BendyBadger's Brickset BonusBall Bonanza - SumoLego @lowlead Edition! (Drawing 01/07/2023)

SumoLego

Aloha Bricksetters... Happy New Year's to Everyone in the Forum!

Today is the much balleyhooed second installment of @lowlead's second annual GWP giveaway extravaganza!  If you remember last Christmas Day, our friend @lowlead provided a pair of very exclusive GWPs for two (2) raffles.  And last week @TheOriginalSimonB won his choice of one of the two sets below... (I just reached out to @TheOriginalSimonB, so please stay tuned as to which set will be available!)

One of the two remaining sets is the object of this week's raffle: #40567 Forest Hideout and a #40532 Vintage Taxi.  This raffle will run from January 2, 2023 through the BonusBall draw on January 6, 2023.  The last two draws were both 19, so obviously it couldn't be 19 for a third consecutive Brickset BonusBall.  (Or could it?!?!?!?)

We want as many unique posts in thread as possible, so please avoid double posts - but EVERY unique post will be counted.  If the BonusBall number drawn doesn't have a correspondence post, then I will assign a number in the order of entry to each participant and we'll do a raffle by random number generator.

If the prize isn't your thing, I do have a wide variety of extra sets, polys, figures and Lego-related whatnot in my inventory - and I'm happy to substitute the prize for something of reasonable comparable value.  For instance - if your heart is set on an Ideas Sailboat instead of the Taxi or the Hideout, I'm happy to work something out.  (And no, I'm still not shipping a UCS Millennium Falcon to Ulaanbaatar or Dushanbe.)

Finally, I strongly urge everyone that enters to make a donation to FairyBricks.  If you happen to win the raffle, making a sizeable donation for FairyBricks would be even better.  If you don't win the raffle, but still make a sizeable donation, that that makes you a Danish Prince.  (No it doesn't, but please consider making a donation nonetheless.)

If you're new to the Forum, or not really familiar with what FairyBricks does, please check out their website.

https://www.fairybricks.org/

Direct Link for making donations:

https://www.paypal.com/uk/fundraiser/charity/66053

This is more of a survey than a question, but your thoughts are much appreciated.  I've spent the last three days finally completing piecing together a UCS Grievous, a pair of A-Wings, an AT-AT, a 4506 Millennium Falcon, a Dagobah X-Wing and a few other sets - not necessarily for profit, but more along the lines to complete a puzzle.  I've got three (or seven) parts bins with bricks of various size and origin that I dig through to find parts I 'know' I have.  I have a pretty good success rate.  I must admit, there is strange sense of accomplishment when a pile of parts on the brink of ending up in a bulk bin re-emerge as a complete set.

Am I the only one that does this?

Also, if anyone wants a recently pieced together pair of A-Wings (#6207; #7134) for CHEAP!  No boxes, but there are instructions, minifigures and the vehicle, let me know!

Enjoy!  And Good Luck!

Switchfoot55

Well, I figure a #1 drawing has just as much odds as any other number, right? 

I 100% have the same setup as you, Sumo. Several bins of parts that I frequently dig through to finish up a set. I'll have a set ready to re-build, come up short a piece or two, dumpster dive in my bulk bin for a few minutes, and come up successful with the part in hand. 

Thank you for hosting and for @lowlead for the generosity as well! A Happy New Year to you all!

Bumblepants

I bought a sticker sheet to #75889 and built the Ferrari GTO out of my own parts (including filching some red parts from Angry Bird bulk I got from @SumoLego years ago.) Was perfect and all new parts for a massive discount over the set cost. Perhaps not quite the same as described in the original post but its in the neighborhood at least.

Oh and I did get a large amount of bulk from a teen moving away years ago at a garage sale and got all the parts for a UCS AT-ST in it. There was a lot of the original UCS Batmobile too but sadly none of the valuable parts. Apparently someone before me picked up a couple of the boxes and thus they were gone forever. AT-ST was fun to make though and flipped it later for way more than I paid for the bulk lot.

sweetness34

I have a couple of the storage cases with drawers that I keep extra parts in for building Mocs or adding to existing builds. It’s easier to find the parts that I need with them being sorted into drawers. 

sipuss

I rarely get bulks, but when I do, I try to sort it out as much as possible. The "digging through to find the parts I know I have" usually ends up with not actually having said parts, be it pure imagination or "oh, I was supposed to buy them but didn't".

Have a decent 2023, everyone.

Shib

If I need a specific part that I know I must have I’ll admit my first course of action tends to be checking what sets I own that it comes in to see if I can rob one from an easy to find set first before diving into the hideously large unsorted parts box!

jmeninno

I've rediscovered my love of Lego after graduating from college, which was over 10 years ago now.  I still don't have a great method of sorting things.  I struggle with sealed sets ("are they for trade, or my own personal nice-to-have, or did I actually want these" lol), let alone loose pieces.

It really depends on the amount of time and energy I have at the time.  I do have some cooler more exotic pieces sorted in pull-out trays (Toys R Us style storage that doesn't seem to exist anymore).  Other pieces stay in bulk in those plastic suitcases (again, think Toys R Us storage, with the 6 slots, the top two for trays and the bottom 4 being suitcase style).

Someday I'll get a hang of it.  Maybe.

Thanks again for hosting and supplying prizes!

BooTheMightyHamster

Ooh, what a great way to start the new year!  Not sure why we have to wait until the 1st of July for the draw though...

;o) 

Fodder

I don’t buy bulk lots, but I spent 3 days putting my son’s sets back together. They were all partially broken apart and spread across a number of tubs.

I’ve also put together a few ‘sets’ from loose parts that were too expensive to buy boxed.

bandit778

Unfortunately, due to a lack of space (so a set gets disassembled before I build another one) all my sets gets stored, bagged up, as is, minus the box so if I want to build it again it's all there with the instructions.
I'm the earlier days of my foray back into LEGO I have however Bricklinked a few sets (#10221, #10143, #10174 and #10179) plus some additional Rebrickable builds, quite often at the same time to save on shipping and it got really difficult to keep track of what I had purchased so I became particularly OCD with storing parts. Below is a small section of what I had bagged up a couple of years ago whilst another round of sorting went on.


They've been sorted again since this into parts then colours as the bins of grey got unmanageable. 

Sethro3

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I have the vast majority of my collection sorted out into their own bins and plastic bags, so I can find what I need pretty quickly. But before I got that situated, I did have a similar set up as you. I had areas that I knew I had a piece, but it wasn't where I think it should be. Usually I'd have to go to bricklink and find which set the piece was in and if I had that set, but it wasn't fully parted out, I knew it was in my bulk bin.

But ultimately I haven't bought used bulk lots in a looooong time. And I don't build most sets, so I do have a lot of unused pieces just waiting to be given the honor of being MOCed.

Gibbo1959

Before my major covid lockdown exercise of deconstructing and re boxing all my larger sets, everything else that had been built then broken down went into a colour based storage system, mostly in RUBs with trays, so maybe one day I’ll need to extract and bag up sets based on instructions then see what’s left - mostly the ‘spare’ pieces and anything bought as PAB or similar. Sounds like another job to save for retirement.

oldtodd33

I've been buying and rebuilding bulk lots for decades. It is a lot of fun for me and was more a part of my hobby than buying new sets a one point. The key for me was making sure I kept parts lots from different years and decades separate so I could get a period correct part much more easily than just dumping then into color sorted bins. The thought of mixing different years is enough to drive me up the wall with insanity. 

Renegade007cjh

Happy New Year to all Bricksetters!!

My collection is roughly divided into three categories:

1) Childhood: I was very keen on building my own structures (especially Castles) and *my* versions of figures using the parts from my owned sets. But everything was looked after very well and, whilst I've not sorted through them for many years, I'm confident that 99.9% will be there (if I went hunting).

2) Post-Dark Age main sets: conversely, I've only ever built the exact sets I've purchased; no MOC'ing, no changing figures out of the box etc. Carefully built and displayed, then eventually meticulously packed away so, again, expect 99.9% complete.

3) Random: all bets are off!! Second-hand bulk purchases, BrickLink orders, Parts Online orders, discounted duplicate sets, multiple CMFs and loose figures.  Incomplete, mixed-up, deliberate cannibalism and customisation for army building. Quite refreshing & liberating... completion % irrelevant!!

Thanks @SumoLego and @lowlead for hosting / sponsoring!!

Russell844

I very rarely do this because admittedly my parts collection is not sorted. I have tons of parts but absolutely no idea what they are.

ReesesPieces

I always dream of being like those who have all the parts organized in drawers.  I have some parts sorted that way but it is so time consuming that I end up with bins on built sets I never took apart or bins of random pieces.  One day...sigh...

vanvonfull

I bought I bought a bunch of drawers from Home Depot a year ago, but they are still in shrink plastic. My priority has been to relax with lego, so I haven’t tackled the loose bins of parts I bought of Craigslist 10 years ago. 

SirBen

Nope, you're not alone. I have a few bins of partially built sets in bulk buys that I know that I can rais for MOC parts, or for rebuilding a set or two from the lot for resale with the intent of paying for the lot by selling a fraction of it.

MugenPower

No MOCs for me, so I don't buy bulk or separate pieces.  When I was a kid and had a more manageable number of sets, I'd occasionally get the hankering to tear apart my own creations and rebuild all of the sets I had.  They wouldn't stay that way for long and would end up being taken apart soon after and end up in a mess of bricks ready for me to build my own things.

Bobflip

Before I started focussing more on slowly MOCcing, I'd get the missing parts for any set I found in a charity shop/car boot/job lot. Loved using Rebrickable to track the progress as the Bricklink orders arrived too.

kwkw

Tried MOCing earlier during my Lego life when I thought I could create a large custom city and accumulated way to many parts via bricklink that are unused and now taking up precious space in my cramp Lego room. However, the parts collection is useful when I’m missing a piece from an official set or want to create a little scene with some official sets (I.e. a winter village). I have used some of my parts bins (along with more bricklink orders) to build a couple of custom sets I purchased online (temple of edoras and charmander). Now my main priority is just to build and display official sets with the limited time and space I have.

TheFew

I tend to collect a lot of parts for MOCs, so often buy bulk lots on Ebay, part out the figures on my Bricklink Store, and the add the parts to my ever growing colour sorted piles...

Although prior to Xmas a bulk purchase had a number of great sets in it, which I bagged up as cheap Xmas presents for the 4 year old... on the basis that they will get broken up in a few weeks and are much cheaper than new sets...

mr_benn

I regularly go diving in the kids' massive tubs-o-Lego to try and help them put their own sets back together, but it's not uncommon that I dive into my fractionally better organised brick collection to help bring something back to life!

red237

My set up is similiar, and we are moving and trying to collect all loose pices that may have fallen off complete builds and reunite them before we move them across town. My son and I just moved about 15 totes of built sets, and three totes of miscellany, about 40 built sets in shelves, and have dived into the “not quite dump bins “ and reunited things. It feels tood! 

Brainslugged

I have most of my Lego sorted by colour and then piece type. Each colour also has an "unsorted" drawer which is all the correct colour but hasn't yet been sorted by piece type.

I also have a couple of boxes of 100% unsorted Lego and bags from sets I'm not going to build. Sometimes I can get lucky finding parts in the unsorted box, but it's often just easier to raid a boxed set if I know it contains a piece I'm desperate for.

messy

Large boxes with complete sets re-stored in their original boxes, large boxes of complete sets minus their boxes, large boxes full of unsorted parts from sets that were loaned to my boys in the guise of gifts. Plus boxes full of bags of parts sorted into colour and type as well as boxes of loose parts some of which have been pre-sorted into colour or part type. I need to get a better system in place as several times I have managed to acquire fairly large lots of specific parts that I had forgotten I already had.

MaffyD

Hooray! I'm in time for this one!

As some of you might know, my focus is on collecting sets. I don't bulk buy, I don't MOC, I don't really buy second-hand (I've done it exactly once, and that was a complete success, but was very much an outlier). The only time I get odd pieces are for a BSSS last year (a phenomenal gift of a micro fighter version of the Galaxy Explorer) and random minifigs for 2 dioramas which only exist in my head (Castle and Space).

So practically all my Lego is in the box the set came in, stored as neatly as possible wherever I can get it to fit!

Speedman29

I have had two bulk hauls in my time, one was very annoying. Gifted by a work colleague, he split his childhood LEGO in two buckets and gave one to me, the other to a family friend. Problem is he gave me all the "interesting parts" so there are zero complete set in it, I spent ages trying to finding all the parts for a few, but there was always a 40-50% missing. The other haul turned up several complete Marvel sets and after spying a single purple piece, the previous HP night bus emerged complete in parts.
Thanks again for hosting.

Lo1sJess

I have most of my Lego sorted into bins split between types and colors.  It consists of both broken down sets, sets of new bricks, bulk secondhand lots, PAB and BL orders.  While this has been good for pulling together different builds and the kid liked this for creations, I do sometimes regret the effort it would take to separate out the hundreds of sets that have been merged.  I am working on reorganizing now and hope that a revised set-up will make building, whether official sets, my MOCs or other sets (rebrickable, books of plans).

I am most dreading sorting two full bins (~8 gallons) of attachment pieces (hinges and such) and must admit I have ordered pieces I likely have in them from BL instead of doing the needed work.  If I can get those sorted into small containers by type(s) building will be more enjoyable.  

Modeltrainman

By part, color, if I really like a set, it stays together!

Gibbo1959

NB Second post. Did this happen or are we really waiting for 1st July?

SumoLego

It is - I just got side-tracked!