Bricklinking Modular Buildings

[VintageLegoEra]

Wow! I have been crazy busy for months - too busy for much Lego unfortunately

I popped in to see if the next modular was announced and saw that this thread still has life - a lot of life! Cool to see so many others bitten by the bug, I will have to catch up when I have the time.

Heya Wodanis!

When it comes to Lego then nothing dies..:-)

[sithewok]

Received another order of parts for my GG. About all I have left is the modified 1x2 sand greens. I've been watching them on bricklink, but the thought of paying the going rate right now is pretty painful. I saw that several of the 2015 sets have sand green parts, and I know it's a pipe dream, but it sure would be nice if those went back into production. (as a relative newcomer, I am assuming that rare-ish parts like this don't often become common... Is that a good assumption?)

[Rick]

(as a relative newcomer, I am assuming that rare-ish parts like this don't often become common... Is that a good assumption?)

Jamie Berard included the dark blue arch from Cafe Corner and Market Street, which was one of the very rare and expensive parts in those sets until then, in last year's Winter Village set, so anything is possible. The same goes for the dark red slopes from Cafe Corner that made an appearance in Pet Shop.

[nzlegolady]

I've finally finished my bricklink ordering for my GG! I was originally going for sand-green, but after finding none in New Zealand, I bit the bullet and bought another PS and will do it in sand-blue. Personally, I prefer the blue, but wanted the green, because it's a GREEN grocer (ha ha).

I'm still building my PR so hopefully my packages will arrive once I'm done. It's my first attempt at brick-linking, but I want to make some of the designs from brickcitydepotnext year.

Not sure if I'll make the CC, beause I already have Emporium and cinema, so that's 2 corners so far.

Also would it be worth the investment to buy directly a Petshop as a starting point for a blue grocery + CC ?

I ended up buying the PS when I decided to do a blue GG - mostly I did it because it was easier for me than getting the blues for a lot of different overseas shops and the PS was on an amazing discount, but apart from the blues, windows, doors there aren't a lot of other bits which are compatible. So I probably wouldn't have bought it if the parts were easy to get in NZ. That being said, I now have an extra brown house to work with!

[Roger_Smith]

I ended up buying the PS when I decided to do a blue GG - mostly I did it because it was easier for me than getting the blues for a lot of different overseas shops and the PS was on an amazing discount, but apart from the blues, windows, doors there aren't a lot of other bits which are compatible. So I probably wouldn't have bought it if the parts were easy to get in NZ. That being said, I now have an extra brown house to work with!

I used 871 pieces from PS when I built my Blue Grocer. Apart from the sand blue, I also substitued the dark green from GG with Reddish Brown. I propably used another couple dozen bricks from PS to do an interior for the Blue Grocer.

I spent a lot of time planning all the substituation, though.

[pugmom]

Count me in on wrapping gg up. I have 2 small outstanding orders out from bricklink. As I was going through my lists, I realized I somehow forgot to order 3 dark green 1x4s. I almost lost it - lol. My local lego store has dark green 1x1 bricks, so I just bought some of those, because I can't handle placing another order now!

Received another order of parts for my GG. About all I have left is the modified 1x2 sand greens. I've been watching them on bricklink, but the thought of paying the going rate right now is pretty painful. I saw that several of the 2015 sets have sand green parts, and I know it's a pipe dream, but it sure would be nice if those went back into production. (as a relative newcomer, I am assuming that rare-ish parts like this don't often become common... Is that a good assumption?)

good luck! I made sure I had the notify function on my wanted list so I got emailed if someone stocked them at a price I wanted. I was able to get them for relatively reasonable prices, but I acted quick once I got the emails....

For some reason, I was having an issue with the dark red inverted slopes for the curtains at places I was making an order at anyway.....

[Wodanis]

Wow! I have been crazy busy for months - too busy for much Lego unfortunately

I popped in to see if the next modular was announced and saw that this thread still has life - a lot of life! Cool to see so many others bitten by the bug, I will have to catch up when I have the time.

Heya Wodanis!

Heya Sin, welcome back! Lots of ppl have picked up on this thread! :)

[Roger_Smith]

With all orders for my Cafe Corner placed, I just did some statistics for my Blue Grocer and Cafe Corner. Guess the net results might be interesting for those of you still wondering wether to tackle these projects.

Starting point for both buildings was a Pet Shop I bought used for 120€ (incl. shipping).

For the Blue Grocer, I used 871 bricks from Pet Shop, thus they cost me 51,44€. I also used 170 parts from my collection.

The remaining bricks I got through 12 different bricklink orders that put together cost 153€ plus 32€ shipping. The overall cost of my Blue Grocer was roughly 237€, which I find perfectly ok. I propably could have saved a few bucks by placing fewer but bigger BL orders, but what the hell.

Replacements I did for the Blue Grocer: Sand blue replacing Sand green, Reddish Brown replacing Dark Green, modern windows replacing the train windows. Also replaced some of the modern 1x4x3 windows with two 1x2x3, because I had an abundance of those from the Pet Shop. The sand green hinge bases were replaced by black ones, and the blue curved bricks in the awning with green ones. Lastly, the store was tiled in medium blue instead of dark red.

For Cafe Corner, I used 322 parts from Pet Shop, thus they cost me 19,02€. My collection yielded another 197 bricks.

The remaining bricks I got through 6 bricklink orders, one online PAB order and one BnP order that all put together cost roughly 215€ plus 29€ shipping. The overall cost for Cafe Corner will be roughly 265€, however that already includes the ~175 pieces I ordered to create an interior for the ground floor. Though I managed with fewer BL orders than for Blue Grocer, I still ended up with almost the same shipping costs, as some of the stores I ordered from charged considerably more for it.

Replacements for Cafe Corner: Modern 1x2x3 windows instead of the panels, modern 1x4x3 windows instead of the old 2x4x3 windows. All walls adapted to be only one stud wide instead of two where the two studs width was only because of the original window design. I'm using two black doors, 1x4x5 with trans-clear glass (p73436c01) from an old police station instead of the expensive ones. Last, I replaced the two dark blue half arches and the bricks supporting them under the stairs with black (this will be completely invisible in the finished build). And since there were only three stores selling light bley turntable bases in Germany, I will either use old gray or black ones.

Edited September 30, 2014 by Roger_Smith

[TheLegoDr]

Nicely done. Do you feel it was worth it?

When I tallied mine, I ended up using a lot of my own pieces from other sets. Now I was not sure how to calculate the specific prices for all of those pieces, so I gave up. But I know I spent far less than what I would starting from scratch.

[Roger_Smith]

The Blue Grocer was absolutely worth it, instantly one of my favorite modulars. And 90€ over MSRP isn't too bad, considering what a green one would've cost...

I'm still waiting on the orders for Cafe Corner to arrive, haven't started building yet. That one had a few bits that were harder to swallow, several lots that were quite costly (the dark red slopes, the white skis...). But I expect it to be fun to build aswell, especially since I designed an interior for the ground floor, looking forward to how that will come together.

Still, when I think about the fact that I basically spent 500€ for two lego buildings, I kinda wonder if I went a little crazy.

[Lego Conductor]

Finally my Bricklinked Green Grocer is complete! The last order of 6 1x2 Sand Green Modified w Groove Bricks arrived today. I finished the build about two weeks ago with

some substituted bricks for aforementioned order. Im really happy with end result. I could never afford to pay the high prices on ebay and in the end spent roughly $475 USD.

A third of the bricks came from my own collection a third from Pick a Brick and the final third from Bricklink. I did not pay the high price for the 1x8 in Sand Green and used 1x2 and 1x6 like others did on this forum. My first Modular was the Fire Brigade and have gotten them all since. Always felt I missed out on the Green Grocer and that my Modular Street was lacking. Its nice to have in the street where it belongs. I hate to admit but I don't feel like I'm missing the Cafe Corner or Market Street quite like I did with the Green Grocer. This was an interesting experience and so grateful others have posted theres. It help me to decide to do it!

[Wodanis]

Finally my Bricklinked Green Grocer is complete! The last order of 6 1x2 Sand Green Modified w Groove Bricks arrived today. I finished the build about two weeks ago with

some substituted bricks for aforementioned order. Im really happy with end result. I could never afford to pay the high prices on ebay and in the end spent roughly $475 USD.

A third of the bricks came from my own collection a third from Pick a Brick and the final third from Bricklink. I did not pay the high price for the 1x8 in Sand Green and used 1x2 and 1x6 like others did on this forum. My first Modular was the Fire Brigade and have gotten them all since. Always felt I missed out on the Green Grocer and that my Modular Street was lacking. Its nice to have in the street where it belongs. I hate to admit but I don't feel like I'm missing the Cafe Corner or Market Street quite like I did with the Green Grocer. This was an interesting experience and so grateful others have posted theres. It help me to decide to do it!

That is excellent! Congraulations! I still don't have my original blue awning arches. It looks good but somehow I don't feel it is complete yet.

Just to let everyone know. Lego has updated their USA website with prices per piece now on BNP this weekend. In fact the prices of BNP have all largely increased. There are still some glitches with the update such as discontinued parts showing up as in stock, when they aren't! I called to confirm with Customer Service. It's crazy I know more about their system than some of the reps do...

[glendo]

Im reading through the last 5-6 pages of this topic, and I went back through my BL account for reference... It works out that building a GG in 2014 is more expensive than it was in 2012. Parts are climbing higher in price, with sand green 'special bricks' required for the GG (grooved, 1x8 etc.) having almost doubled in this time.

[pugmom]

completed mine. I enjoyed the build, but not sure I am going to be bricklinking anything else! I kept finding parts I forgot to order etc.I think I was so excited, I was not as diligent as I should have been on orders :) Love green grocer though!

[chaosboi]

For those who have subbed the 1x8 Sand Green with either 1x4's and/or 1x6's and/or 1x2's Sand Green Brick, what quantity of each did you use?

[pugmom]

For those who have subbed the 1x8 Sand Green with either 1x4's and/or 1x6's and/or 1x2's Sand Green Brick, what quantity of each did you use?

I split it in half, so to replace 50 1x8s, I ended up with 50 1x4, 25 1x6 and 25 1x2. (I think, haven't had my caffeine yet today :) )

[nzlegolady]

I finally finished my bricklinking for the blue grocer (sand blue). It cost me all up from scratch NZ$391 + shipping (although I bought an extra petshop for the blue bricks - mostly I found there wasn't that much else useful in it). Luckily, I paid for everything before the exchange rate crashed.

Still waiting for a package to arrive then I can start!! :D Excited!

I bought mostly new and made a substitution for blues instead of green and the train windows.

[pugmom]

yeah, so it has been 5 days since I said I didn't think I would bricklink anything else. Yet, I just placed a BnP order for cc parts. It is an addiction for sure!

[Roger_Smith]

Finally got my last order from BL, so now I can start building Café Corner.

Only bummer is I accidentally ordered dark red headlight bricks instead of reddish brown, but I figure itw on't really show in the finished building.

[chaosboi]

I purchased some parts for my Green Grocer from the BnP lego site and three pieces have been placed on backorder for a few weeks.

The Window 1x2x3 Train (4 pieces), the 1x4 Viking Snakes Pattern (3 pieces) and the Bar 6.6l (2 pieces).

I was surprised I could place an order on the first 2, but now as these are on backorder I'm thinking do they just sit there forever without any hope they will ever be delivered, or is there hope?

Don't really want to add the window to my brick link list as they are very expensive via brick link and very cheap by BnP

btw - any option for a cheaper window ?

[VintageLegoEra]

I purchased some parts for my Green Grocer from the BnP lego site and three pieces have been placed on backorder for a few weeks.

The Window 1x2x3 Train (4 pieces), the 1x4 Viking Snakes Pattern (3 pieces) and the Bar 6.6l (2 pieces).

I was surprised I could place an order on the first 2, but now as these are on backorder I'm thinking do they just sit there forever without any hope they will ever be delivered, or is there hope?

Don't really want to add the window to my brick link list as they are very expensive via brick link and very cheap by BnP

btw - any option for a cheaper window ?

Which windows u mean? The square one or the round one from top?

[chaosboi]

Which windows u mean? The square one or the round one from top?

The Window 1x2x3 Train

http://www.bricklink...Item.asp?P=4035

Looks like the used ones are a good enough price.

Edited October 22, 2014 by chaosboi

[VintageLegoEra]

The Window 1x2x3 Train

http://www.bricklink...Item.asp?P=4035

Looks like the used ones are a good enough price.

U r looking for the GG parts as i thought for CC cos i have the one for café corner

[chaosboi]

U r looking for the GG parts as i thought for CC cos i have the one for café corner

Yeah mentioned Green Grocer in my post

[VintageLegoEra]

Yeah mentioned Green Grocer in my post

Sorry..i thought CC....my bad eyes..hehe