One down 10,000 to go...

[JimBee]

Congrats, Eilif! It must be quite an accomplishment to finish sorting all of that Lego. Now you should be able to build MOCs lightning fast, so let's see 'em! I will post my sorted Lego here when I finish.

[Eilif]

Other Organization Details

This will probably be the last "content" post for this blog. I finished the sorting a few days ago, but here's some details of my organization that weren't covered in the proceeding posts.

Here's the shelving unit.

The lower left and right corners of the shelves have shoebox size plastic cases. They hold some of the odd sized pieces that take up alot of room such as BURPS, castle wall pieces, motors and battery packs, boat pieces, and as seen below, odd sized wall pieces and 3 boxes of wheels.

The green accordion files contain LEGO brochures and instructions.

On the right and left end of the system are my figure shelves. I keep almost all my figures assembled, with only some in parts in drawers. Probably less than half of the figures are just as they would have come in sets. This organization system makes it very easy to find a certain figure or figure parts. Luckily the 2nd floor room where my LEGO has comparatively little dust, and a very light feather dusting every couple months is more than adequate.

Here's the left side of the desk. On the top, you will notice the PAB cups. These are where I will put bricks by color as I acquire them, and when a cup is full, I'll sort it into my collection.

Here's a selection of the drawer contents showing some of the ways I organize various "special" parts

Well that's it, thanks for following this undertaking of mine. I'm quite pleased with the results, but the real test will be my next undertaking. I will be adding some significant additions to Brickington Island, and if the organization system is truly workable, I should be able to access, build with, and sort out the bricks with minimal difficulty. Now on to the building...

Edited November 12, 2008 by Eilif

[iamded]

I owe you one mighty congratulations. Congratulations! That looks absolutely brilliant now, maybe I can try my hand at something like this, it's definately what I want my collection to be like one day. So nice and organised! So again, congratulations! :thumbup:

~Peace

[Guss]

I have to say.... you did it very very very well Eilif, Congratulation !

I wish I had your collection, well organized in your boxes , and the room too... well, can you teleport the entire room to my apartment please ? XD

[Eilif]

I owe you one mighty congratulations. Congratulations! That looks absolutely brilliant now, maybe I can try my hand at something like this, it's definately what I want my collection to be like one day. So nice and organised! So again, congratulations! :thumbup:

~Peace

Thanks, it's really pleasing to have it all done, and it seems to be a good sustainable system. I bought a PAB cup this weekend, and it contained about a dozen different kinds of bricks. It only took me a couple of minutes to get it all sorted and organized.

I should mention that I didn't succeed on all counts. One of the goals was to have all pieces accessible while sitting in my chair. The second tier of bulk tile cups are just out of reach when sitting. Doesn't bother me though.

I have to say.... you did it very very very well Eilif, Congratulation !

I wish I had your collection, well organized in your boxes , and the room too... well, can you teleport the entire room to my apartment please ? XD

Thanks, I'll get to work on the teleporter....

[Thee Pirate]

That is a great idea for sorting minifigs. I'm definitely taking this from you. I have more orange and yellow bricks than I know what to do with, so I can definitely build up a rack for some of my baseplates.

Kudos on that

[gogobig]

Wow it looks like you have a nice collection going on there. Im more of a castle-pirate fan, along with vikings ofcourse. I have the exact same thing going on very soon-assorting all the bricks and so on. The main reson for that is that I am planning to do this huge project that might take me couple of years to finish.

[Eilif]

That is a great idea for sorting minifigs. I'm definitely taking this from you. I have more orange and yellow bricks than I know what to do with, so I can definitely build up a rack for some of my baseplates.

Kudos on that

I can't take credit for the stackable figure rack, I found a similar thing on Lugnet a few years back. I'm glad I could pass the idea to you though. It really does make it incredibly easy to find whatever minifig parts you are looking for. Asside from headgear, my unassembled minifig parts only take up one small and one large drawer in my drawer organizer. I can't imagine how I would organize my figure parts if they were all disassembled, especially since I may now have over 900 minifigs if you count the ones that are stored separately as part of my NILTC club module.

Wow it looks like you have a nice collection going on there. Im more of a castle-pirate fan, along with vikings ofcourse. I have the exact same thing going on very soon-assorting all the bricks and so on. The main reson for that is that I am planning to do this huge project that might take me couple of years to finish.

Thanks. Those used to be my favorite themes also. I feel a bit guilty that I have been neglecting them in favor of town for the last couple years. I keep telling myself that eventually I'll do some castle and/or pirate MOCs. I've amassed quite a collection of castle wall pieces that are just begging to be put to use. Best of luck on your project, I think you'll find that sorting your brick makes it a lot easier to build and build quickly

Edited November 14, 2008 by Eilif

[Alldarker]

Nice job Eilif, it's been a very interesting set of progress rapports! I especially admire the way in which you are thinking ahead about sorting the new pieces you get: all too often I have found my sorting efforts slowly losing effect as more pices enter the collection.

[Oken]

I wonder how many time do you spend to sort all the bricks of a disassembled big MOC? :D

[Eilif]

I wonder how many time do you spend to sort all the bricks of a disassembled big MOC? :D

Good question, I usually disassemble MOCs and sets when I need the pieces for a new MOC. Some of the largest things that I have disassembled in recent memory, are Cafe Corner, and Market street. Becuase even large MOCs and sets tend to use alot of the same pieces, sorting them back into my collection is quite quick. Second to being able to easily find the piece you are looking for, being able to quickly sort brick back into your collection is probably the bigggest benefit of a good sorting system.

I just finished sorting and storing 2 very mixed full LEGO tubs worth of bricks back into the collection, and it was probably the work of an afternoon and two evenings. If I was more disciplined about sorting, 5 minutes of sorting each time I build would likely keep me from ever having to do large scale sorting.

[Peppermint_M]

You have more patience than me!

I have just begun my deconstruction of older MOCs and bought sets. I have a dreadful habit of tacking some sets apart a bit for a MOC and then leaving the rest until I am knee deep in Lego... I have just finished sorting my minifigs (torsos in Castle, Town/Normal, SF, Adventurer/Steampunk, Unprinted and Misc. Legs by Printed, Plain and Different colour Hips and heads by alien,yellow and flesh tone.) Took ages, now I have a box full of unsorted Lego a box with partialy deconstructed sets and MOCs and strewn about my sorting boxes... Gah, I have too many deadlines to sort it out at the moment but it grates on my inner filing monkey.

At least some people are super organised to make up for us rummage and see Lego owners

[Skipper 24]

You have more patience than me!

I have just begun my deconstruction of older MOCs and bought sets. I have a dreadful habit of tacking some sets apart a bit for a MOC and then leaving the rest until I am knee deep in Lego... I have just finished sorting my minifigs (torsos in Castle, Town/Normal, SF, Adventurer/Steampunk, Unprinted and Misc. Legs by Printed, Plain and Different colour Hips and heads by alien,yellow and flesh tone.) Took ages, now I have a box full of unsorted Lego a box with partialy deconstructed sets and MOCs and strewn about my sorting boxes... Gah, I have too many deadlines to sort it out at the moment but it grates on my inner filing monkey.

At least some people are super organised to make up for us rummage and see Lego owners

Funnily enough that is my problem too. I usually dissemble my MOCs which tend to be quite small a few days after they are finished. I really need to start uploading some pics of them too to get some feedback on them.

[Eilif]

You have more patience than me!

I have just begun my deconstruction of older MOCs and bought sets. I have a dreadful habit of tacking some sets apart a bit for a MOC and then leaving the rest until I am knee deep in Lego... I have just finished sorting my minifigs (torsos in Castle, Town/Normal, SF, Adventurer/Steampunk, Unprinted and Misc. Legs by Printed, Plain and Different colour Hips and heads by alien,yellow and flesh tone.) Took ages, now I have a box full of unsorted Lego a box with partialy deconstructed sets and MOCs and strewn about my sorting boxes... Gah, I have too many deadlines to sort it out at the moment but it grates on my inner filing monkey.

At least some people are super organised to make up for us rummage and see Lego owners

Have you considered having a few small boxes and sorting them by color as you take apart set or acquire new sets? I've tried to do something like this in the past, and it makes it alot easier. With the bricks already separated by color you can decide to sort just one color at a time, so it doesn't seem like you have to sort it all at once, which can be quite overwhelming.

Also, I don't want to rain on your parade, since you have the commendable patience to sort your minifig parts, but I've found that the best way to find minifig parts is to have as many as possible assembled on minifigs, and have the minifigs on baseplates so that I can quickly look over the figs and find the parts that I am looking for. It takes a bit more time, but I've found it to be waaay faster.

Whatever you decide, good luck satisfing your inner filing monkey.

Funnily enough that is my problem too. I usually dissemble my MOCs which tend to be quite small a few days after they are finished. I really need to start uploading some pics of them too to get some feedback on them.

You should definitely upload them. One of the best ways to grow as a builder is to get other people's comments and criticisms (criticisms are the most usefull if you can take it) on your MOCs, and I can assure you we'd like to see them.

As for rate of disassembly, most of my MOCs are for my train club module, so they tend to stay together for quite a while. The bulk of my mess comes from pieces left over after I build, or leftover from sets I take apart for pieces.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Eilif

[Peppermint_M]

I've found that the best way to find minifig parts is to have as many as possible assembled on minifigs, and have the minifigs on baseplates so that I can quickly look over the figs and find the parts that I am looking for. It takes a bit more time, but I've found it to be waaay faster.

I used to have them all assembled and stored in bowls (that is how I was able to sort them so quickly) but I found that they took up more space where it is premium and too display them would take up waay more space than I have (also it may be too much temptation for my brother), I have three Glis boxes from Ikea and they stack neatly in the same space one bowl of figures (I have about 300 or so) fitted. Now I have my newest and favourites assembled for MOCing and display.

BTW, Thanks for the advice, come the summer I shall be sorting bricks by colour and then type

[Eilif]

I used to have them all assembled and stored in bowls (that is how I was able to sort them so quickly) but I found that they took up more space where it is premium and too display them would take up waay more space than I have (also it may be too much temptation for my brother), I have three Glis boxes from Ikea and they stack neatly in the same space one bowl of figures (I have about 300 or so) fitted. Now I have my newest and favourites assembled for MOCing and display.

BTW, Thanks for the advice, come the summer I shall be sorting bricks by colour and then type

Happy to be of help. I saw your post in the IKEA thread, and it appears that disassmembly and sorting of parts is really the best option for you considering the small amount of storage space that you have. All the best with the sorting!

Edited April 15, 2009 by Eilif

[Milan]

I really enjoyed reading this sorting job. It was pleasure for me to do with my collection.

Good work!

[Asilla]

I just started to collect Lego (again) and Sunday I bought 10 kg of old mixed and pretty dirty lego brix. Fist I put them in the washingmachine and after that I sorted them

in colors mostly, wheels, tiny bits and base plates.

That is where I am right now, but 10 kg is not that much here

And I have ONE minifig only and he has only one arm, poor man.

[Big Cam]

What a great thread to be bumped, this was a joy to look through again. It gives us all hope that sorting is possible.

[Eilif]

I just started to collect Lego (again) and Sunday I bought 10 kg of old mixed and pretty dirty lego brix. Fist I put them in the washingmachine and after that I sorted them

in colors mostly, wheels, tiny bits and base plates.

That is where I am right now, but 10 kg is not that much here

And I have ONE minifig only and he has only one arm, poor man.

Thanks for sharing about your sorting. However, as glad as I am to see on of my favorite topics again, all sorting posts unrelated to this particular sort are now supposed to be kept in this pinned topic: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26213

Thanks and welcome to Eurobricks!

What a great thread to be bumped, this was a joy to look through again. It gives us all hope that sorting is possible.

Thanks, glad to be of inspiration.

[Mommee_Of_Two]

Now all of my minifigs are out of the bins and bags, and easily accessible.

DO YOU HAVE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW I CAN BUILD YOUR MINIFIGURE STRUCTURE FOR MY SON?! :/ I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT! I CAN'T SEEM TO FIGURE IT OUT JUST FROM THE PICTURE. Mommee_of_two at Yahoo . com

[Transparency for Effect]

On the right and left end of the system are my figure shelves. I keep almost all my figures assembled, with only some in parts in drawers. Probably less than half of the figures are just as they would have come in sets. This organization system makes it very easy to find a certain figure or figure parts. Luckily the 2nd floor room where my LEGO has comparatively little dust, and a very light feather dusting every couple months is more than adequate.

Wow, that's pretty good. Wish I had come up with that first actually, as I am also in need for some sort of Minifigure storage.

[Eilif]

DO YOU HAVE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW I CAN BUILD YOUR MINIFIGURE STRUCTURE FOR MY SON?! :/ I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT! I CAN'T SEEM TO FIGURE IT OUT JUST FROM THE PICTURE. Mommee_of_two at Yahoo . com

Sorry about the late reply.

Unfortunately the minifig rack is long gone. I needed more space so I moved them into shelves in the Ikea strucure that is hiding behind the big blue brickish thing in the right corner of this pic.

It's the IKEA IVAR system.

http://www.ikea.com/...ing_room/11703/

The You can get whatever height side supports you want, but this shelf...

http://www.ikea.com/...ducts/60166573/

... is just a bit deeper than 32 studs and the distance between the supports is just over 48 studs, so I can comfortably fit a standard 32x32 and half size 16x32 baseplate side by side on each shelf. I put a shelf in every 4th layer of mounting holes and have currently got over 8 shelves full.

It might seem odd to buy a whole structure for your minifigs, but you can get shelves or cabinets for the rest of the space and the sides and whole system actually end up being cheaper than buying the amount of brick required to build the rack which took up nearly my entire collection of technic brick.