Buying Bricks?

[Stargorger]

Alright so another question, this one about what to buy:

I've gotten to the point where, for the first time in a long time, I'm considering buying bricks specifically for the purpose of a display MOC. In the past I've only bought stuff for cool pieces or to increase my collection.

However, I read the other day on the Bricklink forums about buying bulk colors, in order to ensure a good range of pieces for that color.

Now I'm not sure what to do. What do I do? Would it be better for me to buy just the bricks I need to complete the structure/display, or should I just go an buy all, say, the bley bricks from a seller, and see what I can do with those? Make sense? I don't have 100s of $ to spend right now so, hence my question.

[Sir Michael Le Fanu]

Well, if you are looking for any dark bley, you are going to need to find somewhere else than bricklink. Remember that guy who was making the Halo Spartan Armor? Ya? Well anyway, he needs loads and loads of dark bley to complete the suit. He bought pretty much all dark bley from bricklink. So I recommend eBay or LEGO pick-a-brick.

[Admiral Netsooj]

Well, if you are looking for any dark bley, you are going to need to find somewhere else than bricklink. Remember that guy who was making the Halo Spartan Armor? Ya? Well anyway, he needs loads and loads of dark bley to complete the suit. He bought pretty much all dark bley from bricklink. So I recommend eBay or LEGO pick-a-brick.

I am not sure this is relevent to the topic. Stargorger is asking where to buy bricks, not asking where all the dark bley went.

As to the question posed, I would just buy the stuff needed to complete the MOC, with cash being limited. Maybe going out of the way to get some of the cool stuff, but buying everything only makes sense (To me) if you are going to use all of it.

[Sir Michael Le Fanu]

Good point, I guess I got a little carried away. I need some dark bley! Anyway, it also depends on the colors that are needed for your MOC.

[Stargorger]

lol. Im very sorry about the loss of your dark bley, michael. ;-)
Thanks Admiral. :-)

Well...see the thing is that if I buy just the parts for the MOC, then I wind up with...just those parts. Where I know I can use them to build THAT THING, but don't have a neccesarily wide variety.
On the other hand, if I buy bulk colors, I know I have a large variety of pieces in that color, but not neccesarily what I need to build this MOC. See what I mean?

[Admiral Netsooj]

I see what you mean. I think the best course would be to first get the bricks you need for sure, get some bricks you think you could use in future creations, then get whatever is cool. This is basically the formula I use, and it works pretty good.

[Sir Michael Le Fanu]

Ya, what Admiral said was great. Here's what I usually do...

-I buy the parts that I KNOW I NEED
-I buy the parts that could possibly be added on but weren't planned on being used
-I buy the parts for something else that I might be working on currently or in the future
-I buy some minifig parts or other cool parts for the MOC

And here are the steps I take in choosing parts...

-I remember or right down the dimensions on the ship and build it on LDD or other LEGO CAD systems. I can then determine the parts that I will need

-I try to use as few peices as possible, so I use larger parts. (EG I use one 1x8 insead of four 1x2s)

[Stargorger]

Ya, what Admiral said was great. Here's what I usually do...

-I buy the parts that I KNOW I NEED
-I buy the parts that could possibly be added on but weren't planned on being used
-I buy the parts for something else that I might be working on currently or in the future
-I buy some minifig parts or other cool parts for the MOC

And here are the steps I take in choosing parts...

-I remember or right down the dimensions on the ship and build it on LDD or other LEGO CAD systems. I can then determine the parts that I will need

-I try to use as few peices as possible, so I use larger parts. (EG I use one 1x8 insead of four 1x2s)

Good ideas guys! Thank you!
@Michael...yeah, I usually do too, especially using 2x5s instead of 1x2s for walls, but that only works for space, not castle building, and I don't want to end up with a ton of bricks I can use for only one or the other, so I gotta balance out the big with the small.

Thanks guys for the help! Ill try and figure out an order soon and show you so you can tell me if it makes sense.

[Sir Michael Le Fanu]

Thanks guys for the help! Ill try and figure out an order soon and show you so you can tell me if it makes sense.

Sounds good.

[Mostlydave]

I recently placed several brick link orders for a project that I had I'm mlcad, and what I did was ordered just a few extra of each part, that way I got what I needed and also added a few extra bricks to my collection without breaking the bank. Another thing I do that someone already mentioned is checked the stores I was ordering from for any parts I thought were cool, and clear parts for a display stand.