Rebuilding 8285 from new parts

[Richard Dower]

Hey guys!....don't post often but read all the posts. I am fairly new to Technic, only started collecting in the last year but i have already bought and built some 50 models!

My criteria from the start was the sets/parts had to be BRAND NEW!, i tried second hand sets/parts but i always felt the only way to go is new parts, even if that's vastly more expensive. I have always loved 8285, i think it's one of the top 5 sets ever made!, so i bought one second hand....but the condition of most of the parts were not upto standard.

Thankfully i got the silver metal edition, so i decided to try and rebuild the entire 1879 part set from scratch using only new parts. It's been an interesting journey thus far sourcing all the parts. I don't use Bricklink but ebay and buying new sets have helped alot. The black panels were all sourced from two sets, 8140: http://brickset.com/sets/8140-1/Tow-Trasher , and 8926: http://brickset.com/sets/8926-1/Toa-Undersea-Attack

Got a good deal on both BNIB from ebay, the other four 8x12 with stud panels were sourced from 9492: http://brickset.com/sets/9492-1/TIE-Fighter

The metal hook 70644 was VERY hard to find new, they are out there but very expensive!, i managed to find a second had one from France in absolute MINT condition....and it only cost €11 ...!!! :-)

The vast majority of the other parts were easy enough to find and the Lego shop bick-a-brick provided a large number of the parts. Another criteria i had is that the chosen parts *must* be the original moulds, as you can see part number 30360 has an alternate mould type: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=30360 , but here again i found an Italian ebay seller had the original mould brand new, that ebay shop has been a great source from original mould/parts brand new.

The hardest parts are the silver metalic elements, such as these: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=75535 , they can be got new but a very expensive. I am still in the process of getting all the parts together and will report back once i get everything a build the model.

[Technic Gearhead]

I built a somewhat modernized version of this model a while back. I substituted new 1x5x11 panels for the partially studded ones and made the gas tanks like the 9397 along with quite a few other tweaks.

[Bricktrain]

My favorite set. It doesnt look the same in grey though, there were many variations in the new sets, I had some with 10 metallic silver wheels, some with 6, others had none. The later ones only had LBG for the exhausts too. Still looks better with chrome though.

My fleet

[Richard Dower]

^ wow!...those are amazing!....where did you source all the chrome parts?

The different versions of 8285 released is interesting, i got the 6 metallic wheel version....i knew they was a set with 10 wheel hub in LBG, but i didnt know there was a full 10 wheel metallic version!

Were there other sets that also had LBG versions of the other metallic parts?

For the metallic parts 2412b and 4073 i was able once again to buy some old Racers sets, such as 8141 http://brickset.com/sets/8141-1/Off-Road-Power and 8496. In fact the recent 42022 Hot Rod also has 3 of the needed metallic parts: http://brickset.com/sets/42022-1/Hot-Rod

[Bricktrain]

Most of my chrome is done by Auri, Chrome Block City http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=Aurimax

what he doesnt have available in his store I sometimes send to him to get done.Other parts have been from Chromebricks and Bricks4all.

As far as I know it was only the wheels and pin joiners that were changed, they were the changes I found, and reported by others, they are shown in the BL inventory.

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=8285-1

I still have most of the original silver parts and still a couple of sticker sets, they are getting rare now.

[Richard Dower]

Just a further parts update...in case anyone else might want to source sets for specific parts etc.

Just won an auction on ebay that got me the needed 30031 parts: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=30031&colorID=67&in=A

I bought 8642 brand new for just €8!

In addition i got two more Racers sets that got me 8 more metallic silver 2412b, 8670 and 8496....i am hoping to get a old DACTA set that will get me brand new pneumatic parts i need.

Its going really well and i think by the end only 20 or so parts will be second hand, by far the most difficult part to get new is the 4x4 round dish: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3960

[Bricktrain]

I have mixed my new and used dishes together but even the used ones are as new if you are interested.

I am happy tonight, my lowbed semi with the 42030 loaded won second place for best display at the Christchurch Brick show tonight. It was a real pleasure to meet the judges, one was Henrik Anderson, Lego Senior Designer. Prize I won was a new 42025. I have to take pictures in the morning, today was a bit too busy.

[Lakop]

Impressive fleet. Can we see them individually?

H

[Richard Dower]

I have mixed my new and used dishes together but even the used ones are as new if you are interested.

I am happy tonight, my lowbed semi with the 42030 loaded won second place for best display at the Christchurch Brick show tonight. It was a real pleasure to meet the judges, one was Henrik Anderson, Lego Senior Designer. Prize I won was a new 42025. I have to take pictures in the morning, today was a bit too busy.

Hi there...yes i deffo would be interested, the 4 dishes i have are heavily stratched, as such even second hand ones should be better then what i have.

[Richard Dower]

Bit of an update here, it has taken me MONTHS and hundreads of Euro...but i am now VERY close to complete my project of buying only new parts to rebuild 8285. In all honesty...it would have been cheaper to buy a new set off Ebay or Bricklink. I did things the stupid way by buying off Ebay and using multiple shops and vendors and paying shipping and getting more parts/lots then the part list called for.

I would be afraid/embarrased to add up how much i spent, but with all the extra parts i decided to also build 8258 and 8081....so i'll have 3 Technic sets to build from the parts i have. Took ages to tracks everything down, but i am nearly there :-)

I'll upload pics of the parts and the build process once i start to build it.