Information wanted: Lego gears display model, circa 1970?

[Bioman]

Hello everybody, I just signed up here. I've been searching information on a Lego model, and Eurobricks seemed like a promising place to get answers.

Recently, at the thrift store, I got my hands on a glued Lego display model. It promotes the colorful gear system (predecessor to Technic) and I assume it is from ca. 1970, since that is when the gears were first released.

The model is obviously incomplete and a few extra pieces came with it. All those sub-assemblies are also glued. The three gray plates are supposed to be one long plate, but it has broken in two places.

I can not find any photos or information for this model on the internet. Has anyone of you seen it before? Do you perhaps have an image of the full model? I'd love to restore it!

Thanks in advance for any possible answers.

More photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/198872838@N07/albums/72177720317509438/with/53762386179/

Edited June 1, 2024 by Bioman

[JesseNight]

Glued does indeed indicate it was a display model, but I cannot find any single model with this inventory.
It's not hard to double check, there are only as little as 7 sets including these old gears, and even less when including the rest of the parts.

I think the closest I can find is this set (801 for non-motorized, or 800 if it includes a blue 4.5V motor):

https://brickset.com/sets/801-1/Gear-Set

It's not a perfect match, your pictures seem to contain more parts. Maybe a display moc to show off these new gear pieces? Maybe something from an early Idea Book? I'm just guessing at this point...

[Bioman]

Thanks for the response! I've also considered that it could be custom made. There's actually a bunch of points arguing towards that, such as (seemingly) random parts placement, very odd building techniques, and the fact that it's screwed to a wooden board that is way longer than the model. Just doesn't look like something Lego themselves would make.

But then again, there's the possibility it's official nevertheless, I'm gonna wait if someone else can unearth some knowledge. If it does turn out to be a one-off custom model, I'll be creative and "complete" it myself 

Edited June 1, 2024 by Bioman

[JesseNight]

Well considering you can search on sites like Bricklink for all sets containing specific parts (and assuming their database is complete for that period), I don't think it's official.

According to BL, there's only 7 sets containing the large yellow gear, none in the quantity displayed above. Most sets only have 1 or 2, and no more than one contains 3 of them.
Cross referencing with another recognizable part like the white turntable and the amount of blue bricks, I came to the result of possibly one or multiple 801 sets combined with others. Because the red turntable and the single red fence on the blue object to the left don't seem to match with the earlier results.

Also gave the Ideas Books a look from that time, and didn't find any matches (but in this case, I'm not sure if I have them all).

Edited June 2, 2024 by JesseNight

[Mr Ogel]

this was another model built from one or more copies from 801 and was depicted on page 19 of the instructions, but the picture. You can find the instructions on https://www.brickfactory.info/set/

[JesseNight]

Oh wow, great find!

Considering how small that picture is and not even showing the far left and right ends, I wonder if this was ever a real thing or just an attempt from someone to recreate it. It looks like it still needs a lot more gears of all 3 types to get it in working order, and a lot of guessing to what the rear end looks like to get it all connected (and the white 4x4 turntable seems to be on the wrong gear).

If it helps, I tried to amplify that pic Mr Ogel refers to from the best online instructions I could find. It's not a lot but maybe it helps.

Edited July 10, 2024 by JesseNight

[Bioman]

Oh nice, that's a great find! Thank you both for finding and upscaling the image.

The fact that it was featured in Lego instructions does indicate that it's official, I doubt anyone would try to recreate a model from such a small image. Seems like mine's missing a bunch of pieces...

Edited July 14, 2024 by Bioman