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LEGO Building Instructions

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Re: LEGO Building Instructions

#71

Post by lfowles »

photonerd wrote: post #8

Probably an age thing, but I’ve never understood the point of Lego instructions. Or the sets. The whole point of Lego was creative free form building. Remove that & it’s dull as hell. It just becomes model building with poor quality models as the result. I’m happy other people find it fun, but to me it misses the entire point in favor of weak licensed “kits”.

It gives you a core set of patterns for going off on your own and building. Think of it as lego practice that shows you a neat model at the end you can then scrap :)

Re: LEGO Building Instructions

#72

Post by xdrosenheim »

gleenn wrote: post #64

I was sad not to see the original Technic Super Car. It had a working V8, 4 wheel drive with 4 wheel steering and 3 way differential, and even an actual gear box with shifter. You could see the pistons pump when you pushed it around. One of the best birthday presents I ever asked for.

Do you know the set number? There is a "Super Car" in Technic with set number 8070, available in the archive. Not sure about the steering and differential, but it seems to feature a V8 and a stick shift.

Re: LEGO Building Instructions

#73

Post by toast0 »

lapetitejort wrote: post #50
gaazoh wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can try to find the parts that stand out on bricklink[0], which will point you to the sets they were used in. It's pretty quick, once you figure out what the part can be called or what category it fits in. If you can't figure it out, you can ask for help on the "bricks" StackExchange site[1]. [0] https://www.bricklink.com [1] https://bricks.stackexchange.com/

I've attempted to find some sets based on a single complicated brick and it can be challenging. How do I find the "official" name of the brick based on my own vague description [0]? What is the true color? How do I find special printed bricks? I'm sure with practice it gets easier. How open is bricks stack exchange to posting just an image of a brick with not much more to go on? [0]: As an example, here the descripti…

> What is the true color?

I have a palette of bricks of known color to calibrate against. If you've got a good number of sets, you'll likely start to accumulate things that are only in a few colors. If possible, it's nice to switch those up with a 1x2 brick in that color for consistency and because the 1x2s are stable on the large area maps.

> As an example, here the description of a brick I struggled to name. I've since figured it out, but you are welcome to guess: flat 4x1 with bumps only on the ends (yes, "bumps", because I don't know what the technical term is. Again, I'm sure there's a guide or glossary I could find.)

You kind of work up to it. There are very small and hard to read numbers on a lot of the parts that helps sometimes. Searching for 1x4, ignore printed parts, shows 230 parts on rebrickable (other sites may vary), looking through all those pictures gets me to "Plate Special 1 x 4 with 2 Studs" [1]. I don't think there's a brick like this, or I can't find it, just the plate; but then you didn't know the magic terminology that the flat pieces (1/3rd height) are plates, not bricks. Had I properly interpreted your description, I'd have jumped to the plates, special category, and skipped the search.

[1] https://rebrickable.com/parts/92593/plate-special-1-x-4-with...

Re: LEGO Building Instructions

#74

Post by davely »

kroltan wrote: post #10
Waterluvian wrote: post #4

My kids being 4 and 6 means we’re full into Lego. I grew up with two brothers so we have like three hundred pounds of it. But lost most of the instructions. It’s been amazing to go online and find any instruction and re-assemble these kits. It also made me realize something: half the value of buying a kit these days is that you aren’t spending hours finding needles in a 300lb haystack.

> It also made me realize something: half the value of buying a kit these days is that you aren’t spending hours finding needles in a 300lb haystack. What! That is the best part! Wading through a mound of Lego has to be one of the most satisfying sounds I know, the clatter of a bajillion pieces of precision plastic, each with their different cavities and sonority, moving around each handful you scrape off to the side…

> Wading through a mound of Lego has to be one of the most satisfying sounds I know

My friend, let me introduce you to this Spotify playlist: LEGO White Noise [1]

[1] https://open.spotify.com/album/6qZUya0mkucuxvoIp4akVT?si=RgH...

Re: LEGO Building Instructions

#75

Post by netsharc »

gleenn wrote: post #64

I was sad not to see the original Technic Super Car. It had a working V8, 4 wheel drive with 4 wheel steering and 3 way differential, and even an actual gear box with shifter. You could see the pistons pump when you pushed it around. One of the best birthday presents I ever asked for.

The 8880: https://brickset.com/article/20017/8880-super-car-the-best-e...

Re: LEGO Building Instructions

#76

Post by xdrosenheim »

photonerd wrote: post #8

Probably an age thing, but I’ve never understood the point of Lego instructions. Or the sets. The whole point of Lego was creative free form building. Remove that & it’s dull as hell. It just becomes model building with poor quality models as the result. I’m happy other people find it fun, but to me it misses the entire point in favor of weak licensed “kits”.

The whole point of LEGO is to "LEg GOdt" (Play great/good/well, however you want to translate that).

Re: LEGO Building Instructions

#77

Post by FireBeyond »

photonerd wrote: post #8

Probably an age thing, but I’ve never understood the point of Lego instructions. Or the sets. The whole point of Lego was creative free form building. Remove that & it’s dull as hell. It just becomes model building with poor quality models as the result. I’m happy other people find it fun, but to me it misses the entire point in favor of weak licensed “kits”.

Aimed more at adults, but the Architecture Studio was intended to be more free-form:

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/studio-21050

There are no 'models' to build, and the "instructions" that come with it are more a discussion of architectural principles, as adapted for Lego as needed.

Re: LEGO Building Instructions

#78

Post by nimajneb »

mirkules wrote: post #41
kroltan wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It also made me realize something: half the value of buying a kit these days is that you aren’t spending hours finding needles in a 300lb haystack. What! That is the best part! Wading through a mound of Lego has to be one of the most satisfying sounds I know, the clatter of a bajillion pieces of precision plastic, each with their different cavities and sonority, moving around each handful you scrape off to the side…

> no kids yet You will know no fury as when your kids intentionally mix up all the pieces for fun. We have hundreds of LEGO people, and my kids intentionally dismembered them into their individual pieces (including HANDS!). But how can you get angry at kids playing??? twitch

My daughter will be getting her own Lego and possibly a selection of mine. I organized mine for the first time in my life last year. Some of the sets I've had since the very late 80s and early 90s. Those aren't getting lost :P

She can play with them supervised, but she'll have her own. This is all assuming she's even interested, she's only 2 so who knows yet.

Re: LEGO Building Instructions

#79

Post by pbronez »

kroltan wrote: post #10
Waterluvian wrote: post #4

My kids being 4 and 6 means we’re full into Lego. I grew up with two brothers so we have like three hundred pounds of it. But lost most of the instructions. It’s been amazing to go online and find any instruction and re-assemble these kits. It also made me realize something: half the value of buying a kit these days is that you aren’t spending hours finding needles in a 300lb haystack.

> It also made me realize something: half the value of buying a kit these days is that you aren’t spending hours finding needles in a 300lb haystack. What! That is the best part! Wading through a mound of Lego has to be one of the most satisfying sounds I know, the clatter of a bajillion pieces of precision plastic, each with their different cavities and sonority, moving around each handful you scrape off to the side…

Agree! My partner disagrees though. She wants the LEGO organized by color or set. I find this blasphemous. It’s legit harder for me to find pieces when they’re sorted like this. My brain is tuned with specialized LEGO bin stirring techniques that reliably turn up what I need… but that doesn’t work at all when the piece has been squirreled away where it “belongs”!

Re: LEGO Building Instructions

#80

Post by pbronez »

suddenclarity wrote: post #36
Waterluvian wrote: post #4

My kids being 4 and 6 means we’re full into Lego. I grew up with two brothers so we have like three hundred pounds of it. But lost most of the instructions. It’s been amazing to go online and find any instruction and re-assemble these kits. It also made me realize something: half the value of buying a kit these days is that you aren’t spending hours finding needles in a 300lb haystack.

> It also made me realize something: half the value of buying a kit these days is that you aren’t spending hours finding needles in a 300lb haystack. It's a bit of work but I found enjoyment in sorting my old childhood Lego. Don't do colors, do categories (bricks, slopes, plates, etc). Once done, I could complete my old childhood models even faster than the unsorted ones you buy new. It also lowers the threshold to b…

Absolutely categories are better than colors. It doesn’t LOOK as pretty but it’s way more functional.
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