Bricklinking Modular Buildings

[Gongoro73]

^I think you could replace the old 2x4x3 frame for the newer and cheaper 4584888.

Edited November 6, 2014 by Gongoro73

[chaosboi]

^I think you could replace the old 2x4x3 frame for the newer and cheaper 4584888.

Awesome...that's added to my list :-) Thank you.

[Gongoro73]

^you're welcome.

A different (and I think much better) solution for the 20 pannels is to replace them for 10 4536521. That way you'll have glasses on the windows.

[nana]

Thanks for your answer, LegoDr. Yeah, I agree groove bricks add detailing, and sure, it's more appealling that way, but I'm confident that sand green groove bricks will reappear sooner or later. Plan B could be switch the plain bricks for the groove ones after building little by little if TLG don't bring them back.

I just need to build GG... :)

I wonder the reason you are confident that sand green groove bricks will reappear. Since Green Grocer, Harry Potter and recently Haunted House retired, it looks like Lego managed to deplete all their stocks of sand green bricks and will not relaunch big sets in sand green in the near future.

[Gongoro73]

I wonder the reason you are confident that sand green groove bricks will reappear. Since Green Grocer, Harry Potter and recently Haunted House retired, it looks like Lego managed to deplete all their stocks of sand green bricks and will not relaunch big sets in sand green in the near future.

I wonder too :). I don't know, sand green is a great colour, I don't think TLG will ever marginalize it, so I guess it's a matter of time a designer will use again the groove bricks in a set. I don't mind waiting 3/4 years or more. Meanwhile, I will build my GG with plain bricks.

[Mark Kay]

Hi all, well after thirty years I've finally come out of the dark ages. Bought a few of the modulars and had great fun building them, never knew Lego had changed so much and boy all those building techniques!

Anyway, the wife and I (didn't think she would be so easily be converted), have decided to bricklink the GG. Going to do it in sand blue as this seems the cost effective. What are folks replacing the1x3 sand green with seeing that you can only get 1x1 bricks in sand blue?

And is there anything else we need to watch out for?

Thanks Mark

[TheLegoDr]

I've seen 1x2 sand blue bricks before also. But just like Pet Shop, you can use the 1x2 sand blue groove bricks, but turn them around the other way. It isn't as aesthetically pleasing inside, but that's why I hid all of mine behind other things.

Also, I doubt sand green will ever go away, but I can't say for sure if they'd bring out new sand green groove bricks. They are at least producing new colors in that same brick, so the mold is very much alive.

Also, the new Smaug set has lots of sand green 1x4 and 1x2 it looks like (not as a parts pack, but at least another set with lots of that color).

[Regimus]

Hi all, well after thirty years I've finally come out of the dark ages. Bought a few of the modulars and had great fun building them, never knew Lego had changed so much and boy all those building techniques!

Anyway, the wife and I (didn't think she would be so easily be converted), have decided to bricklink the GG. Going to do it in sand blue as this seems the cost effective. What are folks replacing the1x3 sand green with seeing that you can only get 1x1 bricks in sand blue?

And is there anything else we need to watch out for?

Thanks Mark

I'm thinking of doing the same and have come up with an LDD file that uses 1x1, 1x4 and 1x6 bricks in sand blue. They are currently separate but can be dragged in to place.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ek422n0v3bvl8o/10185_-_green_grocer.lxf?dl=0

[antp]

and will not relaunch big sets in sand green in the near future.

They used a few sand green for this 2015 sets:

http://brickset.com/sets/31036-1/Toy-and-Grocery-Shop

and this just released set:

http://brickset.com/sets/79018-1/The-Lonely-Mountain

though these aren't big sets with a lot of sand green indeed

[Off the wall]

At one end of the spectrum is a MOC and at the other end is the actual lego product.......in this case the GREEN grocer. The use of blue bricks, or any other color, means you are moving closer to a MOC than you are a green grocer. Nothing wrong with that, but just sayin'...........

Edited November 7, 2014 by Off the wall

[TheLegoDr]

^I agree. By modifying an existing set it either becomes a MOC or a MOD, but not the actual set. I did conver the GG to a Sand Blue Grocer, and in doing so, I am not claiming to own the Green Grocer. I made other modifications that I felt were better, so it becomes a MOC/MOD for me. Oddly enough I do have all of the existing pieces in sand green outside of 20 of the groove bricks, so I could switch it to sand green if I wanted to, but I much prefer the sand blue color.

The same goes for the Cafe Corner. Outside of the modern mods (door and windows) I have all of the pieces needed to build that set, yet I find myself MOC/MODing it differently.

Although one could argue anytime you don't use the original pieces required it is not the official set. As in the dark red roof slopes on CC have a different element number and a different open/closed stud configuration on top. Therefore, if it is not the original version, then it isn't the official set, but a MOC/MOD.

[princeofgonville]

I am gathering the pieces to build Market Street. The dark blue bricks are extremely expensive, and I have chosen instead to use regular blue. In my version the dark blue arches will be replaced by tan arches (of which I already have 3, and they are very cheap on BL), which match the rest of the market part on the left.

[tkatt]

I am gathering the pieces to build Market Street. The dark blue bricks are extremely expensive, and I have chosen instead to use regular blue. In my version the dark blue arches will be replaced by tan arches (of which I already have 3, and they are very cheap on BL), which match the rest of the market part on the left.

Switching to regular blue works well for this build- but you should check the prices at Lego Bricks & Pieces. They've got the dark blue arch #3308 for $0.72. The dark blue will probably look better than the tan arch since the supports for the archway are also tan.

[Duchessa]

I bricklinked Market Street a few years ago, and used the regular blue. This is what it looks like:

[glendo]

what's your (the forum readers) take on switching Dark red roof on a CC for black?

Im contemplating the switch because i have a tonne of black slope bricks, and the price of dark red is crazy... but........

[Off the wall]

what's your (the forum readers) take on switching Dark red roof on a CC for black?

Im contemplating the switch because i have a tonne of black slope bricks, and the price of dark red is crazy... but........

I don't think it would be terrible. I think I would go ahead with the build using black with an eye towards eventually finding another color for the roof. Again, not bad in black.....as an interim measure.

Keep checking online auctions, too. In one of my other hobbies, I got an old radio valued at over $2000 for an ebay 'buy it now price' of $475. While it wasn't as good of a deal, I got a complete used CC with box and instructions on ebay. So, check online auctions on a regular basis for parts. There are still deals to be had out there.

Edited November 9, 2014 by Off the wall

[ronenson]

what's your (the forum readers) take on switching Dark red roof on a CC for black?

Im contemplating the switch because i have a tonne of black slope bricks, and the price of dark red is crazy... but........

Actually, the price wasn't too crazy. I paid around 20 euros for 36 dark red roof tiles at BnP

[Gongoro73]

^I've just checked in BnP (Europe) and is currently out of stock.

[ronenson]

^I've just checked in BnP (Europe) and is currently out of stock.

I ordered the ones from the pet shop, but I do see they're out of stock. Just check regularly, I ordered them a couple of weeks ago.

Edited November 9, 2014 by ronenson

[princeofgonville]

I bricklinked Market Street a few years ago, and used the regular blue. This is what it looks like: https://www.flickr.c...57629067032840/

Duchessa, that's exactly what I have in mind. I am also planning to use tan 1 x 8 arches - it looks good on yours. The use of the black hoses is also a smart move, which looks right on the model - the white ones are currently going for US$12.00 a piece on BL (B+P doesn't even list them for Market Street!) but they're about US$0.12 each in black - and I have enough in my collection already.

[Heppeng]

I built Market street earlier this year for about £175, without minifigs and the hair cabbage. It looks at a glance 100% genuine. In fact even scrutinised quite closely it looks 100% genuine, you really have to know your MS very well to spot the differences! All of the dark blue bricks were bought new from lego bricks and pieces, along with much of the light blue, the lego price being significantly cheaper than second hand from bricklink.

This is what it looks like:

[pugmom]

so close, yet so far away. Was placing a PaB order for another project. Added on maybe 20 parts for cafe corner to get to free shipping. In the couple weeks it takes to get a PaB order, I have received everything else i needed from bricklink. Went to the mailbox yesterday and found an empty, open envelope from Lego PaB! I sent pics of the envelope to Lego (it didn't look tampered with, just opened like it didn't stick) and they are resending the order, so I wait some more. Somewhere between Poland and Ohio are hundreds of 1x2 tiles for a road and a few cc parts

[notaromantic]

I did my own GG, about a year or so ago, in Dark Blue with a White and Dark Red awning. It came out beautiful. Very classy looking, elegant. And I meshed both units of the PS into one, because I liked the first and second floor of the house, but the roof of the pet store - I did it in the grooved tan 1x2's, which believe me, were not cheap, and had to be bought from Germany. And that seemed to start a trend for me of doing the modulars in differing colors than their actual release colors. To bide me over in the interim of releases, I also did the "white picket fences" rowhouse of Kristel's (Thank you Kristel, for the free online instructions!!) in Lime with Brown trim, as well as expanding the Arkham Asylum building into a 48-wide modular. I'll have my girlfriend take some photos for me to post here in the near future.

I don't expect that I'll ever be able to build a modular set as sold by TLG. To do so would leave me wanting. There's something about making them "my own" that rolls my socks up and down moreso than just collecting will ever do.

My next project will be to do the Haunted House, although unhaunted, in Maersk Blue with Red/ Dark Red trim. Growing up, I had a very dear friend who lived in such a house and it has always preoccupied my memories. But I know trying to find the necessary bricks in Maersk Blue will be quite a chore, so I've been procrastinating starting down that road. Perhaps the snow will motivate me. Another project was to recreate Van Gogh's yellow house - which turned into a cozy little 10-wide Yellow and Green rowhouse. A completely Blue church based off of Brick City Depot's Mansard plans for the Haunted House parts was another project. I have a very eclectic street going on, I'll admit. But it works for me.

Thank god for Bricklink. Seriously. And for European Bricklink vendors. The Netherlands' sellers have always been very good to me. Much gratitude for those of you out there that make my AFOL-ing possible. It keeps me sane.

Edited November 13, 2014 by notaromantic

[princeofgonville]

@Notaromantic, I share your interest in doing my own versions of the Modulars. Sorry to hear about your empty envelope though.

[tkatt]

Cafe Grey