Posted January 11, 201510 yr Here's a challenge: Upload a photo of all the spare parts from a certain set you got for Christmas or recently. Everyone else will have to guess the set.
January 11, 201510 yr Got the set on my birthday (28 November). Image: http://i.imgur.com/izXxpxw.jpg
January 11, 201510 yr Got the set on my birthday (28 November). Image: http://i.imgur.com/izXxpxw.jpg Slave 1?
January 11, 201510 yr I'm sorry to 'hijack' your really clever little competition Godtshep but by starting it you've inadvertently answered a question I was going to post later. Do all LEGO sets of the same number have the same spare parts? With this topic answering this question it does though raise another. Who, if anyone, decides what sets have what quantity of spare parts and what type those spare parts should be? Edited February 6, 201510 yr by grum64
January 12, 201510 yr Author I'm sorry tho 'hijack' your very clever little competition Lady but by starting it you've inadvertently you've answered a question I was going to post later. Do all LEGO sets of the same number have the same spare parts? With this topic answering this question it does though raise another. Who, if anyone, decides what sets have what quantity of spare parts and what type those spare parts should be? That's fine! I think it depends on how many small parts are included. Different parts qualify for different sets (e.g. the Fire Motorcycle from 2013 has a spare flame piece, however most larger sets don't). I remember having a small pot for all the spare pieces in the Death Star!
January 12, 201510 yr I figured that each bag containing 1x1 tiles or plates had one extra of each type contained, and each bag with 2L or 1/2 pins contained one extra of each type contained... Also: small, tan bevel gears, 2L axles, bushings and 1x1 cheese slopes. Because that's almost exactly what every single set I've bought since coming out of the dark ages has contained for extra pieces.
January 12, 201510 yr I'm sure I saw something about the spare pieces somewhere on here - something to do with what pieces were most likely to get lost.
January 13, 201510 yr I've had two of the same set and found that the extra pieces were different, in fact i think i had three of the same set, it was a smaller set, not quite sure which one. Has anyone noticed that the staples in the manuals are sometime different, some books have seemingly weaker or smaller staples, others are larger and stronger, anyone seen that? How are people preserving their manuals?
January 13, 201510 yr Yup. Did I win the Slave 1? What are the rules? Is it my turn to post a pic of the spares in a recent set I got?
January 13, 201510 yr Do all LEGO sets of the same number have the same spare parts? lol, I guess it all depends on whether I remember to use all the parts in the set!
January 13, 201510 yr I've had two of the same set and found that the extra pieces were different, in fact i think i had three of the same set, it was a smaller set, not quite sure which one. Has anyone noticed that the staples in the manuals are sometime different, some books have seemingly weaker or smaller staples, others are larger and stronger, anyone seen that? How are people preserving their manuals? Oh that's the easiest to explain. It's just a question of which printer or printers at which factory was designated for a batch of manuals. There will be some age and make/model differences in the hardware and different printers will use different staples. Also some manuals may be outsourced for printing (I doubt Lego does the square bound glued binding ones in house). It's all just a question of where is the closest available capacity to where they are assembling the sets.
January 13, 201510 yr I believe I read somewhere on here that bags are checked for accuracy by weight, so since the parts that usually have spares are very lightweight there will generally be a couple of extra so LEGO errs on the right side. So it could easily vary by set. Occasionally I've found some rather large pieces as spares, pieces that I wouldn't be likely to loose but that are rather lightweight (eg. samurai sword), which would seem to corroborate. Edit: Rather coincidentally I just ran across this on the Brothers Brick (not where I originally got the info): "Why do so many LEGO sets have extra pieces? Because LEGO loves you and wants you to be happy. That and the extra pieces are generally the smallest ones. The bags in the sets are not packed by hand, they are packed by robot (how cool is that?). The robots are programmed to know the weight of each LEGO element and which elements are supposed to go in each bag. The smaller elements can be problematic in regards to the margin of error. In order to ensure that the correct pieces get into each bag, they tell the robots to put in one extra of most small pieces to ensure the weight is correct. Since the smaller pieces are most likely to be lost or fall out, this keeps the buyer happy and resolves many customer-service issues before they begin." Edited January 13, 201510 yr by Kai NRG
January 14, 201510 yr from the many 100's of sets I've acquired over the years, typically the spare parts tend to be the small ones, which can easily be lost. it's got nothing with erring on the safe side as, for a given set, the spare parts are usually the same.
January 14, 201510 yr Author Did I win the Slave 1? What are the rules? Is it my turn to post a pic of the spares in a recent set I got? Nope, but you can post one if you want.
January 14, 201510 yr from the many 100's of sets I've acquired over the years, typically the spare parts tend to be the small ones, which can easily be lost. it's got nothing with erring on the safe side as, for a given set, the spare parts are usually the same. Well yes and it is both things at the same time. What they mean by "erring on the safe side" is that the single smaller parts tend to weigh close to or less than the margin of error of the weighing mechanism of the robots, so they do an x+1 to insure that they have the minimum needed. This is also why you often get doubles of some types of minifig accessories like helmet visors. The single part weighs less than the scales margin of error. It has the added bonus of providing a spare or two for the most easily lost parts. The costs of using customer service to replace a lost 1x1 stud are far greater than simply putting an extra part in to begin with. So bonus. Edited January 14, 201510 yr by Faefrost
January 17, 201510 yr What set? I got this for Christmas last year, finally got around to building it. The set is still available. Untitled by MyPlasticBricks, on Flickr Here are the spares from the set just completed today. Andy D Edited January 19, 201510 yr by Andy D
February 4, 201510 yr ^ Tower of Orthanc? Wow! Correct! What gave it away? Andy D Edited February 4, 201510 yr by Andy D
February 5, 201510 yr Nope, but you can post one if you want. Ok, I'll post one. What set are these extras from?
February 6, 201510 yr My guess was 42023 Construction-Crew but i realized it doesn't have any of the dark grey half pins. It would have to be a technic set with that assortment of spare parts. What is the average amount of spare pieces for a larger technic set? It seems to be too few for one of the larger sets.
February 6, 201510 yr Ok, I'll post one. What set are these extras from? My conservatory floor after an afternoons building! Edited February 6, 201510 yr by grum64
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.