Recently Opened In Castle Rock, CO !!!

 How cool is this?!!!

A B&MF store exactly 1.7 miles from the doorstep of my home!

Needless to say, I will be a very regular customer.

I stopped in briefly the other day to check it out.

A sixty-nine-year-old 'Kid in the Candy Store' !

A Big-Set Bulid

 A couple of weeks ago, my wife was a bit bored and wanted something to do in the evenings. 

She asked if I had any LEGO sets that we could work on together.  

I didn't have any new ones but remembered that there was an unfinished set on a shelf in the basement.

This is the LEGO Ideas Voltron set #21311.

It actually belongs to my seven year old grandson.  He and I had started building it a year and a half ago, but he totally lost interest in it. The set has been languishing on a shelf ever since. We had only gone as far as assembling the two 'Lion' sections composing the mech's lower legs and feet.

So, I pulled the set out so that the missus and I could finish it up over several evenings, one parts bag per session.

It was quite a relaxing, enjoyable activity for us to share together.

Here are the pics of the finished build:

Cheers!

Back To The Imperial Light Cruiser

 

Over the past few months I've taken a considerable hiatus from any LEGO related activity.

This has all changed, as yesterday I came across the box containing the unfinished wiring project on the Star Wars Imperial Light Cruiser that I started quite awhile back.

It's high time to get that completed.

Time to stock up on Mountain Dew, flip on the shop lights, and fire up the soldering iron.

Stay tuned ...

Yes, It's Not LEGO!

 Every time I happen to acquire a new stash of used LEGO via yard sales, estate sales, etc., the collection invariably includes a certain quantity of 'Not-LEGO' items.

This is usually in the form of the many and varied knock-off versions of LEGO- like elements, as well as random objects and toys not related to brick-building. Think 'President Business' relic collection in "The LEGO Movie".

The recently acquired super-stash was no exception.

As I was cleaning, sorting and doing inventory on all those parts, I ran across a good number of such items.

Most were very easy to differentiate from LEGO.  Any brick with plain surfaces or random indentations atop the studs are a dead giveaway. The vast majority of the real stuff has the LEGO logo on each stud.  Other easy-to-discern indicators are elements that have a slightly different shape or hole configuration compared to the real thing. Surface reflection and color differences are another easy identifier. 

Of course, elements from Mega-Bloks and Knex often have their own logos molded on to them.

Some of the stud-less knock-off parts that have no manufacturer's mark often have a 1 or 2 digit number on them, another give-away, as many similar LEGO parts have 'LEGO' and a 4 to 5 digit part number stamped somewhere on them.

So, what am I going to do with this box of off-parts?

Being a stout LEGO purist, none of these 'fakes' will ever be mixed into any of my MOCs or sets.

Promise.

Against my better judgement, I will, however, hold on to them.  Much of it can be utilized to build up display bases only for real-LEGO MOCs and Mini-figs. 

Here are a couple of Mega-Blok bases from the recent stash that would work splendidly for that:

Another use I came up with is to employ them as support fixtures for display cabinet LED lighting.

I could even talk myself into building small projects out of the knock-off elements, keeping them, of course, in a land far away from the real LEGO.  

Since I have the darn things, I might as well use them.

Cheers!

Odds And Ends

 After completing the final sorting and storage integration, I found I was left with a couple of unfamiliar LEGO pieces.

Thanks to the Brinklinks website, I was ultimately able to identify them.

The trans-orange and gray assembly turns out to be a Ninjago spinner base from LEGO "Weapons Pack' set #9591.  The base is supposed to match up to a 'Kai NRG' minifig that I haven't yet found in the stash. I did run across a few trans-orange snakes with odd attachment holes that I now know came with the base. I'm sure the parts for the trio of weapons assemblies from the set also reside in my minifig accessories storage box. 

I intend to locate the remainder of the elements and re-build this part of the set, just for grins, of course.

The trans-blue disc in the above photo happens to be a LEGO dimensions Toy Tag.

I have no idea as to which mini-fig it goes with. No use to me whatsoever.

The third item in the pic is an old style light brick with built in button battery power.

I definitely will find a good use for this item in a future MOC.

Cheers!

Going Technic

 I have finally reached the end of the sorting and processing of that recently acquired 15,000+ parts windfall.

What a ride that has been! 

I've pretty much had to re-think my storage and access system to accomodate many more parts.

Anyway, after all is said and done, I've found that the stash included a respectable quantity of Technic elements. Being an electro-mechanical nerd, I find this new pile of parts quite intringing, with visions of all sorts of animated MOCs filling my head.

As a result, I sprung some extra cash for this:

Let the building begin.....

Parts Stash: The Sorting It All Out

 As each batch of cleaned parts finishes drying, I load them back into a storage box and take them upstairs to begin the sorting process while watching a movie.

Actually, I have found sorting LEGO to be very relaxing and therapeutic!

The first phase is to just seperate everything by color.  Some plastic compartmented trays are helpful for this

When finished, I place those piles into large zip bags for future break-down by type and element.

It is at this point that I also seperate out all Technic elements and throw them in a seperate box regardless of color.

Another plastic bin is the repository for any 'not-LEGO' parts that I run across. It never fails that any pre-owned collection of parts that I have ever acquired contains a number of those undesirable knock-offs.

More to come....