Store and Sort - Giant Yellow Minifig Head - Any Good?

[Zahru II]

I'm doing it n00bschool and keep everything mixed, part of the fun is scrounging the bricks... and I have very few of each type to individually sort them.

[Gungnir]

This seems relevant. I'm sure we've all had moments like this.

[thade]

This ^

EVERY FREAKING TIME

[Hoboman]

This seems relevant. I'm sure we've all had moments like this.

Ok, care to share what it was.....

[Keldoclock]

90% sure that that image was something along the lines of

[Gungnir]

90% sure that that image was something along the lines of

That image exactly, in fact.
Apparently, Photobucket's a bitch about swearing.

[Keldoclock]

The Google-fu is weak with this one.

[Hoboman]

Oh that was great.

And yes, I have felt this myself as we have built stuff.

[OneEye589]

There's a system to big bins. You clear everything out in one corner and work your way around the edge. Pick out any good and interesting pieces. If you keep working your way around, what you need will fall right into your hand eventually.

[morganm]

I know what you mean and I'm sick of doing that... "what you need will fall right into your hand eventually" I've had that take over a half hour before! Plus I have two big bins; so I end up swimming through two of them.

Having all of the misc plates, bricks, and big pieces in a large bin is OK. The problem is finding the little bits, unique pieces, and stuff I don't have 100 of.

Here's what I've done so far...

Went to Wal-mart and dropped some coin on a bunch of their white/clear plastic drawer systems.

Minifigs get their own drawer by genre; Castle/Kingdom/Fantasy in one drawer, Star Wars/Sci-fi in one drawer, Town/Misc in another drawer. This includes genre specific minifig equipment but another drawer for misc equipment. A drawer for minifigs my kids tore apart and now we can't find all the pieces.... heads, torsos, arms with out hands, etc.. Larger animals / creatures get their own drawer; ogres, cows, horses, etc. Translucent pieces, hinges, glass/windshields/doors/windows, all get their own drawers. Finally one drawer devoted to "parts that make cool weapons"; cones, cylinders, rocket pieces, etc.

My dilemma is two fold

How to sort out the rest more quickly.
How to organize the rest.

[Swordsalmon]

My family's collection is just two large bins; one with pieces and the other with baseplates. There's also a few small clear containers to store minifigures and smaller pieces.

I have a shoebox for my pieces, and a couple clear containers for minifigures. And a Lego case to store the Conglomerate. ^_^

[trebnos1]

I have a whole room.
piles on the floor everywhere.
I hope I'm not crushed.


I'm sorry, I started a haiku and had to finish it.

I have some in bins, but most of them are in heaps.

By far my favorite technique.
Aside from that, three plastic boxes (essentially oversized shoeboxes) one smaller plastic box (essentially a shoebox) and one treasure chest (essentially a shoebox-sized casket).

[morganm]

Cleared off the Lego table and poured out half a bin at a time.... sorted through 3 cubic feat of freak'n Legos! Took many hours over the last 2 days. All I really did was take out all of the tiny stuff and organize that into the clear drawers.

Here's how it's all broke out now... I'm pretty happy with it. Finding those tiny things are easy now. Yet you still get the "fun" of sorting through 3 cubic feet of Legos looking for most parts =P

3 small drawers for Castle minifigs
- 1 for 'good' guys
- 1 for 'bad' guys
- 1 for accessories

3 small drawers for Space minifigs
- 1 for 'good' guys
- 1 for 'bad' guys
- 1 for accessories

3 small drawers for Civilian minifigs
- 1 for people
- 1 for minifig parts (heads, torsos, and incomplete figs)
- 1 for accessories

3 small drawers for Other stuff
- 1 for containers (barrels, crates, chests, etc)
- 1 for flora and foliage (trees, flowers, planets, etc)
- 1 still empty...

3 small drawers for Other stuff
- 1 for small translucent pieces (cones, 1x1 stud or snot, 1x2 stud or snot, 2x2 cones, etc)
- 1 for small snot pieces (excluding translucent ones... 1x1, 2x2, 1x1 angles, 1x2 grates, etc)
- 1 for single small single studs (1x1 square, 1x1 round, 1x1 brick with the stud also on the side,

3 medium drawers for Other stuff
- 1 for small vehicles (speeder bikes, motorcycles, 3-wheelers, etc)
- 1 for large creatures (horses, cows, large rock monsters, ogres, etc)
- 1 for technic / hero factory crap / bionicle shit

3 medium drawers for Other stuff
- 1 for misc awesomeness that could easily be made into weapons (cylinders, cones, missile fins, etc... it's a very full drawer =)
- 1 for hinges, hitches, swivels, and similar things.
- 1 for doors, windows, and large translucent pieces

1 large drawer for stuff we built but it's just too awesome to tear apart... yet. Things like Battle for Endor, my last sweet mech, and some stuff that's kinda lame but my son built it and loves it so we keep it =)

2 large 1' tall x 1' wide x 2' long bins
- 1 kinda organized with plates, a basket holding "cool space ship parts" (angled wings, pre-formed chassis, fins, etc), and all of the lame soccer stuff in another basket.
- 1 with bout 2 cubic feet of everything else.... plates, bricks, wheels, etc.

Once we get into our new house and I have more room I plan on getting more drawers. Likely start sorting by color then.

[Alex]

I use about 9 drawers for my legos. One is minifigs and accessories, one is plants and animals, one is plates, one for vehicle parts, one for boat pieces/flags/ladders, one for slopes/angles, one for walls/doors/windows/etc, one for bricks and one misc drawer I can dumps stuff in. I find that having everything somewhat organized makes finding pieces a lot easier.

[*CRAZYHORSE*]

There's a system to big bins. You clear everything out in one corner and work your way around the edge. Pick out any good and interesting pieces. If you keep working your way around, what you need will fall right into your hand eventually.

My technice exactely.