6 replies to this topic

[questforcastle]

Greetings from a newcomer to this part of the forum! Some of you may remember my project to build the classic 6080 King's Castle, from spares and new brick acquisitions, over at the LEGO Historic Themes area (http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=67256).

I'm still in the process of doing the castle and learning LEGO anew after all these years. Alongside it, I am starting my second AFOL project after coming out of the dark ages, building the 7740 Inter-City Passenger Train - again from spare parts, brick purchases and perhaps some imagination. I never had much of the classic 1980s LEGO Trains as a child, so I'm looking forward to reliving some of that through this project, as well as learning more about LEGO and the AFOL hobby.

As I've enjoyed the replies from fellow Eurobricks members during my previous project, I'll try to pop in from time to time and note my progress here. (If anyone cares further, you can read my full beginning thoughts here: http://questforbrick...ter-city-train/)

Edited by questforcastle, 17 March 2013 - 02:29 PM.

[medib]

questforcastle, on 21 August 2012 - 10:09 PM, said:

Greetings from a newcomer to this part of the forum! Some of you may remember my project to build the classic 6080 King's Castle, from spares and new brick acquisitions, over at the LEGO Historic Themes area (http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=67256).

I'm still in the process of doing the castle and learning LEGO anew after all these years. Alongside it, I am starting my second AFOL project after coming out of the dark ages, building the 7740 Inter-City Passenger Train - again from spare parts, brick purchases and perhaps some imagination. I never had much of the classic 1980s LEGO Trains as a child, so I'm looking forward to reliving some of that through this project, as well as learning more about LEGO and the AFOL hobby.

As I've enjoyed the replies from fellow Eurobricks members during my previous project, I'll try to pop in from time to time and note my progress here. (If anyone cares further, you can read my full beginning thoughts here: http://questforbrick...ter-city-train/)

Good luck with your projects Quest.

The good news with the inner-city train is that the main colours are yellow and red.  The 12 V elements are quite pricey as are some of the rare elements like the doors.

[JopieK]

medib, on 22 August 2012 - 01:28 AM, said:

Good luck with your projects Quest.

The good news with the inner-city train is that the main colours are yellow and red.  The 12 V elements are quite pricey as are some of the rare elements like the doors.

The windows of the loc are not that cheap though!

[Hechristensen]

I understand your need for 7740 completely...   But why dont you buy a complete set on Bricklink? Building a complete set from spareparts can sometimes end up being just as expensive as a complete set will cost you.

[questforcastle]

Hechristensen, on 23 September 2012 - 12:58 PM, said:

I understand your need for 7740 completely...   But why dont you buy a complete set on Bricklink? Building a complete set from spareparts can sometimes end up being just as expensive as a complete set will cost you.

Good question, something that has certainly become obvious to me during my previous project to build the 6080 King's Castle in a similar manner (still missing a few small pieces). Although I guess in theory I'm still a bit under a full set there... (http://questforbrick...knights-castle/)

But this is more about the journey at the moment. Sourcing parts and becoming acquainted with all the AFOL resources is rewarding in itself. More so, than just acquiring a set and then building it, which would be over and done rather quickly. I may purchase vintage sets later on, but for now I'm still in the mode of reusing existing pieces and gathering new spares... Sort of a fun way to reconnect with childhood parts and sets, while making and learning new. Doing a project piecemeal like this has certain demands that, at least for me, have forced me to look into various ways of acquiring pieces, cleaning bricks, doing minifigure surgery, researching components/alternatives/variants and whatnot, that I might not otherwise do.

Consider these my self-appointed initiation rite to graduate from a former KFOL (two decades ago) to a true AFOL.

Edited by questforcastle, 17 March 2013 - 02:30 PM.

[domboy]

I understand not wanting to buy an older train set outright as the prices they go for are usually not pretty. About 1.5 years ago I decided I really wanted a 10133 BNSF but I didn't want to buy the set so I also decided to do a reconstruction project on it. I think I calculated at the end I probably spent around $170 which was not far from the cheapest one on Bricklink was at the time (and still outragous considering it was originally a $40 set...). In retrospect it probably wasn't the best idea, as that locomotive has quite a few parts in either rare colors or rare for train parts (dark green and orange, specially the train windows). The positives about it was I was able to spread the cost out over a few months time, I had fun, and it's a bit more valuble to me due to the trouble I went through to gather all the pieces. My biggest issue with a reconstruction project is the question of stickers if the set includes them. So I'm curious if you've thought on how you are going to handle that part. I guess I need to go read up on your progess.

Edit: Side note: I've also reconstructed 10027 Train Engine Set and the My Own Train sets (10013-10017) and had much better luck as these contain a lot more common (cheaper) pieces, and no stickers... I just don't have any hard price numbers as these projects got mixed in with other unrelated projects so I lost track. Guess what I'm trying to say is whether it's cheaper to "bricklink" the parts to build a set or buy the set outright might depend on the set. So again, I'm curious to see how your project goes...

Edited by domboy, 15 October 2012 - 06:44 PM.

[questforcastle]

Thank you for the comments, guys! Always nice to get some feedback.

domboy, on 15 October 2012 - 05:02 PM, said:

My biggest issue with a reconstruction project is the question of stickers if the set includes them. So I'm curious if you've thought on how you are going to handle that part. I guess I need to go read up on your progess.

Fair question, I've tried to set out some written ground rules for myself (e.g. here http://questforbrick...6/ground-rules/) to map out the scope and goals of the project. My previous spares project, the 6080 King's Castle, didn't have any stickers to worry about, but on a similar vein there I'm not aiming for 100% minifigures because they are a little harder and more expensive to come by.

For the train, I am not insisting on the stickers, but perhaps something springs to mind or crosses my path when the project progresses. Which, to be honest, it hasn't for the past couple of weeks. Sorry about that. But I will get back to it as soon as possible... The fun part of going it piecemeal is not really knowing what comes next. It's all about enjoying LEGO in many different ways.

It really isn't so much about the price for me - not to imply an unlimited budget, just saying the price alone isn't the decising factor. Even if using spares is somewhat more expensive, that's okay as long as I'm having more fun than with a ready-bought set. Maybe this will change in the future, but for the moment I'm still in this particular frame of mind.

If someone is looking for a quick link to all my train updates (which isn't much yet), this is the way: http://questforbrick...ter-city-train/

Edited by questforcastle, 17 March 2013 - 02:31 PM.