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"Alan Findlay" <footsteps@iteams.ca> writes:
> By the time I had built the dike on the Lego baseplates, I noticed that the
> ends (32 studs apart) seemed to be "curling" up. The addition of the wall
> did not alter this curl. So, the whole wall kinda "rocked" end to end. As a
> result, the connection at the end to the next section was poor -- tight at
> the bottom, about 1-2 mm gap at the top (7 bricks high).
> I removed the wall from the dike, and tested each part separately. The dike
> part (mostly Tyco) rocked. The wall part (Megablok) sits flush on the table.
> The conclusion I draw is that the Tycos do not have a good fit. So I guess
> I'll have to ditch the Tycos in the dike (no pun intended) and remake it
> with Megabloks and Legos.
> Have others experienced fit problems with Tyco's?
When you separated the wall from the dike, did you peel the baseplates off
of the bottom of the Tycos?
The reason I ask that is that the problem might not be one of fit, but one
of slight differences in size. If you put a single row of Megabloks onto
a Lego baseplate, the baseplate will similarly curl. The theory around our
group (I'm the non-conformist!) is that the Megabloks bricks are slightly
smaller than the Lego ones. When mixed in a large structure, this generally
isn't a problem. However, when a construction of all Megabloks comes in
contact with a construction of all Lego, the sizes don't quite match. This
becomes more noticeable as the constructions get larger.
An idea we have discussed (but of course have no proof of) is that the
Megabloks (and possibly Tyco) molds were constructed by carefully
measuring the sizes of standard Lego bricks. However, the slight shrinkage
that occurs when a molded plastic item is removed from the mold, was not
taken into account. I'm not fully familiar with the techniques involved
(although I have see injection molding machines - big heavy things!), but
perhaps the molds were made via a double casting technique, directly from
Lego bricks (and then modified as required, of course).
--
Experience should guide us, not rule us.
Chris Gray cg@ami-cg.GraySage.COM
http://www.GraySage.COM/cg/
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Tyco problems
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| (...) Well, that made for an interesting result. The Tyco dike with the baseplates curls. Without the baseplates it lies flat. Attach the Megablok wall on top of the dike and it starts to curl again (but not as bad as with the Lego baseplates). To (...) (22 years ago, 11-Nov-02, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Tyco problems
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| Greetings, fellow non-Conformists ;) I'm not a frequent lurker of this particular forum, so perhaps my observations are old news, but I thought I'd share them anyway. I've purchased clone bricks over time, first for cost reasons, but also I have (...) (22 years ago, 11-Nov-02, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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