Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP!!!
I've posted a bit lately about my renewed interest in Lego, but it is a renewed interest; I started playing with Lego at around about 5, and between about 8 and 14 it was pretty much all I wanted for birthday or Christmas. Not surprisingly, me being me, there were two kit ranges I was particularly into: Lego Technic (or 'Technical Lego' as it was originally called in the UK) and Lego Space.
Like many Lego enthusiasts I never threw any away, although as time went on older kits ended up in large amalgamated boxes of bits whilst the more recent and more expensive ones got dismantled, put back in their boxes, and progressively migrated from shelf to cupboard to attic. They staying in my Mum's attic ever since, although in recent years she would occasionally remind me that they were still there after some 30 years and I might perhaps want to have a bit of a sort out.
So, last weekend, whilst down at my Mum's I ventured into the rather cramped attic and crawled around finding various bits of old Lego. Most of it was either in its original boxes or one big box of bits, although I did have to do a fair bit of rooting around insulation felt to find bits from one box that had fallen over. In the end though I recovered the bits box and half a dozen kit boxes, which we brought home so I could sort through them.
The Technic kits were mostly in their original boxes, and other than a quick look I've set them aside for later. First, though, I tackled the Lego Space collection.
I think I - or more probably my brother and I - must have brought a fair few kits from that range, although I only had one box, the one for the kit that was the piece de resistance of the original Space range, 928 Galaxy Explorer. The box was almost empty though, and a rummage through the box-o'-bits confirmed my fears; there were a lot of what were recognisably Lego Space bits in there (recognisable by the mainly grey-and-blue colour scheme) mixed in with lots of other miscellaneous Lego from the 1970s.
Sod it, I thought, time for some sorting. And how else to sort than to build the kit and look for the parts as I went along?
It took a while, but eventually, for the first time in 35 years, I had my own Lego spaceship. Or, to quote Benny the Spaceman from The Lego Movie, "Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP!!!"
But I had lots of Lego Space bits left over. A couple of bricks with LL918 on prompted me to find the instructions for that kit, and soon I had the Galaxy Explorer's small sibling, the 918 Space Transport. (There was an intermediate one as well in the original Space range, 924, but I don't think we ever had that one.) I also found an old instruction sheet for 891 Space Scooter, so built that too. We must have brought some extra base tiles, because I had 6 in total, rather than the two that came with the 928 kit. And I found about a dozen minifig spacemen.
Well, what was I to do but put a little diorama together?
I still had two fair-size bags of bits left over, but alas not quite the time to start designing my own new moonbase. Perhaps some other day.
This entry was originally posted at http://major-clanger.dreamwidth.org/45106.html, where there are
comments.
Like many Lego enthusiasts I never threw any away, although as time went on older kits ended up in large amalgamated boxes of bits whilst the more recent and more expensive ones got dismantled, put back in their boxes, and progressively migrated from shelf to cupboard to attic. They staying in my Mum's attic ever since, although in recent years she would occasionally remind me that they were still there after some 30 years and I might perhaps want to have a bit of a sort out.
So, last weekend, whilst down at my Mum's I ventured into the rather cramped attic and crawled around finding various bits of old Lego. Most of it was either in its original boxes or one big box of bits, although I did have to do a fair bit of rooting around insulation felt to find bits from one box that had fallen over. In the end though I recovered the bits box and half a dozen kit boxes, which we brought home so I could sort through them.
The Technic kits were mostly in their original boxes, and other than a quick look I've set them aside for later. First, though, I tackled the Lego Space collection.
I think I - or more probably my brother and I - must have brought a fair few kits from that range, although I only had one box, the one for the kit that was the piece de resistance of the original Space range, 928 Galaxy Explorer. The box was almost empty though, and a rummage through the box-o'-bits confirmed my fears; there were a lot of what were recognisably Lego Space bits in there (recognisable by the mainly grey-and-blue colour scheme) mixed in with lots of other miscellaneous Lego from the 1970s.
Sod it, I thought, time for some sorting. And how else to sort than to build the kit and look for the parts as I went along?
It took a while, but eventually, for the first time in 35 years, I had my own Lego spaceship. Or, to quote Benny the Spaceman from The Lego Movie, "Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP!!!"
But I had lots of Lego Space bits left over. A couple of bricks with LL918 on prompted me to find the instructions for that kit, and soon I had the Galaxy Explorer's small sibling, the 918 Space Transport. (There was an intermediate one as well in the original Space range, 924, but I don't think we ever had that one.) I also found an old instruction sheet for 891 Space Scooter, so built that too. We must have brought some extra base tiles, because I had 6 in total, rather than the two that came with the 928 kit. And I found about a dozen minifig spacemen.
Well, what was I to do but put a little diorama together?
I still had two fair-size bags of bits left over, but alas not quite the time to start designing my own new moonbase. Perhaps some other day.
This entry was originally posted at http://major-clanger.dreamwidth.org/45106.html, where there are
comments.