It's time for another #
LEGO update!
After
the disappointing Lower East Side bin I sorted previously, the bin I picked up in Bushwick from Craigslist has been way more satisfying, but also required way more work.
At a whopping 25 lbs of LEGO, this has been the largest bin I've been given to sort. I was anxious at the completion rate I could get from this bin, but a couple factors gave me some confidence. First, I was able to find numbered bags of parts, taken straight from a set box and never opened. Second, there were many assemblies in the bin, ranging from a few parts to half of what looked like a space ship.
These assemblies allowed me to identify sets and set aside parts for them ahead of the actual sorting, which somewhat sped up the process. Given the overall weight I still had to handle about 10,000 parts to sort them into their set or into my storage for ulterior use, and it took quite a bit of time. I was helped by my partner who enjoys knolling and sorting, thank goodness, otherwise this update would have taken even longer to come.
Without further ado, let's dive into the sets. Out of the record 90 sets I was able to identify in the bin, I've chosen to complete the following:
- 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.
That's all folks! A whopping 22 sets (the magic number 22 again!), for which I was able to buy the missing parts for about $220, a record-smashing average of $10 per set, the lowest so far in my set completion endeavor. Since I had room in the budget, I threw in the missing part for
this Sebulba Podracer MOC I've been designing. I'm excited about building the first MOC I spent so much time refining!
Special note: I found 65% of the parts (including all 18 minifigures!) for the
7662 - Star Wars - Trade Federation MTT set in this bin, but the remaining parts would set me $160 back. It sounds expensive, but this set goes for at least $300 on the Used market. I personally like the set, which doesn't hurt, but it was too expensive on its own to be included in this batch. I have one more bin to sort, hopefully I'll be able to find more parts for this set and it'll be a little cheaper, but I know I'll have to pay top dollars for certain parts in specific colors that were produced only for this particular set, raising their price.
After this behemoth of a bin, I'm going to take a little hiatus in my sorting endeavor before tackling the last LEGO bin taking space in my closet, I already know it won't be the same as any previous bins since this time, I got a shoe box full of instructions booklets with the bin!
Until then, keep on bricking!
