Subject:
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Re: History of wheel and tire designs
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Fri, 30 Mar 2001 18:46:23 GMT
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Viewed:
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655 times
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In lugnet.general, William R. Ward writes:
>
> Well my childhood and early LEGO years was the mid-late 70's and
> early-mid 80's. During that time the wheels you remember were already
> gone, but the ones that replaced them were nearly the same. The 2x4
> bricks were black (I think the ones you had were white), and the tires
> were black. The tires changed shape a couple of times: in the early
> 70's they were just like the grey ones but black in color.
My early Lego years were just about the same time. My earliest wheels are
just like you describe (smooth black tires, red hubs w/metal pin, black 2x4
brick with holes). I still have these tires, and they aren't brittle at all.
None have ever broken. I had friends who had the gray ties and white 2x4
bricks - so they couldn't have been much older - and almost all of their
tires broke. I think they changed the formulation of the rubber right around
the time they changed colors.
> Later,
> they took on a more realistic shape, and used a more pliable rubber.
> At some point in the 80s (I think), they were replaced again with the
> treaded tires you describe, which I think you can still find today in
> the basic sets (though using a different kind of wheel/hub
> arrangement, of course). The old tires got really brittle - I don't
> have any grey ones, but I still have some of the black ones that were
> the same type, and they're very stiff and hard to get on/off the hubs.
>
> The hubs in those days were red, generally, with a diameter the same
> as the diagonal of a 2x2 brick, and had 4 studs on them. Larger
> wheels had 8 studs in a "+" pattern. Also, there were "wagon wheel"
> versions of both with a single stud in the middle and spokes leading
> out to the rim. See Family for an example of the large
> ones. When the electric set came out, it included red hubs with a
> Technic axle hole, and two white 8x axles. It also included a
> "caterpillar" tread that would span two of these wheels spaced several
> studs apart. I still have this, though my motor is burned out.
My motor didn't have the holes for Technic axles (though I often wished it
had) - just four tiny holes where the metal pin of the hubs got inserted.
>
> In later years, large diameter tires with the same hub size came out.
> Eight of these can be seen in Mobile Rocket Transport
> (black tires on black hubs).
>
> Also during my childhood years there was a smaller kind of wheel/tire
> in use which consisted of a 2x2 black brick with a metal axle attached
> to the bottom of it and small 1x1 red hubs permanently affixed. Most
> of the vehicles of the early Legoland era (pre-minifig) used these. A
> version with double tires (really one tire that was ridged to look
> like the pair of tires seen on trucks) was also available. There was
> also a "landing gear" style in grey (I think) with a 2x2 plate that
> had little "arms" that would hold a red wheel below the plate. That
> used the same kind of tire. Later, these were replaced with 2x2
> plates with axles attached to the bottom, and the tires got tread.
I have a couple of wheelsets that are the 2x2 brick with a metal axle, and
the tires permanantly attached - but the tires are the treaded variety we
know today. I also have quite a lot of 2x2 plates with the metal axle and
tires (treaded) permanantly attached. I got most of these from the earliest
classic space sets ('79-'80).
>
> The new style came out in only the last couple of years, during my
> most recent Little Dark Age. I like it a lot though - the larger ones
> interface with Technic beams, and the smaller ones with propellers.
I agree - the new system is pretty nifty, and a lot more versatile.
>
> --Bill.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: History of wheel and tire designs
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| (...) That's odd. The big black motor that's like a stack of bricks 4x8, 4x12, and 4x8x1.33? Mine has one axle hole offset 2 studs from one of the paris of metal-pin-holes. The other axle would go in a grey 2x4 brick that was riddled with (...) (24 years ago, 31-Mar-01, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: History of wheel and tire designs
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| (...) Well my childhood and early LEGO years was the mid-late 70's and early-mid 80's. During that time the wheels you remember were already gone, but the ones that replaced them were nearly the same. The 2x4 bricks were black (I think the ones you (...) (24 years ago, 30-Mar-01, to lugnet.general)
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