Bricklinking Modular Buildings

[drgordy]

How did you do that? I guess you had to buy some more sand blue, right? I can't see the sand blue bricks of the small 16x32 Pet Shop being sufficient to build the sand green parts of the 32x32 Green Grocer.

Reason I'm asking is I recently bought a second (used) Pet Shop and have been thinking about wether or not to tackle the "Blue Grocer" once I finished building the other buildings.

Sand blue pieces cost about the same as sand green

[Roger_Smith]

Yeah... but that wasn't my question .

[drgordy]

Yeah... but that wasn't my question .

I know, but like you said the pet shop doesn't have enough pieces so you'll have to buy more sand blue. I'd rather put the money towards sand green but that's just me.

[TheLegoDr]

You do have to buy more sand blue, but it wasn't that much extra. It was mainly trying to get enough 1x1/1x2s to fill the gaps. Pet Shop had enough of the larger pieces. The nice thing about Pet Shop it has sand blue from top to bottom, unlike most modulars that have the first floor light bley. So there actually are a lot more sand blue than you think.

As far as sand blue being the same cost as sand green, it depends on where you look. But I prefer the sand blue color to sand green, plus I didn't care for the GG the more I looked at it, so I had to modify some bits to my liking. I figure if I'm going to be building something, I might as well make it better for me than the standard build. I can always find things to improve on official sets.

I can't say for sure how many extra sand blue pieces I bought, but I don't recall it being that many extra. Like I said, mainly 1x1/1x2 bricks. But if you weren't modifying yours, you could probably get away with less pieces than I did. I changed my right side window area to be 2 studs narrower, so I had to use 1x1s instead of the 1x2 with groove there. The official PS set has 48 grooved bricks and the GG needs 56, so you have almost all you need there out of the box. Once I get the remaining pieces I will get some pictures taken to post. I only have a few 1x1 plates/tiles left, which is the worst part of it. It's finished, but it isn't finished..

But with all of this said, I am considerably happier with my sand blue grocer than the official green grocer. But that's just me.

[rob-cubed]

Picked up the HH so I can start the GG. After looking at instruction I'm not sure if I want to build it anymore. It does seem a little too big. I'm thinking of making a sand green version of the apartment in the PS instead.

Green Grocer *is* a tiny bit larger than the other townhouse modulars--mostly due to the height of the roof which makes it almost 3-1/2 floors--but it still feels right at home next to PS. I like the fact that they aren't all the same height. But you could always modify the roof and make it shorter.

[Inzane]

Sand blue pieces cost about the same as sand green

The grooved 1x2 brick (a key element) is much cheaper in sand blue than sand green, and the 1x8 bricks don't appear to be available at all in sand blue (so you'd still be doing a substitution with 1x2, 1x4 and 1x6 either way). I would think overall your cost would be less to BL a blue grocer.

[Roger_Smith]

You do have to buy more sand blue, but it wasn't that much extra. It was mainly trying to get enough 1x1/1x2s to fill the gaps. Pet Shop had enough of the larger pieces. The nice thing about Pet Shop it has sand blue from top to bottom, unlike most modulars that have the first floor light bley. So there actually are a lot more sand blue than you think.

As far as sand blue being the same cost as sand green, it depends on where you look. But I prefer the sand blue color to sand green, plus I didn't care for the GG the more I looked at it, so I had to modify some bits to my liking. I figure if I'm going to be building something, I might as well make it better for me than the standard build. I can always find things to improve on official sets.

I can't say for sure how many extra sand blue pieces I bought, but I don't recall it being that many extra. Like I said, mainly 1x1/1x2 bricks. But if you weren't modifying yours, you could probably get away with less pieces than I did. I changed my right side window area to be 2 studs narrower, so I had to use 1x1s instead of the 1x2 with groove there. The official PS set has 48 grooved bricks and the GG needs 56, so you have almost all you need there out of the box. Once I get the remaining pieces I will get some pictures taken to post. I only have a few 1x1 plates/tiles left, which is the worst part of it. It's finished, but it isn't finished..

But with all of this said, I am considerably happier with my sand blue grocer than the official green grocer. But that's just me.

Thanks for the input.

As I already mentioned, since I already have the extra Pet Shop lying around, going for sand blue will be a lot cheaper for me than going for sand green. I was just wonderung how many pieces I'd need to get extra (will have to do a detailed plan there once I get around to it), but mainly 1x1s and 1x2s sounds really manageable.

Thanks!

[rollermonkey]

My sand green 1x2 slotted bricks have arrived...

Not that my stupid original PAB order for all the dark bley tiles and light bley 1x2 and 1x6 tiles has arrived, which keeps me firmly stuck at the current spot I've been at for a week now.

[Transparency for Effect]

'Kay so, apparently the original price for the 10190 Market Street was $90.00 (hmm, may have never got released in the UK). Will this bring the price closer to the original base price? What are some of the prices for each of the different (mostly earlier) buildings you guys have got?

[stevkir]

To build it from parts ordered from BL it will cost closer to $250-350 or maybe a bit more. I have about 400 pieces for it that I scrounged from parts I already had so my costs will come in lower compared to someone buying all of them from BL. But when compared to $1,200 for it that people are asking for it on BL and Ebay it is a steal to order the individual bricks and build it yourself.

[Transparency for Effect]

Out of curiousity, how many parts out of each set could you order from Pick-a-Brick?

[Inzane]

Out of curiousity, how many parts out of each set could you order from Pick-a-Brick?

Roughly speaking, the Bricks n' Pieces system has about 80-90% of the parts available for MS, CC and GG. But PAB has a lot less, probably less than 50%. Ideally you want to use both systems. BnP for the harder to get items, and PAB for the slightly lower price on some bulk items (large bricks, etc.).

You pay a nominal shipping fee for BnP orders and no vip points, but they tend to ship faster. PAB orders are slow these days but count towards the free shipping minimum and you get vip points.

[stevkir]

Out of curiousity, how many parts out of each set could you order from Pick-a-Brick?

How many parts from each set I don't know but I would say about 70% maybe a little more can be picked up from the online PAB.

You would have a better chance of getting more of the parts you need ordering them from Bricks and Pieces if you are going to get them from the LEGO site. PAB orders will most likely take a month to get to you from the order date and as a few can attest to, you could end up waiting much longer for them. BnP orders seem to come in quicker than PAB orders at least here in the States they do as BnP orders come from a location in Olive Branch, Missouri, where as PAB orders come from Poland.

[drgordy]

BnP and PAB are both more expensive than bricklink right?

[rob-cubed]

BnP and PAB are both more expensive than bricklink right?

Yes, BL will be the cheapest as long as you can keep the number of total orders down to save on shipping.

[Heppeng]

Not always, it pays to compare. i got most of my blue bricks for market street (both shades) from lego bricks and pieces because the price new was less than or about the same as second hand from bricklink. The blue arches which were selling for up to £10 each from bricklink were selling for 55p each direct from lego, although the price on bricklink had tumbled to around £1 each as a result, it was still much cheaper to buy brand new from lego at the time.

[Wodanis]

How many parts from each set I don't know but I would say about 70% maybe a little more can be picked up from the online PAB.

You would have a better chance of getting more of the parts you need ordering them from Bricks and Pieces if you are going to get them from the LEGO site. PAB orders will most likely take a month to get to you from the order date and as a few can attest to, you could end up waiting much longer for them. BnP orders seem to come in quicker than PAB orders at least here in the States they do as BnP orders come from a location in Olive Branch, Missouri, where as PAB orders come from Poland.

BnP orders are directly out of Denmark. They ship them overseas to Olive Branch, Missouri for distribution. You are correct PAB is out of Poland.

[rollermonkey]

Olive Branch is in Mississippi, not Missouri.

I wish it was Missouri... It would get to WA that much faster.

[Wodanis]

Olive Branch is in Mississippi, not Missouri.

I wish it was Missouri... It would get to WA that much faster.

Sorry just quoting stevkir. I'm in Canada :p

[rollermonkey]

I saw his, which is why I didn't quote either of you.

:)

The tracking info on my last few orders has everything arriving this week, so I should finally be able to complete GG this weekend.

[rollermonkey]

Gah!

My last two orders from TLG arrived, and I must have missed a dropdown, because I need 20 1x1 black tile with vertical holder, but I got one. So... Yet another BrickLink order I must place. I'm at 308/311 lots, and I actually have at least a couple of each part on hand, and two of those three arrive tomorrow.

Frustrating though, knowing I'm so close.

Edited April 10, 2014 by rollermonkey

[elleana]

Gah!

My last two orders from TLG arrived, and I must have missed a dropdown, because I need 20 1x1 black plate with vertical holder, but I got one. So... Yet another BrickLink order I must place. I'm at 308/311 lots, and I actually have at least a couple of each part on hand, and two of those three arrive tomorrow.

Frustrating though, knowing I'm so close.

I made quite a few errors - mostly color and not quantity, like ordering Light Bluish Grey when I needed Dark Bluish Grey - but unless you are meticulous and precise in everything, its very miss a couple of things.

[rollermonkey]

Well, I can actually build pretty far while I wait for those... I'm up to step 20 of book 2, and I've had to work around 7 missing 1x1 black tiles on the baseplate and I won't be able to do the fire escape until I get those modified tiles, but since that's all on the outside, I'll be able to keep going at least until I get to the remaining 5 sand green hinges.

I had finished book 2 of PC last night, but book 3 can wait while I work on GG.

They all fit so nicely on that dresser, with just enough room for PC... Which is all good until January.

:)

[stevkir]

Well, I can actually build pretty far while I wait for those... I'm up to step 20 of book 2, and I've had to work around 7 missing 1x1 black tiles on the baseplate and I won't be able to do the fire escape until I get those modified tiles, but since that's all on the outside, I'll be able to keep going at least until I get to the remaining 5 sand green hinges.

I had finished book 2 of PC last night, but book 3 can wait while I work on GG.

They all fit so nicely on that dresser, with just enough room for PC... Which is all good until January.

:)

Its comments like this that sometimes makes me think about opening a BL store as I have those parts as extras just laying around that I know I don't need.

If you are building the PC, GG and PR, you are going to be feeling the shakes once those are all done and nothing to build.

[Inzane]

at least until I get to the remaining 5 sand green hinges.

Why on earth did you bother with those? They are basically hidden, especially the 5 that go under the roof panels. You could've used any color you want for those.