emilstorm Posted May 20, 2014 Posted May 20, 2014 Wow, good result. Again I am surprised how good their condition is! I don't think your monorail will work though... :/ Quote
bacem Posted May 20, 2014 Posted May 20, 2014 wow, much nostalgia there. i imagine it would be quite a task to clean all those pieces. did the tree grow wild, or someone intentionally planted it there? Quote
BirdOPrey5 Posted May 20, 2014 Author Posted May 20, 2014 Wow, good result. Again I am surprised how good their condition is! I don't think your monorail will work though... :/ Yeah... I don't see any monorail track in the pieces though, remains to be seen if the motor piece is in there. Probably had a few other electric boxes- hopefully without batteries in them. wow, much nostalgia there. i imagine it would be quite a task to clean all those pieces. did the tree grow wild, or someone intentionally planted it there? Wild. Quote
eurotrash Posted May 20, 2014 Posted May 20, 2014 Good story, good pictures and a happy ending! Lego: It's got electrolytes - it's what plants crave... Quote
BirdOPrey5 Posted May 21, 2014 Author Posted May 21, 2014 About 10% though... a lot of mini figure pieces but few complete examples- A coup;e of complete mini figures so far... Quote
emilstorm Posted May 21, 2014 Posted May 21, 2014 Lucky you The condition yhet are in keeps amazing me! Do you know how long they were a flower pot? Quote
BirdOPrey5 Posted May 22, 2014 Author Posted May 22, 2014 Lucky you The condition yhet are in keeps amazing me! Do you know how long they were a flower pot? The cover had been open at least 3 years and could be as many as 8. They have been unused in the garbage since at least 2001. Quote
-Horizon- Posted May 22, 2014 Posted May 22, 2014 The cleaning has begun... Tried with a small sampling of pieces today. Unfortunately dish soap isn't going to be able to handle it. Used some Cascade on a few pieces, it did a great job with the dirt and the pieces seem to be fine. Sweet! nice Black-Tron pieces! Quote
emilstorm Posted May 26, 2014 Posted May 26, 2014 How's the cleaning going :) did you find any treasures in the pile :) Quote
BirdOPrey5 Posted May 26, 2014 Author Posted May 26, 2014 (edited) Well it's a multi step process... Yesterday we moved the last of the bricks from some garbage bags and a bin into a new (clean) garbage can with some small holes drilled in the bottom, filled it with hose water and some dish soap, and slowly draining water through it. This was necessary because we were finding the very first "wash" was turning the water completely black almost immediately- and soaking in black water didn't seem wise. 3 batches have dried so far representing about a third of the total collection, maybe a little less. What has become clear unfortunately is this was not my full collection. I am missing virtually all the monorail tracks and monorail motor and monorail cars, most of my train and tracks, two hulls from a fire and police boat, and a bunch of hull pieces from pirate ships, and a number of base plates. There is a theory now I had actually brought 2 garbage cans full of Lego but honestly I only remember bringing one. Still trying to remember what I might have done with those larger pieces. :( I did buy another monorail off eBay years ago so I could built it if I had the space to do so but I'm really curious what happened and would love the pirate ship hulls. I did find some masts. As for treasures- a lot of mini-figures I had forgotten about, been pulling them out as I find them after they are dried. Have a full Robin Hood would arrows and feather for his hat, oh and a Lego Ghost I had forgotten existed... otherwise a lot of space men and town folk. Here are pics of the pieces as they were drying- Oh, have been finding a few pieces of "Construx" mixed in, keeping them aside, and tossing (most) of the non-Lego pieces... Did find a nice looking Micro-Machine car yesterday, currently in wash. Edited May 26, 2014 by BirdOPrey5 Quote
emilstorm Posted May 26, 2014 Posted May 26, 2014 Ah, Micro-Machines, another fond memory :) That is a great collection, and I hope you find the missing stuff! Did you check the rest of your aunts flower pots :) It sounds like you came up with a good cleaning process, and it looks like it works really well. It's nice to follow your endeavor, and as someone stated above it's nice with a happy ending:) Quote
WhiteFang Posted May 26, 2014 Posted May 26, 2014 Nice! Real nice, this is like a blast in the past and reunite after so many years! I like how you unfold and share your story and experience with us through pictures! It really amazed to see so many LEGO elements and parts to be 'intact' and 'decent' after so long of exposing in the open! Quote
BirdOPrey5 Posted May 26, 2014 Author Posted May 26, 2014 It's amazing to think what these went through... we had summer days over 105 degrees F, winter nights below 0 F.... Hot and cold spells lasting days at a time... even hotter in the sun no doubt. Quote
Modulex Guy Posted May 26, 2014 Posted May 26, 2014 Even the white bricks still look... white! Amazing they didn't yellow! The progress of your cleaning is coming along quite nicely. Quote
BirdOPrey5 Posted May 26, 2014 Author Posted May 26, 2014 These are the mini-figures (complete or nearly complete) from the first 3 batches. I have several additional torsos missing hands and heads, and a couple legs. Quote
Phrea Posted May 31, 2014 Posted May 31, 2014 Wow, I'm stunned ! I don't understand how the LEGO could withstand that much punishment !! Is the LEGO brittle now, that you can see/feel? Is it really ok...? :D Amazing. Quote
BirdOPrey5 Posted June 1, 2014 Author Posted June 1, 2014 I was worried about birttleness but not finding any... I've tried bending some of the larger pieces like 1x10 or 12 tall bricks 4x12 plates and the like and they don't crack or break at all, they go back to their correct shape. A few 16x32 base plate got deformed, I think they were bent under pressure for a long time. I built lego up all round the edges to force them flat, I'll leave them for a few weeks and see if they go back to their correct shape. Quote
Phrea Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 NUTS ! From what I can see, there's at least 5 to 10K pieces there, and if most of the bricks' integrity is in tact, I am SO FRIGGIN JEALOUS ! Quote
turbo1013 Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 ahh space police still got mine, and im 42 now, my son trashed all my ships when he was 8,, now hes 10 maybe ill rebuild them and put away in my china cabinet, now that im sparked by your find, Quote
BirdOPrey5 Posted June 1, 2014 Author Posted June 1, 2014 I know I had some of the old style space helmets (the kind Benny has in the movie) somewhere. I could have sworn I was even holding one and put it aside but when I went to look for it, I couldn't find it. I did find one solid blue "Benny" torso that was naturally faded much like he was in the movie, and I had plenty of blue legs, so all I need is the original helmet. I have plenty of the newer style helmets. At about 50% through the pieces I have had to move the mini-figures to a 32x32 stud base plate... it's a little over 50% full. Mostly space people but also a lot of pirate crews. I also found dozens of the curved swords, they must have been the same across a few genres. Quote
emilstorm Posted June 1, 2014 Posted June 1, 2014 That's a lot of little sapce guys and pirates I hope you find their helmets, so they can once again go explore the galaxy And I really hope you have luck finding that second bin! I was missing a bunch of stuff too, and recently found out some of it was at my parents house for my nieces and nephews to play with when they visit. Part of me hopes they grow out of playing with it, but it's so nice to see it spread some joy Quote
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