Ok, so recently I decided to splash out and purchase Lego Vikings sets 7018 - Viking Ship Challenges the Midgard Serpent and 7019 - Viking Fort against the Fafnir Dragon. I got a decent deal at around £100 for both sets delivered.

When they arrived however, nearly all of the pieces were caked in dust. Not just light, blow away dust, but solidified 'years in the attic' type dust, so I decided to clean them.

What is the best way to clean hundreds of individual Lego parts? Put them in the bath with soapy water? Get a wet toothbrush to each piece? No. Those methods would be too sensible - I shoved them in the washing machine in some laundry bags!

It's important to note that I was very distracted at the time by my Football (see Soccer for any Americans reading) team playing their biggest rivals in a local derby.

So they came out of the wash nice and clean, but covered in tiny scratches! It wasn't the end of the world though because I'm not ever planning on selling these sets, and they were still decent enough to display.

Now comes the truly stupid part (remember my distraction). The pieces by now are soaking wet right? So what to do? Dry them by hand? Nah that'd take forever and I want to build the sets. Leave them under a fan? Nah I don't have a fan and that'd take hours.

I PUT THEM INTO THE BLOODY DRYER!!!

Yes, you read that correctly. £100 worth of beautiful Lego sets into a dryer. Now, to my slight defence, I did set the dryer to a Cold setting with no spin, but my cheapo dryer didn't want to listen to that and put the heat on anyway.

So do you want to know what happens when you heat Lego? Well I can confirm that at the heat I used, the larger plates melt first, and smaller plates without internal support just kind of... warp.

I'd say that about 25% of the 2 sets were destroyed - but they were *clean* dammit!

So, £50 or so of Bricklink orders later and the remaining pieces should be with me soon.

Lesson learned. I type this for solidarity and to make @Marghal laugh.

Since then I have completed my Vikings collection with all sets except the Chess sets which is ridiculously expensive.

I hope to set-up a nice display at some point.

Thanks for sharing! I fully understand you, waiting for bricks to dry is frustrating!  I wonder what's the max temperature Lego bricks can handle? I think, I melted som studs on a base plate with very hot water once.

Off-topic: What is your favorite soccer team?

If you make a display, please post some photos!

You have the Donkeys deepest sympathy!

If needed I could offer You the serpent as I do not need the parts.

 

P.S. as the Donkey is from Berlin his favourite team is Union, named „the steely“

Edited February 26, 20196 yr by derEselausErgste

18 minutes ago, Marghal said:

Off-topic: What is your favorite soccer team?

If you make a display, please post some photos!

West Bromwich Albion, also known as the Baggies  They were playing local rivals Aston Villa and we won 2-0, so I was heavily distracted and the win did kind of balance out the sadness from the Lego disaster.

And I'll certainly post pictures when I can.

Just now, derEselausErgste said:

You have the Donkeys deepest sympathy!

If needed I could offer You the serpent as I do not need the parts.

Thank you! Surprisingly, the serpent held up quite well so I don't need to replace it, but thank you very much for your kind offer. Very generous.

Since then I did score the Armada Flagship (6280) for about £36, which I was very happy with, so maybe it all balances out in the end.

Edited February 26, 20196 yr by leafan

Just now, leafan said:

Thank you! Surprisingly, the serpent held up quite well so I don't need to replace it, but thank you very much for your kind offer. Very generous.

You are welcome  just to mention, the Donkey loves the midlands 

Just now, derEselausErgste said:

You are welcome  just to mention, the Donkey loves the midlands 

Bostin'

25 minutes ago, leafan said:

Bostin'

Had to google this as it‘s not the kind of English German kids get teached at school  

4 hours ago, derEselausErgste said:

Had to google this as it‘s not the kind of English German kids get teached at school  

It's also not the sort of thing English kids get taught at school (at least outside of the Black Country).

 

When washing LEGO, allow at least 5 days air drying time in the UK. In summer! A day in a washing up bowl of water and a bit of washing up liquid normally helps to shift thick dust/grease with minimal agitation.

5 hours ago, derEselausErgste said:

Had to google this as it‘s not the kind of English German kids get teached at school  

Yeah sorry but at least you learnt a new phrase to throw your friends with haha.

52 minutes ago, MAB said:

It's also not the sort of thing English kids get taught at school (at least outside of the Black Country).

Yam right yow arrr

53 minutes ago, MAB said:

When washing LEGO, allow at least 5 days air drying time in the UK. In summer! A day in a washing up bowl of water and a bit of washing up liquid normally helps to shift thick dust/grease with minimal agitation.

That makes sense doesn't it. I know I was stupid.

15 minutes ago, leafan said:

Yeah sorry but at least you learnt a new phrase to throw your friends with haha.

Hello. I hope you got your set all cleaned up. I have a small request. I am working on a custom version of set 7018 and have not found a cheap copy of the sail anywhere. but i was thinking of trying to make my own custom version. but i cant find a good scan of the sail to create my own. Is their any chance you can post a flat scan of the original you have. (with dimension information would help)

thanks for any help you can provide.

 

Glen