Lego OPPOs

"Cash Rewards" (cashrewards)
02/23/2018 at 16:05 • Filed to: None

Calling all Lego OPPOs! My wife (who is awesome) got me the Saturn v kit, which will go on display by my desk. She also got me a fire truck kit as practice, and I found I really enjoy building them. But what after? My kids are two and four, so not quite old enough to play with them. But soon? We don’t have room to just build and display a bunch. Do y’all just disassemble and do it again another day? Al

Also, recommendations? The technic rally car looks cool, or the remote control ones. What else?

DISCUSSION (35)

OmerCarrothers333 > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:22

The new Lego Mustang fastback looks cool, and it hopefully won’t run into a crowd of people.

Party-vi > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:22

Build. Display. Repeat. I’m running out of room now, and worse - my wife won’t stop buying Legos. It’s like she’s making up for missing out on them early in life.

functionoverfashion > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:24

You’re not far off kids’ legos... our son is 5 (and a half, because it matters at this age) and he’s building pretty complex kits - the 6-12 age stuff like small firetrucks, helicopters, boats, etc. The instructions are amazing, and he can absolutely follow them by himself.

With the kits, we ... try... to keep them together. Our son likes to partially disassemble and reassemble his stuff quite a bit. We recently got a big set of drawers for him to separate loose parts by color, and he’s using an old desk as his workspace.

He also reads the instruction books in bed by himself after we read him stories at night, which I’m amazed by.

They had some Duplo stuff, but really, he’s been way more interested in the complex “real” lego kits than he ever really was with the other stuff.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:24

Some I keep together and others get modified and the rest get scavenged for parts to build mocs.

user314 > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:25

The Saturn V is really nice; I’d love a Falcon 9 and Heavy to go with it.

sn4cktimes > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:26

Remote control lego is cool, but most are pretty slow. As far as vehicular sets, lookup the Caterham 7, Mini, Ferrari, VW Bus, and VW Beetle. I have the Caterham, and both VW’s and they are pretty cool. Also have the Saturn V, it is huge.

I have a couple larger Technics models. And while they’re cool to build and have interesting mechanical features, they are definitely not as display worthy for non-lego people for the most part. People definitely gravitate towards the VW’s on the shelf.

EDIT: if you’re going for most bang-for-buck most of the Technics sets have a secondary build with downloadable instructions (build the secondary ones first as the primaries are generally better)

SmugAardvark > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:26

I gave up on Lego years ago, but had amassed a decent collection at one point.

The way I did it, I would build kits according to the instructions. If I really liked the finished product and wanted to keep it intact, I would glue the pieces together. Otherwise, I would leave it as is for awhile, then disassemble and store all the pieces in a big ziploc bag with the instructions in case I changed my mind. If it was a kit that I didn’t care for in its final state, I would just take it apart and give it to one of my friends’ kids.

The Saturn V is one of the few kits to come out that honestly made me reconsider getting back into it. I just don’t want to use the time or money needed to take on another hobby these days.

RPM esq. > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:31

Get your kids the city sets, or the licensed Batman/Harry Potter/Hobbit ones if they’re more into that.* The kids get to enjoy the building aspect first (or again and again) and then, instead of just displaying the buildings and vehicles uselessly, they can play with them instead of action figures or Barbies. I spent hours as a kid building and rebuilding little Lego buildings and forts and cars, and playing out whatever stories I could imagine with them. My kid did the same.

* You can also often buy a whole big bin of used Legos at a garage sale or something when a kid goes off to college, give them a soak in dish detergent, and your kids are set for many creative hours.

Meanwhile, for yourself, get this.

Kinja'd!!!

shop-teacher > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:36

Disassembling it and saving the pieces and instructions for later for your kids would be great. Two and four is actually the ages I started just giving my kids the assembled Lego sets, and letting what would be be. I’ve found that they slowly fell apart, but now that they’re 5 and 3, they’re starting to use those pieces to make their own things now. Especially the 5-year old.

My personal Lego MO since middle school or so is to assemble the kit. Then I either keep it as is, modify it as I see fit, or disassemble it and build something else entirely out of it.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:39

Easy. Kiddos can share a bedroom until they move out and now you have a spare lego room.

On a more serious note, as you run out of space start breaking down older models into a bin. By the time the kids are of lego age they’ll have a massive bucket of pieces to let their imaginations run wild.

CKeffer > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:44

I had a bunch of lego kits growing up and I pretty much always built the kit, left it like that for about a week, and then ripped it apart to combine with my other ones to make whatever my imagination came up with. I honestly can’t remember what age I was when I started playing with them, but I do remember growing out of Duplo really fast though.

My suggestion is, unless it’s a kit you really want for yourself to build and display (like the Saturn V, or some of the Creator kits like the Caterham/Mini Cooper/Ferrari F 40) I really wouldn’t worry too much about having a place to show them off so much as a place to store them and a big open space for them to build in because the chances that they won’t get bored of a model quite quickly and want to pull it apart to build something else are quite low. As for what to get? For you, have a look at the aforementioned “Creator” line kits, and some of the technic kits like the Porsche GT3 RS. For them, just get whatever looks neat and looks like something they’ll find interesting to build with you.

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:45

F40, Mini, Lotus.

Clemsie McKenzie > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 16:49

Nowadays I only build using the official software for money reasons, but when I had actual bricks I would never keep an official set intact more than a week. What makes Lego great is what you do with them! Buy sets you love, keep them as long as you want to, and then build cool crazy stuff you imagined. I grew up doing that. And now I do these:

Kinja'd!!!

Brickman > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 17:38

LEGO sets I buy I keep built and display them. My nephew sort of plays with my LEGO, I only let him have some City vehicles like a fire truck, police car, etc. Maybe I’ll show him the Saturn V when he is 8 or so ;)

Cash Rewards > sn4cktimes
02/23/2018 at 18:40

Thanks!

Cash Rewards > Clemsie McKenzie
02/23/2018 at 18:41

Those are awesome!

Cash Rewards > Party-vi
02/23/2018 at 18:42

Yeah, these are good things for me to do to accomplish something (job doesn’t do it, weather prohibiting outdoor projects), do my wife is looking to enable me for my own good ( and hers).

Cash Rewards > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
02/23/2018 at 18:43

Build bunk bed out of Legos. Got it.

Cash Rewards > OmerCarrothers333
02/23/2018 at 18:43

Can’t take that risk with kids around

Mondial goes to 11 > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 18:58

I have every surface of my apartment covered in Lego. For tearing down a set to build again I suggest gallon and quart Ziploc bags.

Find some Duplo for the kids. The 4 year old is definitely old enough and I still find it fun as an adult. It’s expensive, so maybe try to find used and give it a bath.

For yourself: Volvo EW160E or Mercedes-Benz Arocs 3245. They both have pneumatic actions. Looks like they are both recently discontinued but still available on Amazon. Cars mostly mentioned elsewhere: F40, Mini, VW Bug, VW Bus, London Bus, Caterham 7, and Mack Anthem. There’s something for everyone.

Cash Rewards > Brickman
02/23/2018 at 19:06

Name checks out!

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 19:59

Kinja'd!!!

How bout a double decker couch?

Brickman > Cash Rewards
02/23/2018 at 20:41

Been a LEGO fan since I was 14 or so :)

Clemsie McKenzie > Cash Rewards
02/24/2018 at 13:55

Thanks! That’s the thing with virtual Lego, I can do as many as I want to, so I get to try new things all the time and slowly get better. I miss real bricks though, not gonna lie!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Cash Rewards
02/26/2018 at 09:37

Get those little ones some Duplo! The older one will be ready to help with the real stuff before long. Welcome to the addiction. It’s very much like therapy to me. I was really big into LEGO when I was a kid. When I got older, all of my stuff went to my nephew and he grew the collection, and once he got older and I had kids, most of it came back to me. Very cool to come across minifigs and pieces that I played with three decades ago!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Clemsie McKenzie
02/26/2018 at 09:38

You really should share these to Live & Let Diecast. Plenty of LEGO lovers over there.

Cash Rewards > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com
02/26/2018 at 10:13