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 18:40:19 GMT
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Viewed:
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2455 times
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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
Simon Robinson wrote:
> 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 is in Reply To:
 | | Re: The History Of LEGO Sloped Bricks - Part 1
|
| 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 (...) (25 years ago, 10-Sep-99, to lugnet.general)
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