Identifying the color

Malnaborg

I am trying to add new parts to my shop, and by that finding the right color to add.
But the more i try to look, the more confused i get.

I have tried to search on google for information, like the numbers under the bricks. But the sites i am looking on does not resemble what i have. For instance i am trying to identify a shade of blue - a 2x4 with the number 12-103
And then i tried to look at 2 bricks of the same color, but then they had different numbers, so i can not even go by that.
So now i am just lost, and wanted to know how others identify bricks :-)

tons_of_bricks

Lego pieces do not have color identification on them. The numbers you see are most likely the mold numbers, and molds can be used for any color. You just have to learn the colors over time. Best way is to find a piece that only comes in a certain color or obtain a set with a lot of color variety and use the set inventory on here as a guide to distinguish the colors.

Malnaborg

Thanks. Did not think about mold numbers.

Most importantly I just want to list my bricks correctly if people want a specific color. And the shades of blue is really hard to distinguish. Or just in general be 100 procent sure about it.

Calibrick

Most of us over time have built little reminders for the tougher colors we can't ID on site, as there's blue, medium blue, transparent dark blue, transparent medium blue, transparent light blue, medium azure, dark azure, etc. If you have a reasonably color accurate camera, you could post a pic here and we could take a stab at IDing?

Calibrick

Some people have 1x1 plates that are marked with the color, etc., for matching over time. I for one have issues with Light Gray and Medium Stone Gray as some of those MSG pours have a brown tone to them, sigh.

P6tu

Getting the right colour of a brick is a quite big hazzle, but WLWYB has a quite awesome chart with it's shortcomings (I am no way related to them nor sponsoring or advertising anything - just informing). Link to that chart: https://wlwyb.com/shop/periodic-table-of-lego-colors/ . It Seems to be quite useful and I, for example, have made myself something similar from simple one-by-one studs and other small bricks that I had.

Vosblokjes

Are (mostly) 2x4 tiles also allowed?

Begin with colors you can find in (original) sets you have.
And yes you can post pictures, but do add some known color bricks to it so they can be compared.
Not only a color accurate camera, but an accurate monitor as well is handy
Looking at pictures on the internet can be tricky.

Malnaborg

i have tried to take some photos.
As a reference i have the green plate, and a blue
But those 3 blue plates is about lost to me.

Oh and if anything, i am mostly sorting "friends" themed lego at the moment, so the color scale on those sets is wild in my view. So many colors and that might be why i am more confused when i have them all in one big blend.

Vosblokjes

Those are a bit shady
The green 4*4 rounded I can see, but for me the 1*1 tile is the blue one (not a plate).
From there, me guessing a bit, the 2*4 tile is dark turquoise, 2-3 plate is medium blue, left 2*4 plate is dark azure and the right are medium azure.
And maybe the 1*4 brick is medium azure as well.
But I could be totally wrong.

Maybe with this you can look in the sets you have if there any of those colors in there to compare.

Jay37

Here's my color chart . Doesn't have all the colors by any means, but quite a few of the main ones. Not named but follow Brick Owl's naming in alphabetical order (Aqua, Black, Blue, etc), and only photographed on my phone without proper lighting or white balance, but might help.

P6tu

@BasKrie , quite a neat setup that you have there for color mapping !

Vosblokjes

Thank you, we are very happy with it ourselves.

Lauri71

I've been using the parts list from the back of the instruction manuals as much as I can. My inventory isn't very large, so in most cases I know what set my pieces came from. I google "lego part 300223" (as an example). I also just started recording the set name in the public information section of my inventory list.

Neiljones

@BasKrie love the way you have done your colour chart. Mine are in plastic bags with the colour written on them so I have to search through the bag to find the right colour. hope you don’t mind, but I am going to copy the way you have done your colour chart.

Hoddie

@BasKrie : "Thank you, we are very happy with it ourselves."

Non-Lego baseplate! Heathen!!! very nice, I especially like the Scala plates being included.

Vosblokjes

@Neiljones no problem, I'm sure I have copied it from someone else myself Or seen something like it. And yes much easier than baggies with colors in it. We had that ourselves for the pink colors.

@Hoddie I can assure you, they are genuine Lego, but looking at the images I can see why you say it, no logo visibel on the studs.

Scala plates? I don't even have those
But with that note, please let @Jay37 know what you think of it
Oh and looking at his picture, he may be your Heathen

Hoddie

@BasKrie @Jay37 aye I tagged the wrong person

Vosblokjes

It can happen

Jay37

@Hoddie yes, it's me that's the heathen, not @BasKrie In my defense I believe that when I started compiling the chart I knew that certain plates in certain colors were going to be quite hard to come by (light flesh and trans purple for example), and potentially expensive. Also, I have a vague recollection that 32x32 white baseplates were also rare at the time so I made the decision to go down the 'heathen' route for the baseplate to conserve funds.

Glad you appreciate the Scala plates too. At some point I'll get around to properly lighting and photographing it and reupload. Hopefully some of the color differences will then be a bit easier to determine.