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(...) Well, one thing that could happen is serious clones of Lego bricks. I don't know what the costs are of doing ABS molding, but model railroad hobbyists are pretty resourcefull. There is a TON of small manufacturers in model railroading. If (...) (25 years ago, 13-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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(...) I worked for a company that had to have a custom mold (actually several molds) to manufacture plastic parts for the product's enclosure (the plastic "shell" that most electronic products have). The mold pieces were made for us by the same mold (...) (25 years ago, 13-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.[Star Wars Question]
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Lucas's group had final creative authority on the Star Wars sets. (A former model builder friend of mine I still talk to was on the design team.) With any luck, even TLG will see the viablity of high quality sets again. -john (...) (25 years ago, 13-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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Robert Munafo (munafo@gcctechNO.SPAMcom) wrote: : [1] I am not counting the carving of the tiny letters "LEGO" on the studs. Your : hypothetical model railroaders wouldn't bother with such detail, and it : probably doesn't affect LEGO's cost anyway (...) (25 years ago, 14-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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Yes, but those plungers as you call them (I heard rods) cost a lot, much less getting TLG to give the logo over as well. Scott Sanburn (...) (25 years ago, 14-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.[Star Wars Question]
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(...) More likely, TLG will attritube the success of the Star Wars line entirely to the fact that they are Star Wars. They'll ignore the fact that the quality of the model designs are head-and-shoulders above anything else they've done recently. (...) (25 years ago, 15-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.[Star Wars Question]
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(...) Where can I write them to tell them otherwise. A Snail-Mail letter would, I think, be most effective. Does anyone know which address would be appropriate? I didn't see any obvious addresses on their web-site. Ciao! (25 years ago, 15-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.[Star Wars Question]
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I bought one of every Lego SW set out there just because it was Star Wars Lego. HOWEVER, I bought the manymany further SW sets for PARTS, because the PARTS in them just flat out ROCK in most cases. I have seen many people post in RTL or (...) (25 years ago, 16-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.[Star Wars Question]
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(...) For people in the US & Canada, letters can be addressed to Consumer Affairs (address is in the catalog/flyer included with every LEGO set). Worldwide, addresses can be obtained from www.lego.com. From the homepage, click the "About Us" item on (...) (25 years ago, 16-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.[Star Wars Question]
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(...) And how many part sales/auctions sprang almost immediately after the SW sets were released? There were a some people parting-out sets they must have bought at full-price. I personally think most of the model designs for the SW sets are (...) (25 years ago, 16-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.[Star Wars Question]
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It was interesting to hear him talk about the designs. The orginal snow speeder design had a working tow rope that was pulled for $$ concerns. All of the models have to fit the price point to a fraction of penny. -john (...) (25 years ago, 16-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.[Star Wars Question]
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(...) That makes sense--profit (the money the owners get to keep) is earned on the margin. If they earn a few pennies from each set, and they can shave a few pennies off the cost of producing the set, and not impact projected sales, they've (...) (25 years ago, 16-Aug-99, to lugnet.general)
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(...) The (...) and (...) Hope I'm not stealing Steve Chuck's thunder, but I was browsing the Brickshelf Gallery and came upon this picture: (URL) was taken on a LEGO factory tour. It's a picture of a retired mold which makes 8 2x3 bricks. There is (...) (24 years ago, 19-Sep-00, to lugnet.general)
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(...) I'd take a stab that that is actually the "LEGO Factory Tour" in Funtown at LLC. Or at least, it looks an awful lot like it. :) There is also a mold machine pumping out 2x4 red bricks (at the time) and an assembly line machine that made & took (...) (24 years ago, 19-Sep-00, to lugnet.general, lugnet.legoland.california)
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James & All, (...) Brickshelf (...) which (...) at (...) machine (...) cost 10 (...) than 1 (...) probably (...) Well, I do know those molds cost a pretty penny. A mold for a Chrysler battery box for the Neon cost 500,000, and it was a little bigger (...) (24 years ago, 19-Sep-00, to lugnet.general, lugnet.legoland.california)
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(...) like it (...) Nope not 4 layers. The thickness you've observed is the space in which all the hardware for the ejector system resides. Note the fittings for the air lines that actuate the ejectors. Plastic parts don't just jump out of the mold, (...) (24 years ago, 19-Sep-00, to lugnet.general)
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(...) Brickshelf (...) which (...) cost 10 (...) than 1 (...) probably (...) The mold in the picture has a number of removable parts that make up the 8 chambers for the 2x3 bricks. These have to have been replaced a number of times to have made that (...) (24 years ago, 19-Sep-00, to lugnet.general)
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Doh ! and as Scott pointed out there are cooling passages in there too ! "Xanthra47" <Xanthra47@Inphotek.com> wrote in message news:G15nnp.L67@lugnet.com... (...) all (...) air (...) (24 years ago, 19-Sep-00, to lugnet.general)
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"James Brown" <galliard@shades-of-night.com> wrote in message news:G15MBJ.GLu@lugnet.com... (...) Brickshelf (...) which (...) at (...) machine (...) I was at LEGOLAND California a week and a half ago and the factory tour equipment is still pumping (...) (24 years ago, 20-Sep-00, to lugnet.general, lugnet.legoland.california)
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"Mike Walsh" <mike_walsh@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:G15uMw.15C@lugnet.com... (...) [ ... snipped ... ] (...) Replying to my own post, here are a couple pictures I took of the tour: (URL) #1 is the retired mold. Picture #2 is the machine (...) (24 years ago, 20-Sep-00, to lugnet.general, lugnet.legoland.california)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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(...) Somehow I doubt it. If it actually cost a penny a brick for the MOLD, there is no way that the cost per part for a set would be 10-20 cents, and certainly no way that you could sell tubs for close to a penny a part. What's possible is that the (...) (24 years ago, 20-Sep-00, to lugnet.general)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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(...) Which begs the question: why not make less SPUDs? (24 years ago, 20-Sep-00, to lugnet.general)
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(...) cost (...) Because they believe (and I partially agree) that SPUDs can allow them to produce sets which have more substance to them (in the form of larger constructions) for a given production cost. Take a triangular BURP for example, to build (...) (24 years ago, 20-Sep-00, to lugnet.general)
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Frank said: (...) I'd caution everyone not to draw TOO many conclusions from these pictures. IIRC Mike Walsh said at the time he took these at LLC. The mold may or may not be the entire mold actually used. Anyone who knows for sure may not be able (...) (24 years ago, 20-Sep-00, to lugnet.general)
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| | Re: Bulk Ordering - Secrets Revealed.
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In lugnet.general, Larry Pieniazek writes: <about LLC factory tour stuff> (...) I don't really see why it wouldn't be (the entire mold). The only thing we've speculated on that doesn't *need* to be incorporated in a mold is the changable dies that (...) (24 years ago, 20-Sep-00, to lugnet.general)
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(...) Naw, it's in 'the Ultimate LEGO Book'. Sort of. (...) Maybe it's to reward the diligent observer. Steve (24 years ago, 21-Sep-00, to lugnet.general)
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