Classic Space Lego pile comes back to life

[sed6]

After completing my new MF 75192 build I was feeling a little empty. I decided to break out my big box of classic space sets from the 70's and 80's. 

My table is used for all my other hobbies and turned out perfect for this project with plenty of room to spread out.

I started with the Galaxy Explorer, 497-1. I was just 10 years old in '83 when it was released and it was the ultimate space lego set that year. I believe it was also my last (major) set as my interests started to wane as I got older.

After that I moved on to the the Galaxy Commander, 6980. I was just 6 years old in '79 when it was released and recall it being a bit of a challenging build. Fast forward nearly 40 years and it went a little easier.

Next up came the Alpha 1 Rocket Base, 483. Also a 1979 release it was a pretty simple set but came with a rocket and a crater plate, very cool to a 6 year old kid.

With the ships done I also built the vehicles that came with them and finished their landing pads. 

 

My pile has shrunk quite a bit! In all I believe I have 10-12 classic space lego sets mixed up in there. I think I'm going to keep going and keep building sets until the pile is gone! 

[Kevin Yoo]

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Edited December 31, 2021 by Kevin Yoo

[sed6]

Thanks, having lots of fun building! I should be asleep but I did one more this evening. The Mobile Rocket Transport, 6950. This one come from '82 when I was 9 years old. It has several missing pieces including the 1x6 trans yellow side windows. As I've built each of these four sets I've kept track of the missing parts and will order them up through BL.

 

[Littleworlds]

Great to see some classic space coming back to life!  Please keep on posing till the pile is gone. I'd like to see your complete collection.

[Ming]

I love these; some very happy memories of building these the first time around, back in the day...

[sed6]

12 hours ago, Ming said:

I love these; some very happy memories of building these the first time around, back in the day...

The second time.around is pretty fun too! With space to spread out I can stop and start whenever I want. Came back to it tonight for an hour and did another. The Surface Explorer, 6880 from '82 when I was 9. I picked it because I wanted to get rid of some of my wheels. Think ill build something with a base plate next.

 

[sed6]

I did another last night, the 6820 Starfire 1 from 1986. Since I was 13 years old at the time I think this might have been on of my last sets. I picked this to build simply because of the unique cowl piece, I really didn't recognize it as a CS piece intil I went looking online. As my pile gets smaller it's getting more difficult to figure out which sets I actually own. One tip I read is to look for unique pieces like cowls or canopies to determine what sets I might have. Now if I can just find my stash of CS instructions I'll be golden.

 

[AmperZand]

On 23/10/2017 at 1:54 PM, Ming said:

I love these; some very happy memories of building these the first time around, back in the day...

Same here 

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective), my mother donated all my LEGO including an extensive collection of Classic Space sets from the '70s and early '80s to charity when I entered my DA. In 2014, out of nostalgia, I recreated 6927 All-Terrain Vehicle from parts I had as an AFOL and through the secondary market:

   

 

@sed6 Apologies for the threadjack.

[sed6]

23 hours ago, AmperZand said:

@sed6 Apologies for the threadjack.

No worries, looks good, great photos too!

I had some extra flexible joints left over and wanted to figure out where they went. Turns out they belong to the Walking Astro Grappler, 6882, from '85 when I was 8. Somehow I was missing two 2x2 blue plates!

The pile is shrinking bit there's still lots of sets in there. Up next is a set with a base plate or two!

 

[sed6]

Great news! I found my old space lego instructions! My father saved them for me as a kid and passed them on to me later. I knew I had them somewhere and it took an hour of my wife and me looking to find them. Well worth the effort!

As promised, a base plate set! This time the Intergalactic Command Base, 6971, from '84 when I was 11. There were a few unique parts missing including a 4x10 trans yellow panel and others that I'll have to order. 

Here's how they all look now, coming together nicely if I do say so myself. I think I'm going to order some more base plates. These ten are mine but I'd like four more to display the dozen or so sets I still have left to build!

Speaking of base plates, I gave these last two a five minute soaking in Oxy Clean then a scrub with a plastic brush and they cleaned up nicely.

I look forward to my next sets even more now that I have the instruction manual for most of them! Looking at the pile of bricks and number of minifigs I still have left I still have a long way to go.

 

[sed6]

Got two more done tonight. The All terrain vehicle, 6927 from '81and the Uranium Search Vehicle, 6928 from '84. The builds are getting harder and easier. Harder in that the supply of parts is getting thin and easier cause the supply of parts is getting smaller to sort through.

 

 

[kieran]

Wow what a collection you have 

[samurai-turtle]

On 10/25/2017 at 7:37 PM, sed6 said:

 

No worries, looks good, great photos too!

I had some extra flexible joints left over and wanted to figure out where they went. Turns out they belong to the Walking Astro Grappler, 6882, from '85 when I was 8. Somehow I was missing two 2x2 blue plates!

The pile is shrinking bit there's still lots of sets in there. Up next is a set with a base plate or two!

 

I use to have that set. You are lucky that "arm" is in such good condition. Those fins are prone to breaking. 

[Hart New Bob]

On ‎10‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 4:31 PM, AmperZand said:

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective), my mother donated all my LEGO including an extensive collection of Classic Space sets from the '70s and early '80s to charity when I entered my DA. In 2014, out of nostalgia, I recreated 6927 All-Terrain Vehicle from parts I had as an AFOL and through the secondary market:

I hate these types of Mothers. (Did She at least tell you?)  The ones who don't tell you are the worst.

[sed6]

9 hours ago, kieran said:

Wow what a collection you have 

Thanks! I always recall taking good care of my toys, I guess my LEGO wasn't an exception. I built two more tonight, the Solar Power Transporter, 6952, from '85 and the Space Supply Station, 6930, from '83 when I was 10.

 

Here's all of them together. I have about 10 more small sets to go. Mostly single minifig craft or vehicles. I'm less motivated to do those as they all require lots of round transparent plates or blocks and I'm done to almost none. If nothing else I'll finish them just to be able to put together a complete Bricklink order. 

 

[Littleworlds]

This is already a really neat collection. Sadly time takes its toll on these things. Pieces, and Minifigs get lost get lost, discolour, or break. Its nice to see you have been fortunate enough to get so far already without having to order parts. And your astronauts look pretty healthy we well! 

[ReplicaOfLife]

Congrats on going through with this.

I did something similar, with the difference being that I never owned any instructions to the sets as a kid, since they were given to me by our neighbours. So at age 30+ I was finally able to build some sets I had owned for way over 20 years. I have a couple of those you have as well, e.g. the 928 or the Mobile Rocket Transport.

[sed6]

As promised, some of the small sets. I got 6 built this afternoon. Lots of missing transparent pieces, plus some antennas and ladders, but nothing too major. These little sets are so plain and low in parts count, I'll probably order us a few extra tools or lights for each to help spruce them up if I permanently display them.

 

[Littleworlds]

The one in the top left corner, 6803, was amongst the first ones I got. Together with a sandwich snack bar (not space, obviously). Seeing that really strikes a chord. They are quite valuable lessons in how simple models can be - and still just work as models as they are

[sed6]

Glad everyone is enjoying! The last week has been fun! I've built 22 sets so far and have the instructions for three more.

Today I built the Space Probe Launcher, 6870, from '81, the Lunar Rocket Launcher, 6881, from '84 and the FX Star Patroller, 6931, from '85.

 

 

My list of parts for Bricklink is getting long! I have one more ship to go plus two small sets. It's getting harder and harder to find substitutions and I expect this last ship to be just a shell. 

[Feuer Zug]

That's a great collection. It must have been fun to rebuild them all. Enjoy.

[danth]

Wow, I am jealous of your childhood! You had almost everything! And your pieces look very well cared for. Thanks for sharing!

[badgerboy]

Wonderful stuff! Really enjoying seeing all these sets, even though I have one or two of them myself. Your collection is just fantastic and in much better condition!

[sed6]

Thanks everyone! It's been a really fun 10 days rebuilding all these. Three more tonight; Space Dart 1, 6824, from '84, the Surface Rover, 6804, from '84 and the Space Buggy, 886, from '79.

That's a total of 27 sets I've been able to save! I know there's parts in there for at least 2-3 more.

Here's my pile of remaining unique CS pieces. Given all the thrusters and wings and minifigs I have left maybe there's more than 3 sets left to build. I'm going to go to Bricklink and start searching for some sets that's share some of those parts. I'll keep you posted. I'd love to be able to have an even 30 sets left from my childhood!

 

[sed6]

Found some more! Duplicates of Surface Transport, 6823 and Space Patrol, 6803. A final count shows me at 33 sets total! Wow. I'm just blown away by that number!

Next project will be building a modular display case to display some of them. I plans to build 5 cases, each about 12x12x32 inches, enough to display 3 base plates in each with an inch of overhang on each side. I'll build a 5 sided glass box for each and turn it upside down to keep the dust out. Each one will have a drawer underneath to store instructions. Plus they can hang independently on the wall or stack on top of one another. I also plan to add LED's to each to light them. But more on that later!

Thanks for all the positive comments so far! I'm glad some others have enjoyed seeing these come back to life. I've had such a blast with these I'm going to move on to my classic city sets next!

Edited November 5, 2017 by sed6