Good point

I like the kits, but I really liked breaking them up and using the pieces to build giant complicated things of my own design. Maybe I should see if I can find my old legos….

I really like the Titanic kit, but not for $600+.

My son has really gotten into Legos over the last couple of years (like most 4-6 year olds). He likes to keep them assembled like models but they've slowly gotten broken and modded. Since he and his sister stopped sharing rooms last fall the pile of partially constructed Legos on his bookshelf has grown.

So a few weeks ago we started on the process of sorting them out, checking off all the parts from inventory lists from brick link and then he can rebuild them all summer long. So far it's largely been just disassembling mostly completed sets, and then logging the one parts that are missing when we start to dig through the big Buckets o' Legos. Actually kind of a cathartic process.

Brick link has been a great help. If we get through this big process I'm going to reward myself with either one of the big Star Wars sets or the Tower Bridge.

Speaking of brick link, an Aggie buddy runs H town bricks (I think that's what it's called).

Bricklink is awesome.

sburg2007 said:

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Bricklink is awesome.

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Right now the "missing parts list" has about 90 pieces across about 15 sets. I'm sure we have 90% of them in the Buckets o' Legos. But for grins I told brick link to find all of the parts.

It was like $20.

Gonna be tough after a while to continue to dig for that tiny 1 x 3 light blush gray with the rounded corner rather than just waiting on it in the mail.

I have done exactly that. Have a store called Rogue Brick in Fort Worth and just pick em up there.

I loved those sets

Well, looks like his life is peaking right now!

I've since added and filled another 4' shelf to go with this 8' shelf, and I need to build another. I have the Saturn V and the Apollo Lander also, but they were at the office when I took this. Kind of a random assortment.

I built a functional 3' tall trebuchet as a kid. It had a counterweight loaded with pennies and could toss a AA battery line 40'. In engineering 111 we had to build a carousel with 3 speeds, reverse, and a direction change (horizontal to vertical) from a mindstorms engineering kit. Everyone else just used different motor source from the controller, which our prof said not to do even though he allowed it anyway. I built a clutched manual transmission system.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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I built a functional 3' tall trebuchet as a kid. It had a counterweight loaded with pennies and could toss a AA battery line 40'. In engineering 111 we had to build a carousel with 3 speeds, reverse, and a direction change (horizontal to vertical) from a mindstorms engineering kit. Everyone else just used different motor source from the controller, which our prof said not to do even though he allowed it anyway. I built a clutched manual transmission system.

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In my early teens I figured out how to use the rubber bands from my braces to spring load levers and push buttons, which took my secret doors and moving parts to a whole new level. Never had the really good stuff, but a handful of pieces from the Lego technics (?) procured from who-knows-where were really helpful.

I was in the same boat with pieces. I always wanted a lot of gears and other things but could never afford the sets with them. I guess I could just order them all from brick link now...

These look awesome. Couple of questions:

How do the kits work? Do you have detailed instructions like when building an old-school plastic model? Are the individual Legos packaged by shape/size or are they all mixed together like a puzzle and you sort them yourself?

Also, how long does it take to build one of those big projects?

There are detailed step by step instructions and the pieces are in bags numbered in order of assembly.

schmendeler said:

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There are detailed step by step instructions and the pieces are in bags numbered in order of assembly.

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Thanks ... I may have to start this hobby!

It's fun, but can get expensive quickly!

Yes it can. I started my brother down this rabbit hole by giving him Falling Water the Frank Lloyd Wright house and since then he has added about a dozen of the Architecture models to his collection. He is an architect and really got into them.

My experience was usually build a set, then play with it for a week or two and then it became parts. Getting the road or other large base plates really helps to give creativity a place to start.

My favorite thing I built as a kid was a couple of large towers with a set of rails between them. I built a few train cars that hung below the suspended rails like gondolas. It was totally badass.

EclipseAg said:

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These look awesome. Couple of questions:

How do the kits work? Do you have detailed instructions like when building an old-school plastic model? Are the individual Legos packaged by shape/size or are they all mixed together like a puzzle and you sort them yourself?

Also, how long does it take to build one of those big projects?

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Scale models, unlike Lego, requires a degree of learned skill to do correctly. Anyone who can follow instructions can build a Lego model.

This is my coworkers YouTube page dedicated to his Lego obsession. He's pretty big into all of this. Thought y'all might enjoy. Get The Brick

We have a ton of Lego from when I was a kid (80s space sets) and from when my 17 year old son was growing up. Like several hundred pounds worth in bins. Bought the Death Star set for myself and it's probably 85% in tact but my son's friends did some damage to it many years back and it was never repaired. No idea where the particular pieces are now.

Anyway, recently my son has gotten interested in them again but mainly making these vacuum powered engines which are pretty neat. Guess he watched a bunch of videos on YT like this one and started to build them himself.

Claude! said:

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I like everything about your setup except the cable management.

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Yeah one of these days I'm gonna neaten everything up

Just got confirmation it's been shipped! Just in time for May the 4th with my Star Wars superfan and I to put together.

I love the wing sticking out

Those diorama sets are incredible.

jeffk said:

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Those diorama sets are incredible.

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Pretty sure I'm buying the other 2 they released as "rewards" for something she does this summer. The Trash Compactor one really works apparently.

jeffk said:

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Those diorama sets are incredible.

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Pretty sure I'm buying the other 2 they released as "rewards" for something she does this summer. The Trash Compactor one really works apparently.

ChipFTAC01 said:

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jeffk said:

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Love those big technic car sets.

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My 5 year old got the jeep wrangler for his birthday or Christmas last year. Little dude plugged away at it and knocked it out.

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Get him the light kit off Game of Bricks to go with that. You can control the lights with a remote - it's pretty cool.

Real question is do y'all "Kragle" your kits together?

Box pic. Didn't plan on buying any of these yet, but $15 kohl's cash good only this week.