3450 Statue of Liberty - how were instructions packaged?

justgod

Hello

I purchased set 3450 recently and am planning on keeping it for another year.

The outer box lid has been removed, but all 4 inner white boxes are still sealed. My question is this: Are the instructions included in one of the boxes? I have searched high and low for this information but cannot find anything. If the instructions were included separately, I would like to know so I can figure out my next course of action.

Thanks!

davee123

Not that this helps, but I'm in the same boat. I purchased a copy of 3450 back in 2005 at a special sale at the LEGO company, where they were $50 each. It sat in my stash ever since, until a little over a year ago, at which point I realized via BrickLink that it was worth roughly $1000-$3000 if MISB.

Upon inspection, one of the little sticky "tabs" on the side had come off, allowing me to look inside, and I found exactly what you describe. I wasn't sure if the instructions (and baseplate) were included in the 4 sealed boxes, or if they had been removed.

It's quite possible that the sticky tab simply wore off after sitting in a closet for 5+ years, and it was MISB when I bought it. However, the sale I purchased it at was an overstock sale at LEGO. Certainly most (if not all?) of the LEGO there was intended to be sold via [email protected] in the USA, and there was a large pile of 3450's. However, LEGO's not always 100% consistent. It *COULD* be that these were opened sets which had their instruction manuals removed (maybe as replacements for customers?), and weren't really MISB.

Anyway, the fact that you're reporting this makes me slightly more confident that yes, the instructions are in the inner boxes. But I can't confirm for sure. If you do manage to find out one way or another, please post a followup!

DaveE

rocao

I've changed the title of the thread to help draw attention from the community in case anyone knows the answer. In the meantime, my sister opened a MISB 3450 ten years ago. I'll see if her memory can stretch back to answer.

I suspect it's in the inner box because that was the case with #10019 Rebel Blockade Runner which is packaged similarly and produced during the same era.

graphite

If the inner boxes all fit snugly into the outer box than I'd say its all in one of the inner boxes. The Death Star set was that way.

jgadget

Unfortunately, I can't remember either.
I just went into the loft to check the sizes of the boxes compared to that of the instructions and a 32x32 baseplate.
The inner boxes are bigger than I remember and plenty big enough to hold the instructions and a 32x32 baseplate.
Can't you hold up each inner box and rotate them, listening/feeling for the movement of a relatively heavy instruction book?

Better still, open them up and enjoy the build. :-)

drdavewatford

The parts to 10030 were packed inside inner boxes as well, but the instructions were packed on top.....



Same for 10179 UCS Millennium Falcon (not packed in with the pieces - instructions in their own box).

davee123

The LEGO Minifigure statue apparently had the instructions separate to the boxes, but had the baseplate *in* one of the boxes:

http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=23001

Opening the box, you will find four smaller entirely white boxes, three stickers of the LEGO [logo] and the building instruction booklet.

I hadn't thought to weigh the boxes, though-- that's not a bad idea. Knowing the weight of the pieces in the inventory, you probably SHOULD be able to calculate the weight of the bricks, and see if one of the boxes is significantly heavier than it "ought" to be.

DaveE

rocao

jgadget said:

Can't you hold up each inner box and rotate them, listening/feeling for the movement of a relatively heavy instruction book?

Too logical :P

jgadget

^^^ Yes, I remember those clearly, but the books are huge.
The 3450 instructions are only A4.

What a Christmas that was, in 2000, I gave my 6 year old daughter the Minifigure and I had both the dragon and Liberty sculptures.
Happy memories.

jgadget

^correction - the dragon was ordered just after Christmas, so I probably didn't receive that until the New Year.

Happy memories? How can I be sure, now that I realise that this memory was flawed?

Back on topic, I hope you get your answer and that everthing's in the inner boxes.

davee123

So, I just checked mine. The boxes are labelled 1-4, and have the following weights:

Box 1: 1250g
Box 2: 1740g
Box 3: 1345g
Box 4: 1470g
Total: 5805g

BrickLink says that the total weight of the *elements* (not including the instructions or boxes) is 5094.86g, which means that (if correct) there's 710.14g left over to account for the weight of the cardboard boxes and the instructions. My instructions weigh roughly 230g, which matches what BrickLink says, which means the boxes should account for 480.14g, or about 120g each. If the instructions AREN'T included, it would be 177.535g per box.

Box 2 certainly weighs more, and sounds like SOMETHING is in there, but I can't say for sure whether or not it's the instruction booklet, or the 32x32 baseplate, or both. I would GUESS it's the instruction booklet, but I can't really guarantee it. Certainly the baseplate weighs a chunk (a similar old gray baseplate of mine weighs 98.05g, although BrickLink says they weigh about 107g), and not quite enough to account for the extra ~300g in Box 2 beyond the weight of box 4 (the next most heavy box). So... I'm going to guess that they probably ARE in box 2, pending further investigation.

If I can find a way to better estimate the weight of the boxes (minus the contents), maybe we can be a little more sure...

DaveE

LegoFanTexas

davee123 said:

I purchased a copy of 3450 back in 2005 at a special sale at the LEGO company, where they were $50 each. It sat in my stash ever since, until a little over a year ago, at which point I realized via BrickLink that it was worth roughly $1000-$3000 if MISB.
DaveE

$50??? Wow!!! If only we knew...

Of course, if we knew, then it wouldn't be worth so much! :)

Buy 10 of them back then for $500, sell them for $20,000 today!

jonboy2000

^ Always a money/reselling angle on it. We'll have to buy you some glasses with dollar signs on the lenses. ; )

Penkid11

^He'd just turn around and resell them for profit. :oP

davee123

LegoFanTexas said:

$50??? Wow!!! If only we knew...

The kicker is that I bought it to give it away as a prize at a LEGO convention!

I actually bought a chunk of stuff to give away, because the sale was such a good opportunity to get stuff for cheap. We weren't really supposed to resell any of it, either-- they made us agree to that for the 2004 sale, but the 2005 sale it wasn't explicitly stated, just implied via precedent.

Anyway, the result wound up being that I still have a pile of stuff that was intended to be "giveaway" prizes, which, at the time, were worth relatively little, but now are worth a LOT. Like 4501, which I bought for about $6.00 (and intended to be a "medium" prize, since it was worth about $30 MSRP), would now be worth about $130 or so (a much bigger category prize!)

DaveE

LegoFanTexas

jonboy2000 said:

^ Always a money/reselling angle on it. We'll have to buy you some glasses with dollar signs on the lenses. ; )

Yes, well... when your tool is a hammer, everything is a nail. :)

I'm in the LEGO reselling business, so everything is always colored by that. If I wasn't, then it wouldn't be.

ryvinson

I'm late to the party having just gotten a MISB 3450. If anyone's still wondering where the instruction booklet and green baseplate are located, they sit on top of the inner 4 boxes when the main box lid's lifted. The booklet and baseplate are definitely not in one of the inner boxes.
As the outer seals of main box are loosen or simply come off owing to age, it's too easy for a precious owner to remove the booklet and especially the rare baseplate for whatever reasons, and pass it on as MISB to unsuspecting buyer.

coachie

@ryvinson Is yours a blue or monochrome box version?

Your information seems to contradict @davee123 and my sets (mine is a monochrome box)

davee123

So... you said GREEN baseplate? Shouldn't it be an old gray baseplate? Curiouser and curiouser. I'm surprised that they'd put instructions on the top-- usually they go on the bottom. Definitely sounds like a candidate for being packaged in a different facility, but hard to say, obviously!

DaveE

m4rtinb

I found this forum in my search if instructions and baseplate are inside one of the 4 innerboxes or not.

I do have 3 sets 3450 all with opened outerboxes. 2 sets have all innerboxes closed, 1 set had box 1 and 2 opened and box 3 and 4 closed.

Black & white edition:			Black & white edition:			Coloured edition
Inner box 1 and 2 opened			Innerboxes unopened			Innerboxes unopened
Box 1	1.419		Box 1	1.642		Box 1	1.274
Instruction booklet	233
Box 2	1.454		Box 2	1.451		Box 2	1.740
Box 3	1.367		Box 3	1.364		Box 3	1.353
Box 4	1.419		Box 4	1.417		Box 4	1.484
Total weight	5.892		Total weight*	5.874		Total weight*	5.851
*slight difference with other BW edition maybe occured by weighing on different underground

So my conclusion is that B&W weight is different spread over the 4 innerboxes.
Other conclusion is that instructions are included in the inner boxes (as you can compare the BW editions).

If base plate is included is not to say. In opened innerboxes 1 and 2 there is no baseplate. So it's in 3 or 4 or not included.


Strange is that innerboxes boxes weigh 178 gram, so that doesn't match with post from davee13. But I see on BL total weight has been updated, but that's not correct. total weight is about 6.375. 
If I deduct 4 X 178 and 233 from the 5.892 that would leave 4.947 for all the parts. But I don't know how correct the 5095 gr mentioned is? difference is 148 gr.

Maybe someone has correct answer of more information?