Matching a set to a partial section

[Moolkye]

I often buy lego in bulk from yard sales / Garage Sales / Craigslist/ etc... and sometimes I wonder what sets were complete in the bulk lot. I will sometimes find partial sections of sets that were once complete. And I thought, well I could take certain special pieces that I know a ton were not made in every color, and try to match it up against what sets it may be listed on Peeron.com. But that is sometimes very tedious.

So I thought it would be cool, if'n I wasn't the only one to have this problem, to start a thread maybe where we could post a picture of the incomplete section, and other users could help us in finding the set it went to. In hopes of getting the instructions from Lego.com and completing the set.

Just a thought

[Transformers2]

Cool idea you got. I sometimes get lego pieces in bulk and i have to agree with you on separating sets in them is tedious.

[Senator]

As much as I want the death star, i'll have to hold on as after reading reviews, it seems to contain NO numbered bags for a $500 set. They have numered bags for sets with around 300 pieces and not a almost 4000 piece set? I hate sorting pieces and never really liked buying bulk lego but i'll be glad to help out.

[hatcher]

The UCS Falcon didn't have numbered bags either. Explain that one.

[vynsane]

HA... oh, man, you guys are soft! In my day we didn't have numbered bags, we had to pile all the pieces together and hunt! And we LIKED IT THAT WAY! ;) I jest, but actually, I do like it that way. I still pile stuff up and hunt, even with the numbered bags. It's the way I grew up, and it's as integral to the LEGO experience to me as minifigs and flip-top window boxes with individually sectioned insert trays... oh, wait... they don't do that anymore, either.

[vynsane]

I was editing that post to add this, but got distracted and got locked out.

That said, I don't know if I would have the patience to go through a big bulk lot, piecing together sets. I guess the best way to go about it is to sort out pieces by shape and color, look for any indicative pieces and then match them to sets.

[legogeek]

Have fun sorting those pieces out. :D

[Senator]

The UCS Falcon didn't have numbered bags either. Explain that one.

I prefer time to build lego rather than spend 3-4 hours sorting the death star pieces. I also don't have that big of a table to sort out that many pieces. Not to mention, sometimes it is a pain to hunt for that one special piece. It can take from 5 seconds to 15 minutes and you still can't find the piece to finish up that particular section.