BrickLinking (another) 10179 UCS Millennium Falcon

[Lobot]

Prologue:

Following the countless hours I productively wasted last year building a 10143 UCS Death Star II (link here), via Bricklink, I’ve been looking for another project. Next on my list was the 10030 UCS Star Destroyer, but after sourcing about 50% of the parts I admitted defeat as I couldn’t obtain several of the rarer ones inside Europe. I briefly debated building an Endor Landing platform, using instructions which I’d purchased from Ebay, but it wasn’t going to big enough for my UCS shuttle so that was the end of that. Back to the drawing board, ho hum.

To be honest, since I’d ‘Bricklinked’ the Death Star, normal sets (the ones that come in a box with all of the parts in numbered plastic bags) seem a bit too easy somehow... and I like a challenge!! I considered numerous options, but kept circling back to the idea of a UCS Falcon. I would like to say that I did try to stop myself from starting this for several weeks, but finally gave in. My wife gave me her, classic, disappointed look when I mentioned my plan to her and, to be fair, she did have a point as I already own one!

My logic:

My current Falcon is the third one I’ve owned (long story) and I paid £750 for it MISB a couple of years ago just before the prices got really silly. I built it once and displayed for a week in a darkened room before my irrational fear of dust & light damage made me disassemble it and return it to the safety of its packing box. Hence, there was some logic to this project after all....if I could build one (relatively) cheaply I could then display it long-term without any fear of i) daylight ii) dust or iii) one day finding our cat asleep on it!!

Now I know that this project has been well-documented before by BobBongo and jFox but I thought you might like to see how my project develops, building it my way. Firstly, I’ll admit that I’m rather OCD about Lego; it has to be new! Secondly, I wanted to see how cheaply this could be done, keeping to the original colours wherever it was sensible to do so. Some of the costs I’ve seen for building one seemed ridiculously high and I was determined to do better, at least that was the plan....

My Strategy:

Firstly I checked the Lego PAB website to see what parts were readily available to set a ‘benchmark’ cost. Next, using a spreadsheet, I recorded the cost of the parts which were available in four of my favourite stores, not overly scientific but it was a useful starting point. Using a few formulas I estimated that I could do this for about £550, give or take some postage. Before I forget I’d like to pass on my thanks to both gizmocom and KRAM who supplied a total of 1,541 parts, in 50 and 67 lots respectively. Their excellent service deserves a shameless plug; both sellers are 100% Lobot recommended!

Bricklink:

I’m not an expert in Bricklink, but if you haven’t sourced a lot of parts before, I can offer the following advice:

i) Buy within your own country wherever possible; the cost of long-distance postage really adds up after a while. If you’re in the UK also be very wary of any potential Import taxes so try and order from the EU if you need to go further afield; I got stung a couple of years ago and it resulted in a cheap purchase from the US being a very expensive one!!

ii) Don’t get too obsessed about saving the odd penny here and there; it’s far more important to minimise the total number of orders. During my searches I set myself a minimum 100 (ish) parts per order; otherwise the postage gets prohibitive.

iii) Having said that, I’ve adopted a policy of ‘grabbing’ parts wherever I could. For example the Falcon requires 243 x 3021 ‘Light Bluish Gray Plate 2 x 3’; these are £0.10 from PAB, so that’s £24.30 unsurprisingly. However, if you can buy 20 @ £0.07 from a seller, as part of a larger order, you’ve just saved yourself £0.60. Now that doesn’t sound much but if you manage to source all 243 for that you’ll save £7.29, as long as you don’t incur any additional postage charges. I’ve found that most sellers use weight bands (0-250g, 250-500g etc) so provided you keep a careful eye on the total weight of each order, via the shopping basket, you can make significant savings. For my orders I estimated that the weight of the packaging would be a maximum of 30g, so kept all 250g orders below 220g.

iv) PAB can look expensive for some parts, but for some they’re unbeatable (for example the 3069b ‘Light Bluish Gray Tile 1 x 2 with Groove’ & 3068b ‘Light Bluish Gray Tile 2 x 2 with Groove’); also they have a fixed shipping charge which can be very helpful if it’s a large order. You need to bear in mind that lots of plates will be heavy, and even if you can get them slightly cheaper on Bricklink the cost of postage may eliminate any potential saving.

v) Don’t automatically disregard sellers with only a small (ish) parts inventory or feedback. By using the Bricklink filters I used several with 50-150 feedbacks; their service was at the same level as those with 1000+ and frequently their price per part was significantly less.

Progress to date:

I managed to find 414 new parts from my own collection before I started ordering. These were mainly small Technic connecters etc and realistically they were probably worth £15. During the last 6 weeks I’ve made a total of 13 orders for 3,747 parts at a cost of £374.74, excluding my own stock. 6 orders were from the UK, 3 from the Netherlands, 2 from Germany, 1 from Denmark & 1 from Belgium.

Including my own stock this adds up to 4,161 parts, or 80.42% of the set which I’m quite pleased with, breakdown as follows:

Orders Parts Total Cost (£) Cost per part (£) Source

Own 414 £0.00 0 N/A

1 873 £46.99 £0.05 UK

2 668 £36.52 £0.05 UK

3 443 £42.68 £0.10 UK

4 343 £37.40 £0.11 Denmark

5 311 £34.46 £0.11 UK

6 147 £28.35 £0.19 Netherlands

7 103 £20.56 £0.20 Netherlands

8 100 £30.22 £0.30 Germany

9 111 £15.70 £0.14 UK

10 96 £12.30 £0.13 Belgium

11 206 £24.76 £0.12 Netherlands

12 98 £13.82 £0.14 UK

13 248 £30.98 £0.12 Germany

To date 12 orders have arrived, totalling 3,913 parts (75.63%). So, what does this look like? Scroll down to find out:

A large box:

Han in part heaven (insert the music to American Beauty here):

And what can I build so far:

“She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts”...Han paused and then, with a deep sigh, continued...”Ok kid, I’ll admit it’s total rubbish”

I’ve just made two orders for another 457 parts, including the technic beams, so I should be able to make some tangible progress soon. I add another update soon.

Cheers, Robin

[Gorelaxx]

You, Sir, are nuts.

But in a good way. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

[Mr Man]

I really never get bored of seeing people trying to source and build their own UCS.

Though would it not be easier to highlight every covered brick, and get them in yellows and greens etc, only buying the actual colours for visible bricks?

[Al82]

I also started the construction of 10,179 from BL!

I already got 1389 pieces from Italy € 108 with shipping!

But you're doing all the pieces of the original color or the parts that are not visible change color to save money? and if so, to what parts change color?

[Werlu Ulcur]

I'm totally impressed with you guys BLing something complex as an UCS Falcon. I know that the thrill of doing it the hard way and then the earned bragging rights at the end are very important factors, but speaking of prices, is it financially a good idea ?

[Bob De Quatre]

Good luck with your build Lobot!

The advices you give are the ones I've used when bricklinking my UCS SSD.

I've used a google doc spreadsheet to track the prices of all the bricks in different shops, including PAB.

PAB is almost every time more expensive than one of the bricklink's sellers... but the shipping cost is way cheaper and fixed. My bricklink orders had an average shipping cost of 9€, and PAB is 5€ no matter what you buy.

And it could even be better... If you're not in a hurry (wich you shouldn't be when building UCS), sometimes PAB offer the shipping costs

[Lobot]

I really never get bored of seeing people trying to source and build their own UCS.

Though would it not be easier to highlight every covered brick, and get them in yellows and greens etc, only buying the actual colours for visible bricks?

Thanks, I'll try & keep it interesting!!

I've tried to keep most of the colours original, but have changed some due to cost/availability. To date it's mainly the smaller technic parts (connectors, pins and the levers); I was going to build the frame in a different colour but Lego are selling the correct 3703s for 74p each if I remember correctly & they're only a bit more expensive than black etc. When I've finished ordering everything I'll add a summary if you're interested.

I'm totally impressed with you guys BLing something complex as an UCS Falcon. I know that the thrill of doing it the hard way and then the earned bragging rights at the end are very important factors, but speaking of prices, is it financially a good idea ?

The cost is an interesting question and depends I guess on what you want. For me I'll be able to have a shiny new Falcon, with only a few different parts for somewhere around £580..obviously without the box or instructions. The current price on Ebay for boxed, used example is £800 - £1000 so there is a decent saving to be had if you order wisely. To be honest it's just the challenge of it all.... it's kept me busy for hours! I might end up selling it but I'll decide when I've finished it.

[TheLegoDr]

This is quite an undertaking, especially since you already own one. But still fun to follow anyway. I'm quite pleased with my 7965 Falcon as that is on display. I don't think I'll ever bite at an UCS version of anything. But still impressive to look at when finished.

Thanks for the tips on bricklink, even though some "should" be common sense, but not everyone thinks ahead at times when building. I know I'm guilty of that as well.

One thing I worry about for you, is the boxed MF. There are a lot more factors in affecting brick quality than just light and dust, so hopefully the humidity or temperature changes won't affect it for you.

[Werlu Ulcur]

The cost is an interesting question and depends I guess on what you want. For me I'll be able to have a shiny new Falcon, with only a few different parts for somewhere around £580..obviously without the box or instructions. The current price on Ebay for boxed, used example is £800 - £1000 so there is a decent saving to be had if you order wisely. To be honest it's just the challenge of it all.... it's kept me busy for hours! I might end up selling it but I'll decide when I've finished it.

Really?!? I wasn't aware the price difference was of that magnitude. So it's entertaing, cool, awesome and cost effective !

I'm looking forward to seeing your progress on the project.

[Lobot]

Small update:

I’ve just received two more orders totalling approx 330 parts, so I'm up to 4,229 (81.74%) of the set. I’ve ordered another 365 from Lego for £120 but unfortunately several parts are currently out of stock including the ‘1 x 16 ‘Dark Bluish Gray Technic Brick 1 x 16 with Holes’ that I need to build the frame with. They won’t be in stock for another 10 days, so it will be 2-3 weeks before I can do any serious building, doh!

However, I’ve put in two small orders today for a few ‘straggler’ parts including the rigging & radar dish (I’m not getting originals for them!). I just need to put in an order for 537 parts from PAB for £65 and I’ll be finished (I’ve decided to cheat by ‘borrowing’ 4 hoses & the turntable from my Falcon, which I’ll replace at some point ), but the total cost is just under £600 including postage....I managed to add a new Chewbacca to one of my orders for £2.43, but I don’t think that I’ll bother with the others.

I’m going to trawl through the instructions & see if there’s any section that I can build, not that I’m getting impatient or anything....!

[Lobot]

I spent a couple of hours last night looking through the manual for sections that I might be able to partly build, results below:

Some of the feet (I've just ordered the 14 x 6538bs which I need to finish them):

The cockpit (almost complete, missing 3 parts), but at least Chewie has somewhere to sit!:

The docking rings (incomplete), these are really awkward to build but well worth the effort:

The central rear section (almost complete):

That's all I can do for a bit, it's going to be a long couple of weeks!

Cheers, Robin

[jamie75]

Seeing people BL this is amazing!! This model when finished is huge. I have Bricklinked Cafe Corner and Market Street. Both of those were tiny, compared to this. I ran into some roadblock with pieces not being in the right color and/ or too expensive! Couldn't imagine this. Hope it works out for you!! It is beautiful when done.

Jamie

[sp1tf1r3]

Hi, I thought I'd share my experience in BrickLinking the 10179 ... several months ago, a thread on another forum (google "DIY - LEGO 10179: Ultimate Collector Series - Millennium Falcon") convinced me that it was a feasible operation.

So about 1 month ago, I started to place orders on BL and now I'm waiting for the last ones to arrive in the mailbox.

I bought mostly pieces in New condition, and always the right color except the boat mast riggings (min 125$ / pce on BL right now) that I have got in black, to be painted.

The rationale was that if I have to sell it in the future, having the original parts will preserve its value.

The first two orders I placed allowed me to gather 80% of the most common pieces pieces (166 and 65 lots respectively, 'New' condition), for about 900 USD (including shipping and taxes).

Some 30 orders later, I ended with the most rare/overpriced parts:

- 100$ for 47 dark bluish gray 1x16 bricks

- 40$ for a used 10x10 radar dish (printed pattern)

- 180$ for 60 all light bluish levers

So, it's feasible, the parts are out there, but if you target New pieces whenever possible, and the right colors, be prepared to spend at least 1500$ (*excluding* shipping and taxes).

I estimate that I could have saved 1/3 of the total price if I had taken mostly Used parts, and of course if the colors don't matter, the price can be further lowered to achieve the ~800$ target that you can hear about here and there. Also, if time is no issue, and you can wait for months that some piece "surfaces" at an affordable price, the better you'll be.

You can also split the quantities, ordering 10 here, 20 there, lowering the cost per piece but increasing the shipping.

In the process of this mad 1-month BL session, I placed several other orders and I'll also be able to build a 10178 (in New condition) for about 1/2 the current Used price of the set (250$) which comforts me in my BrickLinking skills ;-)

I think that it will become harder and harder to BL the 10179 at a reasonable price. There are not much unique parts, but some are found only in a couple of other boxes and you need such a quantity (not 3 or 4 but 40 or more) that the prices are inevitably driven upwards.

Sounds depressing ? That's not the goal. I encourage anyone to try to do this. I'll try to post pics when the last parcel arrive and I can start to build !

[Werlu Ulcur]

I really admire youy guys. This is fantastic!

[Lobot]

Small update:

I took advantage of Lego's free shipping offer yesterday and put in a PAB order for 537 parts for £65.51. The good news is that's everything now ordered, so the total cost is £596.53 (including Chewie!). It's above my initial estimate of £550 but not by too much. The extra cost was the shipping as I had to make a total of 18 orders.

I've used alternative colours for 322 parts (6.22%), which are mainly the smaller technic connectors & parts; I might try & source the correct ones at some point but the alternatives will do for the time being. Summary below:

Actual colour used shown in brackets:

111 x Black Technic, Pin Long with Friction Ridges Lengthwise (Blue)

36 x Dark Bluish Gray Hinge Brick 1 x 2 Locking with 1 Finger Vertical End (Light Bluish Grey)

32 x Dark Bluish Gray Hinge Plate 1 x 2 Locking with 1 Finger On End (Light Bluish Grey)

14 x Dark Bluish Gray Technic, Axle Connector (Ridged with x Hole x Orientation) (Light Grey, doh!)

2 x Light Bluish Gray Boat Mast Rigging Long 28 x 4 (Black)

1 x Light Bluish Gray Dish 10 x 10 Inverted (Radar) with Radiating Spokes Pattern on Concave Side (No pattern)

58 x Light Bluish Gray Hinge Brick 1 x 2 Locking with 2 Fingers Vertical End (Dark Bluish Grey)

60 x Light Bluish Gray Lever Small Base with Light Bluish Gray Lever (Black & Light Bluish Grey)

8 x Tan Brick, Modified 2 x 2 with Pin and Axle Hole (Light Bluish Grey)

Unfortunately, my other Lego order is still delayed as 4 of the part types are currently available & it could be 3 weeks before they're shipped. Ah well, one of those things I guess. However, my last two small Bricklink orders arrive this week (radar dish, rigging etc) and I was able to make some limited (well painful) progress....

A bit more of the legs completed:

I love the design of these, two are completed, the others are in various stages. Unfortunately I made a mistake when I ordered the 14 x 'Dark Bluish Gray Technic, Axle Connector (Ridged with x Hole x Orientation)' - I'd intended to get them in Light Bluish Grey, but ordered the old LIght Grey......I'm going to replace them as it looks horrible Top tip: don't make Bricklink orders when you've had zero sleep!!

I'll be able to build some of the larger sections as soon as my PAB order arrives.

Cheers, Robin

[Lobot]

I was amazed to find that my PAB order had arrived today, considering that I'd ordered it late on Friday night. Only 5 days, now that's an impressive service from Lego, most impressive! I only need 365 parts and I'll have everything.

So, what does 537 parts @ a cost of £65.51 look like, find out below

In all seriousness, I thought that it might be useful for any potential 10179 BrickLinkers to see what I ended up sourcing from PAB; some of these were 'stragglers' to complete other orders that I'd made via BL, but most were because the parts were either i) far cheaper or ii) available in decent numbers!

The good news is that I can now start constructing several sections, but the only question is how much do I build as I can't start the main frame yet.... I don't want to build too much out of sequence but it's sooo tempting!

More updates to follow shortly

Cheers

Robin

[B34TBOXX5]

A true Lego "maniac". Best of luck with your project!

[kibosh]

These threads are always very inspiring to me! I pick up a tip or two with each one I read. Hopefully when I free up some money, I will be able to tackle this project as well.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

[Lobot]

Update: With the arrival of the Chancellor (thanks CopMike!) the guys settle down to some serious building. Apologies for the rubbish photos, we're still in the depths of winter here in the UK. Firstly the legs (last one of these I promise! )

3 finished, 4 waiting for 1 part:

The Old Grey really stands out, so I'll need to replace them in the future.....

Next we have the completed docking rings:

I don't know why but they're one of my favourite parts of the build, totally beautiful :wub:

And finally the rear engines (just missing the little 'radio handles'):

This section was great fun to build and I really like the dark blue; it's crying out to be illumated if I can work out how without ruining it's strength. I'm going to build a few of the plates next, more updates to follow shortly.

Cheers, Robin

[Mr Man]

Update: With the arrival of the Chancellor (thanks CopMike!) the guys settle down to some serious building. Apologies for the rubbish photos, we're still in the depths of winter here in the UK. Firstly the legs (last one of these I promise! )

'The Emperor's coming here! WE shall redouble our efforts. I hope so, for your sake Commander .'

The Old Grey really stands out, so I'll need to replace them in the future.....

'What a pile of junk!'

I kinda like it, it makes it look weathered.

[kibosh]

'What a pile of junk!'

I kinda like it, it makes it look weathered.

While I haven't seen this in person, I would agree with your statement. When I eventually have a chance to undertake this project, I plan to use a mix of old/new gray and new/used parts. I hope it gives it a weathered look. And if a section calls for 10 widgets in dark gray, may make 1 or 2 black or another color to look as if they've been replaced on the fly.

[Lobot]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

Mr Mann: I'm not convinced about the whole 'weathered' look, but you have to wonder what pH level the Space Worm's mouth was in ESB...I'm guessing it must have been pretty low which could account for the change in colour If I keep it, they will be replaced!!

Update: I took today off from work so have been able to make some more progress. Although it's a bit frustrating not having all of the parts I need, it's made the build process more enjoyable as I haven't put myself under any pressure to finish it! And to those who can build it in less than 20 hours I'm very impressed, because I certainly can't!

Firstly, I've finished the two panels that fit underneath the front mandibles (below) and one of the sections that fits under the central docking ring. I've included one in the photo to show how it fits together. If you haven't seen a Falcon close-up it's difficult to appreciate the level of detail; it's probably why it's acheived such an iconic status (and has such a high part count!). Just have a look at them & compare it to the current SSD....I know they're different scales, but it's in a different league.

Next, one of the top panels for the front mandibles & the cover for the walkway between the cockpit and the centre of the ship, totally beautiful. I particulary love the dark-red it really adds something to the end result :wub: The walkway cover is very interesting to build and it's impressive how tightly it all fits together, as it's a very awkward shape.

All these sections are complete apart from a couple of the technic 'teeth' 1 x 4 plates which are in my final order. I've got a couple more sections I can build & then I'm stuck until it arrives!

Cheers, Robin

[Bob De Quatre]

You're making me want to build one too

It's nice to see the progress, and I can imagine how you feel when you begin to assemble "large" parts

[Lobot]

Update: I've managed to spend a couple more hours today working on some new sections, results below.

Firstly, I've completed one of the rear top panels (top-left), docking ring top cover (middle-top), and the last mandible cover (top-right). I've also fully completed the section that fits underneath the engines (middle) and started one of the mandible frames (bottom). It's amazing how much time this has already taken, but I must be a slow builder!! It's totally worth all of the backache though!! :wub:

Han, looking a bit happier:

That's it until the last parts are back in stock at Lego, so it might be a while before I can post any new updates. I've carefully boxed them all up until I can continue....not that I'm paranoid or anything about the potential damage from light, dust or our cat!

Cheers, Robin

[Brickington]

This looks great! You have some deep and admirable courage and patience to do this! I have Respect!