Moving my LEGO

[Admiral Ron]

Ok, my parents are splitting up and I need to move my fairly large collection of sets to my mother's house, how does one do it? I am not so worried about my individual pieces, as they are all in boxes. However, the majority of my collection are sets, some fragile (Brickbeards Bounty), and some that can be thrown and cannot be destroyed (90's Y-wing). So how do the experts pack up their sets so they can survive the journey to lands unknown?

[Mariann Asanuma]

Sorry to hear about your folks.

The easiest way to do it is to put them all in individual ziplock bags and then in boxes. You may have to take some of it apart, but you can always find the instructions if you don't still have them and rebuild them. A more complicated and costly way is wrapping them in bubble wrap. Again, you will have to take some if it apart, that can't be totally avoided.

You will have to take down the masts of the Pirate ship, and any loose parts put in a ziplock bag. Then when you get them to the new place you can put everything back the way it was.

If you have certain minifigs positioned just so, you can also take pictures of how it looks before you take it apart so that you know how you want it to go back together.

I never keep my sets as sets, but I have had to move, ship and travel with my models many times so I know what its like.

[FilmGirl27]

Sorry to hear about your parents. Well...if I were you, I would break all the sets I have instructions for, and all the ones you can find instructions for online if the original leaflets are gone. Put each set into separate bags, and sort into boxes from there.

[gotoAndLego]

I'd take them apart. That way at least you will get some enjoyment out of your situation, putting them back together.

[Ralph_S]

Sorry to hear about your family. I recently moved from the UK to The Netherlands with much of my LEGO collection. I don't have built-up sets, but I do have a lot of MOCs. Taking those apart and rebuilding them isn't really an option. I also take models on the road to public displays where it's important to be able to put things back together again quickly.

Here's an example of part of my helicopter collection in the process of being packed for a show. If needed or convenient I take apart sections of a MOC, as you can see with the helicopter on the left. I usually take off the parts that stick out too much or that I know are very fragile (rotor blades in this case). I pack the models in boxes, usually quite tightly so that they can't slide around too much.

After I took this photo I used paper towels and plastic shopping bags to fill in a lot of the space between the MOCs to keep them all in place. I have a fair few quite shallow boxes (the sort of boxes amazon ship boxes of LEGO in) so that I don't have to stack models on top of each other. If I do have to stack models I always try to have something soft between them, such as an old towel (obviously washed ).

The models usually survive my journeys with very little damage, despite being quite fragile. The ones I unpacked from the UK so far were all in pretty good condition, despite an 8-hour journey by car over pretty crummy roads. Good luck with the move

Cheers,

Ralph

[Admiral Ron]

Thanks for all the advice everyone! I dont really wanna destroy all my sets, because I think i have more sets then pieces But I will if I have to, and I think I have all my instructions, I have a 30 pound filing box full of them. What I will probably do is destroy my smaller sets, or just pile loads of them in boxes, and then, depending on the sets, place the big ones in boxes/knock them down. My sturdier ones will be boxed, and then the fragile ones will be broken and remade at my new house (yay shelves on my wall!)

But if anyone has any suggestions other than this, please say so!

Thanks again everyone!

[Aanchir]

Today's modular-build sets are rarely too hard to disassemble and pack into a larger LEGO box. Just make sure you don't lose any.

I've never had to pack up my whole collection, so I'm not sure what type of box or boxes you should use. I also don't know whether you have a vehicle you can use or whether you're planning to ship the sets. I typically just use a LEGO box that's handy. One time I had to clean my room, and I put all my Exo-Force and BIONICLE sets in HUGE boxes, but the Exo-Force sets were not tightly packed and a number of them came apart. So nowadays I just disassemble into more conveniently-sized sections and pack them as tight as possible in LEGO boxes.

Another thing that's a good idea is to do as I did with my BIONICLE stuff when I had to take a year's worth of sets home for winter break-- pack the boxes into plastic bags tightly enough to keep them from coming open. The plastic bags also add an extra layer of protection to keep parts that do escape from coming loose. The bags from LEGO stores are nice, large, and sturdy, and most LEGO boxes will fit in them.

[Admiral Ron]

Hm... I will think about the bags, that is a good idea, and the good news is my mother is just moving to another part of our town, so shipping is no problem, I can do that myself

[Follows Closely]

Hm... I will think about the bags, that is a good idea, and the good news is my mother is just moving to another part of our town, so shipping is no problem, I can do that myself

If you are moving them yourself then I would simple place each set in a grocery or zip lock bags and carefully fill moving boxes. If you transport them carefully there should be little damage to the sets.

[Admiral Ron]

Well, the move begins in about 6 weeks, I will begin Operation Brickbox immediately, I will post pictures of my progress, and thanks again everyone for the advice! Wish me luck!

[Bob]

I'd go to your local craft or office supply store, and buy bubble wrap, to wrap the larger sets in. For something like Brickbeard's Bounty, you could take the masts off and wrap the rest of the ship.

Just a suggestion, though, sometimes bubble wrap can be expensive.