Toastie

Yes. When you qualify (ha! - that's one of the rare occasions were +age is a qualifier for something: Covid-19 vaccinations, free bus rides, and an EB Older Than Dirt tag ), apply here: Best Thorsten

Well ... that'd be a notch too much, wouldn't it? I mean where are we now, about 4 billion years, right? Wait, I had one reference somewhere ... here it is: https://phys.org/news/2018-11-scientist-dirt-planet-oldest-soil.html But that would crush the entire evolution theories for life on planet Earth. No, lets get away with: "I am still reading newspapers, second thing in the morning" (I mean news printed on paper, which renders this type of news of course less new as the real news my daughter is reading) - every morning. And when I can't do that, I am grumpy. At best. That old. Same holds true for not having coffee as first thing in the morning, sometimes even before waking up. Back on topic: Just checked on BrickShelf and all is good. Best Thorsten

Very true!

Oh man - that happens when you attend a Zoom meeting and read EB posts in parallel - sorry. Missed the "not". Minus mal minus gibt plus ... Well - then the trans clear pieces may face the same issue that others have with white and some other lighter colors as well. Let's see: these yellowed pieces are 4 - 5 years old, correct? White pieces do yellow within that time span as well, some more, some less, certainly the process is accelerated by "light" exposure. Which is not the case here and which has also been reported elsewhere, including yellowing of old trans clear parts - which simply either means that poly carbonate can yellow as well or MABS has been in use for longer time than we believe. Or none of this Here is another thread that looks at yellowing for mostly ABS but also other plastic materials: In any case: Plastic material does degrade. And depending on the co-polymer mix maybe faster or slower. I can also envision that TLG is playing around with the mix to adjust mechanical/structural properties. And since TLG can't wait for years to see whether these brick mixtures survive unchanged or not ... it may be a game of trial and per definition no error. All the best Thorsten

About 73 studs? Just count the x4s and x3s and add the snotted plates at both ends = about 73 + 2 Magnets = 77ish? I believe the original developer will not respond, looking at his "Banned Outlaws" rank ... Best Thorsten

OK. Now does the material of these darkened pieces "feel" different from other trans pieces made from poly carbonate? The latter being considerably "stiffer" than pieces made from MABS? Also: How long have these parts been in the sun? Were they as foggy as the one not exposed to light? That "fogginess" points to a material other than poly carbonate, which is usually crystal clear (windows, bricks, other household materials, etc.). Maybe TLG has experimented with MABS before? It has been around for some time ... Best Thorsten

Oh nice - I do see a business case here ...

Yes. Everything said above - in addition to the superb photography! Very, very nice. All the best, Thorsten

I "saw" that only once - and recently: For group member birthdays, the group I am apparently heading is collecting some money and then the office of that member is - well - decorated. On my birthday there is usually tons of Haribos (I love that stuff) and - a SW set. This year though there were LEGOs all over the place ... one of my co-workers decided to either trash the LEGOs his son had gotten back then - or simply dump them in my office. Literally, as he did not know how to put them back together. Wow. It was a blast. LEGO all over my place. Mars Mission sets (7690, 7691, 7693, 7695) and the 2006 Tie Interceptor (6206) and the 2006 Xwing (6212) - as I found out later, when re-assembling things I recognized. Now the point is, parts of 6206 and 6212 were glued. The ones that made him mad, because his son wanted to >play< with them - and they kept falling apart at these critical "joints". Best Thorsten

Well, this is BrickShelf. For me, it always worked/works. With a one or two day patience - rarely though. Normally it works like a charm. Now you don't have to wait for approval for posting elsewhere. This is only for becoming public on BrickShelf. All you need to do is click on the successfully uploaded image on BrickShelf and then copy the link shown in your browser's address bar. I believe this is called "deep linking". When you c/p that link in a post here, the EB forum software shows the link initially, thinks for a second, and then the picture shows up. You can then select to paste as plain text (then just the link shows up and the picture disappears). I find BrickShelf quite comfortable, but this is mostly due to the fact that I am older than dirt. Best Thorsten

Oh that is nice - I had a friend back then - he had 12V trains and much more. Unreachable in so many ways. I'm a bucket person though - the sets I got from my parents were mostly small - 4 wide trucks and cars and ... well bricks. Slope sets. Brick sets. It was a dream coming true.

This is very true. Best Thorsten

I can only confirm that. My data pool is far less big than Ole's I am sure, but this is what I am seeing as well. I also do play a lot of attention to this, as it is also of relevance to my job. And I am also hearing parents that complain about modern LEGO sets - all along the line: There are so many special parts in one set, that building alternatives is really tough (= impossible). It has been said elsewhere on EB (I believe in the "Oldest sets you own" thread or the like, that the old sets look so - "crude" - but still so lovely - and clearly recognizable as "plane", "truck" our "house". I also heard about the debates of needing to be more accurate with regard to shapes and appearance to be able to compete successfully with other brands. And boom - there we have a triangular circle: Being accurate using ever smaller or complex/diverse pieces means that when you buy a $/€19.99 set there is not much you can do with it other than - well the set. Provided it is not a box of bricks set - containing as many colors as individual pieces . But yes: TLG sells their stuff, for sure. And the same holds the for the "bucket of LEGOs" (>base plates< (to start somewhere!), plates, bricks, maybe tires ... and that's it - no hinges, tiles ... etc pp): Kids build like crazy ... all sorts of things. Best Thorsten

Well, could be. The change of the resin used for trans clear was announced by TLG but of course no disclosure on the polymer. This was discussed here and there; here is only one reference: https://forum.brickset.com/discussion/33843/are-trans-clear-lego-or-all-trans-parts-now-made-out-of-a-different-plastic It is speculated that the polymer is now of the type MABS ((Methyl) Methacrylate Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) - more down below on its properties as copied from this link: http://polymerdatabase.com/Polymer Brands/MASB.html Methacrylate Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Transparent ABS Properties Methyl methacrylate-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (MABS) is a clear engineering and commodity thermoplastic that has excellent transparency, high impact strength, good stiffness and good resistance to chemicals. The properties of MABS resins depend on their composition. The butadiene portion provides flexibility and high impact resistance1 whereas the methacrylate-styrene-acrylonitrile portion provides strength, good dimensional stability, and creep resistance. MABS is widely used in the household appliances and consumer goods industry. It is also used for toys, office accessories, industrial housings and covers, reusable drinkware, and medical devices. I am not sure at all though of the "greener" approach TLG has chosen; they have added methyl-methacrylate to the copolymer mix - which is as green as dark red is. I believe this was much more driven by the structural properties of MASB - which are much closer to ABS as polycarbonate possibly can be. Also, you can adjust these structural properties by changing the monomer percentage composition (see above). And yes, sunlight + MABS my well result in what you are seeing. Particularly because MABS is somewhat foggy and thus absorbs light more efficiently as poly carbonate does - and that absorbed light may induce chemistry that leads to what you observed. Best Thorsten

No way! Of course this is a very important matter! And I wish I could participate. I really enjoyed your post very much Well, I am color "blind". So for me, LEGO is: White, blue, green, yellow, orange (yes, I can do that - but I need to cheat :)), yellow, black. And gray. Even bley and gray. But that's it - beyond that color range I have to ask around. I love classic space. Guess why :))))) Best Thorsten

This is a nice and lovely building! I lived a couple of years at the sunny west coast around Huntington Beach - the surf shops up and down the 1 looked like that - they preferred a darker tone on the wood, but the appearance is really nice! Best Thorsten

Well, with batteries removed (for some time) that "reset button" does not make that much sense - no power - no reset :))) Now has been speculated elsewhere and has been used as that by TLG: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/15530/what-internal-electronics-does-the-control-technic-hub-88012-use I'd also go with "detect an alternative battery pack" Best Thorsten

... and he does a very good job! I am very happy that he is "around". Challenges TLG - as well as others, for sure. Has affiliations - so what. I like diversity - even when biased to a certain extent. I don't like churches of the bricks, regardless where the come from. Furthermore, I learned a lot from just seeing his videos. Not staring, but asking questions. Best Thorsten

Brickshelf behaves from time to time - a little bumpy - my experience. BUT: Since 10 years of hosting, nothing disappeared, nor did anything go wrong. Yes, "it" is old, yes the interface is ... old/weird/as it was back then. But it works. Maybe not on a hour to hour or even day to day basis, but in the long run: Always. For me that is. When you want something more hip or modern: Go there. There are many options. When you have time to wait a minute/hour/day for BrickShelf to come alive again: Stay there. It seems, this platform is a bit bumpy on the "just in time" business, but rock solid on the "keep it safe" side. Just me two 100 Dollar notes, others may have a completely different take on this. Best Thorsten

My oldest set is the first set I got in my (then) young life - I turned three years old when my family got me 323, one year after it came out, as a birthday present: And here she is on a shelf in my room: I took the photographs for @1974, unaware of this thread. Best Thorsten

I just turned that feature off - too much crap. Well, this is how it is, nowadays - when the sh*t hits the fan. Best Thorsten

Oh this is cool!!! Very nice. I like your approach very much; it also clearly shows the strengths of the PUp system! Must have a look at your code! Thanks a lot, Thorsten

Well, I'll try: Old-style finger hinges should never EVER have been disabled. And the folks who decided on that should have been punished : Retool the moulds with their own money. I have no clue why that happened, maybe too many kids ate them? No idea. They are not only nice as hinges, but taken apart also for many design purposes! Does that change your mind a bit? Best Thorsten

Absolutely! That is the key issue, regardless of environmental proposals from whatever company. So far. Best Thorsten