Congrats! That's awesome seeing all of those pieces. I can't wait to see pictures. Although I'm a bit sad. This was one of the few topics that kept me excited to read updates and now everyone is finishing their versions...

My problem is I have too many projects at one time. I'm also building another pet shop in another color and it will either be a toy store or a bakery. So trying to build official sets with my mods and some MOCs based on official sets takes up a lot of time.

  On 2/1/2014 at 2:26 AM, TheLegoDr said:

Congrats! That's awesome seeing all of those pieces. I can't wait to see pictures. Although I'm a bit sad. This was one of the few topics that kept me excited to read updates and now everyone is finishing their versions...

Well not to worry, I still have CC and MS yet to complete

Thanks for all of the info in this thread. You guys (gals) have really motivated me into finishing CC & GG. There was a similar thread this past summer which prompted me to purchase the expensive pieces on bricklink. After putting the projects on the back burner, I've decided to start up again.

^ I'm glad you are enjoying this thread, it's given me a lot of motivation too! When I started it about a month ago I didn't even have a concrete plan to build CC or MS

This is the first time I have built a set from a pdf, I have to say - some of the colors are very difficult to discern on a computer screen. Specifically small black pieces, brownish red, earth blue and earth green had me checking my parts spreadsheet to make sure I was using the correct colors. I really wish they had the instructions available in a higher resolution, I am kind of surprised that they don't.

A few pics of the build so far - most of the first floor is complete...

I am very impressed with this build so far, surprising given this was only the second official modular building how detailed it is - especially compared to CC. I will build more tonight and post some more pics

Pretty awesome Sin! I took some photos this afternoon. I added some other photos to my Flickr account. I am waiting on my new order for the few bits I missed on. Albeit I do not have the bright blue bows but it still looks good with the medium blue too.

Sit back and enjoy!

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by Wodanis

They look great Wodanis! I didn't even notice the medium blue bows until you mentioned them, they go very nicely with the rest of the colors.

So what next since you are done these? MS?

I am already trying to figure out how I can add GG to my existing display. I am basically out of room on top of my 4x4 expedit. I can split PS and put each half around the corner buildings ( it would probably hang off the back of the shelf an inch or so ) but that only gets GG in. Once I have built CC and MS I need quite a bit more space. I will probably end up getting TH later this year too, I'm not super fond of it but when it's the only modular that I don't own I know I won't be able to resist. Wall mounted shelving may end up being a better option for me...

  On 2/1/2014 at 10:10 PM, sin said:

They look great Wodanis! I didn't even notice the medium blue bows until you mentioned them, they go very nicely with the rest of the colors.

So what next since you are done these? MS?

I am already trying to figure out how I can add GG to my existing display. I am basically out of room on top of my 4x4 expedit. I can split PS and put each half around the corner buildings ( it would probably hang off the back of the shelf an inch or so ) but that only gets GG in. Once I have built CC and MS I need quite a bit more space. I will probably end up getting TH later this year too, I'm not super fond of it but when it's the only modular that I don't own I know I won't be able to resist. Wall mounted shelving may end up being a better option for me...

Hey thanks! MS is an option but right now I have been eyeing my Lego World Bridge design. I think it would look great once built. The other project I have been working on in LDD is a police station modular.

I know right? I don't have the space to have them all out yet. However I do recommend getting the Town Hall. I really liked that set and the build. It was by far the largest set I ever bought. I made some mini-figures to add to it the other year. So I have 'a politician/Mr. Big type' and his body guards who visit the town hall to see the mayor, along with head of unions.

Looking forward to seeing yours all complete!

Well it's all built, I did mess up 2 parts - I had 2 1x2x3 black slopes and they were supposed to be 1x2x2 but aside from that everything went smoothly . I figure I can pick those up when I place my order for the last 2 elements I need for MS...

And here it is all nice and cozy with the rest - They barely fit on my shelf now, hanging over an inch on each side. I guess I have a couple weeks until I need to have this resolved or CC won't have anywhere to go.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread so far, this has been a very fun project

Next up CC & MS, should have the parts for both completed in about 2 weeks.

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by sin

Really nice to see Sin. Now I wish I had the bright blue bows hehe. How does it feel to own it? Surreal isn't it? I know for me after seeing it on a computer screen countless times to actually having it is a wholly good feeling.

That's awesome seeing it come together. Not buying it as MSRP sucks, but it's nice we can build it in the street market. It did make you appreciate msrp on all retail sets because to build any set via bricklink (even new ones) always come out higher than msrp. I've posted out a lot of sets to my bricklink store so I have seen the numbers. Pretty crazy.

They look great all in a row. You definitely need to get the town hall, if not only to not pay above msrp in the future. But the build is kind of neat. The size is ridiculous, but the inside details are neat. The elevator is a nice touch. I think I will modify it too though so it can be better for me.

Wodanis - are those the new ski mold? They don't look as bad as I expected. I may look into that since none of the stores that have other pieces I want have the old mold.

I considered doing medium blue too, but the regular blue did stand out more. I also considered dark red as an option.

This thread did inspire me to order some parts to get to completing my sets.

  On 2/2/2014 at 6:29 PM, TheLegoDr said:

Wodanis - are those the new ski mold? They don't look as bad as I expected. I may look into that since none of the stores that have other pieces I want have the old mold.

I considered doing medium blue too, but the regular blue did stand out more. I also considered dark red as an option.

This thread did inspire me to order some parts to get to completing my sets.

Ha, I didn't even realize about the ski molds till you pointed it out! On comparison yes they are the newer versions. I think it still keeps the aesthetic of the overall look without compromising the integrity. Consider this Cafe Corner 2.0. I am not bothered by the few tweaks I did. I have the old style window panes but was unable to get the old frames. On a budget there is only so much I could do. I tried to get as many 'original' parts as possible. I paid 10 Euro for a dark blue 1x8 bow...ugh.

As for the Bright blue bows, you're right they do stand out more. I may try to acquire it at a later date but it was one of those elements that is just such a pain to get for an affordable price (when I was hunting last summer).

I'm happy Sin started this thread, and that you have been inspired. Did you part out some parts from your sets? Or were you starting from scratch?

To acquire these old sets without spending (ie. $1200 for Green Grocer New in the box) obscene after market prices is a delight. I never thought I would own either of these sets a year ago. Much less do it for $600-700 altogether.

I am going to bide my time on the blue bows. So many other pieces have come back into production, so I'm sure those will eventually. Although since I am doing a sand blue grocer instead, I will probably do a different color bow.

I already planned on doing these, but I like seeing updates from other builders. I am mainly using pieces from my other sets, so I haven't really put in any order for the actual buildings, but I do have quite a bit of the pieces already. The biggest task had been what do I have and where is it. So I printed off the inventory and started sorting and seeing what modifications I wanted to make.It has been fun. But I didn't have a lot of time to deal with it do it takes longer than it should. Money isn't as big of an issue now as it was earlier. But part of that is my cheap nature.

As stated before I also want to modify cc into a different style L shaped corner, but lately I've been wanting to modify it again into a straight non corner building. I like the original, but I like being different. Then a part of me thinks I should just do the original since that is the iconic piece. But I'm sure I will modify it somehow. I already have the base L shaped floor done, so I'll have to disassemble it to change it.

But I would have never bought one for the ridiculous prices they are going for, even if money was no object. Plus this adds to the fun of it.

Wow, I'm a little behind on this thread right now. I'll have to catch up with some of the above posts over the last page or two.

You guys are enablers!! I started on this project too a couple weeks ago thanks to this thread. I've got 6 BL orders, 3 BnP and 1 PaB orders all in the mail on the way simultaneously. (It's going to be a nasty credit card bill next month). CC will be darn near complete, GG I'll have most of the critical components, and MS maybe 1/4-1/3 the way there.

Anyway, one thing I wanted to mention. I happened to be checking some Part #s on the PaB site today and it looks like TLG just jacked some prices up. Has anyone else noticed? Specifically the price of 1x8 bricks. I ordered a bunch of 1x8 bricks in tan, light bley, and reddish-brown recently and I'm pretty sure they were listed at 25 cents each at that time (vs. 51 cents on BnP). When I looked today on PaB, they came up as 40 cents!! WTH - ouch!! 1x6 bricks look to also have have increased. They are 35 cents (don't recall what they were previously).

If you're ordering bulk bricks for a project that price increase alone could increase one's cost considerably.

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by Inzane

  On 2/2/2014 at 7:50 PM, TheLegoDr said:

As stated before I also want to modify cc into a different style L shaped corner, but lately I've been wanting to modify it again into a straight non corner building. I like the original, but I like being different. Then a part of me thinks I should just do the original since that is the iconic piece. But I'm sure I will modify it somehow. I already have the base L shaped floor done, so I'll have to disassemble it to change it.

I've seen some straight style Cafe Corners. I think someone did one recently. They look pretty great, so I would look forward to seeing your version. Must be so nice to have a pool of parts to build something like this. You saw the thread with the Blue Grocer too eh? It does look gorgeous. I really should reorder those sand blue parts, my pet shop experienced some discolouration from direct sunlight...eep!

  On 2/2/2014 at 7:55 PM, Inzane said:

Wow, I'm a little behind on this thread right now. I'll have to catch up with some of the above posts over the last page or two.

You guys are enablers!! I started on this project too a couple weeks ago thanks to this thread. I've got 6 BL orders, 3 BnP and 1 PaB orders all in the mail on the way simultaneously. (It's going to be a nasty credit card bill next month). CC will be darn near complete, GG I'll have most of the critical components, and MS maybe 1/4-1/3 the way there.

Anyway, one thing I wanted to mention. I happened to be checking some Part #s on the PaB site today and it looks like TLG just jacked some prices up. Has anyone else noticed? Specifically the price of 1x8 bricks. I ordered a bunch of 1x8 bricks in tan, light bley, and reddish-brown recently and I'm pretty sure they were listed at 25 cents each at that time (vs. 51 cents on BnP). When I looked today on PaB, they came up as 40 cents!! WTH - ouch!! 1x6 bricks look to also have have increased. They are 35 cents (don't recall what they were previously).

If you're ordering bulk bricks for a project that price increase alone could increase one's cost considerably.

That is excellent! Absolutely, they increased the prices on parts. I noticed that just a few days ago. Mini-fig torsos are up to 80 cents from 70. Bricks and plates went up too. I'm not sure as to why TLG increased them. I assume it has something to do with shipping companies. If postal services and the like increases prices they are off-setting the cost onto us consumers.

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by Wodanis

They had that update and added some new parts, but also new higher price. Who knows what it is. I'd imagine shipping companies for sure.

That's crazy that they were faded with some sunlight damage already. That is a fairly new set. But I like the price of the 1x2 groove brick in sand blue vs sand green.

The jump from 25 to 40 cents is a massive jump in price. In my most recent holiday PaB box I filled last week, I grabbed 27 1x8 white bricks in that batch (efficiently packed, so they didn't take up that much space). Hard to imagine that that alone is now worth $10.80 bought separately. Ridiculous.

Wow, I can't believe that they raised the price on those bricks so drastically. I dodged a pricey bullet by ordering everything I needed when I did, that would have significantly raised the cost of these projects for me.

I forgot to post the final cost for my GG - $404.89 including shipping etc.

I am very happy with that, compared with buying a boxed set I saved enough money to finance CC and a good chunk of MS. The only compromise that I made for parts ended up being swapping out the 1x8 sand green bricks for 1x6's and 1x2's. The white turntable bases and sand green hinge bases I was able to pick up for cheap off of BL when I was placing my CC and MS orders.

Wodanis - How long was your PS exposed to the sun to have the bricks fade like that? I thought that would take a long time to happen. Thankfully everything I have displayed in my office and there are no windows...

Over the course of a few days. You don't notice it right away as it takes some time to develop. I remember having in on my dresser and it was exposed during prime time sunlight 12-3pm. I estimated last year that it would cost me like $65 to replace all the sand blue parts.

Oh man that is rough... Maybe it would make more sense to just pick up a second one and get some relatively cheap bricks out of it

  On 2/3/2014 at 6:39 PM, sin said:

I forgot to post the final cost for my GG - $404.89 including shipping etc.

I am very happy with that, compared with buying a boxed set I saved enough money to finance CC and a good chunk of MS. The only compromise that I made for parts ended up being swapping out the 1x8 sand green bricks for 1x6's and 1x2's. The white turntable bases and sand green hinge bases I was able to pick up for cheap off of BL when I was placing my CC and MS orders.

That's not too shabby. I'm going to have a tough time figuring out costs. I was finishing up bricklinking 4956 House , when I started this latest endeavour, and have been buying for CC, GG, and MS cocurrently (in that order of priority). I had so many orders placed it got overwhelming and I need to update my spreadsheets to see where I'm at. I'm pretty much done CC, but I have to see where I'm at on GG & MS.

Hopefully by grabbing parts for 2 or 3 of those modular sets at the same time, that saves me some money in the long run.

For my CC, I had to omit/substitute the following:

light bley turntable bases: I'm going to have to use either white or black. I'll see what works better when I actually build it.

the five top story windows: when with the alternate parts mentioned prior, w/ the half panes.

garage can: bought a dark bley one, might still try to get a light bley one ($$).

the reddish brown minifig hair: the only minifig piece I'm still missing ($$)

80mm hose, like others BnP is sending me longer ones (120mm) that I'll cut to length - no biggie at all

the white skiis are the newer piece

the light bley (right) door: I bought several used ones in light grey (cheaper), hopefully they're in decent shape. I needed three anyway, one for CC, one for MS and one for 4956. CC will get the best one.

the black grated door: I will either borrow the one i have from Building Bonanza, or I have a black framed version of the above mentioned door. Or I might still try to buy another one some day.

(That's all I can think off off the top of my head for CC, I think everything else I was able to get to my satisfaction, or the some newer part updates are not even worth mentioning).

For GG, I spurged for those damn 1x2 grooved bricks (my wallet weeps), but like others went with a mix of 1x2, 1x4 and 1x6 sand green in lieu of 1x8.

I also have to forego those pesking 1x2x3 white train windows and went with standard ones instead.

For those blue arches, I will probably substitute a different color -- haven't bought those yet

For MS, which is the set I've acquired the least overall parts for yet, I got some used light grey hoses for the balconies, but I might look at alternate designs (different fence/railing pieces) to retain the white look, rather than alternate colors.

  On 2/3/2014 at 7:04 PM, Inzane said:

For my CC, I had to omit/substitute the following:

light bley turntable bases: I'm going to have to use either white or black. I'll see what works better when I actually build it.

garage can: bought a dark bley one, might still try to get a light bley one ($$).

I had the same problem sourcing the grey turntable bases, I ended up getting black.

For the garbage can, if you don't care get the version with 4 tabs ( one originally in the set is the old version with 2 tabs and sells for a lot in the US ). This can be found in light bley for very cheap.

Well, I got the first batch of orders in the mail last night. Woohoo.... loot!! 1 of my BnP orders and 3 BL orders.

And unfortunately I'm going to have to revise my list above. I didn't realize but I fell trap to those white 1x2x3 panels (x20) that are used as 2nd storey "windows" on CC. The ones Lego sent me are the version with the side-supports. Dang it. As was mentioned several pages back, I don't think they will look right... the opening will probably be too narrow. I should've paid more attention to the part #. I ordered from within the CC set inventory so I guess I assumed the correct part # was in there. Nope.

Does anyone know if it's possible to make a return in-store for a parts order (assuming you have a local Lego Brand store. I happen to, luckily).

In the meantime, I guess I'm going to have to do the retro-fit with the regular 1x2x3 window frames.

  On 2/1/2014 at 9:40 PM, Wodanis said:

Hi Wodanis, thanks for posting the pics. Do you happen to have a more direct head-on view of the side door?

In my orders I got the dark blue 1x2x8 arch, but I believe it's the "new" mold. I notice on the underside there is a gusset/support at the halfway point (if that makes sense). I don't know if that's different from the original mold or not, but not having built CC yet I wonder if it will interfere at all with how those bley 1x2 arch pieces attach underneath.

  On 2/4/2014 at 4:17 PM, Inzane said:

Does anyone know if it's possible to make a return in-store for a parts order (assuming you have a local Lego Brand store. I happen to, luckily).

Unfortunately, I don't think they allow returns for custom orders (which is what they call BnP and PAB orders).

Congrats on growing your parts pile! I received my largest order for MS and CC yesterday, now I have 85% of the parts for CC and 75% for MS. Only 1 more BL, 1 PAB and 1 BnP order to go

  On 2/4/2014 at 4:19 PM, sin said:

Unfortunately, I don't think they allow returns for custom orders (which is what they call BnP and PAB orders).

Maybe I'll call my local store and ask. That would be crappy if I can't return those pieces. 23 cents x 20 is almost $5. Wasted.

  Quote

Congrats on growing your parts pile! I received my largest order for MS and CC yesterday, now I have 85% of the parts for CC and 75% for MS. Only 1 more BL, 1 PAB and 1 BnP order to go

Thanks. My wife would kill me if she knew how much I was spending right now... And congrats on your haul. As I mentioned in an earlier post I need to do some work to figure out where I'm at now, I've just been overwhelmed with so many simultaneous orders. But I'll eventually be able to figure out % complete, and maybe even relative cost.

  On 2/4/2014 at 4:23 PM, Inzane said:

Maybe I'll call my local store and ask. That would be crappy if I can't return those pieces. 23 cents x 20 is almost $5. Wasted.

Thanks. My wife would kill me if she knew how much I was spending right now... And congrats on your haul. As I mentioned in an earlier post I need to do some work to figure out where I'm at now, I've just been overwhelmed with so many simultaneous orders. But I'll eventually be able to figure out % complete, and maybe even relative cost.

Yeah it can't hurt to ask right?

My wife would demand a $1k purse immediately if she saw my spreadsheets for GG, CC and MS

Speaking of spreadsheets, I would be willing to share my CC spreadsheet if that would be helpful. It has a list of all parts with images (modified slightly as covered in my previous posts about changes I am making) along with columns to track cost, parts already owned, and items received. I also have tables at the bottom to tally cost of parts, cost of shipping and progress.