Bricklinking Modular Buildings

[Sven F]

Sand Green is now available again in 1x6 bricks, those shouldn't be too expensive once they are available on B&P.

I have since torn down all the modulars, I don't care about sets anymore, just parts, but it was a fun experience.

[PriorMarcus]

On 04/09/2016 at 9:29 PM, Wesley D said:

Thanks!

It has costed me over 300 euro. I collected my parts mostly from Bricks & Pieces and Pick A Brick.

I have a .lxf file that I did open with a program called BrickHelper (found on these fora) to make a parts list, but I can't copy or print lists in that program.

 

Hi Wesley, would it be possible for you to repost the file? It's no longer available and I've just finished parting this out ready to build but lost my digital copy. Thanks.

[Wesley D]

14 hours ago, PriorMarcus said:

Hi Wesley, would it be possible for you to repost the file? It's no longer available and I've just finished parting this out ready to build but lost my digital copy. Thanks.

If you send me a PM with your email address, I'll mail you the file. I can't figure out how to add the file here, it seems only images are allowed.

 

I have to say there are some modifications in my Cafe Corner:

- most importantly, there was some modification done in the structure around the doors to use modern Lego 4*6 doors.

- I replaced the dark blue bricks by dark stone grey bricks, because it was too hard to find the dark blue arch.

- modern Lego windows replace the older original parts.

- I replaced some turntables by 2x2 tiles with one stud on top, because you can't find the turntables in the correct color.

- Because of my personal taste, I changed the CAFE sign on the sidewalk with dark stone grey tiles and changed the furniture on it. On that side I also modded the wall so the middle window isn't a door anymore. If you want I can add the original bricks for that wall to the LDD-file.

[tkatt]

There will soon be another option for building a modified Green Grocer. Dark Green bricks with a groove appear in an unlikely place, a technic set. 42069 Extreme Adventures has 24 of them used to build gerry cans. Sariels review on this set shows them. I checked Bricks'n'Pieces but as the set isn't released until August they're not listed.

[kovacs]

Hi everyone,

I finally decided to pull the trigger and collect the bricks for the Green Grocer. I managed to get the 1x2 sand green bricks with groove, but I'll swap out the 1x8 bricks to either 1x6+1x2 or 1x4+1x4 sand greens. (I also managed to get these bricks for an awesome price). I have the lbg 1x6 and 1x8 bricks, and the earth green 1x2 and 1x4 bricks too. Now, I'll need the other pieces, which are mainly basic plates, tiles, some smaller lbg and tan bricks, black roofs, etc. What do you think, how much would it cost to get the rest from online PAB or Bricks and Pieces? (I would like to buy only brand new, fresh parts, that's why I'm asking it.) :) My goal is to spend maximum around 100-150USD for these basic, smaller parts.

Edit: I don't need the minifigures, they aren't that important in this case. :)

Edited January 30, 2018 by kovacs

[Fabulandlover]

I want to bricklink Cafe Corner, but I am going to use different colours. I understand there is a new type of door, so adjustments has to be made. How did anyone else that bricklinked the café corner solved that?

[Wodanis]

@Fabulandlover The new doors are exactly 3 plates/1 brick higher than the old ones. For Cafe Corner you need to alter the under plates for the door and invert the plates above the door while removing the plate above the door frame. For the side door it was even easier. Adding a brick and removing the bottom plate while just moving the upper plate onto the new bricks. Perhaps I'll have to take a picture for you to illustrate but it was a simple modification. 

On 30/01/2018 at 1:58 PM, kovacs said:

Hi everyone,

I finally decided to pull the trigger and collect the bricks for the Green Grocer. I managed to get the 1x2 sand green bricks with groove, but I'll swap out the 1x8 bricks to either 1x6+1x2 or 1x4+1x4 sand greens. (I also managed to get these bricks for an awesome price). I have the lbg 1x6 and 1x8 bricks, and the earth green 1x2 and 1x4 bricks too. Now, I'll need the other pieces, which are mainly basic plates, tiles, some smaller lbg and tan bricks, black roofs, etc. What do you think, how much would it cost to get the rest from online PAB or Bricks and Pieces? (I would like to buy only brand new, fresh parts, that's why I'm asking it.) :) My goal is to spend maximum around 100-150USD for these basic, smaller parts.

Edit: I don't need the minifigures, they aren't that important in this case. :)

I spent overall about $300 CAD on my green grocer. The cheaper portion of my orders were from LEGO B&P. PAB is better if you are ordering bricks as I find it cheaper. I just completed building Market Street and it wasn't that expensive either. It is mainly just bricks and plates. I modified it with new windows instead of tan bricks at the back, new doors with frames which again was simple substitutions. I took away the hose fencing and just used simple old type fencing that has been around for 30 years. 1x3 tiles for the steps instead of 1x1/1x2 tiles. It went well and looks great. I also changed the grater bricks with the newer brick facade type bricks. I have uploaded two images for Market Street on my flickr account. 

Edited May 25, 2018 by Wodanis

[spilledbricks]

I've read through this thread a couple times over the past year (thanks @sin and everyone!) and am over half way complete.  I agree with a lot of comments throughout that "the hunt" is definitely a fun part of the experience.  I had about 15% of the elements needed when starting and have spent ~$75 at about the 60% mark.  The last 40% is where it gets dicey. 

I'm debating a color swap between White, Sand Blue and Dark Red.  My issue with SB and DR are the 1x3s... For those that have done this swap ( @TheLegoDr @Roger_Smith @JayCal and everyone else I can't tag ) did you have any architectural/alignment issues?  What did you replace the 1x3s with?

Thanks!

[spilledbricks]

Decided on a White Grocer and am pretty excited... thanks for all the tips, everyone!  All in price is just under $250, which was just about my max for the color change (including all minifigs, except the correct hair for the blue torso lady).

Most of the remaining colors will stay as-is, but I did pick up tan windows in the hopes they'll pop a bit more (I read/saw that here earlier, thank you), and am going with a white/dark red awning (did spend the extra $ to keep the dark red curtains).

Now it's the waiting game for orders from LEGO (PAB and BAP) and five from BrickLink.

I'll post a few photos once I'm underway... thanks again!  What a journey.

[JayCal]

On 10/21/2018 at 3:41 PM, spilledbricks said:

For those that have done this swap ( @TheLegoDr @Roger_Smith @JayCal and everyone else I can't tag ) did you have any architectural/alignment issues?  What did you replace the 1x3s with?

Thanks!

No issues at all, mostly replaced 1x3's with a combination of 1x1's and 1x2's. 1x8's replaced with 1x4 and 1x6. I love my sand blue grocer and mostly have it mirror built to differ from my my sand green one.

[ReplicaOfLife]

On 10/21/2018 at 3:41 PM, spilledbricks said:

I've read through this thread a couple times over the past year (thanks @sin and everyone!) and am over half way complete.  I agree with a lot of comments throughout that "the hunt" is definitely a fun part of the experience.  I had about 15% of the elements needed when starting and have spent ~$75 at about the 60% mark.  The last 40% is where it gets dicey. 

I'm debating a color swap between White, Sand Blue and Dark Red.  My issue with SB and DR are the 1x3s... For those that have done this swap ( @TheLegoDr @Roger_Smith @JayCal and everyone else I can't tag ) did you have any architectural/alignment issues?  What did you replace the 1x3s with?

Thanks!

Don't think this matters to you, since white bricks should be much easier to source than sand blue ones, but back then I had worked out that it'd cost me less if I used more 1x6 and fewer 1x4 bricks (so not jsut replacing the 1x8s with two 1x4s). So I went through the instructions and basically worked out how many 1x6, 1x4 and 1x1s I'd need (there's lots oif repetition, so this was lessw ork than it sounds like). It more or less worked out in the end, there was one portion on the uppermost level where I was one 1x6 brick short, and used six 1x1s instead .

I didn't have any alignment issues - since I had to regroup entire sections anyway, I just took care to always have interlocking bricks.

 

[spilledbricks]

Thanks @RogerSmith and @JayCal - I really appreciate both of your comments and love the Sand Blue Grocer... thanks again for your contributions to this thread. 

I *am* moving forward with a White Grocer (you're right, it's much easier as all bricks are readily available) and will update with my progress once all my shipments arrive.  It's been a long process... it took about a year to get to the half-way mark and, once there, I spent the weekend inventorying my bricks, making a crazy spreadsheet comparing prices against PAB, BAP and BL, and then placing 7 orders to just get it done.  I'm not sure I really want to do this again , but I am very excited to actually build it.

Thumbs up, everyone!

[TheLegoDr]

I need to get pictures of mine. I can’t believe I did the sand blue grocer like 4 years ago already...

eiher way, I didn’t have any issues either. I ended up not doing a straight swap and like RogerSmith I ended up figuring it out with the right number of bricks, but in new combinations. I also modified mine slightly from straight instructions. It is more symmetrical on mine vs the official set, so that changed the style of bricks needed.

good luck with white. Can’t wait to see it.

[spilledbricks]

I’d love to see photos of your Blue Grocer @TheLegoDr ! Thanks for the follow up and your contributions to this thread (and draining my wallet!).

I’ll absolutely post photos as I go through the build and make changes from the norm. 3 of my last orders arrived today... mainly waiting on LEGO BnP. 

[spilledbricks]

Most of my PaB and BnP orders have arrived and I'm sitting at 94% of the pieces needed to start building my White "Green" Grocer.  

Just waiting on my last BnP order, which hasn't shipped yet (~10 days after ordering... love this service but you've got to be patient).  I'll do a final inventory check and will need to place one, final order (I already know I'm missing a handful of pieces I missed).

December is the target and I've spent more than I thought I would... but it's coming together. 

[spilledbricks]

And away we go!  I'll post updates along the way (more frequently on IG) to outline the changes from "standard".  Excited to finally begin my White "Green" Grocer. 

Total cost ended up just a hair under $246 USD with the color change.  Had I not opted for the figs, other more expensive pieces (Viking tiles, Dark Red slopes, etc.), and done a bit better job limiting the amount of orders made, I would have come in under $200.

Looking forward to this one!

 

[broomhandle]

I did the GG last year.

Bricklinked GG by Broomhandle Zero, on Flickr

I used Sand green mortar up front, and dark tan on the sides and back. I think it turned out great. for the canopy I used medium blue instead of blue, and purple for the drapes instead of dark red. This cost me around 75.00 to BL.

I also did the FB.. This is 100% piece for piece

Untitled by Broomhandle Zero, on Flickr

Edited December 6, 2018 by broomhandle

[spilledbricks]

Very cool, @broomhandle!  Thanks for sharing. 

I'm really enjoying putting this together and will update this post once I'm closer to complete.  I will say that the new Corner Garage's lack of tiling bums me out a bit after putting the ground floor together for the GG.  But, easy enough to fix. 

[Comon27]

Hi guys,

I am currently building a lego city and I want a street full of the PetShop Townhouses. I have 4 but that's due to buying 3 pet shops second hand and leaving or dismantling the actual pet shop building. I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but is there a file with the pieces just for the TownHouse side of the PetShop.

Thanks

J

[MAB]

I'm not sure if there is a file. One thing to consider - do you care about interior furniture (stairs etc) and interior walls? As you can save quite a bit by building just the facades and rear walls of, say, a block of four town houses in a row. You don't really need the interior walls for stability and you can get away with leaving them out so long as you don't mind seeing through from one house to the next if you look through the windows. If you do, you can still make do with one interior wall only for each house plus one extra for the end of terrace.

[Comon27]

I'm OCD about having buildings in there own right and not "cheating" lol. My wallet doesn't like it though! 
I don't mind omitting the furniture, I'll go in and furnish it myself later. I just think it's best if I bulk buy the parts for 4 Townhouses rather than buy them individually on a secondhand market.

Thanks 

J

[broomhandle]

Might be cool to build them in different colors. Like the painted Ladies in SF.

Edited December 7, 2018 by broomhandle

[Wesley D]

3 hours ago, broomhandle said:

Might be cool to build them in different colors. Like the painted Ladies in SF.

Last month I've ordered the parts to build a brick yellow and flame yellowish orange townhouse. I'm curious to see how that will turn out!

The topic Assembling Bricksburg of Xon67 inspired me to go for different colored Pet Shop townhouses, but I'm unsure if I'll go later for pink, blue and other bright colors. I'm afraid they would might be too showy between the other modular buildings. It would be too expensive to go wrong.

10 hours ago, Comon27 said:

I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but is there a file with the pieces just for the TownHouse side of the PetShop.

I've ordered my parts using a LDD file, found in this topic.

[spilledbricks]

Here's the GG in White.  I'm very pleased with how she turned out.  Thanks again for everyone's inspiration!

IMG_4841 by Spilled Bricks, on Flickr

Let's see some more!  

[broomhandle]

looks good! my 2 cents, I feel the 1x2 and 1x4 tile under the windows should be a different color. maybe light grey, or tan.