Bricklinking Modular Buildings

[JayCal]

[vidarf]

thank you,but I found out that they were supporting the top of the roof, instead of these 3 I used 3 white ones as they are hidden it doesn't make a big difference

Whooops! Somehow I thought 1x2 bricks... :D

I have also made quite a few swaps like that. For instance, all the hinge bottoms. They do not show, and I figured that the ones supporting the roof triangles was better in light grey - since the roof itself is light grey.

I used sand blue in stead of sand green, and swapped the arches over the windows with medium blue ones. Quite nice!

Just found out that the dark blue arch on cafe corner and market street has plummeted in price. Got 2 new ones for €1.89. Now for the dark blue pillars and dark red roof-thingies...

I am BL'ing FB, TH, CC and MS. My "blue grocer" is completed, and I have all the other modulars except for DO (will buy later this year though). It is going to be a nice street! :) And I find the "hunt" on BL quite satisfying! It's like christmas every time a bubble envelope dumps into my mailbox! :)

[clohr]

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Edited May 2, 2015 by clohr

[vidarf]

@vidarf .. do you have an estimate on the BL of the FB and TH? i assumed it was cheaper to buy them second hand 300 (FB) 400 (TH) euros

Nope, have NO idea! :D I got most of the dark/light bluish gray, dark red and dark orange bricks directly from Lego, and all the other parts comes from BL in a lot of orders. Add to that parts from several other sets... Expensive, but individually affordable enough. I find the parts hunt just as satisfying. Getting a set in a box is fun too, but actually not as much...

So far, I have PC, PR, PS, FB, GG (in sand blue) and GE.

(For newbies: Palace Cinema, Parisian Restaurant, Pet Shop, Fire Brigade, Green Grocer and Grand Emporium).

I have TH (Town Hall) mostly complete, and CC (Cafe Corner) and MS (Market Street) underway. DO (Detectives Office) later this year.

I also got the research institute and have an idea for a building that should fit nicely into the town layout which will incorporate the Research Institute (a bit expanded though).

Hopefully, Lego releases a police station, a post office and a bank. The city needs them! :) The Post Office could be combined with a dentist upstairs and a small apartment on the 2nd floor. I think we need a dentist due to the smugglers of sweets and cakes in the DO! :D

[Sammael]

I've now ordered the final parts I needed for CC. Baring any postal issues, I should have a completed set in 2 weeks or so.

The most difficult part to order? White skis. There are so few new ones on BL now. Fortunately, I realized one advent calendar came with 4 skis and there was a seller selling that advent parted out into subsets, so I managed to get at least those 4 fairly cheap and from 1 seller.

(I generally avoided getting used parts, and for white parts which are easily discolored, getting used parts is a huge gamble unless the seller is REALLY trustworthy IMO)

Edited May 1, 2015 by Sammael

[notaromantic]

There was either another thread, or a post in this thread which I cannot seem to find, where someone had done the grocer in sand green masonry bricks. It was a particular favorite of mine, of the BL'd Grocers that I've seen. If I can locate it, I'll throw in a link...

^

I recently tried an experiment of replacing the Sand Green Modified 1x2's with the new masonry profile brick on the Green Grocer. Here is a link to the Flikr album:

https://www.flickr.c...57650704148036/

My thoughts:

I'm a HUGE fan of the masonry profile brick. I think that is why I like the new Detective's Office so much even though I'm admittedly not much of a Modular guy. That being said... I'm not sure how I feel about them on the grocer. My biggest issue is that it has a run of 1x1s on the left hand side. The smooth finish of the 1x1s sticks out like a sore thumb and kind of breaks 'masonry' effect. It it wasn't for that I think I would love it. The two runs on the sides of the bay look great though. While building it I kept thinking that it may look better to leave the modified 1x2s on the Grocery side, but replace the ones on the bay side with masonry of a different color.

What do you think?

Here it is.

[Sammael]

My last 4132 window is here - pending another inventory check, I think I just managed to complete my Cafe Corner - with minimal substitutions! Too bad I won't be able to build it for another week or so due to work :(

Edited May 18, 2015 by Sammael

[Wookiee]

Completed acquiring the cafe corner bits except the door ,which i will decide on after building. Lost track of the cost as i have been acquiring the bits to the green grocer at the same time. Thank god i have all the green bricks now as i think the worst of it price wise is behind me. I seriously contemplated doing it in blue but could not do it.

just got to wait for the bits to roll in now.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Wookiee

[Dennan]

Just posted in an other topic my photo's of the CC.

Just finished the 1st floor, but used a different color scheme, which probably totally will cost me around €200 for the CC.

Here is my CC.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Dennan

[ancestral]

Hello,

As you already know there has been many humble efforts, most of them successful, on the road to Bricklinking this precious modular building. And now i'm on the same path.

Will post building pictures here, also will try to do a frame-lapse build video.

I've almost ordered all of the parts, with some exceptions and replacements;

There are some unreasonably overpriced parts as you may know it such as;

6120, minifig utensil,

Got some trans clear colors instead, will try to get a more colorful look.

73312

4x5 Front Door Right

I've ordered a Red one instead

Gonna skip 4719 Wheel Base for now, as its gonna cost much just for 1 bike.

This 3063 Tan 2x3 Slope is also a bit expensive, but managed to replace it, i will share the solution as parts come in with post;

2546 birds, completely cosmetic add-on.

I've made a mistake when ordering a little portion of parts and now i have 12 Birds and 0 frogs :P

Instead of 2x 16x32 green baseplates which are overpriced i've used a brand new 32x32 tan baseplate, makes no difference actually fits better since almost all my other modulars have this one

These Dark Blue ones, they do really hurt.

Since i've changed front door color, i've ordered dark bluish grey, tan and light bluish grey options, gonna try and figure out a good look.

Have most of the dark blue ones but we will see once i start building;

73179, another rare door piece,

Still trying to figure out a replacement;

1 Euro each, needs 36. Pretty painful to order these.

I will either part-out some old sets and order at minimum or change the roof color.

Gonna use 10x 1x4x3 frames instead of this one;

These are the ones i remember made me question this build.

There are a total of 11 orders for this build, orders also include slopes, plants and flowers for a nice tree project.

Total cost is around 300 Euros, including shipping, tracking and all other fees. This comforts me, may be a bit more than other bricklinked modulars but its the best i can get.

2 orders have arrived,

Got one seller in hospital, asked for some time (think will ship as of 01/06)

Another one will get NRS soon, since no contact is possible,

All others are on their way.

Also minifigures has been excluded, i got plenty of townsfolk, not gonna spend 25-30 euros for the sake of having exact figures.

[Phoxtane]

2546 birds, completely cosmetic add-on.

I didn't read far enough down before my brain led me to the conclusion that you had gotten over two thousand bird pieces...

Are they just there to act as city birds, pigeons, and such?

[Sammael]

Since there are 4 of them and they are arranged symmetrically within the tower, I'd say they are meant to represent statues/ornaments.

[ancestral]

I didn't read far enough down before my brain led me to the conclusion that you had gotten over two thousand bird pieces...

Are they just there to act as city birds, pigeons, and such?

Hahahah,

Having 2546 birds in one order :P I just imagined myself unpacking a sihpment and finding out there are hundreds of gray birds inside :)

As Sammael said, you just 4 of em to place on top, kinda ornaments.

[antp]

For the dark red 75° slope, use 4460b instead of 4460a. They will look identical and the "b" version is cheaper. Also you can order it directly even cheaper from Lego's Bricks & Pieces service for 0.57 € each (and shipping is not too expensive, it is 1.80 € for many EU countries for example) as it was used in the just released set 41075.

For less-common parts still in production it is often a good alternative to Bricklink.

Edited June 2, 2015 by antp

[ancestral]

Turkey S@H will open at the end of summer. We cant order parts directly for now.

Found Original piece for 1 Euro, and for 0.7 Euro in another seller.

3 more orders arrived today, 5 more to go. I better get going with the photo setup and desk.

[Fabulandlover]

Has anyone tried to bricklink Town Hall and Fire Brigade? Are those sets easier to get parts for then Café Corner and Green Grocer, ie. no rare pieces?

[Wookiee]

Has anyone tried to bricklink Town Hall and Fire Brigade? Are those sets easier to get parts for then Café Corner and Green Grocer, ie. no rare pieces?

A lot easier would say. I am going to do fire brigade and looked down the parts list and did not see too many worrying things yet.

[cooldude00]

i looked at brick linking town hall and fire brigade using PAB parts first and then brick link..turned out buying a BINB off eBay was cheaper... not so for green grocer or cafe corner than i'm doing next though

[legofan1978]

Hello,

I'm also in the process to bricklinked a Cafe Corner. I have already almost everything together. It really need to know the white panels for windows in 2nd floor and 3 light bluish gray turntables. But some details are not quite clear, because there also BrickLink not always makes a difference.

1. The minifigure with the medium blue torso: there are exists 2 versions: one with stripes and one with dots. Which was included by the cafe corner?:

2. bicycle: The stud on the back of the bicycle: solid or hollow?

Did I miss something, what to look for?

Edited June 19, 2015 by legofan1978

[large88]

Its the torso with the stripes. And the bike has a solid stud.

[Wookiee]

Nearly finished cafe corner. Don't you hate it when you think you are getting to the end of the build and for some reason you have missed a part that you have marked off as having. For me Reddish brown headlight bricks . Now i have to wait for one more order to complete.

I have to say thanks to people in this thread for the suggested subs like the light grey jumper instead of the turntable etc. But it has been a really enjoyable build other than that. I love the work with the skis.

[billli]

I am in the processing of bricklinking all three modulars at the same time to save money on S&H(?)

I am trying to get a 100% authentic piece by piece modular, which means no substations and all new pieces.

One thing I noticed, from LEGO's brick and pieces site, they will list some of the newer versions of some injection mouldings. For instance door frame Type 2 instead of Type 1. But bricklink listed the frame as Type 1.

Does LEGO interchange different mould for pieces? Would people here consider it as a 100% piece by piece true modular if I used Type 2 instead of Type 1?

[The Jersey Brick Guy]

There is a price difference between the type 1 and type 2's. If it's for your personal collection, no one will notice. However if your going to resell, you won't be able to say it's 100% accurate.

[dylanfarrow]

Hi All,

Firstly thanks to all for the help throughout this thread, great help.

I've just finished bricklinking and building my GG, but I decided not to build with the green groove bricks as they were just too expensive, and when my kids grow old enough to play with it, I don't want to be worried about any damage (I used teeth quite a lot when I was younger...)

Here's a pic for anyone wondering what it looks like with plain bricks and not grooved ones. I have literally replaced with normal 1x2's in the hope that those bricks come out again one day....

http://i.imgur.com/ZCq8uWH.jpg?1

I choose to do Green instead of Blue as I think it looks better. The wood over the door I'm not so sure of, but I'll see. I ordered the wrong colour for the lamps over the entrance to the apartments which I'll fix later.

The build was brilliant though, loved every minute of it!

Cheers

Dylan

Edited June 24, 2015 by Rick
Please keep embedded images to a max resolution of 1024x768 pixels. Thanks.

[Off the wall]

Congrats, looks good. Would also look good with sand green masonry bricks. They're fairly reasonable in price.