Bricklinking expensive, large, rare, retired, etc.. sets

[MartinP]

It would be fun to bricklink an all clear 10179 falcon. Just cuz. 

That would look awesome, but some of the pieces can't be found in clear, which would make it harder to build an all-clear MF.

[maxgc53]

Just spray paint the pieces using all clear spray paint. There problem solved!

[Simon_GM]

Just spray paint the pieces using all clear spray paint. There problem solved!

Woot!

[b-ran]

Some I have thought of bricklinking are some of the house sets, especially 4954.  That set can go for $150-200 used, and I don't see any rare pieces as it is a Creator set.  Haven't done much analysis into the overall cost to do so.

[b-ran]

A program that has been mentioned before in another thread on here, but worth mentioning again is brickficiency.  You can check out this thread for more info:

 

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=82975&hl=brickficiency

 

This software can assist in finding the cheapest combination for buying from Bricklink.  It isn't a complete solution as it doesn't incorporate things like shipping costs and added fees (handling, PayPal fees, etc) that varies from seller to seller.

[Simon_GM]

A program that has been mentioned before in another thread on here, but worth mentioning again is brickficiency.  You can check out this thread for more info:

 

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=82975&hl=brickficiency

 

This software can assist in finding the cheapest combination for buying from Bricklink.  It isn't a complete solution as it doesn't incorporate things like shipping costs and added fees (handling, PayPal fees, etc) that varies from seller to seller.

Great link. Unfortunately only supports Windows, but I am going to look into using Wine or some other software to get it to run on mac.

[Simon_GM]

Some I have thought of bricklinking are some of the house sets, especially 4954.  That set can go for $150-200 used, and I don't see any rare pieces as it is a Creator set.  Haven't done much analysis into the overall cost to do so.

 I think this set could have potential for investment. I just bricklinked about 3/4 of the pieces (I ordered it from highest quantity to lowest quantity), and right now I'm at about 90$ from 7 sellers. The other 1/4, as long there's no rare bricks will make it around 120$. Take into account shipping, 150$. No instructions or box, but you could pick up the instructions for about 20$. So we're at 170$, and could probably sell it for around 200-210$. That's not bad, especially if you order those pieces in bulk and sell multiples of this set. 

[Simon_GM]

Does anybody know if it would be possible to Bricklink 10190 Market Street? Pieces will probably be too rare, but you never know.

[Huskers1236]

Does anybody know if it would be possible to Bricklink 10190 Market Street? Pieces will probably be too rare, but you never know.

Now that the dark blue arches are available, I would think the white hoses are the hard part to get.  Check window frames as well, they seem to be notorious for being retired as well.

[TheOrcKing]

Does anybody know if it would be possible to Bricklink 10190 Market Street? Pieces will probably be too rare, but you never know.

I have looked into that myself and I believe all the dark blue parts will be the most costly. There are a lot of medium blue pieces but those aren't as difficult to acquire thanks to more recent releases of the Seaside House and a couple other things. Despite only using four, each of the white flexible hoses costs an average of $8-$10 each used. I went into more detail about rare parts when I wrote up a review on the set that you can check out here down the page.

[Spartikis]

Now that the dark blue arches are available, I would think the white hoses are the hard part to get.  Check window frames as well, they seem to be notorious for being retired as well.

 

Yeah the new arches def help on the price. When i build MS and sold one i just bought regular white hoses without the tabs, used a very similar version of the white window frames and used black instead of dark blue arches. When i listed it for sale i just made note of the pieces which has be substituted. A lot of people are more than willing to cut few corners if it means they can save $100 on a $600+ set.

[Simon_GM]

How much did you buy the pieces for? Could you give us a list of the sellers you bought from, if you still have them of course. Thanks,

 

 

 

Simon

[Spartikis]

How much did you buy the pieces for? Could you give us a list of the sellers you bought from, if you still have them of course. Thanks,

 

 

 

Simon

PM me your email and i can send you the excel file i used to track all of the purchases.

 

Keep in mind just because one place had pieces then doesnt mean they will now, in fact there were several types of pieces i literally clean out all of brick link. I had originally wanted to make 3 MS, 1 to keep, 1 to sell to cover the cost of the MS i kept and the final one would just be sold as profit. I quickly realized that just making 2 total was going to be quite a challenge.

[justapilgrim]

I am a newer investor/collector. I managed to get some GE and TH, but like other AFOL I am intreaged by the idea of owning them all, but not at the costs.

I know the cost to part it out exactly can really expensive, but what if one doesn't care about color? I could do a not green green grocer, or cafe corner in different shades. How much would a generic version be? I am sure someone has run the numbers, is it reasonable?

Thanks

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Brickpicker mobile app

[asharerin]

You should be able to do a sand blue grocer for around $300. Personally I would just bite the bullet and get the original sets. If you buy a used GG for $700 it will be worth $1200 in a few years. Your $300 sand blue grocer will be worth around $300. Pick up a sealed FB while they are still affordable.

[TheOrcKing]

I am a newer investor/collector. I managed to get some GE and TH, but like other AFOL I am intreaged by the idea of owning them all, but not at the costs.

I know the cost to part it out exactly can really expensive, but what if one doesn't care about color? I could do a not green green grocer, or cafe corner in different shades. How much would a generic version be? I am sure someone has run the numbers, is it reasonable?

Thanks

There are a few pieces used in Market Street or Cafe Corner for example that are not used/made by LEGO anymore or barely at all which I would think be top at the list for requiring cheaper substitutions. Building any of the early retired modulars in colors different from the original design should be quite feasible depending on how you go about the process such as already owning a fair amount of the bricks needed in the hues you desire. In any case, you will end up spending more than you would have had the set in question been purchased at retail when available but still less than secondary market values if you plan your strategy well.

I have little experience in recreating a retired set let alone the modular houses. However I did purchase four of the Seaside House on sale for $35 each a while back and one of my main reasons for the heavy acquisition aside from loving medium blue was I wanted to rebuild the Market Street for myself. Well when you consider I plunked down about $140, I already spent more than what the set retailed for but I did end up with enough parts covering the main bulk of the build for considerably less than current market value. I'm not done in completing the inventory checklist as it is a work-in-progress but I am farther along than before with only some of the bits lying about somewhere.

[jmdt]

I recently built the CC and GG by parting it out. It was a pretty intensive process and cost about $633 (I owned about 1/3 of the pieces in bulk lego). Most of the pieces were new but I had to buy some used pieces for parts that were no longer available. For the most part, the colors and pieces are true to the original. I had to make about 10 modifications (primarily color to some smaller details). The most notable substitution that I made was the the GG with the 1x2 sand green pieces (I used the ones with no groove).

[matt1147]

You should be able to do a sand blue grocer for around $300. Personally I would just bite the bullet and get the original sets. If you buy a used GG for $700 it will be worth $1200 in a few years. Your $300 sand blue grocer will be worth around $300. Pick up a sealed FB while they are still affordable.

I did the sand blue option and I think it looks better than the green version (or maybe I'm just kidding myself). However, my plan is to eventually pick up the missing sand green mmipieces....they are expensive now, BUT

[matt1147]

.....I think chances are high that those pieces are made again at some point and will grab them up in bulk then!

[jmdt]

If you were interested, this was my final product for my CC and GG . . . not sure how to rotate the images . . .

Edited January 31, 2015 by jmdt

[xeeeej]

Some good reading here:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=90358&st=0

[redghostx]

Cafe Corner and Market Street can be created for well under the used value. I know that you can BL Market Street for approximately $300us.

Green Grocer is expensive to bricklink because of the sand green bricks.

Ex Astris, Scientia.

[TheOrcKing]

Green Grocer is expensive to bricklink because of the sand green bricks.

If the Haunted House was still available it could make a good start towards building the Green Grocer.

[biniou]

If the Haunted House was still available it could make a good start towards building the Green Grocer.

 

I'm not interested so I'll not check but maybe there are enough sand green bricks within a HH set to make two GG...

Edited January 31, 2015 by biniou

[TheOrcKing]

I'm not interested so I'll not check but maybe there are enough sand green bricks within a HH set to make two GG...

I did look up the inventory sometime last year out of curiosity wondering if I could create the Green Grocer and fact is the Haunted House does cover most of the pieces except the Green Grocer has some long parts (1x8s for starters) unfortunately the Haunted House does not have. You could maybe substitute those with the smaller lengths instead so on that note, you might be able to build the Green Grocer from a single Haunted House if you don't mind not being one hundred percent accurate.