Lego Alternate Builds: The multitude of Lego sets that can be Reused

Introduction 

I like building and designing with Lego. I like occasionally building large-scale sceneries, as shown below in my local area's 2019 May the 4th Lego Celebration. But, that's not my main interest -- or specialty, as I like to call it.

(these 2 shots above and below use stock Lego sets. It was only appropriate for May the 4th)

I prefer my main specialty to be in Alternate Builds.

Now what are Alternate builds?

These are builds that take parts from only one Lego set (unless otherwise noted), and then rebuild it into something new, using those parts. There are what I like to call 3 different alternate builds, described below:

1) Complete Alternate Build

These builds use only the pieces from one set (as noted before), and use only those pieces to make something else. No pieces are added, and every piece is used. Let me explain my thinking behind this:

- If all parts of a set are built together into one solid mass, then that set can always be rebuilt without losing or needing to find any missing parts in the process. 

- The design can also be rebuilt into the original set without the designer or the set in question having to be moved. 

- I hate to have sets fall into disrepair as I use them. By this I mean that the pieces of a set should always be kept together, and never split apart. This is why I've been able to build with and use all of my sets --and still have them intact, even after 5 years of each set being rebuilt around 3-4 times!

Complete Alternate Builds are generally difficult to make. I use this type of design most with small sets, like Star Wars Microfighters, ones where a single leftover piece is not worth trying to find a secure storage spot for. 

Below, I have an example pictured of a Complete Alternate Build.

This is the Outrider, based off of the Outrider from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, built using all of the parts from one set, that is the 75030 Lego Star Wars Millenium Falcon Microfighter from Lego's Microfighters Series 1 (I own all of the first series from 2014! I love these little guys; they are so useful!).

My Outrider Microfighter

2) Alternate Build (Basic)

These builds use only one set (as noted previously) and use its pieces to make a new design. This design could follow the design of what was made before, in which case it is also called a modification of the original set. Regardless of the output, all of these designs use only the parts of one set. 

- Though the amount of parts not used may differ between designs, all desgins try to use as many pieces as possible, in order to reduce the task of maintaining an inventory of unused parts. 

- Keeping track of one set's extra parts, keeping it separate from other extra parts, and the etc is usually a bit difficult if there is no dedicated spot to keep all of the extra parts.( I usually keep the extra parts all attatched together into one mass, to make it easier to keep track of it all).

- Do Not store extra pieces in your Lego boxes. This makes it incredibly likely that you will lose them. I would also suggest that you do not store instructions in boxes, either ( I actually lost all of my Lego Marvel set instructions when the boxes I had them stored in got thrown away to reduce my Lego box clutter. To this day, I still do not have those instructions, and I have to look them up every time I rebuild my Lego Marvel sets).

Following is an example of an Alternate Build that was a modification of a previous Lego Set. This is the Phantom II, from the Star Wars Rebels TV show. This was built from the pieces of Lego 75170 The Phantom. This is an unfiltered Photo.

 

3) Modified Alternate Build

These designs use only one set as the base (as noted before), with a few extra pieces added here and there in the build. These extra pieces are usually not unique, and are usually "filler" pieces. Some are easy to spot on designs, others blend in quite well. 

- Some designs will have some extra pieces left over from the original set, which I then combine into one solid mass again. (sometimes, a few of the extra pieces accidentally get added into that mass. I then remove them when I rebuild the set later...)

- This type of design is what I most frequently create, but know that I have a good spread of the three Alternate Design types. 

Below, I have an alternate build that incorporates some new parts, a.k.a a Modified Alternate Build. This is Rex DangerVest's Racer (It's complicated how he obtained it. More on that later...) built out of the pieces of Lego 75209 Han Solo's Landspeeder, with the addition of one single piece: the cockpit (from the Jedi Airspeeder in Lego Star Wars 9526 Palpatine's Arrest). There were three leftover pieces, now stored alongside this racer on my display shelf, one piece obviously being the landspeeder's cockpit (In this particular build, you could have just as much fun if you don't have a cockpit like the one pictured below. The cockpit that came with the set looks just fine, and is a little easier to use).

Note that the bright green studs were part of the original set, although they are now placed only on the exterior as accent color. This photo is unfiltered.

There is one more type of build that I do that is Lego set-based. This type is called a Multi-Set Alternate Build. I put it in it's own category, for sake of simplicity.

Multi-Set Alternate Build

In this case, Multiple Lego sets were combined to make a larger design. Most designs that I have made in this category used just the pieces of the original sets to make it (There is one design in particular, shown below, that does use extra parts. The additions are mostly Technic pins).

- These sets will occasionally have unused parts, but I try to avoid that as much as possible (it can be a real headache to sort out which sets have what parts belonging to them).

- In cases where extra parts were inevitable, I dedicated an entire small storage bin to the extra parts. That bin remains untouched until the sets contained within are rebuilt.

Below, I have 2 pictures of my model of a Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer, decorated in the livery of my version of Admiral Thrawn's Chimaera. This design uses the Star Wars Lego Sets: 

75171 Battle on Scarif (Rogue One), and

9526 Palpatine's Arrest [Excluding Jedi Airspeeder]

End Note:

The creations that I show here are original, albeit designed out of Lego's products. 

Those creations are a combined product of my imagination and thought and inspiriation. 

I plan to have instructions available for some of the models pictured (notably the first three), and I will feature all of the models shown in future blog posts. You may access them when they become available. I will provide links within for them.