My lego storage and organization

 Cleaning storage cabinets for lego organization 

 I liked the metal ones as the plastic ones can be blown over just walking by. I found a small flea market where they often have these old metal cabinets filled with hardware...

I have bought some that are so rusty that I cannot "save" them, but I try.  Heaven forbid my beautiful lego touch a rusty drawer.  Thats why I use drawer liner from dollar general even in the ones I clean because sometimes even with a clean appearance and washing, there can still be grease.

here's some of my attempts to rescue cabinets

Plastic and steel akro mills drawer cabinets 

A lot of cabinets have labels, I now use razor blades to get them off, goo gone sometimes helps

Here above are some old plastic and metal cabinets that I cleaned. But haven't put liners into...

Rescued steel akro mills containers

Every once in a while I could find several in 1 week. I had to empty the hardware (and spiders/dead beetles) out of the drawers in the garage.  I always have to be careful about sharp rusty metal tacks or razor blades!  Also there are tubes if chemicals and grease and rust that are insalvagable 

Portable fatmax containers (black)

This is one of the the better find, 2 small containers on top and 3 "fatmax" storage drawers..3 for a total of $26!  Easy to clean except for the plastic lids on the top of the small carriers

Different types of cabinets 

These are examples of great cabinets with labels...now I get them off easy but I haven't gotten back to these yet.  Soaking in Dawn and then a razor blade works perfect.  The labels from older label makes peel off usually without residue...like below

Below: These 3 cabinets were at the flea market and full of ho train parts

Below: 

There were 2 of the gray cabinets so full of hardware that they were shifted to the side.  Board on the back was used for support because I dont think I could lift them without the cabinets. falling apart.  The woman wanted $60 for each cabinet 

Overpriced and in poor shape behind the blue one

I always wanted a rotating tray as the first lego room pic I saw had 2 of them.  This solid lazy Susan was only $20. I've cleaned the trays 4 times but it has a white residue with a grainy feel so I just need to line it with liner, then I can sit and spin...Literally, it was going to be awesome for sitting and sorting legos, but the steel base and core make it too heavy to move plus there's no good place to grab it at the top

Rotation tray

Above: These were specimens that were in my car and I was too lazy to take into the garage.  It did produce good braking and turning or I'd have hardware all over...literally screwed.

The unpainted cabinets of steel just are hard to clean rust from as washing in water and drying by leaving out just makes more rust.

In the pic below you can see how scratched the drawers are from age

Below: These are cabinets and drawers I couldnt save.  I finally gave up and pitched after trying to clean twice.

Below is where I clean dry my cabinets...and get the racks and bolts that fall to the bottom

I try to turn over after 2 days to prevent pooling and then finish drying after 4 total days!

The final product looks pretty good I think! Quite a few hours of work..

Looks pretty nice to me, it feels good to see final results

My left corner at the entrance to my lego room

How I avoided getting "hosed"

 Every hose has its thorns

I think some tubing and hosing replacements are so hard to find or buy due to expense.  The first type of hosing I wanted was the classic space type as seen in this truck from the alpha 1 base from about 1979

Another example is from the set below

So I took a piece to a local O'Reilly auto part store.  I was afraid the 2 clerks would laugh at my lack of a true masculine car project but these guys were incredibly nice. I took a piece that the hose should fit and we eventually found black tubing the right size.  Needless to say I will definitely go back there; the only problem was a small amount of black residue and the small piece I bought made the car smell like a tire when I mistakenly left in a hot car!  But the size was perfect and will help create new little space vehicles!

I also bought gas trimmer fuel line tubing with a nice yellow tint that I had read will work!

This is the reference from bricklink

I have a few original hoses and they were kept in a cool damp environment which likely helped preserve them as I would think dry and heat storage would dry and crack the rubber material.

The second type of hose seems more common on the internet...the hydraulic hoses for technic models

The inner diameter appears to vary 1.5 to 2.5mm, some appear to be available for order in the UK.  Hope this helps others, I'm trying to get more info and may update the info in this post!

ADDITIONAL INFO FROM BRICKLINK

Giving my wheel opinion

 Lego has made some improvements to their wheel choices over the years.  Recently I referenced sets 383 and 115 and the hubcaps are so much fancier and more realistic in the 383 set (I don't know much about earlier wheels)

Koop

Above wheels vs set 115 wheels below

Although the wheels above were not developed, they were better than the huge wheels in this set...

The wheel below was never practical except for a train creation i saw on the internet...it does look perfect for a locomotive wheel..not much else in my opinion!

Another initial piece when I was little...

My skills of building my own creation came from placing 4 of these together on a 2x8 plate...I tried to fashion the car after my favorite book at the time...Go Dog Go!

Then lego made another leap forward in wheel history, TREAD

Then the next revolution in wheels...flat plates!

Then these came with more treads

Then the tread tires got bigger as below; I didn't know at the time that these bigger tread tire existed til ebay in 2004!

Then I thought the wheels below came and I never liked them, I thought they looked dumb (and still think so!)

Finally, this wheel came back for the mobile rocket transport...it had been in one of the older universal sets!

From that point on, 1984ish I lost track of all the different types of wheels!!!

All this writing has tired me out.

The sets that got away

 So many times there were sets that I had or wanted but realized financially I couldn't or shouldn't buy!  The top sets I can think of are below; believe me I am thrilled with what I have, but these sets were just so neat.  Pure greed on my part!!!

1) town hall

The town hall was just too

Expensive but it was sure neat!  Beautiful architecture 

2) The black creator car

I wanted this car but it was $70.  I went to a garage sale but took a wrong turn.  After getting my bearings, I parked and went up the long driveway and a kid was walking away with this for $5.  I truly daydreamed i knocked the box away from him(just kidding!!), ran and got into my car but I thought better of it. That kid had better have enjoyed it!  If I hadn't missed that one darn curve!

3) the lego apocalypseburg from the lego set...I love the outstretched green arm with the ladder...honestly even if I could have afforded it, the complexity would have been over my head

4) multiples of the star wars midi scale set on sale for $12

Every year at the end of the holidays, walmart tortures me by putting left over legos on clearance in the garden center for sale.  The smell of miracle grow fertilizer nearly overwhelms me due to no ventilation and the temperature is about 30 degrees, but I power on to find those legos between thousands of Christmas bulbs..  I didn't have the gull to buy these on 12-30-2008 (date?) at Walmart because I had just come off a great Christmas with legos, couldn't justify more at that time.  In retrospect there weren't many complex and diverse pieces.  I was so determined to get a deal the next year all I could find was 10x$1 for the set below so I have 10 pigs i have no idea what to do with

4) space cruiser

I didn't know that sets 918, 924  existed until I was older,  I knew there was the galaxy explorer but not the 2 smaller versions.  I would have been too young to buy!

5) lego chasses, both versions --too young!!!  Still would take 8860 in a minute!!

6) multiples of original lego millenium falcon. $75 clearance Walmart...no one wanted them.  I took 3/5 left

7) lego motor

As a kid in the 70s, I was going to build the ultimate car or train, but had to have the motor first!!  Loved seeing this in the catalog back then, not even remote control operation but that wire control was so technologically advanced as a kid

8) lego technic tipper and Volvo truck

Again even if I could purchase these. They would be too complex for me to build.  Loved the color schemes of these sets, especially the gray curved on the tipper truck!

9) at st

Only wanted for the gray pieces. But they were mostly plates...but I could have had 3 for 1/2 price.. I think $40

10) the detective office 

Who wouldn't love this set with a story line and hidden features.  And the cool little cookies.  The creation of a flush toilet, a pool table, a 2x1 letter tile and the first lego scissors...I blew it on this one, I could have bought this for $100 but the window decals were put on crooked...I was stupid!

11) the blue car...$12 * 8 sets available...I wanted them for the clear windshield but the other pieces weren't quite worth the cost.  Fortunately lego did make transparent yellow windshields for the lego movie 2.

12) lego Ferrari

I just didn't realize how neat this set was at the time until it was retired 

Don't know what i was thinking, although it never went on sale

All of these sets were awesome but so pricey...plus even if I had these i would still want more...I need to be thankful for the great sets I have been able to have!!! Pure greed on my part as I have been so blessed with what I have.