ElCrab

I don't know if it really qualifies as a spoiler alert, but... That's the Piece of Resistance.

I would say the black short sword from the 6041 Armor Shop is my rarest piece.

79012 - Mirkwood Elf Army x 3 21050 - Architecture Studio I also have a few Chima sets I haven't opened, bought for replacement pieces and to re-sell the minifigs. All told, I've gotten 5 of the Mirkwood Elf Army sets, because it's a good value for the amount of pieces, plus all of the minifigs and wargs I can resell. The Architecture Studio is opened, but I haven't done anything with it beyond a brief look at the book that came with it. I originally picked it up with the thought of reselling it, but it's a keeper. I bought that set for my dad for Christmas, and my mom told me he said it was the best present he's ever gotten.

I've only gone through the process once, and I'm embarrassed to say it was my own error. But even though I accidentally got one extra piece from LEGO, the process was very easy and pretty fast. It is comforting to know that LEGO cares enough to send you a piece without any hassle.

Are those standard antenna elements you used for arrows, or are they something a bit more clever? I think I know what they are if they're not antenna...

Very nice!

Great little MOC! I live in Reno, NV, and there's old Pony Express station sites in this area. I plan on building some Old West MOCs myself sometime soon, so I'm always happy to see examples of what others build. And your use of the little horns on the skull makes me think I need to keep my spare cow skull and use it for a bison skull, as you have. That said, I read up a lot on American West history. I don't suppose it is that important, but the Pony Express riders didn't carry rifles or any other firearms. They relied solely on fresh horses unencumbered by any unnecessary weight to carry them through safely. But the rest of it is great, so keep it up!

Absolutely incredible!

I really like the use of hull elements for the rock work!

Last week I made the "mistake" of wandering into TRU and walked out with 6 smaller sets for 50% off. Plus I picked up 5 TMNT polybags at Target the same day. Saturday my dad's present arrived from LEGO.com (10026 Sopwith Camel), along with the LOTR Mirkwood Elf Army set I ordered with it. If I had just waited, I could've gotten it for 6 bucks cheaper through work (20% off all LEGO, all the time, which can be dangerous...), but alas. Of course, we just discounted a lot of the sets I have bought through work, so I'll have to put in an order on Wednesday for some of the small sets I've already purchased several times. Can't pass up cheap parts for even less than before, but we could also be out of stock by the time I get back to work this week. Might be a blessing in disguise. Here's what I got recently: 79012 Mirkwood Elf Army x 1 30270 Kraang's Turtle Target Practice x 5 9463 The Werewolf x 1 9496 Desert Skiff x 3 3817 The Flying Dutchman x 2 For someone who only recently escaped the Dark Ages, I'm sure making up for lost time. And if anyone needs minifigs, I've got a few I need to sell. I really need to get more organized and put up a for sale post in the proper forum, which actually would be handy for listing on eBay as well. But it's so much more fun buying, isn't it?

I like the use of the medal. A very common gift to Indians from the various governments in North America in those times.

http://brickset.com/parts/?part=6004908 I've got a few of these sets, and one Star Wars 2013 Advent Calendar, and it's my intention to sell the minifigs from the sets at some point. I know the antenna piece from 6004908 attaches to Jango's helmet (given all of the spares, I plan on including one with the Advent version as well), but what are the visors for? I can see they would also attach to the helmets of both Jango and the Clone Trooper, but I don't know what to do with them or what purpose they serve in the Star Wars theme. In looking at the other sets the parts come with, it doesn't appear that the minifigs in those sets use the visors either, just the antenna. Help! Thanks in advance.

I had that set (I guess I still do), and I definitely still have the black sword.

Hi, first time poster here. Just signed up today, after lurking for a bit. A quick little blurb about me, I'm 35 and my Dark Age(s) lasted from the late 90s until about a month or so ago. The last set I bought was the Bandit Hideout 6761 around the time that came out. My mom has still sent me random Lego she finds in her thrift shopping, and I recently started getting into the minifigs, once I found out they existed. Like I said, only recently have I gotten back into the hobby, and it's been crazy. I'm by no means rich, but I have a job that allows me to get Lego sets before I head home from a hard day's work. It's a bit dangerous, since it's so easy to order sets on my breaks and have them waiting for me at the front desk. Anyway, my main goal has been piece accumulation, primarily from the Star Wars, LOTR, Castle, and Lone Ranger sets. I would say it's due to the lack of gray/black/brown/tan elements from my childhood. I always wanted to build castles, but I never had a bunch of the older Castle sets. I mostly got Pirates sets as a kid, but I'm not complaining. I have Eldorado Fortress 6271-1 and Imperial Trading Post 6277-1, after all, and in my lurking I've seen those to be sought-after by those around here. I also picked up the 2012 & 2013 Star Wars advent calenders, and the 2013 City one as well. Those have been great fun, but hard to resist opening more than one day at a time! Plus I just scored the Architecture Studio 21050, brand new and sealed, for 80 bucks on Craigslist. My original plan was to sell it online, hopefully for a nice profit, but the urge to keep it won out. My interests so far in terms of builds would be castles, western themes, microbuilds, and perhaps space/undersea vessels at some point. I'm sure that list will expand at some point very soon. One of the first ideas I had was to recreate Custer's Seventh Cavalry, all 650-odd soldiers, civilians, and scouts, based on their strength and disposition in 1876. While I still would like to do that, the sheer logistics of such a project would require so much more money and space than I have at the time. But it's probably my holy grail build. Ok, onto the question I signed up to ask. I have no clue how to store my pieces, which also includes how to separate them. I have a few Rubbermaid tubs that my collection originally lived in, but I'd like to separate the collection to make for easier building. I have already begun the process of filtering out minifigs and accessories, but I could use some ideas or suggestions on how to separate the rest of the pieces. Some initial ideas I've tried are grouping by similar pieces, like all arches and curved elements together. I've also been putting all foliage and green elements together. I know it's all in how you want your collection, but I'm at a loss for how detailed I want the groupings to be, or what to get to put them in. I am leaning towards a solution of basic elements being grouped by style only, and certain elements being grouped by color. Or even primary colors being kept together, while having the shade elements being grouped by color scheme (blacks, grays, browns, etc). And while I do like the idea of easily finding what I need (or knowing I don't have it right away), a part of me wants to still have some of "the thrill of the hunt" aspect of my childhood builds left in my storage methods. The fiancée actually was on board with buying me 5 or 6 of the large stackable brick storage bins, but while that seemed like an awesomely Lego thing to do, it doesn't seem practical. I might take her up on one or two for storing a few things, like instructions and baseplates and what-not, but it didn't seem like an across-the-board solution. So I turn to you folks for ideas. Also, I've heard about a few ways to clean older Lego to remove the yellowing, and would love a bit more info on that. My older pieces sure could use the love. Thanks to those who read this and those who reply! I look forward to being a part of this community, and sometime soon I'll start sharing my builds.

I'm new here, and I've been picking up several small sets a week through work, often ones I've already gotten. Mainly to accumulate elements on a bulk scale, mostly browns/blacks/tans/grays, plus any interesting elements. I have a lot of ideas for things I want to build and having lurked here for some time, I realized I needed a lot more pieces in certain styles and colors if I am to finally start making MOCs like I really want to build. It's funny, because I remember as a kid (I'm 35 and recently out of the Dark Ages), I lamented the fact that I lacked large elements to build castles. Now it's the other way around! Just ordered the Sopwith Camel to give to my dad for Christmas (he loves airplane models, but doesn't have anything Lego) and couldn't resist ordering the Mirkwood Elf Army set for myself at the same time. Plus I picked up a couple of the TMNT Kraang bagged sets at Target tonight, because why not?! Plus I have the 2012 & 2013 Star Wars advent calendars to open each day, plus the 2013 City calendar. And a few weeks ago I scored the Lego Architecture Studio, BNIB, on Craigslist for 80 bucks. I asked for Lego for Christmas, and specifically asked the fiancée to get me sets like Helm's Deep or the Lone Ranger Mine, etc. She knows I want the Haunted House and the Vampyre Castle as well, and this year she's hinted that I'm going to get "all the presents", as she puts it. So I'm really hoping she just goes nuts.

That's a set I'm definitely going to keep an eye out for. My fiancée and I both love most anything bear-related, and I think she'd love to get this one for Valentine's Day.

Hi, first time poster here. Just signed up today, after lurking for a bit. A quick little blurb about me, I'm 35 and my Dark Age(s) lasted from the late 90s until about a month or so ago. The last set I bought was the Bandit Hideout 6761 around the time that came out. My mom has still sent me random Lego she finds in her thrift shopping, and I recently started getting into the minifigs, once I found out they existed. Like I said, only recently have I gotten back into the hobby, and it's been crazy. I'm by no means rich, but I have a job that allows me to get Lego sets before I head home from a hard day's work. It's a bit dangerous, since it's so easy to order sets on my breaks and have them waiting for me at the front desk. Anyway, my main goal has been piece accumulation, primarily from the Star Wars, LOTR, Castle, and Lone Ranger sets. I would say it's due to the lack of gray/black/brown/tan elements from my childhood. I always wanted to build castles, but I never had a bunch of the older Castle sets. I mostly got Pirates sets as a kid, but I'm not complaining. I have Eldorado Fortress 6271-1 and Imperial Trading Post 6277-1, after all, and in my lurking I've seen those to be sought-after by those around here. I also picked up the 2012 & 2013 Star Wars advent calenders, and the 2013 City one as well. Those have been great fun, but hard to resist opening more than one day at a time! Plus I just scored the Architecture Studio 21050, brand new and sealed, for 80 bucks on Craigslist. My original plan was to sell it online, hopefully for a nice profit, but the urge to keep it won out. My interests so far in terms of builds would be castles, western themes, microbuilds, and perhaps space/undersea vessels at some point. I'm sure that list will expand at some point very soon. One of the first ideas I had was to recreate Custer's Seventh Cavalry, all 650-odd soldiers, civilians, and scouts, based on their strength and disposition in 1876. While I still would like to do that, the sheer logistics of such a project would require so much more money and space than I have at the time. But it's probably my holy grail build. Ok, onto the question I signed up to ask. I have no clue how to store my pieces, which also includes how to separate them. I have a few Rubbermaid tubs that my collection originally lived in, but I'd like to separate the collection to make for easier building. I have already begun the process of filtering out minifigs and accessories, but I could use some ideas or suggestions on how to separate the rest of the pieces. Some initial ideas I've tried are grouping by similar pieces, like all arches and curved elements together. I've also been putting all foliage and green elements together. I know it's all in how you want your collection, but I'm at a loss for how detailed I want the groupings to be, or what to get to put them in. I am leaning towards a solution of basic elements being grouped by style only, and certain elements being grouped by color. Or even primary colors being kept together, while having the shade elements being grouped by color scheme (blacks, grays, browns, etc). And while I do like the idea of easily finding what I need (or knowing I don't have it right away), a part of me wants to still have some of "the thrill of the hunt" aspect of my childhood builds left in my storage methods. The fiancée actually was on board with buying me 5 or 6 of the large stackable brick storage bins, but while that seemed like an awesomely Lego thing to do, it doesn't seem practical. I might take her up on one or two for storing a few things, like instructions and baseplates and what-not, but it didn't seem like an across-the-board solution. So I turn to you folks for ideas. Also, I've heard about a few ways to clean older Lego to remove the yellowing, and would love a bit more info on that. My older pieces sure could use the love. Thanks to those who read this and those who reply! I look forward to being a part of this community, and sometime soon I'll start sharing my builds.