Any advice for the newbie? :)

[Capt Faraway]

Hi guys, i'm new here... I'm Javier, from Chile, and i'm taking the first step to become a MOCer as good as you are.

Now that i have the conditions to start with LEGO as a serious hobby i'm looking for my first big purchase of loose pieces so i prefer to ask you a few things before i buy, considering that for geographical reasons it's not easy nor fast either to do consecutive buys correcting my mistakes.

I have already read Lord McGregor's topic (http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=92330) and, of course, Commander Red Hat´s frigates tutorial. I plan to start with some sloopes, then advance to frigates (if my skills and bricks will allow me, haha)...

...considering all that i have already said,

• Which pieces are imperative to buy? I have an idea with the great tutorial, but i imagine i can dispense with some pieces untill the next piece purchase... but i don't wan't get stuck at the very beggining
  
• Where do you buy your bricks? I'm considering Bricklink as the only source in internet, besides small local resellers
  

Thank you!

I hope i can soon start making contributions!

[Matthias]

Hello,

I am not one of the best MOCer here, but I would start with a "normal Starterkid" which is I think your Lego Box from your childhood. If you don´t have one, I would buy one. Than you will have all basic bricks. For example:

http://www.ebay.de/i...=item3f34636228

Its maybe difficult in Chile to find something like this, but you can buy at ebay US or in Europe. The most seller don´t activate international selling, when they sell at ebay,you must just lockin at the reginal ebay (for example " www.ebay.de" for Germany) and ask what the delivery to chile would cost.

If you allready have a starterkid, I would buy at bricklink as you mentioned.

[Capt. Stabbin]

Welcome to Eurobricks! To answer a couple of your questions, I don't think there is any specific brick as any brick could be used in a creative way to create a nice ship. And Bricklink is probably you best source as far as finding parts at decent prices. I look forward to seeing your creations.

[Kolonialbeamter]

Hi there,

I agree with what's been said before, bricklink simply is the number one place to go to for buying specific parts. But as a beginner you might also think about ebay, I don't know about Chile, but sometimes people offer cheap collections of old ship-/pirate related parts, good for experimenting.

What parts you're going to need also depends on whether you want to base your ship on prefabs or go for a custom hull. For inspiration on various building techniques you should definitely check out the Ship MOCs Index!

Good luck, and seeing forward to your creations!

[Captain Golden Hook]

I would advise finding a friend who has Legos from their childhood and are willing to trade it for next to nothing if you want lots of good bricks cheap. I also think if you are planning to make small ships you should eather buy a small old hull and masts. Everything else you could build with bricks. Or you could build a waterline model with no prefab hull.

Good luck :D

[ummester]

My process of choice is experimenting in LDD and buying from Bricklink.

You can do more with actual bricks than LDD allows, though it is a good starting point to work out the basic list of bricks you will need.

[VintageLegoEra]

1)- Always Read the description carefully.

2)- ask as many Questions especially about: discoloration, missing parts, broken parts and is the set is complete or not.

3)- If you feel confused, then ask for photos.

4)- Keep your sets away from Sun

5)- clean the dust that accumulate on the set from time to time as these dust will affect the durability of the bricks in future.

6)- in case you bought a used set, always check the parts before ordering the missing ( happened with me i build and find some missing parts and order and then discover another missing par..lool )

last!....Enjoy! ;)