Recreating expensive UCSset by purchasing individual pieces?

[jomandybri]

Now that is interesting... nice work! Did you manage to place a fair few bulk orders from one seller? And is there a function on Bricklink for something like that which anyone is aware of, or did you just find them by browsing the large stores?

[jmfbtb]

Boomers,

It looks like the red plate will be visible from the bottom. I looked ahead in the instructions and didn't see anything that would cover it off hand. I will confirm once building is finished.

Regards,

Jeff

[jmfbtb]

Jomandybri,

You can search "By Shop" in Brick Link. Select unique lots in the sort. Otherwise you may get a mix of the same parts. I focused on the more expensive parts first and then ordered what I could in bulk. I checked the pricing on more expensive parts to make sure they were not significantly cheaper elsewhere. Just be careful to minimize small orders at the end of your quest. I was too focused on saving a dollar here and there at the beginning and ended up with quite a few small orders with the associated shipping costs.

Jeff

[dljbae]

Wow, keep us posted. For 500-600$ this is totally worth piecing together. I just cant justify, nor am I allowed , to spend $1500-2000 on lego lol

[jmfbtb]

Finished 10179 Brick Linked Falcon! What a blast putting together 5k+ piece set! I am missing 3 curved bricks that go on the front side, but I used other pieces until they are ordered. There are some extra 1x16 bricks in the background that got mixed in from another model that I plan to build.

Lesson learned: Have a print out on which parts the color substitutions were made. I forgot that I switched color for some of the light blue grey 1x8 plates since it was cheaper. Caused me to do some rework later in the build.

I plan to make a Death Star Docking Bay diorama similar to the one David did, but simplified. I will post progress once it is started in a few months. http://www.fbtb.net/2011/10/31/daves-ucs-scale-escape-from-docking-bay-327/

To Boomers: The red plate is visible from the bottom.

Pictures:

In Texas you will see trees put on the top floor of the building under construction. My wife loaned me her Christmas tree from the Winter Village she is building when the top gun section was finished:


Top view of frame before the top platting goes on. The cockpit is not yet installed. I used two black levers instead of the steering wheel for Luke's gunnery chair.


Side docks and bottom part of the cockpit in place. Since I didn't have the sticker sheet, I used a 1x2 tile decorated with an instrument cluster.


Finished Top Front View. Chewy is on board getting the ship warmed up!


Top Side View. The sticker sheets are going for crazy money. I just printed out a JPG I found online on photo paper. No one will know the difference. Keep in mind that the Brick Link part list includes the Lego frame for the sticker. If you do not want it it, remove from the wish list prior to ordering....


Top Back View. I decided to keep the black boat rigging over the engines for now. It has grown on me. I may pull it off and add additional blue translucent tile. The grey rigging is just too much money. I also added one 1x2 grate tile to the top and 1 additional tubing. The best part of Lego is customization!


Boarding Party: Note that I cheated on the lighting. I simply removed the top gun module and used a LED flashlight. Still need to get C3PO.


Jeff

[piaknowguy]

WOW!!! This is just Awesome!! Congrats, Jeff! Have you found a place to display that beast? I've seen someone anchor it to the wall. :-)

BTW Do you mind us asking what the total 'damage' was?

[YavinBase]

Jeff,

This is quite an accomplishment. Congratulations! She looks like you purchased her straight from LEGO.

I started this endeavor in September 2011. Over the last 15 months I have quietly acquired approximately 65% of the pieces needed to complete 10179 (less the pieces for the minifigures). I need to obtain a little over 1900 pieces which spans over 84 lots. I don't plan on obtaining the sticker sheet or the instruction manual due to the expense. Your sticker looks like the real thing.

To date, I have not deviated from the proper piece colors. This will change when I purchase the boat mast riggings in black as well. The black rigging doesn't look bad at all on your ship. Definitely a wise choice financially for now. Hopefully LEGO will start to make the rigging in light bley in future sets in order to knock down the BL prices. I did splurge on the dark red 6x14 plate (cost was slightly over $6.00 on BL), but I did buy over 700 Falcon parts along with it, so it made me feel better about purchasing a $6.00 plate.

I did have a few questions regarding your purchasing approach on a few items. 1) How did you go about obtaining the dark bley 1x3 bars (radio handles)? Per piece they are quite expensive on BL and they are not for sale in dark bley on LEGO.com. 2) How much did you pay for the 10x10 printed dish (if you don't mind me asking)? There is a new one for sale from a Poland BL store for $50.00. Add shipping costs and that's one expensive part!!

[jmfbtb]

Piaknowguy & Yavinbase,

Thanks for the feedback! It was quite a quest.

Q&A:
"Total Damage": I bought parts for two models and didn't keep a separate total. I am guessing in the $5-600 range. Maybe less. The only parts that I kept pricing on were items ordered from Lego since I was doing comparisons. Now that I know the ins and outs of the Bricklink site mentioned earlier in this thread, I could have done better.

"Display": If anyone knows of a good source for a large plexiglass display in the US, please let me know. I want to build the docking bay diorama and need a protective cover.

"Dark bley 1x3 bars (radio handles)?": The old school phone handles are expensive. When I ordered mine a few months back, they were going for 90 cents each on Brick Link and there are a total of 27. The Lego "Pick A Brick" site only lists red. I called them up and they do have "Dark Stone Grey" for 0.26 each, which is very close to the original dark bluish grey in color. Lego discourages large number of lot orders over the phone, but it is the easiest way to find some parts if you do not want to wait for an email response. They are cheaper in some cases like this.

"Dish": I got the dish on eBay from a seller in Poland for $30. It showed up less then 2 weeks later perfect. I ended up keeping the envelope as a souvenir from the ordering quest. I seriously considered getting the plan dish, but it is such an iconic and very visible component. I didn't think a custom made decal would work out and have no regrets!

[dljbae]

Wow great job! Did you or are you also building an interior for this too?

[jmfbtb]

Dlajbae,

No, I am not planning to work on the interior. Instead I am working on a version of Dave's Death Star Docking Bay 327.
http://www.fbtb.net/2011/10/31/daves-ucs-scale-escape-from-docking-bay-327/

I need to model it first in Lego Digital Designer to figure out the layout and get a parts list. I had some time over the past couple of days to get started. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it is really good for free 3D modeling software. I found it faster to layout parts to the side and copy instead of digging through menus.

I have the back "gate", most of the floor tile, and small side wall to the left in the rendering finished. I just started working on the main back wall. I will not be installing a working elevator, so an alternative solution is needed...

I plan to upload the LDD file to Rebrickable once the set is built and verified. Hopefully LDD is not missing any key parts. The render used "LDD to POV-Ray" and the Falcon Model is from EuroBricks Forum by Dan Jansen: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=41226&st=2650#entry1413264

Jeff


Higher Resolution:http://www.flickr.com/photos/27495078@N08/8301280250/in/set-72157632136506578/

[jmfbtb]

I had some spare time due to weather and made good progress on the Docking Bay 327 LDD model. The most difficult part was the angled wall sections. I couldn't attach the angled wall modules together without a significant gap, so I ended up supporting from the bottom with hinge bricks. I may add more gadgets to the wall for texture later. I came across an arch piece that worked out perfect for the inner radius of the main docking gate.


Higher Resolution:http://www.flickr.com/photos/27495078@N08/8314800240/

[spacepilot3000]

I just want to send you a simple "WOW!!!".

I am very impressed. That is outstanding! Get that project done in real bricks. You will be happy for the rest of your life! Every time I take a look at my Falcon with the hangar "under glass" I can not supress a little smile while remembreing the building time. And you have doubled that whith first building "your own" falcon, and now adding the hangar.

Dave

[jmfbtb]

Thanks Dave! Your project and pictures have been a great inspiration.

Back wall is finished. I had to make some minor changes since LDD is missing a few parts. Just started experimenting on the elevator. At this point I am not planning to cut a hole in the base. Then it is on to Vader / Obiwon duel...

Not counting the Falcon, the current parts count is 6761. I plan to do further optimization on the back wall and may have to go back to smaller bricks if the cost is too high.


Higher Resolution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27495078@N08/8321019588/

Jeff

[jmfbtb]

Docking Bay 327 Falcon Hanger Lego Digital Design is finished for now!

This will be my last project update until the actual build is complete. I decided to leave the hall way with Obi-won and Vader visible from both sides. Total part count is ~7.5k. I hope the longer bricks turn out to be economical.


Higher resolution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27495078@N08/8328773860/


Higher resolution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27495078@N08/8328774266/

Jeff

[DocBlock]

Wow that's great looking. Very ambitious project. I hope you're able to build it.

[Ibiscribe]

Very cool design! Seeing the minifigs in there really puts it into perspective.

[jmfbtb]

Thanks for the kind replies. I hope that it turns out as well as Dave's. I may try some lighting at least with the mini-fig light sabers.

One more update after all:

I used LDD Manager to upload the parts list to Brick Link. I should have checked to begin with, but the longer 2x10 bricks are way too expensive. LDD has a nice feature where you can click on a brick and select by geometry. I was able to delete all of the 2x10 bricks in one shot and went with 2x6. I left the rear of the back wall unfinished with as many gaps as possible where not visible (primarily at the bottom and very top) to keep the part count down. I ended up at around 7.6k.

I also noticed there were several transparent bricks right below the circular grate under the top gun on the Falcon. They were adding over an hour of render time to POV. After deleting those, I was able to get a higher res render done in a more reasonable time. I went ahead and made some minor cosmetic changes including additional texture gadgets above the gate and a few other items including changes to the elevator.



Yahoo allows max size of 2048x1200: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27495078@N08/8336802931/sizes/l/in/photostream/

[spacepilot3000]

Hi!

I also used the 2x6 bricks because of the high prices of the 2x10. ;-) Please, send me your LDD file. I want to see this in "full file". (Pleaaaase).

It is a nice idea to let the fight scene open form both sides. In my version people often find the fight with the glowing sword on the second look.

I wish you very good luck to get your bricks fast and cheap. You HAVE to build this thing! Your work is outstandig, and it has to get real!

Regards,

Dave

[ThatGuyWithTheBricks]

I've built two sets from pieces: Green Grocer and the 2007 Dropship. The key is to go to bricklink, print out a parts list, then scour your pieces. Once you're sure you've found every part you have, go to wanted, part out a set, and don't add the pieces you have by unchecking it's box. Then do a wanted list by shop and order from the store with the most pieces and the least expensive. Rinse and repeat until you have everything! In the end, I probably didn't save money and I still don't have all the pieces, but it was a fun journey. With UCS, it'll be harder because there are more pieces.

[boomers]

Wow, great job! I'm not sure people realize what a challenge it really is to build this the way you did, I also did mine the same way and had the exact same hurdles as you. I've learned alot from building my project, i'm a much better bricklinker now.

Now to this docking station, it looks great and i'd love to build one too. I'm not familiar with the LDD, what does the end result give, just the part count or does it create some form on instructions on how to build it as well? I'm currently working on a glass cube to display my falcon but it would look a lot better sitting in a docking station like you've shown.