Been watching LEGO CUUSOO since the beginning, and I am fascinated by what has happened so far. For those who are unfamiliar with the site, it's a wish site, for lack of a better term. People submit wish sets or parts or themes to be considered for production by the LEGO Group. If 10,000 people support the idea, it wins a review round for production.
10,000 is a big number. And for a while, it looked that the number was beyond the reach of many projects. But that changed in the past month or so, with 5 projects hitting the threshold:
Shaun of the Dead
EVE Online Ships
Back to the Future
The Legend of Zelda
Firefly Serenity Set
Two have already been reviewed: Firefly Serenity and Shaun of the Dead. Both were declined production for not being appropriate for the target audience of children 6 - 11.
I am not going to go on a soapbox about why these were not selected. The LEGO Group has final say on any given project, and they can do as they choose. And honestly, what they have to do is dance a fine line. I feel a little bad for them because they have upset 10,000 people with each decline at the very least.
What I AM going to go on a soapbox on is: WHERE ARE THE AFOL projects????
I mean, really....the AFOL community likes to talk about how big and important they are, but look at the list above - how many were mobilized by the AFOL community? The LEGO Minecraft set was mobilized to 10,000 in 48 hours after Mojang posted the model on their blog and twitter and who knows what... Shaun of the Dead got tweeted by Simon Pegg, and numbers shot through the roof! Where are the AFOL projects?
The closest project that I have seen is the Modular Western Town, which is almost up there, but has been online since October. It has been posted constantly on Eurobricks and I think mentioned on Brothers Brick, but it's been going slow.
How can the community rally behind a set and push it to review? If there is an established community behind it, like a movie or game, it's not that hard. However, that would appear to mean that only licensed properties will have a chance with this environment, which is less than a positive thing.
Why? Because the creativity that AFOLs have is being passed over for the new Star Wars set or the set based on (fill in the blank). The worse thing is that we, the AFOLs, are letting that happen.
We can make excuses about how hard it is to navigate the CUUSOO page and find the things we want to support, and we can make excuses about other factors. But when it comes down to the core issue, the AFOL community appears not organized enough to push its own set or sets to review.
And I know better. We need to push a project, and as fast as any other - for one VERY important reason: We need to show the LEGO Group that we have the influence we claim we have.
LEGO CUUSOO was designed to show how strong our community is...and right now, we don't look strong at all.
Okay, I am off my soapbox.
Next blog post will be on another crowdsource site - Kickstarter!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Watching the Community Grow...
I started in this hobby in 2000. That makes it 12 years that I have been building, and that's a long time.
How long?
When I got in the hobby, there was only one website: LUGNET.
There was one photo site: Brickshelf.
There were only a handful of LEGO stores, and LEGO Shop at Home was just beginning.
LEGO conventions? They were just starting.
LEGO Users Group? There was one in my state (NCLUG). It was a small group in number, but the amount of stuff built was amazing.
And me? I just was starting out. My first MOC was an alternate build of the first X-Wing set (the grey one) No, I don't know the set number (and I tend to not try to remember them - it's the box I remember).
And when I posted the model online, it was greeted with positive comments from people online, and that led to me building more. I was encouraged by others from places across the country, and I built and improved my craft. At the time, that's all I thought I could do - just build.
It was my first convention, which was BrickFest 2001, that opened me up to a new universe - I met some friends that have become very close friends there, and I met many of the builders that I looked up to...and they were just like me. That was a big epiphany.
A lot has happened since. I can tell you the story, but the short of it is that I took a different route from the expected, as I realized that I wanted to do more than build. It became apparent to me that the LEGO community needed a document to record it as it grew. Coming from a publishing background, it was too obvious to me, but it took some time to fully realize what I wanted to do. What happened was BrickJournal.
That was 7 years ago. BrickJournal went to print from online 4 years ago, in a printing environment that wasn't positive. However, the magazine has persevered and is still growing.
The community has also grown by leaps and bounds all over the world too. Events have been done in the US and Europe and Asia. And BrickJournal has been able to cover many of them, from Brickworld in Chicago to Bricking Bavaria in Germany to BrickFan Town and Brick Fan Castle in Japan. It's amazing to see this growth happen, and to be part of a growing, vibrant community.
But the most important thing that I keep sight of now, that manages my direction of the magazine, is the simple act of discovery. I want BrickJournal to discover the people of this community. I want this spirit of discovery be the inspiration to the next generation of builders, whoever they may be.
The community still grows, and I have seen the generations of AFOLs take their shot at moving the community. I saw the community expand from one website to many, and with that I felt a little sadness as fragmentation began. I also saw the community get closer to the LEGO Group thanks to efforts of the company and the best AFOLs on the planet.
Think about it. We now are able to submit our ideas to the LEGO Group on LEGO CUUSOO and have it produced, if there is enough interest. That was something completely impossible when I started. There are now other AFOL publications too, which I welcome. The community can only grow better.
We live in incredible times, and so we are left to discover what lies out there for each of us. We can make a difference. You can do the same. Explore what you can do. Inspire a new builder. Build an astonishing model. Volunteer for an event.
I know that because I started as a builder, but decided to see what was out there and I did all those things. And now I am going back to my roots, back to NCLUG, back to building. I was hit by inspiration again. There's so much more to do...
So here's to another twelve years in the hobby at least.
And even more exciting things happening.
How long?
When I got in the hobby, there was only one website: LUGNET.
There was one photo site: Brickshelf.
There were only a handful of LEGO stores, and LEGO Shop at Home was just beginning.
LEGO conventions? They were just starting.
LEGO Users Group? There was one in my state (NCLUG). It was a small group in number, but the amount of stuff built was amazing.
And me? I just was starting out. My first MOC was an alternate build of the first X-Wing set (the grey one) No, I don't know the set number (and I tend to not try to remember them - it's the box I remember).
And when I posted the model online, it was greeted with positive comments from people online, and that led to me building more. I was encouraged by others from places across the country, and I built and improved my craft. At the time, that's all I thought I could do - just build.
It was my first convention, which was BrickFest 2001, that opened me up to a new universe - I met some friends that have become very close friends there, and I met many of the builders that I looked up to...and they were just like me. That was a big epiphany.
A lot has happened since. I can tell you the story, but the short of it is that I took a different route from the expected, as I realized that I wanted to do more than build. It became apparent to me that the LEGO community needed a document to record it as it grew. Coming from a publishing background, it was too obvious to me, but it took some time to fully realize what I wanted to do. What happened was BrickJournal.
That was 7 years ago. BrickJournal went to print from online 4 years ago, in a printing environment that wasn't positive. However, the magazine has persevered and is still growing.
The community has also grown by leaps and bounds all over the world too. Events have been done in the US and Europe and Asia. And BrickJournal has been able to cover many of them, from Brickworld in Chicago to Bricking Bavaria in Germany to BrickFan Town and Brick Fan Castle in Japan. It's amazing to see this growth happen, and to be part of a growing, vibrant community.
But the most important thing that I keep sight of now, that manages my direction of the magazine, is the simple act of discovery. I want BrickJournal to discover the people of this community. I want this spirit of discovery be the inspiration to the next generation of builders, whoever they may be.
The community still grows, and I have seen the generations of AFOLs take their shot at moving the community. I saw the community expand from one website to many, and with that I felt a little sadness as fragmentation began. I also saw the community get closer to the LEGO Group thanks to efforts of the company and the best AFOLs on the planet.
Think about it. We now are able to submit our ideas to the LEGO Group on LEGO CUUSOO and have it produced, if there is enough interest. That was something completely impossible when I started. There are now other AFOL publications too, which I welcome. The community can only grow better.
We live in incredible times, and so we are left to discover what lies out there for each of us. We can make a difference. You can do the same. Explore what you can do. Inspire a new builder. Build an astonishing model. Volunteer for an event.
I know that because I started as a builder, but decided to see what was out there and I did all those things. And now I am going back to my roots, back to NCLUG, back to building. I was hit by inspiration again. There's so much more to do...
So here's to another twelve years in the hobby at least.
And even more exciting things happening.
An Event Coordinator's Lament
It's been a while since I have posted here, and there are a variety of reasons why...working on another issue of BrickJournal, off on a trip to an event, or in this case, up to planning an event.
BrickMagic is an event that I run in May - it's a modest-sized convention, and it attracts people from as far north as Pennsylvania, as far south as Florida, and as far west as Texas. That's pretty cool - and what I really enjoy about the event is that many of the attendees are people that I have known in the hobby for several years. A lot of the event is making a great party for my friends.
But there are always the challenges that are posed every year. In many ways, setting up an event with a 150 people and a group of volunteers is like a military operation - there has to be advanced planning, mobilizing, then the actual campaign. Most of these aspects are easily managed - budget is the most onerous one, but after that, there's logistics.
One would think that setting up a floor plan would be easy for an event, but it really isn't. While it appears that the effort done is simply moving tables and stantions, there is some thought that has to go into this. It's not easy, and the toughest variable is literally the unknown.
Let me explain this - every year, people signup and pay for their registrations and get ready to go an event. However, there is one thing that isn't always noted: the registrant's MOCs.
There are many reasons why a MOC may not be registered, such as not being finished, or too busy, or maybe not deciding until the last minute. The validity of these arguments is pretty much a relative thing to me, but ultimately, this is a challenge for me and other event coordinators.
Why is this such a challenge? Using the military operation metaphor, it's hard to figure out an operation if you don't know your troops. What that really means is that it's hard to plan out table space for MOCs if we don't know completely what is coming in. And the margin of MOCs that are registered as opposed to the "surprise MOCs" is a pretty high margin.
For any event coordinator, mapping out the tables is one of the most important things at an event. A good layout showcases everyone and allows viewers to easily go from one place to another...while this is easy to manage at the attendee part of an event, the public part is much more difficult, as the traffic goes significantly higher.
Tables and layouts have to be set up with stantions, which means that a footprint for the layout will be bigger than the layout itself, then walkspace has to be added. Here's some rules of thumb: There is usually a 3 foot gap from a table to a stantion (although it can be reduced to 2 feet) and walkspace is usually 10 feet to allow for people to "clump up" and look as well as let people pass. For larger events, this is pushed larger.
This isn't that big of a deal until a lot of smaller displays end up being separate displays - the space between them requires both the stantion buffer and walkspace between them. This is one of the reasons why there are themed areas, so tables can be lined up together. One large group only has one set of buffers and walkway so it's more efficient.
It's very important that MOCs be listed to allow for better planning. Many of the attendees at BrickMagic have already told me their layout sizes and table requests, and that's what I want to know. I have a floor plan for these people already in mind, but I have to also try to figure out who else will be coming and bringing things.
I don't expect everyone to tell me exactly what they are bringing - there are always new models that come and things just happen, for lack of a better term. However, it must be understood that while it is relatively easy to add one model to a table, or two, or even three, when a table has to be added that wasn't on the floor plan before, that can be pretty disruptive. And honestly, dozens of MOCs come in that are not listed.
So if you really want to help an event out, do it a favor - register, and register your MOCs. You'll give a good impression to the event staff, and you'll be helping in planning. If you have a large display, the sooner you inform the event, the better. Keep in mind that all these events are for you to show off, so we are doing our best for you. Any help you give will only make the events better.
And from all of us coordinators...thanks in advance!
BrickMagic is an event that I run in May - it's a modest-sized convention, and it attracts people from as far north as Pennsylvania, as far south as Florida, and as far west as Texas. That's pretty cool - and what I really enjoy about the event is that many of the attendees are people that I have known in the hobby for several years. A lot of the event is making a great party for my friends.
But there are always the challenges that are posed every year. In many ways, setting up an event with a 150 people and a group of volunteers is like a military operation - there has to be advanced planning, mobilizing, then the actual campaign. Most of these aspects are easily managed - budget is the most onerous one, but after that, there's logistics.
One would think that setting up a floor plan would be easy for an event, but it really isn't. While it appears that the effort done is simply moving tables and stantions, there is some thought that has to go into this. It's not easy, and the toughest variable is literally the unknown.
Let me explain this - every year, people signup and pay for their registrations and get ready to go an event. However, there is one thing that isn't always noted: the registrant's MOCs.
There are many reasons why a MOC may not be registered, such as not being finished, or too busy, or maybe not deciding until the last minute. The validity of these arguments is pretty much a relative thing to me, but ultimately, this is a challenge for me and other event coordinators.
Why is this such a challenge? Using the military operation metaphor, it's hard to figure out an operation if you don't know your troops. What that really means is that it's hard to plan out table space for MOCs if we don't know completely what is coming in. And the margin of MOCs that are registered as opposed to the "surprise MOCs" is a pretty high margin.
For any event coordinator, mapping out the tables is one of the most important things at an event. A good layout showcases everyone and allows viewers to easily go from one place to another...while this is easy to manage at the attendee part of an event, the public part is much more difficult, as the traffic goes significantly higher.
Tables and layouts have to be set up with stantions, which means that a footprint for the layout will be bigger than the layout itself, then walkspace has to be added. Here's some rules of thumb: There is usually a 3 foot gap from a table to a stantion (although it can be reduced to 2 feet) and walkspace is usually 10 feet to allow for people to "clump up" and look as well as let people pass. For larger events, this is pushed larger.
This isn't that big of a deal until a lot of smaller displays end up being separate displays - the space between them requires both the stantion buffer and walkspace between them. This is one of the reasons why there are themed areas, so tables can be lined up together. One large group only has one set of buffers and walkway so it's more efficient.
It's very important that MOCs be listed to allow for better planning. Many of the attendees at BrickMagic have already told me their layout sizes and table requests, and that's what I want to know. I have a floor plan for these people already in mind, but I have to also try to figure out who else will be coming and bringing things.
I don't expect everyone to tell me exactly what they are bringing - there are always new models that come and things just happen, for lack of a better term. However, it must be understood that while it is relatively easy to add one model to a table, or two, or even three, when a table has to be added that wasn't on the floor plan before, that can be pretty disruptive. And honestly, dozens of MOCs come in that are not listed.
So if you really want to help an event out, do it a favor - register, and register your MOCs. You'll give a good impression to the event staff, and you'll be helping in planning. If you have a large display, the sooner you inform the event, the better. Keep in mind that all these events are for you to show off, so we are doing our best for you. Any help you give will only make the events better.
And from all of us coordinators...thanks in advance!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
LEGO Contest!
LEGO is asking consumers ages 6 + to design a LEGO themed postage stamp to be featured on the Late Holiday Catalogue .
For each country there will be 50 finalists selected to receive a copy of 10222. 25 will be for ages 6-14 and 25 will be from ages 15 & up. From the 50 finalists, 1 grand prize winner will be selected per country. In addition to a copy of 10222 – Winter Village Post Office, grand prize winners will have their stamp design featured on the late holiday catalog for their country along with a professionally designed and framed LEGO mosaic of their design.
Where: The US/UK/Germany. These are the only countries that mail a late holiday catalogue
When: We will be accepting entries for the contest September 1-30 and selecting the finalists & winners for each country the first week of October.
How: Consumers must simply visit shop.LEGO.com/Design-Challenge (Germany: shop.LEGO.com/Designwettbewerb) to download the official entry form. They or their parent/guardian must complete the form and email it along with their stamp design to the email address designated for their country. No purchase is required and there will be no physical entries collected.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
For each country there will be 50 finalists selected to receive a copy of 10222. 25 will be for ages 6-14 and 25 will be from ages 15 & up. From the 50 finalists, 1 grand prize winner will be selected per country. In addition to a copy of 10222 – Winter Village Post Office, grand prize winners will have their stamp design featured on the late holiday catalog for their country along with a professionally designed and framed LEGO mosaic of their design.
Where: The US/UK/Germany. These are the only countries that mail a late holiday catalogue
When: We will be accepting entries for the contest September 1-30 and selecting the finalists & winners for each country the first week of October.
How: Consumers must simply visit shop.LEGO.com/Design-Challenge (Germany: shop.LEGO.com/Designwettbewerb) to download the official entry form. They or their parent/guardian must complete the form and email it along with their stamp design to the email address designated for their country. No purchase is required and there will be no physical entries collected.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, April 7, 2011
It's all in the details!
Take a look at this complete diorama, with lighting by Lifelites (Rob Hendrix). Beautiful use of lighting and building technique. The rest of this gallery shows off more of the model!
Monday, April 4, 2011
Building Thoughts: Bricks of Character
One of the things that I get to do as a sorta-journalist is watch and find out about building trends in the community. While there are constant themes, trains and space come to mind right off the bat, there are those builders that don't fit the general themes. This is a good thing overall, as no builder should be pigeonholed in a theme, unless they want to be. I started as a space builder, then wandered to micro scale, then to MINDSTORMS, and now just a LEGO builder.
Anyways, a relatively new trend is Bricks of Character. started by Iain Heath and Tommy Williamson, this is a theme that is not based on a genre or theme, like Space or Train, but based on building characters. It's a little tough to explain in words, so here are some pics:
Jack Sparrow, built by Erik Varszegi, LEGO Master Builder.
Ponyo, built by Iain Heath
Marvel CubeDudes(tm), built by Angus MacLane
Jack Sparrow and Barbossa, built by Tommy Williamson
Each one of these are wildly different building styles, from realistic life size to almost miniland scale to caricatured scale, but each has a common thread - they are all character builds.
The first display of Bricks of Character was at BrickCon 2009, and in a couple of years has grown to a major display at the event. Part of the reason behind this is that the theme allows a wide assortment of models. The models above could show up at the display, but so could miniland models of TV characters and cartoon icons. Video game figures have also appeared.
The other factor behind the popularity of the theme is that a model often doesn't have to be that big to display, making it a perfect thing to take to a convention. A miniland model can easily fit in a bag and be assembled on site in a short time.
So how do you build something like this?
Tinkerbell, by Janey Cook
Well, here are some general steps, which may be helpful.
1. Determine your scale and color. This is the most important part of the building, because it's REALLY annoying when the part you need is not in the right color at all. Scale is good to figure out the resulting size.
2. Sketch what you want to build first on blank paper, then on graph paper. The best models are not simple standing poses, except for CubeDudes. A character is partially defined by the pose, as shown in Jack and Ponyo and Tink and the pirates above.
Using graph paper is good to transfer and start figuring out building techniques. LEGO-scaled graph paper can be found here.
Things to think about while sketching: the pose of the figure and how curvy you will need to build. Curves will define much of your building challenges, so decide beforehand how will work with or without curves.
3. Build and explore. The larger the scale, the more likely the building solution will be easy to find. However, that will mean more parts will be needed. The smaller scale will also make you think of different building techniques - it's a good way to learn Studs Not on Top building.
Because this is usually exploring, the expectation of building it right on the first try should be low. One technique may have to make way for another, and colors may have to be changed for parts availability. Patience is a nice thing to have:-).
I built Black Canary over the span of a couple of nights - I had to learn how to build a stable pose for her. Once I figured out her legs, it wasn't any easier figuring her hair, which could stand another revision.
A note here: if your want to really make it complicated, incorporate curves! Put another way, the female form is probably the hardest to build in LEGO elements. Be extra patient.
If you want to look at some galleries with Bricks of Character, you can look at:
Tommy Williamson's Flickr gallery
Iain Heath's gallery
My galleries: look in BrickCon 2009 and 2008
Angus MacLane's gallery
Take a look at their work, and see what you can do. I look forward to seeing your work online or at an event!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Anyways, a relatively new trend is Bricks of Character. started by Iain Heath and Tommy Williamson, this is a theme that is not based on a genre or theme, like Space or Train, but based on building characters. It's a little tough to explain in words, so here are some pics:
Jack Sparrow, built by Erik Varszegi, LEGO Master Builder.
Ponyo, built by Iain Heath
Marvel CubeDudes(tm), built by Angus MacLane
Jack Sparrow and Barbossa, built by Tommy Williamson
Each one of these are wildly different building styles, from realistic life size to almost miniland scale to caricatured scale, but each has a common thread - they are all character builds.
The first display of Bricks of Character was at BrickCon 2009, and in a couple of years has grown to a major display at the event. Part of the reason behind this is that the theme allows a wide assortment of models. The models above could show up at the display, but so could miniland models of TV characters and cartoon icons. Video game figures have also appeared.
The other factor behind the popularity of the theme is that a model often doesn't have to be that big to display, making it a perfect thing to take to a convention. A miniland model can easily fit in a bag and be assembled on site in a short time.
So how do you build something like this?
Tinkerbell, by Janey Cook
Well, here are some general steps, which may be helpful.
1. Determine your scale and color. This is the most important part of the building, because it's REALLY annoying when the part you need is not in the right color at all. Scale is good to figure out the resulting size.
2. Sketch what you want to build first on blank paper, then on graph paper. The best models are not simple standing poses, except for CubeDudes. A character is partially defined by the pose, as shown in Jack and Ponyo and Tink and the pirates above.
Using graph paper is good to transfer and start figuring out building techniques. LEGO-scaled graph paper can be found here.
Things to think about while sketching: the pose of the figure and how curvy you will need to build. Curves will define much of your building challenges, so decide beforehand how will work with or without curves.
3. Build and explore. The larger the scale, the more likely the building solution will be easy to find. However, that will mean more parts will be needed. The smaller scale will also make you think of different building techniques - it's a good way to learn Studs Not on Top building.
Because this is usually exploring, the expectation of building it right on the first try should be low. One technique may have to make way for another, and colors may have to be changed for parts availability. Patience is a nice thing to have:-).
I built Black Canary over the span of a couple of nights - I had to learn how to build a stable pose for her. Once I figured out her legs, it wasn't any easier figuring her hair, which could stand another revision.
A note here: if your want to really make it complicated, incorporate curves! Put another way, the female form is probably the hardest to build in LEGO elements. Be extra patient.
If you want to look at some galleries with Bricks of Character, you can look at:
Tommy Williamson's Flickr gallery
Iain Heath's gallery
My galleries: look in BrickCon 2009 and 2008
Angus MacLane's gallery
Take a look at their work, and see what you can do. I look forward to seeing your work online or at an event!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, March 10, 2011
How Specific do you Sort?
In the LEGO library, there are thousands of parts that are created for all the sets, from mini figure accessories to simple bricks. When keeping a small collection, there are only a limited number of parts to sort, but as the collection grows, so does the assortment. This inevitably leads to sorting challenges.
For most of us, we don't have the space to make room for every individual part, so we combine in some way. I combine my parts in two different ways:
COLOR
With my plates, I combine colors that are distinct together - the size is easy to recognize, and color is even easier. Here, I start with 1x2 plates and go to 2 x 8 plates at the end. Larger plates are in bins under my work surface. The bottom row has my exotic colors - the ones that I probably will not use. When I need large plates or run out of a color in a drawer, I have a couple of overflow bins to search.
The bottom left drawer has all my small rounded slopes. I don't have these sorted by color either. I am not that organized:-)! I do have my 2 x bricks separated by color in bins, though.
For specialty parts, though, I use a slightly different strategy.
I group similar parts together. These are parts that have the clip handles in some way or form. The only exception is that control brick element in the foreground, which needs to be somewhere else! All the other parts are there for two reasons:
1. They are easier to find in a group than separately. This is especially applicable when I only have a few parts.
2. Grouping encourages my creativity by letting me see more than one option to a part.
Here's another example. Headlight bricks and SNOT bricks in the same drawer. The different options from sunk-in stud to studs on more than one side, give me a variety of ways to mount parts by the side, and in some cases, more than one side.
This system seems to work for me most of the time, although I am in the process of migrating the most used parts to the drawers to build more efficiently. Developing your own sorting setup and system will take a little time, as you have to see what parts you use the most to determine what goes where. Also, if you are a more precise builder, you'll probably want more specific bins and drawers. Keep in mind that this will expand your work area, though. A former AFOL I knew had an entire basement set aside for building, and his walls were lined with drawers of parts.
So how do you sort?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
For most of us, we don't have the space to make room for every individual part, so we combine in some way. I combine my parts in two different ways:
COLOR
With my plates, I combine colors that are distinct together - the size is easy to recognize, and color is even easier. Here, I start with 1x2 plates and go to 2 x 8 plates at the end. Larger plates are in bins under my work surface. The bottom row has my exotic colors - the ones that I probably will not use. When I need large plates or run out of a color in a drawer, I have a couple of overflow bins to search.
The bottom left drawer has all my small rounded slopes. I don't have these sorted by color either. I am not that organized:-)! I do have my 2 x bricks separated by color in bins, though.
For specialty parts, though, I use a slightly different strategy.
I group similar parts together. These are parts that have the clip handles in some way or form. The only exception is that control brick element in the foreground, which needs to be somewhere else! All the other parts are there for two reasons:
1. They are easier to find in a group than separately. This is especially applicable when I only have a few parts.
2. Grouping encourages my creativity by letting me see more than one option to a part.
Here's another example. Headlight bricks and SNOT bricks in the same drawer. The different options from sunk-in stud to studs on more than one side, give me a variety of ways to mount parts by the side, and in some cases, more than one side.
This system seems to work for me most of the time, although I am in the process of migrating the most used parts to the drawers to build more efficiently. Developing your own sorting setup and system will take a little time, as you have to see what parts you use the most to determine what goes where. Also, if you are a more precise builder, you'll probably want more specific bins and drawers. Keep in mind that this will expand your work area, though. A former AFOL I knew had an entire basement set aside for building, and his walls were lined with drawers of parts.
So how do you sort?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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