Find instructions and parts for out of date lego kits...
I have been trying to find information about the Lego Discovery Kit 7471 - Mars Exploration Rover kit. This kit is no longer in production. I had the following questions.
1) Can I find the instructions online?
2) Can I find the parts list online?
3) Can I order those parts from Lego?
4) Could I buy a couple of currently produced kits and have most of the parts for this kit?
5) How much would it cost me to buy this kit on eBay?
So after doing a few google searches I came up with the following answers and useful information.
Answer 1: (Can I find the instructions on line?) Yes, from several sources.
First, if you go to http://www.lego.com, under customer service is a link labelled "Build Instructions" which for me currently goes to this link http://service.lego.com/en-us/buildinginstructions/.
Other sources for instructions are the following:
http://www.peeron.com
http://www.brickinstructions.com
http://www.brickset.com
Answer 2: (Can I find the parts list online?) Yes, http://www.peeron.com, was one place I found a list of parts. I suspect more exist.
Answer 3: (Can I order those parts from Lego?) Most of them. It turns out some of the parts were very specific to that kit (e.g. the solar panels). Also, some of the parts have changed part numbers over time. Here again http://www.peeron.com was helpful. There database linked to "nearly identical" parts and which kits they can be found in.
Answer 4: (Could I buy a couple of currently produced kits and have most of the parts for this kit?) With some research using http://www.peeron.com you can figure out which kits you could buy that would get you most of the parts.
Answer 5: (How much would it cost me to buy this kit on eBay?) It is available on eBay. I have seen it priced from $60 to $300.
This did bring up the question in my mind. Is there a "Master Kit"? If I buy kits X, Y, Z can I then rebuild all other kits. The answer of course is no. However, it is possible to say, "I have kits x, y, z" and using http://www.peeron.com website you can tell them what kits you have and they will tell you what other kits you can build. Very cool feature.
1) Can I find the instructions online?
2) Can I find the parts list online?
3) Can I order those parts from Lego?
4) Could I buy a couple of currently produced kits and have most of the parts for this kit?
5) How much would it cost me to buy this kit on eBay?
So after doing a few google searches I came up with the following answers and useful information.
Answer 1: (Can I find the instructions on line?) Yes, from several sources.
First, if you go to http://www.lego.com, under customer service is a link labelled "Build Instructions" which for me currently goes to this link http://service.lego.com/en-us/buildinginstructions/.
Other sources for instructions are the following:
http://www.peeron.com
http://www.brickinstructions.com
http://www.brickset.com
Answer 2: (Can I find the parts list online?) Yes, http://www.peeron.com, was one place I found a list of parts. I suspect more exist.
Answer 3: (Can I order those parts from Lego?) Most of them. It turns out some of the parts were very specific to that kit (e.g. the solar panels). Also, some of the parts have changed part numbers over time. Here again http://www.peeron.com was helpful. There database linked to "nearly identical" parts and which kits they can be found in.
Answer 4: (Could I buy a couple of currently produced kits and have most of the parts for this kit?) With some research using http://www.peeron.com you can figure out which kits you could buy that would get you most of the parts.
Answer 5: (How much would it cost me to buy this kit on eBay?) It is available on eBay. I have seen it priced from $60 to $300.
This did bring up the question in my mind. Is there a "Master Kit"? If I buy kits X, Y, Z can I then rebuild all other kits. The answer of course is no. However, it is possible to say, "I have kits x, y, z" and using http://www.peeron.com website you can tell them what kits you have and they will tell you what other kits you can build. Very cool feature.
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