Experience sourcing parts for out-of-production sets?

[badbob001]

How common is it for people to try to source new parts to recreate a set that is no longer in production as an alternative from buying used but expensive originals? Is it even a practical (and non-suicidal) process?

I'm thinking about this for out of production sets such as the Cafe Corner or Green Grocer since used originals seem rather expensive. To get an idea of how much it would cost to source the parts individually, I load up a set's inventory into the BrickStore app (note that shipping and extra charges are not factored in). If I set the part prices to their 6-month average, the total price is close to some of the current market prices. If I set the prices to their minimum, then the total price is much better at about 3 times lower, but I'm extremely skeptical this unicorn can be captured.

If I were to attempt this, should I expect prices to be closer to the Average? If that is the case, I may just look to purchase whole sets than stress myself managing thousands of parts from many many vendors. Unless someone can lend me some time on a supercomputer farm running the Bricklink cost minimizer program.

[gwurst]

It varies wildly depending on the rarity of some of the parts. If you have a base collection of parts like I do you can often just buy the needed parts to put one together. I've built a Sandcrawler for cheaper than it costs to buy one, but I also had a good amount of the needed parts. I usually get the manual to go with the set. Minifigs can be an issue since they tend to cost quite a bit for rarer sets. I've probably built over 10 sets from parts so it can be done, but I've also done the research and given-up on ones that were prohibitively expensive to piece together.

[antp]

There is a whole thread about that for the Corner Café :

http://www.eurobrick...opic=60958&st=0

Some time ago it was a way to build it for cheaper, but as many other people also try to do that the price of specific/rare parts are of course very high.

If you are not a purist, the solution to have it for cheaper is to replace some of the parts by other ones (sometimes nearly identical ones, sometimes different colors, - e.g. dark blue arches by dark grey - or just completely different but giving a similar result)

Edited October 11, 2013 by antp

[badbob001]

There is a whole thread about that for the Corner Café :

http://www.eurobrick...opic=60958&st=0

Thanks for the link! It looks like it will either be quick and expensive (assuming you can avoid the scams, secret re-builds with substituted parts, and sun-bleached sets) or be a laborious multi-month/year scavenger hunt.

[eurotrash]

Thanks for the link! It looks like it will either be quick and expensive (assuming you can avoid the scams, secret re-builds with substituted parts, and sun-bleached sets) or be a laborious multi-month/year scavenger hunt.

I thought about it, but didn't really have the patience to deal with multiple BL stores, but the real showstopper for me was the high cost - you're still going to be looking at a $300-$500 build from scratch. And for that kind of cash I was able to BL and build a whole bunch of Modular MOCs.

If you do decide to do it then keep us posted in that thread and Good luck!

[Lego Otaku]

Expensive is right. I just recently went to make a second car to add to my 10173 holidya train set so I could have one with PF battery, IR, and motor all in one without modding the rest of the train. One problem? Window is $3.50 each, USED and I'd need 10. I went with the newer style 1x4x3 window frame, clear glass, and some printed transparency sheet to simulate the train glass (original train glass didn't fit well in newer window due to small size difference)

I also bricklinked 375 yellow castle. I made a few changes such as the red 1x1 window (40-60 cents each) with plain vanilla headlight bricks. It won't be accurate but one would have to look close to notice that.

[TheLegoDr]

It is a good idea to source the parts unless you want everything exact plus box and instructions, then you log as well go original. I am currently sourcing parts for cafe corner, but I've made lots of changes, but I'm keeping the exterior the same. I found an online instruction page and I don't care for the box, so long run it will be lots cheaper. Plus off realized I can modify things that are better/more appealing. I can't design the set, but I can change it.

[badbob001]

After putting the inventory of some sets into my wanted list, viewing the first local shop with the most unique lots, and putting only the first page (of 5) of items into my cart: over $600. Yeah, this method is not going to work without a fight.

[Lego Otaku]

$600 wow what are you trying to recreate? The marketplace? Or the UCS Millennium Falcon?