EBay is a good place to look for sold-by-weight Lego collections - though those can be bid up pretty high if they don't seem to be full of useless POOP and knockoff "compatible" bricks. You can get better value if you look for assembled sets with no instructions and a few pieces missing, which also turn up regularly on eBay. Then hit BrickLink to fill specific gaps, depending on what it is you want to build.

Your previous missive on the excavator led me to my first Lego purchase in decades, down to the local K-mart for the last kit. For my kids, of course... who are one and three. Never too early to start a Lego collection, right? Right?

As my parents are staunchly holding tight to the cubic metre of technical Lego acquired by my brothers and I over the course of our childhoods, I'm (I mean, my kids) are starting from scratch.

Any tips for (not-so-) young players on the best way to start a Lego collection? Mum is on board with the whole idea, as she too was a budding engineer due to exposure to brightly coloured studded bricks.

The kids (ahem) are not so keen on Bionicle etcetera; for preschoolers they are remarkably old school. Technical Lego, Town, some Space, and derivatives of same seem to spark their interest. However they are open to suggestions. Links to suggestions, even...

Cheers.