Production of Lego "speckle" colours?

[LiamM32]

"Speckle colours" are a fine bi-coloured pattern of opaque Lego colours, often a mix of a solid colour and a pearl colour to give a worn-out metal look. In the Peeron titles, the word "glitter" is used (they may be considered to be the opaque equivelent to the glitter-clear colours, although still quite different).

I haven't been able to find any information on the production of these colours on the internet. I want to ask a few questions; How are speckle colours painted? How expensive are they to produce relative to a single solid colour? Compared to a pearl colour?

There are 4 speckle colours that have appeared to date;

• Speckle Black-Silver: The first and most common. Introduced in 2005 in "Vikings" and "Knights Kingdom". I don't know which type of silver colour is used.
  
• Speckle Black-Gold: Exclusive to 4 "Atlantis" sets in 2010 & 2011. I don't know which type of gold is used.
  
• Speckle Black-Copper: Exclusive to 2006 "Knights Kingdom" sets.
  
• Speckle DBGray-Silver: Exclusive to 2006 "Knights Kingdom" sets, just like the above.
  

These are the Bricklink titles, as there are no known official names (probably because they are a pattern of existing colours, and 3/4 of them are rare).

Edited May 26, 2013 by LiamM32

[JopieK]

I guess they just mix both colors when letting the molten ABS flow into the mould. Sometimes even normal brick still have a little bit of another color in it because there was still some residue from the previous (differently colored) batch:

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Reki/SPECIAL/Misprints/3308-paint-error/arch_1x2x8_dark_bley_misprint.jpg

[obsidianheart]

I've wondered about this, too. Especially since a lot of times on Bricklink, you can find these colored parts without their "speckles", even if the part was never produced in sets without the speckle colors.

[Front]

It is a solid colored brick painted with one other colour in Billund, Denmark.

Erland

Part Design

[Faefrost]

Are these the parts that they cast in a solid color, such as black, then tumble through a "powder" mix the achieve the metallic coloring s?

[LiamM32]

Thanks for the replies. Not all my questions are answered though.

Are these the parts that they cast in a solid color, such as black, then tumble through a "powder" mix the achieve the metallic colorings?

I think that you are refering to the same thing. You can confirm on the BrickLink colour guide, where you can check all the parts and sets with a particular colour; http://www.bricklink...talogColors.asp A common piece in this colour is 53705, an axe head for minifigs. If that is how they are made, with the powdered paint; that is interesting. I couldn't tell if your asking or telling.

I was going to ask if they are consistent, but I have it answered on my own; I had two knights kingdom speckle pieces that BrickLink labels as black-copper, but I thought that they were different because one had finer speckles than the other.

How much would a speckle colour cost compared to the two solid solid colours that it is made of?

[Aanchir]

"Speckle colours" are a fine bi-coloured pattern of opaque Lego colours, often a mix of a solid colour and a pearl colour to give a worn-out metal look. In the Peeron titles, the word "glitter" is used (they may be considered to be the opaque equivelent to the glitter-clear colours, although still quite different).

I haven't been able to find any information on the production of these colours on the internet. I want to ask a few questions; How are speckle colours painted? How expensive are they to produce relative to a single solid colour? Compared to a pearl colour?

There are 4 speckle colours that have appeared to date;

• Speckle Black-Silver: The first and most common. Introduced in 2005 in "Vikings" and "Knights Kingdom". I don't know which type of silver colour is used.
  
• Speckle Black-Gold: Exclusive to 4 "Atlantis" sets in 2010 & 2011. I don't know which type of gold is used.
  
• Speckle Black-Copper: Exclusive to 2006 "Knights Kingdom" sets.
  
• Speckle DBGray-Silver: Exclusive to 2006 "Knights Kingdom" sets, just like the above.
  

These are the Bricklink titles, as there are no known official names (probably because they are a pattern of existing colours, and 3/4 of them are rare).

Random facts:

The official names of the fourth and third colors are 304 "Cool Silver, Diffuse" and 306 "Copper, Diffuse". The first color is also identified as Cool Silver, Diffuse in many instances but probably has a different base color.

Speckle Black-Gold doesn't have its own color name and number. TLG's database simply identifies it as black, and the surface treatment is basically treated like a painted or printed pattern. This is much like how chrome colors used to be treated before the names 309 Metallized Silver and 310 Metallized Gold were introduced to identify the two chrome colors still in use.

Sorry I couldn't answer any of your particular questions, but these are just what I happen to know about these colors.

[TheLegoDr]

That's neat. So none of them are identical? I don't have a lot of the speckled pieces since I passed on those themes, so I can't witness this myself at home. But that'd be cool to have a mass produced unique item without the actual scarcity of a unique item.

[Aanchir]

That's neat. So none of them are identical? I don't have a lot of the speckled pieces since I passed on those themes, so I can't witness this myself at home. But that'd be cool to have a mass produced unique item without the actual scarcity of a unique item.

Well, the speckling is basically random, but it's not like two parts in the same speckle color would really stand out from one another in any significant way.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Aanchir

[LiamM32]

Thanks. Although I could not get much detail on production of difuse colours, the information that I have got is helpful. But I recently saw someone with a computer mouse with a black-chrome diffuse pattern, so I know that other companies use this technique

There is only one Lego diffuse colour that has lived past one theme one year. While I don't think that they should go too crazy producing new difuse colours, as it increases the specialization of the part, I do have some ideas;

• Iron Rust Trifuse: A combination of Dark Orange, Dark Red, and Mettalic (pearl) Dark grey. If they used dark orange as a base, the could add the dark red and mettalic dark grey powder at the same time to let it blur slightly, if it would work.
  
• Carbon Fiber diffuse: A combination of Mettalic Dark Grey and Silver (pearl light grey), to imitate the distinct textue of carbon fiber.
  
• Could they make a technique to give Lego pieces a texture that looks like wood grains instead of random spots. Maybe moving the pieces quickly while the dots of paint are wet to make stripes. If not this, they could just use old fashion printing, but this would take away the uniqueness. They should use better colour combinations though, like Brick Yellow (tan) with Sand Yellow (dark tan) stripes instead of the contrasting prints available, and with finer grains.
  
• Grass Difuse: A combination of two different greens, or a green and brown, to look like grass. Probably olive green with bright green, or bright green with green. I don't like this idea as much as my others though, as solid coloured green already looks good as lawn.
  

[LiamM32]

I am planning to propose a new colour in the Survey: New parts and new colors topic, so I have more to ask:

Does the overlay colour have to be mettalic? Was it just deliberately used in all diffuse colours to date, or is it just a side-effect of the painting tecnique?

[LEGO Historian]

One of the nicest "speckle" LEGO bricks I've ever seen are this 1960s LEGO brick... "glitter trans-red"....

Edited September 30, 2013 by LEGO Historian

[dcastdeclan]

Looks like a cool brick. Wish they made more of them. Also wish that brick was cleaner so that I could get a better look at it, no offence...

[LEGO Historian]

No offense taken dcastdeclan... I haven't yet gotten another image from the owner of this beauty of a brick... when I do I shall post it here.