164 replies to this topic

[ibecks]

I spotted Cafe Corner in the Bluewater Lego shop soon after it was released, thought 'Wow. That's amazing - look at the way they've used those pieces.' then thought 'I'm too old for Lego'. I saw the light a year or two later and just missed being able to get Cafe Corner. I did manage to get the Green Grocer, which is also brilliant, and I have plans to get Grand Emporium and the Pet Shop (not too bothered about the Fire Station or Market Street).

Needless to say, I still really want Cafe Corner but there's no way I can afford the £350-£400 price tag of the full set (at least not in one go). Therefore I've been looking at getting all the parts separately. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice on this. I've got my wanted list sorted out and I will be doing a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. I'm particularly interested to know which parts of it are the most difficult to get hold of and whether you had to do colour replacements for anything. Also, if any of you have done it before, how much did it end up costing you?

Thanks
Becks

(off to build the camper van now - excited!)

[joopsta]

I am bricklinking the CC right now. First I replaced the dark red slopes with dark brown ones.
But the problem is when I changed all the dark red bricks to dark brown,
some bricks don't exist in dark brown. So I changed it back again and now bought
36 dark red slopes for 0.90 euro a piece(that's a nice price I can tell you). I did change the dark blue arch into
grey. The grey rounded brick under the arch I changed into dark blue.
I also changed the blue greyish door into grey.
That door is about 18 euro a piece!
Anyway, I've done about 7 orders and now need about 100-150 bricks to get it complete.(2-3 orders)
I think totally it will cost about 250-275 euros.
But that's new bricks, maybe used ones will make it cheaper.

Succes!

[L@go]

You might find some interesting tips in this topic.

[ibecks]

Joopsta:  Thanks for that information, it's really useful to hear about your experience.  I think I can live with switching a blueish grey door for a grey one and a dark blue arch for a grey one if it's going to save me around £40 on two pieces (yikes!).

I tell you what, doing it this way really makes you appreciate the original pricing of the set, doesn't it?!

L@go: Thanks for the link.  Fortunately I think the red roof brick issue has been solved as they made a return in the Pet Shop, although they're still pretty expensive.

Edited by ibecks, 09 October 2011 - 11:25 AM.

[fyrmedhatt]

You are in for a fun process, I did the same for my Cafe Corner, and it was a blast! I'm currently finishing up my market Street using the same method. Please be aware that using shop at home replacement parts service for many of the hard to find pieces is possible as they are currently in production. This includes the 1x4 dark blue brick which can be quite expensive and hard to find in large numbers on Bricklink, as well as the dark red slopes which are significantly cheaper bought directly from Lego.

The pieces that are by far the most expensive and hard top find right now are the 1x2x3 white panels with hollow studs and without the supports. Lego currently do not have these in stock and they are hard to find on Bricklink in quantities high enough (20), the 5 stud high clear and grey door with right hinge is very expensive, as well as the 1x8 dark blue arch.

I personally bought the new type white panels, the don't look that different, but the windows will be slightly smaller. For the Door, the left hinged version can be gotten for cheap and you can barely notice the difference, so I think that's a good idea as well. The most difficult to find and expensive piece is the dark blue arch, I was lucky and found a cheap one for my cafe corner, but this time around I bit the bullet and bought the super expensive ones from Bricklink for my Market street, if you are getting only one, it isn't that bad really.

[Larrynautik]

I built my Cafe Corner only with the parts I already had and Bricklink. Total cost shippings included was 235 euros. It costs 500 today. I did the same thing with Millenium Falcon 10179 for 625 euros instead of 1200, and will do the same for all the sets whose prices have become unreachable.

[ibecks]

fyrmedhatt, on 09 October 2011 - 02:07 PM, said:

You are in for a fun process, I did the same for my Cafe Corner, and it was a blast! I'm currently finishing up my market Street using the same method. Please be aware that using shop at home replacement parts service for many of the hard to find pieces is possible as they are currently in production. This includes the 1x4 dark blue brick which can be quite expensive and hard to find in large numbers on Bricklink, as well as the dark red slopes which are significantly cheaper bought directly from Lego.

This is a very good point - I'll look into that.  Thank you. :)

[dodo]

i did this earlier this year. it was fun hunting for the parts and waiting for them to arrive and finally to build the cafe corner. fortunately i was able to find all the necessary parts, though i missed to buy some small parts but was able to substitute it with alternate parts without problem.

I ended up paying approximately EUR 375 to EUR 400 (can't remember exactly) and those are with lots of extra parts.

Good luck to you, enjoy, and have fun!

[LegoDad]

I wanted to bump this thread as I'm following suit with you guys and building Cafe Corner from Lego S@H and Bricklink.  Lego actually had a lot of the hard to find pieces, including the red roof tiles, but said that only had a couple hundred left, which won't last long when people like me are ordering 36 at once.  Between Pick a Brick, and ordering directly from the set on Lego, I am only missing 6 different parts, the only piece that will get pricey is the white 1x2x3 pieces for windows I think, since you need 20 and they are few and far between on Bricklink, especially since I am only buying new.  I am in this project about $325 dollars, which is a far cry from the $700 you would have to pay for used.

[Lorentzen]

Very interesting topic - I have plans to Bricklink/S@H the parts myself, and have made the wanted list on Bricklink

I want to know from you guys: do you think that it is cheapest to buy from as few sellers as possible and that way save on shipping fee, or should I go for the cheapest bricks?

[Darkdragon]

I had all the basic parts, bought a few of the uncommon parts on Bricklink. The most rare parts I got on eBay and through S@H customer service. Total I spent about $80.  I did not buy the instruction booklet, just downloaded from LEGO.

[Lorentzen]

I am really in doubt - I don't know if I should spend the money on a complete set w. box and instructions or spend around 570 dollars on all the correct bricks (the rare door, the rare dark red slopes, the rare white panels etc.) from Bricklink...

Do any of you know the average selling price for a used but 100% complete Cafe Corner? Is it 600 dollars or more?

The reason I ask is that it costs 120 flippin' dollars to buy the two instruction manuals, and 75 dollars for a used box on Bricklink

[doriansdad]

Lorentzen, on 27 January 2012 - 06:08 PM, said:

I am really in doubt - I don't know if I should spend the money on a complete set w. box and instructions or spend around 570 dollars on all the correct bricks (the rare door, the rare dark red slopes, the rare white panels etc.) from Bricklink...

Do any of you know the average selling price for a used but 100% complete Cafe Corner? Is it 600 dollars or more?

The reason I ask is that it costs 120 flippin' dollars to buy the two instruction manuals, and 75 dollars for a used box on Bricklink

The dark red slopes are readily available from Lego direct thanks to the reintroduction of them from the Pet Shop. When I built it 18 months ago they also had the light bluish grey door instock so check for that as well. As for the white panels you are on your own there as well. You also have to make sure the 5 black door frames you get are Type 1 and not Type 2. Also the torso for the women with the blue jacket needs to have the large stitching and not the new torso with small stitching available right now from Lego direct. Personally I would go for a NIB set unless you have plenty of free time to burn.

[wondermonkey]

Hmm. I've been looking for the red roof slopes on the Pick A Brick part of Lego.com for a while and haven't seen them. They are New Dark Red right? Is there another way than Pick A Brick?

[doriansdad]

wondermonkey, on 27 January 2012 - 09:51 PM, said:

Hmm. I've been looking for the red roof slopes on the Pick A Brick part of Lego.com for a while and haven't seen them. They are New Dark Red right? Is there another way than Pick A Brick?

Yep call Lego direct @ 1-800-835-4386 and ask for part# 4623597. This is the Dark Red Slope 75 2 x 1 x 3 with Hollow Stud. If you are going to order parts from them make sure you have your whole list ready to go and order in one shot to save on shipping which is very reasonable. Parts take 10-15 days to arrive from Europe.

[Henchmen4Hire]

If you're going to buy the pieces separately then I think you'd enjoy the final result more if you made your own tweaks beforehand in Digital Designer or something. Then you may be able to lower the total cost by replacing certain pricey pieces and get unique features for your model as well

[Toadtorrent]

darkdragon, on 26 January 2012 - 10:09 PM, said:

I had all the basic parts, bought a few of the uncommon parts on Bricklink. The most rare parts I got on eBay and through S@H customer service. Total I spent about $80.  I did not buy the instruction booklet, just downloaded from LEGO.

I've done the same thing as you with S@H customer service for the rare dark red parts, and didn't bother with the booklet or box.  I'm still working on the dark blue parts!!

[Legobrandon]

Good luck on your custom Cafe Corners guys! Make sure to post some pictures when you are finished.

[slovakiasteph]

Instead of using the two panels together (for the four windows on each side), has anyone tried the 1x2x3 windows?  I realize that would be a simple look and not like the original, but it seems like it would be an alternative.

[iluvmyelement]

doriansdad, on 27 January 2012 - 10:14 PM, said:

Yep call Lego direct @ 1-800-835-4386 and ask for part# 4623597. This is the Dark Red Slope 75 2 x 1 x 3 with Hollow Stud. If you are going to order parts from them make sure you have your whole list ready to go and order in one shot to save on shipping which is very reasonable. Parts take 10-15 days to arrive from Europe.

Gone already.  They said someone called (they took the call) and ordered the last 150.  Bummer!

[DwarfSleepy]

I did the same thing for my Market Street and Cafe Corner. I got 2 dark blue arches for the CC and the MS proper building, but substituted the ones in the stall for tan, which looks good. I also substituted the dark blue 1x4 for dark blue 1x2 bricks. Not only cheaper, but it also looks better because it simulates actual brickwork better I think.

A tip on the CC door: it's the same one as in the Creator house 4956, which I picked up second hand (but still in near mint condition) for around EUR20. So that's a whole lot of free bricks if you count the door as already being worth the EUR20!

And I agree with everyone: this whole process makes you appreciate them even more: the anticipation of collecting all the parts over months and months (combining with orders for other projects to cut down on shipping cost) is worth it when you finally start building. I did have to stop myself though to already start when I was at 90% complete  

[doriansdad]

iluvmyelement, on 28 January 2012 - 02:16 AM, said:

Gone already.  They said someone called (they took the call) and ordered the last 150.  Bummer!

I would keep trying in the weeks ahead. This piece is still being produced I would presume since it is in the current Pet Shop set and that is not due for retirement until Dec 2013.

[wondermonkey]

doriansdad, on 27 January 2012 - 10:14 PM, said:

Yep call Lego direct @ 1-800-835-4386 and ask for part# 4623597. This is the Dark Red Slope 75 2 x 1 x 3 with Hollow Stud. If you are going to order parts from them make sure you have your whole list ready to go and order in one shot to save on shipping which is very reasonable. Parts take 10-15 days to arrive from Europe.

Great!!! Thank you!  

[Lorentzen]

This is a great thread :)

Btw I just got the first batch of bricks from a BL order - around 450 parts from the CC inventory - among them the dark blue arch :)

I paid a whopping 10 EUR for that part :( - I hate being a completist

The process of ordering bricks ongoing is pretty exciting

[wondermonkey]

slovakiasteph, on 28 January 2012 - 12:38 AM, said:

Instead of using the two panels together (for the four windows on each side), has anyone tried the 1x2x3 windows?  I realize that would be a simple look and not like the original, but it seems like it would be an alternative.

I haven't yet but I am thinking about the same thing. It's not original, but I really didn't care to have holes all over my building where there should be windows. I think even if I had bought the original I would have ripped them out (and probably sold them on Bricklink).