Organization??

[DigitalRadius]

hi I'm new to the website but not LEGO I have always loved LEGO but there was that "i'm too cool to play with LEGO phase" but today I was really inspired to go get out the LEGO! Oh by the way i'm 14. After looking at the two suitcases full of MIXED lego I have decided to take on the task of organizing it. What would you say would be the best way to organize it? i.e- colour, shape etc.

P.S. how much would an unopened mint condotion fort Legoredo set go for?

[DigitalRadius]

right i nearly forgot do you know of any lego part shops in the lower mainland (closer to surrey the better

[Frank]

I like to organize by shape rather than color. It's easier to
pick out the color you want from a bin containing one shape,
than to pick out the shape you want from a bin containing one
color.
The drawback is you need a lot of small bins. Walmart has
some inexpensive cabinets with lots of little drawers.

You could look up your set on bricklink.com to get an idea
what it is worth.

[DeGobbi]

it depends on your building style . when i have fewer piece i found it easier to do color . but when you collection gets obscenely big , shape is pretty much the only way to go .

[kevinw1]

it depends on your building style . when i have fewer piece i found it easier to do color . but when you collection gets obscenely big , shape is pretty much the only way to go .

If it's really obscenely big, shape AND color is the way to go. All my standard bricks are sorted by both shape and color.

It's aso very personal. The "sort by shape, not color" advice sounds very logical, but I tried it and hated it. My plates, for instance, are now in bins by color and width, so all teh red 1xn's are together.

For discussions of sorting and storage ad infinitum, check LUGNET:
http://news.lugnet.com/storage/

Kevin

[TFM]

it depends on your building style . when i have fewer piece i found it easier to do color . but when you collection gets obscenely big , shape is pretty much the only way to go .

If it's really obscenely big, shape AND color is the way to go. All my standard bricks are sorted by both shape and color.

It's aso very personal. The "sort by shape, not color" advice sounds very logical, but I tried it and hated it. My plates, for instance, are now in bins by color and width, so all teh red 1xn's are together.

For discussions of sorting and storage ad infinitum, check LUGNET:
http://news.lugnet.com/storage/

Kevin

Agreed. I've been thought 12 or more sorting systems. Colour and shape is the way to go.

Unless you don't have many peices, then it's by shape only for that part. Or gray scale and colour in seperate bins etc...

[DigitalRadius]

well I have two suitcases full of LEGO and a very small room to store them in so I can't do color and shape it takes up two much room. all I have is a small plastic shelving unit! some of the LEGO we have is so old I don't think they even make the parts anymore! :wow:

[Platypus]

i think you should mix. no matter how much Lego i end up with, i don't think i'll ever have my 2x4s sorted by shape. it just would't work. if you're going to build a house in red, you want to pull out one bin that has all your red brick. finding the 2x4s isn't that hard at that point. if you have the space, you can always break it don't a little more. 1 by X and 2 by X.
as for the rest, think about how you are going to use it. if you don't have enough to sort it by shape and/or colour, just group it as you'll use it. all the space wings, jets, domes, etc. in one place when you build a space ship, you have it ready to go. doors, windows, house hold stuff.
if you start by creating a basic seperation, it won't take you long to see where it's not working. anytime it takes you too long to find something because there are too many pieces in a bin, divide it.
though there aren't many around any more, the trays that come in Lego boxes are great. i've never really put much money into sorting and always just used these. they are big and open. easy to see the pieces cause they're never too deep.
my two cents.