Rogue Castle

There’s something about the controlled chaos in Kevin Fedde’s Rogue Castle that just grabs my attention. Good guys, bad guys, unsuspecting sailors, and fantastic work on the architecture of the castle itself. It all just works for me.

Sorting LEGO – how do you actually get it done?

Dunechaser's sigfigHaving a consistent system for sorting and storing your LEGO collection makes your pieces much more accessible while building. Most LEGO builders eventually figure out a system that works for them. In fact, it’s something we discuss at length among ourselves, both at conventions and on the web. Most people seem to sort by element rather than by color, for example.

What I don’t hear a lot of talk about is actually how to go about sorting one’s LEGO — other than sustained frustration about its necessity. At what point do you know you need to sort? When do you sort? How long do you spend sorting at one sitting? Where do you do it — in a dedicated LEGO space, sitting on the couch, at the dining room table? Do you have anybody to help you?

As I mentioned earlier this week, I’m going through a major sorting phase, largely because my collection had outgrown the system I’d been using, and any creation not based entirely on a pre-sorted Bricklink order became painfully time-consuming.

Well, I started by taking apart the LEGO sets (and any models I don’t want to keep) that I’d built but never disassembled over the past three or four years, and dumped it all in bins. Next, my wife and visiting mother-in-law kindly volunteered to pre-sort what I’d taken apart into bricks (“Aren’t they all bricks?”), plates (“flat bits”), slopes (“slopey bits”), and “everything else.” (World Cup soccer and Seattle Mariners baseball have been good background entertainment for all of us.) When we had enough of each of these, I then “sub-sorted” into finer categories, like regular, inverted, and curved slopes.

The two major lessons I’ve learned so far from my ongoing sorting are that every extra pair of hands helps, and that the pre-sort/sub-sort approach gets pretty much everything but the “fiddly bits” where they belong fairly quickly. It’s also clear that you can never have enough clear storage bins…

So, dear readers, how have you overcome that mountain of unsorted LEGO?

It’s all a matter of perspective

Perspective can be the difference between a decent photo of a good creation, and something fantastic. Take the photo below by Mike Yoder, for example. He’s taken a photo of his diorama from a perspective that makes it feel truly immersive. There are a few elements in the close foreground to frame the rest of what we can see, which is action in the near ground as well as some interesting detail in the distance.

This makes me want to build a diorama to take photos of some of my space ships in. It’s a real encouragement to step it up.

Airboat at the Dock at Midnight Pass

Dive Shop


Rarely is orange seen in MOCs of any type, but MOCpages builder Brian Lyles put it to good use. The simple storefront makes way for a good interior. Not overdone on the details, this building is a great display of architecture.

Corroded Angel

Just so you know, we don’t feature action figures on the blog. What you’re looking at is another brilliant Lego creation by Brian Kescenovitz (mondayn00dle). The wings are made from Technic links, which seem to have more uses than being stuck to the bottom of a tank.

10213 Shuttle Adventure has achieved orbit

The new LEGO Space Shuttle set Shuttle Adventure is now shipping from the LEGO Shop online.

Product Description :
Standing 17.5″ (44cm) tall and 10″ (25.5cm) from wing tip to wing tip, this detailed and realistic space shuttle is ready to count down and blast off on its next exciting mission into space!



You can take off from the launch pad, separate the detachable fuel tank and booster rockets, and deploy the satellite with unfolding antenna and solar cell panels. Shuttle model features realistic engines, retractable landing gear, an opening cockpit with seats for 2 astronauts, opening cargo compartment with a crane that can hold the satellite and a ground maintenance vehicle.



Includes 3 minifigures: 1 male and 1 female astronaut, as well as 1 service crew member.



By the way, you can check out what’s on discount today at LEGO.com


LEGO