Bricklinking the Modulars

[Gremer2]

Hi guys, I'm kinda new to this section of the forum, but I'm very interested in bricklinking some of the older modulars (primarily the Palace Cinema, which I love the look of). Are there any tips or tricks, or part substitutions you guys would recommend?

[jus1973]

7 hours ago, Gremer2 said:

Hi guys, I'm kinda new to this section of the forum, but I'm very interested in bricklinking some of the older modulars (primarily the Palace Cinema, which I love the look of). Are there any tips or tricks, or part substitutions you guys would recommend?

Some of the older Modulars use parts that are no longer available, so are in very short supply, and therefore cost a substantial amount.  There are a couple of alternate workarounds I believe, for some.  

For the cinema, you’d probably end up spending about the same as picking one up used, by the time you’d got all the bricks, and you’d still be missing the stickers, which are quite a few on that particular modular.  The car in that set is also a bit odd, with very small wheels.  

[Kalahari134]

Any particular one you had in mind?

I've just completed a Green Grocer. Most of the 1x3 sand green bricks are used in pairs so substitute 1x6s, which work out at a half the price for double the size. Do the reverse for the 1x8s, they're extortionate so use pairs of 1x4s. I substituted the grooved bricks with normal ones, I don't think it is too noticeable. The early ones used a slightly different pattern of lamp post so substitute with the current design.

Edited March 14, 2022 by Kalahari134

[TheLegoDr]

There is an OLD thread on here about bricklinking the modulars. I used it back when things were discussed, but that was like 2012 or so. 

As for now, pieces of course may be not available or rarer (thus causing higher prices). It really boils down to if you want EXACT vs substitutions being okay. Do you want the exterior to be identical or inspired by the official set?

Maybe add it to a parted out want list on Bricklink for the set and then go through and sort out the pieces you already have. Then either consider doing Bricks and Pieces or bricklink and see which variety has the best prices. With the new changes to Bricks and Pieces, I don't know how that will change prices/shipping, but I know overall I've preferred buying direct from LEGO thanks to quantity available compared to some Bricklink stores (depending on the piece of course).

[Gremer2]

Hey guys, sorry to just now come back to this. So generally It planning for it to be identical, with some changes. For example the red baseplate is now $15+, so I'm considering switching it over to a different color and perhaps tiling the floor. I'm hoping someone offers replica sticker sheets, that seems to be the other big issue.

[RichardGoring]

22 minutes ago, Gremer2 said:

Hey guys, sorry to just now come back to this. So generally It planning for it to be identical, with some changes. For example the red baseplate is now $15+, so I'm considering switching it over to a different color and perhaps tiling the floor. I'm hoping someone offers replica sticker sheets, that seems to be the other big issue.

I recently switched by modulars over to MILS and used red tiles for the Palace Cinema floor. It worked well. I'm missing three 2x2 angled tiles which are in an upcoming B&P order, but otherwise didn't cost much at all and was easy to do.

I keep getting tempted by the Fire Station, which is the only modular I don't have that I like. The quick price check on all parts that Rebrickable comes up with is about the same as buying the entire set from Bricklink. But one day, hopefully soon, I'll price it up on LEGO Pick A Brick/Bricks & Pieces and see if there are any parts to substitute out as suggested above.

[TheLegoDr]

^MILS is the way to go depending on your street layout. Our LUG does MILS for everything so I've converted all of mine over to it and all new builds automatically start with it. I like the rigidity and support compared to the flimsy baseplate alone.

[Maple]

On 3/21/2022 at 11:26 PM, Gremer2 said:

Hey guys, sorry to just now come back to this. So generally It planning for it to be identical, with some changes. For example the red baseplate is now $15+, so I'm considering switching it over to a different color and perhaps tiling the floor. I'm hoping someone offers replica sticker sheets, that seems to be the other big issue.

That's not too bad. They were on Bricks and Pieces for $8 years ago. I'm pretty sure I picked an extra one up. But tiling the floor looks great.

[ReplicaOfLife]

I bricklinked Café Corner and a sand blue version of Green Grocer back in the day.

In the end, it all comes down to how true to the original you want to go. For me, it was more about the overall look, I replaced many rare/expensive parts with similar ones (e.g. I used 1x2x3 windows on Café Corner instead of the panel, and I replaced the invisible dark blue arches beneath the stairs (which were frighteningly expensive) with whatever was cheapest on BL.

If I was to do it all over again, I'd start by checking what pieces I have on hand and how far they'd get me. E.g., you can build the walls pretty much any way you like, as long as you stick to the color scheme it will look similar even if you use totally different brick sizes.

 

Palace Cinema shouldn't be too hard, I don't think there are any crucial rare parts in that one except for the baseplate (where I'd just use any one I have on hand, regardless of color) and the dreadful sticker sheet.

[Withacee]

On 3/27/2022 at 5:43 PM, ReplicaOfLife said:

except for the baseplate (where I'd just use any one I have on hand, regardless of color)

Problem with Palace Cinema is that the ground floor is not tiled (for whatever reason). So the red base plate is the actual floor of the lobby.
Other than that, I agree. And the sticker sheet is indeed an issue.

[longjuansilver]

Like others have said, the majority of pieces for most modulars can be Bricklink'd as long as you don't mind some minor changes throughout. I'd recommend either looking through the parts list on Bricklink to see which pieces are expensive/easily swapped, or (depending on how much time you have) you could try building it in stud.io by following the instructions. That way, you can swap pieces as needed depending on the price (the program estimates each brick's value) and see how it'd look with the alterations before you commit to building it.

[ReplicaOfLife]

On 4/5/2022 at 4:37 PM, Withacee said:

Problem with Palace Cinema is that the ground floor is not tiled (for whatever reason). So the red base plate is the actual floor of the lobby.
Other than that, I agree. And the sticker sheet is indeed an issue.

True.

Though you can propably tile the entire floor with red tiles (2x2 tiles in red are just a few cents each) and buy a new baseplate in whatever color for less than the red baseplate goes for

[unclejeffie]

On 3/23/2022 at 9:11 PM, TheLegoDr said:

^MILS is the way to go depending on your street layout. Our LUG does MILS for everything so I've converted all of mine over to it and all new builds automatically start with it. I like the rigidity and support compared to the flimsy baseplate alone.

What colors does the top plates have to be or doesnt it really matter?

[TheLegoDr]

It matters based on where/who you are displaying it with. I know official sets use dark bley, but my LUG uses light bley for sidewalks and dark bley for streets. So I converted all of my sidewalks to light bley to match even though I haven't really displayed with them as much lately. So it depends on how you want it to look based on the surroundings.