Finding common colours for a list of parts

[Legotom]

Is there a tool, either to download or built into a website, where you can give it a list of parts and it will return a list of colours that all the parts are available in? I've done it once or twice before in Excel and it's very tedious work, so I'd love a tool that can do it for me. 

[Rotundus]

On BrickLink as part of their parts search function when you enter in a part number you will get a screen listing all of the colors for that part that are known to exist as well as which parts, in those colors, that are currently for sale by member vendors.  It's a little tedious, but that might help you out.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Rotundus

[Legotom]

Yeah I've used that before and made an excel sheet. Gets very tedious if you've got more than a small handful of parts. And there are now dozens of different colours too. I think this would be quite easy to write a script for, I just don't know enough programming. 

[zux]

Brickset is another alternative to Bricklink.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

What do you want this specifically for? That could help us come up with some good suggestions.

[Darkdragon]

6 hours ago, Legotom said:

Yeah I've used that before and made an excel sheet. Gets very tedious if you've got more than a small handful of parts. And there are now dozens of different colours too. I think this would be quite easy to write a script for, I just don't know enough programming. 

You can use the Bricklink API to write your own scripts to do what you are wanting.

http://apidev.bricklink.com/redmine/projects/bricklink-api/wiki/CatalogMethod#Get-Known-Colors

http://apidev.bricklink.com/redmine/projects/bricklink-api/wiki

[Legotom]

2 hours ago, BrickHat said:

What do you want this specifically for? That could help us come up with some good suggestions.

For making planes and cars, and probably trains. I've designed a few and want to see what liveries I could build them in. So I'd have a set of parts for the wings, lower body, upper and lower stripes, main body and roof/tail. Same idea for a car. Once I've worked out what colours each set can be in then I can fiddle around in LDD and see what's nice. 

2 hours ago, Darkdragon said:

You can use the Bricklink API to write your own scripts to do what you are wanting.

http://apidev.bricklink.com/redmine/projects/bricklink-api/wiki/CatalogMethod#Get-Known-Colors

http://apidev.bricklink.com/redmine/projects/bricklink-api/wiki

I'll have a look at that, thanks. 

[Sven F]

I am in need of this for the exact same reason.... i keep thinking I found the perfect color for a car with all the parts available only to discover 1x2 jumper plates were never made in dark green

If you come up with an easy solution, please share.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Ohhh, I see, that would be annoying. In that case it seems like Darkdragon's suggestion would work best. Otherwise you could try to wing it and just look at the parts that you know are less likely to be in the colors that you want.

[62Bricks]

You can use Bricklink and the free program Brickstock to get close to what you want: http://brickstock.patrickbrans.com/

First, create a list of the parts you want in any color. In this example, I made a short list of common parts in a common color and set them all to the 6-month average price for new pieces:

Then "select all" and from the Edit menu, change the color of all of them at once. In this example I tried turning them all Dark Blue, then re-set them to the 6-month average price:

This will try to pull data from the current Bricklink database. If there is no part in that color, you'll get an "error" in the price field and no image in the image column. This method will also show you if there are some scarce parts that might set you back if you choose the color to build in - that Dark Blue 2x8 brick is kind of scarce, for example.

You'll still have to go through the list of colors to see which colors match all your parts, but when you hit on one, you can "save as" the list and keep it for later reference. You can also upload the file as a wanted list directly to your Bricklink account to find sellers that have the parts.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2016 by 62Bricks
Addition

[Gnac]

12 hours ago, Darkdragon said:

You can use the Bricklink API to write your own scripts to do what you are wanting.

 

Quote

Obtain Access Tokens

After registering static IP addresses of your endpoint client, you can then access tokens. One (1) access token and one (1) token secret will be issued per IP address.

Well that's my idea most likely buggered then. I run a personal DB on my localhost, and I wanted to cache their price guides for certain parts on daily intervals to work out what I can spend on spares, reconstituting sets, etc. I hope they allow 127.0.0.1 as an endpoint, because my mobile internet uses a dynamic IP.

[Legotom]

16 hours ago, 62Bricks said:

You can use Bricklink and the free program Brickstock to get close to what you want: http://brickstock.patrickbrans.com/

<snip>.

Thanks for that. I've used Brickstock before, but I've got a 14 day old baby and havent had time to get my laptop out and fiddle about. I'll have a try. Still want to look at the API as I want to improve my coding. 

[dulsi]

Another possibility if you build the model in digitally (or just plop the pieces down), you can upload the model to a private moc on rebrickable. Then recolor the model and repeat.

[Legotom]

Seems you can only use the API if you have a bricklink sellers account. Oh well. The Brickstock method isn't too bad now I've tried it. The best way is to look up key parts and what colours you can get, then see if the other parts can be got.