Danpb

Really great job on this! Great color scheme :). And it being a rally car, it's an instant win for me! *edit* woops, it isn't a rally car - touring car (I got all excited an wanted to leave feed back without reading what it actually was ;))

I only own Green Grocer and I bought it mainly out of panic after someone saying it is close to being discontinued. I had a blast building it and I'm really impressed by the detail and use of bricks. The other sets look just as awesome, and for my next one I'm between GE and FB. FB is in the lead at this point. I'm not surprised GG is winning the poll, but I was surprised by the margin :).

Fantastic! I loved the book and this MOC is awesome :)

@petero - Where abouts in NH? I'm in the Burlington, Vermont area.

Firstly, not sure if this is the best place for this thread. Second, after moving to Vermont, I had my childhood lego collection handed to me and I'm now pretty much obsessed with the brick again. That said, I'm curious if there are any folks from Vermont on here. What other forums should I try beyond this one to find other AFOLs in my area? Thanks!

"Wow" doesn't really do my words justice. I think my favorite parts are the minifigs in the water - absolutely awesome details there :)

Well, seeing as how I just got my first modular building (Green Grocer - loving the build thus far!) last week and I haven't completed it, I likely can't answer this poll yet :P. I can imagine leaving it assembled for awhile - messing with it, adding furniture, etc. My collection isn't really sorted too well so I won't piece it out yet. I'll probably leave it on display for awhile then box it up in a plastic bin as I loathe cleaning excess dust from my bricks (just cleaned a ton of Legos left out in my parents basement for too long)

Minifig legs for the window = awesome. Love it; nicely done :D

I had a co-worker that had his office littered with awesome sets. Seeing/admiring his cube decor, I felt more comfortable sharing my collection. Thus the trend started. By the time I left the company, 5 of us had our cubes full of old/new Legos. The top of our cubicles was a wonderful landscape of bricks :). Since then (2yrs ago) I acquired my collection from my childhood and purchased more sets, sharing the details on the various social media sites. I get some virtual eye-rolling, but I've since brought some sets in and put them in my cube at a new company and most are admiring them. None are MOCs, but most people haven't really seen any new sets, so I get some praise ;). I think I'm pretty open these days. It's a hobby and everyone has one, no matter how "weird" it is to others. I certainly don't force my hobby on people (save for my wife sometimes - "Whoa..look at THIS set!").

As a kid, I put all the pieces into huge plastic bins. I also thought it would be a great idea of I put some action figures in there along with their weapons. Even better? Add some pens, pencils, rubber bands and anything else I could find. Seriously, I really don't know what I was thinking and now that I've made my first sort-through by color, I want to shake my 10-yr old self violently asking "what were you thinking!?" So now, my collection (circa 1980s-1996) is sorted by color (some bricks are lost, some are used as Xmas decorations at my folks' house). I'm not too worried about the pieces being used as decorations (namely, a gigantic santa). What I am worried about is getting a decent storage solution while trying to buy sets. I'm looking to update my collection, so for now, I am using ziploc bags and lots of them (25 or so right now) I am sorting by type and using even more bags - really not enjoying this, but I am finding it hard to get storage with sets like Grand Emporium out there :) Love this thread - lots of good stuff here :)

Awesome, thanks! It is hard for me not to sort as I've just got too many (a double-edged sword as it were :))

I'm sure this has been asked before, so please yell at me (and provide a link to similar thread(s) ;)) if that is the case. I have my set sorted by color for now. I'd really like to do color and type, but this may not be possible. While I have only the primary colors (my collection is about 15-25yrs old), I may opt to just group all colors by type, thus making sorting by type completely pointless :) Anyway, I've quickly noticed that there are different sub-types of all the types of bricks. I am using Bricklink as a guide, but under modified plates, they list a slew of different types of modified plats. So, my question to you all is this: how specific/granular is your sorted collection? Are all the "modified" types broken up by modification? Do you find you needed a lot more drawers/containers? Thanks for any input - I'm currently working with just ziploc bags, as my lego budget it going solely to sets (Green Grocer is on it's way :D!).

I almost thought this was a real set - ha. Fantastic work! Now for a second look at the details :)

Yep - same method I use. I'm too worried about storing my collection, let alone where to store all the boxes ;). I do plan on keeping the box for 8880 Super Car, however, as I bought it from bricklink after lusting over it for 15 years.

This is really surprising to hear, being in the US. I had no idea the 149.99 US price wasn't converted over equally to other currencies - doesn't seem fair. Not being in the know, I'll take a guess that there are more production plants/factories in the US, so it is cheaper? Then again, I thought all Legos were made in Denmark (this is my 10 year-old self's knowledge, anyway) :) Is it easy for you guys to order from S@H in the US and get it shipped to Europe?

I went with color first and just finished - but I totally agree with you on type first. I started with color and was so far along that I just went with it. I can't really say what my motivation was, I guess it just made sense at the time - not so much in hindsight ;) If something on the lego shop is "hard to find" - is that an indication it'll be discontinued? I may snag the Grocer first as the Emporium just came out, giving me more time..then there's the fire brigade...gah!

Great info you guys - why did I not join this forum sooner!? Thanks :D

Good call. Eventually I'd like to replace all my glass pieces - hoping it won't be too expensive (but preparing for the worst ;))

Ha, well, I figured out that storing them in large bins is not the way to do it..though my 10 year-old self had no idea ;)

Thanks Shadows :). That brought me back to reality a bit. I remember some of my first MOCs as a kid were of all different colors, but I didn't care - I still shouldn't as I'm still building. New techniques is something I never thought of - I was thinking mainly of the new pieces. Great point! On a side question - is there a good way to keep the glass pieces scratch-free? All the glass pieces in my older collection are scratched from me rummaging around in huge bins :(

I must add that basement dust is truly annoying. I too conducted a 10+ year experiment on complete accident :) Most of my pieces had dust I could easily get of with a few scrubs of a (soft) toothbrush. I also have a detail brush that works, but not for settled dust. Back to basement dust, this stuff is essentially wet dust that doesn't go anywhere unless you soak and scrub. As far as preventing, I'd guess if you have a can of compressed air, just give your sets a few sprays every week. That's a lot of maintenance though (IMO). Perhaps you could electrically charge them to repel dust (and shock you ;))

As it stands now, I have collection made up primarily of older pieces - 80s and 90s. Along with that, I have newer sets (2004 and up) that consist of a Ferarri F1 car, Tie Fighter and a slew of creator sets (love em!) I have finished sorting my collection by color and will continue to sort them by (hopefully) color and type. It all depends on how many drawers I will need :P. So with some newer built sets and a ton of older pieces that need more sorting, I feel I am at a bit of a crossroads. It is hard to ask non-AFOLs (I still prefer Lego Maniac..) as they may not totally get where I'm coming from. I am constantly blown away by what people are making with the bricks they have. My only issue is I feel that I have these MOCs as a baseline for my own creations. With what I have at my disposal, I feel most of my creations won't come close to the things I see on the various blogs and flickr galleries. I'd like to add to my collection (yes, even though what I have is not sorted - crazy?) and I'm not sure if it would be better to buy a slew of random bricks (ebay?) or just buy sets. I am currently between 10185 Green Grocer and the new 10211 Grand Emporium. I probably should not be surprised that I've memorized a slew of set numbers :P. So what to do - focus on sorting? I feel like I need a break from sorting. Focus on adding to the collection? I just want to build! Any input would be awesome - thanks everyone!

Thanks for the welcome everyone! :D

Hi - I'm Dan and I recently was reunited with my love of all things Lego. I bought my first set after about a 12 year hiatus in 2006 (8362-1: Ferrari F1 Racer) and since then, I've been focusing on the Creator sets as they remind me a lot of the Model Team sets. My latest and greatest purchase was buying a set I've pined over since its debut: 8880, the Super Car. I snagged it of Bricklinks and had an absolute blast building it. I recently finished the initial round of sorting my childhood Lego collection and I'm at a bit of a crossroads, so I thought I'd sign up and get some ideas on where to take my collection and how to organize it.