Storage Solutions: JukeLimited
Posted by Huw,
Juke, aka JukeLimited, shows how he stores his collection in Arkansas:
As the youngest of four kids, Lego sets were good (though expensive) toys for my parents to use to occupy us. We all seemed to enjoy the same themes and could rebuild the same collection of sets all day long, and these lovely plastic bricks last quite a long time if you care for them (and don’t lose pieces in the carpet!).
So, while we didn’t have every set we wanted, new ones were picked up occasionally and now the family collection has grown quite large, at least for our standards. I have used one of the fantastic user-defined collection flags in Brickset to mark this shared family collection of sets that are still at my parents’ house.
A saved query fetches sets with that flag; I have not marked them as owned since they are not in my collection and do not want them cluttering up my parts analysis. I can see that there are around 185 of these shared family sets waiting for grandkids or nostalgic adults to come along.
When I left for college, I took all “my” sets with me – namely, ones that I had received for birthdays or holidays, and those I purchased myself. It was incredibly unlikely that these would be missed by my older siblings, as they had all moved on from Lego quite a few years earlier. I wanted to bring all my sets with me, but that would be hard in university housing.
I decided to recycle the boxes since they take up far more space than just the pieces alone, and made sure each set was in a good, new plastic zipper storage bag. Then, I put bagged sets into cheap-but-effective plastic latching storage boxes and instructions into page protectors that then went into three-ring binders. I solely build by the instructions, so this system worked fine for years until around six months ago when I started selling off some of my sets.
By that point, I had filled up around ten of those storage bins with sets, but I kept buying more sets and was realising that I would rarely go back and rebuild a significant number of my older sets. I saw no point in keeping them around if I never built them, so I sold off 68 of my sets. I have another user-defined flag set up for sold sets, so I remember which I used to own should I want to re-buy in the future. I do not regret selling at all, as I know that those sets are likely being enjoyed by others far more than I was enjoying them, and I was able to get a bit of money back for buying new sets!
During that selling spree, I purchased BCW magazine boards, bags, and comic book boxes for the instructions from the remaining sets (currently up to 57 sets). I cannot remember where, but I had seen a picture from a Bionicle collector who used comic book bags and boards to store their instructions. This new system is vastly superior compared to my old binder and page protector system.
The boxes stack nicely and are sturdy, and I bought compatible removable partitions to separate different themes. The boards do a much better job of supporting the instructions, and I cut them down a bit when they interfere with getting some thicker manuals to fit into the bags. It is much easier to add a new manual to the boxes since flipping through the others is easier than with the binders.
My partner snatched up the binders and page protectors for his car manual/parts list/press release collection and is quite pleased. I build in the living room by my computer and the TV, so I use the digital building instructions on one of my monitors to make more table room for pieces, which means I rarely remove the physical instructions from their new boards and bags.
I still use the same plastic bags and boxes system for the sets but have now started using smaller bags to sub-divide the pieces in some sets. When rebuilding a set, I dump the bag of pieces into a tray (currently a box from an older set and now the Dots trays), and then end up spending half an hour trying to find a single tiny plate that somehow always finds its way inside a larger piece. These smaller sub-bags are for my sanity as well as my partner’s, as he is less familiar with the “Where did that piece go!?” struggle and noise. My dog, Hux, sleeps through it all.
I will typically build a set, display it for maybe a couple of days, and then disassemble and re-bag it. I want to be able to display them for longer, but I despise dusting Lego and have no good areas in this rental house to put glass display cases for mitigating dust. I also do not want to take up too much of the house by displaying sets, although space for Lego is never an issue between my partner and me.
You all have certainly helped in part, as I can show how small my collection is compared to yours! And my partner loves cars – specifically Lexus models – which is a significantly more expensive and larger collection to handle, though I support it as he supports my Lego collection.
We are trying to find a house or land to buy so we can get more garage space, as he is not satisfied with our three cars and browses online every night for the next three. When a new Lego set arrives, he has no complaints!
And while I do not build MOCs, there is a small part of me that wishes to have a parted-out system in the future, so I could take advantage of parts lists and build sets that I do not own. But then the rest of me screams in horror because it would have to organise that new system, and I already change my file management and music tag collection systems every couple of years when I find a new method that I prefer. I have seen many great systems for organising parts, but I know myself too well, and the current system is “good enough,” which is a standard I have been trying to embrace these last few years.
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15 comments on this article
Some people are gonna be shocked that you have Ninjago City packed away in a box! ;-)
When it comes to dusting LEGO, I share your lack of enthusiasm, but finally realised that something had to be done about it... I somehow came across this sort of thing on eBay:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Car-Detailing-Mini-Accessory-Tool-Kit-To-fit-Vacuum-Cleaners-8pcs/261962305266
It's basically brushing and hoovering all in one! The apertures in the small brushes are too small for most elements to disappear up and the bristles don't seem to scratch (I sacrilegiously tested them on some sacrificial pieces...)
It's almost fun to get it done and see the models gleam again.
This is a super-helpful article, thank you!
@bananaworld said:
"Some people are gonna be shocked that you have Ninjago City packed away in a box! ;-)"
I have both City and Docks packed away like that, and I think it's because I really do enjoy building them more than displaying! I had City displayed at my desk for about a month, and kept looking at the different shops and remembering how fun the build was. I think I'm more likely to display just one layer at a time to help with that urge to rebuild parts of it. I just rebuilt 42110 Land Rover Defender the other day to enjoy building the gearbox again, and then disassembled same day to put back into storage! Even 80013 Monkie Kid's Team Secret HQ has already been built and then put into storage for rebuilding later.
@thehornedrat said:
"3 cars (not LEGO cars, lol) so you mean by volume I suppose?"
Yes! We were just looking at houses recently because our rental place is too small for the ever-growing Lexus collection.
HALLELUJAH!!!! it’s not just me, I use exactly the same method.
Reading all those other storage articles with their million drawers, sorted by part/colour etc I felt like the naughty kid at the back, doing my own thing.
And about the dust.... don’t get me started..... I hate dust..... I really REALLY hate it. I’ve just bought some display cases so I can finally get all my modulars (12 anyway) out on view, without having to continually dust them.
A big shout to idisplayit.co.uk for those
I love the instruction storage. I've got all of my medium and large ones stacked in sterilite bins (1 for SW, 1 for everything else) and all of my smaller ones (Brickheadz, micro fighters, etc.) in ziplock sandwich bags with the extra pieces from those sets either in the set box (brickheadz only) or dumped in a 3rd bin. It's functional enough, but it makes my OCD twinge.
So, the big question: are there any modern lego instruction sets that will not fit in a "comic book" box or 8.5"x11" magazine sleeve? Excluding the big spiral bound ones for sets like UCS MF and ICD and some of the Technic sets, obviously! Is that size big enough to handle everything?
Also, are there any sleeves like those magazine ones that have 2 pockets to hold 2 smaller booklets stacked 1 over the other? That would really help with the smaller sets!
@Slave2lego said:
"HALLELUJAH!!!! it’s not just me, I use exactly the same method.
Reading all those other storage articles with their million drawers, sorted by part/colour etc I felt like the naughty kid at the back, doing my own thing.
And about the dust.... don’t get me started..... I hate dust..... I really REALLY hate it. I’ve just bought some display cases so I can finally get all my modulars (12 anyway) out on view, without having to continually dust them.
A big shout to idisplayit.co.uk for those"
Legos are very expensive and their boxes do not represent the same quality criteria. they are bad and weak. I have almost a thousand sets well organized in plastic beans like briefcases with clear top so you can see the instruction book, a handle and divisions to sort the parts.
@tgewin said:
"Also, are there any sleeves like those magazine ones that have 2 pockets to hold 2 smaller booklets stacked 1 over the other? That would really help with the smaller sets!"
When I was doing a lot of Photography years ago I purchased Archival Photo sleeve pages that had different size pocket openings for the different standard sizes of photographs like 8"x10", 5"x7", 4"x6". I would think that they should still be available to purchase and can be placed in binders. Another option for the small single sheet type instructions would be Trading Card pages that go in binders, I think they usually have 9 slots per page.
Oh, a Lexus collector. Just curious, what three models make up the current collection?
@karrit, yeah, those are an option. I think I've decided against binders and like the idea of the comic boxes, but I guess I could always get sleeves made for binders and then ignore (or worst case cut off) the binder tab on the side. Depending on costs, it might also be possible to get comic/magazine sleeves, cut a slit in the middle, and staple or glue just above that, creating upper and lower half pockets.
First thing I guess I need to do is figure out all of the different book sizes I have.
@tgewin said:
"So, the big question: are there any modern lego instruction sets that will not fit in a "comic book" box or 8.5"x11" magazine sleeve? Excluding the big spiral bound ones for sets like UCS MF and ICD and some of the Technic sets, obviously! Is that size big enough to handle everything?
Also, are there any sleeves like those magazine ones that have 2 pockets to hold 2 smaller booklets stacked 1 over the other? That would really help with the smaller sets!"
Some booklets are so thick that they don't play nicely with the magazine board, so I'll cut the boards down a little so both booklet and board will fit. I haven't run across any booklets that don't fit at all in the sleeves (whether too thick or too wide/long), but the largest set I have is Ninjago City so my manuals all fit. For smaller manuals (like Star Wars battlepacks), I'll often put a couple side by side so I don't have to find the right kind of divided sleeves.
@iriz said:
"Oh, a Lexus collector. Just curious, what three models make up the current collection?"
2002 LS 430 ultra luxury, 2007 GX 460, and 2007 SC 430. Many more on the wishlist of course!
@JukeLimited said:
" @tgewin said:
"So, the big question: are there any modern lego instruction sets that will not fit in a "comic book" box or 8.5"x11" magazine sleeve? Excluding the big spiral bound ones for sets like UCS MF and ICD and some of the Technic sets, obviously! Is that size big enough to handle everything?
Also, are there any sleeves like those magazine ones that have 2 pockets to hold 2 smaller booklets stacked 1 over the other? That would really help with the smaller sets!"
Some booklets are so thick that they don't play nicely with the magazine board, so I'll cut the boards down a little so both booklet and board will fit. I haven't run across any booklets that don't fit at all in the sleeves (whether too thick or too wide/long), but the largest set I have is Ninjago City so my manuals all fit. For smaller manuals (like Star Wars battlepacks), I'll often put a couple side by side so I don't have to find the right kind of divided sleeves.
"
Thanks. Another possibly stupid question: Are those crates the BCW comic short? If so, it looks like that one's a little too narrow for the magazine slips. Are you just rolling them a little on the side? Or did you go with the crate for the graded comics?
I love the idea of using comic bags/boards for the instructions. As a comic book buyer, I can’t believe that never crossed my mind. What about the bigger instructions though?
I’m a set collector also, so I can appreciate the kind of struggle to sort by piece like so many. It does look good & cleanly organized. That would take a lot of extra buying where I’ve spent enough already on shoebox plastic containers(that keeps me away from the by part method).
@tgewin said:
"Or did you go with the crate for the graded comics?"
Yep, the graded ones: https://www.amazon.com/BCW-Graded-Comic-Book-Bin/dp/B07H4S97PY/
@JukeLimited Thanks! Inspired by your post and information, I think I'm going to inventory my instructions (counts of the different sizes) this weekend to see what I would need to do a similar system as you have!
BCW's website does not work well for me at all (on Mac using either Safari or Chrome), so it's hard to see all the information they have on different tabs, but I did see that they have bags designed for thicker magazines. They use the same size board, but the bag itself has 1/8" extra width to fit a thicker magazine. Those might be better than what you've been doing for the large thick books, cutting down the board to make them fit. https://www.bcwsupplies.com/magazine-bags-thick
I too had to take action against dust problem. But instead of disassambling them I put them neatly in larger Ikea boxes, and drawers and such. I have very little set left on display, and it's mostly due to their size.