Best sets to buy to build a MOC-able collection?

[moc2]

Hi all,

I loved LEGOs as a kid and just recently bought the Imperial Flagship on a whim -- and I'm glad I did! Now I've been inspired by many of the MOCs I've seen on this site and want to start growing my collection to be able to create my own. I really like the fantasy diorama-style MOCs that combine water, cliffs/rocks, foliage, structures, and so on. You know the ones I'm talking about!

My question is: What are some solid sets I should buy in order to grow my collection to create some Fantasy/Castle/Pirate hybrid MOCs? What are the best pieces-for-your-buck sets? My next purchase will be the Medieval Village as it looks chalk full of great pieces, and just plain cool. Beyond that, I'm not sure where to look. I'd like to grow a small collection by buying sets instead of individual pieces off BrickLink as I don't really know what's available, or even what I want. I just want a large pile of pieces to start experimenting with!

[Sered]

Hi

I suggest to buy MMV (Medieval Market Village). It contains two civilian buildings, minifigures, animals and a lot of bricks.

[Bingo Little]

Hi

I suggest to buy MMV (Medieval Market Village). It contains two civilian buildings, minifigures, animals and a lot of bricks.

And it's not around much longer, so get a move on!

[Sirens-of-Titan]

My best suggestion I can make to you is to get a Bricklink account and to shop for specific parts there. I started out with close to nothing, and I needed to build up parts in the new blueish gray because of the color change (I only had old gray bricks and they look pretty bad if mixed and matched randomly)

I manged to get several hundred bricks, plates arches and tiles for 60$ US, so I'd say that's the most economically sound way to go.

[Gryphon Ink]

Good question, moc2. I've been wondering about this, too, having just started buying Lego again. I think the MMV is a must-have for any AFOL interested in medieval or fantasy building (really hoping to get one when we go to the Lego store this week!) I also think the Prince of Persia sets offer a lot of value for money as far as architectural pieces - especially the Quest Against Time set that's currently on sale on Amazon, with over 500 pieces including tons of dark bley slopes and cheese wedges and a light-up brick for $25.

[ziljin]

As a general rule of thumb any of the 50+ dollar sets should be good. The cheaper ones tend to be minifig heavy and brick light. But right now Medieval Market Village is good. The 100+ sets tend to have more tiny pieces which can be more useful but sometimes has lots of horns and other pieces that may not be as useful as bricks depending on what you are making. Plus bigger sets tend to have the best minifigs.

There is a new Castle brick bucket thing. That comes with a medieval door and two windows. It would be cheaper to go via bricklink but in case you don't want to. Knight and Castle Building Set

[I Scream Clone]

Great help guys so far. I agree with Gryphon Ink about the Quest against time set due to all the nice Dark Bley. As for Light Bley you could always buy the Death Star, but at $400US Its probably just as easy to get more Light Bley from BL shops. I did buy the Death Star to use later on for MOCing but its just to good to pull apart, or to track down the 4000 pieces later to rebuild it

Lets face it, you need 1x1, 1x2, 1x3, 1x4 and larger for walls, headlight bricks, tiles in 1x1, 1x2, arches, hinge plates at least.

Generally pieces that are available from PAB in stores is far more available and their prices are lower on BL as well. If you are in a country that has LEGO shops with PAB walls, they may even sell full boxes of a particular piece.

This should get you started hopefully, but you generally only know what pieces you need by building first, annoying as that is, so you are probably right to buy a few sets and try some MODing first.

If you want to build large mountains, duplo bricks are great for the interior supports as 2x4 bricks will sit on top of Duplo etc.

Maybe try a few yard sales/local markets or bulk lots on eBay too.

[Arigomi]

As someone who started building a collection this summer, I would highly recommend getting at least 2 brick separators. Without them, you will accumulate an entire dictionary of curse words whenever you need to take anything apart. Before getting some brick separators, I used to be too scared to do stuff like stack two 1x2 plates on top of each other. It seems like a useless thing to do but you need these small height adjustments for solving problems.

Despite being so essential to building, brick separators are individually packaged in unmarked polybags in some nondescript spot in LEGO stores. The strange thing is that they don't come with any directions on how to use it. Unless you know what it is, you would think it is just some odd knick-knack like a mug or key chain. The only current set that includes a brick separator is 5993 Airport Building Set.

I've found the LEGO Creator building tips useful. The videos about vehicles probably won't interest you but the rest are quite informative. At the very least, watch the video about how to use brick separators.

If you are hunting for a good source of brown bricks in a set, 5766 Log Cabin might interest you.

[SSJ2 Dark]

Having purchased two of them for modding, the 7946 King's Castle is a great set with lots of useful light bluish-gray pieces.

[Stiel]

Larger Creator houses are nice; they offer an excellent range of bricks to build... well... houses. Keep an eye out for clearance sales. Material-wise, older sets are just as good as new ones, but potentially a lot cheaper.

Edited December 28, 2010 by Stiel

[Derfel Cadarn]

I have found that the moduler town sets were a great source of parts. I know they arnt cheap but you do get a good amount of standard bricks as the backs of the models are all made up of a solid colour. The firestatipn was good for light bley, the green grocer was good for sand green, the emporium is great for tan and cafe corner had a lot of brown and tan. Other then that I would agree that the MMV and bricklink are good. You can always check set inventories online and see what sets have a lot of pieces you are after.

[Kumpelkante]

(...)Other then that I would agree that the MMV and bricklink are good.(...)

Hmmm, that reminds me: how much 1x1 round plates did you order at BL and how much did they cost? just curious...

[Derfel Cadarn]

Hmmm, that reminds me: how much 1x1 round plates did you order at BL and how much did they cost? just curious...

Well I was quite lucky as they had both light bley and dark bley in my local Lego shop's PAB wall. Here in the UK it's £11 for a large pot, so I bought 3 large pots of each colour. It was a huge saving as you can fit well over 1000 in a large pot so it worked out cheaper then buying them from bricklink. But that's the only time I've seen them in the shop, so I buy them now from S@H, as it's the only place where I can buy 1000 of each colour a month. Although I havnt bought any for a while. I was also lucky with brown tiles at a Lego store too, as the amount I crammed into a pot would cost nearly double if I bought them online. I naturally always regularly check my local shop now!

[moc2]

Thanks for all the advice everyone :) I just ordered Medieval Market Village and Quest Against Time based on your suggestions!

[BrickArtist]

Thanks for all the advice everyone :) I just ordered Medieval Market Village and Quest Against Time based on your suggestions!

I'd recommend the up-coming creator log cabin, and just about any-thing creator is good. The summer 2011 sets are great. You'll probably want the wind-mill.