SORTING, ORGANIZING, AND STORING YOUR LEGO BRICKS
It doesn't take long to figure out that there is more to this hobby than just buying kits and building them. This "toy" requires some serious thought about organizing! Especially as you accumulate more and more bricks. This page may give you some new ideas for sorting your Legos.
|
At left, the large boxes are Stanley "Sort-master" shop organ-izers. They have deep compartments, good for large quantities of medium-sized bricks or large elements such as windows or trees.
The smaller boxes at left are plastic tackle or "fly" boxes from a sporting goods store. They have movable partitions. (See links below, in Storing). All these boxes close and lock tightly so that the parts don't spill out of the compartments. You should use these boxes not only for building but also for storage. |
Sorting while building a Lego model
From Day One, you realize you need some kind of divided tray so you can find the parts you need. Will you have to paw through a pile of assorted pieces? Even with a small kit, it's helpful to have some kind of tray just to keep the parts from flying off the table and getting lost.
The Lego instructions ask you to find a certain number of LEGO pieces of a certain shape and size and color. Will you easily be able to find the piece you need? With a small kit this is no problem, but as the kits get bigger and more complicated, you know you have to have some kind of a sorting system -- an open tray with some kind of dividers, ideally with larger and smaller compartments. Here are some that we used:
The Lego instructions ask you to find a certain number of LEGO pieces of a certain shape and size and color. Will you easily be able to find the piece you need? With a small kit this is no problem, but as the kits get bigger and more complicated, you know you have to have some kind of a sorting system -- an open tray with some kind of dividers, ideally with larger and smaller compartments. Here are some that we used:
Shown above are the different sorting systems we used for various Lego sets. At right is an array of sorters used for only HALF the Tower Bridge kit. Work area is a 3' x 6' dining room table.
Tower Bridge was a real challenge since it has over 3,000 pieces. About half of them are identical because of the "twin" structures being built. We divided the bags (over 20 bags of pieces as I recall), putting half of them on the table and keeping the other half in the box. Alternative: Some people build both halves at the same time. It's really important to be able to sort by SIZE, not just by color, as you can see. |
Note other accessories in the pictures: (1) Assorted "pickers" for getting into the small compartments where fingers are just too big. (2) Old pill bottles for storing tiny leftovers or unique parts of the collectibles kits that you don't want to lose. (3) And of course, the trusty Brick Separator. |
Above: Sorting trays and boxes in action, building Tower Bridge. Two larger trays on right (no lid) are the drawers from the Iris unit shown below. Tray at left (with lid) is a large Plano tackle box. Two small boxes upper right are Flambeau "fly" boxes. Foreground: plastic meat packaging from our Recycle bin.
Obviously, you need sorting trays while you are building something, but you also need sorters for disassembled models, and for storing all those new bricks you have bought or collected. You can't just paw through a large bin of "assorted" Lego every time you want to build something.
You have already seen above the locking carry-case type organizers: the tackle and fly boxes and the shop organizers. (There are links for these products, below). These do double duty for storing your unused Lego elements.
Obviously, you need sorting trays while you are building something, but you also need sorters for disassembled models, and for storing all those new bricks you have bought or collected. You can't just paw through a large bin of "assorted" Lego every time you want to build something.
You have already seen above the locking carry-case type organizers: the tackle and fly boxes and the shop organizers. (There are links for these products, below). These do double duty for storing your unused Lego elements.
Storing your Lego bricks and accessories
The first thing you will say is: "They don't have enough Lego in storage, not like mine." No, we don't. That's because over 25,000 pieces are up on the wall display and very few are in storage. (See below, and Display page.)
As you improve your Lego skills, the shapes and sizes and functions of the pieces keep getting more complex and more important. How will you find the stuff you know you have somewhere? Obviously, you need a system.
I have seen a lot of Lego storage attempts online (e.g., on YouTube). They look pretty dismal - not very helpful at all. For example, just labeling bins or boxes with colors of the bricks, when one can already see the colors, doesn't accomplish much, does it? You need to know SIZES and SHAPES and FUNCTIONS.
The shapes and sizes of the pieces are more important than colors, even for a small child. Are they rectangular building bricks? Or wheels, axles, windshields, car parts? Technic gear and connectors? Mini-fig parts? Plants and animals? Other accessories -- saddles, weapons, dishes, jewels, coins; small nuts and bolts; little pips and dots of brick?
The best type of storage system for Lego is SORTED storage.
As you improve your Lego skills, the shapes and sizes and functions of the pieces keep getting more complex and more important. How will you find the stuff you know you have somewhere? Obviously, you need a system.
I have seen a lot of Lego storage attempts online (e.g., on YouTube). They look pretty dismal - not very helpful at all. For example, just labeling bins or boxes with colors of the bricks, when one can already see the colors, doesn't accomplish much, does it? You need to know SIZES and SHAPES and FUNCTIONS.
The shapes and sizes of the pieces are more important than colors, even for a small child. Are they rectangular building bricks? Or wheels, axles, windshields, car parts? Technic gear and connectors? Mini-fig parts? Plants and animals? Other accessories -- saddles, weapons, dishes, jewels, coins; small nuts and bolts; little pips and dots of brick?
The best type of storage system for Lego is SORTED storage.
The locking-lid tackle boxes you use for building are probably best storage method as well. Above is another one, a drawer unit. Both of these storage methods also give you tabletop divider trays for building.
The IRIS plastic 3-drawer sort/storage drawer unit is designed specifically for Legos. One drawer has no trays; it is for manuals or other items. Two of the drawers have two divider trays each, a total of 4 very useful sorting trays. (Note: The 6-drawer Iris unit has NO sorting trays and may be getting discontinued.) There is also a "Lego Friends" version featured at Target and Toys'R'Us, etc., that has custom colors and costs slightly more.)
The Iris 3-drawer unit comes with useful green Lego 2.5"x5" base plates on each drawer, plus a large green 10" x 10" plate on top. The unit is very light weight. We started with one, but now have two because the open divider trays are very handy.
It is better to have sorting trays and boxes to handle "small," "medium" and "large" or "special" pieces. For the medium size assortments we used the Plano Molding "Stowaway Utility box," an inexpensive locking compartmented tackle box. You can get these online or from sporting goods stores, in the Fishing department. These have LOCKING latches so the parts won't get loose from the compartments.
We have two very useful fly boxes labeled "teeny-weenies" #1 and #2. We used the small compartmented boxes called Flambeau Tufftainers, for these. Very inexpensive. We always know what goes in there and where to find them.
We also labeled some old pill bottles: for keeping unique pieces from the collectibles that we don't want mixed with others.
The big Stanley Sortmaster (described above) has come out with a smaller version which we found very useful. It still has the deep pockets and locking top. You could put all the parts for a special color or a special project in these smaller boxes. (We bought a ton of them and gave them out as Xmas gifts - useful for all kinds of small bits of this and that.)
About " collectibles" : It is best to keep the original retail boxes in case you ever want to disassemble the kits and re-sell or rebuild them. We even kept the original numbered bags inside them. Using the manual, you could disassemble the pieces right into the original bags for the convenience of the next user - yourself or someone else.
We kept our first Iris unit inside an old stereo components cabinet (pictured above left). The cabinet rolls around on wheels and also has space for the tackle boxes and works in progress. It was in the garage ready to be carted away.
Always look at old, used furniture pieces as potential Lego storage! We found three large pieces we used for Lego storage or display. (Check your local Goodwill store.)
Storage Rule #1: DISPLAY your Lego models, don't disassemble them.
Display takes far less space!
The IRIS plastic 3-drawer sort/storage drawer unit is designed specifically for Legos. One drawer has no trays; it is for manuals or other items. Two of the drawers have two divider trays each, a total of 4 very useful sorting trays. (Note: The 6-drawer Iris unit has NO sorting trays and may be getting discontinued.) There is also a "Lego Friends" version featured at Target and Toys'R'Us, etc., that has custom colors and costs slightly more.)
The Iris 3-drawer unit comes with useful green Lego 2.5"x5" base plates on each drawer, plus a large green 10" x 10" plate on top. The unit is very light weight. We started with one, but now have two because the open divider trays are very handy.
It is better to have sorting trays and boxes to handle "small," "medium" and "large" or "special" pieces. For the medium size assortments we used the Plano Molding "Stowaway Utility box," an inexpensive locking compartmented tackle box. You can get these online or from sporting goods stores, in the Fishing department. These have LOCKING latches so the parts won't get loose from the compartments.
We have two very useful fly boxes labeled "teeny-weenies" #1 and #2. We used the small compartmented boxes called Flambeau Tufftainers, for these. Very inexpensive. We always know what goes in there and where to find them.
We also labeled some old pill bottles: for keeping unique pieces from the collectibles that we don't want mixed with others.
The big Stanley Sortmaster (described above) has come out with a smaller version which we found very useful. It still has the deep pockets and locking top. You could put all the parts for a special color or a special project in these smaller boxes. (We bought a ton of them and gave them out as Xmas gifts - useful for all kinds of small bits of this and that.)
About " collectibles" : It is best to keep the original retail boxes in case you ever want to disassemble the kits and re-sell or rebuild them. We even kept the original numbered bags inside them. Using the manual, you could disassemble the pieces right into the original bags for the convenience of the next user - yourself or someone else.
We kept our first Iris unit inside an old stereo components cabinet (pictured above left). The cabinet rolls around on wheels and also has space for the tackle boxes and works in progress. It was in the garage ready to be carted away.
Always look at old, used furniture pieces as potential Lego storage! We found three large pieces we used for Lego storage or display. (Check your local Goodwill store.)
Storage Rule #1: DISPLAY your Lego models, don't disassemble them.
Display takes far less space!