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Posted (edited)

I just had a thought... Not sure if it's been suggested (I expect it has in which case this is kinda irrelevant, but I couldn't find it). But I saw the ghost dog from hidden side, and started thinking... They don't do complete transparent minifigs because of brittleness and stiffness... But what if they dual moulded the neck piece on the torso, and the arm slots as normal abs? The rest being transparent...? Similar with the legs... The 'unseen pin connectors' that the legs slot onto, being abs while the rest being transparent? 

I'm not entirely sure how their physical process of dual moulding occurs, but perhaps that is a viable option to bring transparent minifigs? 

Edited by Fuppylodders
Posted

Interesting idea. In the past, Lego have done mini figures with transparent arms, legs, and heads. So I guess the only real problems are the hip joints and the torso elements. I would imagine that the hip joint is not big enough to allow dual moulding.  The torso could probably be done dual moulded, as long as the holes for the arms were pure ABS it ought to work.

I've been dreaming of having a set of three Jedi force ghosts for years now...

Posted

A dual-molded part like you suggest might work? It’s hard to tell how feasible it would be without a better understanding of the physical engineering (which I have no idea about). But it’d be a big expense for a relatively small number of applications. Also, it wouldn’t be “fully” transparent like many people would prefer. In fact, to be made with just two injections, the ABS sections would have to be joined—so more like a solid upper torso and transparent lower torso (ironically, making the “abs” the only non-ABS part).

Posted

Over on newelementary, their review of the new Treehouse includes a lengthy discussion about how the plastic for transparent elements has recently been changed - it seems to be a little softer now.  Perhaps this new material might be less likely to crack, thus making minifigure torsos possible?

Original article:  http://www.newelementary.com/2019/08/review-lego-ideas-21318-treehouse.html

Posted (edited)
  On 8/7/2019 at 9:31 AM, NathanR said:

Over on newelementary, their review of the new Treehouse includes a lengthy discussion about how the plastic for transparent elements has recently been changed - it seems to be a little softer now.  Perhaps this new material might be less likely to crack, thus making minifigure torsos possible?

Original article: http://www.newelementary.com/2019/08/review-lego-ideas-21318-treehouse.html

Expand  

The old trans parts are polycarbonate. I'm guessing that the new ones are poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA, commonly called acrylic) with added plasticisers for clutch. The problem of friction cracking in polycarbonate-to-polycarbonate joints can be obviated by PMMA-to-PMMA or PMMA-to-polycarbonate connections depending on the type and concentration of additives to the PMMA. So completely trans LEGO minifigures may soon be possible.  

Then again, the new trans parts could be methyl methacrylate ABS (MABS). If so, the problem of friction cracking could be solved anyway.

Edited by AmperZand
Posted

I wish LEGO would do something like this, as it would be cool just to look at. I've noticed that the transparent arms on my "Electro" figure have cracked, as well as one of the legs on my Chima figs. Even with the new plastic type @NathanR  and @AmperZand have mentioned, I still would be skeptical. For one, would something like Trans-red crack easier than say Trans-Green, similar to how the Reddish Brown color and the Dark Red color cracked easier than other colors? The new Translucent Moose piece has some joints in it, so that could mean that LEGO is currently expirementing with something of that sort. I personally would love to see a Trans-Neon Green or Orange figure under a blacklight as it would be cool just to see it glow. Anyways, those are just some of my thoughts on the topic.

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