Grover

I think that if a new Castle line came out, we would get more builders here, as it would generate excitement. I do have a couple of concerns, though, one of which would be helped by a new line. The first I share with you, and that is the general lack of minifigures. If you have to go on Bricklink to get figures for your army, then you are in trouble. I have this issue with Mitgardia, Kaliphlin, and Nocturnus. I missed out on a lot of the Viking, Arabian, and monsters in my dark ages, and since these themes are not evergreen, you have to buy used figures if you want to build (for instance, I have no mummies, and only one minotaur, so building these in Nocturnus is a problem). However, to some extent, this is mitigated by a new line of Castle, especially if we get different factions (good guys, bad guys, wolf packs, maybe some monsters). My larger concern, though, is kind of ironic: I am a little concerned that new builders will be intimidated from joining. From reading all the forums here on Eurobricks, it is my opinion that GoH has among the top builders, if not the top builders on the boards. Looking back in the forums to 2010, you see a lot less detailed builds, but as time progresses, this group has really pushed the limits and brought a lot of new ideas for building MOCs. The build quality here is exceedingly high. Hence, the irony: we have some of the best builders, but new builders, particularly younger ones, may be intimidated into not posting their builds since they don't feel they are adequate. Although I am less concerned with people thinking my builds are terrible, one of the things that I have felt was a challenge was my lack of modern bricks and colors. Almost all my collections when I started here was from the 80s, so it was the basic colors, with only a few brown and green bricks, and almost no modern pieces. Since I started here, I have been buying up as many new colors (brown, tan, dark tan, greens, dark red and blue, etc.), but since I don't have a LUG anywhere near me and live in a small town without a chance of starting one, I have to buy from the secondary market, which is fairly expensive in most cases, and it has taken me several years to get to the point where I feel I have enough 'modern' bricks and colors to be able to build something that looks halfway decent.

I doubt it. Thus, wishful thinking. I can still dream!

There's a lot of great designers here. I was thinking along the lines of less elaborate builds, but with all the characters and color schemes of the guilds. Would be very cool to get battle packs to build up armies.

Thanks! I hadn't thought e-bay could pre-order.

I think a poll would be great, and would be happy to put one together but don’t want to overstep my bounds since I am still relatively new here. In the case this helps the leaders here, this was my thinking when joining a guild. I’m hoping knowing personal preferences and thinking will provide some insight for the guild leaders. first choice: Avalonia. I really enjoy the classic medieval settting with castles and knights. I also wanted to work on my landscaping and have some elven builds. I have the idea for a story arc of building a castle in various MOCs, so this was an obvious choice. second choice: Nocturnus. I like the dark textures here, and within that seemed a lot of room to experiment, such as with lime green pools, purples and reds, etc. the main thing holding me back here was a lack of any monster figures. The bulk of my collection was from the 1980s and I felt behind on all the new pieces and colors, not to mention the evil minis. third choice: Mitgardia. I am not as big into the Norse realm as many folks are, although I liked the idea of learning to make snow builds. I would still like to work with snow MOCs, and like many of the dwarven aspects of this realm. I had and still have, however, zero Viking minis, so I don’t feel that I can make a MOC easily. last: Kaliphlin. Nothing against this guild, as there are some amazing MOCs here, but it’s a personal preference thing. In addition to not having any Arabian minis and few tropical plants, the Arabian setting and colors have never appealed to me. I will probably eventually make a build here, but for whatever reason, the color palettes and settings appeal to me more in the other guilds. Wishful thinking: wouldn’t it be awesome if TLG picked up or guilds for a new castle line? It would already have a backstory, colors and everything!

Where do you preorder a case in the US? Bricklink? I have been unable to find a place to do so.

And I feel old.

I am hoping that there will be a new threat to all of Historica that the guilds must work together to defeat. How does one pronounce the latest V-named guild? I think that Game of Thrones with Valyria has really taken over in my mind. I find that some of the names are difficult for me to wrap my mind around. Avalonia, Mitgardia and Nocturnus work well for me. Kaliphlin I want to call Kaliphin, and Varlyrio or however you spell it I want to call Valyrio (pronounced Vuh-Larry-oh in my mind, but maybe it's Var-lie-ree-oh? I dunno). I also agree about not getting into too much PM stuff. I think you lose a lot that way on the forums, and this game seems to be about collaborative storytelling through builds, which is appealing to me.

Thanks so much for your detailed reply, ZC. It makes a lot more sense to me now and I completely understand not wanting a strong personality to dominate and ruin the fun for everyone else. It sounds like there’s a good path to those who want to help with the guilds and are proven builders and players. i would like to help more, but right now I’m in your boat with kids and work and can’t commit; I don’t want to jump in and then not be able to follow through. I would rather focus on my building and contribute to GoH that way first, then when my time opens up, step in and help with logistics and whatever else I can. X105, the way I’m reading it, as others are saying, it sounds like your character can be in Novturnus, just there are too few people to support a win in guild competition right now, so they want you to support another guild for points, even if your builds are for Nocturnus. Maybe you could choose who you want the points to go to and have more freedom that way.

Since I am still relatively new here and have few builds, feel free to ignore me. However, I am curious how things work here. I am happy for opacity with the storyline, as it provides surprises, but I would like to know the reason that the process for leader selection is not more transparent. I would hate to quash enthusiasm, especially from established builders like Narb. For instance, what special concerns do you have about opening up Valyrio? Is there a codified theme or style that you are afraid a new leader would not adhere to, or is this more of a “they don’t have the general feeling of Historical because they weren’t a leader previously”? Also, how does one become a leader here? Is there a formal process, or is it simply an invitation from those currently in power? I’m not saying one method is right or wrong, just that the process is not obvious to me, and perhaps it isn’t to others either. I would like to see Historica continue, drum up enthusiasm for it, and I would be afraid that people who want to help could get frustrated by a lack of clarity or a feeling of being turned away.

I think it's got a very nice classic-castle.com look. The wall pieces are fine for what it is for, especially if you have a limited collection of pieces. I really like the portcullis a drawbridge, and the throwback catapult.

I agree with the observation; it appears that this is not a place where there are weekly accumulations of points (which is actually appealing to me; I like the story-driven aspect and probably would be less interested if we had point accumulations), so the guild vs. guild is not as strong as some of the other games on Eurobricks. I am still in favor of guild leaders, however, and it may be that the guild members can elect a leader, who can help direct the story of the guild. I really like the open ended history lore challenges (like the one that HQ won), as these are voted on by the members. Based on these observations, why would it be a problem to have unbalanced guilds? If Nocturnus had only one member, then that person would be the guild leader and able to direct the story. If you don't like that, then you could join it and help write it. Folks seem to still be able to build in any guild they want, but those in the guild have more direct effect on the guild direction. I am closer to being in x105 Black's camp than the rest of the prolific builders here due to some really tough time constraints since I joined (although I have a few small builds), so I am more than happy to defer to those who are prolific builders here. In any case, I am enjoying the collaborative story atmosphere here and being a part of the guilds!

x105Black, we would love to have you! I would second The Stad in his suggestion to make the decision soon if Nocturnus will be closed and Valyrio will be opened to give people time to decide, especially by researching Valyrio a bit. Personally, I would like to see all 5 guilds opened up. I had the impression that Kaliphlin had the fewest active members at the moment, but perhaps this is not correct? Would it be appropriate to post a poll topic asking people which guild they would build for if all 5 were open? I think that would encompass all the current active members if it were left open for a few weeks, and may give a better idea of the popularity of each of the guilds. A bit more off topic, I was under the impression that Valyrio was more reniassance flavored? Is it supposed to be more Italian, Venice area specifically?

Yes, you can figure out what the flame retardants are, but it is not easily done at home unless you live in an analytical chemistry lab. Usually analytical labs charge a lot of $$ for this, as this service is typically called deformulation and is used to reverse engineer competitors' products. From a practical standpoint, you would start with an educated guess as to what the most common flame retardants are, or simply a collection of all the flame retardants that were commercially available during the time period that you're interested in. Then there are a number of ways to go, and this list is by no means all inclusive: * Examine the properties of these materials and ideally you will find a solvent that will not dissolve the ABS but will dissolve the flame retardants, even a little bit. For example, ABS is much more soluble in ketones, esters, and polar ethers like THF than it is in say methanol or ethanol. If you find a flame retardant that is soluble in one of these alcohols, you can extract the flame retardant with it, usually via something like a Soxhlet extraction. Then you collect and concentrate the extract and analyze it, typically by 1H and 13C NMR, IR, and MS. If you can get enough material by this method and you have correct solubilities, this is probably the most definitive method. This becomes complicated by the colorants in the system (i.e., blue, red, whatever color dye). * If your flame retardants have the same solubility as ABS, or you can't separate them from the colorant, then you can look at thermally degrading the material in a closed system and collecting the gasses. In some cases, you can get volatilization of the flame retardant, allowing it to be analyzed in trace amounts in equipment like a GC-MS and you can hopefully compare the molecular ion peak to the molecular weights of the suspected flame retardants. * You can also dissolve the entire ABS sample in something like MEK, filter out as much of the gelled/swollen polymer as possible, then inject the solution onto an HPLC or LC-MS. This separates the various compounds by polarity, so you will be able to see how many components you have, usually a UV-VIS spectrum, and the parent ion mass (except in the case of the polymer, which is more complicated, but we already know it's ABS, so we don't really care). Compare this data to that of the pure flame retardants you're looking for and you will hopefully get your answer. This unfortunately requires a lot of time working up a method for the LC that works to separate the materials. * I would suggest that an ATR-IR probe would be able to see the bloom and help ID the yellowing agent, but I doubt the agent is thick enough (this usually requires a few micron thickness). The main problem with any of these methods is that the instruments are pretty expensive (the NMR for instance, is usually around $400k or more, and the 'cheap' instruments, like a benchtop IR, start around $15k), and the methods are time intensive. No company is going to pay for the time on these instruments and workers time to do the bench work to look for trace amounts of a flame retardant, unless they are a competitor, and in that case, they'd likely keep their results to themselves. The best we can hope for is that we find a university student with access to these resources and some curiosity--maybe an undergraduate project could do this, or a graduate student studying flame retardants in polymers... Probably way more detail than you wanted.

From what I read, those are made of the much more flexible polyethylene. Makes sense, because the plants have always been flexible, but I'm curious if they're going to try and replace the ABS with PE as well. I believe that some of the competitor brands use PE or other polymers, and this leads to problems with tolerance and strength. Hopefully they'll only try and source the ABS starting materials from a more environmentally friendly source and not try to change away from ABS itself.

I suspect that the runners, sprue, and the weep holes are all different on the mold as well. That, coupled with the different shrinkage (and thus a differing oversize) would lead to different molds. However, an 8x8 plate in trans blue of some flavor would be great with me if they could produce some more of them.

Love it! I always like looking at your builds; you have a talent for packing a ton of detail into the build without it seeming too busy. I also like the many clean lines that you have without looking like there is a lack of texture. I really like the guy in the sewer obviously up to no good. The turkey is also fantastic! Great job yet again!

Castle/Medieval first, followed by town.

That's a great link to some good experimental work, anothergol! I took a look, and there are several versions of oxyclean, some with and some without detergent, and even some in liquid form. It may be that some of that is causing issues with the dyes. Of course, it could be that the dyes themselves are incompatible with strong oxidizing agents. Personally, I would not use the hair salon peroxides as described in the article, for the same reasons as using the Oxyclean--it could have surfactants or other chemicals that could ruin the dyes of the bricks. As to your question, I do not know when they stopped, if they stopped, or what flame retardants they were using and are now using. There are definitely flame retardants in the bricks, though, or they would light on fire without provocation. I suspect that there are environmental, suspect carcinogenic, and cost reasons associated with their choices. Johnny1360, I thought about those headlight kits as well. I have not tried them, but I am very curious if someone does, as they do appear to work well on the headlights. I took a look through flame retardants on polycarbonate, and it appears that one is tetrabromobisphenol A (TBPA). Not sure if Lego ever used this or not, but it is a blooming flame retardant that has been gradually phased out over the years, and is also susceptible to free radical reaction, so could be cleaned up by peroxide. Based on this mechanism, I suspect that yellowed pieces could be cleared up by UV light and application of any commercial product with a radical initiator, such as acne cream containing benzoyl peroxide in sufficient concentration, or chemicals like AIBN. Not that lab chemicals are commonly available, but it would be an interesting theory to test. Also makes me wonder if mild radical producing oxidizers like NCS would be useful.

Very nice! I really like the lines and the attention to detail that you have with the joints on the legs, etc. I think the rider is my favorite part. The only part that does not have me totally convinced is the eyes. They look good when you zoom in, but from a distance, they stick out to me. I think this is an artifact of proportion, something that we are constrained with as builders and given Lego stud and piece size. I think maybe I want the eye to be more sunken into a socket or something... I can't quite put my finger on it, but I have noticed this with a lot of official Lego builds before. In any case, you have done an amazing job. Great work! I love seeing the brick built dragons.

Very nice. As others have said, great use of otherwise unused parts, and very realistic as well. I also like the landscaping and the subtle use of creatures such as the snakes and scorpions.

You're welcome! Being an organic chemist rarely comes in handy outside of work. lol BTW, if you want to research this yellowing, the polymer term for plasticizers and flame retardants leaching and yellowing is usually called 'bloom' in the industry. If I have some free time, I may see if I can figure out what flame retardants are used in PC. I kind of want to try extracting the flame retardant in a Soxhlet and running NMR on it to see if I can identify it.

Very nice. I think I just spent an hour looking through all the images in detail. I like all the details in there, and the awesome connection everything has. The color choices are very artistic, too. Excellent!

Nice job! I have seen each of the MOCs in other threads, and they look good by themselves, but together they form a really nice, coherent city block. I really like the brewing company and the texture on the side of the firehouse wall.

Oxyclean is a percarbonate salt (i.e., instead of a hydrate, it is a hydrogen peroxidate). Thus, you're really just generating H2O2 in situ when using Oxyclean, so if you think you are not applying an oxidizer, you are. However, there are several advantages to Oxyclean: 1. As a solid, it does not degrade on storage like liquid solutions of H2O2. Thus, using a scoop of Oxyclean now will be the same as using it next year, and thus you don't have to worry about degradation (i.e., 'going off', as noted by anothergol). 2. The carbonate portion of the salt is basic. This may or may not help with what you are trying to do. 3. You can add more Oxyclean to concentrate the hydrogen peroxide solution higher than standard 3% solutions in a bottle. As for yellowing of clears, isn't the clear a polycarbonate? Or were they polycarbonates back in the day? Most of the bricks should be ABS, but I believe that the transparents are polycarbonate and I have never seen it in print, but I suspect that the trees are probably polyethylene or polypropylene (based on their soft texture). I think there are some rubbery parts, too (spear tips, some minifigure items), and am not sure what the polymer is. In any case, the standard yellowing is thought to be due to the brominated flame retardants that used to be put into the ABS bricks. These would break down over time and leach the brownish decomp products into the polymer, leaving the 'yellowed' look. This can be destroyed by the free radical oxygen caused by the action of UV light on hydrogen peroxide (thus the leaving the H2O2 solution out in the sun). This solution only presents itself on the surface, however, and more of the additive will diffuse through the polymer over time, thus leaving the yellowed color again despite being protected from light. I suspect that the decomposition is thermal rather than light catalyzed, or at least thermal with a light activated chain reaction, and thus it will yellow when stored away from light. I suspect if you cleaned up a white brick with the H2O2, then put it in your freezer, it would keep white much, much longer than if you left it out at room temperature. The next question is: How do you clean up clear polycarbonate bricks? One needs to understand the mechanism of discoloration. If it is due to surface abrasion, then polishing the surface again would help. If it is due to diffusion of polymer additives over time, then the nature of this additive must be understood to discern a method of clean up. Off the top of my head, I don't know what the difference is in flame retardants and plasticizers between ABS and PC. PDF with list of ABS additives for those who are interested: http://icl-ip.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ABSGnlICLIP.pdf