Where's that $%^& piece?

[RohanBeckett]

http://gizmodo.com/5514762/wheres-that-fcking-lego-piece

we've *all* thought that at least once....

(ps: profanity in the link)

RB

[-zenn]

It's so true. I should start sorting, but I'm a lazy bum...

[ProducePrincess]

This has happened to me countless times.

Once i sorted through all my lego bins searching for a simple black nozzle brick that you see everywhere .I searched for 3 hours trying to find it and once i found it and built the mech i was working on i found tons of the piece everywhere i looked

[tedbeard]

I especially appreciated the comment about blaming others loudly then finding the piece in the next minute for an extreme embarrassment situation.

[Joey Lock]

This happened to me this morning infact!

I was modding my Falconi "T.U.R.T.L.E" and I found some Blackbricks like the jumper tile and stuff. I chucked them in my black box. A few minutes later I decided to change the gunners stance, so I needed the jumper plate, And one of the problems with Black is...Its black. So damn annoying when its dark and your scanning through a box.

[AFOL SF]

I just tell myself that, "it's all in a day's work" when sorting/looking for a specific part(s)... to eliminate frustration.

[Erdbeereis]

That's why I sort my bricks.

Before I sorted them though, I often had the same problem.

[LuxorV]

Nice one, and all too real even when you have your collection 95% sorted out!

Later, I tried to do the same with girls with identical results.

Did he really put his girl(s) in a blue basket?!?

LuxorV

[Dunjohn]

I have the same problem, but with entire categories of pieces rather than single parts. I'm quite obsessive about breaking my collection down into sorted bags and boxes, but I often forget what I've classed something as. Is it a car part? A hull part? Spaceship part? Maybe it's in Random City? Oh wait, it had a pin... so is it in Joints or Technic?

[General Redwater]

This happend to me to many times! That is why I started sorting, and it only happens to me rarely now.

[yellost]

That happens to me every time too. But I've noticed that when I'm looking for a piece, while I never found that one, I always find those I'm not necessarily looking for and, more importantly, those I was looking for before but gave up trying to find.

Now I have the ultimate solution : I'm always looking one piece ahead of the one I need And tadaa, I find the one I needed

(yeah, talk about twisted, but hey, Terminator fan, here ...)

[FilmGirl27]

Lol, always happening to me. I really can't be bothered to sort out my pieces better, so that's the price of laziness.

[prateek]

The only flaw in this wonderful hobby of ours...

[Fugazi]

I have my pieces sorted fairly well, but now it's happening with LDD... can't find that stupid car door!

[dr_spock]

I tell myself that searching is half the fun of building.

[Forresto]

I think me and my friend first stated cursing because of this same problem

Not that I curse very often though

[not-in-use-anymore]

I tell myself that searching is half the fun of building.

And the other half is building, and the other half is designing, and the other half is... Wait, I lost count . I actually keep black parts mixed in with white so that it doesn't become too hard to see.

[prateek]

I tell myself that searching is half the fun of building.

Not if you spend 2 hours looking for one piece.

[dr_spock]

And the other half is building, and the other half is designing, and the other half is... Wait, I lost count . I actually keep black parts mixed in with white so that it doesn't become too hard to see.

I design on the fly as I build--total opposite of my engineering training.

Not if you spend 2 hours looking for one piece.

Patience. It's like fishing, waiting for the big one to bite.

[General Armendariz]

This happens to me ALL the time. The day before I saw tons of the pieces I need but the next day when I need it...grrr.

Thats why I started sorting

[Brick & Mortimer]

When we were rebuilding Black Seas Barracuda, we spent hours trying to find one red flag to complete the gunports...

Eventually, we gave it a rest

...

Patience. It's like fishing, waiting for the big one to bite.

That's why I don't like fishing either

[vexorian]

That's why I sort my bricks.

Before I sorted them though, I often had the same problem.

Nothing like not being able to find a piece even after you spent 2 days sorting only to find out you made a mistake while sorting :)

[fred67]

I have the same problem, but with entire categories of pieces rather than single parts. I'm quite obsessive about breaking my collection down into sorted bags and boxes, but I often forget what I've classed something as. Is it a car part? A hull part? Spaceship part? Maybe it's in Random City? Oh wait, it had a pin... so is it in Joints or Technic?

Me too! When I finally started sorting my collection into various bins, the problems became what to do with pieces that you only have a couple of; try as I might, no matter how organized I try to get, I still have the "where is that $@$ing piece?" moment.

I'll have a tray of plates, and still not be able to find that 2x8 gray one... but I don't have enough plates to start separating them out. My solution is to connect like parts together in groups of 5 or 10. Then when I need a handful of a certain plate, it's easier to find the "cluster" than the individual pieces, and once I find it, I have 10 of them to work with (oh... offset plates when putting them together to make it easy to take apart!).

Moreover, when I finally do build, I have this tray, that tray, this bin, that bin.... I need more room.

Edited April 14, 2010 by fred67

[Calanon]

Aahh... I hate that feeling. Once I'd lost one of my Clone Commander helmets, my only one, the one that came with the old CTT, and I searched in literally every single box I had and I searched for weeks to find it... I gave up and ordered one on eBay.

A few months later, I was sorting out my AquaNaut sets to put them on my shelf, and in one of the Shark submarines, I heard a rattling noise. I opened it, and the helmet was in there.

[allanp]

This is so true, I have sorted everythiing now and I honestly can't recommend it enough. To find any part I want, even if I only have one among my +60,000 pieces takes NO time. My mocs are also not multicoloured anymore and it has help me raise the standard of my MOCs. It may be expensive and very time consuming to sort all your pieces but it is very worth it. It took me a LONG time to sort my parts but i've easily made that time up by not having to search for pieces anymore. So organise yourself people, sort ya pieces!

Edited April 14, 2010 by allanp