Tips for getting enough bricks to make a MOC with unified style

Question

In the past, I made MOC's out of my LEGO Star Wars sets. At this point in my life, I don't really want to take those apart for pieces and I'd much rather have them on display. Recently, I have been buying sets on-sale at Walmart that from the City and Creator lines, (sets which I won't have the urge to assemble and display like Star Wars).

Now, I have a decent pile of pieces, but I'm having trouble making anything with a unified color palette and style. I would like to make detailed real life buildings and buildings/scenes from Star Wars, but I can't seem to find sets that are not overly expensive and aren't Star Wars that contain pieces (mainly bricks) that I need. I'm a bit apprehensive of buying LEGO lots online because the sellers rarely show what you'll actually be receiving, and the thrift store near me hardly has any toys, let alone LEGO.

Are there any sets that have a good price per piece or any other suggestions to help fill out my brick selection? (I've looked at BrickLink, but I don't want to buy individual bricks since I don't know what I am building)

This is what I have gotten so far:

• 10698 LEGO Classic Large Creative Brick Box
• 10696 LEGO Classic Medium Creative Brick Box
• 10692 LEGO Classic Creative Bricks
• 60047 LEGO City Police Station Building Set
• 60117 LEGO City Van & Caravan
• 60081 LEGO City Pickup Tow Truck
• 60107 LEGO City Fire Fire Ladder Truck
• 60118 LEGO City Garbage Truck
• 60119 LEGO City Ferry

Edit: I'm not really asking how to get bricks cheaply, more or less I was trying to see how I could get pieces that matched a specific style. I feel like the answers both do a good job giving both shopping and building tips for this problem.

Answer 1

Buying random LEGO sets hoping that it will have parts that will fit with what you want to build is an expensive process that can leave you with a huge number of unwanted pieces, and still not have what you want.

Having said that, it is still a good idea to buy some sets that have a good number of pieces and/or building styles that you like and fit your project. For example, if you are planning to build a Star Wars scene, narrow down what scene you would like to build, and see if LEGO has already done any sets from that setting.

LEGO actually considers all their sets as "seeds" that will hopefully inspire LEGO fans to expand on further. So, you buy that Star Wars set that fits your idea, then you start to expand on it. LEGO designers probably already worked out some of the most iconic features of that setting, so all you need to do is expand on them.

If you have a good number of parts, but they are in a rainbow of colors, you can still work on the project you want, but focus on the shapes and techniques rather than the colors. Once you are happy with the design, you can swap out the wrong colored pieces with the correct ones by purchasing them on BrickLink or at LEGO's Pick-A-Brick section.

It is sometimes difficult however to ignore a bunch of bright colors when all you want to build is a mostly gray space-station. So you can combine building with the bricks you have, and virtual building in LEGO Digital Designer. Once you are done, you can count exactly how many bricks you need to buy in which color.

In general I found that even if you are on a smaller budget or lacking space, it is a good idea to have a fairly large stack of bricks in one neutral color (grays, tans and white are the best in my experience), so you can model pretty much anything without being distracted by a rainbow of colors. This way you can work out the shape, size and design of pretty much anything, and then later switch out the pieces with the correct colors. This technique also significantly reduces the cost of projects, because you don't end up buying sets and pieces you don't want.

However if you are completely against shopping on BrickLink or at Pick-A-Brick, there are some sets that might work with your Star Wars project. I'm particularly thinking of the LEGO Minecraft sets because they contain large quantities of basic pieces in earth-tone colors (tans, browns, greens, grays, blues, white and black). They are pretty much the same as the LEGO Classic Brick Boxes that you purchased already, but with earthy tones. They are very useful for creating more realistic landscapes, buildings, etc.

Answer 2

While I wholeheartedly agree with all of TheBrickBlogger's advice here I would add a few suggestions:

• The LEGO Architecture Studio has 1200 bricks that are mostly white with a few transparent parts.

  

  That is a huge number and variety of bricks all in the same color. They chose white because it is the classic color for architectural models, but it became the classic color because it blends nicely with almost everything. Since it isn't a bright color it won't clash with whatever you're trying to do as long as it isn't Bat Man. You have a lot of city elements already which use white alot so this should fit nicely.

• Use your bright bricks for structural elements. Many LEGO sets include red and blue bricks that you never see when the model is completed. Having these be a nice contrasting color makes their instruction books easier to follow, but it also helps you by using your available bricks more efficiently.
• If you're trying to build things that go with your starwars models check out the new Death Star. In addition to some great minifigs you'll have tons of grey bricks to build anything with.