For those who often do MOC, what's your bricks mainly from?

[ks6349]

Do you primarily use the bricks from officially released sets or do you pick up the bricks you are interested in from Lego retailed shops? Or do you buy from sets which have low cost per piece?

[NathanR]

My parents brought me up to leave lego sets as complete kits.  So most of my loose bricks have come from filling cups at pick-a-brick walls.  The rest are from bricklink orders that I put in to help me complete specific models, but ended up dismantling back into storage;

[MxWinters]

We don't have a LEGO store within 200 miles of where I live so that's not an option for me. Official sets are too expensive and limited for me as I don't build LEGO model to sit on the shelf and collect dust, I like my models to work, my last model travelled like 50 miles (real miles not scale models). I always buy my LEGO parts from Bricklink, I get the parts I need without any parts I don't need.

[ks6349]

Is there any one focused thread of discussing prices of different lego sets? I think it's not good always starting a new single thread asking the price of one or two sets

47 minutes ago, MxWinters said:

We don't have a LEGO store within 200 miles of where I live so that's not an option for me. Official sets are too expensive and limited for me as I don't build LEGO model to sit on the shelf and collect dust, I like my models to work, my last model travelled like 50 miles (real miles not scale models). I always buy my LEGO parts from Bricklink, I get the parts I need without any parts I don't need.

Just out of curiosity, what's the price of common sets that are still not yet retired in your country? Would you suggest a few example of common sets

Edited July 12, 2019 by ks6349

[MxWinters]

24 minutes ago, ks6349 said:

Just out of curiosity, what's the price of common sets that are still not yet retired in your country? Would you suggest a few example of common sets

Sure, the NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander (10266) - £84.99GBP ($113.14USD)
New York City (21028) - £44.99GBP ($56.56USD)
Mack Anthem (42078 - £139.99GBP ($176.00USD)
(prices taken from the LEGO website)
However just keep in mind that the UK in one of the most expensive Countries so prices here are always way above most other Countries. Take the 10266, according to the LEGO site, in the US, that set sells for £99.99USD, in the UK its $113.14USD.

[ks6349]

2 hours ago, MxWinters said:

Sure, the NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander (10266) - £84.99GBP ($113.14USD)
New York City (21028) - £44.99GBP ($56.56USD)
Mack Anthem (42078 - £139.99GBP ($176.00USD)
(prices taken from the LEGO website)
However just keep in mind that the UK in one of the most expensive Countries so prices here are always way above most other Countries. Take the 10266, according to the LEGO site, in the US, that set sells for £99.99USD, in the UK its $113.14USD.

How about the current prices of 10255, 10243, 10260, and 10261 etc? I  mean the prices you actually get, not the marked price on Lego store. In our country, third party resellers often have much lower prices

[Peppermint_M]

Uh, you are derailing your own thread?

On the subject: I use bricks from my own collection that I gathered from years of sets and also handed down LEGO. I have bought Pick-a-brick cups for interesting parts or a bulk of one part I have a purpose in mind for.

I also like to buy mixed boxes from thrift/charity shops and people who are selling their kids abandoned LEGO. It provides some fun surprises and random things.

For some specific projects I have ordered specific parts on Bricklink, but this is mostly special pieces like flags and windows.

It really depends how you want to MOC. If you want to design something in a fluid way, building up a bank of parts is an advisable move. If you want to build with a certain plan, you are well served by purchasing the needed parts online.

[MxWinters]

9 hours ago, ks6349 said:

How about the current prices of 10255, 10243, 10260, and 10261 etc? I  mean the prices you actually get, not the marked price on Lego store. In our country, third party resellers often have much lower prices

I just gave the prices from the LEGO website just to give you an idea of rough price range. The sets you said about are listed in the cheat below:

10255 - LEGO website - £179.99GBP | Azla.co.uk - £176.48GBP
10243 - LEGO website - £142.99GBP | Azla.co.uk -  £113.95GBP
10260 - LEGO website - £129.99GBP | Azla.co.uk - £103.90GBP
10261 - LEGO website - £299.99GBP | Alza.co.uk - £245.65GBP
(I have never heard of or bought anything from Alza.co.uk so I can say how good or otherwise they are. Google just kept saying that they were the cheapest on all these sets)

Edited July 13, 2019 by MxWinters

[ks6349]

6 hours ago, MxWinters said:

I just gave the prices from the LEGO website just to give you an idea of rough price range. The sets you said about are listed in the cheat below:

10255 - LEGO website - £179.99GBP | Azla.co.uk - £176.48GBP
10243 - LEGO website - £142.99GBP | Azla.co.uk -  £113.95GBP
10260 - LEGO website - £129.99GBP | Azla.co.uk - £103.90GBP
 10261 - LEGO website - £299.99GBP | Alza.co.uk - £245.65GBP
(I have never heard of or bought anything from Alza.co.uk so I can say how good or otherwise they are. Google just kept saying that they were the cheapest on all these sets)

Prices here in Vietnam are even lower but the boxes are often damaged, at least slightly.

[MxWinters]

Of course the prices will be cheaper, your in Asia.

[knotian]

Since I'm mainly interested in Technic and the store's pab wall pretty much ignores Technic, I buy kits, assemble them, then use the parts. Also some purchased from Bricklink vendors.

[dr_spock]

Mainly from Pick A Brick wall and LUGBULK.

 

[koalayummies]

Primary source is sets: ~$0.06 per piece is a decent to good average price per piece to look for. Lower than that and its almost a must-buy (lowest was the Chess set on sale for around $0.02 per piece). If its higher it has to appeal to me in some other way; have a decent amount of special or new pieces or new recolors for example.

Secondary is taking apart built stuff. Take...stuff...apart. "Otherwise it might as well be kragled".

Third is Pick a Brick Shop at Home. Fourth is Bricks and Pieces for smaller new stuff, mostly detail pieces.

[ks6349]

2 hours ago, koalayummies said:

Primary source is sets: ~$0.06 per piece is a decent to good average price per piece to look for. Lower than that and its almost a must-buy (lowest was the Chess set on sale for around $0.02 per piece). If its higher it has to appeal to me in some other way; have a decent amount of special or new pieces or new recolors for example.

Secondary is taking apart built stuff. Take...stuff...apart. "Otherwise it might as well be kragled".

Third is Pick a Brick Shop at Home. Fourth is Bricks and Pieces for smaller new stuff, mostly detail pieces.

I got PR and AS for $0.05 per piece and $0.049 respectively. Hope it's a good price. I don't like the original AS very much, will certainly modify it a lot.

[MAB]

I buy on bricklink, PAB walls and sets.

For me the price per part is a meaningless concept when buying for MOCs. What is important is the price per USEFUL part. I don't care if a set has a low PPP if the parts are not useful.

[Masked Mini]

I'm a devotee of Bricks and Minifigs, a used lego resale shop franchise.
I can fill a gallon Ziploc bag with bulk brick of my choice for 30-35$ depending on the store (they offer other volumes but I find the large bag to be best value).
Same rules as PAB wall, pack it tight.. it just needs to close long enough to check out.
My favorite stores have a 6% and 5% respective cash back loyalty program, carbon copy of Lego's old VIP system.
They also have a version of the Build a Minifig tower, 3 for 10$. One of the owners will discount that some more if I strike it lucky and buy a bunch at once.

It's gotta be said: You need luck and patience.
These are used lego resale shops so the part availability is random as can be. But I've score tons of Black Falcons, Forestmen, etc. 3 for 10$. The bulk bins can have nothing of value (to me) one visit and the next I stumble on 2/3rds of a Black Pearl or a patch of 80s classic space parts. I've walked out with a 90% complete Queen Anne's Revenge (missing a couple minifigs and easily detached trim) for 75$ because it was gathering dust!! Same with the Black Pearl, hull for 25$ one trip, complete set of sails plus a couple extra QAR sails for 35$ next. Some trips I find no bulk of interest but stumble on three or four dozen classic pirates and castle figs or newer stuff I use to diversify my factions and armies. Or it's the other way around.

Best part is the personal relationship I've cultivated with the Owners. They know what I'm after and will message me or hold things back until my next visit, making for wonderful surprises!
One set of Owners will do after hours BYOB AFOL events throughout the year, which are super fun (and often an amazing way to get bulk brick for cheap or even "free" in exchange for labor like helping sort out non-lego from fresh bulk).

Your mileage will vary! These kinds of stores are a reflection of their Owners and their selection a reflection of your area and the skill of the Owner in finding bulk lego.

Aside from that, I utilize all the same sources as everyone else. Ebay (rarely, crazy prices and counterfeits galore), Bricklink, BnP, PaB, BaM, clearance sets (agree with MAB, gotta balance ppb with usefulness of said bricks), Amazon occasionally, thrift stores have contributed more than a couple gallons but I find they have pretty much all caught on now. I've also had great luck scoring vintage minis for little money at vintage malls, resale shops or cattlebarn style fleemarkets. The older the intended clientele and the less focus on toys the better the deals I find. Other than that my eyeballs are super calibrated for the Lego System logo colors and I will lock onto those colors from 50ft away. A hungry shark ain't got nothing on me when I spot a shoal of lego in the wild.

[CMFanatic]

Number one on my list would have to be (drumroll, please:)

 

Taking. Things. Apart.

 

Constantly.

I was never really the kind of kid who could just leave well enough alone- there was always some higher, Holy-Grail-like epitome that I could build just by sacrificing a few well-loved but stale-by-now creations. Of course, I photo documented some of the creations that I made before disassembling them, but as I got better I realized that I'd never be good enough to the point where I could expect to not take a creation apart. So eventually I just gave up trying to keep them together and instead I focused on building newer and better versions, even if it meant losing the original idea that drove the build in the first place. 

 

Another thing: Never be afraid to ask relatives, neighbors or friends, "Hey, do you, like, have some old LEGO in your attics that I could, like, have?"

I've gotten some really good ones from friends, neighbors, cousins.....got a Lord of the Rings set in great condition once.  And most of the parts from the Star Wards brown droid carrier thingy. (Which of course got promptly disassembled and integrated into a mansion, which was then transformed into a haunted house, which was then turned into the Sign of the Three Broomsticks from Harry Potter, and then into a bank, and then a hotel, which has remained built for half a year- a personal record.)

 

Third thing: Never be afraid to trade. (Hah! That rhymes!)

I've gotten reeeeealy done in by trades before when I wanted something for a creation or MOC minifig assembly (bother you, little brother with light fingers!), but I'm much better at trading for what I want and getting a good trade. For instance, I "traded" (a.k.a. totally ripped off, because he had no idea how much they cost in the marketplace) for most of my best friend's LEGO minifigs that were in good condition, back when we were still pre-teens. He still likes me and LEGOs, though, so I guess I didn't really swindle him out of anything.  (Of course, he had been given most of them in the first place by a random person at a Walmart who happened to have several tubs of LEGO in their trunk...never be afraid to ask for free LEGOs!)

On 7/16/2019 at 11:16 AM, Masked Mini said:

I'm a devotee of Bricks and Minifigs, a used lego resale shop franchise.
I can fill a gallon Ziploc bag with bulk brick of my choice for 30-35$ depending on the store (they offer other volumes but I find the large bag to be best value).
Same rules as PAB wall, pack it tight.. it just needs to close long enough to check out.
My favorite stores have a 6% and 5% respective cash back loyalty program, carbon copy of Lego's old VIP system.
They also have a version of the Build a Minifig tower, 3 for 10$. One of the owners will discount that some more if I strike it lucky and buy a bunch at once.

It's gotta be said: You need luck and patience.
These are used lego resale shops so the part availability is random as can be. But I've score tons of Black Falcons, Forestmen, etc. 3 for 10$. The bulk bins can have nothing of value (to me) one visit and the next I stumble on 2/3rds of a Black Pearl or a patch of 80s classic space parts. I've walked out with a 90% complete Queen Anne's Revenge (missing a couple minifigs and easily detached trim) for 75$ because it was gathering dust!! Same with the Black Pearl, hull for 25$ one trip, complete set of sails plus a couple extra QAR sails for 35$ next. Some trips I find no bulk of interest but stumble on three or four dozen classic pirates and castle figs or newer stuff I use to diversify my factions and armies. Or it's the other way around.

Best part is the personal relationship I've cultivated with the Owners. They know what I'm after and will message me or hold things back until my next visit, making for wonderful surprises!
One set of Owners will do after hours BYOB AFOL events throughout the year, which are super fun (and often an amazing way to get bulk brick for cheap or even "free" in exchange for labor like helping sort out non-lego from fresh bulk).

Your mileage will vary! These kinds of stores are a reflection of their Owners and their selection a reflection of your area and the skill of the Owner in finding bulk lego.

Aside from that, I utilize all the same sources as everyone else. Ebay (rarely, crazy prices and counterfeits galore), Bricklink, BnP, PaB, BaM, clearance sets (agree with MAB, gotta balance ppb with usefulness of said bricks), Amazon occasionally, thrift stores have contributed more than a couple gallons but I find they have pretty much all caught on now. I've also had great luck scoring vintage minis for little money at vintage malls, resale shops or cattlebarn style fleemarkets. The older the intended clientele and the less focus on toys the better the deals I find. Other than that my eyeballs are super calibrated for the Lego System logo colors and I will lock onto those colors from 50ft away. A hungry shark ain't got nothing on me when I spot a shoal of lego in the wild.

Dude, have you ever tried out www.shopgoodwill.com? THAT's where all the good LEGO deals go, lol! When the thrift stores and stuff finally caught on to how much LEGO reselling was worth (LEGO listings on eBay have sold over $15 million this year alone!) they started selling them online! With a little well-phrased LEGO searching online, you can make some really good purchases! Check it out!

[Masked Mini]

4 hours ago, CMFanatic said:

Check it out!

I checked Goodwill online once but with shipping I didn't see anything worthwhile. I might check back again. When I say you can't get deals anymore I was comparing it in my mind to the $2.99 I paid for a MISB anniversary Vader tie fighter with the possibly chrome minifigs. Found it in the boardgames... I snatched that so fast of the shelf there where tiny thunderclaps coming off my hand. Ipman and Bruce Lee nodded in approval at my speed of hand. No luck on the limited chrome fig but still.

Or the dozen two gallon bags of random Lego for $10 ea my wife found while thrifting before we moved in together. She messaged me after leaving and sent me pics, had her drive back and buy them all. Over a hundred 80-90's minifigs, three dozen horses, an old green dragon and other absolute treasure for a song. Those times appear to be over.

[ShaydDeGrai]

On July 12, 2019 at 6:06 PM, MxWinters said:

We don't have a LEGO store within 200 miles of where I live (snip...)

I'm so sorry for you.  I have the luxury (and I realize it is a luxury) of living within a half hour drive of four Lego Stores and a Discovery center gift shop (so Pick-a-Brick walls are always a fertile, target rich environment for my MOC fodder).  I'm not sure why we have so many so tightly packed together when some places (like northern New England) have none, but I think its probably because everything else is so darned expensive (my wife and I went out to lunch yesterday at an "average" restaurant, not fast food but nothing fancy - two beverages, a sandwich and a taco - no dessert, $63 (USD) plus tip) that Lego isn't perceived to be as pricey as it is in other parts of the country.

Back to the topic of the OP:

I've been amassing parts for more than half a century, so I'd have to say the _breadth_ of my collection comes from kits.  I almost always build the box-model at least once and it usually stays assembled for years until I either need something from it, get bored with it, or the cats decide that it is occupying too much of their shelf space.  Sometimes in the course of building a model I'll notice that a given set is a good source for a particular set of bricks in a particular color and I'll add the kit to my watchlist of kits to stock up on when the price is right (Amazon sales, target red tags, end of production life clearance at the Lego Store and local toy shops, etc.)  If the price is right ( less than 7 cents a brick or so ) I buy up a copy or two and scrape them for parts.  

Sometimes, in a pinch, where time is off the essence and I can't find (or, more, likely run out of ) a particular part in a particular color and I don't have time to redesign around it, I'll head to brickset to see is any kits in current release have what I'm looking for.  If they do, I'll head to a Lego store and grab one or two copies of a set just for the part.

As I mentioned above I'm also a big fan of Pick-a-Brick cups.  If the "right parts" are available, I can spend hours packing a cup so tightly that you'd be hard pressed to squeeze in a shot glassful of water by the time I'm done.  Economically speaking, a well packed short cup has given me the best return on my dollar (by weight of ABS), followed by a tall cup.  Of course even with multiple walls to pick from, it's still pot-luck and if you're looking for certain parts to realize a particular MOC design, getting lots of parts quickly doesn't really help if they are the wrong parts.

Some items you just know you're going to need in bulk (maybe not for this MOC, but for the five that come after it).  That's where knowing store managers comes in handy and buying things by the case.  K Boxes are supplies they use to stock the Pick-a-Brick wall and if you're on good terms with the store, sometimes they'll let you buy whole unopened cases.  A lot depends on what they have in the back room, what they need for upcoming store event models and how brisk Pick-a-Brick sales have been recently.  As you can guess, some bricks are more useful to buy in bulk than others as well, a case of, say, 1x4 block in a neutral color (say, light gray) will probably come in more useful than case of steering wheels.  Price-wise (by weight) I've found it about on par with a well packed PAB tall cup.

I don't bother with lots on eBay, partly because I don't trust eBay sellers to know what they are selling (too many stories of clone brands mixed in with Lego, damaged bricks, etc.), partly because Pierre Omidyar was a former classmate of mine and I don't want to throw business his way (but Pam is lovely, BTW), but mostly because I don't want to compete against someone who might actually be trying to buy Lego for their kids.  It's the same reason I usually won't buy Lego when it shows up in our local Thrift store or at yard sales (unless it's something particularly rare or of sentimental value to me) - I know Lego is pricy and I grew up poor with Lego envy, now I can afford to pay a little more for my toys, I don't need to be scooping up bargain basement sales that might have allowed some other poor kid to get some Lego without breaking the family bank.

I do accept donations.  I'm of an age where friends are cleaning out houses as their kids go off to college and, knowing I'm an AFOL, they ask if I'd like their kids' old Lego.  I always ask if the kids have blessed the purge and ask about potential nieces, nephews and the like who might better donees, but if it comes down to me or the landfill, I do my part for the environment.  Again, it's pot-luck, but the price is right.

Anyway... For specific parts in specific colors that I don't already own but need for a specific project, I head to Bricklink.  I'm not one to buy a part or two from each of a dozen different vendors, there a handful of larger shops that I frequent regularly and tend to place orders far bigger than I actually need for my current project.  I do this to amortize the postage.  If I'm paying a fixed price for a Priority Mail box, I want that box packed as densely as possible.  I just don't understand some of my fellow AFOLs that spend as much on postage as they do on parts, barely hitting minimum order thresholds from scores of different vendors.

If all else fails, I order parts directly from Lego (or Lego Education  - in the case of bulk Technic parts).  Economically (and time-wise) this is usually the worst option but they have the best inventory.  With very rare exceptions, any given part is cheaper on Bricklink (assuming you can find it and they ship to your location) and, from my experience, Bricklink orders are often shipped within 24 hours and show up at my doorstep within a couple of days.  Lego parts orders are shipped DHL from Europe and sometimes take weeks to arrive.  But you can't argue with the quality of the parts and they don't seem to have an issue with large orders (whereas I've been known to clean out some vendors of specific parts).

 

 

[Retro]

Well, my nearest Lego store is 439km away and you'd have to cross the sea to get there. And I work 5 mins away from the European Headquarters of Google, Facebook and Air B&B (I think). So I'm not in the boonies. 

[ShaydDeGrai]

1 hour ago, Retro said:

Well, my nearest Lego store is 439km away and you'd have to cross the sea to get there. And I work 5 mins away from the European Headquarters of Google, Facebook and Air B&B (I think). So I'm not in the boonies. 

You probably don't have to pay 10 bucks (~9 Euros) plus tip (the equivalent of about 50 minutes work at minimum hourly wage) for a pint of Guinness either 

Still, Dublin's a pricy city to live in, you'd think it could sustain at least one store.  Maybe it's just a function of population density, Metro-Boston has a population of about 4.7 Million, isn't that about the equivalent of all of Ireland?

Getting back to the OP and sources of cheap brick:

Does free Lego ever wash up on the shore there?  Wasn't there a container ship in a storm incident somewhere near Britain a few years back?

[MAB]

Dublin is about half a million population. Not so different to cities like Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool in the UK that have LEGO stores. And twice as big as Newcastle and Southampton (getting a new store). But worse than the city being mid-sized only, the surrounding areas (say within one hour by car) does not add much to the population. Whereas the population density is high enough to sustain stores in Liverpool, despite being close to another one in Manchester; similarly Leeds and Sheffield. And the five within / near London.

 

[Retro]

Well, according to Wiki (since I didn't want to go out and count), Dublin has;

City: 555,000

Urban: 1,173,000

Metro Area: 1,347,000

Greater Dublin: 1,905,000

So, big enough. But being an island has its quirks of logistics and economics I suppose.

I think it's a really nice place to live. Expensive though, yes. But my only luxury is Lego, which is, indeed, expensive. Of course, sometimes it washes up on the shore. Last week I was beach-combing and I found Tantive IV, only slightly damp and nibbled by a crab.

[Masked Mini]

1 hour ago, ShaydDeGrai said:

short over tall PAB cups (paraphrase)

I'm intrigued by this. Would you expect to get better value from two of the short cups as opposed to one of the large ones? All else being equal. I usually just go straight for the tall ones and pack them until the lid barely squeaks on. Also I've never thought to ask about K-boxes. Could you ballpark a price for a K-box of 1x4 bricks for me? I'll try to remember to ask next time I'm at a store.

I'm with you on the bricklink method. I usually enter a store for a select part(s), then comb the entire bricklink store for stuff I like or will need in future, then clean the shop out until the postage becomes a small enough percentage of the cost. That has cut down a lot on my ordering frequency and cash waste to postage.

I've not looked at the thrifting from your point of view. Feeling a good bit less proud of my hauls at the moment. I'm not as fiscally flush as you seem to be but I also no longer need to source my bricks as cheaply as possible so it seems I need to re-evaluate my acquisition ethics. Thank you for the (uncomfortable) thought provoker.

[Lego David]

I usually just search for spare parts bulks on ebay, or if there are any specific parts I need for a MOC, I just buy them from Bricklink.

Edited August 21, 2019 by Lego David