Another Artifact

So I managed to win an auction for another LEGO artifact -- #348-2 Mini-Wheel Model Maker, I'll post pictures on Flickr later of the box, instructions, and parts (once I receive it).  From the on-line pictures, it looks to be in good shape.

A few months ago, I won an auction for a #371 Motorized Truck Set.  The box was in great shape for being over 40+ years old... I don't have a deep seeded need to start collecting LEGO sets from the 70's, but the motorized truck was a little bit of a personal vindication for me.  The Mini-Wheel Car and Truck Set was just going for too cheap, IMO.

The other ancient LEGO set I manage to pick up was the #725 Town-Plan in excellent shape.  Not all the parts were there... I think the trees and cars were missing, but everything else was in great shape -- the bricks were still minty fresh.

One of these days, I'll probably pass them on to fellow collector or the LEGO museum.

Out of the Dark Ages

Building on yesterday's post, I emerged from my Lego dark ages back in 1998. Shortly after Christmas, I was walking through a Kohl's with my sister and niece. As we happened through the toy section, I noticed pirate Lego sets on clearance and I thought to myself, "hey... wouldn't that be cool to stick up on my desk at work..."

Looking at the Lego pirate sets, I had realized a few things: Lego was no longer just primary colored bricks... there was green, brown, and shades of gray; Lego was no longer about just bricks... there were minifigs (as I later came to know what they were called), cannons, horses, plants of different shapes and sizes, etc.; and Lego was about themes... castle, pirate, space...

I honestly don't remember what the first Lego set that I bought after coming out of my dark ages... I'm thinking it might have been a #6249 Bandit Ambush, but I could be mistaken. Or it might have been some castle set... I can't quite remember... I took to the internet with my new found love of Lego... found rec.toys.lego (RTL) and eBay... worlds opened up to me... found that I missed the 'golden-years' (in my opinion) of Lego (1980~1988) -- most of the sets I found most interesting came out during the '80s. Found out that people had scanned instructions and posted them on-line for others to build from. Found people were hosting part auctions, like AucZILLA. Found people who posted pictures of their own Lego creations called MOCs. It was a whole new strange, wonderful world filled with people like me -- Adult Fans of Lego (AFOLs).

It's Almost September...

It's almost September and I haven't had a lot to blog about since I've been back from BrickFest. My LEGO club (COLTC) met last weekend, no real surprises... we met to socialize, talk about up-coming shows, and talk about general club business. There's a lot going on the last few months of this year, but I plan to sit most of it out... work has got me too busy. Plus, I want to concentrate on better organizing my LEGO collection & building a few new MOC for future displays. I'll attend club meetings, but there seems to be enough volunteers that I don't need to be involved in the next few displays.

Aah... How Cute!

Now don't get me wrong... I'm not making fun of this person't collection. I think they're very organized & nicely sorted. I think if this person goes to build something; they should be able to do it quickly.

And don't think that I'm bragging, because I'm not. But I look at collections like this on Brickshelf & think to myself, "Oh, how cute! ... I wish my collection of LEGO was that nicely organized." It's ironic (in the Atlantis Morissette kinda way), how smaller the collection is, the more organized that person's collection is vs. like me. I've got a big collection & I'm no where close to being organized... I'm lucky that when I sort parts, they make it into the right bin some days.

To be honest, I struggle to find the right sized container for most pieces. My 1x8 tiles (which fit nicely in this person's storage box) would fill something between a 1/2 to a 1/3 of a shoe box container....

More on this later...