Looking inside my UTB K8

Posted on September 5, 2007 by Mike Walsh

UTB K8Here is the box as I opened it although the baseplates were not stacked so nicely.


50 BaseplatesI pulled the baseplates out first and set them aside.? I had specifically asked for baseplates because the last time we had the NCLTC layout set up, we were really short of baseplates to cover the open areas of the layout.? It looks so much nicer when everything is covered!


Half a K8 of unsorted parts!Now you can see what is left to sort.? I have no idea why they couldn’t put each element into a separate bag but they didn’t.? I guess this is a good problem to have but it is still a daunting sorting effort.


Starting the sorting processThis is as much as I got done yesterday.? While I was on a conference call I sat there and picked all of the bright green large plant leaves out of box.? I had requested both large and small plant leaves and they were sent in two different colors!? The smaller leaves are the traditional darker green, the larger ones are the bright green.

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Received my UTB K8!

Posted on September 4, 2007 by Mike Walsh

This morning as I was sitting at my desk the DHL delivery truck arrived and had a present for me.? I received a K8 of assorted bricks from LEGO for working on the UTB (Hobby Train) project.? For those unfamiliar with the term “K8″, LEGO has several standard box sizes which them ship elements in.? I have personally seen K8, K6, and K4, I assume there are other sizes as well.? A K4 is a little bigger than a shoe box and if you?visit a LEGO store, you may see the Pick-A-Brick stock in K4 boxes.? A K8 is 16″x24″x12” – a pretty big box!? A K6 is in between the two.? A K8 of LEGO elements weighs quite a bit as you can imagine.? The box I received was about 2/3 full, maybe a bit less.

Very late in the project we learned we would receive some “compensation” for our efforts and it would include a selection of bulk elements.? We assumed it would be from the online Pick-A-Brick but it turns out we could request pretty much anything but there was no guarantee it would be available.? So we each filled out a spreadsheet with our wish list and sent it in.? How much we would receive and when we would receive it was rather vague – it really wasn’t clear how this process would work.

I decided to focus on some of the darker colors (dark green, dark red, and dark blue)?which I don’t have much of.? Unfortunately dark green wasn’t available but I was able to get a fair amount of dark red and dark blue from my wish list – at least that is what I am expecting based on the feedback I got from my wishlist.? I also asked for a bunch of the new 1×3 curved element which we tried hard to include in the Hobby Train and some other items like plant leaves, grey tiles, and baseplates.

Now that the box has arrived, I get to see what I really got from my wish list.? At first glance, it looks pretty good – it is certainly a lot of LEGO!? Unfortunately it isn’t sorted.? Why they simply dumped all of the elements in one big bag is beyond me but there is some wonderful stuff in the box so I imagine it is worth it.

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Judging at the NC State Fair

Posted on August 25, 2007 by Mike Walsh

I have been asked to judge the LEGO category at the North Carolina State Fair again this year.? This will be the third time I have judged the LEGO category.? This year I am pleased to see the “kit” category has been eliminated.? I had suggested eliminating it the last two years – how do you judge an official LEGO set???It appears??I was able to convince the woman who runs the Hobbies and Crafts categories to eliminate it!? The State Fair Premium Guide is available online, the LEGO category appears on page 306.

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Interesting Pick-a-Brick at Bridgewater Commons

Posted on August 25, 2007 by Mike Walsh

Dog (wolf) elementI was up in NJ for work a few weeks ago and stopped by the LEGO Store at Bridgewater Commons which is about two miles from our NJ office.? Unlike my recent visit to the LEGO Store at Woodfield Mall in Chicago, the Bridgewater store had quite a few interesting Pick-a-Brick elements to choose from.? I ended up buying a single large cup, since I am not building much right now, it is hard to justify buying a lot.? The most interesting element was the dog (in the new brown color) which first appeared in the Harry Potter sets.? Since you can’t have too many animals I picked up a bunch of them.? I also picked up some black fences, yellow airplane windows, and magenta 1×1 bricks.? I am a sucker for some of the odd colors so finding the magenta 1×1 bricks was a surprise.? I had collected some magenta bricks several years ago whent he bonus tubs and boxes were on the market but the element selection was odd and building without 1×1 bricks can be a challenge.? Now that I have some, I will have to do something with that pile of magenta bricks!

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Trying to get organized

Posted on July 30, 2007 by Mike Walsh

This past weekend I spent a fair amount of time working in my office to try and bring some sense of organization back to the LEGO room.? Ever since we moved it has been pretty disorganized but after the last NCLTC train show, it was really bad.? I have been walking around boxes and the modular hills for almost six months.? My son is showing an interest in Mindstorms so in an effort to make things easier for him, I am making a serious effort to get everything I have on the floor sorted and put away.? This is no small task but it needs to be done badly so I have decided to deconstruct a bunch of stuff I have used to go.? First to go were a couple of Moonbase modules.? I can’t see me using them again anytime soon (if ever) so there is no need to keep them assembled.? Next to go will be my monorail?tunnel modules which I built years ago and have run their course.

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