What do you do with damaged bricks?

[ziljin]

And I guess bricks that you tried cleaning but are still dirty.

I could never throw/sell any lego. I have older bricks that were damaged during childhood. I sitll have them, but don't see myself using them anytime soon. I did take one piece and shave off excess plastic sticking out. That way if I decide to use it again, it will not get stuck. Of course I can't do anything about the holes in them.

Has anyone made use of damaged/super dirty pieces in creations? Like maybe to represent damage from weather/battle/etc. Dirty bricks can represent weathering lol.

I just broke my first piece since restarting my lego collection a few weeks ago. I dropped a troll minifig and a small piece of the left hand chipped off. It's barely noticable, but still noticable. Bottom line, it doesn't matter since I intend on buying more troll sets. I should really stop dropping pieces. Some pieces(more like a lot) are already scratched up due to my clumsiness. Plus its so hot, so some sweat/skin oil smudges can be found on some pieces as well.

[dabulls03]

I too have a hard time getting rid of LEGO pieces even if they are in horrible condition

In fact, when I was helping my parents clean out their car, I found a bunch of old lego bricks covered in crud and melted crayon.

I have cleaned some of them off, but it takes a really long time, and some of the melted crayon is impossible to get off.

As for what I plan on doing with the pieces, I think I will try to rebuild the sets that the pieces go to. (I think they are from a StarWars mini AT-AT and a mini imperial shuttle)

Usually i try to keep my damage/dirty bricks seperate from my clean ones.

[ziljin]

I am missing too many pieces to rebuild any of my childhood sets. Plus I can't even identify what sets they belong to.

Hopefully this time around, I will take much better care of my Lego pieces.

[dabulls03]

I am missing too many pieces to rebuild any of my childhood sets. Plus I can't even identify what sets they belong to.

Hopefully this time around, I will take much better care of my Lego pieces.

Well lucky for me there weren't that many pieces so it was easy to identify what sets they went to.

I too have just starting collecting LEGO again this year, and I plan on taking much better care of my new collection!

[JCC1004]

I can't find myself to throw a broken piece away. It might be useful!(packrat just like mother) I have a bag of them somewhere.

[posades]

If they are damaged beyond repair I just go ahead and chunk it, but usually if it's miscolored or other small deformities I'll throw them in a bag with all the other misfits.

[legotrainfan]

I throw them away... though it always costs me some effort to really do that. It also depends on the piece itself and how damaged it is. Sometimes I keep damaged pieces.

Edited August 22, 2009 by legotrainfan

[gondortoast]

i cry

them chuck em

[Shadows]

Pieces with print damage (but otherwise perfect surfaces) are stripped of their print (Brasso'd) if they are potentially useful or interesting. It's a good way to put together an assortment of blank torsos, and sometimes it provides you with a piece that wouldn't exist otherwise, like blank brown shields.

Damaged chrome can be removed by soaking the part in bleach and simply rubbing it off. You'd be surprised what colours you can find under chrome.

If the part itself is damaged and of no possible use, I toss it.

I don't really have dirty parts, but sun damaged/discoloured bricks end up in a single container until I decide what to do with them. I'm not fond of getting rid of anything with potential use left in it.

[brickbitz]

As I buy quite a lot of second hand lots, any bricks not up to standard are thrown in a large scraps box.

It comes in useful for keeping visiting kids quiet, who are overwhelmed by my collection and want to play with some LEGO.

None of it ever gets used by me personally.

[JCC1004]

As I buy quite a lot of second hand lots, any bricks not up to standard are thrown in a large scraps box.

It comes in useful for keeping visiting kids quiet, who are overwhelmed by my collection and want to play with some LEGO.

None of it ever gets used by me personally.

You do go troght it for useful parts and off brand right? But that is a very good idea. My Lego is in a media room where only older kids are aloowed because two sets are not up on a top shelf.

[Modulex Guy]

As I buy quite a lot of second hand lots, any bricks not up to standard are thrown in a large scraps box.

It comes in useful for keeping visiting kids quiet, who are overwhelmed by my collection and want to play with some LEGO.

None of it ever gets used by me personally.

I do pretty much the same thing, when I buy used lots, the off brands and damaged/ cracked/broken/drawn on bricks get put in a "junk bin"

I cant see myself throwing them away.

[Peppermint_M]

Broken parts get thrown out depending on damage:rarety ratio.

Bad minifig parts are kept for modification.

I have a box full of non-Lego construction toys I call the Monkey Box. It keeps my friend off of my collection and is ready for small children who demand to play Lego.

[Mirandir]

I did a sort a whileback where all, or so I thought, broken and miscolored bricks were sorted out. But as I build I've found that there are plenty of 'em left. So I guess I wasn't as harsh as I thought I was.

All the bricks I sorted out I gave to the kids.

[ziljin]

Bad minifig parts are kept for modification.

Do you have any pics of example modifications?

[Peppermint_M]

Nothing came out right so far.

I have tried a few modifications but I need to find the best kind of clay (plastic, paper, Sculpey, or just careful work with PVA glue...) I found my first few tries crumbled off the ABS.

I did use the old heads for holding hair when I paint it, and for keeping armour when I am sanding it smaller.

[ziljin]

I just got my first defective piece. Is it wrong if I don't fill out that replacement form? I just feel too lazy to go through the hassle just for one brick. The defect is minor and doesn't seem to prevent it from being used. Well I bought 2 drawbridge defences, so I will wait until I build both of them before checking out the brick replacement thing.

Great set btw. I might pick up more later on since its only 40usd and has nice grey bricks for castle building, and has skeleton minifigs. Although I am sure it would be cheaper if I bought them via bricklink, I want to support TLC directly. I guess I should consider the online PAB service as well. I wish there were lego stores in NYC.

Edited August 23, 2009 by lego40k

[Big Cam]

I think I've thrown away about 3 pieces in my life, and they were eaither regular super common bricks or smoething I had many of, or it was just completely destroyed.

[muffinman42]

i keep my broken bricks, they might be usefull, infact ive used broken bricks in models before.

[Karto]

I drop damaged pieces in a standard Curver Unibox. I'm now at the fourth box, so I guess I must have around 30kg of trash. I'm more into set collecting, so I've no use for heavily used parts. I'll probably get rid of them when the fourth box will be filled.

[YG-49]

Pieces with print damage (but otherwise perfect surfaces) are stripped of their print (Brasso'd) if they are potentially useful or interesting. It's a good way to put together an assortment of blank torsos, and sometimes it provides you with a piece that wouldn't exist otherwise, like blank brown shields.

Damaged chrome can be removed by soaking the part in bleach and simply rubbing it off. You'd be surprised what colours you can find under chrome.

If the part itself is damaged and of no possible use, I toss it.

I don't really have dirty parts, but sun damaged/discoloured bricks end up in a single container until I decide what to do with them. I'm not fond of getting rid of anything with potential use left in it.

I've heard sometimes under chrome is trans-clear. Could you tell me which ones?

[Siegfried]

I use my broken pieces as fillers for things like train hoppers. I do the same thing with the sprues. I throw very little LEGO out!

[Shadows]

I've heard sometimes under chrome is trans-clear. Could you tell me which ones?

So far it's only been 71137a Vehicle, Exhaust Pipe.

The longer pipes (left and right) have ended up red and yellow.

[ILikePi]

I throw very little LEGO out!

Me too. I even keep the polybags from sets!

I just keep any damaged pieces that I have. I'll probably use them for things like fillers (as Siegfried said) in the future.

[tedbeard]

I, and most members of our LUG, save them and give them to one member who builds "shantytown" MOCs. We are currently sorting through a gigantic pile of LEGO a bunch of us purchased together and every time someone finds a broken piece they hold it up and loudly say "Joseph!" and proceed to throw it into his bucket.