Storage solutions: tmspecial
Posted by Huw,
Thomas Mueller, aka. tmspecial shipped his LEGO from Germany to the US:
I have been a LEGO fan for 40 years and have been collecting for well over 25 years. Technic has always been my favorite line. I have also done quite a bit of Mindstorms as well as Great Ball contraptions.
I have over 500 assembled models, mostly Technic and other adult lines like Creator Expert, Architecture & Star Wars. Unfortunately, my GBCs are so big that I have to store them disassembled. My motto is “Go big or go home”.
I grew up in Germany and moved to America 20 years ago. Luckily, I kept all my childhood LEGO. A few years ago I shipped my European hoard to the US in two massive wooden crates.
Over the last 15 years I have attended 50+ conventions in the US. I was one of the founders of the Orange County LEGO User Group and am currently the ambassador for the group.
Loose bricks
I use 200+ clear drawers from Sterilite stacked floor to ceiling. You have to put the heavier drawers at the bottom to keep it stable and prevent the top ones from jamming or crushing the bottom ones. I used zip ties to connect all the stacks together and make it very sturdy. The majority of the drawers are model 2830, which are around $10 for a set of 3 drawers.
Unfortunately, they stopped making the narrow ones (model 2729) which were my favourite ones. I also use model 3720 for my bigger lots.
I sort by type (Technic, bricks, plates, slopes) and sizes. PAB is put in ziplock bags and then grouped in drawers with similar pieces.
Assembled models
I currently have 18 fully enclosed glass display cases from “Displays by Jack” and “Fixture Pronto”. Ranging from $150 to $325 they are much more affordable than anything else I found, including Ikea. Most of my cases are model T1-12B, which is 48”x18”x72”.
I also collect store displays and MOCs designed by other AFOLs.
Sealed boxes
I have several storage racks from Edsal ranging from $100 - $200. Unfortunately, they have gone up in price since I bought them.
Most of my collection was acquired while I was a bachelor and used to take up the entire house.
Since I got married last year I had to downsize and re-arrange my collection in order to give my wife some personal space. We are about 90% done. Even though the collection will take up fewer rooms, it should look even more impressive.
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49 comments on this article
That last picture: that's a lot of the same sets... It looks great because of that (so neat and tidy), but I do wonder: why haha?
Wow...
Mir gefallen die tollen Vitrinen mit den Fahrzeugen und auch die Aufbewahrung der Steine. Zum Regal im Keller, mit den identischen Sets, fällt mir auch nur ein: warum?
Ah you have obviously been downsizing :)
My god, i sometimes wonder how everyone seems to be able to afford such a ginormous house, glass displays all over the rooms, custom made closets and almost every single lego set ever released.
That is a beautifully displayed and organized collection. Thank you for participating in the series!
One qestion: Do you have a big comfy chair on wheels in the middle your display room that you can sit in and slowly swirl around while smiling satisfactorily at your sets?
@nldarklord said:
"My god, i sometimes wonder how everyone seems to be able to afford such a ginormous house, glass displays all over the rooms, custom made closets and almost every single lego set ever released."
When you earn 5000+ a month PLUS selling out of production sets overpriced PLUS using VIP points from lego shop is not that hard.
But still i miss the space to hold all that stuff!
Wow, the LEGO Store display cloths and the large brickbuilt Minifigures look amazing! I really wish I had some of those LEGO Store display items. They make up for such an awesome looking display!
@Annalies said:
"
Mir gefallen die tollen Vitrinen mit den Fahrzeugen und auch die Aufbewahrung der Steine. Zum Regal im Keller, mit den identischen Sets, fällt mir auch nur ein: warum?"
My translation:
‘I like the great display cabinets with the vehicles and the storage of the bricks. For the shelving in the basement with the identical sets, all I can think of is: why?‘
Impressive Museum of Technic!
I must echo others and ask why the hundreds of unopened sets?
Parts or investment?
@bananaworld said:
"Impressive Museum of Technic!
I must echo others and ask why the hundreds of unopened sets?
Parts or investment?"
It does not have to be necessary an investment but just the easy tool how to cut the costs of the sets purchased for your own personal build.. say .. you buy 200 USD Technic set during its shelf time with some usual discount 30 percent (140 USD).. you buy two, keep one sealed. 4 yrs later you sell that sealed one for e.g. 300 USD . that makes your own build -20 USD and you are actually earning 20 USD - and you could even sell your own assembled one for at least 200 USD.. of course the figures are waay beyond that in some cases (look at Green Grocer and likes)
Thank you for your shared experience! Now I know what "storage solutions" to use when I will buy 7-10 from the same Technic set.
For the many "Why?" questions above, the elephant in the "storage solutions" room is: To be sold overpriced later.
I'd love to know a bit more about that massive store display of a submarine? What was the background on that? where was it displayed? How did it get aquired?
It's so against LEGO to make a display piece which is so clearly linked to a topic which is military
@nldarklord said:
"My god, i sometimes wonder how everyone seems to be able to afford such a ginormous house, glass displays all over the rooms, custom made closets and almost every single lego set ever released."
Just the cost to ship those massive wooden crates!! I'm just guessing, but they have to be almost 9' high on those skids. If the 'back' is a standard sheet of plywood (4'x8') and the 'sides' are two sheets (8'x8'), that's roughly 256 cubic feet of Lego!
That last image had be jealous, idk why.
It looks like the shelves of a shop in someone's house its really unusual but I like it
@Paul DHL
MB once had this submarine, with light and sound, called Sea Wolf.
Let's hope he just took the instructions and build it with LEGO bricks otherwise it would be a real blasfemy to put it in a LEGO display container.
@Paul_DLH said:
"I'd love to know a bit more about that massive store display of a submarine? What was the background on that? where was it displayed? How did it get aquired?
It's so against LEGO to make a display piece which is so clearly linked to a topic which is military "
I was thinking the exact same thing.
For the "why so many duplicate sets?" question, he said that he builds Great Ball Contraptions. Buying multiples of Technic sets on clearance is a great way to amass parts for GBCs. Some sets, like Bucket Wheel Excavator, were perfect for bulk buying. I regret only buying one!
Ohhhhhh, now I see the SCALE of tmspecial's GBCs and the need for VAST amounts of Technic becomes clear!
Worth looking up.
@omnium
And if someone is buying 7-10 sets from the big Technic ones "for parts" to build GBC, somehow he is keeping the boxes on shelves 10 years after...
Everybody can do whatever he wants inside his home, but it was a bit awkward to publish that unnecessary picture. But hey, he is a LEGO Ambassador, it was the Embassy Open-Day.
Such a clean and well-organized collection! Glad to see more people displaying custom MOCs by other fans.
@huw I was going through the STORAGE articles and I didn't see yours. Did you forget to tag it?
The big submarine is the Mega Bloks Sea Wolf nuclear submarine, I’ve got one, it consists of 2450 pieces and despite not being Lego looks very impressive!!!
Very nice collection and I just love the display cabinets, really shows off how awesome these sets are but I’ve never seen the point of buying large quantities of the same set!!!
Thank you for sharing. Great seeing all the Technic cranes on one shelf at the same time to compare relative boom height etc. The glass cabinet collection is fantastic, I have no idea how you managed to get into two creates though. Out of interest how heavy were these crates and did customs say anything? As for the unopened boxes, probably brought on discount during Black Fridays etc., didn't find time to build, then found on 2nd hand sites anyway, so never needed to open the original, which just become more valuable. Although it doesn't explain why so many of the same sets unless you used to own a toy shop and never returned back to Lego once the set was discontinued. This may also explain why you have toddler sized Lego models?
Everything is so perfectly in order. This shows great care and love. May your collection grow evermore...
@Legolijntje
@nldarklord
@bananaworld
@Felix_Mezei
Several reasons: Often I buy 2 copies so I can have the A & B model. I also use them for parts. On sale (e.g. TRU buy 2, get 1 free) they used to be a better deal than buying parts from Bricklink. I mostly build big and routinely need 500+ of the same part. My biggest MOC was a 16 foot (over 5m) wide Great Ball Contraption. Occasionally I also trade or sell.
@Paul_DLH
I bought the display case on ebay. It came from a retail store and had a glued model inside. I removed the model it came with and put in a model from a Canadian brick company.
@JasterMereel42 said:
" @huw I was going through the STORAGE articles and I didn't see yours. Did you forget to tag it?"
I've not done mine yet but I have taken some photos ready.
@EarthGirl83
@ambr
The crates only contained a small portion of my collection, mostly stuff from my childhood.
A big percentage of the crates was taken up by store displays. The biggest one was this 7 foot tall bear: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100780578256844&set=a.10100780577383594&type=3&theater
I also had other household items in the crates.
The crates had a total volume of 500 cubic feet (14 cubic meters) and combined weighed over 3000 pounds (1400kg). The total cost including crates, pickup, shipping, insurance, customs & delivery was a a few thousand dollars.
@bananaworld
You are correct, my GBCs are big. Here are pictures from the "Bricks LA" convention in 2016:
https://www.facebook.com/tmspecial/media_set?set=a.10100702244842634&type=3
Some people asked about the last picture of why so many duplicate sets. But the real question is why so many "EXPENSIVE" duplicate sets. We are not talking about 3 or 4 each(which is many already), some are 10+ for one set. And that's just one rack, if there's more then it would be even crazier. That rack alone is could easily cost more than $20k. I have no questions about people having several $10 or $20 duplicate sets, but multiple and multiple of $150+ duplicate sets for an entire rack or more? Also did I read I correctly that he got them when he was studying Bachelor's? How could he afford those sets...
P.S. Those are sealed sets so people would assume that's more likely to be a reseller (he mentioned about "downsizing") than for parts. It's cheaper and more effective to use bricklink for parts.
@vader11
Your estimates are quite a bit off. Those are 10+ year old Technic sets when the average retail price was a lot lower. On top of that all of those sets were bought at massive discount, usually 33-75% below MSRP (e.g. TRU buy 2, get 1 free). Everything in the picture was below $100, most sets were $25 - $50.
Don't waste your time asking how to get those kind of discounts. Those days are GONE!!! All the avenues to buy at huge discounts have dried up. Most of the companies are out of business.
CLARIFICATION: the picture of the sealed sets is a few years old!
I still use those racks but by now there are very few duplicates. I chose to use an older picture since it looked nicer with all black Technic versus the different colored boxes from various themes today.
As of today I only have 1 open box of the crane truck on the shelf, all others have been used to build my MOCs.
@tmspecial
Holy cow, Thomas. From all of our interactions at BrickFair VA, I knew you were a serious AFOL, Technic, GBC guy, but wow! I have enjoyed all of these storage posts, but it is particularly exciting to see one from someone I have previously met and who has such keen organization skills. Congratulations on getting married.
@Reinier
Yes, I have been down-sizing.
Many of the smaller sets have been given away to friends & family as gifts.
I also donate several sets each year to charitable causes.
@Legolijntje
@nldarklord
@bananaworld
@Felix_Mezei
I forgot to mention gifts & donations as a reason to buy multiple sets when they are on sale.
Over the past few years I donated quite a few sets to charitable causes. Buying several copies when they are heavily discounted enables me to donate more sets while not breaking the bank.
@alezago88 said:
" @nldarklord said:
"My god, i sometimes wonder how everyone seems to be able to afford such a ginormous house, glass displays all over the rooms, custom made closets and almost every single lego set ever released."
When you earn 5000+ a month PLUS selling out of production sets overpriced PLUS using VIP points from lego shop is not that hard.
But still i miss the space to hold all that stuff!"
wrong dont have children
I don't like technic, but I really like the aesthetic of the collection display and storage!
I saw many comments regarding the multiple boxes, and the cost of it/the shipping/the display units.
We need to keep in mind that this site has many users, from all over the world, some of them are teenagers with 10 sets and some are people with the financial ability to purchase multiple $500 sets. There's nothing wrong with either of these groups, and anything in between, and as long as we're not being financially irresponsible with the hobby, we can use our budget as we please.
That is a LOT of sealed sets. I have about that many but not as many duplicates. Still trying to get to a point where I can share my storing method.
These cabinets look GREAT
@tmspecial
I know a few about this passion.
I am not policing here, as I said, everyone can do whatever with his money and since there's no equality in the world I simply don't mind people spending thousand of dollars a month on LEGO since I also spend almost all my earnings on this plastic things (very, very less amount).
I also know that LEGO is giving for free or sometimes at 50% discount sets or parts for LUG activity.
I also know at least 2 LEGO "ambassadors" chiefs of LUG's that are keeping all of this help for themselves (I am not suggesting you do this).
It was just awkward to see that picture on a fan LEGO website where AFOLS and TFOLS are struggling to keep up on this passion and often blaming BrickLink scalpers.
At least you were honest and ended your first comment with "Occasionally I also trade or sell."
After some reactions, you started to point about donations. It is a nice gesture to donate, probably not so good to donate the flagship sets like the ones you have in that picture but 10-20$ sets like @MeganL (Brickset contributor) did to tribes in Africa or to kids that never saw a LEGO set in their life.
I wish you all the best, I know is not easy to participate to exhibitions and to make large creations, everyone has his own strategy to earn money to enlarge the LEGO collection, but I was expecting more empathy from a LEGO Ambassador.
Maybe I am just envious, or a hater, or what other words people invent these years to mask criticism.
@vader11:
("Also did I read I correctly that he got them when he was studying Bachelor's? How could he afford those sets...")
I think the term bachelor was meaning, that he was single at that specific time, so in no relationship. It wasnt related to his education.
@Huw said:
" @JasterMereel42 said:
" @huw I was going through the STORAGE articles and I didn't see yours. Did you forget to tag it?"
I've not done mine yet but I have taken some photos ready."
Thx. I remember now. I watched this video and that's what I was thinking of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C9ve3eJf0w
@Felix_Mezei
I enjoy many of your posts on the various BrickSet articles, and, as a result, I am confident you are sincere and well-meaning in your post above. You are absolutely not a hater. That written, I will admit I am jealous of Thomas's collection. Mine is fairly substantial, but his is amazing.
Since it is potentially awkward for someone to comment on their own personal generosity, please let me vouch for Thomas's. I have seen him be incredibly generous in his contributions to the charity auctions at BrickFair VA, not only in the wonderful sets he gives them to auction off, but the very high prices he is willing to pay for MOCs and other offerings at the auctions that go way beyond what I could ever imagine paying.
While I cannot say for sure, I have always believed that he did this out of a good heart and a desire to help the Slade Children's Foundation, which benefits from those auctions. On top of all of this, he is most generous with his spirit and his willingness to help others, who may be struggling with an issue at one of the events. Again, I don't mean this as challenging to you at all, I just thought it might help provide some background from a third party.
@Schmopiesdad
I am deeply touched by your gesture, and I am grateful you spend your time for defending one of your friends, as you should because you know him better.
It was not my intention to attack or to play "let's be equal", and having escaped from communism I know it is not natural for people to be equals.
I just found awkward to have a picture like that on a "Storage Solutions". Saying we are not equal it would be awkward for me to tell to the people I have 30-35% discounts all year long and I bought directly from LEGO any parts I needed on a shamefully low price for which LUG's or anybody else can only dream. It would be not fair to make publicly such statements or the picture with them.
Please send my regrets if I offended him!
I am also surprised someone enjoys my comments since I don't have FB or other wasting time social media, and I have just a noncommercial and not advertised website with my creations.
Thank you again!
@Felix_Mezei
There is no need to be a hater or accuse people of things.
All the sets in the pictures where bought from retailers with my own money.
NOT a single set in the pictures is from LUG support. I just took over as ambassador earlier this year. Any LUG property is stored separately. We keep an online inventory of all the sets the club received and what they were used for. I actually paid for the club banners, domain hosting, business cards and other expenses out of my pocket.
I am not sure why you have to bash people who Bricklink stores. I am grateful for what they do. I ordered parts for many projects from Bricklink that wouldn't have happened without the site.
Running a store is a lot of work and most people do it to supplement their income and help finance their LEGO hobby. Don't expect them to be charity. They have bills to pay and want to make a profit like every descent business.
You are correct that the majority of the donations are $10 - $50 and not flagship models. However, I have given several $100+ sets to local charities in the last few years. I choose to spread my donations across various organizations instead of giving a few top of the line items to a single one.
Don't get me wrong, but it's okay and should be normal to get different kinds of comments. You would't want or expect all the comments be the same right? (i.e. nice collection for every comment). If you share something on the internet, then you should always expect different kinds of comments, including questions and criticisms. That's how a free internet work. When you post a picture with tons of sealed duplicated sets (some are flagships), then of course there would be people asking and wondering. It's normal. It's not something many people would do or have the money to do. I am not jealous of that, quite the opposite. I am not saying you are, but pretty sure many people dislike reseller. Maybe including more details in the post would help rather than asking people not to waste time. Thanks for understanding.
@tmspecial
I am not hating you or accuse you of anything. In all my sentences I have gave the benefit of doubt even if I'm not a lawyer and English is not my native language.
I understand the role of BrickLink and I am not against them or not respecting their work. I am grateful I have bought the last Marina Bay Sands 1x8 name plate from USA with 100$, the last one for sale in the World.
I just did not expect that photo in the "Storage solution" article and I was not the only one.
If Brickset will have an article on how to earn a living by having a BrickLink store and how to keep parts and sets in an industrial way, then you can be sure I will salute the BrickLink stores work and their willing to share the know-how and experience.
I just wrote "awkward" and for me, a non English native, this word means strange, inappropriate, and NOT illegal or an accusation or willing for BrickLink people to work for free.
I hope I will meet you one day on your exhibition to show you I didn't had any hidden bad intention.
I know organizing a LUG or an exhibition is a lot of work and a lot of hidden costs and I've had my fair share of this. LEGO will never be able to thank us enough for making their product well known, and unfortunately they are often not even listening to us.
Also for me (but I live in an ideal world inside my head) the word "ambassador" means something, and I didn't expect an ambassador to sell or trade (of course it is not illegal and you explained the separation between your collection and the LUG's one) and also not to put such a picture that can open the door to interpretations.
Some poor TFOLs struggling with a few sets bought from their parents can found as disturbing.
Please accept my apologies and if I will ever have the chance again to order from LEGO, be sure I will contact you to ask if you need some 500+ parts for your GBC.
I used to drool over that Super Car (black with yellow stripe) in the 1990s catalogs. And pleased to see that as well as two of the Super Street Sensations. One looks modded. When Super Street came out I bought it right away and then the following year I got the Silver Champion! All three, awesome sets! (and direct predecessors to the current GT3, Chiron & Sian sets)