Bricklinking Modular Buildings

[cei]

So glad GG was my first modular, and I only had to make my CC with BL/Lego orders! (Not counting MS, which I dislike intensely). It's also quite scary to think of the monetary value sitting on my shelves - CC, GG, FB, GE, TH, PS, PC & PR! I also have, in my parts bins, another copy of TH, two GEs and two PSs.

[rollermonkey]

Re GG: Last BnP and BL orders have been paid, and the second BL order arrives tomorrow.

I'd actually BL 10179 next if the stupid rigging pieces weren't like $180 each.

[minjiet]

Hi, i'm new here...after reading this topic, i have the same desire to get GG from bricklinking...

I wonder if i missed it or not...is there any replacement for White Window 1 x 2 x 3 Train? GG need 4 unit which is very costly...

[drgordy]

Hi, i'm new here...after reading this topic, i have the same desire to get GG from bricklinking...

I wonder if i missed it or not...is there any replacement for White Window 1 x 2 x 3 Train? GG need 4 unit which is very costly...

Your best bet is to just use a regular 1x2x3 window. I am starting a GG and have substituted it as the train window isn't even facing out and now you can use a piece of glass in the new window

[minjiet]

Your best bet is to just use a regular 1x2x3 window. I am starting a GG and have substituted it as the train window isn't even facing out and now you can use a piece of glass in the new window

U mean replace with 60593? Window 1 x 2 x 3 Flat Front

[antp]

Yes, and with the glass it will even look better than the train window I think. Lego used a train window without glass because that other one didn't exist yet at that time.

[minjiet]

Yes, and with the glass it will even look better than the train window I think. Lego used a train window without glass because that other one didn't exist yet at that time.

Great...thanks...

[stevkir]

Well. I won't be finishing my GG as soon as I thought. The $$ I was going to use to get the remaining 1x3 and 1x4 Sand Green bricks I ended up doing the Dad thing and took the kids to the movies to see the LEGO Movie. guess it will have to wait another couple weeks before I put in that last order. At least I still have 2 BL orders coming in this week and I should be able to finished the 1st lvl and the roof.

[Super Goblin]

I'm thinking about building GG, just the building and exterior, none of the inside stuff. I wonder how much this would cost and if there are enough sand green bricks in the Haunted House to avoid buying more? If anyone has just built the building and exterior would you be kind enough to post the parts list?

[rollermonkey]

The sand green parts list is actually pretty short:

35 1x1 bricks (4521948)

56 1x2 modified brick with vertical groove (4521889)

54 1x3 bricks (4521950)

41 1x4 bricks (4521947)

50 1x8 bricks (4521949)

A lot of people replace the 1x8s with a combination of 1x2s and additional 1x6s and 1x4s to save on costs

[stevkir]

The hunted house has enough of the 1x1, 1x2, 1x4 and 1x6 Sand Green bricks but you will still need to purchase the 1x3 Bricks and the 1x2 with groove. The idea is to use 50 1x2 and 50 1x6 bricks to cover not using the 1x8 since those are way expensive. Yes you could spend the $170 on the Haunted House and feel like you saved money considering that if you actually purchased the 1x8 bricks those would cost $150 alone. Then once you figure in all of the other parts you could scavenge from the Haunted house for your GG you could add up another $20+ in savings that you would have spent on BLing the parts.

Keep in mind that the Haunted House also has the gates that are used for the Market Street modular if you are interested in building that one. Then what ever you didn't need for the GG you could see how much is left to set aside for the MS or CC.

If you don't care about the minifigs from the Haunted House, I would suggest you find a local BL seller in your area that is willing to trade or give you store credit for future orders and make back a little from purchasing that set for parts. I actually thought heavily about buying the Haunted House but ended up just buying from BL myself, as I wasn't planing on spending $300+ like I ended up doing for my GG. If I knew I was going to spend that much I am sure I would have gone and spent the $170 at the LEGO store, received my 169 worth of points and given the glow in the dark ghosts to my kids.

Edited March 26, 2014 by stevkir

[Super Goblin]

Great stuff guys, I plained on buying the extra HH for the sand green parts plus I wanted the zombie heads and minifigs.

[rollermonkey]

I placed 14 BL orders last weekend, and the first two are already here.... Sadly, no parts that could be attached to the baseplate, as all of steps 2 and three were in the first BnP order I placed.

Incidentally, is it odd that one of the two orders came with almost every lot in its own plastic baggie? (50 lots in 43 baggies)

[elleana]

I placed 14 BL orders last weekend, and the first two are already here.... Sadly, no parts that could be attached to the baseplate, as all of steps 2 and three were in the first BnP order I placed.

Incidentally, is it odd that one of the two orders came with almost every lot in its own plastic baggie? (50 lots in 43 baggies)

Not really, some BL sellers package very well to minimise scratching.

Am done building my GG and am now moving on to CC. Am considering adding an additional first level, to make it one level taller/higher. Looks like the additional investment in bricks shouldn't be that much, as I already have a ton of reddish brown bricks so just need to make the facade, which except for the white panels (which am probably going to replace with either the cheaper versions or regular windows). Anything else in there that's ridiculously priced? I know about the 2 x 10 reddish brown ones too, which is easy to sub out.

[stevkir]

Here is the GG with the Dark Red awning and the current changes I plan on doing to the Market Street. I wanted to change out the yellow planter boxes that are used for the MS with the new ones from PR but I don't think they are in LDD yet.

Edited March 27, 2014 by stevkir

[rollermonkey]

I cannot believe how fast some of these BL orders are coming in. 8 of 15 orders are here, and the remaining seven BL orders have shipped.

Meanwhile, my PaB and BnP orders aren't shipped yet, despite being placed several days before the BL orders.

Heck, I've even got one of my three European orders here already.

[rob-cubed]

I've only ordered once from PaB, before I became a BL addict, and it took almost 7 weeks to reach the states. Depending on what you ordered you may be waiting a while!

Most of my BrickLink orders arrive within three days unless from overseas. I've run into a couple people who are really slow or ship product that's not as described, but I've been very happy with mot sellers.

[rollermonkey]

Well, I spoke too soon. Got 4 e-mails from TLG in a row saying that my PAB and BnP orders have all shipped.

Getting closer now. :)

[stevkir]

I am hoping that my last BL order comes in today and I will be able to do some more building this afternoon. I will put up more pictures with how much I can complete with it once I am done.

[Inzane]

The sand green parts list is actually pretty short:

35 1x1 bricks (4521948)

56 1x2 modified brick with vertical groove (4521889)

54 1x3 bricks (4521950)

41 1x4 bricks (4521947)

50 1x8 bricks (4521949)

A lot of people replace the 1x8s with a combination of 1x2s and additional 1x6s and 1x4s to save on costs

That's what I did. In place of the 50 1x8s I used 50 additional 1x4s and 25 1x6s and 25 1x2s. That meant that every other 1x8 was replaced with either two 1x4s or a 1x2 + 1x6. It made it very easy to avoid any overlapped seams between bricks that way.

BTW, another tip for those trying to save a few bucks on GG, I think it would be possible to cut out a few of the grooved 1x2s. Based on there placement there are a few that either point inwards or are partially obscured from view. I'd have to double check the number, but for example you might be able to get by with only 50-52 of them (of 56), and still retain "the look".

Edited March 28, 2014 by Inzane

[rob-cubed]

BTW, another tip for those trying to save a few bucks on GG, I think it would be possible to cut out a few of the grooved 1x2s. Based on there placement there are a few that either point inwards or are partially obscured from view. I'd have to double check the number, but for example you might be able to get by with only 50-52 of them (of 56), and still retain "the look".

Definitely one or two on the interior wall of the chimney, and at least four on the front wall in between the windows. All of the white grooved 1x2s are concealed around the bay windows and not needed either. The dark green stripes, especially the top one that ties into the black overhang roof, are also easy to replace with black and will save a few bucks.

[TheLegoDr]

I originally counted up how many you could omit and retain the look, but I don't remember now. Since I changed mine to go with Sand Blue I quit caring about sand green so much. I ordered a bunch of sand green bricks for Pet Shop style copies though (different themed building, but similar architecture).

I did question a few pieces in that build. Sometimes it will be red-brown for no apparant reason, so I switched it to dark bley. The beauty of LEGO, you can mod whatever you want.

[drgordy]

Definitely one or two on the interior wall of the chimney, and at least four on the front wall in between the windows. All of the white grooved 1x2s are concealed around the bay windows and not needed either. The dark green stripes, especially the top one that ties into the black overhang roof, are also easy to replace with black and will save a few bucks.

I counted 51 sand green grooved bricks that were visible to the exterior, the rest can be replaced with regular 1x2s.

Edited March 30, 2014 by drgordy

[Inzane]

I've hit a bit of a lull now. I'm essentially finished. I've built all three of the modulars I was piecing together, and have 99.9% of the parts.

The only things remaining:

CC: built with the newer panel w/ side supports for the 2nd storey windows, but have 20 1x2x3 window frames (and 10 glass inserts) onhand to do a possible substitution. (Doubling up the window frames will retain the depth look that the panels provided) I haven't bothered to tear back into the set yet. The panels don't bother me too much and if I don't end up doing the swap, I'll keep the window frames for some other project.

GG: still contemplating sourcing regular blue for the awing. I don't mind the medium blue that I currently have. It's just one noticeable visual difference from original. Also I may still go after that last minifig hair. (the one lady hair that came from the harry potter prof.). However that said the alternate hair piece I did get looks fine and "works".

MS: complete with the exception of the 2nd and 3rd storey balconies. option 1) I've got a couple of the curved fence piece (30056) in white on the way, to try out. I'll have to do some fiddling to see how best to use ONE curved fence per level. option 2) I also have some light grey hoses (but not enough grey arms to hold them). option 3) may still try and source some white hoses to retain the original look.

Other than that, I still need to try and go back and update my spreadsheets to tally final costs (just for curiosity sake, as dangerous as that sounds). And of course... .PICTURES.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Inzane

[JayCal]

CC: built with the newer panel w/ side supports for the 2nd storey windows, but have 20 1x2x3 window frames (and 10 glass inserts) onhand to do a possible substitution. (Doubling up the window frames will retain the depth look that the panels provided) I haven't bothered to tear back into the set yet. The panels don't bother me too much and if I don't end up doing the swap, I'll keep the window frames for some other project.

I know exactly what you mean. I too started off using the panels with side supports, but I eventueally switched them for 20 windowframes and haven't looked back since. See my previous post (page 16) for the pictures of my CC.

GG: still contemplating sourcing regular blue for the awing. I don't mind the medium blue that I currently have. It's just one noticeable visual difference from original. Also I may still go after that last minifig hair. (the one lady hair that came from the harry potter prof.). However that said the alternate hair piece I did get looks fine and "works".

I opted for the regular blue but didn't hassle with the minifigs. Still.... quite nice you're also collecting the appropriate figs with the sets.

MS: complete with the exception of the 2nd and 3rd storey balconies. option 1) I've got a couple of the curved fence piece (30056) in white on the way, to try out. I'll have to do some fiddling to see how best to use ONE curved fence per level. option 2) I also have some light grey hoses (but not enough grey arms to hold them). option 3) may still try and source some white hoses to retain the original look.

For me, that was the most difficult part... the balconies. I allready had 3 white (yellowed) tabless hoses from my old collection... but instead I opted for another solution that I haven't seen done by anyone else. See my pics on page 16 for my option using bars and skeleton legs.

So ehm... let's see those pictures!!

Edited March 31, 2014 by JayCal