Buying Older Parts

[montgocloud]

I was recently given a lot with an assortment of sets from the early 90s that were in mostly good condition, but unfortunately there were some plates that were downright mangled. I'm a bit of a stickler with having the correct variation of bricks/plates (seen below) and unfortunately Bricklink does not differentiate between them. What would be the best way to get replacements (if there is a good way at all)? Am I being unrealistic?       

 

 

[LEGO Historian]

It's not so much a matter of being unrealistic... it's more a matter of the fact that you will/can never get it 100% right....

LEGO mixed and matched parts so often, that it becomes virtually impossible to exactly match everything up to the same time period.  Take the new light bluish gray color.  Even though it was inroduced circa 2003... for years TLG mixed old light gray with the blue-ish version for years thereafter.  Many 1980s sets have half of the parts with the molding pip on the studs, and half with the pip on the sides of the bricks.

Bricklink makes it easy on the sellers to keep the part variations as simple as possible, by having as few part variations as possible in their database.  Unfortunately that doesn't help buyers trying to replace parts for older sets.

From the 1990s to the present, the major difference in plates is the "donut bottom" posts underneath, as seen on the right.  Those are of more recent vintage.  It's mostly sets from the 1960s and 1970s that a buyer may care about getting the right parts... and even then it was pure mayhem as old and newer parts were mixed together in many of those sets.

FYI... orange parts weren't introduced until 1998... so you won't have much of a problem with that color anyway.

 

 

[montgocloud]

On 4/7/2018 at 12:17 PM, LEGO Historian said:

It's not so much a matter of being unrealistic... it's more a matter of the fact that you will/can never get it 100% right....

LEGO mixed and matched parts so often, that it becomes virtually impossible to exactly match everything up to the same time period.  Take the new light bluish gray color.  Even though it was inroduced circa 2003... for years TLG mixed old light gray with the blue-ish version for years thereafter.  Many 1980s sets have half of the parts with the molding pip on the studs, and half with the pip on the sides of the bricks.

Bricklink makes it easy on the sellers to keep the part variations as simple as possible, by having as few part variations as possible in their database.  Unfortunately that doesn't help buyers trying to replace parts for older sets.

From the 1990s to the present, the major difference in plates is the "donut bottom" posts underneath, as seen on the right.  Those are of more recent vintage.  It's mostly sets from the 1960s and 1970s that a buyer may care about getting the right parts... and even then it was pure mayhem as old and newer parts were mixed together in many of those sets.

FYI... orange parts weren't introduced until 1998... so you won't have much of a problem with that color anyway.

 

 

Thank you for the insight! I was actually hoping you would comment, you're actually the one who got me to really notice and care about the mold variations!  I guess it's just something that I'll have to accept - I won't ever be able to replicate the insanity of the exact molds used in each set without going insane myself.  

[LEGO Historian]

On 4/8/2018 at 2:14 PM, montyofmusic said:

Thank you for the insight! I was actually hoping you would comment, you're actually the one who got me to really notice and care about the mold variations!  I guess it's just something that I'll have to accept - I won't ever be able to replicate the insanity of the exact molds used in each set without going insane myself.  

LOL.... I couln't have said that last sentence any better myself!  

Edited April 10, 2018 by LEGO Historian