The Lego MOC, and inventories

For those not involved with Lego, I present a cautionary tale of despair and hope. I've taken this week as vacation (Mon, Oct 10 through Fri, Oct 14). I had a few ideas for some things I might like to do, but for very good reasons most of them did not happen.

The one thing I did get working on, though, was my Lego Ferris Wheel (its a MOC, pronounced "mock"; MOC is the acronym for "My Own Creation") .

Let me say that a Ferris Wheel is not a Lego project to be undertaken lightly. For starters, Lego and circles are not natural pairs. Still, as in real life, a Ferris wheel can (and is) made out of things which are not naturally round.

For the record, this is my second Lego Ferris Wheel. I can't claim with any certainty that my first one predated any "official" Lego sets, but that first one was a very large, motorized and chain-driven model. Fairly conventional, actually.

I want my new wheel to be a bit more visionary, cutting edge- but to still be a traditional Ferris Wheel, adding a bit of fun that might be doable in real life: contrarotating sets of wheels. I'm still working this out, and believe or not, the biggest challenge out of the gate is designing the hub for the wheels.

These photos show a very rough mockup of what my original idea was. My biggest concern when I first conceived the idea was that I would not have enough parts for the hub(s). And herein lies the data part of my problem.

I believe I have often mentioned that I was working on a Lego inventory. While this is true, a project of this scope requires a somewhat more complete inventory than I have ever had. Fortunately for me, in lieu of a complete inventory, I have some pretty nicely organized parts drawers. Parts drawers?

Yup. Most of my Lego collection is currently housed in one of two types of plastic cabinets. There are nine small ones, which are highly organized (generally one or two parts per drawer), and also nine large ones. The large ones tend to be much less organized, with the exception of the drawers which house basic pieces, which end up in quart or gallon-sized Ziploc© freezer bags.

That's all for now. Hopefully next time I will have more Ferris Wheel progress to report.

As always, I am hochspeyer, blogging data analysis and management so you don't have to.