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Thanks for the new pics. My opinions are pretty much the same as before, but it's great to see the new details! I like these sets, but the Chase is by far my favorite. It's a superb set for town and Indy fans. I was disapointed to notice that the gansters now have revolvers instead of the Batmans style guns, but the coolness of the the new figs and their great suited torsos outweighs this. TLG seems to be unsure what kind of weapons they want to include in the Indy line. I hope they settle on the Batman style (and newer indy pistol variant), but I think they may well go back to the traditional even-less-realistic revolver and rifle designs. Also, as a general observation, I am glad to see that TLG is continuing the habit of being generous with minifigs in the Indy line.

Thanks for these new pics. I'm still pretty unimpressed with the line as a whole, but for TLG's sake, I hope it will sell well with it's target audience. It is likely though that I will pick up 8968 and 8965, if only for the intersting minifigs, new colored crystals (I only have clear, chrome and pink trans right now) dynamite, treads, roll cage, and other parts. I'm not real excited by the trans colored monsters, but it's always good to have a few monsters of varying types for castle MOCs. All that said, if those searchlights turn out to be functioning lights, I might have to purchase more of this line.

Great reveiw. I appreciate your attention to the smaller details in your pictures. They are especially helpfull for those of us like myself who may never be able to purchase this set, but want to MOC a similar structure on our own. Thanks!

I've never been much into farm toys and that kind of thing, but I have to say that I am thoroghly charmed by this new farm line. The vehicle desgins are great, and there seems to be a new torso, and some elements in previously unavailable colors (brown hair in riding set, brown fences and ladders, etc.) It's also great to see the cowboy hat make a comeback. I do think that the farm set is a bit sparse, but it seems like rather than putting walls on the buildings, they opted to add more accessories, and smaller details like a riding lawn mower, cattle, etc, so I can't fault them for that. I don't have much money for LEGO this year, and the new pirate, castle, and farm stuff is making me especially heartsick. One more thing, it's great to see a town figure/sign/acessory pack, I wonder what it will retail for.

Part 6 Second Stage Sorting. The sort continues. After a couple days break to do a NILTC show and do some work on a couple guitars I returned to sorting last night. I competed second stage sorting of red brick. What is Second Stage Sorting?? Even though it adds an additional step, I've found that after sorting by color, it's best to sort by type before sorting into my storage system. Thus, a full bucket of red got sorted into 2x brick, 1x brick, big plates, 1x and 2x plates, slopes, and everything else. This way, when I pull out the food containers and freezer bags that I store the bricks in, the sorting into my storage system goes really fast. With a large LEGO "tray" style box to sort in, and smaller containers to sort into, sorting can be done reclining in bed or on the couch. My wife was away for school last night so I choose to sort in bed, and the pre-sort of red took almost exactly the length of Wilco's "Summerteeth" album. Nothing like drifting off to sleep after a good sort with bricks bouncing in your head to the tune of a Jeff Tweedy tune. I'm going to presort white tonight. I seem to have misplaced my camera :cry_sad: , but I hope to locate it soon and be back with pictures tomorrow. Next up more presorts and "Going from Sorted to Stored".

A truely poorly stated expostion of one of Jonathan Edwards' best known sermons, but your very nice MOC gets the point across quite well. Great use of the proximity between the hand and "hell" to mirror Edward's statements regarding the inevetable fate of the wicked. The "sinner" looks truely frightened. Good Job! Back in high school, I also did a diorama on this work for extra credit, though it wasn't nearly as nice as yours. I should have used LEGO...

Wow, what a great little set. It has an incredible number of special pieces for such a small set. Four angled windows, 2 cups and 2 wine glasses, and two letters! I can't think of any other set that has 4 pieces of dinner ware with only 2 minifigs. Great review, and I'll look forward to more.

I missed this post also, but as a passionate Chicago fan, I feel the need to comment... Regarding architectural mix, I completely agree. It's especially evident in neighborhoods that are in transition, or have recently been gentrified. It may not be as extreme a mix as Europe, but in those kind of Chicago neighborhoods, you will seen classic greco-gothic influenced greystones, next to Brick 2 flats, next to one story bungalows, wood sided frame houses, all allong side of new construction that ranges from "trying-to-hard-to-look-impressive" private homes, to angular modern glass and steel structures. We'll be waiting for these new town Projects.

What a neat set. Even adjusted for inflation, the price, vs number of figs makes this seem like a particularly good deal. I agree that working the treasure chest into the statue was an excelent way to include a second "secret" feature in a low cost set. That's the kind of thinking that really sets LEGO toys appart from others.

Great Review of a Great set. You really saved the best for last! Really a very nice look back at a time when the exact function of every part of a set didn't have to be "spelled out" and alot was left to the imagination. We've probably seen the last of this kind of LEGO architecture and 4 wide cars, but here's to hoping that LEGO gives us more of this kind of "civilian" sets in the future.

Great job and welcome to EB. I've seen alot of microscale buildings, but you really brought it to the next level with the SNOT work on the roads, and the modular concept. By all means post more if you expand upon this idea.

A very brief update... PART 5. Rounds Just got back from setting up for the NILTC show. I sat down and sorted out my rounds. I had almost 2 PAB cups full of rounds to be sorted. The organizer in the corner (see the last picture I posted) is now entirely filled with tubes, round bricks and plates, and cylindrical and conical pieces of all sizes. I'll try and get some more sorting this weekend, but it may be difficult. Guss, Thanks, I'm really hoping to get this done well before my 30 day deadling. Bonaparte, That's a neat thread. Time to get sorting again?? DR X. Watch out, these drawer organizers are addictive. All the best on your sorting. Be sure to let us know how it turns out and what system you settle on.

It's a lovely building. I would not make it smaller. If you are concerned about appearing out of scale next to your smaller buildings, you could add some detailing that might suggest a reason that it is larger. Perhaps a turret, or a clocktower to suggest a municipal building. Perhaps side entrances and /or balconies to suggest an apartment building. Maybe you could give it a large courtyard or parking area. Just a few suggestions.

Third post in a row, but I've got a busy weekend, so I can't wait until tomorrow to post today's progress. Part 4 New Organizers, New Organization I had a chance to get to Menards this evening and pick up four smaller size drawer organizers. I didn't feel like taking on a big box of basic bricks, so I decided to tackle Printed Bricks, Printed Tiles, and Trans bricks. I assumed -correctly as it turned out- that I had just about enough printed bricks and trans bricks to fill one of these new smaller organizers. I've found that small bead container trays work great for storing my printed tiles. Here's the new small size drawer organizer with all my printed bricks and the two bead container trays with my tiles. Then on to the trans pieces As I have more of them, I have been using a thread case (about twice the size of the bead containers) for my colored tiles (aka headlights). I've moved all other trans pieces into this small size drawer organizer. A few words about these drawer organizers. They are the "Tool Shop" brand and are available at Menards hardware stores. I've been very pleased with them, They fit perfect in my space very well, look uniform, and are easy to use. Here's two of the organizers still unwrapped, and the two new organizers with trans and printed pieces. However, for someone starting from scratch, I would recomend instead buying the AKRO mills brand (available at Target among other places) The AKRO organizers are slightly different dimensions and colors. Most importantly for the LEGO organizer, while the Tool Shop large drawers can be split into front and back sections, the AKRO large drawers can be split side to side, allowing for much easier viewing of all the contents. The 4 containers I purchased today are smaller size than the 8 I already have. It may sound silly, but if I got the same size I would have to get out of my chair to reach the top drawers, and Goal #1 for this project was that every piece would be accessible without standing up from the chair. NILTC has a show this weekend, so the next update should be early next week. Have a good night.

whoops, here comes another double post. Part 3. Sorting the "little" colors . There are a number of pieces that are currently sorted by color in food containers that I would like to separate out and sort into drawer organizers as "special parts". Thus, I will be sorting out my basic pieces (already sorted by color) so I can set those aside for later sorting. Also, I haven't bought the additional drawer organizers that will be necessary to store all these "special" pieces. To that end, last night, I sorted out all the colors that I have less of. Dark Red, Brown, Reddish brown, Bley (aka new gray), Dark Bley (new dark grey) green, that I have significant amounts of, as well as colors like orange, teal, purple, dark blue and sky blue that I have really small amounts of. Below you can see a picture of my dark bley sorted out. The bags at the top are two of the 5 bags of "bulk" bricks of this color that I keep in a small red LEGO suitcase. In the lower right hand corner you can see the pieces that I have removed for transfer to "special" drawers. Most of the colors that I have fewer pieces of are organized like this, with similar types of pieces in each part of each container. I would like to take this chance to expound on these wonderfull plastic food containers. I got the idea to use them from Alan Befords book. This particular model was -and might still be- available from "dollar tree" stores at 3 for a dollar. They are mediocre as food storage, as some have better lids than others, and the plastic is not high quality like tupperware. As for LEGO, they are wonderfull. The plastic is clear enough that labeling is not necessary, and they are deep enough to store a good amount of pieces, but not so deep that you can't almost instantly tell exactly what pieces you have of a certain color/type. They are also almost exactly as long as my shelving unit is deep. I have over 144 of them! All right: Blue, Black Red, Yellow, and Old Grey are waiting to be sorted: I'm off... Next up: The "BIG" Colors

Me too, sorry I should have 'ed. You're absolutely right about organization being the key to quick building. For my last expansion of Brickington I was able to do a prodigious amount of building in a relatively short time because nearly all my brick was sorted. I added a few aircraft, an airport, a lighthouse, and a produce market in a couple of weeks.

Good Heavens, limited mobility and you're still finding ways to help out your Mom. Kudos to you sir. If anyone is deserving of mom-sorting-help it's you. JimButcher, I know it sounds weird but I am sticking to the "from the chair" Dr X. I was the same way. It was the internet that brought me back to LEGO and got me to sort out my LEGO. I wouldn't have it any other way now.

I have two yellow classic spacemen with red helmets! They are being mercilessly ridiculed by their compatriots. Please help them get matching helmets. I will send you two red classic space helmets, you send me two yellow classic helmets. I'm not concerned with Mint quality. Mine are good quality used pieces, I assume yours will be also. I'll even toss in a pair of red air tanks to sweeten the deal. If you're not sure the type of helmets I'm talking about, it's the kind worn by this happy fellow. Lower 48 only. I'm planning on using basic USPS for this fairly low value exchange.

Sorry about the double post, here's the second stage of the organizing. Step 2. Cleanup I find it hard to work in a space that is messy. This even extends to work that is by nature messy like sorting LEGO. The first step was to make some order. First, I removed most non-LEGO items from the space. Then I took all the food containers that were stacked without tops on the right side table. I put on tops and stacked them by color on the shelves on the left side. I also finshed organizing all my minifigs. Last weekend I built a second rack (the red one) to mirror the yellow one on the left side. Now all of my minifigs are out of the bins and bags, and easily accessible. This revealed a hidden treasure. A large secret section of my upcoming addition to Brickington... Sorry can't tell you more until December. I closed and stacked my Bulk Storage bins. These are the buckets and tubs that you see on the floor. These are bins with large ziplock bags inside, each filled with one kind of brick in one color. After savoring the sweetness of a clear space, I did away with that and moved all the semi-sorted containers of bricks onto the table and pre-sorted out the last of the lose brick that I discovered on the surface and on the floor. All my brick is now presorted, and I have a proper space to sort. I'm off to start on the sorting and give more attention to the Presidential debate. Have a good evening.

Erdbeereis1, That's some nice organization. I agree about the drawer containers. I have 8 lining my workspace, and they are really useful. I am going to add a second tier of smaller drawer containers on the right side (more about that later). Thanks for the encouragement. CP5670, Woah, you must have quite a collection of built models. Model collections are cool, but I don't collect models, so most of my collection is parts. My only display areas are the 4 shelves above the workspace, and the top of my shelving system (on the left). My only other built items are the components of "Brickington Island" (see the link in my sig for pics) my 40"x120" NILTC module that is in boxes under the table on the right side of the room.

I'm glad I checked in on this thread. I'm very happy to hear that folks are getting some use out of my article. Great find, Skelotic!

Having mostly 2 colors, how do you organize your brick? Also, 10k is the number of bricks waiting to be sorted, the collection as a whole probably tops 100k.

iamded, Thanks for your kind words. 30 days isn't a long time, but I'm determined to get it done with time to spare to prepare before the NILTC christmas show in early December. Dragonator, I'll do my best to be "inspirational". I will say though, that if you get a good storage system set, it makes it easy to build fast. Guss, Don't worry, you seem like quite a LEGO fan. I'm sure it won't be long before your collection grows to the point where it's completely unmanagable without sorting! Captain Zuloo, Get sorting! I don't want you back on this board until you have a picture of your LEGO clean and tidy!! Dadster, Yeah, wheeled chairs pracically a necessity for this kind of an arragement. I got mine at IKEA for pretty cheap, and it has a neat Lego-ish look to it. Sandy, Wow! I seem to remember that you only recently returned to LEGO, and you already have 12,000 bricks! You're going to need a comprehensive storage system real soon. zorro3999, I don't know what to say, I've never heard of a parent who was willing to sort bricks for thier offspring. You must have a real close family. Heartwarming... wierd, but heartwarming. I'll be sure to check in with you folks later. I'm starting in on this project tonight. Step: 1 Cleanup.

My LEGO space is in shambles. On the right, you can see all the stacked and open containers that used to be organized in the shelving on the left. A mad rush to finish my layout before the last NILTC ( www.niltc.org ) show left me with alot of unsorted brick and open containers. However the real problem was that for the past 6 months, I've been trading for alot of used LEGO, and haven't been sorting out the new sets I've been getting. This is one of my recent resale shop lots. The equivalent of 3 or 4 of these have entered my home recently, and not been sorted. This situation is untenable. Over the past week, I've magaged to sort all that brick by color, and separate out all the "special pieces". It may not look like it, but what you see below is probably 8-10 thousand bricks grouped by color, with special bricks sorted by categories such as: windows and doors, round things, tiles and profiles, things that bend, minifig accessories, greenery, etc. For some folks, that would be the end of sorting, but when you are dealing with a collection numbering in the area of 100,000 bricks, it's just not a good enough storage and sorting solution. THE PLAN The purpose of this blog is to record the process of sorting, and storing 10,000 bricks into a collection of 100,000+ bricks, and to outline the method used for sorting those bricks. There have been many good threads here and elsewhere onsorting, but not too many showing the whole procedure. The goals of this project are: 1) For all LEGO to be within reach of the workspace with a roll of the chair, but without having to standing up. 2) For any LEGO piece to be locatable with one minute! 3) To make all necessary adjustments to the current sorting/storage system to achieve the above two goals. 4) To have all sorting finished in one months time (November 14th, 2008) 5) To put in place systems to help maintain an organized work, storage, and display space. 6) To record the process for the benefit of the EB community. Hopefully this short term "Blog" will help me to stay on task and get this done well before the end of the month. I welcome suggestions, questions, comments, and encouragements along the way. If enough useful material is produced from this blog, I will turn it into a proper article at a later date. Lastly, I'd like to give credit to Alan Bedford. The chapter on sorting in his book the "Unofficial Guide to LEGO" was invaluable for developing my sorting system until now. I have borrowed unashamedly from his suggestions, and will likely continue to do so. The whole book is great reading for any AFOL. Let the sorting begin!

Great Review Brickster. I recently acquired one of those on/off switch printed bricks, and now I know where it came from! I think alot of AFOL's like my self are sorry they missed these studio sets.