StevenV72

Great work! Very impressive. I love these huge technic models and I wish I had the skills to make one from scratch as well.

Short status update: I'm at 126k sorted and registered pieces now... I estimated to be about halfway. Until I had a good deal yesterday, and added another 60 kilograms to the queue With 126k done, I am running into some scale issues. It actually is A LOT of lego , and with the expectation to double it and more... the lego room has now been expanded into the hallway where I've put lots of extra storage shelving. And the mint boxes are stored in yet another room. Before you ask, no, I don't live in a castle with 200 rooms , but I did have an entire unused floor (top floor) consisting of 2 rooms and a large hallway. So I should start calling it my Lego-floor instead of Lego-room I guess

I'm not sure to which bins you are referring here, but I'm from Belgium, so no Wal-mart here. The small plastic bins I mostly use are from Ikea, they have a very cheap set of 17 boxes in various sizes for only 5 euro. I find them superconvenient for sorting. It's not the ideal solution, and I will probably upgrade to something else, but for now I can live with it. My main focus now was to have lots and lots of boxes at a very low cost. I've been quite busy the past two weeks... sorting and sorting and sorting Also installed better lighting and a first set of shelves. And I got myself a very nice big table (250cm x 110cm!!) to do all my sorting and building on. The boxes you see in the picture contain about 46000 sorted and counted pieces. It was a lot of work, but I'm happy I did it. Only one big problem now... when I look at what's still left to sort, it looks like I haven't done anything yet . At least I know how to keep busy during the new lockdown that started here yesterday.

I've had a look at those zoids and I'm not convinced... but since the part doesn't have a normal lego connection and also feels a bit off, I'll chuck it in the fake bin Probably the same for that trans-clear half cylinder... Tomorrow (maybe, otherwise later) a new challenge, will be with minifigs this time.

I stand corrected! Found it indeed as a Nestlé promo, first set of those I found was totally different, hence my confusion. So, both the minifigure CD34 and the disk launcher are from gear'set' 6996: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?G=6996#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

Wow, previously some parts from the 70s, now we go back into the 60s even , flowerpower baby! (edit: first appearance of that part was even in 1955!) Thank you ArneNielsen for spotting the garage doors! Runamuck, thanks for the Viking Ship reference, that explains why I couldn't find them in the Bionicle category. The disc launcher is close, but the one in my picture only has 2 holes, the one you link to has 3, but I'll try to find it based on that. The ball launchers are indeed correct. The black figure in the middle is 99% sure Lego, it has the technic pin on its shoulder, and the material matches other Bionicle parts. Did Nestlé have genuine Lego figures as promo? Found the Nestlé promo figures... this is not one of them. I think it's like a mini-sidekick of one of the bionicle figures, I keep looking through lists and lists of them, no luck yet. Thanks!!

As promised, a new day, a new challenge I'm pretty sure A1 is not Lego, but since there were quite a lot of these in the batch (which was assured to be only Lego!), I am still in doubt, no text on them. B2 and C1 are the same part, must be something from Bionicle, but unlike most other parts, no mould numbers are present. I was able to sort out quite a big number of half-assembled, half-loose bionicle into 10 sets and a lot of loose parts, of which I could identify most... A2, A34, BC34 and D34 are also all from the Bionicle series, but I was unable to identify them. D12 might be Bionicle or something like that, but I am suspicious because it has a simple pin (slightly smaller than a studhole) to attach it to another part, not like the usual Bionicle parts with an axle or axle hole or technic pin. AB56 are again some very old parts I think. It looks like a pivoting hatch of a dumpster truck or something. The only text on it says Lego, so I'm quite sure it's genuine lego. I've verified with the conveyor belt from before, they don't seem to be a part of those sets. As you can see, the part consists of 3 subparts which are connected in a nonconventional way, just a tight fit of a rectangular pin in the rectangular hole. On the separate small subparts, the numbers 4 and 16 are moulded into the red ones, and 1 and 11 into the white ones, presumably mould numbers, not part numbers. I would think if they had 16 moulds of this part, it must have been a popular set. no? CD56 looks like it would fit a counterpart of another half cylinder, creating a sort of container... but the connections don't seem classic lego-style, so I'm also quite suspicious about this one. It has number 24 moulded into it. Again, thanks in advance for any help in identifying these parts.

Thank you KotZ, with those two I think all of them now have been identified. I will create a new challenge tomorrow

Wow, great find Runamuck! Thanks! It's some real vintage stuff then... too bad the other parts of it were not in my purchase. Just these two parts are pretty useless on their own.

Thanks a lot Peppermint_M! A big help! Here are two more pictures of that red thing (it doesn't have any text whatsoever, but the plastic feels and sounds like genuine lego). Sorry about the harsh shadows, my picture setup is very haphazard and amateurish. Coincidentally, that red spindle from B5 clicks nicely into the holds on this part. They also are a perfect colormatch and plastic type match. I think therefore they might be from the same set (using the same dimensions and tolerances for circular fitting), but the spindle also has no text on it. If you want, I'd be happy to send you that sword and dagger, nothing but lego in this house!!

You are 100% right on the first one. Unclear to me why I didn't find that one, because it is in the database. Thanks!! For the ones in B1-2 and 3 you say China... China as in cheap fake, or did you mean the theme Chima? Thanks already!

Still very busy on sorting my huge bulk purchases... about 20k pieces done now with 3k unique pieces recorded. Obvious fakes and different toys have mostly been filtered out, but I'm left with quite some parts to be identified. Some of them I'm 99% sure it's Lego, for others, I'm convinced it's not, but I have been wrong before (with all the weird bionicle stuff for instance). So here is a first set of UPO's (Unidentified Plastic Objects). I'd be happy if anyone can confirm any of the shown parts. I've included a grid for referencing and a standard 2x4 brick for size. - the canopy in A1-2 has the lego hinges, but I can't find it in the rebrickable database - the shovel in A3-5 is from playmobil I think, but might be from the old style larger figures from the 70's (quite some old lego in this batch) - the two axes in B6 might also be playmobil, but I seem to remember from my youth we had them in Lego as well All the other parts shown are unlikely to be Lego, but if anyone recognizes anything, please let me know. If more or better pictures are needed, let me know as well. Thanks in advance for any help... unfortunately, this will not be my last request

Yes, I understand. It will take some time, but eventually I'll know all the colors

Thank you both for your replies! I know there are more colors than the ones I've shown in my picture, those are just the ones giving me headached right now Some of those links I already saw, I guess I will need to try to collect info from multiple sources and match them to my actual colors... Why is there so much confusion dammit! So many very similar colors, and then different names depending on the source... no need to answer this one, it's rhetorical For now I'll try not to lose too much sleep over colors and focus on sorting by type

I hope I post this in the correct thread... it's not so much identifying a part as it is its colors... Some colors really have me confused. Especially if you try referencing color charts online, they never seem to match with what I am holding in my hand. I've tried to make a picture with the colors I am trying to identify now... Disclaimer: I am not a photographer :-) At least I included a white and a black piece as well, so that the more picture-editing savvy user could rebalance it if needed. In black I've indicated what I am sure of... in red what I think it might be, but needs verification, and one where I couldn't even make a guess. Thanks in advance for any help in this matter!

Progressing nicely on the first batch... about 8300 parts recorded. Some images: I'm happy with the progress, still lots and lots more to do, but it's all part of the fun I haven't decided yet on how I will finally store them, for now I just use whatever bins and containers I have at hand, but I'm running out, need to find some more.

If there are people who like to see me struggle, I will gladly post updates I am indeed starting from scratch for loose parts. On that first picture you can see I have it stored mainly in large black bins. The trays on the bottom right were included in a purchase, and after a much needed cleanup, is being used already. Because of me having a tad of OCD, I want the sorting to be near perfect. Also, since I bought the pieces in 3 lots, I also want to know exact amounts per lot. I know I am making it more difficult for myself that way, but I want to track how much I paid versus what I got per purchased lot. My main strategy is as follows: 1) rough sort into about 10 categories (bricks, tiles, roof, plates, ...) 2) gradually finer and finer sorting up to part and colour for each category 3) count pieces, identify, and record amounts on rebrickable This means each and every part will have gone through my hands multiple times before its final sorting location. This might seem counterproductive, but it helps accuracy in 2 ways: 1) detect fake items, not always obvious on first sight 2) correct inevitable mistakes when rough sorting It also limits the amount of choices you are presented with when looking at a part and as such makes the sorting quite fast. If you start from a bin with every possible piece in it and immediately want to sort it into final location, that is overwhelming (plus, you need enormous amounts of tablespace to put all your bins and containers). At the moment I am working on the first batch, roughly about 33kgs, and I have about 4500 parts recorded on rebrickable already, basically all bricks, plates and tiles. Next steps are rooftiles, special plates, technic parts, possibly complete sets in built state, wheels, ... I will try to take some pictures now and then to show my process and progress. Maybe some of you will wonder why my first step was not to wash everything: this is because my first impression was (and still is) that the lego is quite clean to begin with. I might wash some of it afterwards, but only after all the sorting is done.

Is there an overview of which sets contain which bags? I know there are part inventories, but they don't mention separate bags. The overstock concept is one I hadn't considered before, when building something I like to see what I have available, when it's stored in two places, this becomes harder. You also need to keep track of which item you do have in overstock to avoid ordering extra if you need more.

I have my sorting work ahead of me... went a bit overboard and bought lots and lots of bulk: That is my lego-room to-be... still needs more tables and lots of shelfspace for storage containers. Work in progress...

Thanks deraven. I will sure have a look around in the forums for sorting inspiration My current approach is as follows: 1) rough sort into about 10 categories (bricks, plates, tiles, rooftiles, special plates, technic, small parts, minifigs, wheels, miscellaneous and weird stuff) 2) per category increasingly detailed sorting, if I have a very large amount of the same part, I also sort by colour. 3) at the end of a few sorting runs, I have detailed amounts per part and colour, which I will record into my rebrickable account. I'm not yet sure about the parts I have that are still packaged in the original plastic bags, this is the case for quite some sets where the seller lost the boxes due to bad storage conditions, but left all the contents intact. I guess those are more valuable for resale than just one bag with all the parts of a set, no? I've also already encountered the first three laws of lego sorting: 1) you don't have enough containers 2) if you think a certain part type will fit in a container, it won't (aka the "We're gonna need a bigger container!!"-law) 3) you still don't have enough containers I first need to get some more table space in the lego room, sorting on a small table is not practical

I am Steven and live in Belgium. Only a few years ago (in my mid-forties) slowly started to get back into lego with some technics sets, but recently really pulled out all the stops and went crazy : bought myself some bulk lots in total of somewhere between 250 and 300kgs which I am in the process of sorting, as well as a bunch of sets to keep in their box as investment, which I hope will pay off in 20 or so years. Outside of lego, my interests are movies, tv-series, mountain-hiking and -biking, via-ferrata, snowboarding, motorcycle driving, computer programming (my job actually), architecture, and a lot more. I expect to find likeminded AFOL's here to discuss any and all subjects concerning lego!