Subject:
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Set #148: Scales in Transition
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Tue, 9 May 2000 21:30:39 GMT
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Set #148: Scales in Transition
This message is about Lego set #148,
http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=148
This set from 1975 is interesting because it has
a mix of scales. It was made during a time when
the regular sets represented many different
scales, as if the Lego company were trying to
decide what scale to settle on for the standard
play system. This confusion seems to be captured
by the 148.
The regular sets of the mid-seventies had many
different scales. There were sets with bendyarm
figures (aka maxifigs), some of which later used
minifigs as babies after minifigs became available
in 1975. There were minifigs used as adults,
which were then still faceless, armless, and
legless. And smallest, there were HO-scale
buildings with classic windows and classic 1x2x3
doors. These different scales were not always
split out into separate themes, although there
were some themes that had consistent scales such
as the Homemaker sets.
The doors in particular were evidence of this
confusing period. The classic 1x2x3 doors did not
open. Then the Lego company introduced 1x3x4
doors that opened. For example, set 361, another
interesting transitional set, has this door but
has no minifigs. Then when minifigs were created
they did not fit conveniently through the 1x3x4
doors! The 1x4x5 doors that minifigs fit nicely
through were not available until 1979, I believe.
The 148 combines three scales: HO-scale, pre-minifig
door scale, and minifig scale. A classic door in
HO-scale is used for the entrance to the overpass,
and classic windows are used along the length of
the overpass. The train station itself is sort of
in minifig-scale, but it uses the too-small
pre-minifig 1x3x4 doors so it isn't easy to move
minifigs around in it. It comes with faceless
minifigs and the train tracks themselves are
roughly minifig scale.
Of course there have been other play systems made
by Lego that were in other scales. Examples
include Duplo, Fabuland, Technic, Belville, and
Scala. However, those themes were not designed to
be combined within a play system, and multiple
themes were definitely not combined within a
single set!
Another set that combines classic doors with
minifigs is set 362, also from 1975. However, it does
not have any 1x3x4 doors. I would be interested to
hear of any other Lego sets you know of that combine
multiple scales. (Though if you reply to this
message, please don't quote the whole thing.)
/Eric McC/
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Set #148: Scales in Transition
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| (...) hehe... except for the time cruisers! ;-) Personally, back in the ole' times when I played with Barbies as frequently as bricks, I used to make the minifigs as the Barbies' babies... :-) -Shiri (25 years ago, 9-May-00, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Set #148: Scales in Transition
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| (...) Great Job Eric!! Yes 148 (Central Station) is one of my all time favorite sets. I was lucky to find several of these sets in Germany in the 1980's. It has a wealth of white windows, and both types of older doors. Universal Building Set #400 - (...) (25 years ago, 10-May-00, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Set #148: Scales in Transition
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| Set 365 Wild West Scene combines those two types of doors also. But, I'm sort of confused by the way you are classifying scales. Forgetting about door size for a moment -- neither the tower nor the over pass are even big enough to hold a minifig. (...) (25 years ago, 10-May-00, to lugnet.general)
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