Subject:
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Re: The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Fri, 10 Sep 1999 18:33:48 GMT
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Viewed:
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2671 times
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Hmmm - very nice history. Thanks, Gary. That was very
interesting.
On point though - I think that bricks in colours other than blue,
red and black appeared earlier than the 1980s. I recently bought
a 386 Red Cross Helicopter,
which I believe dates from 1976 and contains a couple of white
roof bricks in both medium and shallow slopes. (It also has a couple
of white medium slope inner corner roof bricks).
It also might be worth mentioning that medium slope
roof bricks in transparent were in quite common use by the early 1970s
as vehicle windscreens.
Were trains the first sets that contained black roof
bricks? I'm sure I recall in the mid 70s wanting black
ones but being frustrated because they only had them in trains
(which I generally couldn't afford!)
Simon
http://www.SimonRobinson.com
In lugnet.general, Gary R. Istok writes:
> Today's topic is Regular LEGO Sloped Bricks from 1958-1972.
>
> LEGO sloped bricks today are available in many different angled slopes.
> The earliest of these (and by far the most common today) are the regular
> 45 degree slopes. These came out in the late 1950's, and were followed
> by the low sloped and extreme sloped bricks in the early to mid 1970's,
> as well as other degreed slopes in the 1980's and 1990's.
>
> Regular sloped bricks (45 degree) first came out at the same time as the
> LEGO "tubes" on the underside of normal LEGO bricks in 1958. There was
> no point in having them available earlier because without the tubes on
> the bottom to hold the different layers of slopes together, a sloped
> brick just wouldn't be very stable in a roof.
>
> The very first color available was red (1958), which is still in current
> production today (41 years later) in service packs. This was followed
> in 1960 with blue sloped bricks. Black was the next color available in
> the 1970's, and other followed in the 1980's and 1990's, but never with
> the wide assortment that red, blue and black enjoyed earlier.
>
> The first red and blue sloped bricks came out in service (supplemental
> parts) packs. Just like the small plates (when they came out in 1963),
> the early sloped brick production was primarily for the supplemental
> parts packs. Few other sets even had any of these included (one
> exception was the early Town Plan (725/810)).
>
> From 1958-65 there were 4 different supplemental parts packs (for each
> color - red or blue), sets # 280, 281, 282, 283. Each set had specific
> sloped bricks. Here is a breakdown.
>
> #280 - Contained 14 sloped bricks of 2 types - 2x4 sloped bricks, and
> 2x4 apex bricks.
>
> #281 - Contained 21 sloped bricks of 4 types - 2x1 sloped bricks, 2x3
> sloped bricks, 2x1 apex bricks and 2x3 apex bricks.
>
> #282 - Contained 22 sloped bricks of 2 types - 2x2 sloped bricks, and
> 2x2 apex bricks.
>
> #283 - Contained 20 sloped bricks of 5 types - 2x2 outside corner sloped
> bricks, 2x2 inside corner sloped bricks, 2x1 (half pyramid) tri-slope
> apex bricks, 2x2 roof connector apex bricks, and the 2x2 ("L")
> perpendicular apex brick. (Note: the piece breakdown in this set was:
> (10) 2x2 outside corner pieces, (5) 2x2 inside corner pieces, (3)
> tri-slope pieces, (1) roof connector piece, (1) perpendicular apex
> piece.)
>
> In 1966, the 4 Supplemental Parts Packs were consolidated into 2 packs.
> #280 and #282 were consolidated into pack #480 (with 23 pieces). #281
> and #283 were consolidated into #481 (with 34 pieces). In 1969, these
> numbers were changed. #480 became #980, and #481 became #981. But the
> piece counts did not change at this time.
> In 1973 #980 and #981 were replaced by one pack #934 (with 58 pieces),
> and then only in red. Also in 1973, new pack #935 came out with low
> sloped bricks in red only. These two packs have been around (in one
> form or another) ever since.
>
> From 1958 until circa 1963, all sloped bricks were made of Cellulose
> Acetate. These are much easier to spot in red than in blue. The red
> bricks have that "orange" hue that makes red the easiest color to spot
> in Cellulose Acetate. The blue is a lighter shade, but not as easy to
> differentiate as the red. The Cellulose Acetate sloped bricks are
> notorious because they really show off the warping that is common to
> most Cellulose Acetate bricks.
>
> Of the 13 different types of regular sloped bricks that came out in the
> late 50's, only 2 major changes have taken place. One is the
> elimination of the "L" perpendicular apex brick in the late 1960's (you
> can use the tri-slope, the connector, and regular apex bricks (all three
> together) to do what the perpendicular brick did). This brick has
> surprised many people who buy old used LEGO on the secondary market, and
> wonder where the heck this unusual sloped brick came from!
>
> The other change has been to the connector brick, that one that looks
> like someone took a bite out of it. Originally this brick had a tube on
> the bottom with a part of it (the connector) missing. Also, it had a
> very sharp pointed end. Since the 1960's, this piece has been
> transformed slightly by the removal of the tube underneath, and replaced
> with a "ridge" that makes it look like a 2x1 apex brick plus the pointed
> connector. The other change to this piece is a safety issue. The
> original connector pieces, as I already stated, had a very sharp point.
> Starting in the mid-1960's, TLG started grinding down this point to a
> duller point. Over the years since then, I've noticed that this point
> has always had some manual grinding done to remove its' sharpness.
> Check out your examples of this piece for traces of the grinding. The
> two changes to this piece basically aren't noticed unless you really
> look for them. It hasn't affected them cosmetically.
>
> The blue sloped service packs were discontinued in 1973, the same year
> that the red low sloped bricks were introduced in a service pack. Since
> 1973, the only set with a major blue sloped brick selection has been
> Basic Set 733, which came out in 1980.
>
> Then in 1998 the regular sloped bricks came out in a Black Sloped Bricks
> Service Pack, but that is for part 2 of this thread.
>
> As always, if there is something that I've said that is in error, please
> let me know.
>
> Gary Istok
>
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
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| Yes there were a lot of different colors available in the 1970's sets that I hadn't gotten around to yet. I kind of wanted to stay with the story up to 1972, but I got side tracked on the black slopes. Gary Istok (...) (25 years ago, 10-Sep-99, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
|
| Today's topic is Regular LEGO Sloped Bricks from 1958-1972. LEGO sloped bricks today are available in many different angled slopes. The earliest of these (and by far the most common today) are the regular 45 degree slopes. These came out in the late (...) (25 years ago, 10-Sep-99, to lugnet.general)
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