Parting out modulars/Bricks n Pieces?

[ShilohCyan]

Hi okay first post. I forgot what I originally joined to ask but here we go

 

so after 10 years I got back into Lego, leaving as a bionicle geek and coming back as an AFOL. A few days ago I bought the bookshop, which I intended to be my only modular. But now I'm craving the full line, as well as winter village. and I don't have $800 to shill out for each one. 
 

I know not every part will still be made, but I honestly prefer Lego's Bricks and Pieces site to Bricklink since the parts still being produced are generally cheaper without a middleman, and come from one source all at once. but it troubles me just how long it would take to enter every part number from a brick list. Does anyone have experience doing this?

[Greshi210]

I'm not 100% sure if what I'm suggesting works in the US, but there is a browser extension for firefox (in Germany it also works with chrome, so I guess that will be true for the US too) which you can use to upload wanted lists from bricklink and then upload it to lego.com's shopping basket. It's called brickhunter and as far as I've been able to find out online, it should work with lego's US page. 

I've been using it a lot lately and it's really intuitive and an easy way to order from bricks and pieces and pab (if it works in the US too).

[TheLegoDr]

Why not just go to brickset/bricklink and look at the inventory. Type in the set number and see what IS available on BnP and go from there. If it isn't available on BnP, then unless they came out with a new design/item number you could try to look for them (usually bricklink lists the different numbers).

You won't need to enter every single piece separately, just go from the set page initially and go from there.

[Vilhelm22]

I’m sorry but I can’t help a huge amount, though I would love to one day do the same as you one day.

I can say, however, that it will be faster if you add all the parts from every modular you don’t have to a Bricklink list - this can then tell you how many of each piece you need collectively rather than per set and having to do lots of maths.

It is also the case that some older sets contain pieces that are incredibly rare and expensive and there might be other solutions.  Some pieces have an almost identical modern counterpart, whilst others can be made out of multiple pieces more cheaply.  Bevins Bricks on YouTube did quite a good video on how to get the Cafe Corner at a low price...

It is also, I believe, particularly with smaller pieces which there are a lot of in modulars, when bought in large quantities, cheaper to buy them from a Pick A Brick wall in your local LEGO Store.  I conveniently have the world’s largest only an hour’s train journey away, though I realise not everyone has quite that advantage.  

Finally, in some cases you may come to the conclusion it’s too expensive even when parted out.  This shouldn’t discourage you though, as it’s often possible to easily build a set in a different colour.  I think I saw the Green Grocer built in a different colour once due to the rarity of sand green.

Anyway, good luck and I’d love to hear how you get on!

Vilhelm22

[Wimmer]

Hi there. 
 

I did the same thing for both Cafe Corner and Market Street. I used Bricklink mostly for Market Street and both Bricklink and LEGO for Cafe Corner. I thought it was fun to do all the pieces one at the time, but it does take time that way. 
Bricklink has a feature that will add the whole parts list of a set to a Wishlist of bricks. Then you can, with one click of the mouse, let Bricklink look all the pieces up for you in the most efficient way, so that you don’t pay a load on shipping and you get all the pieces from the least amount of stores. I noticed that it also looks where you live and picks the closest stores to you. Just be ready, some pieces will be expensive, and LEGO won’t have those anymore. Both Cafe and Market are using older type doors and they rack up an easy $20.00 a piece. But it’s worth it in the end. 

[Maple]

2 hours ago, Wimmer said:

LEGO won’t have those anymore. Both Cafe and Market are using older type doors and they rack up an easy $20.00 a piece. But it’s worth it in the end. 

Really? $20 for a door? And worth it?!
 

[Wimmer]

1 hour ago, Maple said:

Really? $20 for a door? And worth it?!
 

Yes. Worth it because it will make the building complete as intended. These doors have different dimensions than the current doors and also don’t use a door frame to sit in, so they are different in look and size. 
And yes, it’s a lot of money for one piece, but you will always get that back if you decide to sell the door yourself later on, so no big deal I would say. 
And yes again, the total set was more than the original price this way, but still a lot less than buying one on Bricklink, or anywhere else, and paying hundreds of dollars more than I did piecing them together like this. And it’s fun to have done that, look at it with a big smile, and enjoy what you did. And having all the buildings standing together. 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Wimmer

[ShilohCyan]

On 7/17/2021 at 7:54 PM, Wimmer said:

let Bricklink look all the pieces up for you in the most efficient way, so that you don’t pay a load on shipping and you get all the pieces from the least amount of stores.

I've used bricklink before for retired pieces and minifigs yes, but trying to avoid waiting 6 weeks for some parts from 87 different sellers. 

On 7/17/2021 at 1:17 PM, Vilhelm22 said:

it will be faster if you add all the parts from every modular you don’t have to a Bricklink list - this can then tell you how many of each piece you need collectively rather than per set and having to do lots of maths.

It is also, I believe, particularly with smaller pieces which there are a lot of in modulars, when bought in large quantities, cheaper to buy them from a Pick A Brick wall in your local LEGO Store.  I conveniently have the world’s largest only an hour’s train journey away, though I realise not everyone has quite that advantage.  

Finally, in some cases you may come to the conclusion it’s too expensive even when parted out.

I do have a bricklist of every modular but the bookstore, and every winter village set. but even if every piece is available that'll be easily a few thousand dollars, and difficult to keep track of each retired piece I don't have. I might start with the palace cinema and 50s diner if at all. 

pick a brick at my local store (which, I'm thankfully a 30-minute bus ride from the only one in my state) is pretty darn small. it's like.. steering wheels. carrots. yellow 4x6 plates. mixel eyes a lot of useless stuff tbh. I did it a few months ago just for the containers and struggled to fill one with anything useful. 

On 7/17/2021 at 4:29 AM, Greshi210 said:

I'm not 100% sure if what I'm suggesting works in the US, but there is a browser extension for firefox (in Germany it also works with chrome, so I guess that will be true for the US too) which you can use to upload wanted lists from bricklink and then upload it to lego.com's shopping basket. It's called brickhunter and as far as I've been able to find out online, it should work with lego's US page. 

This is just what I needed! but I just moved and don't have wifi. Guess I'll have to head to a coffee shop to see if this works in the states but THANK YOU! Any tips on determining what to leave on the bricklist that isn't produced anymore? or does the browser automatically delete them?

[Greshi210]

51 minutes ago, ShilohCyan said:

This is just what I needed! but I just moved and don't have wifi. Guess I'll have to head to a coffee shop to see if this works in the states but THANK YOU! Any tips on determining what to leave on the bricklist that isn't produced anymore? or does the browser automatically delete them?

Well, Brickhunter searches through all available parts at pab and bnp, so eventually it will only show you the parts that are currently available at lego, others will be marked as out of stock. If the element id isn't recognized (e.g. because it's not being produced anymore), it will leave a blank, as far as I know.

[ShilohCyan]

6 minutes ago, Greshi210 said:

Well, Brickhunter searches through all available parts at pab and bnp, so eventually it will only show you the parts that are currently available at lego, others will be marked as out of stock. If the element id isn't recognized (e.g. because it's not being produced anymore), it will leave a blank, as far as I know.

But I mean on Bricklink, say... the doors someone mentioned. Will the bricklink list only consist of things like that that lego doesn't make, or will everything be on bricklink?

 

maybe I should see how this thing works first. 

[Greshi210]

The Bricklink list has all parts that are in the set, even ones that aren't produced anymore. You can delete those parts manually before you upload the list to brickhunter, but you needn't do it because brickhunter will just show you parts that are currently available.

[ShilohCyan]

15 hours ago, Greshi210 said:

The Bricklink list has all parts that are in the set, even ones that aren't produced anymore. You can delete those parts manually before you upload the list to brickhunter, but you needn't do it because brickhunter will just show you parts that are currently available.

right but I mean.. how would I know what I have and don't have afterwards, without counting every single piece yet again

[ShilohCyan]

On 7/17/2021 at 11:53 PM, Wimmer said:

Yes. Worth it because it will make the building complete as intended. These doors have different dimensions than the current doors and also don’t use a door frame to sit in, so they are different in look and size. 
And yes, it’s a lot of money for one piece, but you will always get that back if you decide to sell the door yourself later on, so no big deal I would say. 
And yes again, the total set was more than the original price this way, but still a lot less than buying one on Bricklink, or anywhere else, and paying hundreds of dollars more than I did piecing them together like this. And it’s fun to have done that, look at it with a big smile, and enjoy what you did. And having all the buildings standing together. 

Finally have wifi and using it now. Or trying to. I uploded my bricklists but can't get to transfer to the shopping cart. Something about synchronization past 48 hours blah blah

[Follows Closely]

You should forget the old and just buy what is available now. There are four great models to pick up ASAP.  The new buildings are superior and are available at MSRP. There are some exceptions and eBay is sometimes cheaper than brickinking a set, especially if you want the instructions.

10278: Police Station
10270: Bookshop
10264: Corner Garage (move fast, this one will be gone come January)
10260: Downtown Diner
10255: Assembly Square (this is a great build)
10251: Brick Bank
10246: Detective's Office  (can still be found reasonable on eBay) example
10243: Parisian Restaurant (I'll make an exception here, this is worth the 250-300 you pay on eBay) example
10232: Palace Cinema
10224: Town Hall
10218: Pet Shop (can still be found reasonable on eBay) example
10211: Grand Emporium (can still be found reasonable on eBay) example
10197: Fire Brigade
10185: Green Grocer
10182: Cafe Corner

The strikethrough ones I think are not worth the price. I am speaking from experience as I purchased them all as they came out.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Follows Closely
added ebay links