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Subject: 
Re: off-color red bricks
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.color
Date: 
Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:13:07 GMT
Viewed: 
5799 times
  
In lugnet.color, Dave McCooey wrote:
In lugnet.color, Gereon Stein wrote:
In lugnet.color, Dave McCooey wrote:
Was this other plastic type used in the 60s or earlier?  These red bricks in our
collection are glossy and have an orange-ish tint, which fits the description
for CA (at least based on what I've read here on LUGNET), but none of them are
warped, even in the slightest.  We have some white bricks that are warped, so
they are probably CA.  Is it possible that red CA bricks don't warp like other
CA bricks?

I think there are two issues here:

The original CA bricks (made until 1963) have a tendency to warp, shrink or
become similarly unusable. The extent of warping or shrinking varies, depending
on how the bricks were treated and stored over the years. Few if any should
still be easily interlockable with modern bricks.

In some rare cases (I only have a couple of blue slope bricks) you find bricks
with the old (somewhat "hand written") LEGO imprint on the studs but apparently
made from ABS already.

What the other post referenced as a "different plastic" appears to relate to
e.g. the 1*1 bricks with handle that were used in a variety of 1990s and later
train sets. I also know of some of the 1*1 plates with clip and headlight bricks
from that period. They actually appear to be made from a different, slightly
softer material. Also, their colors usually slightly vary from the standard
color scheme. This is definitely not the same issue as was with the CA bricks.

Our off-color red bricks are from the 60s, and the plastic they are made from
seems to be at least as hard as ABS, so they aren't made from this third, softer
plastic.  They are most likely CA, but the fact that none of them are warped is
suspect.  They all interlock well with ABS bricks.  It's just that they don't
"grip" very well.

Speaking of bricks with the old LEGO imprint on the studs, we have lots of them.
They appear to be ABS, as you mentioned.  These are probably mid-60s bricks.

Dave

These off color bricks are from the mid to late 70s and maybe into the very
early 80s.  The are neither kind of plastic that the Samsonite and early sets
were made from, a totally different soft plastic and they grip the same as the
newer bricks.  Again, I have only noted this on the 1x1 with clips or headlights
and the airtanks and the 1x2 plates with ladder.  I also noticed an off color
gray that I forgot to mention as well as the yellow and the red at the same
times.  I think, and it is a thought, maybe they tried out sourcing to see what
would happen, or they got an inferior plastic and went with it anyway.  These
bricks grip quite well, just slightly off color and of a different plastic.
John P



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: off-color red bricks
 
(...) Our off-color red bricks are from the 60s, and the plastic they are made from seems to be at least as hard as ABS, so they aren't made from this third, softer plastic. They are most likely CA, but the fact that none of them are warped is (...) (17 years ago, 20-Dec-07, to lugnet.color)

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