How often do you take a set apart just to use it for MOCs?

ethanjwall

Honestly, I don't very often. I like displaying my sets out in the open. 

ethanjwall

Also, I have a ton of legos from my family so I don't have to unless I need  a new part :)

CCC

I often don't bother building sets, if I bought them as parts packs. I take out the parts I won't use, sell them as new, and get on building something I want.

graphite

Never.  I source parts separately for MOCs.  If I don't want to display a set anymore I pack it up.  If I don't think I'll display it again ever I sell it.

willobee498

All of my Technic sets get torn apart and turned into new things. Anything else, it is rare that I MOC.

AllBrick

I do this a lot, I'll even by sets based on their MOC usability. A large majority of our bits are all mixed up. Slowly sorting through it all, need individual storage for everything, space running out. 

binaryeye

Once is usually enough. :)

I believe I have five sets I haven't yet taken apart since building them. Parisian Restaurant, because I was, for a time, considering collecting modulars so left it together and in the interim my son found it fun to play with. The #75075 AT-AT and #75028 Clone Turbo Tank microfighters and #75132 First Order Battle Pack because all were gifts from my son (that I didn't necessarily want but he picked out). And #41073 Naida's Epic Adventure Ship because I've decided to keep my Elves sets together for now (the others I disassembled once to attempt an Elves-themed MOC).

madforLEGO

I used not too, until themes like POP, long ranger, and PoTC came along. Decided it would be better to just open em up for parts for future MOCs.. just need to decide where to put all of the parts in my apt.

MrShinyAndNew

I take all my sets apart for Mocs. The exceptions are: my millennium falcon, the Ecto-1, and my AT-AT. Everything else is fair game, even the modulars. Something is always assembled, on display, but it's a small number of sets compared to the hundreds that are disassembled.

Some super-rare parts or valuable parts get stored away separately, such as the Palace Cinema windows that have movie decals applied, so that if I ever rebuild the Cinema they'll still look good. But everything else is fair game for mocing. That's what Lego is about, right?

VorpalRyu

The only sets I take apart for MOCs are one I've bought for use in my MOCs, my wife likes to see them built first, then once she's seen what the set looks like, deconstruction time... Of course this means I have bought a few sets twice, like the SW Microfighters.

The_Mad_Vulcan

Pretty much always. I buy sets to have parts for MOCs, but I do build them first. I do have a few older sets that are displayed but they are not immune to getting parted. I'll just steal from them, make a bricklink order, and put everything back once that arrives.

rdflego

In a previous thread I think I worked out that less than 0.2% of all the sets I have ever owned are still together. To quote one of my colleagues I 'assimilate' my sets into my collection immediately after building them once so that I can release their MOCing potential.

oldtodd33

Never. If I want to MOC, which I rarely do, I go to Ebay or BL.

Natebw

Virtually all of my sets eventually get broken down to some extent for MOCs. It just takes some longer than others....

catwrangler

I never really thought of not making sets MOC fodder - I mean, there are some sets that are stored together by theme and haven't yet gone into the big IKEA crates, but that's been more through not getting around to it than reluctance. I'm sure it'll become irritating someday when there's a huge MOC that turns out to contain parts I need to nostalgically rebuild a set, but I'm hoping that won't involve unique parts too often... really, my bigger problem is not getting around to MOCing!

gmonkey76

I may buy a set for the pieces, but I never take a set I bought in a theme I collect for parts. I bought two of the friends first aid jungle bike on sale because I wanted the medium azure vintage motorcycle. At one point I plan to build the Battle of Hoth so I bought what I thought were the right amount of AT-AT and snow speeders that were in the movie. As LEGO has updated the AT-AT and snow speeder the old versions then get broken down for parts, but keeping one complete for having the set purposes.

sklamb

I just bought a second-hand PS in order to turn it into a quasi-GG...does that count?

SweepyD

I've never looked at any Lego set and went "I'm building that and never taking it apart" so for me it is build the main set once then make what I can out of it and possibly other sets.

I wish I had my Exploriens and Ice Planet sets that I had made into a massive force of tanks and spaceships, which my little brother decided would be fun to launch a nuclear strike (2 year old kid) upon.

Still not sure where those sets went, probably got donated by my mom quite awhile back. :(

datsunrobbie

Since returning from the dark ages I have not taken any apart for a MOC, but almost all the LEGO I have was purchased second hand, so i rarely get anything as a complete set. I dig through piles looking for oddball parts to see what sets they are in, and when I find one I like I try to find the rest of it, sort of like bricklinking it.

AdeelZubair

I took apart most of my Super Heroes collection.

eanair

Any city/modular set that I have is still together. Ive some space and orient expedition sets that are used for parts as they don't fit the style of my town. I turned my nose up at Friends for a long time - but I've now realised that they can be real gems parts wise and I've picked up some of the cheaper ones. I also bought a random set of 3 buildings from a lady selling her sons old stuff - the pizzeria from 7641 city corner, part of the paradise cafe from the marina set 4644 and about 90% of town house 8403.  These I've used for MOCs.  

Kevin_Hyatt

Everything except for architecture sets tends to get separated out to the mountain. I've got a temple of Airjitsu to build that'll say in one piece too.

Sethro3

I have a mental block about taking apart sets for MOCs. I have some sets that are on display for a while and as much as I like them, I also want to MOC my own things with the pieces. I think my problem is IF I ever want to build that set again, it will take a while to source the pieces needed. I have very little time to actually MOC, so what little free time I do have I end up sorting, which isn't how I want to spend all of my LEGO time.

With that said, I have a handful of sets I took down from display and put separately into bags, but I should just empty them into my collection and I have no plans to display them ever again.

MrShinyAndNew

Sethro3 said:

I have a mental block about taking apart sets for MOCs. I have some sets that are on display for a while and as much as I like them, I also want to MOC my own things with the pieces. I think my problem is IF I ever want to build that set again, it will take a while to source the pieces needed. I have very little time to actually MOC, so what little free time I do have I end up sorting, which isn't how I want to spend all of my LEGO time.

With that said, I have a handful of sets I took down from display and put separately into bags, but I should just empty them into my collection and I have no plans to display them ever again.

Once you take the sets apart, there will be new sets vying for your precious display space. And unless you sell your pieces, you should always be able to rebuild, right? As a kid I used to frequently build/destroy everything I owned. (of course there was a lot less of it then)

Bosstone100

I dug the Pharoah's Quest sets out of storage. They will be dismantled and parted out. First time. At least it's a theme I don't care that much about. That should help things along.

Came64

I usually do that. I build the Set, it stays built a few weeks (or days) and then I take it apart. 

KingAlanI

I rarely do it on purpose, but I sometimes break down related sets to build a MOC along those lines. When a model falls apart, I often use it for pieces rather than rebuild it. I usually buy packs of loose parts or draw from my existing stockpile.