Cutting the cost of building the Hogwarts crest
Posted by Huw,
LachlanStott has contributed this article about building the full Hogwarts crest on a budget:
When I first saw 31201 Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests and the standard builds, I, like many other people, was less than impressed. I'm a Ravenclaw myself, but had little interest in building the Ravenclaw crest that 31201 had to offer.
I was, however, very tempted by the full Hogwarts Crest build, but baulked at the idea of having to buy four full sets.
I did a lot of research, and couldn't find anyone online that had worked out whether it could actually be built with just three sets, plus nine additional technic bases. All the reviews kept talking about how many hundreds/thousands of spare plates were in each pack, so I thought I would just give it a go.
Now, I live in Australia, where the retail cost is $179 per set. It's generally for sale closer to $149 at Kmart (like Walmart) and I managed to get them very cheap for just $123 each. This is still quite a lot of money if you need to buy four, but it's definitely a good start on saving some cash.
Being a Ravenclaw, I first built the bottom right corner of the crest, and had only one full set opened. I wanted to see how close to finishing it could I get with just one of the four sets. You might think "that's easy, of course you can finish it", but remember it expects you to have four times the normal number of studs in any one colour, so I wasn't at all sure. In the end it got very close, having just 10 studs missing.
My suggestion is to ensure you have all colours clearly separated out, as it's not that difficult to get confused by the grey ones, see my setup here. You'll need a tablet/computer handy, as the instructions in the sets only have the standard build, not the alternate 4 x set build.
Next I built Gryffindor and Slytherin.
By the time Slytherin was finished I had just started to run out of studs for one colour.
Now was the tricky part, building the fourth quarter of the set, Hufflepuff. Some colours I knew I had more than enough of, but others I was confident I would run out of quite quickly. The first one or two 16 x 16 plates were almost complete, but as I got further and further along more and more of each square was blank.
When I had built all I could, I had a look at the total studs I still had leftover, and boy there were a lot! I had actually opened one too many of the Dark Red bags, so if you're doing this, keep two of the three bags sealed.
Now the fun part - the list of all that you'll need if you're trying to do this yourself:
- 3 x 31201 Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests
- 9 x 6302092 (BRICK 4/3, 16X16 W/ 4.85 HOLE, design: 65803, colour: Black)
- 92 x 614126 (ROUND PLATE 1X1, design: 6141, colour: Black)
- 90 x 6038201 (PLATE 1X1 ROUND, design: 6141, colour: Titanium Metallic)
- 364 x 4633691 (PLATE 1X1 ROUND, design: 6141, colour: Silver Metallic)
- 181 x 4211525 (ROUND PLATE 1X1, design: 6141, colour: Medium Stone Grey)
- 4 x 614121 (ROUND PLATE 1X1, design: 6141, colour: Bright Red)
- 30 x 4121715 (CONNECTOR PEG W. FRICTION, design: 2780, colour: Black)
Here's a BrickLink wanted list XML file containing the parts that can be uploaded to BrickLink to make purchasing them easier.
If you're going to the trouble of purchasing these, I'd suggest ordering a few more of each, just in case. I'd also recommend adding additional bracing to the set as I have below. You do get a bunch of dark blue grey and black 2 x 6 plates, but I used other colours that I had less use for. I also added in 25 4x4 plates on each of the corners for additional bracing.
When you purchase these at Bricklink, the price will vary, especially depending on where you live. Overall the additional parts including postage in two separate orders cost me $28 for the studs, plus $45 for the Technic bases. This is about half what I would have paid if I could get another set on the significant discount I managed.
So overall, is it worth the hassle? I think yes. It would have been a whole lot simpler for me if I had the list above of the additional pieces I was going to need, so hopefully this helps at least a few of you get the full Hogwarts crest a bit cheaper than buying 4 sets outright. Just be prepared for this to take hours and hours: it's a total of over 9200 studs, plus then all the framing - so spread it out over several days to give your thumbs a chance to recover!
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35 comments on this article
Thanks for the article. Very interesting. I am planning to find a good promo and buy all four and keep the leftovers for some mini scale crests that I Saw online. Nevertheless good job!
I did buy four sets but didn't like how it favored Gryffindor with the red and gold in the middle H. Also, more gold in Hufflepuff when their color is yellow? The house colors were simply not represented - no bronze for Ravenclaw and the bird looked a bit like one of those inkblot tests - you say it's a bird so I guess I see it. I revised the build by cutting down on the mat gold in Gryffindor and using metalic gold. I replaced the mid-range gray in Slytherin with metalic silver. Both of these give a great effect with side lighting. I replaced the primary gray in Ravenclaw with bronze pieces but had to cheat since there aren't any bronze Lego pieces...yes, I painted them and they turned out amazing. I also trimmed down the wings a bit make them more distinct. (not much) Then I replaced the gold in Hufflepuff with yellow and broadened the body a little. I liked the white but replaced them with translucent clear for a reflective effect which the other three have with the metallic replacements. For the center H I put a background of diagonal white and gray stripes and made the H black and a different gray but where the bright red was i used 1x1translucent slopes. The effect was the biggest and best surprise - it glows when viewed from a slight side angle. It cost me $60 to gather enough metallic gold and silver but now I have what I consider a much more accurate crest. Very satisfying. I also reinforced the back and then put on 9 32x32 base plates. I confess that here too I cheated and used a wanna-be base plate (cheaper) but they won't be seen and made the picture super solid and easily mounted without any possibility of shifting. ginger
Here is a way to save 467 USD to achieve the same art for your wall. (Albeit a lot less fun) https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Hogwarts-Gryffindor-Slytherin/dp/B016OCR1LI
i have also done this. just yesterday.
Fascinating! The sheer volume of spare parts left over from building these mosaics always amazes me. I recently finished a two panel version of the big Darth Vader picture from 31200 and had so much left over I got most of 31202 Mickey Mouse out of it as well! (just had to source the base plates, and the white 1x1 plates)
Wow! That looks so good!
I would love to know how this carries over for the 3 panel iron man mosaic as well!
Gandalf would be proud.
As someone who lives in Australia, I can confirm that Kmart is the Australian Walmart, in the good ways and the bad. After I saw two full grown adults and their kid tearing open 75299 to get the Beskar Mando figure, I decided to shop online for lego from then on. I guess this kind of set does not pose that risk though.
This is a great idea - thanks for documenting this for the rest of us!
Personally, I don’t love how much empty space the full crest has around the edges (in addition to how much it costs). I’d like to buy three kits and try to make a 5x5 panel version, rather than the full 6x6 (or possibly even a 4x4 with just two kits, and a tiny bit of redesign to make it smaller). I’ve messed around with this a bit using a spreadsheet to plan it out, but I haven’t actually jumped for it yet.
Great article and thank you for taking the time to work this out.
I have bought all The art sets so far. In the UK I've seen the art sets reduced down to as low as £52 but anything below £75 and I'll snap them up.
Even with this cost reduction the finished product is still not worth the money IMO. I'd rather get a much cheaper and better looking Displate.
Solid method! I actually helped a friend do something very similar a month or two ago. I went through the instructions for the combo mosaic and counted out how many of each color were used (I could probably find the Google Sheet somewhere if people are interested), and then they were able to go through their collection and order exactly how many they needed, in addition to the bases and some of the outer structure. Definitely a bit tedious but it was fun to go through and see how it came together since I wouldn't ever build it myself
@regnigskraps:
The set is based on the movies, so it uses the alternate House colors from the movies rather than the original ones from the books. And there is a bronze-colored part. They made the 1x1 round plate in chrome antique brass for the golden snitch in set 4719, and in a capacity that I can't spot in both versions of 4768. However, there's only enough listed on Bricklink right now to accomodate about 1.5 full crests, and it'd cost you about $1000 to buy enough to make one.
@regnigskraps said:
"I did buy four sets but didn't like how it favored Gryffindor with the red and gold in the middle H. Also, more gold in Hufflepuff when their color is yellow? The house colors were simply not represented - no bronze for Ravenclaw and the bird looked a bit like one of those inkblot tests - you say it's a bird so I guess I see it. I revised the build by ..."
Have you posted your finished model online anywhere? I'd love to see the results. Sounds like an excellent job.
Tremendous work.
@graymattr said:
" @regnigskraps said:
"I did buy four sets but didn't like how it favored Gryffindor with the red and gold in the middle H. Also, more gold in Hufflepuff when their color is yellow? The house colors were simply not represented - no bronze for Ravenclaw and the bird looked a bit like one of those inkblot tests - you say it's a bird so I guess I see it. I revised the build by ..."
Have you posted your finished model online anywhere? I'd love to see the results. Sounds like an excellent job.
"
Yes, I wanted to say the same. Please share a pic!
It's always nice to hear ways to save when it comes to LEGO. The want is always more than the budget.
I have only done the Marilyn one so far and the tiles are so smooth it's kind of therapeutic, no sharp edges. I hope to get the HP crest set at some point, so this article may come in handy.
Wait, you still have Kmarts down there? Apparently they survived after all!
Interesting to see lots of blue and green left over, and mainly short on grey, silver, metallic and black. Useful to know that just need to buy around 500 round plates rather than the 4249 in another 31201. Wonder if anyone else has attempted the same with either the 3 Star Wars or 3 Marvel sets rather than buying 4 of each?
It's $59.21 here in the United States to order all of the required extra parts from Lego.com through the Bricks & Pieces service. That's just under half the cost of a fourth 31201, so the question for a prospective buyer is if the 3,478 1x1 round plates left over, the 2x4 printed Harry Potter tile, and the packaging are worth the other $60.
Bricks & Pieces orders earn VIP points but do not count towards Gifts with Purchase promotional items. Double VIP point offers are the optimal times to make B&P orders.
Shipping is $2.95 if you just order B&P alone, but adding any other item to your carts gets you free shipping--even a single brick from the online Pick-A-Brick option. Bricklink has better prices on many bricks but the shipping costs from multiple orders adds up in a hurry.
I have also build the large crest but I gathered everything a little different (Belgium - Lego store price 31201 - 130€)
I only bought 1 x 31201 for 130€ (Could do it cheaper if not bought at Lego store)
Ordered the rest on bricklink for 184€ (In 3 different stores)
Total 314€
Note: If I would have bought 2x31201 the total price would have been 365€
The only reason why I bought an original box are the dark red studs that were at 0.14€/piece at the time I needed them. (Now you can find them much cheaper) and the printed HP tile (which is easily available on bricklink if wanted)
@FuddRuckus said:
"It's $59.21 here in the United States to order all of the required extra parts from Lego.com through the Bricks & Pieces service. That's just under half the cost of a fourth 31201, so the question for a prospective buyer is if the 3,478 1x1 round plates left over, the 2x4 printed Harry Potter tile, and the packaging are worth the other $60.
Bricks & Pieces orders earn VIP points but do not count towards Gifts with Purchase promotional items. Double VIP point offers are the optimal times to make B&P orders.
Shipping is $2.95 if you just order B&P alone, but adding any other item to your carts gets you free shipping--even a single brick from the online Pick-A-Brick option. Bricklink has better prices on many bricks but the shipping costs from multiple orders adds up in a hurry."
Lego bricks & pieces isn't quite the same in Australia. Firstly postage is $12.50, and there's also a limit of 200 on any one piece, so bricklink was really the best option.
Good thing I am not interested in any of these. Saving tons and tons of money and not even have to worry or think about it.
" @LachlanStott said:
Lego bricks & pieces isn't quite the same in Australia. Firstly postage is $12.50, and there's also a limit of 200 on any one piece, so bricklink was really the best option."
I hope my post did not come across as combative! I know Bricks & Pieces varies by country, and I was trying to assist my fellow Americans.
Your note about the 200 limit per piece is something I overlooked. I needed 288 dark red 1x1 rounds for a mosaic I made last year which I had to split over two orders. That obviously would need to be done again here with the silver metallic 1x1 rounds (4633691).
That adds another $6.56 for a grand total of $65.77 USD + tax. There's a Bricklink seller with the same parts for $64.34 + tax (including shipping), but VIP points (single or double) make Bricks & Pieces better for me. I wish I could get the full sets for less than retail but no sales here on these just yet.
@LachlanStott:
I've run into that per-element limit before, too. I was able to get around it by adding 200pcs to the bag, and then using +1 to slooooooowly raise the quantity to what I actually wanted (I think it was 1000). And then when I mentioned this to some other members of my LUG, one of them told me a much easier trick. Apparently you are creating a B&P "bag", and then you can change the quantity of bags that you want to buy from the shopping cart. So, if you want 1000, you just put 200pcs in the bag, and buy five bags.
I'd make the grey boarders smaller, the actual crest is gold lined and the Hufflepuff should be yellow instead they tried to get away with reusing the gold. I understand why Lego did what they did and that people want the official set but at that cost and since you're already ordering parts I'd chose to not to compromise.
@PurpleDave said:
"Apparently you are creating a B&P "bag", and then you can change the quantity of bags that you want to buy from the shopping cart. So, if you want 1000, you just put 200pcs in the bag, and buy five bags."
Now that's clever.
Thank you very much for this hint, will definitely come in handy at some point.
Thanks for this article, it makes for an interesting and informative read.
Personally, I have little love for this particular combo, it might come in handy if I decide to get it for my sister who is a mad Harry Potter fan.
But now I am looking at the Iron Man Ultimate build and wondering if something like this is possible... though I'm thinking not since each the three base options all use pretty much the same color scheme.
Poor Ravenclaws, still no Eagle :(
@Kokan:
Every one of these mosaics is going to have a completely different break-even point, based on the quantity of parts included in that set (which varies _a_lot_), the quantity of each color used in the multi-panel build, and the resale value of those parts (which probably varies even more). This report mentions having multiple unopened bags of round 1x1 plates left over, so even shorting one mosaic isn’t guaranteed to result in a 100% depletion of parts.
@Klaj:
The HP license is for the movies, not the books. For this mosaic, Ravenclaw gets movie colors and movie mascot.
Very cool! An idea I had was to build it at 1/4 scale using only one kit. However, this would lower the resolution significantly, and it may be tricky to convert 16 pixels to 1 pixel.
Has anyone bought 4 crests and then also tried to make the separate houses in conjunction with the full mega crest? Does anyone know or have a link to what else I will need for those?
@nicoledsynicyn said:
"Has anyone bought 4 crests and then also tried to make the separate houses in conjunction with the full mega crest? Does anyone know or have a link to what else I will need for those?"
I can't visualize that
@fakespacesquid:
This article is about buying three copies of the set and building the Hogwarts crest that would normally require four copies. What @nicoledsynicyn seems to be asking is if anyone has bought four copies of the set and tried to build the eight panels required to display both the individual House crests and the larger Hogwarts crest at the same time, without actually changing the designs.
My guess is, based on this article, you'd need to buy six copies (since you need three and change for just the main Hogwarts crest), rather than four, and you'd still need to buy the backing components from two more mosaic sets.