ToyInTheAttic Posted November 30, 2019 Hello to all the Lego fans of this Forum! I recently registered in this forum for a specific reason and I hope you can help me. As a fan of vintage toys I came across to a surprising finding during my searches. I am referring about a vintage set shown in the Lego idea instructions book, number 241. In that book, a very large set is pictured, the huge Apollo-Saturn V launch base of Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA! Two pages of pictures are dedicated to this very nice and huge example of what can be done with Lego bricks!! The interesting part of the story is that I found this playset recently for real! It was stored for decades in a house and after specific cleaning it revealed itself in all its beauty! Another surprising thing is that the set is basically all glued in its main parts. All the parts are exactly in the same position of the set that is published on that book 241. So the question is: what is the story of this creation? I know this set was not sold in toy shops, is it possible that few of those were built to be released to toyshops in the past just for display and to enchant children’s eyes? Did you know previously about the possibility to find such special exclusive creations published in Lego idea instructions books? I hope you can really help me in giving a story to this vintage set, I tried with some experts but the only answer I got differently to what I already know is ‘do you sell it?’ ‘do you sell it?’. So I would kindly anticipate in this post that I do not sell it, I do not do business with it specifically. I am a fan of vintage toys, for their colors, materials, mechanical principles and innovations along with years and memories arising from the past. I would like just to share with this wide Forum the excitment for finding this nice Lego ‘treasure’ and I hope to know more about it thanks to the collaboration of this colorful community! Regards ToyInTheAttic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
icm Posted November 30, 2019 Can you post pictures? Upload them to Flickr and put links in this thread. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Collector245 Posted November 30, 2019 I think I found it in my copy of that idea book. Did you find this in a box? Is it glued together? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ToyInTheAttic Posted November 30, 2019 Hello and thank you for your reply, I have the link of the book 241 , I do not know if I can post links in this Forum, the two specific pictures can be found here: Was it distributed someway? Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wout Posted November 30, 2019 The pictures mean that it was build, probably by lego masterbuilders. They maybe made several glued together for bigger warehouses/toyshops. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Collector245 Posted November 30, 2019 @ToyInTheAttic Yes those are the pictures that I saw too. Do you have pictures of yours? Is yours in a box? Does it have instructions? Is it glued? I do not know of a set like this so if it is glued that means it was a model used for display in stores and it would make sense. If it is in a box or has instructions I am very curious because I have never heard of anything like this. Could you please post pictures because that would help me figure out just what you have. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ToyInTheAttic Posted December 1, 2019 Hello Collector245, the set comes already assembled, no box, no instructions. As Wout suggests, if Lego masterbuilder made several of them, where are they? I searched on internet a lot and I found only those two pictures of the original Lego Idea book. Here, we go, this is the massive set I found! 50 years and still going strong! The set is...big!!! And heavy, increadibly heavy. As far as I know this could be the biggest massive set that Lego manifacturers did so far. Hope this could be interesting for those also that are interested in Lego Apollo recent sets, the details are lower here but vintage style is fascinating! And the size is..wow! The view is also flipped with respect to that of the published picture, enjoy! Any other information about other existing dioramas like this would be very appreciated, thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Axelford Posted December 2, 2019 Cool set, the base plate must take up a big part of the piece count. Also the second panel from the right with the white background shows a smaller set not this large model. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Collector245 Posted December 2, 2019 Wow! That is huge! I am still wondering if it is glued though. That would help me figure out just what you have. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Evans Posted December 2, 2019 (edited) Nice piece of collection. There are many ways for Lego to use such a huge model. It have been used to illustrate this idea book, but such models were also used for professionnal toy fairs in which Lego was presenting their toys, or for mall or big shop exhibitions. There was also models made for Legoland (IIRC there was a space center in the early 70's), or to decorate their offices in the different countries. This one makes me more think it would have been used for a big store display. Glued models varies from small sets just for the small toyshop to show the real product, small decorative pieces that are (or not) seen in idea books, to big models like this, or big statues that are very heavy. And many idea books models have been found as glued display models. This is one more, and it's very beautiful. I don't think a lot of glued models are really unique (so made in only one copy) as it's a lot of work for people to assemble and glue these. What makes them unique is the fact these survived to the trash bin for a long time, as it's taking a lot of space, and may be unattractive when these are in bad condition. So bigger these are, more likely these have not been preserved, even if some toyshop owners sometime gathered a nice collection that is only discovered 40 years after. Also note that Lego's policy nowadays is to take back and destroy the glued models, I don't know how it was back then, but there was surely less controls. Do you have any close-ups of the model? Edited December 2, 2019 by Evans Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toastie Posted December 2, 2019 @Collector245 I believe @ToyInTheAttic said in the first post, that the set is mainly glued together, see below. Best Thorsten On 11/30/2019 at 3:19 PM, ToyInTheAttic said: Another surprising thing is that the set is basically all glued in its main parts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Collector245 Posted December 2, 2019 Thank you @Toastie for pointing that out. I must have missed it when I read the first post. @ToyInTheAttic You have a retailer display model. These were used in stores to help promote Lego products. I do not know too much about these but I know that @LEGO Historian knows a good amount about vintage Lego like this. He even wrote a whole collectors guide. Hopefully he can contribute and give you more detail about just what you have. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ToyInTheAttic Posted December 3, 2019 Hello and thank you for all the info you shared. As @Toastie said, yes, the macro-parts you see in the picture are all glued. When I got this I did not know, then I wanted to unassemble it in few pieces to bring it home by car, but then I (and the previous owner!) realized it was all glued. I also want to thank @Evans for the possibilities he mentioned about this set was used for, the set is 99% complete (thanks to the fact it is glued brick after brick) and I will post pictures after restoration, I want to buy classic bricks to complete it, I hope to find them. Now I know there is a collectors guide about the Lego display models family, I think I will go through it to see how many sets are still with us after 50 years. Here are some pictures of the real launch base: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Collector245 Posted December 3, 2019 7 minutes ago, ToyInTheAttic said: the set is 99% complete I am not sure that there is an inventory anywhere. Since it was a glued model it was never available to the general public. Hopefully @LEGO Historian can post here. He is the one who wrote the guide so he is definitely the best one to ask. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted December 4, 2019 Glued display models have been available to LEGO stores to purchase since circa 1955. There are even glued display model catalogs of what was available from year to year. This was mainly for midsized models. For larger models, they were specially made for department stores and larger toy retailers. I have a chapter devoted to older (pre-1985) LEGO models, with images going back into the 1950s. In updated guide coming out in a few months, I will have a 2nd chapter devoted to more modern glued display models. Here are some of the images I have from my guide... Probably the grandest (architecturally) display model is an early 1960s USA Samsonite LEGO glued example of the UK Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament)... Here is an "artworked" image of the same mode (different angle), from a 1963 #238 Building Idea Book (International no text version)... Early 1970's Church model... Also in my guide.... images from my 2 major glued display model collector friends... Chris (Scotland) and Henk (Netherlands). They both buy old (usually somewhat trashed) glued display models, and restore them. Here's a large public glued display model collection of Chris's restored models... And my friend Henk has these wonderful restored models.... (also to be found in my guide)... Rare 1958 display model... Mid 1960s model.... 2 pages of a 1960-61 LEGO Retailer Glued Display Model catalog... Circa 1965 glued model.... Very large glued model (1965) of Germany's Johannisburg Castle in Aschaffenburg. Medieval house in Hildesheim Germany... (a personal favorite).... And here's one that took a long time to figure out what it was for. This was for small European independent toy retailers, to have loose bricks inside for parents with kids along... for the kids to try building with LEGO loose parts kept in this "box".... for parents to decide on buying LEGO. This box with loose LEGO was kept behind the counter and brought out at certain times when a child had never played with LEGO before! Over 150 images in my 2 LEGO Guide chapters. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ToyInTheAttic Posted December 4, 2019 Ohoh! My NASA launch pad 39 is in good company! Nice to see there is a family for it! How can I get your collectors book? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted December 5, 2019 14 hours ago, ToyInTheAttic said: Ohoh! My NASA launch pad 39 is in good company! Nice to see there is a family for it! How can I get your collectors book? It is a 2800 page computer desktop (666MB) download (10 minutes to download), with 73 chapters (expanding to about 150 chapters (free to current owners) in 2020). Follow my post link below..I use Paypal,. (last link). I used to sell it as a DVD as well, but shipping worldwide has gotten to expensive, and getting it as a download eliminates Customs and $8 shipping (I email download instructions within hours or less). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
