What's the deal with Black?

[DrJB]

I've seen on numerous occasions where many MOCers prefer to (I should say: are obsessed by) build cars in primarily black (sometimes red). I personally find black very difficult to work with (No, my lego room/workspace is very bright).

What is it about 'black' that you like so much? Is it the fact that gaps and openings are least visible with dark parts?

This is just about YOUR perspective, nothing right nor wrong either way.

[dr_spock]

It is easy to decide to use black when one has a lot of black pieces. It goes well with dark and light grey pieces. Also prototypes for the model exist in black in real life.

Picture 4945 by dr_spock_888, on Flickr

[BlackOmega63]

I know I build in black a lot. Most of my MOCs are in black, and generally I build other people's MOCs in black as well.

For me, I have a lot of black. Almost every set I have has tons of black liftarms, connectors, panels, etc. and less in other colours.

To a lesser extent, I guess it also looks pretty solid and holes are less noticeable. Perhaps that's just my own opinion

I am collecting lots of orange at the moment and thinking of starting a white collection too so maybe I'll be able to branch out a bit

In regard to my first point, I've noticed that lots of smaller sets contain very few coloured pieces. For example, the 42007 motorbike has a completely black/grey chassis and contains only 9 orange parts, yet the main colour is obviously orange. Perhaps that has something to do with it?

[Nalyd997]

I think the question should be what is the deal with red super cars!

[Hrafn]

The abundance of black parts in sets does seem like the most likely cause. I prefer to use black only for areas I'm trying to draw the eye away from (like the chassis of a car) or for decorative details on a brightly colored MOC. Very few all black models look good to me, though that might be because the color is so hard to photograph well.

[Zerobricks]

Black makes model seem bigger and sometimes cooler. For example my fox 8x8x8 is black, but it has orange/red details and green wheels. I used black because it complements green wheels the best,

[weavil]

The abundance of black parts in sets does seem like the most likely cause. I prefer to use black only for areas I'm trying to draw the eye away from (like the chassis of a car) or for decorative details on a brightly colored MOC. Very few all black models look good to me, though that might be because the color is so hard to photograph well.

"The abundance of black parts in sets does seem like the most likely cause." That is the reason. And for that reason I have in order highest first... 1.BLACK, 2.YELLOW, and from resent purcheses, 3.RED.

"use black only for areas I'm trying to draw the eye away from...or for decorative details on a brightly colored (body)" Is half the reason that LEGO does too. The other half is it's cheaper to produce. (fewer black pellets are needed to make black, versus other colors. Thnk of it like making chocolate or strawberry milk)

I too am trying to increase my color pallete. But I also realized that in the real world most vehicles, or what ever, are black under their candy coating of sorts.

[5imon]

I think it was mentioned several times: everyone has lots of it, there are almost all parts available (if you don't want to build with 19L flex axles), and then there's the hole topic.

The same goes with red supercars: connectors, liftarms, panels, flex axles: everything is there. I think only white could come close, but many parts are much rarer.

I personally like orange and white a lot (so @BlackOmega63, stay away from my parts on Bricklink! ;-), but in orange it's not always easy to find the right parts. The situation is better since the release of the Unimog and some smaller sets afterwards, and I expect further improvement with the Arctic Vehicle. But some parts are still unavailable or make you a poor man.

I'd also build more in dark bluish grey, but there are not many panels I could use.

[Lakop]

It must be down to parts available. I've just bought 42028 because I wanted more yellow parts (and I wanted the tracks). I would love more blue though.

H

[Foggy]

I personally like combinations of black and red and black and yellow, and full black too, just my taste.

[Erik Leppen]

I think black is the most "neutral" colour, and therefore, goes well together with every color. It's the perfect "secondary" colour. White has this feature too, but is much rarer for parts. I often use white as a color for interiors for this reason.

Also black is easiest to "hide" - if a body is e.g. yellow, a black frame beneath it won't be as visible as a gray frame beneath it.

That's why I'd like to see the 5x7 and 5x11 liftarms (and the new 3x5 dog-bone beam) in black.

But yes, black is hard to use when there's no daylight. So I usually throw some light-gray into the mix as well.

Edited December 7, 2014 by Erik Leppen

[Richard Dower]

I think it comes down to parts availability....Black and Red are in abundance in every possible part type, while other colors may not have the parts nesscary to complete the build. Blue, Orange....most certainly the rarer colors like Metallic Silver or Light Bluish gray lack the parts nesscary to build complex models with lots of detail.

As for Red supercars....that's easy.....they look frickin' COOL!

:-)

[weavil]

You also have to look at the real thing being recreated in Lego. Most of the big and/or popular stuff is RED, YELLOW, and BLACK.

[dougstar]

got to love a black model

[AndroTech]

... talking about black ... just finished Madoca's Corvette in black ... superb car, Madoca is really talented builder ...

... and next to the Crowkiller's Porsche 911, that I build some time ago ...

On the other hand, black is very ungrateful colour to take picture of ....

.

[nerdsforprez]

Perhaps a little more complex of a response than some are looking for... but....

element availability is an obvious response. Simply put; there are alot of black Technic elements out there.

Now, one can spend copius amounts of time trying to buy and gather lots of other colors... but, this is (1) expensive, and (2) time consuming.

I will venture and say that ... although there certainly are many who love a good, aesthetically pleasing model...... functionality is really important too. And to create something with good functions.... it takes a lot of time.

Many probably prefer spending the time that they do have to build, to actually building, as opposed to looking and buying LEGO elements.

[weavil]

Well I'm trying to make a loader with no black or as little as possible, if that's any consolidation. But it will be red.