What would be that best sets to buy for Landscaping?

[mephistopheles]

Hi!

The topic name says it all. Are there any sets which are worth buying multiple pieces of for landscaping work? I especially mean a lot of green work, but some blue for water and brown for dirt roads are also welcome.

Cheers!

[AwesomeStar]

Your best bet is Bricklink. You can find pretty much any piece ever produced, mostly in big bulk quantities (perfect for landscaping), all for a good price from reliable sellers. It really can't be beaten by buying expensive official sets that only contain a few of what you need.

Hope you find what you're looking for!

-A.S.

[mephistopheles]

Your best bet is Bricklink. You can find pretty much any piece ever produced, mostly in big bulk quantities (perfect for landscaping), all for a good price from reliable sellers. It really can't be beaten by buying expensive official sets that only contain a few of what you need.

Hope you find what you're looking for!

-A.S.

Oh I know BrickLink, but in the matter of prices it didn't meet my expectations. Yeah, the US shops are quite cheap, but I live in Hungary so shipping is expensive. The European shops are a little expensive.

For example take a look at this:

MMV cost 99.99$ and has 1602 pieces. That is ~0.06$/pc. Buying a 2x2 Black Slope on BrickLink is approx the same price, but a 1x4 dark brown plate is around 0.12$. That is twice the price. Not to speak of parts like the minifigs or the stair. Also I didn't calculate that you get VIP points when buying sets.

From this it appears to me that sometimes sets can be cheaper than BrickLink, especially if you are pretty new to Lego and need many different parts.

But thank you anyway for the comment!

Edited March 3, 2012 by mephistopheles

[AwesomeStar]

Oh I know BrickLink, but in the matter of prices it didn't meet my expectations. Yeah, the US shops are quite cheap, but I live in Hungary so shipping is expensive. The European shops are a little expensive.

For example take a look at this:

MMV cost 99.99$ and has 1602 pieces. That is ~0.06$/pc. Buying a 2x2 Black Slope on BrickLink is approx the same price, but a 1x4 dark brown plate is around 0.12$. That is twice the price. Not to speak of parts like the minifigs or the stair. Also I didn't calculate that you get VIP points when buying sets.

From this it appears to me that sometimes sets can be cheaper than BrickLink, especially if you are pretty new to Lego and need many different parts.

But thank you anyway for the comment!

Ah I see. But I've also experienced that odd pricing in the UK. I think it generally boils down to what pieces you are buying, however. Taking you example, a 1x4 dark brown plate would be twice as expensive as a 2x2 black slope because it is less common both in availability and colour.

-A.S.

Edited March 3, 2012 by AwesomeStar

[CptMugwash]

Creator Log Cabin, brown, green, some blue and dark red roof slopes, not to mention other little details like a minifig, chicken legs, etc.

Other creator houses could be of use, they come with a 32x32 green baseplate and multiples of different bricks and roof slopes but no figs.

StarWars doesn't offer much, expensive and have fleshies, not many landscaping parts.

The Pirates of the Caribbean sets offer a variety of parts but the problem is fleshies which you could just swap with yellows and because it's licensed can be expensive for not too many landscaping parts.

City fire sets have trees but come with the fire trucks and figs. There's also the new City Forest Police Station, it comes with some green and grey plates, those new brick bricks, trees and a mushroom and a bear, but again you have the unwanted police parts. At a cheaper price you have Robber's Hideout, that has the small rock pieces, tree parts, some green and dark tan plates, brick bricks, and those brown pallisade bricks aswell as a bear.

Well that's all I can think of for any sets, but really just use pick a brick, I waited a while for my order but it came, you can buy plates, bricks, etc and I think you still get your vip points.

It's a shame that you missed out on Kingdoms, you could just wait for Lotr to come out and see if it has many landscaping parts.

[mephistopheles]

Thanks!

Yep that creator house got my attention earlier. I feel pretty bad that Kingdoms and generally the Castle theme is discontinued. LOTR, I fear, will be much more expensive due to the license. I'll keep watching e-bay for old sets. Of course I will use BrickLink and Pick-a-Brick. Also I will be in Munich in May and they have a Lego store that so maybe a "K-box" will be an option.

[Stiel]

One SW set still comes into mind:

http://brickset.com/detail/?Set=7956-1

Of course, you need to sell off the ewoks and the trooper, but the rest of the set should be exactly what you are looking for.

Then there is Pick-A-Brick, for certain parts (mostly larger ones), it can be cheaper than BrickLink. Link: http://shop.lego.com/en-HU/Pick-A-Brick-11998

There is also LUGBULK. I sent you a PM about that.

[The_Cook]

Oh I know BrickLink, but in the matter of prices it didn't meet my expectations. Yeah, the US shops are quite cheap, but I live in Hungary so shipping is expensive. The European shops are a little expensive.

For example take a look at this:

MMV cost 99.99$ and has 1602 pieces. That is ~0.06$/pc. Buying a 2x2 Black Slope on BrickLink is approx the same price, but a 1x4 dark brown plate is around 0.12$. That is twice the price. Not to speak of parts like the minifigs or the stair. Also I didn't calculate that you get VIP points when buying sets.

From this it appears to me that sometimes sets can be cheaper than BrickLink, especially if you are pretty new to Lego and need many different parts.

But thank you anyway for the comment!

Comparison between price per piece in a set and prices on Bricklink is misleading as is prices between Bricklink and Lego's own Pick-A-Brick.

Bricklink prices are driven by supply and demand. For items with a low supply, eg. minifigs as there's one minifig per set, and with a high demand, eg. minifigs particularly the army building minifigs, then the prices will be high, pieces which are common or easily available from PAB walls will be relatively cheap.

Since Lego manufactures the pieces it's prices are driven by the amount of ABS that goes into a part and the amount of additional print on them that they have to do. It's a different mechanic driving their pricing strategy.

Plates are tricky, they don't appear in the same sort of quantities in brick boxes and they use quite a bit of ABS hence are more pricey direct from Lego. The large plates don't fit into Pick-a-brick cups which meams they're harder to get into the BrickLink supply chain.

For Hungary I suggest you look at some of the German Bricklink stores, shipping isn't too pricey to other European destinations and some of them hold huge stocks.

Also, isn't Hungary one of Lego's manufacturing bases? Does the factory have an outlet? Lego press release about hungarian factory

[Stiel]

Also, isn't Hungary one of Lego's manufacturing bases? Does the factory have an outlet? Lego press release about hungarian factory

The factory here produces mostly Duplo parts, and some basic Lego bricks (like 2x4 etc.).

[mephistopheles]

As far as I know the Hungarian factory produces mainly Duplo and has no outlet.

[Silver.Smith]

The next time you take a trip to Germany stop off at one of the Lego stores, I've picked up a ton of good green plates and plants from the US stores.

[Edmond Dantes]

Creator Log Cabin, brown, green, some blue and dark red roof slopes, not to mention other little details like a minifig, chicken legs, etc.

Other creator houses could be of use, they come with a 32x32 green baseplate and multiples of different bricks and roof slopes but no figs.

StarWars doesn't offer much, expensive and have fleshies, not many landscaping parts.

The Pirates of the Caribbean sets offer a variety of parts but the problem is fleshies which you could just swap with yellows and because it's licensed can be expensive for not too many landscaping parts.

City fire sets have trees but come with the fire trucks and figs. There's also the new City Forest Police Station, it comes with some green and grey plates, those new brick bricks, trees and a mushroom and a bear, but again you have the unwanted police parts. At a cheaper price you have Robber's Hideout, that has the small rock pieces, tree parts, some green and dark tan plates, brick bricks, and those brown pallisade bricks aswell as a bear.

Well that's all I can think of for any sets, but really just use pick a brick, I waited a while for my order but it came, you can buy plates, bricks, etc and I think you still get your vip points.

It's a shame that you missed out on Kingdoms, you could just wait for Lotr to come out and see if it has many landscaping parts.

I bought ~40 PoTC sets (Cannibal Escape, Isla de la Muerta, Fountain of Youth, The Mill) on sale and sold all the minifigs, thus paying for the sets. This provided me with thousands of nice Castle parts, landscaping and otherwise.

Another nice SW set for Castle (not necessarily for landscaping) is 7957 Sith Nightspeeder. Not too expensive, sell the figs and pay for most of the set (or all the set if you can get it on sale), with lots of Dark Bley and brown.

A very nice HP set is 4865 The Forbidden Forest (especially in quantity and on sale). Sell the figs, free pieces = TONS of nice landscaping pieces. You'll need to buy many of these however.

I wholeheartedly agree with the other recommendations.

Edited March 3, 2012 by Edmond Dantes

[natesroom]

I bought ~40 PoTC sets (Cannibal Escape, Isla de la Muerta, Fountain of Youth, The Mill) on sale and sold all the minifigs, thus paying for the sets. This provided me with thousands of nice Castle parts, landscaping and otherwise.

Another nice SW set for Castle (not necessarily for landscaping) is 7957 Sith Nightspeeder. Not too expensive, sell the figs and pay for most of the set (or all the set if you can get it on sale), with lots of Dark Bley and brown.

A very nice HP set is 4865 The Forbidden Forest (especially in quantity and on sale). Sell the figs, free pieces = TONS of nice landscaping pieces. You'll need to buy many of these however.

I wholeheartedly agree with the other recommendations.

I'm just curious where did you sell your other pieces and parts? I have alot of city and space stuff that i want to get rid of and not sure where the best place to offload them is.

[AwesomeStar]

I'm just curious where did you sell your other pieces and parts? I have alot of city and space stuff that i want to get rid of and not sure where the best place to offload them is.

My parts bin, haha!

Seriously though, Bricklink is, again, your best bet. I've known people who practically give away their sets at car boot sales and then get mad when I ask whether they thought about BL. The likelihood of making sales depends on your prices, stock availability and also whether or not the items you're selling are of low quantity in the area.

For example, I've just got a vintage set - the Forestmen's Camouflaged Outpost - through the mail from a guy in Austria. I went onto Bricklink, looked at the prices, and saw that even with an extra £10.00 shipping + insurance, he was still the cheapest in a very small list. So it sort of works like that.

Good luck selling your stuff!

-A.S.

[The_Cook]

It's also worth noting that Bricklink's set inventory is also a great way of working out what sets to try and source in bulk.

Let's say that you're after 3832 Plate 2x10, Green: Bricklink will tell you which set's it's in and in what quantities. In this case it's 3862-1 Hogwarts game that has the most.

In fact the games are quite good for getting parts in bulk without having to pay a minifig premium. I recall someone on the forums mentioning that they'd picked up 3853 Bannana Balance in bulk just to get the leaves and brown technic pieces for making trees.

[Nagyzee]

I bought ~40 PoTC sets (Cannibal Escape, Isla de la Muerta, Fountain of Youth, The Mill) on sale and sold all the minifigs, thus paying for the sets. This provided me with thousands of nice Castle parts, landscaping and otherwise.

This strategy works with US prices, especially if you get sets at a huge discount. The problem is, prices in Europe are generally significantly higher and at least here in Hungary big sales are few and far between. If I lived in the US I'd surely be doing what you did to expand my collection.

Oh, and Lego definitely doesn't have an outlet here, nor do we have any official Lego stores. There's an in-factory store at the Lego plant only available for their employees but that's all.

Edited March 4, 2012 by Nagyzee

[Delta_02_Cat]

This strategy works with US prices, especially if you get sets at a huge discount. The problem is, prices in Europe are generally significantly higher and at least here in Hungary big sales are few and far between. If I lived in the US I'd surely be doing what you did to expand my collection.

I'm always very jealous if I read about big US sales with 50% off or buy one get one for free, I for myself haven't found something like this here in Germany. If someone has any hints about this feel free to tell me ;)

[Edmond Dantes]

I'm just curious where did you sell your other pieces and parts? I have alot of city and space stuff that i want to get rid of and not sure where the best place to offload them is.

As A.S. speculated, Bricklink was the offload site. I ship worldwide, and my minifig prices are always the lowest on Bricklink, but I only buy select sets and then only when they are on sale (I usually calculate beforehand if I can sell the figs to offset the cost of the sets). TRU's B1G1 50% off, Walmart and Target 50% clearance, Lego S@H clearance, etc.**

As has been pointed out, I live in the US, so this strategy probably won't work for most others.

As for selling your unwanted sets, there is a Buy/Sell section on this site. Bricklink, eBay, and TnB are other options.

** I would like to point out I do buy a lot of sets for personal enjoyment (modulars, Castle, Star Wars) and sometimes these aren't available via discount. So, I do pay retail, but not for collection expansion purposes - usually only for set display purposes (I don't disassemble my modulars, etc).

Edited March 5, 2012 by Edmond Dantes

[Angeli]

Oh I know BrickLink, but in the matter of prices it didn't meet my expectations. Yeah, the US shops are quite cheap, but I live in Hungary so shipping is expensive.

You live in Hungary? You have a TON of good bricklink sellers, like Fedibeka

You also have "second hand shops" for bricks (like on in Segedin), and you also have parts on the market (real market, where you can buy food, vegetables, fruits etc) that sell lego on kg ("please, give me 350g of plates" :) <--- really ;) in Budapest.

Ask around ;)

[Captain BeerBeard]

Olivia's tree house 3065 is really good.