Lego - Sorting and Storage

As might be evident from a minority of posts, I don't just play with Warhammer 40,000 models - I also collect and build Lego. "Collect and build"? OK - I play with Lego.

My collection has been built up from what a lot of AFOLs (Adult Fans Of Lego) call my "Dark Ages". That is, the time after childhood, when you put your Lego away, until adulthood, when you pick it up again. So, I have been buying Lego for over ten years - since about 1998 when Star Wars Lego first came out.

In that time I have collected about 70,000 pieces of Lego, and that is a lot of bricks to pick from when building. There are lots of ways to store Lego. I use tray boxes - the sort that can be used to store stationery. I also use Fischer compartment trays (which I also use to store WH40K figures.)

The tray boxes are stacked in rough categories: from left to right they are Technic, transport (wheels, engines, wings), flats, the all-encompassing 'misc', bricks, slopes and creatures.

The stacks rest on a few kitchen cupboards, which are used to store other toys and games. Lego instructions and catalogues are in a filing cabinet. This is all starting to sound more than a little retentive - but without some sort of storage system, it would be chaos!

Minifigures and things minifigures use like tools and weapons are in the Fischer trays.

I use Keji storage boxes, which come in 5 drawer, 4 drawer and 3 drawer versions. Most of these were bought from Officeworks at about AUD 15 each. I also have a few slightly larger ones bought from KMart.

Because some of the drawers are getting full, I try to keep pieces of the same colour attached. (Sorting by piece type first is easier than sorting by colour.) This makes them easier to find in the drawer, and reduces the chance of an accident sending some crucial Lego part into the unknown recesses of the room.
There are also two much larger seven-drawer boxes, also bought from Officeworks. They can be seen on the lower right in the big pictures, in line with the cupboards. They are used for bulky parts like Lego train tracks, or parts for which I have accumulated a very large number like the classic 2 x 4 Lego brick.

Sorry about the blur.

Keji 5 Drawer storage box.

Lego - Commotion On The Pitch

I've been building a lot of my old Lego sets recently, including town buildings, cars and trucks, and the like. In 2000 Lego released some Football themed sets, and with the World Cup in mind, I added a small stadium, stands, and other accessories. (Check out http://www.brickset.com/search/?theme=Sports&year=2000 for a view of the range of Football sets for that year.)

Unfortunately, World Cup Fever seems to have overtaken one of the spectators, and a streaker has run onto the pitch!

Lego set 3409 Championship Challenge, released in 2000

WH40K - Ork Stormboyz painted by Mat

Like it says above, here are my Stormboyz as painted by my friend Mat. His work is first rate, and puts my poor paintjobs to shame. Of course I paid him for the job - it started when he asked if he could paint a Stormboy, just to see what they were like. I knew his Tau and Tyranid armies looked pretty sharp, so I gave him the job and these were the results. I still have to add some grit and gravel to the bases, but I was very pleased!





Stormboy character Zagstrukk (scratchbuilt with two plastic 'power klaws' for feet).



The Grenade Fairy comes to life! Tink! Tink! BOOM!

WH40K - Ork "Deff Dread" Dreadnought

This is my Dreadnought.



I built it pretty much out of the box. For a while I was tempted to reverse the body, putting the engine boxes on the round surface and painting the flat rectangles as armoured 'glass'. But I decided to keep it as is.

Before building this, I had seen another player's model and decided that it was a bit too spiky, so I have trimmed most of the spikes off. I also thought the four armed arrangement was very crowded on the model. It's cool, but a bit too busy for my tastes. I also wanted 'plenty of dakka' so I attached Big Shootas (machine guns, basically) to the arms. I also put some spare resin exhaust pipes on the engine blocks, instead of the original pieces.



The model comes with the option of using either claws or ends on the feet. I glued the claws on and added the bigger end pieces as well, to make its feet as big as possible. The Dreadnought is posed to look 'stompy' and the base is just scraps and bits from the bottom of the bits box. I use cheap superglue like an Ork Big Mek uses rivets. (More is better!)

The model is a lot more dynamic and detailed than the old metal dread, and fun to build. A lot of spiky bits!