Frazzle5291

Hi. I am based in the UK and have decided to undertake what is probably an overly ambitious project which involves mainly basic bricks, but a lot of them and many in dark red which I have found difficult to find. So far I have called on my childhood collection and several small online purchases but when I see how little progress has been made I have quickly realised this is not sustainable. I have a few very basic questions that I hope you experienced AFOL types wouldn't mind answering. I'll start off with... 1. Is there a place I can buy in bulk (preferably not breaking the bank) specific bricks? Most bulk sets I have found online involve a lot of pieces that I would never use and the pick a brick facility looks like it could end up quite expensive and time consuming if I'm looking for thousands of bricks. I'm not fussy about genuine LEGO bricks. 2. What is the biggest size of base plate around? I have a couple of 32x32 but as the scale of the project becomes clear I would need at least 28 of these (probably 35 more realistically) so a massive base plate would be a great help. Thanks in advance for any words of advice.

Testing, testing.is there a way I can quickly search for a specific thread? I had found the one I was looking for (directly from Google) but having to register has taken me away from it and I don't even know which section I was in. I think it was simply entitled "Bricks". I'm a total Noob, not just to this forum but to the AFOL community. I come in peace.