If you’ve ever wondered how to make a Lego set, then in their latest series of instruction booklets, Lego have spelled it out for you. In four, easy-to-follow steps.
Instructions
Of course, when you build a Lego set you have to follow the instructions (if you are after Lego set instructions you can find them online in PDF format). That is unless you are visually spatially gifted and can just take the contents of the box and construct it exactly like the photo on the cover without using the booklets included.
For myself however, instructions are the way to go.
But what I found interesting is that Lego have added specific instructions on how the pieces should be handled before they get to construction phase.
I discovered this when casually picking up the instructions for the brand new Hobbit Lego set, Riddles For The Ring (79000), from my son’s floor where it had been lying for days (apparently unbeknownst to my son). Just inside the cover was the following cute little cartoon.
While I had seen obscure references to piles of mixed Lego bricks with crosses through them in previous instruction manuals, this mini-instruction on Lego pre-construction made the meaning crystal clear.
1. Sort your Lego by color.
2. Then start building.
Mind you I’m not sure my son does this and to be honest, if I am building a set, I don’t do it either. For the larger sets Lego have made it easier by having numbered bags but sometimes I still tip all that out and mix it up – not sure if that is just the rebel in me or that I just want the experience to last longer.
What about you?
Do you or your family sort all the pieces by color and then start building or just tip everything out on a mat and dive right in?
Numbered bag out in a pile on the table – that’s my style. IF needed partet onto plates. I don’t get sorted by color – it’s hard for me to find the pieces if they are all the same color. But give me a pile and I’ll find the red one easily
Hi Jesper
That is an interesting point. It takes me ages to find a particular piece if i’m looking in a box which contains pieces of only that color. Much less time however, to find a particular piece mixed amongst a pile of mixed up colors and shapes.
That is one of the reasons I tend not to sort by color when making a set.
The one thing I find most helpful is to find all the long/flat plates and put them in a separate pile to one side. Plates make it hard to shuffle through piles of bricks.
Is this color-separation technique wise advice from Lego? Or doomed to make the process frustrating for some.
Cheers
Inger
While I don’t separate my pieces by color before building, I do dump all the larger parts into one shallow bin, and all the tiny pieces into a shallow bowl. Even this little bit helps me locate those ever so hard to find 1×1 plates!
Hi Eric
That’s a good strategy. I do something similar, though only with the larger pieces/plates and not with the smaller 1X1 bits. I’m too eager to get started to find all those tiny little pieces!
At least I know when I go to find them, chances are they will be at the bottom of the pile.
Cheers
Inger