Good luck on Bricklinking this one! Did it earlier this year and, being the purist that I am, I mostly got original parts. With the exception of those light bluey bars you mentioned. I do advise on getting the original dish though. I got mine from a seller in Poland for €40 or something, which is quite a lot, but this is a very important detail on the MF.
The boat rigging: black is fine. Looks great one mine! I never bought those silly levers though. Just can't get myself to paying €120 - €150 for 40g of plastic... I do not miss them at all.
In the end I paid about €900. I know, way too much; I got carried away ;). Too much PAB and at first I searched BL for shops with the most available, complete lots. Trust me, those sellers know and their prices are ridiculously high. In the end I changed tactics and searched for the cheapest seller of a rare part and then just added as much other available parts from the same seller.
Be prepared to invest a lot of time and money in this one. I did it for the build experience and it was totally worth it! This set is awe inspiring... And HUGE! Had fun in collecting the individual parts too! Good luck and enjoy!
If someone has an idea with respect to that elusive sticker sheet: reply!
For dutch people: NEVER buy from lossestenen.nl!
