[HELP] Storing Parts

[murtaughf3]

Apologies is this is a silly question but I'm extremely limited on space in my current home. Once I move back to my house in Tx I'll have plenty of display room, but util then it's the closet. At the same time I can no longer suppress the urge to build and collect. My plan is to start piecing some of my favorite sets together. With that in mind I'm curious if sets like the 8110 Unimog set and sets of similar size would fit into those $0.97 plastic shoe boxes from walmart. I'm afraid if I go to a container any bigger I'm going to have to fit multiple sets into once container, perhaps separate by zip lock bags. Or if anyone has suggestions for storing sets with minimal space it would greatly appreciated. I am not concerned with with keeping the original boxes. One last note, I've even considered getting plastic file folder type box and just dumping all the pieces in there, but then once I go to build all the sets I'm sure I'll regret that due to all the sorting involved.

[750ACE]

Before sorting everything into Akro Mills bins I first broke down 2x 9395, 1X 9392 into one of those 6qt Sterilite shoe box containers which included tires. Right there is around 1900+ pieces with room to spare. Now the 8110 has larger tires so you may be best to just break sets down into large freezer style zip lock bags then put them in a larger bin for storage.

Edited August 9, 2015 by 750ACE

[Andy D]

There is an excellent topic in General discussion that answers every question on sorting an storing, mor than you can imagine... I seem to visit this thread at least once a month and I have browsed it beginning to end at least twice a year.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=26213

I hope this helps,

Andy D

[bonox]

treat it as the reverse of a bricklink order. Sort set parts into sub-bags, then bag those bags into a set if you're worried about sorting. Repeat for all sets, then squeeze them into your available storage boxes. Otherwise just bag each set.

From experience, you're better off using larger bags with stuff floating around in them, because it makes it easier to change the bag shape to get lots to fit into one box. (Think about fitting tennis balls into a box in round only shape, or what would happen if you could change the shape of a ball). Poisson's ratio is great for bags of ball bearings, but not for interlocking parts :D

And if you start using bigger boxes, I can whole heartedly recommend labelling what sets you put in what boxes!

You'll get minimum space with minimum number of boxes. Fewer bigger boxes gets you more lego per volume than many smaller boxes. Think about the tennis balls again and what happens if your small box is 1.5 balls high.

[MrPaulo23]

I used Sterlite plastic bins for all my Lego sets, they big and sturdy enough to hold my sets in place, but with all the added parts I have for my 2 8110s I used cardboard padding in the 2 separate bins they are stored to make sure their wheels will not push outwards.

[Guzzisti]

I'm a big fan of the Ziploc plastic storage containers. Cheaper then Akro Mills, they have lids so dust isn't an issue. and the square ones tend to be modular so when a piece outgrows a smaller container, it's easy to transfer to a larger bin.