My partner's workplace #LEGO Slack channel (!) has been asking questions about the making of this set and I put together a how-to make a color-scrambled LEGO set that I have now published on my blog.

https://blog.mrpetovan.com/slice-of-life/how-to-design-a-color-scrambled-lego-set/

It's niche so I don't expect a lot of traffic but I already did the writing work so it wasn't hard to convert it to a blog post.

Hypolite Petovan

2022-08-21 18:13:14

LEGO Boeing 787 "Putting back the dream in" Dreamliner

This is our latest #LEGO project with my partner, using an official design as a base (in this case, the 2006 Boeing 787 Dreamliner 10177 set), and using as many different colors for the parts as possible. Most came from my existing collection, several had to be purchased in the wildest colors possible.

To zero in on this set, I used Rebrickable Build Search feature that returns how much of which sets can be built given a pool of parts. This search engine has several interesting options, including disregarding the part colors entirely, matching only on part molds.

This gave me a result with an extremely wide range of sets, so I had to filter further. I first limited the results to sets with more than 1,000 parts so that the patchwork of colors would be shown at a meaningful scale. The second filter was manual, I tried to find a set where color differences weren't used to denote a change of texture or geometry. This set stood out thanks to its simple geometric shape, and the base bi-tone color scheme was perfect to scramble.

We're pretty happy with the result, and it will nicely adorn our living room shelves for a while.

More pictures:

This is our latest #LEGO project with my partner, using an official design as a base (in this case, the 2006 Boeing 787 Dreamliner 10177 set), and using as many different colors for the parts as possible. Most came from my existing collection, several had to be purchased in the wildest colors possible.

To zero in on this set, I used Rebrickable Build Search feature that returns how much of which sets can be built given a pool of parts. This search engine has several interesting options, including disregarding the part colors entirely, matching only on part molds.

This gave me a result with an extremely wide range of sets, so I had to filter further. I first limited the results to sets with more than 1,000 parts so that the patchwork of colors would be shown at a meaningful scale. The second filter was manual, I tried to find a set where color differences weren't used to denote a change of texture or geometry. This set stood out thanks to its simple geometric shape, and the base bi-tone color scheme was perfect to scramble.

We're pretty happy with the result, and it will nicely adorn our living room shelves for a while.

More pictures:

• 7248 - City - Digger (2005): This set got me wincing as it features multi-part stickers, and the parts that were stuck weren't the right ones 😰.
  
• 7992 - City - Container Stacker (2007)
  
• 60027 - City - Monster Truck Transporter (2013): Found both partially assembled with an unopened pats bag.
  
  
• 8270 - Technic - Rough Terrain Crane (2007) : I was ready to discard it because of the low number of parts, but my partner convinced me to keep it so that my kid can play with it. How could I say no?
  
  
• 8077 - Atlantis - Exploration HQ (2010): After the 7206 - City of Atlantis and 8076 - Deep Sea Striker sets I built from the previous bin, I'm glad to be able to build another big set in the same theme.
  
  
  
• 76020 - Guardians of the Galaxy - Knowhere Escape Mission (2014): One of the sets having a couple of unopened parts bag, their owner just opened the bag that was featuring the buildable Groot figure and ignored the rest, including the Rocket Raccoon minifig.
  
  
• 7692 - Mars Mission - MX-71 Recon Dropship (2007): I discovered the Mars Mission theme in the previous bin, and I like the comparative ship designs of the opposing factions. While there weren't enough parts to complete a set then, this time is the right one to build a set from this theme.
  
  
• 9449 - Ninjago - Ultra Sonic Raider (2012): Another set that was present in the previous bin, with the parts from the new bin it finally is affordable to complete. My first Ninjago set!
  
  
• 9470 - The Hobbit - Shelob Attacks (2012): This bin introduced several The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings sets to me, despite lacking all the minifigures. This one is still cute with the famous giant spider that can hang from her silk-producing butt.
  
• 79002 - The Hobbit - Attack of the Wargs (2012): Another returning set after the previous bin, I was able to sell one warg for a hefty sum to a Belgian woman. Now I will build a lonely tree and boulders.
  
• 79013 - The Hobbit - Lake-town Chase (2013): I don't remember this scene from The Hobbit? On the other hand, it's been 25 years since I read that book. Found partially assembled, excited about the boat.
  
• 9474 - The Lord of the Rings - The Battle of Helm's Deep (2012): A big set with more than 1,000 parts! Definitely the most expensive set to complete from the list, but it looks worth it.
  
• 9471 - The Lord of the Rings - Uruk-hai Army (2012): Meant to pair with the previous set. No army though.
  
• 9473 - The Lord of the Rings - The Mines of Moria (2012): Found partially assembled. No troll.
  
  
• 7931 - Star Wars - T-6 Jedi Shuttle (2011): This set was 60% assembled in the bin, and also possibly is the blandest Star Wars ship design I've ever laid my eyes on.
  
• 7957 - Star Wars - Sith Nightspeeder (2011): I found out about this set in the previous bin but didn't have enough parts to complete it cheaply. However I haven't been able to reuse much of the parts since it was almost complete in this bin. Still no minifigures.
  
• 9496 - Star Wars - Desert Skiff (2012): After having happily completed and built the 75020 - Jabba’s Sail Barge set from last bin, I was elated to find the Sarlacc to pair it with!
  
• 75015 - Star wars - Corporate Alliance Tank Droid (2013): A rare boon for a second-hand treaded vehicles, all the tread links were still new in their original sealed bag.
  
• 75017 - Star Wars - Duel on Geonosis (2013): Found almost completely assembled, without minifigures even though it's a battle scene, but they are too expensive to buy separately.
  
• 7965 - Star Wars - Millenium Falcon (2011): Another big set, and finally the iconic spaceship after so many other Star Wars sets across several bins! I actually have plans to hang this set vertically on my wall as all the other viewing angles are pretty uninteresting.
  
• 7915 - Star Wars - Imperial V-wing Starfighter (2011) and 8091 - Star Wars - Republic Swamp Speeder (2010): Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars, ugh. Still cheap enough to justify their inclusion in this list.

I’m finally done with sorting the #LEGO parts that were in the 17.8 lbs Lower East Side bin, the fourth I’ve been sorting so far.

This time I’ve been able to formally identify a record 79 sets (including several collectible minifigures) based on the parts in the bin. I tried to gather the parts for 20 of them.

Alas, this bin was pretty frustrating since I didn’t manage to find more than 70% of the parts for any given set. I strongly suspect that there were twin sister bins created after what must have been a dramatic separation, and I ended with only one of them.

So, unlike with the previous bin where sets where mostly complete, I had to make some tough choices whether to buy the remaining parts for each of the 20 sets. I first considered whether buying the set used would be cheaper than buying the missing parts. This ruled out half of the sets, and a few only remained because their resale price is through the roof, mainly because of rare minifigures.

To save money I made a couple more executive decisions to keep only the sets I would want to display, and to exclude minifigures when they are too rare/expensive. This is the final list:

• 75020 - Star Wars - Jabba’s Sail Barge (2013): This is an example of a mix of executive decisions. Without the rare minifigures, the set finally got less expensive to complete ($65) than to buy used ($80). And a sail boat in space? It's a good argument for a display piece. It's also the first set I identified in the bin, from the Jabba figure himself that was floating on the surface.
• 7985 - Atlantis - City of Atlantis (2011): Another extremely expensive set to find in North America, the first item goes at $185 which made $100 of missing parts without the minifigs actually palatable for a unique-looking set.
• 9500 - Star Wars - Sith Fury-class Interceptor (2012): The third crazy expensive set, the included Darth Malgus minifigure itself goes for $70+ and the set itself is currently only available in North America from $160. Without the minifigures the cost of completion becomes somewhat reasonable ($60). Not too happy with the Sith theme but it still is a nice display piece next to my Jedi Scout Fighter and Gungan Sub.
• 8076 - Atlantis - Deep Sea Striker (2010): One of the most complete set after sorting, just $6 of missing parts for a weird sea scorpion got it a place.
• 7206 - City - Fire Helicopter (2010): Affordable to complete ($20) with a bucket with trans-light blue round bricks as water, now I need to find a way to hang it from the ceiling.
• 70003 - Legends of Chima - Eris' Eagle Interceptor (2013): A fighter jet in the shape of an eagle in my favorite colors? Sign me up, even if it is slightly too expensive to complete ($25) it compared to buy it used ($20). But I wouldn't do anything else with all the feathers I found in the bin anyway.
• 7051 - Alien Conquest - Tripod Invader (2011): A fun set that grazes the affordability bar ($25) for a good display value.

These 7 sets should cost me about $280 of parts to complete. It's a far cry from the previous bin where I was able to complete 15 sets with about $300 of parts, but at least this time I'm sure I want them all for myself.