How to distinguish official LEGO mini movies from non-official movies?

Hello Eran's family! How are you all doing today?

Please try these methods instead:

The Publisher's Home Page - DON'T go directly to the search box to search the term "LEGO city mini movies", but instead just
pull up one of your official LEGO mini movies and click on the
name of the person who published the video to YouTube.

In this case it would be "LEGO". So, clicking on the content creator's name will
lead you to that publisher's homepage and everything they've posted
to YT, such as Playlists, Videos, Community chit-chats, etc...
Now, anything not created by this publisher, again LEGO, will not be on their
homepage.
Please Show Me More -  So, right below the video publisher's name and date of publication there is a video description.

In this description field the publisher sometimes has links, or if
its a song, the song's written lyrics. Now, if the description field
gets too long and wordy, YT will cut it off after a certain length,
and hide the rest behind the "SHOW MORE" link.

So, try the SHOW MORE link to see if there's further info to
more official content.
YouTube Restricted Mode On/Off.  You can turn this on in YouTube settings to try to filter videos with potentially mature content, but note: Filters are not 100% accurate.

Phone App - Restricted Mode On/Off

Open YouTube app.
Tap 3 dots in the top right of screen.
Look for gray "Gear Cog" to access "settings".
In settings, look for "Restricted Mode Filtering".
Choose either "Don't Filter" or "Strict". Done.

Desktop computer - Restricted Mode On/Off:

Click 3 gray "parallel lines" next to YouTube logo to open side
menu.
Scroll down/look for gray "Gear Cog" to access "settings".
Scroll down to the very bottom of page look for "Restricted Mode".
Click on it to access more of the page.
Scroll down some more. Toggle it "on" or "off".
Click "Save".
Done.


What is the "LEGO Master Builder Academy"?

Basically, it's a program in which LEGO Master Builders share and impart their LEGO building knowledge to members. If you remember LEGO BrickMaster, MBA is sort of a successor to that.

There's a Guide section in the LEGO MBA site that answers your questions. Specifically, from What is LEGO MBA?:

What is this "Academy"?

  LEGO Master Builder Academy is an in-home and online experience in which real LEGO Master Builders share the tips and techniques of basic through advanced building, creativity and design with kids (ages 8 or older) who want to become better builders.

What do I get with the set?

  The first annual subscription includes LEGO MBA kits 2-6, with one kit delivered every 2 months, plus unlimited access to the members-only LEGOmba.com website! Each LEGO MBA kit includes an 84-page Designer Handbook teaching LEGO Master Builder techniques, plus articles, building instructions full of Master Builder tips, LEGO bricks to create 3 new models (one at a time), and exclusive minifigures or accessories.

How much does it cost?

  The subscription, which includes kits 2-6, is $69.99 and available for purchase online or by phone.

This "about" page and the rest of the site should answer some other questions you might have.


The specific part (870) is identified in the other answer, however it is part of an assembly with its own part number:

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=827#T=C&C=3

827 Vehicle, Tractor Chassis

870's page mentions it has extra parts that it is used with, and 827 is the complete assembly (steering wheel + mechanism).

This page details what other parts are needed to complete it.

https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?P=827

870 is the base in the picture, and 871-874 are the mechanism pieces.


Lego Mindstorms RCX RIS 2.0 IR tower Windows 10 64-bit driver

As many of the RIS 2.0 questions here suggest, you may be better off finding a different way of talking to that pedigree of brick.

Virtual machines and other operating systems running other software are your best choices at this time. Running old, unsigned 32-bit drivers on Windows 10 presents a nearly impossible set of hurdles just to push a few bytes to a brick.

I maintain a fork of NQC, for example, and I'm pretty sure I'll never try to get the USB tower part of that updated for Windows 64-bit.

Another option is to find a classic serial tower and use a USB to serial dongle. I've had some success on that on OS X and earlier Windows releases.


Homemade methods for interfacing a Servo with LEGO bricks

The best solution is to create custom LEGO-compatible bricks that your servos (or other parts) fit into. This can be done by:

modding existing bricks with knives, glue and other tools
building bricks from other material (wooden LEGO, formed with Fimo/Sculpey...)
building bricks with a 3D-printer (for instance see the LEGO category on thingiverse). There are online services to print your designs if you don't have a 3D printer (yet ;-)

Each strategy is worth another question here at bricks.SE.


Why do some sets contain parts of an unrelated colour that are hidden on the final model?

I believe the main reason is so that the pieces are easy to identify in the instructions - as many LEGO sets don't have the Technic style "List of elements used in this step" it's always a fun game of "Spot the difference" to see what's changed:

If those pieces were all red, then the target audience (5+ on those sets for example) might find it very frustrating to build.

(Even with the list of elements to use in a step it can often be quite an effort to find where a particular part goes.)


It's from MCDR4-1 Circuit Star, a McDonald's promotional set from 2009:
You can clearly see the wavy white and yellow lines on the side stickers.


That's Support Crane Stand Double and Blue color was used in a single set - Highway Construction (6600)


What causes certain LEGO parts to yellow over time, and how can this be prevented?

There are many things such as dirt and chemicals that can cause elements to change color. Dirt can easily be washed off, but certain contaminants such as cigarette smoke can stain plastic.

The most common issue that causes LEGO bricks to yellow is interaction with ultraviolet light, most commonly from the sun. The simplest way to prevent this is to store parts indoors out of the way of even indirect sunlight.

There are some tips for correcting this issue in another question, and more details about the chemical process that causes UV light to degrade ABS over on Chemistry.


Head: Is Part #3626cpb0704, which appears in any of these 24 sets.

Torso: Is from Set #76007-1 Iron Man: Malibu Mansion Attack. Specifically, the "Extremis Soldier" minifig chest piece.


Are there factories in China that produce raw LEGO-compatible blocks?

There are vendors that sell LEGO compatible blocks. One place to look for these is on AliExpress, which is an online marketplace affiliated with Alibaba, the world's largest retailer (wikipedia).

You can search around for what you want, but here are two sellers that I found as an example (1, 2).

Note that these don't appear to be significantly better prices than what you might find on a secondary LEGO market such as Bricklink, and quality varies a lot between brands, so I'd recommend sticking with Bricklink unless you are looking for massive quantities and quality isn't as important to you.

High quality LEGO compatible brick manufacturing requires very high mold tolerance and tight tolerances on the entire injection molding process. It isn't easy to do cheaply, and LEGO's scale allows them to be fairly price competitive on bulk parts among manufactures with similar quality.


From the official EV3 FAQ:

  What does EV3 stand for?

  This is the third generation of the LEGO MINDSTORMS platform and the
  "EV" stands for evolution, hence EV3.

The first two generations referred to here are LEGO MINDSTORMS RCX and NXT, respectively.


Are These Minifig Helmet, Hair, and Stingray Accessories Official LEGO Parts?

Welcome to BRICKS!

These are the four official LEGO parts you questioned.

Cross check their part numbers with the ones you've got on hand.

If they match, then they're good.

See ya!

Part# 61189pb03.

Part# 15083pb01.

Part# 30084.

Part# 43753.


You can remotely start and stop programs from the NXT software. So create a simple program that just has a few display blocks and an empty loop at the end to keep the program from stopping then run the program.


This seems to match my recollection of the major knights from the film, so pretty much probably not:

There wasn't a black (sable) and yellow (or) quartered knight, nor a martlet or raven on his shield.

That helmet element (Mini Knight's Helmet Closed) has been around since 2010, and has often been used in tournament and jousting sets, as well as general Castle sets of the time.


Tools to aid in getting parts from tight spots?

I use a simple reverse tape at the end of a stick


Is there a way to strengthen individual pieces?

Those joints are based solely on friction, which comes from:

the "bite" of the socket - how rigid the containing socket is
the rigidity = non-elasticity of the ball
the shape of the ball
the relative friction between the two surfaces

The old plastic gets weaker with time, which rules out fixing the first two causes.

The shape of the ball would be pretty hard to fix; also the shape is not likely to have changed much.

This leaves the friction itself. So what you could do:

spray an adhesive on the ball to make it tackier
glue the joint in place (KRAGLE!!)


Helmet with flip-down binoculars is not in any of the databases

It's probably a 3rd-party LEGO-compatible accessory, several 3rd-parties make such military themed accessories.

LEGO doesn't make very many modern-day military-themed pieces and I found similar pieces on one 3rd-party accessory shop. It's not an exact match, but it's pretty close. It might be that you have an older version of their product, or some competitor's product.


What does "No Friction" mean in Parts "Gear with 8 Teeth Wide, Notched and No Friction"

In the case of this item, it means that the gear will slide freely along the axle it rotates around.


Based on the Tan Window 1 x 2 x 2 2/3 with Rounded Top
and the 4 Red Brick, Modified 1 x 2 x 1 1/3 with Curved Top

This is from 10696-1: Medium Creative Brick Box


LEGO Powered Up substitution for Power Functions Motor Set 8293

As with old sets and systems (Power Functions (PF) in this case) are being retired supplementary sets become discontinued as well. There are couple of ways you could handle this situation.

Power Functions

In case you have a set which suggest using 8293 set for motorisation it is advised to source that particular set or elements of that set. While LEGO no longer sell 8293 set directly it is still possible to acquire this as set as New or Used on secondary market, like BrickLink, BrickOwl, Ebay, etc.

Depending on your LEGO collection you may already have some of the individual parts included in 8293 set since they are not unique and have been available in other sets too. Here you can to buy just the parts you need.

Powered UP

LEGO has decided to discontinue PF system to make a way for newer one called Powered UP. Sadly, at this point of time new system doesn't have have a similar supplemental set to motorise sets. This means required parts need to be sourced individually.

Another issue with PU system - it is not 1:1 copy of old system in terms of element dimensions and properties. But let's review contents of 8293 set and see what PU system could offer.

8293 set contains 4 items of PF system (below) used to bring models alive. I'm going to dismiss non-PF items as these would need to be acquired individually anyway if PU parts are going to be used.

Battery Box. PF system use standalone battery box, where power to motors is applied directly by using switch on a box itself compared to 88009 PU Hub (LEGO, Bricklink) (which is both Battery Box and Receiver) which will only provide power once signaled from 88010 Controller (LEGO, Bricklink) or smart device via Bluetooth. Next thing is the different form-factor - PU Hub comes in different shape and size (similar to PF small Battery Box), which means it may not fit the originally intended place within a model designed for 8293 set.
M-motor. Luckily, new 45303 M-Motor (LEGO, Bricklink) is very similar to previously used PF M-motor. Not the same, but most won't be an issue.
Pole Reverser / Polarity Switch. This item does not exist as PU element.
Lights. Similarly to PF Lights, newer 88005 PU Lights (LEGO, Bricklink) should work fine.

As seen above, newer elements have quite a different properties and may not fit sets originally designed for 8293 motorisation without substantial modifications or currently offer nothing as a replacement (like a Pole Reverser / Polarity Switch).

It is also worth mentioning that PU system has new connector, so none of the previously released motors/electric components incorporated into new system.


No, but Brickset now provides the facility to enable one to be made. See http://brickset.com/article/12960/tags-a-new-way-to-search-the-database


How does the cost of a LEGO railroad compare to a traditional scale railroad layout?

I'd say that an initial HO scale set was probably cheaper than a LEGO version, although a direct comparison isn't easy, and it can rapidly get out of hand once you start adding more elements in.

Initial Purchases

The closest I can find is probably comparing 7939 LEGO Cargo Train, which is currently selling in the LEGO shop for £130:

With something like the GWR Passenger Freight from Hornby, which is selling for £80:

I chose that one as it has the basic oval plus "Track Pack A", giving some additional track including points.

Add a TrackMat accessory pack for £30 for some buildings or platforms and you're still cheaper than LEGO set.

An entry-level set from Hornby with just the basic oval of track retails at around £70, compared with £102 for the Passenger Train set:

However, once you venture out of the initial sets, go for the digital options, or move out of the "RailRoad" brand, the cost goes up to the point where you're paying £200-300 for an engine, up to the giddy heights of "Live Steam".

Extending your track

The comparison becomes even harder now, however this is where LEGO wins on price, if not on range.

The LEGO shop lists a Switching Tracks set with a pair of points (left and right) and 4 curved rails for £16, compared with Hornby's price of £12 for each point - or £29 for a pack with a pair of points, 2 curves and 2 points.

HO Scale will offer you more options in general however: Hornby for example have 4 different radii of curves, a number of different lengths of straight tracks, 4 different styles of points (Standard, curved, express and Y), crossings, and two flexibilities of "flexible" track (about £4/m compared with LEGO's £12/m), as well as a much larger range of locomotives and rolling stock.


Tips for hair loss problem in HeartLake world?

My LEGO Friends minifigs are just fine. Their hair doesn't come off that easy. Perhaps there is some difference in the mould and you ended up with some loose ones? It happends to regular minifigs too where the hair/helmet fits very loose or very tight. You could put a little bit of tacky-glue (blu-tack) inside the hair pieces to keep them on while still being able to remove/change them.

Also, I have to ask; are these minifigs directly from LEGO? There has been some sellers on eBay selling knock-off Friends minifigs from China. At first glance they look just like the real thing, but they are of lesser quality.


For something like this, there will not be a standard price. Really, it would depend more on the number of people looking for this. Post it on ebay, see what you can get.


The adapter itself is generally called a "Molex" adapter. The one you have pictured looks similar to their Mini-Latch style.

I would recommend an adapter like this. The pin spacing should be the same even if it is not made specifically for that connector.

The red wire connects to pin 1 and the black wire connects to pin 2. The yellow wire is for speed feedback, but it won't do any good unless you modify the NXT firmware, so I would leave it detached.

Alternately, you could cut a NXT cable and solder it directly to the fan wires.

Also, you didn't say, but the fan is probably 12V and the NXT can only supply battery voltage, which is only at most 9V with fully charged batteries, so it will run slower than it does when connected to a 12V power supply.


Try adding a wait block in front of the program and at the back. :)


How do I connect the LEGO Powered Up remote control?

The Powered Up system uses Bluetooth for control, so the remote needs to be paired with the Smarthub. To accomplish the pairing between the Powered Up remote and the Smarthub, you simply press the green buttons on both devices at the same time as shown in the instructions and in this review by Beyond the Brick:

If the pairing process works correctly, both devices should have their lights lit up in the same color.


What is the appropriate way to request a creator to add more of their designs to MOCHUB?

Some creators may not want to share building instructions as there is a fear of knock-off companies releasing them as sets. Especially if MOC's are of top quality.

It is also possible there a personal choice to limit (control) their work results via fewer platforms. Or simply may not like some platforms at all.

Edit: Thinking from my point of view (someone who has created and shared instructions for LEGO MOC) I would consider alternative web redources if there would be obvious benefits. So it might be worth finding such reasons, like audience growth, unique features, something else. Then contact the author via one of the ways he is available and suggest him to contribute to your choice of web portal listing the possible reasons. It could be the easiest way of letting this person know and understand if he has anything against it.


Legs and torso are from a Unitron figure: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?M=sp048

The red bandana has appeared in almost 100 sets (often pirate-themed), while the head and hands are generic and could be from any number of sets as well.


What causes these 'bite marks' that appear consistently on new bricks?

As said, this is the point where the injection happens, usually known as a gate.

Sometimes, LEGO tries to have in a non-visible place, but the process of moulding is extremely complicated and forces specific requirements on the gate placement which mean it's sometimes impossible to hide it. The basic rule of thumb is that the gate is usually near the center of the part (in terms of quantity of plastic) so that the molten plastic reaches all ends of the element at the same time. Sometime a part even requires two gates.

In the case of your slope, it's probably annoying, but sometimes it's worse. In this glass panel for example, the gate is right in the middle. It wasn't really a problem in the beginning, since that glass panel was used in combination with a three panes window frame and the gate was hidden behind one of the bars of the frame.

Then they released Cafe Corner with full window frames and the gates were in plain sight. In the middle of windows. Now that's what I call ugly.


Can you identify this bevelled grey 2x1 piece?

It's 99563 LegoMinifig, Utensil Gold Ingot (Bar) in Light Bluish Grey.

Originally used for Gold pieces, nowadays regularly found as bricks and other wall decorations, for example on the ground floor of 10251 Brick Bank.


Star Wars Ship - Which LEGO Set Is This?

Its at least two sets.

Set #7674 "V-19 Torrent".
and...
Set #8087 "TIE Defender".

Extra Credit:

Upper left hand corner.

Set #6747 "Race Rider".


Can someone identify these Ninjago face mosaic sets?

Apparently it's from a 2015 Toys R Us building event, in which there were 5 different mask kids could choose to build. There does not appear to be an item number associated with these builds.

All 5 designs and 3 of the instructions can be seen in these images (click for full-size).

I also found a video where all 5 are built and the booklet is flipped through.


I'm assuming from your question that you are currently using Power Functions parts to control your conveyor. In order to achieve the sort of electrical automation that you are talking about, you'll need something like LEGO Mindstorms. The current line is called EV3. You'll need at minimum the Intelligent Brick, a light sensor, a motor, and a few cables. You can also buy the complete EV3 kit.

If that seems too pricey for you, you could try searching for used NXT (previous version), or even RCX (first version) Mindstorms kits.

Once you have the Mindstorms parts that you need, you'll just need to program the brick to do what you want using software on your computer.


How does cleaning yellowed Lego bricks affect their clutch power?

The retr0brite method only affects the surface of the brick and does not affect the clutch power.

I have used the method on several printed bricks. I have noticed the black printing will start to fade if the bricks are left in the solution for a long time. I have not noticed that it affects other colors as much as black, but this may be because the fading of black ink on a white or yellow background is more obvious. I have never seen the treatment completely erase any printing.

The length of time it takes the solution to start breaking down the ink is going to vary with the strength of the solution, the time in the solution and the amount of UV light. You can control the first two variables, but if you are using sunlight to provide the UV it is difficult to gauge or control.

The easiest variable to control is time. I would leave the bricks in the solution for perhaps an hour at a time, then take them out, rinse them off in water and dry them. Keep one of the yellowed bricks as a "control" against which you can compare the treated brick to get an idea of how much color has changed. Repeat as necessary until the brick is back to the color you want or you notice the ink beginning to fade.

Check the color of the bricks indoors. I use the sun on my front porch to provide the UV light when I'm soaking bricks, and I have noticed that bricks that look nice and white when I'm out in the bright sun will still appear yellowed when I get them inside.


What happens to the portions of large glued displays that aren't retasked into a different display?

In most cases they would be reused in other parks, donated to LEGO retail stores, auctioned for charity or hidden away from park visitors. As a last resort, LEGO models can and will be recycled to create new bricks.

The LEGO auction site, Bricklink has a fairly hidden place to trade glued models and retail displays.


What is the maximum size of Lego instruction booklets?

While there are multiple sizes of instructions and lack of database with dimensions my answer is based on personal observation.

Looking at the stash of my instructions from multiple sets (including several largest Technic models) I can state that the largest dimension I have is of A4 paper size, which is 210 x 297 mm. I'd like to note that this is for Europe based sets. There might be different sizes for other markets as LEGO provides two options for their instructions online - optimized for A4 as well as Letter sized paper.

Edit 1. As masterX244 pointed out in the comments Star Wars UCS sets may have bigger instructions. This review on Brickset of SW UCS set with highest number of parts (75192 Millennium Falcon) says instructions are 42 x 29 cm in size. This is very close to A3 paper size, which is twice the size of A4.

Picture below, from the very same review by Brickset, shows the instruction relative to side of the box (45 x 39 cm).

Edit 2. JPhi1618 found that UCS Star Destroyer 10030 set has a booklet that is slightly larger - 43 x 30 cm (landscape orientation, including the spiral)


Have I got a mystery croissant lurking in my Lego collection?

It looks like a possible match for these doll accessories.
"This listing is for a Barbie coffee shop or bakery accessories. Included are hot chocolate mugs, a coffee to go mug, croissants, muffins, donuts, a to go box, and a bakery display plate."


The brick buttons are a bit tricky.

In pseudocode:

Wait for "<" button to be pressed and released
Run a program that leaves the motors running.
Wait for ">" button to be pressed
Stop the motors

The tricky parts:

which mode of the wait for block
which button to watch
button being pressed vs bumped
ignoring the extra section of the wait for block

And finally there is the possibility that the desire was to provide an option to stop the program at any time while it was running, not just at the end of the program to stop running motors.  That is a much different problem for which this example only hints at a solution.


Please help identify this vintage (but non-Lego) brick!

That is a Kawada Dia Block made in Japan. Entex and Sears imported those into the US in the 70’s and 80’s and repackaged them under such brands as Loc Bloc and Brix Blox. The “S” is actually a K on top of a D, which is the emblem for the Japanese toy company Kawada. Dia Blocks are still made and available in Japan today.


Overview of Engineering Principles incorporated in Technic LEGO sets

This depends on how deep engineering principles do you wish to teach. For simpler, shallower things, like the inherent stability of a triangle based construction versus a square based, the crawler crane already offers a lot: the relation between force and leverage, skid steering, gearing, pulleys, gearboxes, electronics. Pneumatics and shock absorbers are missing from this set, but you can get some pneumatic parts from the 42008 Service truck.

For advanced concepts like Ackermann steering, Camber, caster and toe it would be hard to find official models to demonstrate, but you can always build simple models to display one or more of these features.

There are a few other things that I can think of, like fiber optics, but these are really hard to find nowadays.

Of course besides mechanical engineering there is also computer engineering, for which the Mindstorms sets offer an admittedly expensive introduction.


This bag is part of Set 76015-1 from 2014

Ultimate Spider-Man,
Doc Ock Truck Heist


Are LEGO minifigs' arms supposed to come off?

No, they are not meant to come off (and neither are their hands) and I imagine that doing so repeatedly will cause them to become loose, as is the case with hands.

I have noticed that the hands come off a lot easier nowadays compared to 1970s/1980s vintage Lego, but I'm rarely sadistic enough to rip their arms off :)


Small LEGO train sets on narrow gauge track?

It might work as is; but if not, you can certainly replace the wheels on 40034 with small train wheels, as seen in about every set featuring narrow track. Chance is, if you've got narrow track, you probably have some of these wheels anyway (unless you got the track from the flying saucer); but in any case these wheels aren't that hard to find. Not sure three sets of wheels in a row would work though, so maybe you'll need to remove the center ones.

For 31015 this might be a bit more complex to replace the big wheels, but maybe regular train wheels might work here. Again, having too many wheels in a row might be a problem as the narrow track curves are very short.


Can I convert my train 9V 4563 to the Power Functions motor?

To expand on Michael's link-only answer: Older train motors were powered by the track and the speed of the train is controlled by a track-side switch.

Newer PF trains are powered by the battery box on the train and controlled by the remote which sends IR signals to the IR receiver.

This means your train needs room for

the wire from the motor to the IR sensor,
the IR sensor and its wire to the battery box, and
the battery box

Fitting these into an older train or a modern train not designed for PF (such as the Constitution Train Chase) requires some rebuilding and some compromises. For the Constitution Train Chase I had to modify the coal tender to hold the battery box and the motor, and I had to put the IR sensor in the cab of the locomotive. This means unsightly wires slung between cars. However, when the train is in motion you don't really see that.

For a locomotive that already is designed to accommodate the old motor, there may be room inside it to fit the battery box and the IR sensor. You will have to sacrifice some of the interior.

Note that for summer 2018 there is a new train Power Functions system coming out, which is going to use a different system: a new motor connection, a new battery box, a new remote. The battery box will have Bluetooth or some other radio-frequency controller in it and thus you won't need the IR sensor anymore. This will save a lot of room in builds and eliminate the need for line of sight.


How can I create synthetic imagery (rendering) of LEGO models?

You need:

Digital Designer (Or anything that can produce Ldraw files, there are some listed in this question)

Blender (Or another renderer that supports Ldraw)

Blender Script (This is necessary for Blender to read you Ldraw models)

Recreate your creation in Lego Digital Designer.
Export as Ldraw format
Import in Blender
Create & render Blender scene

(I haven't tried but it should work)


Is this minifigure with a white shirt showing a little orange monster worth anything?

The whole minifig assembly reminds me of of those services that allow you to print your own image on a torso piece such as Minifigs.me.

I wouldn't be surprised if this minifig was made using the same service as I cannot identify the graphic. I suspect this minifig could have been ordered as a promotional item.
The actual parts themselves are so common that they might even be the cheapest parts you could get to make a minifig. The parts can be sourced easily for under a dollar assuming you bought the torso without a custom print.


How many 2x4 Lego bricks would it take to build a real skyscraper?

Great question. Others may have better answers for a more "realistic" design, but the math for a solid structure is actually pretty quick. Take the Empire State Building for example:

Height: 381m
Base: 129m x 57m
Volume: 381m × 129m × 57m = 2 801 493m³

And a basic 2x4 brick:

Volume: 31.8mm × 15.8mm × 9.6mm = 4.823424e-6 m³

The number of bricks needed to simply fill the volume is total volume over brick volume, so:

Number of bricks: 2 801 493 / 4.823424e-6 = 580 810 022 092 bricks
Weight: 580 810 022 092 bricks * 2.32g = 1 347 479 metric tons

Basically, you're looking at 580 billion bricks weighing in at ~1.3 million metric tons for a solid structure the size of the Empire State Building.

This puts you at about a fifth of an Empire State Building's worth of bricks dumped in the ocean in 2014.


How to convert LEGO base plate to a DUPLO base plate?

The table IS already cross compatible, even though it doesn't look it. The tabletop or LEGO baseplate is cross molded for DUPLO pieces to fit and lock in on top of the regular LEGO baseplate.

PART ONE: THE PICTURED PROOFS...

So, let's imagine the top of your table is my unopened gray baseplate.

We'll use a DUPLO Cock-A-Doodle-Doo for an example DUPLO model.

Sorry, but I don't want open my baseplate just yet, so in the next four shots we'll use these green plates to show the cross interlocking magic of LEGO and DUPLO.

PART TWO:  THE WHAT IFs...

Now, I did say the magic was cross interlocking, so... WHAT IF your tabletop HAD started off DUPLO and we wanted it to be, in our minds, 100% compatible with regular LEGO.

You see, it is compatible, again, it may not look it at first glace, but as we can see using these White 2x4 LEGO bricks with a Bright Yellow 2x2 DUPLO brick things are indeed cross compatible.

I'm gonna get uber geeky here, but the harder to imagine negative space inside the White 2x4 LEGO brick interlocks beautify with the easier to see studs of the 2x2 Yellow DUPLO brick.

Well, hey!  Hoped to have saved you time, money and effort in fabricating a new table.  Later!


I can think of several possibilities:

Just be patient. They'll probably come up on bricklink or ebay eventually.
Buy the complete sets and sell off the parts / assemblies that don't interest you.
Buy the sets with someone else and split them for the parts / models that interest each of you.
Get the instructions, and buy the parts to make the dragons individually.
Create your own dragons from the any parts you already have or can get easily.

It depends on how much you want the dragons. If you really need them, I suggest (2) might be your best bet.


Is it possible to build a working 100% LEGO glider with the Technic Catamaran sails?

As it turns out, the answer is yes! Even though the wings are flat and can't generate much lift, I was able to get up to about 15ft of distance on a 10ft drop.
click to watch the video
Here's how I did it:
First, you're going to need 2 of the set, or at-least two copies of the sails and some common Technic pieces. This is because the sails in the set are two different sizes (and I wasn't able to get a two-wing design to balance anyway).
the plastic sail sheet
Then you just build a really minimal and light-weight frame, with adjustable wing angles. Here's how I built mine, using only the parts from two copies of the set (click the images to view them larger):
glider top
glider bottom
You'll notice how this frame isn't very sturdy. Since the wings can't really generate lift anyway, there's no advantage to being able to throw it like a wooden or foam glider, and a stronger frame would just be dead weight.
The most-important thing about this design is being able to adjust the angle of the wings. Here's roughly the pitch that gave me the best results.
adjustable wing pitch
I gotta say, I didn't have high hopes for this project going into it, but ultimately I was pleasantly surprised with the results!


I don't believe that a constant or macro is available in NXC for positive infinity. C99 defines INFINITY in math.h, but the math module in NXC does not appear to include this.

NXC uses IEEE 754 floating point, so something like this should give you the raw value of infinity cast to a float:

int raw_infinity = 0x7f800000;
const float INFINITY = *(float*)&raw_infinity;

I don't have a way to test this currently, and I'm not sure how the underlying firmware and hardware handle special floating point values, so this may or may not actually meet your needs.


As Phil B suggests you really must start by testing a motor by itself from the battery box. This will confirm whether that battery box is working or not.

My experience in Radio Control has taught me to test each "electrical" bit one at a time and in a logical sequence starting from the power source until the fault is identified.

For the future it worth testing electrical things like the motor and battery box before they get "built in" to a complex model.


Identify a space LEGO set from incomplete model

These are

6849-1: Satellite Patroller

6808-1: Galaxy Trekkor


A program should have only one "Start" block (the green play button).
Your 3 segments of code are not linked together, you need to drag a "beam" from the exit of one loop to the block that should execute after the loop exits.
You need to link the action of pressing the button to an exit condition for your loops. You are using infinite loops. The only way to escape an infinite loop is a Loop Interrupt block. Click on the infinity symbol on the loop blocks for more options.


How to run two LEGO electric trains at the same time?

This probably isn't going to be solved without either changing to remote controlled PF trains or creating a complex control system.

Even if you were able to supply the exact same constant voltage to both trains, they'd both need to have precisely the same motor characteristics, weight, and aerodynamic properties. That's going to be difficult.

One way to address this is to create track blocks that are electrically isolated and can be controlled independently. You can isolate the track sections using tape at the joints, or you can physically cut the metal rails. You could then connect these blocks up to your NXT and build some sensors to determine what speed the trains need to run in these sections in order to not hit each other.


I tried many designs I found

A quick Google search resulted in the following designs. Have you tried them all?

Sariel's Autovalve:

Philo's pneumatic valve:

Sariel's Servo Valve:

Tamas Juhasz's small autovalve with compressor:

Technic-Dragon's Compact Pneumatic Autovalve:

Bonus entries, not using exclusively PF motors, but could be adapted to:

Conchas' Micromotor valve:

Pneumatically controlled valve from the B model of 8868-1: Air Tech Claw Rig


How should I arrange LEGO to sell per pound?

Good question, and welcome to LEGO Answers! Assuming you are going to break up your collection but not sort it into sets, you will likely get more money for your collection if you sell it in smaller lots sorted by color. You can get a sense for what different colors are worth per pound by searching completed listings on eBay.

However, I don't believe that the answer you cited is correct in most cases (including yours). The first item listed on the most popular answer is:

  Sell the collection as-is (with as much honest description as you can muster and great photos if you're selling on-line).

You don't just have random bricks. Since it sounds like you have many complete or nearly complete sets, you'd be losing that value if you break everything up an sell it in 2 pound lots.

Assuming that your collection is well kept, and you don't want to do the work to sort it, I'd recommend selling it as one large lot. List the sets that you have instructions for and indicate that you believe that they are 99% complete (e.g. you aren't aware of any missing pieces or minifigs, but some have probably wandered off over the years). There are definitely people out there that buy large lots like this and separate out and sell sets for a profit.

You'll want to take plenty of pictures. I'd spread things out and take as many detailed shots of the parts as you can. Experienced buyers will be able to tell pretty quickly how complete your collection is. Given that minifigs have much more value than regular parts, I'd also recommend taking photos of them in a way that allows them to all be identified.


Try uninstalling the software and installing the latest version (if you weren't installed it)


Need help identifying 2011 Lego bag #3, Friends mini-doll legs with dark green pants with brown shoes and dark red bricks?

The minifig is a Friends doll, to be precise, it's Farran Leafshade from the Elves theme.

He appears in two sets in those green pants. Given that you mention the bag you have has #3 printed on it, and the 41076 Farran and the Crystal Hollow set has only 2 bags in it, I believe you have part of set  41075 The Elves' Treetop Hideaway in your possession.

As an FYI: The 2011 printed on the bag indicates the year the bag design was copyrighted - it has no correlation with the year the set was made (which was 2015 for the set in question).


Need help to identify a piece - two 1x2 plates connected by curved lines

This is part 47755 Wedge 4x3 Open with Cutout and 4 Studs.


Early 1980s snap together shop/house scene toy

Yes, I had the same sets, they formed roads for toy metal cars like Matchbox and Hot Wheels. The product name was Majo-kit, from a company called Majorette.


Identifying Parts Used For The Escape Hatch of Sariel's Tiger XL Model

First three from what we can see...

Part: 4735 Bar 1 x 3 with Clip and Stud Receptacle (Robot Arm).

Part 2958 Technic, Disk 3 x 3.

Part: 75c03 Hose, Rigid 3mm D. 3L / 2.4cm.

Last two hidden from view...

4 & 5. Part: 4085d Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical - Type 4
    (thick open O clip).

I can't see, but I can imagine two crossed vertical 1x1 clip plates, pierced by the flex tubing to hold up the robot arm.

Sing! Now, build it out.  Now, build it out.  Now, build it out...


I found it:

6632

It's the Technic, Liftarm 1x3 Thin piece.


Where is this knock-off LEGO brick from?

As others have pointed out, these are Montini building blocks.

Montini building blocks were produced by Berco Lux in Tiel, The Netherlands between 1960-1969. The plastic is much softer and the colors are a little different.
In 1969 production was stopped because of the Lego patent.
Montini history and the conflict with Lego ( in Dutch)


Which Lego Police set or sets do I have?

Most of the parts are of set 7288.
I see at least the following:

Window / door with the gates
Big wall parts with stickers.
Cop minifig & white shirt criminal
Computerdesk and front of the truck
Red front of the small car

I also see parts of 7279:

Gray shirted criminal
Part of the ATM terminal
Parts of the little car (lights and front with sticker)
Maybe the dog, it's hard to see the print of the head on the photo.

Then remains the stick of dynamite, the minifig in front of the red car parts, the second dog and bigger white bricks, that are not of these 2 police sets.

Maybe you can take a look for yourself on Brickset.com. The remaining set(s) are probably from around 2011, as these 2 are. Maybe look for a kind of plane / helicopter, because of the slope pieces.


Looking at the stack trace in the exception you've posted, the error seems to be coming from a call to RemoteEV3.createRegulatedMotor:

at lejos.remote.ev3.RemoteEV3.createRegulatedMotor(Unknown Source)
at test_bluetooth.Bluetooth.main(Bluetooth.java:186)

After that, it's just going through the motions to try and open a port on a remote device...

From looking at the LeJOS source, that method isn't called by the main RemoteEV3 constructor when setting up the ports, so it is probably something you're calling in your main block.

Both Sensors and Motors need to be closed.

As a point of note, it's recommended that instead of connecting to the remote sensors directly as you're doing there, you instead use the createSampleProvider method:

RemoteEV3 ev3 = new RemoteEV3("10.0.1.1");
RMISampleProvider color_sensor = ev3.createSampleProvider("S2",
               "lejos.hardware.sensor.EV3ColorSensor", "Color ID");
float[] color_id= new float[1];
color_sensor.fetchSample(color_id,0);

It is apparently more efficient because instead of running the sensor driver on the PC and sending requests to the remote EV3 you're creating the sensor driver on the remote EV3 and sending the samples to the PC.


LEGO Submarine waterproofing functional parts (e.g. motors, RC receivers)

The method they used to secure the battery/controller was to wrap it in a sealed plastic bag, something similar to this could be done for the motors.  It would be more difficult since you would need a water tight bearing for the rotating shaft to exit the sealed bag.  These bearings are complicated and will still always allows some small amount of leakage.
An option to help prevent water leakage would be to fill the motor with a non-conducting fluid to displace any inflowing water, something like mineral oil.  I'm not going to try this with any of my motors, but it should work.  There is history of using mineral oil for electronics to aid in heat transfer (used by some extreme CPU over clockers) it is non corrosive and non conductive and will not rust the metallic components.
As an alternate just letting water in seemed to work for a while, you could prolong motor life, by ensuring the internals were thoroughly dried after removing them from the water.  This would most likely involve opening the housing and a dry air flush.  This would slow the rusting, which is much faster when water is combined with exposure to the oxygen present in air.
EDIT
Another method that could be used with actual Lego parts, use the Lego magnets to couple two shafts rotation together on either side of the plastic bag around the motor, this should have zero leakage.  There would be an upper limit on the torque possible before the magnets would slip and it would potentially cause wear onto the plastic bag if there is contact with the moving parts.


It's actually quite a common thing to build. So much so that TLG has held a number of tower building events at their theme parks and at other locations. Here's a photo of what I believe is the current world record. This was completed in Prague and is 32.5 meters tall.


How can I use the EV3 educational firmware instead of the retail version?

Update: LEGO Education software is now available for free.

https://education.lego.com/en-us/downloads/mindstorms-ev3

Original answer:

You need to purchase the EV3 Education version of the software. It includes the EV3 Education version firmware.

EV3 Education Software (single user licence)
EV3 Software v1.1 Update (includes v1.06E firmware update)


Check for visible part numbers

This usually only works if you have the physical part in front of you.

Look for a 4 or 5 digit part ID on the element. These are usually printed on the inside. A magnifying glass and good lighting can be helpful. Many bricks will also have other numbers printed on them, but only the 4 or 5 digit numbers are useful for identifying parts.

If you are able to find a part number, search for it on Rebrickable or Bricklink. Rebrickable tends to work well, as it allows you to search by the official Lego part ID printed on the brick, and this number can be different from the Bricklink ID for historical reasons.

Check a set inventory

If you know which set your part comes from, or you know of a set that contains the part, you can look at the inventory of that set on Rebrickable or Bricklink. Simply visually scan the inventory for the part you need to identify.

Search a part catalog

You can search for parts on a number of sites. For example, Rebrickable provides searching by part name, ID, category, and a color that the part has been produced in. This can help produce a relatively small number of parts to look through.

Taking some time to familiarize yourself with the part categories on whichever site you choose to use is also very useful so that you can quickly limit your search to a few hundred parts in one category.

Ask us

If you don't know... just take a pic of it and ask here, we'll find it :-)


According to this website, LEGO bricks are made from a type of plastic called acrylonitrile butadiene styrene or ABS. We do have the technology to recycle ABS, however you would need to check with your local/national waste disposal service whether it is in use. Dropping unwanted bricks off at a local charity bin or childcare provider would certainly be the easiest way to "recycle" LEGO :)


Can you identify these 1x2 and 2x2 bricks with grooves?

Actually found via Google pictures. On bricklink need to use 'grooves' in search, partial matches do not work there.


Are there any wheels or rings that fit in pin clips?

The small Technic Steering Wheel and what I think is this rubber belt connect to clips:


Why are pat pending bricks rarer and treasured more than patented bricks?

As I understand it, "Pat. Pend." bricks were made in the 1960's.

Later around 1970 they removed "Pat. Pend." by carving it out of the molds, so there is a lump in place of it. These are sometimes called "Pat. Pend. removed". Those ran until 1976-ish?

I don't think any of these bricks are much more valuable than the others. Old generic bricks aren't generally worth very much. If one wanted to have genuine 1970's pieces for personal reasons, I guess they might look for these markings.

I don't think all pieces had those markings though.


Is there a tool that generates my parts database?

Both BrickLink and Brickset maintains a database. Brickset pulls data directly from LEGO's servers, which means the data is not always accurate for older sets or brand new sets (when the parts are not uploaded to LEGO's servers yet). BrickLink's parts list is maintained and meticulously verified by volunteers, and it is the most accurate of all LEGO databases. This includes both old and new sets.

Go to BrickLink.com, click "Sets" on the Homepage, and type in the set number you are looking for. Click on "Item Consist Of", and it will give you a list of all the parts in the set, including parts names, IDs, colors, year of release, weight, etc.

While BrickLink is the largest online LEGO marketplace, and it is mainly meant for buying and selling LEGO, you can also use it as a database for the sets and parts you own. This is very useful if you have a large collection, and can come in handy for evaluation and insurance purposes, or if you ever decide to sell your collection (or parts of).

Brickset is also great for maintaining a database of your collection, but as mentioned above, it is not the most reliable as far as parts lists. The focus is mostly on collectors being able to catalogue the sets they own. In addition, Brickset gives you a full value of your collection based on original retail price (vs. the current market prices given by BrickLink), and has some other useful tools. I recommend using both sites, but if you only want to use one, I would suggest BrickLink. It will give you everything you need to catalog the parts you have.


Do extra parts add to set's resell value?

Generally, I think it doesn't add much value. But it depends.
Some sets, like US version of 8284, have extra parts crucial for alternative model (aka B-model). So unless you include them, you are selling incomplete set. The inclusion of all parts to build all models is part of "complete" condition description on Bricklink. Extra parts excluded though.
Then again, new DOTS sets, which have random printed tiles, but the number of included items is the same. So if you are looking for particular print, it would be nice to have extra.
Sure, there's a ton of sets with quite generic extra pieces, that you may already have a ton of. And buyer may as well already have a lot of them. However, buying a used set with box, instructions, stickers/sticker sheet as well as extra parts is always nice, especially if it is older set.


Why does my RCX programmable brick have no power socket?

The LEGO Group removed the power adaptor on RCX bricks included in the Robotics Invention System 1.5 onwards - These are often referred to as 1.1 or 1.5 bricks.


Beams, axles, panels, and axles connectors usually have numbers next to them, to uniquely identifies the piece:

for beams and axles, the number is the length (length in number of holes)
for panels, it identifies the panel (and the panel mold contains the same number)
for axle connectors, it identifies the angle (again, the same number is part of the mold, and visible on the piece)

Same pieces with different colors have the same number attached


Unknown Set: White spaceship? with clear blue canopy

Hey Mc5,

Set #76028 Darkseid Invasion.

Build instructions here.

Have fun!


That would be 76039-1: Ant-Man Final Battle from 2015.

The blue and yellow-green marbled parts don't go to the set though, they are from one of 3 Ninjago sets that are also from 2015.


Use iPhone camera as an input sensor for EV3

I haven't come across any existing projects like this yet, but there is nothing stopping you from doing this yourself. I would suggest writing an app for your phone in Obj-C and just remote controlling the EV3 via bluetooth.

The bluetooth communication uses the RFCOMM profile. This post might give you some hints on getting the bluetooth connection.

You can find the EV3 communication protocol specifications in the hardware developers kit that is linked in this blog post.

Hopefully this is is enough to get you started.


The short answer is about 150mA.

Electrical Characteristics

From the limited testing that I've done, the component you pointed out appears to be a positive temperature coefficient thermistor. Here's how Wikipedia describes their use as current limiters:

  When first connected to a voltage source, a large current
  corresponding to the low, cold, resistance flows, but as the
  thermistor self-heats, the current is reduced until a limiting current
  (and corresponding peak device temperature) is reached. The
  current-limiting effect can replace fuses.

I only have a basic multimeter and a few fixed voltages handy at the moment, so I'm not able to derive the precise characteristics of this device. I was able to measure the following:

Open circuit resistance is 4 ohms
Short circuit current at 12V is ~50ma.
Short circuit current at 10V is ~50ma.
Short circuit current at 8.3V is ~60ma.
Short circuit current at 5V is ~100ma.
Short circuit current at 3.3V is ~120ma.

The tolerances on these parts are pretty loose, but for mine the maximum it can supply consistently in series with a motor is about 150mA. If I keep current above this for long, the thermistor begins to heat and total current decreases due to the limiting.

It might seem odd that the max constant current I was able to sustain is greater than the short circuit current, but this is due to the fact that this component is effectively limiting the amount of power it dissipates, and not the amount of current it passes. Power is the product of current and voltage, so because some voltage is dropped by the load, it is able to handle a current higher when loaded than it is able to when shorted.

Physical example

As a point of reference if milliamps aren't very familiar to you, in my testing I was able to cause the clutch gear (60c01) to slip indefinitely on 43362c01 with the thermistor in series.

This drew about 100mA for me. So, you can drive most of the lighter 9v parts just fine. The current limiting will kick in at about half the stalled current for most of the motors. Larger PF motors, and especially the RC buggy motor, will not be able to reach their full potential with the overload protection in place on this battery box.


Is this non-disassemblable LEGO instruction step real?

It turns out it is real, just not from a single set itself, but from the official instructions for a combo-model between Exo-Force models 7700-1: Stealth Hunter and
7701-1: Grand Titan to make Mountain Warrior.

You can find the pictured step on page 26 of the instructions.


What tool can get the Technic pin out from a connection closed in the other end?

Push the Technic pin in a beam hole, then insert a rod (antenna or minifig tool handle) into the hole in the pin from the other side. The rod will prevent the "lips" of the pin from closing in, therefore preventing the pin from leaving the beam. Then you can pull on anything attached to the other end of the pin.

This example below shows the removal of a pin from a beam:


How do I install the Lego BOOST software on a phone instead of a tablet?

You can install the software using an alternative App Store such as APKPure. You can alternatively download and install the APK and OBB files directly from various online sources as demonstrated in this video. Once installed, this software seems to work for me on my Galaxy S4, and I assume it would also work on other Android devices. I can connect to and control the Move Hub without any issues, but I haven't tested all features of the software.

I was unable to get this to work on an S3. The app crashes during the loading screen. This could be due to many factors, but I suspect screen resolution could be one culprit, as the S3 has a 720p screen and the S4 has a 1080p screen.

It should also be noted that these devices aren't officially supported by TLG, so this software may be buggy and/or stop working in the future.

Devices confirmed working:

ASUS ZenPad S
Google Pixel C
HTC Nexus 9
Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2
Lenovo Yoga Tab 3
Nvidia SHIELD Tablet (LTE)
Samsung Galaxy Tab S
Samsung Galaxy Tab A
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (Nook)
Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet (LTE)
Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact (LTE)
Xiaomi Mi Pad 2
Samsung Galaxy S4
LG G3
Samsung Galaxy S5
Google Pixel 2
BQ Aquaris X5 Plus
Huawei P10 Lite
Motorola G5 Plus

Devices confirmed not working:

Galaxy S3


Which set is this 2 x 6 slope with holes from?

You have a Fabuland Roof Support Slope, 6 x 2.

If it's like the similar ones I've seen in Duplo, it probably came pre-assembled into one of these:

Fabuland Roof Support with Gray Roof Slope without Chimney Hole

Fabuland Roof Support with Red Roof Slope with Chimney Hole

Fabuland Roof Support with Red Roof Slope without Chimney Hole


Inspired by Zhaph's wall, this one is made with 1x3 bricks.  It has a radius of 12 studs (24 studs diameter).

It is connected to the base by the last two studs on each end of the arc. The middle of the wall rests on tiles.  To complete the tower you can repeat this module 4 times and use 1x2 bricks to connect them (replacing the 1x1 end bricks).

This would not make a perfectly round wall, but it's pretty close.


Can't figure out what set these marvel-related bags belong to

A distinctive items in Bag 1, Trans-Light Blue -Dish 6 x 6 Inverted (Radar) Webbed  Type 2, exists in 15 sets.  2 of these contain Iron Man

Of these Set 76125-1: Iron Man Hall of Armor also contains the Bright Pink and Lime Green round 1x1 plates seen in Bag 3


I would suggest Arduino or, preferably, Raspberry Pi.  Here's some info extracted from my previous answer on NXT:

Arduino & Raspberry Pi are flexible development platforms and they can easily be interfaced with other devices. As for image processing the Raspberry Pi would be the better choice since it is more powerful.

Arduino & NXT:
There is a lot of Arduino-NXT hardware components that you can buy or even make yourself.  For example you could use this Arduino shield called NXShield-D and it's software.

RaspberryPi & NXT:
Pi is a full computer and very easy to use.  To interface with NXT you can use the GPIO pins but thanks to the USB port, somebody already made the NXT-python to control the NXT brick.  Being a Linux system you'll probably find some ready-made image processing samples all over the web.


How large is the face of a 2x2 45º brick?

The sloped face of the 2x2 brick is 16mm across by about 11.3mm tall.


What's the most effective way to align 1x1 tiles?

I will sometimes take another piece, i.e. a 1x4, next to the row I'm about to place so it helps align it. Then use the brick separator's flat end to adjust the 1x1 as needed. But I'm a little ocd about the tiles being lined up...


This is

Record and Play Module, 16 x 10 x 4 with Built-in Motors 4.5V (Item No: 3173c01)


Yes, BrickLink is by far going to be your best bet if you are looking for specific minifigures. Make sure you create a wanted list with all the minifigs you want, then quire by shop to see which seller(s) have all or most of the minifigures you want. You can save significantly this way on shipping.

eBay is not so good for individual minifigures as the prices tend to be much higher than on BrickLink, however it is still a great place to shop for bulk minifigs. Deals are not as easy to come by as in the past as people have smartened up and most people know the value of LEGO.

I would suggest to pick a particular theme to collect and be very specific on what you want to get, otherwise minifigure collecting can get out of hand pretty quickly. There are thousands of minifigures (all listed in the BrickLink catalog) - you can get a good selection for reasonable prices ($3-$5 per minifig), but in some themes having minifigs in the $20-$50 range and more is not uncommon (Star Wars is one of them).

Those little people can quickly take over your vallet. So best is to keep them under control for a fun and long-term hobby. ;)


How to power up MOC-0308, based on Technic 8297 Off-Roader?

The piece you show must have steering axle 92906.


Please help identify LEGO from this picture of the base

Baseplate, Raised 32 x 32 Three Level with Ogel Center Pattern


The ship looks like a (possibly) slightly altered build of the alien spaceship from ETX Alien Strike.


How many polypags would I need to get to have good odds of getting all in the series?

It's known as the "Coupon collector's problem". To get all 12 you would on average need to buy 38. Buying a whole box (or finding someone who did and buying a set from them) seems like a much more attractive solution.


What does taking Raw value for EV3 Colour sensor do?

When you take a Raw value from any sensor, the EV3 brick passes on the reading as reported directly from the sensor, without doing any processing. Especially for the color sensor, where you have several modes such as Reflection and Color Number, the EV3 brain does do post-processing on the input value to make the output easier to understand and/or use. By getting the raw value you are likely get a higher resolution signal than in any of the other modes, at the expense of potential error correction.


Why isn't the new LEGO CV joint available on Bricklink or Brickowl?

The sellers on bricklink/brickowl doesn't have ways to get elements before they become generally available.

As 42099 is brand new, pieces that are (currently) unique to that set probably hasn't made it to those sites yet. Have some patience, they will likely be there shortly.

Those sites rely on users submitting inventories so until somebody submits one, there won't be one (bricklink actually shows: "Inventory Pending Approval", so it probably won't be long).


Can you identify the set for these two LEGO bags?

This is set # 70909-1: Batcave Break-In

Based on

Plate, Modified 10 x 10 Octagonal Open Center

and

Hips and Legs with Jacket Tails Pattern


Try flashing the firmware. To get into firmware update mode, hold down the right button when turning the EV3 on. (You can also reset the EV3 without removing the battery by holding down the back and enter buttons for a few seconds.)

You can find much more detailed information on here.


About 3g (2.98g)

Based on a small sample of Minifigure part data provided by Bricklink, a minifigure in it's most basic form (Head, Torso Assembly and Legs Assembley) weighs about 3g.

A small hairpiece or cap will add about 0.3g - 0.4g

Large hairpieces/headgear can add about 0.9g - 1.0g.


EV3 Rapt3r's head cable interfering with slithering

That's bad. Try to unplug and plug fast and see what happens. Or try to connect the cable on the port that is beside, and then, connect it to its port. I hope that works.


One possible "technique" could simply be to use the round wall panels of the same diameter:

This part has the same stud recesses at the bottom, but since it's much taller, they won't appear as frequently in your model (or at all if this part alone provides the height that you need).

This obviously has a number of disadvantages, the largest being that you're stuck with less flexibility over the color as you can't use stripes of different colors.

You might also be interested in this answer that provides other ideas for building curved walls.


How to make Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot go in reverse when move steering input comes from proximity sensor

Multiply the output of the proximity sensor by -1.


Bag sets identification please Star Wars © 2007

Based on the parts

Left Shell 3X10

Parabola 6X6
Rocket Step 4X4X2

Technic Stick

2M Fric. Snap W/Cross Hole

Jet Engine

and the Technic rubber projectile launcher

it should be (as Uli commented) 7672-1: Rogue Shadow:


Instructions and project collections
LEGO's own WeDo project site is a great starting point.
NayaCreations' 65 projects on Brickssafe
Daniele Benedettelli's LEGO WeDo 2.0 Archives contains many projects, some free, some paid.
Youtube collections
Top 20 Wedo 2.0 in 2020 | Lego wedo projects.
22 Amazing creations by Lego Wedo 2.0


What is the history of "Modulex" blocks?

Modulex bricks were produced by LEGO mainly for architects as the dimensions were more easy to scale up (they are 5mm in all directions).

You can find a full history (which I confess I didn't read) here

In time, Modulex started to focus more on signage and separated from LEGO, but it still exists nowadays.


Where did Octan come from? Why was it chosen?

Octan, is simply Octane in Danish, which is a chemical in and associated with gasoline making it a sensible name for a fictional petroleum/energy company.

The LEGO Group (under pressure by a Greenpeace campaign) stopped the previous corporate partnerships, which had featured real world oil companies logos in LEGO sets, to distance themselves from the environmental protests associated with those companies.

All this can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octan


I asked Gary Istok on your behalf in this Brickset Forum thread, who is an expert on LEGO's history. He said the following:

  When LEGO replaced the Cellulose Acetate bricks circa 1963 with ABS
  plastic for non-trans parts, and polycarbonate for the trans ones,
  they had a problem with the red and yellow parts.  For some reason
  (I'm not a chemical engineer)... red and yellow ABS parts were more
  difficult to color to TLG standards.  So Bayer and Borg-Warner (the
  chemical companies that produced the ABS and other plastic pellets
  worldwide) added Cadmium, a heavy metal, as an additive to those 2
  LEGO colors to help in the coloring process.

  Although Cadmium will not leach out of the LEGO bricks of that era (kids could safely chew on those LEGO parts), the longer term landfill
  issues of Cadmium laced LEGO getting into the ground, did become an
  issue with environmentalists.  So TLG had their plastics makers
  Borg-Warner (for USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland and Australia) and
  Bayer (for continental Europe and Asia) work on removing the cadmium
  from the red and yellow elements of that era.  I don't know the
  chemical specifics of that action, but by 1973 LEGO parts were Cadmium
  free... and have remained so.

  Next question.... can you tell Cadmium parts (1963-72) from Cadmium free parts?  Generally yes... but it's easier for red bricks, which
  are a darker red color with Cadmium.  Yellow LEGO parts with Cadmium
  are also a darker color, but the difference between Cadmium and
  Cadmium free yellow parts is less noticeable... especially with used
  or dirty yellow elements.


What is this brown flexible wire with 5 sliding pieces?

That's a flex system cable with several clutch changeover elements strung onto it. You can see it on the back of 8002 Destroyer Droid:

That's the only set with those parts in brown, so that's certainly where it came from. You can find all of the parts in the set inventory.

Those cable end elements have never felt quite like LEGO bricks to me, as they are one of the few parts that I feel like I might break when taking them apart.


No.
The hairpiece you link appears to be the same mould as the standard non-movie Wonder Woman figure. The hair falls quite close to the back of the minifigure torso, so there's no room for a neck bracket.

If you're looking to add wings to your Wonder Woman, it might be worth investing in a helmet or hairpiece that doesn't cover the back of the torso.


Background info:

I recently started collecting Duplo blocks to build toys for our sugar gliders (small, exotic marsupials); I've also got some regular Lego blocks in the mix that my boyfriend's had for who knows how long.  To get the most for my money (especially when it comes to avoiding figurines and random pieces that don't suit my purpose), I've been buying large lots of Duplos off of e-bay (all of them are specifically Lego brand - you couldn't pay me to use Mega Bloks or other crummy knock-offs, lol).

Our gliders are our babies and on top of that, I've got high-end breeding pair (ie rare colorings/genetics) and a "pet only" pair that cost a combined total of $1800 - in other words, their safety is a HUGE concern for me and I'm adamant about cleaning and sanitizing any Duplo blocks I buy as soon as they arrive.  Also, gliders can't be potty-trained and inevitably use my Duplo creations as toilets... meaning pee sometimes gets in the crevices between blocks.  To top it off, they scent-mark everything.  As a result, I've got to disassemble the toys I've built and re-wash them 1-2x a week to keep things sanitary.

Like toddlers, gliders tend to "taste test" their toys at times (and even if they don't, they walk all over the Duplo blocks and then eat with their hands and groom themselves with their tongues).  That means I have to use cleaning products that are very safe, yet still effective (particularly when it comes to odor control, as gliders really do stink things up!).

My cleaning method:

The way I've been washing the Lego Duplo and regular Lego blocks is to fill a clean kitchen sink with a 50/50ish mixture of hot water (hottest the tap can provide, that is) and white vinegar, then add the blocks.  I soak them for a few hours or possibly overnight, then scoop them into a large colander*, rinse them thoroughly with warm-to-hot water (iirc 104F+ is "unsafe" for Legos; hence why I mix the really hot water and the vinegar together before adding the Legos) and lay them out on towels to dry (inside, with a box fan blowing across them, flipping them over every few hours until they're totally dry).  If anything is particularly soiled, I use the soft (ie non-scrub-pad) side of a clean sponge to give the blocks a gentle scrubbing as they soak in the warm vinegar water; for anything stuck in difficult-to-clean crevices, I use a baby bottle brush and/or q-tips.

*Based on a recommendation I saw on this site, I ordered a salad spinner to spin-dry my Duplos and regular Legos (and bunny veggies and dinner salads)... best thing ever - I LOVE it.  GET ONE!

Vinegar is very popular as an odor eliminator for a WIDE variety of odors.  It was the first and only cleaning method I tried because - despite all the pet odor eliminators and pet cage/habitat cleansers on the market - the vast majority of glider owners stick to a simple 50/50 blend of water and vinegar.  It's very effective for removing urine, feces, scent marking oils, stuck-on (sugary) foods, etc. and all the related odors from glider toys and cages (not to mention bunny and cat litter boxes)... plus it's dirt cheap, gentle, pet (and child) safe and doesn't leave residue behind.

Because I haven't actually had to get cigarette smoke odor off of Legos and wanted to see if I could find some info to back up my hunch that it would work on that as well, I just did a cursory Google search for "remove cigarette smell with vinegar" and got a ton of hits confirming that it's very effective.  I then searched specifically for info about using vinegar on Legos and found an article that provides some great tips and additional information on using vinegar to clean/deodorize Legos (and the article really focuses on difficult-to-remove cigarette odors) - http://www.brickwarrior.com/?p=1


What is the difference between these two Technic half bushings?

They both appear to have the same part ID despite being quite different.

Sariel answers most of your questions in The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder's Guide.

  toothed half bush with a cutout

  The second variant, the toothed half bush with a cutout, is exactly
  what its name implies: a copy of the previous version with part of the
  axle hole cut out, which makes the axle hole large (see Figure 4-13).

  This modification was introduced to make it easier for children to
  take half bushes on and off the axles, and that's exactly what makes
  it much less popular with builders: These bushes are more likely to
  shift when stressed than the first variant.

  Other than that, it has every quality of the original toothed half
  bush except that, having been introduced a few years later, it's newer
  and thus made of strong material.

  (Chapter 4. Page 36.)

Pawel "Sariel" Kmiec, 2012. The Unofficial LEGO Technic Builder's Guide. 1 Edition. No Starch Press.


Technic Firetruck 8289 with different wheels?

The instructions show and Brickset lists 4496197: Rim Wide W.Cross 30/20 as the wheel rim of choice, which fits with the release year of the Fire Truck (2006) and the manufacturing dates of the rims (2006-2013).

BrickLink's "preferred" rim was only manufactured up to 2006, which might explain why it lists the pictured rim as an Alternative part - as that would have been included in later runs of the set.


I can not give you an answer on behalf of TLG, but I can give you some good reasons as to why Minifigures do not have ears.
Authenticity: Lego figures have never had ears. In fact, the first figures did not even have faces, or articulating limbs. They were very basic. Here is a photo showing the basic evolution of minifigures over the years. The first 'figures' were introduced in the mid-1900s.

Functionability: Adding ears to the head mold would greatly complicate things for Lego. Apart from the fact that ears would be likely to be broken off or get damaged, they would affect the compatability of heads.
All standard mold lego heads can fit just about every mold of hat and hair. However, if TLG started making heads with ears, they would have to redesign every single 'headgear' and 'hair' mold so that they would fit around/over the ears. As a result, for figures where ears are necessary, they are part of the headgear mold, not the head. You can see this in these two examples.

I hope that answers your son's question, and that you can simplify the reasons for him :)


Why are these hinged plates slightly different colors?

Quorneng's answer is spot on, even bricks that were from the same set might have been made from differing batches of a particular color and slight variances will produce differing colors. Purple is the most notorious Lego color for having a great deal of variance between bricks, and red is not surprisingly, also inconsistent at times.

To add to the mix, Lego is changing its formulas over time to keep costs down, and to make the bricks more durable and consistent. Earlier ABS bricks where stiffer and more brittle than modern bricks. They have more of a tomato red color, and are easy to spot next to modern bricks.

UV damage can alter the color of bricks over time, although this can be fixed with oxyclean + h202.

Finally, I believe that Lego will internally recycle 'bad' batches of bricks, grinding up and melting down ABS from lots that don't pass QA. This probably also affects brick color. I had a friend who made the pilgrimage to Billund to see the main plant. He told me about how they have a display that shows the casting of bricks to visitors, and it re-uses plastic for the demonstration. I recall that he commented on how the plastic colors were slightly odd looking, presumably because it had been recast so often. This makes sense to me, but it is a second hand story, so don't cite me for your thesis...


For the top item, I have found this to come from set 6338 Hurricane Harbor. Here is a photo of the sticker sheet that came with this set:

As for the bottom, please see comment to the question.


When and where was the first "official" fan organized Lego Convention held?

According to the What is BrickCon? page, BrickCon claims to be the "longest running fan-based LEGO® convention". Its first edition took place in 2002.

Note that there are events which are older (LEGOworld in the Netherlands for example which I believe started in 2001), so I suppose BrickCon's claim is specific for conventions, and not exhibitions - although I doubt the line between both is very clear to start with (While LEGOworld is definitely directed to the public, there are fan-only happenings in the evenings)


There are some limited options for third-party remote control add-ons but Lego doesn't license or endorse them and they're not (as far as I know) made with improved accessibility in mind. However, it may be possible to modify the standard remote using pieces you have or can get.

For example, the train remote has an axle hole in the round speed controllers. If you put in a technic axle, you can attach certain technic beams to it, which would act as a handle for turning the control. You need a beam with an axle hole, such as this one

The holes in the side of the remote will accept technic pins and there are studs on the top, which would allow you to build a frame on the remote if you needed a more robust build or if you wanted to build a larger button that could activate the red stop button.

Moving the tiny directional control arrows is probably beyond what you could achieve with any Lego add-ons.

Adding structure around the remote to make it easier to manipulate will be much sturdier if you stick to using technic parts.

I threw this together:

which has a red liftarm beam for controlling the speed and a dark grey liftarm beam for the stop button. It's not perfect: the stop lever can be over-extended and flipped upwards so that it no longer engages, but it can be easily reset. The construction is pretty strong and not likely to fall apart.

If this sort of fix helps with your son's issues and you need more information about how I did it, what parts I used, etc, please don't hesitate to comment on this answer.

Some technical details:
The axle holes on the buttons line up directly with the holes in a technic beam but the built-in technic holes on the side of the remote are half a beam in from where the resulting platform lines up, hence, I had to first attach a half-beam to the remote on the side, then attach the 90-degree beams to that. I'm not much of a technic builder so there may be more elegant solutions.


What is the difference between nxtG and nxt 2.0?

NXT-G is the graphical programming software that comes with NXT 1.0 (8527) and 2.0 (8547).

The NXT-G software has been improved for the second version of the set which also comes with a few different bricks (including different tyres) and a different box design.


Has anyone tried putting the Powered Up system in the Christmas train?

Haven't done the 10254 yet with powered up, but have converted several other trains... The train motors have the exact same dimensions and the powered-up smart hub has the same dimensions as the battery box of the power functions system.
What's different is that you don't need the space for the IR receiver and that the motor is immediately connected to the hub rather than the receiver.

What will differ is the following steps from the instruction manual:

Those steps make room for the IR-receiver which isn't necessary now..., for the rest you can follow the instructions exactly...


You can indeed take bricks and purchase them. I've listed the main types of Pick-A-Brick in this answer:

  The LEGO retail outlets house a matrix of bins, each filled with a
  certain type of brick. The bricks used tend be excess bricks from
  LEGO's own factories and some bricks of the same kind may be included
  in more than one bin. Bricks are packed into small or large plastic
  cups, you pay for getting as many bricks as you can in one cup.

The top few rows of bins are generally just decorative, it would take a fully grown adult on a kickstool/ladder to reach the top bins.

Other products unique to LEGO retail stores include:

Exclusive and limited edition sets (which can also be bought from Lego.com)
You can build and buy minifigures which consist of torso, legs, head, helmet/headpiece and accessory.
Events, such as the monthly mini-builds. Models you can build in-store to take home. Subject to age restrictions.


Your EV3 allows to send direct commands from the PC to the robot. It offers three communication protocols: USB (needs a wire), Bluetooth and Wifi (needs a dongle). You can start programs, control motors, read data from the sensors, play sound, change the colors of the LEDs, simulate buttom presses and so on. For file transfer you should use system commands, which have a different structure.

The communication is independent from the programming language, what counts are the sent and received data. If your favorite programming language supports the communication protocol, you can use it. You need not start from scratch, there exists code in different programming languages.

You find detailed information about direct commands in this blog: EV3DirectCommands


How to place minifigure legs into normal LDD bricks, like a 1x2 brick?

I see what you mean...  Friggin' annoying!  Can't do it Stud.io Ver 1.0 (157) either.  I haven't installed Stud.io 2.0 yet, to see if it's possible in the upgrade.

Hmm...  You could... Just create a work-a-round that could potentially make your model a little more unique.

These program issues are frustrating, but they're fun when they force us to think of an alternative.

Here, try these Mech Fisticuff Gauntlets. The pictures look like nonsense, so let me explain the layout.

FRONT VIEW.

It reads loosely in columns from left to right.  Your new fist configuration build are the 4th and 5th Columns.

1st Column: Dark Gray 1x2 brick = Height 3 Plates.
2nd Column: Blue MiniFig Legs = Height 5 plates.
3rd Column: The total height of Legs and 1x2 brick.  = 8 plates high.
LDD won't let us stack a 1x2 brick on to leg stalk.
4th Column: Our alternate fist, fingers fully extended.  (Note: It
will be an unnoticeable 1/2 plate shorter then your original fists.
5th Column: Our alternate fist, fingers curled up, forming a Left
fist.
6th loose splatter pieces: Four individual pieces to our fist recipe.

93062 Skeleton Leg.
26047 Modified 1 x 1 Rounded with Handle.
99780 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Inverted.
15573 Modified 1 x 2 with 1 Stud with Groove and Bottom Stud
  Holder (Jumper).

7th Pointing Hand of Prime.

Final Note: LEGO may not have those Skeleton legs in the colors we want in real life, but look through for other minifig leg or hinge+1x1 plate combination to get your Mech finger/knuckles right.

EDIT=>HERE For reals. You can download my LDD file from my Google Drive, and import the alternate into your build file in LDD.  Save you some time.

BACK VIEW.

SICK VIEW.


How do you plan large structures for easy and safe transport to shows?

Compartmentalise

I wouldn't recommend transporting anything larger than a 32x32 stud baseplate. Use Technic pins and 1x2 bricks to connect parts of your model in the same way as the Modular Sets have done. The technique works well for buildings, planes, boats and just about any kind of large model.

Transport

Remove as many small parts likely to fall off in transportation as you possibly can and place them in a sealed plastic bag or other suitable container. Place the rest of the model with the extra parts in a cardboard/plastic box. The box is essential for catching any other fragile pieces that fall off the model. You may also use bubble wrap or tissue paper to pad the box as much as you can.

Once your Lego model has completed it's journey allow yourself some time to fix inevitable damage.

Collapsible Structures

This is a fairly novel idea, which I haven't seen done before. Flickr user Legozilla has built a model that is specifically designed with transport in mind.

This particular design is unlikely to be damaged in transport. The flatpacked version of this model is significanly more space spacing compared to its 'built state' where it's volume is probably 90% air.

  Occasionally, we need to fill in a spot in a display because a member
  needs to be late to a show or some other circumstance. To meet that
  need, I have a couple of buildings that I tote around to fill such a
  gap. This set of buildings is modular, and collapsible so that it's
  easy to transport and flexible enough to fit in most corners of a
  layout. It's also fun to fold and unfold just to watch people's
  reaction.


I do not own such piece, so cannot tell if they all are broken by this time. However I have a suggestion regarding acquiring a replacement.
Bricklink is a dedicated to trading just LEGO items, so I can recommend to look here for replacement. While some of the sellers do not check functionality of all the items they sell it is considered items should be in a working state unless stated otherwise. It would be best to ask a seller (that you have chosen to buy the item from if it works) to test the piece if you ask them before placing an order.
The item you should be looking for on Bricklink is called Pneumatic Distribution Block 2 x 4 with Non-return Valve.


Minifig Generator might work for you.

Or maybe the SigFig Creator.

Flash based, but also fun: Mini-Mizer.

Even better, suggested by rioforce: LEGO Universe Minifig Wizard

I'm sure there are more...

6 hours later...  OH!  you mean like an actual bit of molded plastic.

For that, probably your best bet is using one of the above to find some approximation and then hit up something like Bricklink to buy the proper parts.


How should I get started with LEGO trains?

That set would work, set 60052 would work as well (although it has a few more parts that are not actually needed if you are really focused on trains, in that regard 60098 might be better)

Those sets (including 60051) are from 2014/2015, rumours have it that new trains will come out this year (probably around august), and apparently (I hadn't heard it before @TheBrickBlogger wrote it in a comment here) they won't be completely compatible.


What is this black brick with red tubes inside?

This is a 7049b - Wheel brick. It was used with the first LEGO wheels back in the 60's to create vehicles like this:

This was a very common piece (in white and black) when it was produced between 1959-1992 and was used in 176 sets according to BrickLink.

Per @GalacticCowboy's comment: As shown in the inset, the wheels had a metallic axle that snapped into the holes. Because they were modular, you could use wheels in whatever configuration you desired.


How can i use my iPhone to scan a barcode and send it to my EV3 brick?

You will have to write an application for your phone that can scan the codes and then send the information to the EV3 via bluetooth or wifi.

If you don't know how to write iOS apps, start here.

For scanning bar codes there seems to be good info here. It appears that bar code scanning is built into iOS 7. If you have an older version, the the zxing library sounds like a good choice.

For communicating to the EV3 over bluetooth, this has been asked before. However, I have yet to come across a good example.

You should be able to figure out the communication protocol for communicating with the EV3 from the LEGO firmware documentation, VM documentation and source code.


Please help identify LEGO Batman vehicle

It appears to actually be an Iron Man set, with the dark green #4623524 piece swapped out for the same piece in black from a Batman set.

The base is 76006-1 Iron Man: Extremis Sea Port Battle

Based on the 1x2 slope piece with the Batman symbol, the #4623524 piece likely comes from 76000-1 Arctic Batman vs. Mr. Freeze: Aquaman on Ice


I can see some Duplo bricks in LDraw parts library, which is used by Stud.io as well, so you should be able to work out instructions the same way you do with usual bricks.
One thing to note is that availability of Duplo parts in LDraw is rather limited.
Alternatively, you can use LDCad (which uses LDraw library) to create your model. In this case you can find most of the Duplo elements under Library sorted by function > Duplo.


LEGO 3069 tile 1x2 (dark?)grey with red and gold pattern and with yellow and white pattern

The first tile is Tile 1 x 2 with Groove with Copper and White Circuitry, Red Rectangle and 4 Squares Pattern

Appearing in these 10 sets.
It looks like yours is Dark Gray.
The second tile is Tile 1 x 2 with Groove with Vehicle Control Panel Pattern

Appearing in these 82 sets.
It looks like yours is Dark Bluish Gray.


How much usage can a LEGO piece take before it loses its 'clutch power'?

37,112 times
Well I did it. I built a machine to test this. It took 10 days until the LEGO at the bottom couldn't stay on anymore.

>>> Check my blog for more details


Can anyone help me identify this Fabuland figure?

This is Boris Bulldog a.k.a.

fab2c: Fabuland Figure Bulldog 3 with Police Hat

it appears in the following sets

3603: Boris Bulldog and Mailbox

3786: Boris Bulldog

3793: Boris Bulldog and Mailbox


This specific piece, a Tile 2 x 4 with Batman Logo Pattern,

turns out to be one of the first piece that comes out when looking for Batman at BrickLink, and appears only in one set, the "Batman: Defend the Batcave" set:


The loose part are gray and red speeder from: 75012-1: BARC Speeder with Sidecar

based on:

Coupling Plate 2X2 in Medium Stone Grey

Roof Tile 2X1X2 in New Dark Red

Lt Suspension in Dark Stone Grey


Is there a way to change the Lego NXT sensor polling frequency?

Most sensors have the capability of sending you notifications or updates as the value of their sensor changes. This is accomplished by repeatedly contacting the NXT brick and querying the sensor. The polling frequency allows you to configure for each sensor how often this is done.
In most cases, you may leave this value set to 0, which indicates the default polling frequency. However, there may be times when you wish to get sensor reading back from one sensor more often. In this case, you can adjust the polling frequency, which is specified in milliseconds (1/1000 second).

from Device Services: Microsoft Robotics on msdn
The article goes on to suggest the range within which this can be effective.


Official instructions for 2018 LEGO employee Christmas gift 4002018?

As TheBrickBlogger said, you need to wait:

Even contacted their customer support and the reply was:

  I don't think those are every available publicly

  Not unless you are an employee

And after insisting repeatedly, answer from seniors was:

  So they confirmed they would not be available. Sorry!

Update: rebrickable have full detail of all individual pieces (281) and video demo too.


In what ways are LEGO and Megabloks incompatible?

The problem is that while in general MegaBloks bricks fit with LEGO bricks, the quality control on the MB bricks seems to be much lower*, so the bricks/studs and holes are not always the same size.

As an example, I recently acquired a MB HALO Covenant Banshee ship for my son, and can safely show that:

The holes in studs do not readily accept rods (in this case a "wand" element from a Harry Potter set, but identical to the lightsaber pieces, etc.) - they are generally too small, however I could just force it into the front of the "hollow frying pan" type piece that Harry's holding. Conversely the handle is thinner than the wand, so it fits into the hollow MB studs fairly well, but is very loose in the LEGO cone.

With Erling bricks your mileage may vary but shound be ok, however you'd be better off with the newer 1x1 brick with knob(s), as then there's no ridge to fit within.

Plates and Tiles seem to fit fairly well - although generally the grip will be looser if you put LEGO elements on top of MB ones - the studs seem slightly smaller.

DUPLO Bricks seem to fit as well as they do with LEGO bricks:

*I state that the quality control seems to be lower as in this set for example, there are supposed to be 4 1x1 Round Plates (you can just see a transparent blue one behind Harry). Of the 10 or 12 that were supplied(!), none of them were tight enough to stay on the angular brick you can see on the wing edge (the one that just about stays on the other side falls off this one).


How to describe a building set which is like LEGO without using the "LEGO" word?

The usual phrases I've seen include some mixture of the following:

Universal interlocking bricks
Modular building system
Plastic construction toy blocks

and so on...

But don't forget adding "Compatible with leading brands" if it is indeed the case :)


Can you identify this old set with LEGOLAND minifigs?

It is one box from 364-1: Harbour Scene from 1975:

Here's what the particular box looked like in newer condition:

And here's the set freshly opened with your box slotted into its place. Your box is the top center one if you can't tell from the image.

Here's a video covering this set in detail.


In most cases you can find the weight of a brick from Bricklink an unofficial LEGO site that takes weight measurements from user submitted data. Bricklink states the 1x4 brick as 1.64 grams in weight.

LEGO bricks tend to be odd weights because the design process primarily focusses on the physical aspect. A 1x8 and 2x4 brick both have exactly eight studs, yet the weight between them differs  by almost a gram.

In the interest of scientific accuracy, I would recommend weighing the bricks yourself with digital kitchen scales to confirm the weight.


Can the BrickStore part database be updated?

I found this on Eurobricks from 2014:

  I recommend to try BrickStock instead of BrickStore. Brickstore is old and is no longer supported and updated. BrickStock is a fork (using the source of BrickStore) of brickstore.

I use Brickset.com which is very up-to-date and suits the needs of me and my sons.


If it is intended to mate with other LEGO products, it is ABS. Just tweaked to be more elastic. Any discussion of materials published by LEGO always says LEGO and Duplo are ABS, with some SBS for tires and rubbery things.

There is some sort of polycarbonate used for the clear pieces, but these are rare, and they don't mate well with each-other, so LEGO actually tries to limit these in production kits.

I can't find a specific statement to this effect, but Quatro is almost certainly some tweaked ABS recipe, if only because they have to mate with other ABS pieces, and the tolerances are very tight for LEGO. Mixing plastics would be tricky (as it is for the PC pieces). Additionally, getting the colours just right so they match the colours in the other sets would be a nightmare if it was anything other than ABS.


What do the V# codes represent in the LEGO shop?

I believe it's related to the instruction manual format - see the comments to this question.

So for example

V39 may be printed on US standard letter size paper
V29 may be printed on EU standard A4 paper


How can I minimize the number of merchants for given set of requested bricks?

You can create a wishlist, then view sellers ordered by the number of lots they have of the items in that wishlist.  That should give you a good starting point.


This is from set 7151 Sith Infiltrator from the first wave of Starwars sets from 1999.

It is the only set that contains Windscreen 3x6x5 Bubble with that cockpit pattern, as visible on this picture:


How to install Firmware 1.10E on an EV3 home/retail edition brick

New answer (2020)
The V1.10E firmware is installed using the EV3 Device Manager web page. The instructions are not entirely clear, but if you visit the web page with Chrome (recommended), Safari, Edge, or Internet Explorer, click the Available Bricks (0) button and wait a very long time, it will eventually pop up a dialog asking to download and install an EV3 Device Manager program to your computer. The EV3 Connection Manager program runs in the background on your computer and communicates with the EV3 Connection Manager web page in the browser. After installing the separate background program, the web page will be able to connect to your EV3. Then you can use it to update the firmware. It does not appear that this method gives you the option of selecting which firmware file to use.
Old answer - for retired EV3 Lab software
You can get the 1.10E firmware from the LEGO Education website. Currently, this can be done by clicking the Download Firmware button at the bottom of this page.
In the EV3 programming software, make sure you have a project open (e.g. create a new empty project), then click Tools > Update Firmware.
Click the Show Details button.

Then click Browse and select the firmware file that you downloaded.

Make sure your EV3 is connected via USB and powered on, then click Update Firmware.


Does everything produced by The LEGO Group count as "LEGO pieces"?

There is no official answer on this, as “purist” LEGO is a consensus, not a definition. That said, there are several examples of pieces LEGO doesn’t classify as a part that are used in MOCs, such as:

The pin used to keep bundles of 4 train tracks together.

This Technic hub piece was never originally intended for standalone use (it was part of a pin joiner) but has been used by MOCcers due to having antistuds on both sides (within a 1x1 brick footprint). It was later used as a standalone piece in official sets before being replaced with a new design.

The iconic brick separator is not intended as a regular LEGO piece, but has a whole class of MOCs based on it. I have seen it used as railway station roofs, spaceship wings etc.

Net, I think the general consensus is that if it has been produced by LEGO and you can find a way to incorporate it into a MOC, your creation is still considered “purist”. At the least it gives you good arguments for any debate that might arise.

Curious to see how you will incorporate shopping bags in a MOC ... I can imagine one being used in a rather large scale MOC where you utilize the LEGO logo on it as part of a display.


How can I remove a rubber band from a pulley?

As I've said before in another answer, I find the #92585 Crowbar is the most versatile and is especially good at removing rubber bands from the #3736 (Technic, Steering Pulley Large) and the #4185 (Technic, Wedge Belt Wheel) elements.

Don't use any sharp/metallic objects like a screwdriver or a pen knife as you may scratch the brick or sever the rubber band.


Please help me ID this...castle and gates

That would be Attack On Weathertop, from the Lord Of The Rings series. Looks like it's missing a fair few pieces, but it's still mostly intact.

EDIT: Oops, top picture didn't load before I posted. The gate is from Mines Of Moria; the fold-out hill is Attack On Weathertop.


I don’t know what LEGO piece this is with a large hole going through its center

Technic, Engine Cylinder with Side Slots
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=2850


If you have added your sets to Brickset, under "My Sets; Minifigs; View Your Minifigs" you will find all your minifigs pictured & listed by name (default). This will give you their name, ID number, and which set or sets they are from. You also have several more options to sort them by. Clicking on a picture magnify's the figure for greater detail. All of this can be printed, but given the number of minifigures you are dealing with, printing them out is going to take a lot of paper and ink and may be impractical.

If any additional information is needed, then looking up the provided figure number on Bricklink will give you the option to look at its individual components in greater detail.

Brickowl can provide you with a more compact, detailed break-down of a minifigures parts, but unfortunately doesn't use the same ID numbers as Brickset and Bricklink. These compact inventories would make it more practical to compile several figs on a single page. Perhaps Brickset may consider such a format if you were to inquire? It would be a very useful tool.


It looks very much like pullback of the promotional LEGO sets with ferrari an shell from 2012.

They have got the set numbers 30190 to 30195 and there is an additional crew pack (30196).