Bricklinking #10190 Market Street

ecmo47

I recently decided to complete my Modular Main Street by Bricklinking 2x Market Street. I will keep one and attempt to sell the other. Here are my notes on the event to help you through the process should you choose to do the same.

-Total Bricklink orders: 21
-Counties orders came from: USA, Germany (x2), Poland, Netherlands, Norway, Croatia,
-Time it took to find and order all parts: 8-10 hours (at least!)
-Most expensive parts: 73435c01 (LBG Door 1x4x5 Right): $24.00 (x2), 73436c01 (LBG Door 1x4x5 Left): $10.00 (x2), 73590c02a (White hose, flexible): $12.84 (x4). These 8 parts are 25% of the cost.
-Total Price: $457.98 (x2) (This is just parts, no instructions or box)
-Other rare(ish) parts: 2039 (White), 3297B (Black), 3455 (Tan), 3666 (Med Blue), 3794 (Tan), 3854 (White), 3861 (White), 4095 (White), 6187 (LBG), 6556 (white), 30179 (Black), 30363 (Blue), 40232 (Black), 53982 (Bright Green), 3626b (Trans), 4085c (LBG), 4150ps4 (LBG), 78c02 (Black), x39c02 (Black)
-All of the windows and doors are hard to find.
-A few bricks had significant quantities that made them hard to source: 2877x44 (LBG), 3004x38(Earth Blue), 3004x65 (Md Blue), 3010x79 (Earth Blue), 3010x82 (Med Blue).
-PAB had many of the parts but often the price was higher than Bricklink.
-Parts ordered from PAB: 3010x160 (Med Blue), 3008x20 (DBG)

The price turned out to be a little more expensive than I thought. Comparing it to the Brickpicker used price of $689.47, I may have “saved” about $230.00 although that would be about the price for a set of original nstructions.

The orders are still arriving so I have not got to building yet. If anyone has questions or would like my parts Excel spread sheet, PM me.

TheLoneTensor

Very nice. Btw, instead of doing it via PM, perhaps just toss the excel out there for people to grab at their leisure?

luckyruss

Sounds like a fun project, good luck with the actual build!

The reappearance of the Earth Blue (or BL Dark Blue) bricks on PAB is a real bonus - these are normally pretty expensive on BL, particularly the 1x4s.

vwong19

I have fond memories of piecing together Market Street back in 2011. At the time, the limiting pieces were the Dark Blue Arch 1x8 and 1x4 Bricks. The other pieces had not escalated in price. If I could do it over again, I would have done what you did and work on 2 at once. Most of the effort is going to a multiple vendors to get all the parts.

ColoradoBricks

I have Bricklink-ed GC and CC (with substitutions), the journey to get there is the best. Beats buying a complete set, the anticipation of receiving these orders, starting to build with what you have, tracking that next order so you can further your build... loved that whole experience.

vwong19

@ColoradoBricks - I bet you value GC and CC so much more than any other modular. I have an appreciation for Market St even though it is fairly simple in terms of modulars... I can only imagine the ultimate parts-build would be the UCS Millenium Falcon.

ColoradoBricks

@vwong19 I do have MS, got it cheap in eBay a few years ago. I value the "row" of buildings but not one specifically they all have their own appeal.
In the last 2 two days, I had orders in my store that were parts obviously for a #10179 and then a #10189... long and exiting journey ahead for those builders.

adello25

vwong19 said:

@ColoradoBricks - I bet you value GC and CC so much more than any other modular. I have an appreciation for Market St even though it is fairly simple in terms of modulars... I can only imagine the ultimate parts-build would be the UCS Millenium Falcon.

I have Bricklink'd Market Street as well as Cafe Corner and the Millenium Falcon (as well as other sets) and I can say that it was definitely a lot of fun! Certainly a lot more fun than just buying a MISB set and building it. and I was very heart set on having the exact pieces (1- 1x4, not 2- 1x2). Thankfully I did it at a time when it seemed not a lot of people were doing it. I was able to secure the riggings and the radar dish for the millenium for only a few bucks. I have the white hoses, the dark blue arches, the; also the white panels without side supports for my Cafe Corner.

All in all it was definitely a lot of fun and exhilarating getting home from work to see what pieces have arrived on a particular day.

Diggydoes

vwong19 said:

@ColoradoBricks - I can only imagine the ultimate parts-build would be the UCS Millenium Falcon.

Nope,must be @cavegod‌ 's AT-AT!!! I did CC,GC,Taj Mahal and the UCS-Falcon but the AT beats them all!!! Ultimate challenge but a lot of fun!

cavegod

I've just bricklinked all the parts for the At-At in 12 orders, easy peasy!

Aleydita

I bet the green dragon takes some brick-linking due to the long (is it 2 x 10?) green bricks.

ecmo47

I would have to admit that I too enjoy the "treasure hunt" aspect of bricklinking a model. I did Cavegod's AT-AT last year and got the last bunch of 10x10 radar dishes that were available and paid dearly for them. One thing you figure out is who the good sellers are. Seems there is always one slow-poke seller that takes a week for each step of the process.

ecbirx

I also did the same thing but actually bought enough to make three sets. My plan was to sell the two and break even on my set if not to maybe even make a profit. I was curious; did you use all new parts or used? I found my cost quite high compared to yours (I used all new) there were also many pieces not available that there are now (dark blue arch, etc).

ecmo47

I used a mix of new and used. I targeted the hard to find pieces and then ordered as many parts as I could from that retailer. I did avoid the white flexible tubes that the retailer said had yellowed.

I just did the math and my cost averaged out to be $.37 a piece. I should see how much I paid on shipping costs for the 21 orders. I'll bet it approches at least 25% of the total cost.

ecmo47

I'll post the spread sheet tonight for those interested. It is a modification of the parts list here on Brickset that I cross referenced with the Bricklink list. Ive also got parts lists for Grand Emporium and Cafe Corner second floors.

ColoradoBricks

I had a to hunt a few extra white flexible tubes because a couple were cracked in the model I bought, best was to buy used #6854 of eBay at $4-$5 each, just to make sure it had the right one.

flowerpotgirl

I have built Cafe Corner and Market Street using bricklinked and brickowled parts, and I am just about to start on Green Grocer. I feel much more attached to these models, even if I don't really like the finished product, (MS). I do substitute some of the expensive or hard to find pieces with cheaper parts, but always with the intention of replacing with the correct parts, either when they are available or when the price comes down. I am looking forward to the cahllenge of searching for Green Grocer parts - (I am thinking Sand Green bricks with groove here!)

ecmo47

Here is the 10190 parts list as promised. It has been sorted by part number but sorting it by color may be helpful. The second tab has the 3 mini-figs and their individual parts.

Trenth

I'm building MS right now. I bought a bulk lot that had all but about $30 worth of pieces. My plan was to sell it to fund other LEGO ventures, but I am becoming very attached to this charming set.

ecmo47

^ How much did you pay for the bulk lot? It must have had most of a MS in it!

ecmo47

Better question - did you know an MS was in it when you bought it?

Bluefairy_56

I have just started to Bricklink a 1973 London Bus #760. I could buy one at around $50 secondhand, but I think BL it is more fun. I had about half the bricks already, so I just do it when I have some money spare. If this works out, I might BL the modular buildings too, as I love them, but can't afford to buy them new in one hit.

I think it's better doing it this way, as you can do it when you have the money, time and it gives you something to do.

Trenth

ecmo47 said:

Better question - did you know an MS was in it when you bought it?

I did not know! I paid 300 dollars for a 60 pound lot. And last night I made another discovery. I think it might contain most of Cafe Corner. I am hoping I am only lacking about $100 in pieces. Market street was easier to pick out because I found all of the figs, but no figs were found or base plates for the CC. However the big clues were the dark blue post things around the doorways and the dark red slopes. So far it looks like I'll have about 80% of it. It really pained me to paid 300 for the lot but now....ha I don't like to think I almost passed on it.

ecmo47

While the orders are arriving to begin my build, I did a side project to check something that another Bricksetter (legogregors) told me about. There is a program out there called "Brickficiency" that will take your Bricklink "want" list and search out the best combinations of stores to get your parts from. I tried it on a smaller parts list first (2nd story for GE) and it worked pretty well. It found that the cheapest I could get those parts was around $75.00 from only 2 stores. I then tried it on the parts list from MS. The results were not as good simply because of the sheer size of the search. It said that the best I could do was to get the parts from 3 stores for $947.16! I’m not feeling so bad about my manual efforts to find parts now from 22 different sources. We can discuss Brickficiency on a new thread if interested but the bottom line is that it doesnt work well for large lists but quite well for smaller lists.

legogregors

Interesting results??? I thought the thread was something to do with optimization and this may not be the same thing but I am sure someone will shed some light.

Pitfall69

Bluefairy_56 said:

I have just started to Bricklink a 1973 London Bus #760. I could buy one at around $50 secondhand, but I think BL it is more fun. I had about half the bricks already, so I just do it when I have some money spare. If this works out, I might BL the modular buildings too, as I love them, but can't afford to buy them new in one hit.

I think it's better doing it this way, as you can do it when you have the money, time and it gives you something to do.

Did you Bricklink the bus with bricks from 1973?

Trenth

I wondered if there was a program like that. I am on to the Cafe Corner now, and it looks like manually I'll spend around $50-$75 to complete this set. I'll try to test the program out and report back.

Bluefairy_56

Pitfall69 said:

Bluefairy_56 said:

I have just started to Bricklink a 1973 London Bus #760. I could buy one at around $50 secondhand, but I think BL it is more fun. I had about half the bricks already, so I just do it when I have some money spare. If this works out, I might BL the modular buildings too, as I love them, but can't afford to buy them new in one hit.

I think it's better doing it this way, as you can do it when you have the money, time and it gives you something to do.

Did you Bricklink the bus with bricks from 1973?

I haven't started buying the parts yet. But no I won't be looking for 1973 bricks.

Pitfall69

There is definitely something to be said about Bricklinking a set; especially an expensive one. The time and effort one puts in can be rewarding.

With that said, I have found issues with Bricklinking sets myself. Molds change over the years as well as the color palettes. I found that the "Sand Green" in the Green Grocer is not the same shade as the "Sand Green" in the Haunted House. I really don't know what I'm getting when I order from a store. If I'm going to complete a set from 1978, I can't/won't use bricks from 2014. If you are just doing an MOC and don't care about that, it is ok, but if you Bricklink a set from 1978 with new bricks and decide to sell it as a particular set, it better be era specific bricks.

Bluefairy_56

Pitfall69 said:

There is definitely something to be said about Bricklinking a set; especially an expensive one. The time and effort one puts in can be rewarding.

With that said, I have found issues with Bricklinking sets myself. Molds change over the years as well as the color palettes. I found that the "Sand Green" in the Green Grocer is not the same shade as the "Sand Green" in the Haunted House. I really don't know what I'm getting when I order from a store. If I'm going to complete a set from 1978, I can't/won't use bricks from 2014. If you are just doing an MOC and don't care about that, it is ok, but if you Bricklink a set from 1978 with new bricks and decide to sell it as a particular set, it better be era specific bricks.

I understand what you mean, but I think finding bricks from 1973 would be very hard indeed to find. Plus I would never sell the set, as it would be only good to me. As I can't get the sticker sheet for it anyway, it wouldn't be worth anything to anyone else.

I guess what I'm trying to say is if I ever MOC a set then I just build it using the correct bricks and as close to the colours as I can get. I'm not a perfectionist so it doesn't have to be colour shade perfect. It's only for me, and that's all I'm doing it for, no one else.

ecmo47

^ Yes that is part of the challenge/fun. I’ve built several extra levels for the Cafe Corner and there is A LOT of color difference in the Reddish Brown bricks. Interesting thing is that my original #10182 has color variation in it also. The picture shows a level I put together without paying attention to color disparity.

Pitfall69

^To be honest, I like the different shades. I liked the effect it had on the Bricklinked GG I did awhile back. This looks great too.

I am a perfectionist and will make sure all my bricks are era specific. I have boxes of bricks separated by year/molds. I'm a little OCD for sure, but I'm sure many if us are in some way :)

abrahamalincoln

Alright, you guys have truly inspired me with this thread. I have all the modular buildings except CC, MS and GG. Also, I want to do the Millennium Falcon UCS so bad I could pee a bit. Finally @cavegod‌'s AT-AT is one of the coolest things I've ever seen. I think I'll start with the MF as I have tons of parts on hand that will help that build out.

As someone who has never Bricklinked anything before, are there any tips on getting started? Things to avoid? I'll do a search and see what I can find but any help is appreciated.

Legoboy

Pitfall69 said:

^To be honest, I like the different shades. I liked the effect it had on the Bricklinked GG I did awhile back. This looks great too.

Way back when in my last life when I built my DS, I vividly remember building up the trash compactor and finding all of these different shades of bricks. WTF? I ordered a handful of replacements in an attempt to make amends. When the parts arrived in the post, I decided actually the walling looked better in the hit and miss effect than it would have looked with a consistent brick - a bit like @ecmo47's pic above albeit they were shorter lengths of bricks.

I left it and threw the spares into the kids' box.

ecmo47

Abe: Be patience, and be prepared to spend a lot of time and money. Look at the inventories here on Bricklink and target the rare pieces first. Always look at the sellers feedback first to make sure they do not have recent negative/neutral reviews. Always count your parts once you receive them. Seperate your parts as you receive them by size and/or color.

ColoradoBricks

@abrahamalincoln, my top 3 tips:
First, start using BrickStore great tool for handling with large part lists.
Second, if your finances permit it, you should do them all at once as many vendors will pieces of more than 1 set and it will save you a lot of shipping cost in the end.
Third unless you want exact copies, looks for cheaper substitutions on some parts and it will make a huge difference in cost in the end.

ecmo47

Oh and don’t waste your time on random parts lots on eBay. I bought a used DS when I was building Cavegod’s AT-AT and it did not yield the amount of useable parts that I thought it would.

abrahamalincoln

Thanks everyone. I've read a couple blog posts since I asked the question. Very helpful. I'm going to get started registering and pulling stuff together tonight.

@ecmo47‌ did you write the post "Building the perfect beast" on Gimmie Lego? Reading that currently. It's very detailed. I ask only because I can't figure that many people have Bricklinked that beast. It's huge and truly fantastic!

ecmo47

No, I didnt. That blog was done by Bricklinks Dr Dave Watford. It was invaluable info while I constructing mine. I posted a few things on my experience in this forum. Dont start that project until you find at least Two 8x8 Light Blue Grey dishes. VERY hard (and expensive) to find.

ecmo47

Search for the thread "UCS AT-AT ready for duty...."

ecmo47

About ready to start building. Only waiting on one order....Lego Pick a Brick!

Bluefairy_56

ecmo47 said:

About ready to start building. Only waiting on one order....Lego Pick a Brick!

Can you please post a picture when you have completed it? I'm dying to see it.

scrumper

Bluefairy_56 said:

ecmo47 said:

About ready to start building. Only waiting on one order....Lego Pick a Brick!

Can you please post a picture when you have completed it? I'm dying to see it.

Don't torture yourself. #10190

Bluefairy_56

scrumper said:

Bluefairy_56 said:

ecmo47 said:

About ready to start building. Only waiting on one order....Lego Pick a Brick!

Can you please post a picture when you have completed it? I'm dying to see it.

Don't torture yourself. #10190

Whose torturing themselves? Yeah I know what it looks like, as I said I want one. I am sure that when @ecmo47‌ puts it all together he would like to show off his Bricklinked Market Street...and I'd like to see it.

ecmo47

As typical, I got started and promptly found several pieces that were absent. So will need a few more orders to complete. Still waiting on the Lego order which I found out ships from Denmark which explains it's lateness.

I think I discovered an error in the instructions. The stairs on the 1st level don’t seem to line up as they should. They are one space off the pedestal and one brick too high. I went back over the instructions and I'm pretty sure I didn’t make a mistake.

Bluefairy_56

I've done that too. I have bought secondhand sets, which I knew had pieces missing. Ordered the pieces and found I'd order the wrong ones or I need more than I thought. It's so annoying. I'm just grateful I can still get the pieces. Good luck.

indigobox

I have done that also with buying second hand sets. I was missing the grey door from the Cafe Corner set so bought just the doors off a guy selling the Krusty Krab :)

Kinda makes me wish I had if come back to LEGO sooner than I did as Bricklinking it cost a bomb

ColoradoBricks

@ecmo47 , building mine today, no issues on the stairs. Looks like your base is missing a step (I am using the PDF instructions).

bsiu922

i bought an used 10190 too, it come assembled (from local CL), so I print out a set of instruction, along with the original copy. disassembled, clean and then reassemble the whole set, mark down the missing pieces on the printed instruction. then used the parts list to make sure the correct count of missing pieces and then go to Bricklink. I did the same for my Cafe Corner and Green Grocer too!

ecmo47

^^ Ahh! I did miss the second layer of 2x4 bricks on page 39. I guess that is supposed to be a step in back. Looks lame compared to the newer modulars.

Pitfall69

^Yes, because this set wasn't designed in house.