Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'restoration'.
Found 6 results
-
Introduction A cut my LEGO teeth on Classic Space. Unfortunately, that has caused irrevocable damage to many of the bricks. One of the very first sets I owned was the timeless classic 497/928 Galaxy Explorer, widely held to be one of the best LEGO sets of all time, and it propelled me into a love affair with Classic Space that far outlasted the shelf-life of the range. As I got older, I started to take more care of my LEGO, and many of my later Space sets are still in pretty good condition. You can see examples of two of the sets in my reviews: 6930 Mission Control Centre (Space Supply Station) and 6928 Mercury Crawler (Uranium Search Vehicle). However, the earlier sets didn't fare so well, and now - thirty years later - it's time to see if I can rejuvenate them. I've already had some success with my 375 Yellow Castle; I hope I can achieve a similar result here, but these sets were played with a great deal more and also spent a long time built and exposed to attic dust. Overview Here's a small selection of my Classic Space collection, rescued from the attic in roughly the state you see here. From this angle, things don't look too bad, apart from the muck, but it doesn't bear up so well to closer inspection. I had in mind that I'd start with 928. Let's take a closer look: The ship itself looks complete, and both baseplates are present, including three of the four spacemen. The little base that comes with the set has long since gone. The printed parts are all there, but the Classic Space logo has lost some of its gold. As you can see, the exposed parts are filthy, and some are discoloured, including what looks like rust on the 2x2 cone. Many of the parts are chewed and battered. There's more filth on the front, and the modified plate with prongs is chewed. Unfortunately, the printed slope is quite badly scratched, and the detail on the lovely planet logo has long since gone (it should look like the logo on the banner above). You can also see here how some of the wedge plates are more discoloured than others. Neither is the ship truly complete: Round on the left side, the grey door is missing, and has been replaced with a blue one. Examples of battered and ill-fitting parts abound here. Some parts are broken: The centre grey tail here has snapped; I had clearly tried to disguise the fact. The other side has the same problem. The underside doesn't look too bad, but the nearside landing bad is bent. Also, the long 6x24 plate in the centre should actually be two 2x12 plates. The two dudes I found inside the cruiser don't look too bad at all: I doubt these are the original figures! The gold logo is a little faded on each, which looks a lot worse on the white dude because it isn't hidden by the white background to the print. It's hard to get hold of pristine space figures; these may have to do. The third guy isn't looking so good: he's quite badly discoloured, with a broken helmet. It's a shame, as his logo is in quite good condition; however, whilst I can get the white looking much better, I can't do that without further damaging the logo. Goals What I aim to do here is get the sets looking as good as possible, within certain constraints. I will accept a small loss of quality in some of the prints; I'll try to replace badly faded prints but it is tricky to get hold of some of these printed parts in mint condition. I will try to use 80s bricks where possible. It isn't always easy to tell; for the old grey colour, you know that the parts are at least 8 years old; some later plates can be distinguished by a difference in the mold. Where I still have the box, I'll give it a good clean and try to spruce it up; where I don't have the box - for the larger sets - I'll try to get hold of one. For parts where there were mold differences back then, I will try to use the original mold designs. For example, in the case of the part 'Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Light', I will use the original 'thin ring' parts rather than the later 'thick ring'; however, where mold differences occurred in different releases of the set, I won't be so fussy (for example, I'll accept any form of the modified plate with handles (Bricklink ID 3839, so long as the colour is right). I reserve the right to modify my own conditions if it proves too difficult otherwise! Wish me luck! I'll be updating this thread periodically as I (hopefully) make progress. Rufus Contents Chapter One: 928 Galaxy Explorer Before Parts after cleaning The Box The Results Chapter Two: 924 Space Cruiser/Transporter Before After Interlude: D000dz Chapter Three: 918 One Man Space Ship Before The Box After
-
Need help for an old rcx 2.0
B95z2 posted a topic in LEGO Technic, Mindstorms, Model Team and Scale Modeling
Hello I need your help because I have an old lego rcx 2.0 and unfortunately it does not start anymore. I cleaned up all the electrical contacts, checked the batteries. the current is coming to the pcb but unfortunately it does not turn on. if you want some pictures ask me. Thank you for your help. -B95z2 -
A new home for my VW Collection, be it old or new or rodded, enjoy
-
Is there any way to remove any scratches or other blemishes to restore shine from any LEGO part by means of using a suitable polish for plastic? Usually when I find mixed parts in bags/boxes at thrift shops for instance, they usually have scratches as a result of being moved or shaken.
-
Before my DA, I was seriously into Classic Space and had almost all the sets from the 1970s and early '80s. It's difficult to say which was my favourite but 6927 All-Terrain Vehicle was particularly memorable. Maybe it was the the new colour scheme with the white instead of the grey of the earlier sets. Or maybe it was the detachable lab which smoothly lowered onto the lunar surface. Whatever it was, I've had a soft spot for 6927 for a very long time. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), my mother gave all my LEGO away when I went into my DA. I've been an AFOL since 1993 and for a few years now I've been thinking of getting another 6927. It wasn't until this summer though that I started to take action. At first, I looked at buying a complete one on the secondary market, but the set was either too expensive or I couldn't trust the seller's description of its condition. So I decided to reconstruct it piecemeal from parts I already had plus new and used pieces I bought on BrickLink and Ebay. I wanted to wind up with a really nice looking set but wasn't hugely concerned with historical accuracy and was willing to substitute updated parts such as the newer, thicker piece holding the front lights. I learned a few things along the way: The same description of a used part's condition varies wildly from seller to seller on BrickLink even those with good feedback. Some pieces were so good I could hardly tell they were used. Others were so bad, such as parts that were cracked, that they utterly defied their description. Ebay sellers can't be trusted at all. One in particular in Ireland sent me minifigures that bore no resemblance to either their picture or description. It was basically a scam. Peeron set inventories aren't always right. Kudos if you can find the mistake in 6927's. The technique of whitening parts using hydrogen peroxide, Vanish Crystal White and sunlight really does work. I had some used parts that had gone creamy and the H2O2 method restored them to the shade of new white parts. The technique of using Pledege Multi-Surface Wax to remove scratches from clear parts only works if the abrasions are so fine that they render the clear part cloudy. If you can trace the line of a scratch with the naked eye, Pledge won't help. The glass pieces for the windows were the hardest part to obtain. Two BrickLink sellers in the US independently made exactly the same mistake: they both sent me the wrong size. A seller in the Netherlands sent me the right size but they took 25 days to reach me in the UK. It wasn't the seller's fault. I could see from the postmark that he had sent them right away. They actually were in transit for that long. Congratulations to the Dutch and UK postal systems for being the slowest in the developed world! You can disguise minor flaws in used parts by hiding them in the build. For example, one piece had a mark on it that I couldn't remove, but it really didn't matter as it was buried under another part and can't be seen unless you deconstruct the set. Here are some pictures of the set that I now have in my display collection. Apologies for the rubbish photography. Questions or comments?
-
Our Special Themes Moderator RUFUS is doing a restoration of some Classic Space sets. You can follow his progress in this topic.
