Renewing an old addiction :)

[Hauntedwebby]

Hello all,

My real world name is LeAnna, but all my friends call me Webby. The Haunted part comes from my love of Halloween and the Webby comes from website design way back in the day.

I grew up playing with Legos, but then did the family thing. Now I'm back creating with Legos. It started up again with a Xmas present of the Monster Fighters Haunted House last year. In four months, I have added all the Monster Fighters sets. I have also added a few Lego Movie sets and the new Elves. I have mixed feelings about the "girl" sets being pink/purple/pastel. Oh why, oh why do toy companies think they have to separate the genders, but that is a separate conversation.

I just picked up a local buy of 167 pounds of Legos. It was a happy joy moment! Then it became better when I started to examine what was in it. One of the boxes was full of instructions from all different decades and one box was full of set boxes that had been flattened for storage. A few of the blocks look vintage. They are "red" but not like modern red color and they are missing the tubes to help connect the bricks. They do say LEGO on the studs, so either they are old or knockoffs.

I'm currently working on a MOC from Stefano Mapelli of a French palace, but have been modifying it to make it a Haunted Palace. :) I'm trying to learn all the new techniques that people have developed over the years. Eventually I'd like to create a large castle worthy of Dracula, himself. :) When you build displays for a city, do you complete the inside design, even if it is not seen? Or do you modify it the design so a wall can be opened? or half the building can be open to look inside?

Now that I have this huge instant collection of Legos I need to figure out a sort and storage solution. I'm thinking about Ziplock containers because they are cheap, flexible in size and see through, but will need lots of them. For sorting I'm thinking of different stages of sorting:

• Top level - Color
  
• 2nd level - Bricks, Tiles, Plates, Slopes, Plants, Special
  
• 3rd level - size
  

The idea is to once I have lots of a color, then I sort that lot out into the 2nd level, then once I have lots of that level, then sort them even more. Any thoughts? over thinking it? under thinking it?

Of course, I want to catalog all of my Legos to avoid buying what I already have. I've started with Rebrickable.com, since it works with BrickSet.com and BrickLink.com. Are there better options? Are there any extra smart programmers out there that have made a Lego recognition application? I would love to have something that I can take a picture of a brick and it would recognize the element, size, and possibly the color then add it to the catalog. Some of the pieces I have I have never seen before and am not sure what they are called.

Cheers

Webby

[dr_spock]

Welcome aboard, Webby.

Interior or no interior is up to you and your intention for the MOC.

There is a help identify this part thread in the general section. You post up a picture there and chances are good someone would know it.

[Hauntedwebby]

Hello dr_spock,

Thank you for the welcome.

I'm torn between interior design. I like them, but feel it can waste bricks. They complete the feel of a design by adding a living demotion to it, but if it's not seen then why bother? Oh the decisions :) I almost wish Lego had large clear plates, like windows, to allow easy view inside but still keep a structure strong. Like a 4 x 8 or 10 frameless window. Hmm I woder if I can mod a couple of 1 x 8s to add slots to fit thin plexy in. Or just use the 1 x 2 plates with the channel, then have thin plex sit between those and add Lego curtains to hide the edge.

Now I have something to experiment with tomorrow instead of cleaning and sorting. Wahoo!

Cheers :D

Webby

[Balbo]

Welcome to eurobricks, Webby

Have fun!

[deraven]

Hi Webby - welcome to EB!

On the sorting, first, if you haven't already seen this classic, you should take a few minutes to read it: The Evolution of Lego Sorting

It's really easy to both under- and over-think a sorting system, but the one key piece of advice I'd give is to not start by color. I'd go with General Category/Type, then Specific Piece/Size, then lastly by Color. The rationale is simple: while it's easy to do an initial sort by color, it doesn't really help when you're working with your collection. That is, if I'm looking for a red 2x4, it's a lot easier to find that in a box full of different colored 2x4s than in a big box of red "everything". That's my 2 cents, anyway!

[Q3671]

i sort by color, it's a mess, lol

[LittleJohn]

Welcome to Eurobricks!

[Kelso]

Hello LeAnna, welcome to Eurobricks!

[Captain Braunsfeld]

Welcome to Eurobricks!

On sorting: What works for me is to have

- "common bricks" in large boxes by colour

- "special but numerous bricks" in large boxes with mixed colours.

- "special bricks in small number" in different segments of small boxes (used for screws, nails, etc. by "normal people").

I.e. I'll have all the simple white bricks in one box (2x4, 2x3, 2x2, 1x2, 1x3...)

and I would have epaulettes, mushrooms and apples in separete compartments of small boxes.

Arches would go in a large box, but in mixed colours.

Helpful?

[Hauntedwebby]

Hi Webby - welcome to EB!

On the sorting, first, if you haven't already seen this classic, you should take a few minutes to read it: The Evolution of Lego Sorting

Oh my deraven you made my day! I'm reading the info on the link you provided, and it was describing me lol I'm chuckling like an insane person.

I'm sitting in my living room with some freshly washed Legos, all red. I have a bucket for plates, a really big bucket for bricks, small ones for slops and tiles, really small ones each for 1x dots, 1x tiles, cones, and finally a hugh WTH bucket of things I'm not sure what to do with yet.

Cheers

Webby

[Robert8]

Welcome back to the coolest addiction ever!

[incomplet]

Welcome to Eurobricks