Subject:
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Re: lego changed molds / re-engineered parts, part II
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space, lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 25 Feb 2002 21:02:54 GMT
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Viewed:
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2534 times
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"Tony Hafner" <hafhead@PANTSplanetquake.com> writes:
> In lugnet.space, Lindsay Frederick Braun writes:
> > In lugnet.space, Jon Palmer writes:
> > > He's talking about the 1x2 "laser" piece with the 2 bars on it. The bars on
> > > the older version were inline with the plate and had rounded ends.
> >
> > Ah. Okay. I've noticed that too. I think it has something to do with
> > the ability to mount them in tighter spaces; I've noticed that the newer
> > sort have bars exactly 2 studs long, and if you put the plate on another
> > plate over an even larger plate, the bars don't prevent it in the newer
> > sort, while the older ones would prevent the studs from locking tight.
> > (They were too low on the older sort.)
>
> I believe you have that detail backwards here. The older ones were in line
> height-wise. Not that it matters in this particular case- either one fits
> fine in the arrangement you describe.
>
> The version of this piece that has longer and higher pins with rounded ends
> is from the first one to two years of classic space. They changed the
> design very early on. Although the newer one uses slightly less plastic, I
> don't think that was the reason in this case- Lego didn't cut corners like
> that back in 1979. The new length is arguably better, allowing it to fit
> into a 2 stud long space. The only reason I can think for changing the
> height is to allow clips to fit onto this part when it is clipped to the
> underside of a larger surface. Otherwise... I don't know- a 1/4-plate
> offset isn't terribly useful, especially considering the 3-stud overall
> width of the piece.
I think you may be right.
Just so we know what we're all talking about, I found the page on
peeron.com that lists the parts in question:
http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/?start=1400
The "laser" piece we are talking about is this:
3839 - Plate 1 x 2 with Handles (Moved to 3839b) - (Ref)
3839b - Plate 1 x 2 with Handles Type 2 - (Ref)
Here are the pieces from peeron that might be described as "clip" in
this context:
6019 - Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Horizontal - (Ref)
4081 - Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Light (Moved to 4081b) - (Ref)
4081b - Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Light - Type 2 - (Ref)
4085 - Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical - (Ref)
Of these, only 4085 and 4081 existed in the days when the change we are
talking about occurred. Note that 4085 has an offset *up* from the
plate, while the 3839b has a downward offset. I'm at work, so I can't
test this out, but I suspect that if you stuck the "handle" of a 3839b
through the middle of the "clip" of a 4081 so that the plates of each
piece are parallel to each other, that the plates of each piece would
be offset in the Z axis by exactly one plate-width.
I suspect the same is true with 6019 and 4081b even though they came
along later. But be careful testing this: I've broken a number of
3839b pieces trying to remove something stuck on its "handle".
Also, someone check if a 3839 is as easy for a minifig to grab as a
3839b is. If not, that might be part of the reason. In themes other
than space, these parts were used as handles, which is why peeron
calls them that.
--Bill.
--
William R Ward bill@wards.net http://www.wards.net/~bill/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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