BrickLinking a UCS Millennium Falcon

[Japser]

I am actually doing the same thing as of today! Current progress is below:

Total Parts required 5187

Parts Bought 2628

Order 1: 1510 pcs for $ 140,50

Order 2: 582 pcs for $50,00

Order 3: 18 pcs for $10,00

Order 4: 518 pcs for $32,26

So halfway there for around $250,-.

Do you have any tips on how you manage the Wanted list? I have to follow a 3 step process :

1) search for cheapest price per part

2) place the order

3) update my excel partslist sheet

4) update my wanted list on bricklink (deleting manually each item purchased)

Also would like to know if you placed many small orders to get the cheapest price per part or did you place large bulk orders?

Hope you can share some tips and tricks because sometimes its all very overwhelming when trying to find good stores!

Well, here we are, 7 months later. Finally got all the parts bricklinked except the radar dish and boat rig and 7 other parts I'll collect later on. But anyway, the time will come to start the big build for me as well. Costs are around 650,- euro. Wouldn;t have done it without this and some other threads! Yippeee! :)

Edited October 17, 2012 by Japser

[legotrader]

First, I would just like to say that all of your are just inspirational for taking the time, money and patience for picking all the pieces, ordering them, waiting for them to ship and then building it. This is all no small task, but it also makes me feel like I want to do it now to see if I can actually follow through and complete it. Great job all of you!!

[Diaaabo]

Has anyone started a similar project for the UCS Imperial Star Destroyer? I've already started my BL wanted list, but the total price will be too much for my wallet... I think it will take a year or two to get all the parts, even if I change some specific colors to cheaper ones.

[trumby69]

Have just started this project myself and am waiting for most of the parts to arrive.

Total so far ... 5077 parts

... $660 (AU)

So nearly there and still within budget.

Can't wait to start the build, so far have only substituted variant of part (ie. tap with hole in end vs tap with no hole) not the colour.

Just the expensive parts to go ... rigging, radar dish, minifigs etc.

[llenroccc]

Thank you so much for putting this here. I have recently bought the super star destroyer and the death star and then I saw this one. I am blown away by the price at Amazon, ebay. Maybe someday I will do the same as you did. It's a challenge but fun, I guess, to a real LEGO star wars fan. I just wonder do you think LEGO will ever reproduce this one? You know, like there are two Death Stars?

[Blondie-Wan]

I doubt they'll ever reissue the specific set (by which I mean not just any "very large, detailed, accurate version of the Millennium Falcon," but the specific model design using the specific assortment of parts as 10179), but I can very much see them doing a new UCS (or "UCS-esque" version.

As wonderful as the first one was, there are many obvious areas where a new one could surpass it (the whole lack of an interior, for example, or the design of the cockpit), and with the Death Star and the Tantive IV they've demonstrated a willingness to revisit even those "big, special" sets, if they take a sufficiently different approach, as the more play-oriented, minifigure-laden versions of those two did from their respective originals.

Edited December 5, 2012 by Blondie-Wan

[Colossus]

Hello! I am a longtime lurker, first time poster. My name is Colossus, and I have a LEGO problem. I played w/ these things growing up; stopped Lego-ing around 12 yrs. old. Now, I have children of my own. They were interested in the old Galaxy Patrol sets I have from my younger days. But they weren't happy w/ just those sets. Now, they have their fancy Ninjago, Star Wars, and now FRIENDS. Why, back in my day, minifigures were yellow and we LIKED it. I ask you, how can I not be hooked? Superhero sets? They're my thing. And it's not just DC or just MARVEL. It's BOTH!! That I can have my Deadpool minifig trashtalking Superman minifig is like a fanboy's dream come true! While I am into LEGO Superheroes til either I dies or the line does, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Star Wars. This UCS Millennium Falcon is my grail set. But I'm not gonna fork over $3000 for it. I have studied this thread, and have started bricklinking pieces to create one of these beauties. I figure that w/ the techniques I can learn from building this behemoth, I can build myself a proper X-Jet and Danger Room for my X-Men Minifigs. Do members of this forum have a topic thread where custom minifigs can be listed? I would like to view what others have bashed, and display my own as well. After all, sometimes I find it almost as fun customizing my own minifigs as I do playing w/ them w/ my kids! And anything I can learn from these forums to enhance my childrens' and my building experience is greatly appreciated. Sorry for being so tangential. It's past everyone's bedtime at this Christmas sleep-over, and none of the kiddies want to crash. So, we are on our 3rd viewing of The Princess Bride. Oooofa.

Anyhoo, this thread is a great source of info and an inspiration for me to continue on my quest for the UCS Falcon, and I want to thank everyone for their contributions to this thread.

Edited December 24, 2012 by Colossus

[SamLego]

Hey, after lots of consideration and looking at these forum posts on here for a long time and searching on BL for parts for the UCS MF I decided to take the plunge and decide to buy all the pieces to make the set and try and acquire them for as cheap as possible and quite quickly as well.

I started this in mid december now and I have managed to buy all the parts I need with a variation of a few and I am only waiting for two different pieces left in the post which were cheaper on the lego site!

The variations I got were the small lever which was just too expensive for £2 a piece when you need 60 of them on bricklink seeing as lego had sold out of that one too. I opted for the original grey ones which were a penny each which saved me a lot.

The same goes for the grating on the back which you need two of. The right colour is too expensive so I ordered them in black.

My question is though has anybody that has done this buying the black parts for the back, has anyone found any paints or anything that come close to looking like the original grey colour that it should be?

Other than that I have every piece I need and the instructions on my laptop to use to make it. It has probably cost me altogether including postage £650 altogether which I think is quite good. Managed to order half the pieces I need in one order from a good BL shop in Czech Republic which had good prices and good condition pieces which was a steal.

[Jim]

The same goes for the grating on the back which you need two of. The right colour is too expensive so I ordered them in black.

My question is though has anybody that has done this buying the black parts for the back, has anyone found any paints or anything that come close to looking like the original grey colour that it should be?

I have looked into this and found what seemed to be the right match. It's somewhere in this topic (or maybe another one on Bricklinking the MF. I will search for it.

Found it:

See page 3 of this topic:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67818&st=50

Another option is to take a Light Bluish Grey part to a paint shop. They can measure the color and mix you the right paint in a spray can. I have seen somebody do this in the Technic forum with Dark Blue and it seemed like a genuine part.

Edited January 15, 2013 by Gekke Ted

[SamLego]

I have looked into this and found what seemed to be the right match. It's somewhere in this topic (or maybe another one on Bricklinking the MF. I will search for it.

Found it:

See page 3 of this topic:

http://www.eurobrick...pic=67818&st=50

Another option is to take a Light Bluish Grey part to a paint shop. They can measure the color and mix you the right paint in a spray can. I have seen somebody do this in the Technic forum with Dark Blue and it seemed like a genuine part.

Ah Thanks I knew I had seen something about this somewhere I just couldn't remember and by luck it was right on here!

[MinusZwei]

Hi all,

First of all, let me quickly introduce myself... as it is my first post. I am a 32 years old software engineer, living in Germany, that felt back to the LEGO world last summer (Thanks to 10226...). Back in 2007 I was really impressed by the 10179 Millennium Falcon, but I never actually bought it.

Nowadays, I really regret that, especially when you see the price you have to pay for mint new sets (and even used one) on eBay of BrickLink. So I decided to follow some of you on this forum and collecting all the bricks for building an "alternate-not-so-official" Millenium Falcon to correct this "mistake". Instead of posting the progress of this adventure here, I started a blog about it: http://bricklinking10179.wordpress.com

Feel free to take a quick look at it, and of course, I will be available anytime to answer some of your questions in case you are also tempted by doing the same

[JopieK]

Hi minuszwei,

hope you enjoy your stay! Nice project!!! Even those stickers are crazy, 120€ and up @ bricklink. Difficult design though!

I'm a software engineer of 32++ ;)

[MinusZwei]

Hi JopieK!

For the stickers, I will do them my way: the ones that goes in the cockpit, I will do them myself, maybe looking more like the real cockpit.

For the information plate, I wanted to have somthing unique, so I have asked one of my graphical designer friend to do something really cool in the same spirit...

[krispy]

Wow.. that's ambitious! And I thought bricklinking the 951 parts for my B-Wing was hard.

Good luck with the project; I hope you'll keep us informed (I'm very curious about the end result).

PS. Aside from the stickers, are you going to do any modifications on the build or is it going to be a "plain" 10179?

[MinusZwei]

You can monitor the blog for regular updates :) I have now ordered all the parts, in the right color.. so I just wait for all the orders to be sent (11 on BrickLink, 2 at LEGO Direct).

When the set is still available, it is usually way cheaper to get it on "sale" (in Germany for example, Amazon has cheap prices compared to the official LEGO shop)... But the 10179 became somhow a legend in its own, so I couldn't resist BrickLinking it...

...and collecting all the part is way more fun than bidding on eBay.

I am not going to make any modifications at the beginning (except slight color changes in rare parts, as explained in my blog). But I am already thinking about adding some cool light effects with LEGO PF leds, and even motorising the radar and/or the entrance deck.

[shaggysanchez]

I have been considering doing this myself with the Falcon and some other older sets that I missed out on. If you don't mind me asking, how much do you have invested in the parts. I have seen others go this route and depending on parts that one already has as well as how dedicated one is to getting the lowest price on brickLink I have seen prices range from $300 - $900.

I will keep an eye on your blog to see how the build and the arrival of the rest of your parts go.

[The_Chosen_1]

Welcome to Eurobricks! I actually pieced together my 10179 model through Bricklink last year. Luckily, it was before many of the pieces became extremely rare.

By the way, there's already a thread on this subject.

[MinusZwei]

If you don't mind me asking, how much do you have invested in the parts.

I spent a little less than 860 euros (w/o the minifigs), but I only made a few changes (only the levers and the boat mast, as their prices on BL was way too high), and I ordered all the parts "New".

So if you are willing to spent a little less, you can go for used parts, especially for the inside frame where they won't be really visible at all.

[wondermonkey]

I'm enjoying your blog, lots of good stuff on there. I have to admit that I am impressed whenever I see someone commit to such an enormous bricklink purchase. I've played around with the wanted lists but never utilized it in such a massive way.

[Brickdoctor]

Hi all,

First of all, let me quickly introduce myself... as it is my first post. I am a 32 years old software engineer, living in Germany, that felt back to the LEGO world last summer (Thanks to 10226...). Back in 2007 I was really impressed by the 10179 Millennium Falcon, but I never actually bought it.

Nowadays, I really regret that, especially when you see the price you have to pay for mint new sets (and even used one) on eBay of BrickLink. So I decided to follow some of you on this forum and collecting all the bricks for building an "alternate-not-so-official" Millenium Falcon to correct this "mistake". Instead of posting the progress of this adventure here, I started a blog about it: http://bricklinking10179.wordpress.com

Feel free to take a quick look at it, and of course, I will be available anytime to answer some of your questions in case you are also tempted by doing the same

I've merged your thread with the existing discussion on Bricklinking 10179.

[shaggysanchez]

I spent a little less than 860 euros (w/o the minifigs), but I only made a few changes (only the levers and the boat mast, as their prices on BL was way too high), and I ordered all the parts "New".

So if you are willing to spent a little less, you can go for used parts, especially for the inside frame where they won't be really visible at all.

Thanks for the info and best of luck on your build.

[heathen666]

I did the same thing last year after missing out on an ebay auction.

I ended up getting a 1/5 of the pieces from another ebay auction, I used bricklink for most of the other parts. Where a high quantity of some pieces was needed I had to go to lego in the end. Also I ordered some parts a slightly different colour as it was far, far cheaper. Oh, my radar dish is blank as well. Think in all it cost me about £500.

[MinusZwei]

Think in all it cost me about £500.

Lucky you! Since a year, I think many part's prices have jumped up a little...

[heathen666]

Lucky you! Since a year, I think many part's prices have jumped up a little...

I think I got a good deal on the ebay auction! Plus some of the pieces aren't the right colour which saved me some money

[MinusZwei]

I think I got a good deal on the ebay auction! Plus some of the pieces aren't the right colour which saved me some money

Pretty good deal indeed... Here in Europe, 2nd 10179 goes at ~1200 to 1500 euros, and seals sets are pretty rare under 2200.

There was one new sealed on BL 2 days ago for 1690 euros. It lasted approximatly 5 mins.