Is the excavator mounted to the trailer? Does such a thing even exist?

It's fun how many creative shapes can be made with such a limited part selection

@gorf43 said:
"Is the excavator mounted to the trailer? Does such a thing even exist? "

The trailer in this case is called a float. They haul excavators, bulldozers and other heavy equipment that have top speeds of about 10km/h. Backhoes can run about 50kph with a weight in the front bucket (usually an attachment like a rock breaker) but have limited range and are often floated in as well.

On another note, I like those old tires.

This is honestly a little more detailed than I would have expected from a 1972 set.

Lol just build this yesterday from a haul
@MCLegoboy sadly the oldest lego bricks are not better, mostly the losing grip issues.
I even have a bunch of bricks that changed shape.

Lol just build this yesterday from a haul
@MCLegoboy sadly the oldest lego bricks are not better, mostly the losing grip issues.
I even have a bunch of bricks that changed shape.

@watcher21 said:
"Lol just build this yesterday from a haul
@MCLegoboy sadly the oldest lego bricks are not better, mostly the losing grip issues.
I even have a bunch of bricks that changed shape."

Yeah. A lot of my 80s bricks no longer feel the same as they once did or modern bricks do now. Some are too loose and some have a little too much grip. Early minifigures also tend to be either very loose or very stiff. Sadly, some 1x1 plates in trans green and trans red have snapped in half. (Easily replaced though.)

@Brickchap said:
In fact a whole line of minifig scale 4-6 wide vehicles based on Classic Town designs would be really cool. (and I mean keep to the era too, not modern 2020s vehicles but 1960s/70s/80s etc. cars and trucks)]]

At a Lego show at Excel in London a number of years back I saw a whole display by someone who had done just that. Sadly I haven’t been able to find any photos of them though.
Maybe it was just a dream…

Loved all the Legoland articulated vehicles based on this tractor/trailer baseplate combo. Only had 3 at the time, but have since collected boxed versions of them all. Only occasional problem is the trailer hitch, which is a bit prone to partially snapping.

Nice little set. Nothing really special but perfect little toy.

@watcher21 said:
"I even have a bunch of bricks that changed shape."
Many old slope pieces have grown up to be macaroni pieces....

@watcher21 said:
"I even have a bunch of bricks that changed shape."
Often down to Hydrogen Peroxide abuse! A very unfortunate 'discovery' to whiten bricks. Only works temporarily, and turns some bricks banana shaped (worst effect on cellulose acetate bricks, but also on some more modern ABS ones)

@sjr60 said:
" @watcher21 said:
"I even have a bunch of bricks that changed shape."
Often down to Hydrogen Peroxide abuse! A very unfortunate 'discovery' to whiten bricks. Only works temporarily, and turns some bricks banana shaped (worst effect on cellulose acetate bricks, but also on some more modern ABS ones)"

Wow, I just started to use that to get rid on the brown discolourment on bricks. Never read anywhere that that can happen.
Currently I'm focussing on a 8634 Mobile Command Center I bought online. There's not a lot of sun here this time of year, so I'll wait.

@watcher21, do those bricks have weird lego logos by any chance? They might be samsonite bricks. I've encountered those in many bulk lots, and they rarely stick together. And when they do they rarely look straight. Often they aren't even usable anymore because they're so twisted. What's up with that? Are they prone to melt in the sun or something? And why are they so common here in the Netherlands anyway, even though they were a US thing (afaik).

@Binnekamp said:
" @sjr60 said:
" @watcher21 said:
"I even have a bunch of bricks that changed shape."
Often down to Hydrogen Peroxide abuse! A very unfortunate 'discovery' to whiten bricks. Only works temporarily, and turns some bricks banana shaped (worst effect on cellulose acetate bricks, but also on some more modern ABS ones)"

Wow, I just started to use that to get rid on the brown discolourment on bricks. Never read anywhere that that can happen.
Currently I'm focussing on a 8634 Mobile Command Center I bought online. There's not a lot of sun here this time of year, so I'll wait."
I would say if you use it, only soak for the absolute minimum time to get an effect, and don't expect the result to last more than a few months.
I did a 1969 set (346-2). Was very pleased with the result and reboxed it... Looked again around 6 months later and it was yellower than it had been in the 1st place!

Wow, that's low.

I feel like roller skates with pivot steering aren’t a really sound design.

@MCLegoboy:
More likely they’ve started to develop cracks at the bottom edge, which is one of the reasons they switched from cheap acrylic to polycarbonate.

@watcher21:
And that would be one of the reasons they switched from cheap cellulose acetate to the ABS that they’ve used even longer than polycarbonate.

@sjr60:
In ABS, it’s a chemical reaction with one of the two rubberizing agents they add to styrene. Once it starts happening, it’s not likely to stop. I don’t know what sets it off in some bricks and not in others, but chemicals have started to break down, and those same chemicals are present through the entire structure of the piece. Maybe there’s an impurity, maybe the chemical in question came from a bad batch, or maybe they messed up the ratio of the three main chemicals, but the material is uniformly mixed all the way through, so the same chemical reaction is eventually going to happen deep inside. ABS is hygroscopic, and if it can absorb moisture, air can fit in the same spaces. If it turns brown near the surface, it might be reacting with something in the air, but the very outer surface is constantly exposed to new molecules of whatever’s kicking things off, where it’ll take time for the same molecules to work their way in.

Think of it like an apple. If you cut open an apple, the white flesh starts to turn brown within minutes. At first it’s just the very outer surface that has been exposed to the air. You can shave a bit off to expose more white apple flesh, but that’s just going to turn brown as well. You can leave the brown layer alone, but it’s just going to spread deeper into the apple the longer it sits there. There’s only two things you can do that’ll stop it. Either you have to put the apple in a vacuum chamber where there’s no air to react with...or you need to eat the apple.

Some parts are doomed to react very strongly, while others might never do so. I have a few MOCs where one piece has started to turn brown, while the rest are fine. Because this is a MOC and not a set, it’s unlikely that the white parts all came from a single batch of plastic, but this is actually possible with any official set you buy. Or if the parts in those sets come from more than one batch of plastic, those batches of plastic may share common batches of one or more component chemicals.

No need for sleeping tablets tonight then.....

It would be cool if Lego celebrated its 90th anniversary with re-issues of some sets from every decade. Obviously those first few decades would have to be wood toys re-created in Lego along the lines of 40501 or 4000025, but that's fine.

Maybe I'm just still upset I missed out on the 60th Anniversary of the Lego brick sets like 4000028 because they never showed up (that I saw) at my local Walmart.

@MonsterFighter said:
" @Brickchap said:
"In fact a whole line of minifig scale 4-6 wide vehicles based on Classic Town designs would be really cool. (and I mean keep to the era too, not modern 2020s vehicles but 1960s/70s/80s etc. cars and trucks)"

At a Lego show at Excel in London a number of years back I saw a whole display by someone who had done just that. Sadly I haven’t been able to find any photos of them though.
Maybe it was just a dream…
"

Maybe it was this person?

https://brickset.com/article/70066/a-guide-to-building-classic-town-cars

I don't see any mention in the article, though, that they brought their display to shows.

@sjr60:
Well, looking at the picture of this set did conk me out within minutes last night...

I miss the hinges, which appeared in nearly every set with some form of articulation. They must have been a technical feet of engineering at the time to produce fully assembled with just the right amount of friction to move and stay in position. Just a shame I bent all mine backwards too far and they snapped, because I could find a hundred uses for them now compared to the current hinges which are too stiff and come away from the plate that they are attached to rather than opening!

This was one of my first sets, probably 5th set. It's also one of a few set I don't remember who gave it to me. Unfortunately the special plate broke. And I just threw it out this winter when I was sorting my old LEGO and threw out all the broken pieces.

@sjr60 said:
" @watcher21 said:
"I even have a bunch of bricks that changed shape."
Often down to Hydrogen Peroxide abuse! A very unfortunate 'discovery' to whiten bricks. Only works temporarily, and turns some bricks banana shaped (worst effect on cellulose acetate bricks, but also on some more modern ABS ones)"

Thanks for the warning I never tried "whitening" yet, seems no Hydrogen Peroxide for me.
In this case it's yet the lego quality itself, the bricks are easily recognizable. The lego logo on the studs is smaller (less stretched) that the now used marking.

@MonsterFighter said:
" @Brickchap said:
"In fact a whole line of minifig scale 4-6 wide vehicles based on Classic Town designs would be really cool. (and I mean keep to the era too, not modern 2020s vehicles but 1960s/70s/80s etc. cars and trucks)"

At a Lego show at Excel in London a number of years back I saw a whole display by someone who had done just that. Sadly I haven’t been able to find any photos of them though.
Maybe it was just a dream…
"

Was it the work of Are Heiseldal? I enjoyed seeing his project when he brought it to Seattle.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/legolago/