Hi there,

when I was a child, I had a pretty large lego collection. Then I got into my dark ages and the lego was stored away.

Even in my dark ages, I checked Shop@Home now and then. Upon seeing the exclusive Taj Mahal one day, I was out of them and back in my lego ages.

So I started buying sets again, new sets. Since I did not and do still not want to mix the shiny new sets with the scratched up bricks from my childhood (I just don't like 'well-used' lego pieces), I began to build up an entirely new lego collection, with my old sets and bricks still stored away and some of which sold to gain more money to spend on new lego.

As a result, I'm left with many sets right now but I haven't got any loose bricks.

I WANT TO MOC, though. My question now is: what exactly and where should I buy to get started with? My goal is to build up a substantial brick collection.

I know, I could disassemble sets. But (1) I think I need many basic bricks as a start rather than speciality pieces and (2) I usually don't want to take apart the sets I buy.

Thanks in advance

Cheers,

funkybrick

Edited August 20, 201014 yr by funkybrick

i would buy the big brick bins and additional sets to take apart for pieces

The problem with the large brick bins is that they don't include smaller pieces. They usually have your standard 2x2, 2x4, 1x2, etc. All those pieces would be a lot cheaper buying in bulk through bricklink. I recommend getting a sets, and when you want a part of one, well, take it off!

Bricklink is a very usefull way to get parts in bulk, and you can get them in new condition depending on who you buy them from. Other than that I just recomend looking at sets for parts, like the new castle sets for for grey bricks and walls.

Yeah this has also been a problem of mine also. I have lots of loose bricks that I have collected over time but they are all different coloured and it is difficult to MOC something. I have searched around bricklink but there is just too many bricks on there and if I was to buy from there I dont know how many bricks I would need for in what colour and size. I did buy one of the creator houses to try and hone my MOCing skills with it but I have yet to get around to playing around with it yet. Id love to hear what some of you great MOCers think is a good way to build up brick reserves.

I like using 1x2 bricks instead of 2x4... it seems a closer-to-real size for minifigures. So I went on BL and found someone selling them for just 2.9 cents each... so I ordered thousands (and 1x1s to fill around doors and windows). That's was the start... then it was the occasional order to fill in the blanks, so to speak.

I also visit the LEGO store occasionally, and when they have interesting parts I'll get a whole bunch, even if I don't have anything specific in mind at that time.

Besides the advices allready given you could look at garage sales and Ebay and sites like that for used collections.

You will get a lot of different bricks that you didn't know you needed instead of going to Bricklink and buy the 200 yellow bricks you know you miss to build a house. Yes you will have some bricks with scratches but you can always use them later on as "filling" when your collection of sets that you have parted out is big enough to build what you want.

When buying at Bricklink then browse the rest of the categories and buy some stuff that you might need at some point... that worked for me

---

Jan

When buying at Bricklink then browse the rest of the categories and buy some stuff that you might need at some point... that worked for me

---

Jan

Yes... that's another thing. I always have a few things in mind, even if I have no idea when I'll be able to work on them. To cut down on the effects of shippings costs on small orders, I'll search through the store I'm buying from to find other things, even if it's not related to what I'm working on at the time.

Scrap the official sets, organize your parts, then MOC. I found BrickLink indispensable for planned MOCs - buying the exact parts I need - not so much for building up a general inventory. As for building up a collection buy official sets you like. Whatever you're interested in MOCing buy official sets of that - buildings, vehicles, Star Wars. The parts from those sets naturally lend themselves to creating MOCs of the same theme.

I would suggest you buy some 'creator' sets.

they have some very basic bricks/plates. and very good to start with.

Hi there,

when I was a child, I had a pretty large lego collection. Then I got into my dark ages and the lego was stored away.

Even in my dark ages, I checked Shop@Home now and then. Upon seeing the exclusive Taj Mahal one day, I was out of them and back in my lego ages.

So I started buying sets again, new sets. Since I did not and do still not want to mix the shiny new sets with the scratched up bricks from my childhood (I just don't like 'well-used' lego pieces), I began to build up an entirely new lego collection, with my old sets and bricks still stored away and some of which sold to gain more money to spend on new lego.

As a result, I'm left with many sets right now but I haven't got any loose bricks.

I WANT TO MOC, though. My question now is: what exactly and where should I buy to get started with? My goal is to build up a substantial brick collection.

I know, I could disassemble sets. But (1) I think I need many basic bricks as a start rather than speciality pieces and (2) I usually don't want to take apart the sets I buy.

Thanks in advance

Cheers,

funkybrick

I would suggest you buy some 'creator' sets.

they have some very basic bricks/plates. and very good to start with.

I agree with "happymark". The Creator sets are a great way to get all kinds of parts in a lot of colors.

It does seem daunting at first to start to build up a usable palette of bricks, and quite expensive initially. It probably helps if you are happy to build, then destroy your creations, as each purchase then increases your collection for the next project.

Your strategy will depend upon what styles you want to MOC in, so by looking at MOC you can identify certain pieces and colours which are essential for you. Then you can assemble your vast 'Wanted List' in Bricklink, and start to look at choosing shops (the 'Wanted List' is essential for making sure you do not forget certain elements).

Bricklink ate my money for about 12 months, but you will be left with a useful collection which is tailored to your needs. By examining Set Inventories you will identify particularly good sets to buy for parts (if you want to start to build civilian medieval buildings you must buy the Market Village, or for modern buildings one of the Modular Buildings). And keep alert for good sales offers, through every avenue: Bricklink has a forum and shops will announce sales, Amazon will have good offers occasionally, and of course the range of Toy shops/ supermarkets which you have access to.

Some sets might be subjectively 'to precious' to part out into your collection, so you might want to keep them 'alive', but also as your sorted collection increases in both size and accuracy, you might prefer to have those parts sorted in a precise fashion. I tend to buy sets mainly for parts, very few even get built, although every so often I find a 'special' one which I need to build and then can't bring myself to part out.

If you do not like used Lego (i only buy new, which is often not that much more expensive than used on Bricklink), I would recommend that you sell of your childhood collection. If you view it as a way of acquiring the collection you want, because if you do not use it then you might as well not have it, and you can offset the cost of getting something which you want and will use.

Expensive and frustrating at the start, but soon you will start to get the collection that you need. Also you will need to work out how you sort it, it is no good having everything you need, if you can not find what you want! So sort and categorise into some system that makes sense for you as you go along. Have fun!

I had fairly good luck buying a 6 pound box of assorted LEGO on ebay. The description said something about Star Wars parts but really I only got two lightsaber handles and a few guns in the box, the rest were plates/technic pieces/some random orange transparent cockpit pieces.

It was just under $30, but well worth it, got a lot of light grey plates and a ton of little "greeble-type" parts.