Statue of Liberty (3450) and Eiffel Tower (10181)

[ub40]

Dear Everyone,

I am new on this forum and I hope you guys can help me.

As a child I built many Lego sets, but I am now much older. In fact, way much older, and my taste has now changed for the the larger Lego sets. Unfortunately I have only recently started collecting Lego sets as a serious collector. I have just bought the Tower Bridge from Lego via their website and I paid nearly $1000 to buy a Taj Mahal on eBay. I would love to have a Statue of Liberty (3450) and an Eiffel Tower (10181) in my collection but I am now nearly broke and there is no way that I can afford to pay $4500 for the Statue of Liberty or $1500 for the Eiffel Tower on eBay or other websites.

I have downloaded building instructions for these two sets and I also have a parts list for these. The problem is that the Statue of Liberty in particular is made up of sand green coloured bricks and these are not available through the Lego's Pick a Brick store. However, a lot of these sand green bricks are available through Lego's missing parts webpage. To build a Statue of Liberty I will actually need a huge amount of these bricks. Do you think Lego can supply me with these?

Do you guys have any other ideas?

Why can't Lego re-release these sets? Do you know of any plans to re-release them? If so, then when?

Any info or assistance regarding what I have mentioned above will be appreciated.

Regards,

ub40

[gotoAndLego]

Do you guys have any other ideas?

Buy them used or build them out of another color.

[Big Cam]

www.bricklink.com

Try to buy them used.

[Fallenangel]

In addition, I've been told that the company has granted bulk orders through the missing parts system without batting an eyelash. There's a possibility there.

[Legoman]

I've also recently decided to collect the large scale buildings/landmarks, because for some reason I just love them. I was lucky enough to pick up an Eiffel tower back when it was in shops and even got 20% off I believe. I should have picked up the Taj Mahal back when it was out, But I'm still hoping to find one somewhere at a good price. I should have picked up a tower bridge a few weeks ago when they were cheap on Amazon.fr, But unfortunately I didn't then either. Though that one probably still has a year or 2 on shelves hopefully.

As for 3450 Statue of Liberty, that one is indeed a pain.. And I am wondering wether they will consider re-designing/releasing it as part of the newer line (10181, 10189, 10214), but I'm not sure. I'm finding THIS rather intresting... It goes for a killing at the moment.. Plus I'd need to build a stand.

I definately don't see 10181 being re-released yet though.

Though, You can definately get 3450 and 10181 for less than $6000, easy. But they're definately expencive

Good luck with Saving and hunting!

Edited January 16, 2012 by Legoman

[Etzel]

Buy them used or build them out of another color.

This is a very good suggestion I think, since the sand green bricks are so expensive (and some very rare). I have a friend from the Swedish LUG that built one in Light Bluish Grey that looked really neat and cost significantly less.

[fyrmedhatt]

Looking at the used prices on Bricklink, they are very different than the prices you quoted: 600 dollars as a minimum for the Eiffel Tower and $750 for the Statue of Liberty, and I believe you can get new sets for much lower prices as well. Both of these prices are in the US, but European prices are almost that low.

I would have no qualms about buying the Eiffel Tower set used, as the set is bluish gray in color and thus has relatively few problems with discoloration. I also think buying it in individual parts is possible, I'm not sure if there are any rare pieces inflating the price though, and in all honesty I think you'll be hard pressed to get below $600.

As for the Statue of Liberty I'd inquire for pictures before buying as the the sand green color it's made of is notable for its discoloration. Buying it in pieces is also very difficult as it is made of some elements only find in this set, such as the 2x2 round corner in sand green, which goes for $50 each if you can even find them.

[L@go]

If you keep a search going on eBay you might be able to do a nice deal. I bought one about 15 months ago, after having bid on several others without luck, and ended up paying $600 for a near-mint example (plus shipping and Norwegian VAT, so around $770 in total). I didn't get the box, but the bricks looked almost untouched. And obviously I built a base for it - so now it really towers in my living room (right next to the Eiffel Tower, for which I paid $190 three years ago). I absolutely love it and I can't imagine myself ever selling it.