished BLing 10143... Got the 4x9 wedges from Lego... Very affordable and the look perfect on the finished model.

[thndrmatt]

First building update, I figured I might as well start with 7181 since it was the earliest and as one of the smaller sets would be a good warm up.

The main substitutions on this one were the large cockpit pieces, I left the wings vertical so you could see the difference. Obviously the rear is light gray instead of dark, and the front is the trans-dark blue. Given all the solid blue on the wings, I'm pretty happy with the result for the front, less so from the back, but it won't be on a rotating stand. :)

Edited May 6, 2016 by thndrmatt

[Sucram]

this is justmy opinion, but I really don't like the blue windshield. Sure, it saves money, but it looks too... Kiddy? Like when I used to make things with whatever colours I had?

[dljbae]

Very curious how much the custom chrome for 10026 came out to be?

[thndrmatt]

Very curious how much the custom chrome for 10026 came out to be?

Good segue, the last of those came in so I built it up:

Most of the chrome pieces were about a buck from Bubul's. They actually didn't have one of them in inventory so I e-mailed them asking if they could do it, and they did it near instantly and sent it out no problem. The larger wedges were slightly more, but that beat the ~$9 and rare availability for the legit pieces. You can tell on the bottom on a few of them in tiny sections that don't show what the original color was, but as you can see above the final product appears the same. The other noticeable thing is when you feed the axles through the pieces, there is obviously verrrry slightly less clearance so it requires slightly more force than normal. The other substitution was the black wedges on top instead of the silver windscreen pattern. I should also mention I'm going to get all the stickers from all the sets via the other thread on here and print them onto sticker paper and add them on later.

All the pieces in the background are the inventory of the DS2 which I got 1/3 of the way through and figured out I had accidentally bought 30 plates with handles instead of 30 bricks, and all the pieces from R2D2 which I got partway through and figured out I had somehow ignored the 4 orange 1x2 bricks in the inventory and hadn't gotten them... Wondering why on earth they chose orange for internal not visible pieces, but I hadn't had to do any substitutions on that one yet so figured might as well get them.

Edited April 24, 2016 by thndrmatt

[rmoore]

Nice! I will eventually bricklink all of the older Star Wars UCS sets, too. I've already done the Falcon, Y-Wing, X-Wing, AT-ST, and Death Star Playset. And I'm currently about 90% complete on the B-Wing, Imperial Shuttle and Super Star Destroyer.

[dljbae]

Thanks for the info! Where or what is "Bubul's"

So from the sounds of it, you bricklinked the entire 10026 for about $50?

[pittpenguin123]

Thanks for the info! Where or what is "Bubul's"

So from the sounds of it, you bricklinked the entire 10026 for about $50?

hes talking about "Bubul chrome"

[thndrmatt]

Finally got some of the lbg 20L hoses that I promptly trimmed to make both 10L hoses x 8 and 14L hoses x 6, which allowed me to finish the 10175 build.

Again I used a blue cockpit, and obviously even more so than the interceptor, it looks pretty flagrantly out of place here. There are some MOCs people have done of the cockpit using less expensive pieces I've been seeing on this forum that I may end up using, since there are no other blue pieces as a part of this particular set. The other noticable changes are the light gray rear which is pretty tame, and the large bow pieces which I have in black instead of gray which are more obvious with a portion of them showing on the furthest aft portion of the center section.

The other main subs were the top hatch which I just went generic lbg with, and some black patio stands instead of gray, but since black is a primary color those don't stick out too badly on the side of the wings. On to the next set!

After finally receiving the 30ish modified bricks that I'd accidentally ordered as modified plates, it ended up taking several days of on and off building to finish 10143.

First thing of note is the 4x green 2x2 plates are actually just used to help align the central circular array, and are discarded for the final build. So no need to purchase those if bricklinking. The main visible sub was the 4x9 wedge plates which ended up lg instead of lbg. They actually don't bother me as much as I thought they would, and I think stud notches on the side of them would bother me more. If I happen to find a deal on them then I'll pick up a bunch for both 10143 and 10175 (24 total).

This was a really fun build, even with the monster duplication of the under construction portion. I built both simultaneously, and it was fun to see them climb up and up and up and then attach to the main frame. Certainly the largest of the sets I'll be doing as a part of this project. One thing I would change is I made the mistake of thinking that Pearl Gray was closer to lbg than it was black, when in fact the latter is true. So for the main base 1x15 liftarms I probably would have gone with black if doing it again. Next is R2D2 since those pesky orange bricks finally came in... why did they choose orange for internal pieces...

Edited May 6, 2016 by thndrmatt