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How do I change the color of a brick?
I have a uniquely-shaped brick that I would like to make a darker shade of gray (it's currently blue).

What media is the best in terms of durability for continued use (i.e. re-use, re-configuration)?
I assume a spray media would work well, is there a particular type of paint to use that would have a harder surface and be less prone to scratching, sticking?

In our impressionable youth, my brother and I painted a few mini-figures and helmets. We had no real long term success with acrylics. Enamel paints worked better - I'll have a rummage over the weekend and see how badly scratched they are.

Note that, with spray paint, the paint might pool in the corners and crevices of the brick, so I would not use that if I were you.

I wouldn't paint any of the mating surfaces. Mask those off to protect them from overspray (if spraying).

I don't think that spray paint would be very durable.  Even if you used a primer specifically designed for plastic the paint would scratch off fairly easily.  Also, spray paint would add a noticeable amount of thickness to the brick and could interfere when trying to mate the brick up with others.

The problem is that bricks are coloured throughout,  not just surface coloured, which means any paint you add will wear off.
My guidance is to source a brick in the colour you need and replace it.

If it's for a display model (static on a shelf) you could use scale model paint and varnish.  Matching the original color will be hard, so don't expect perfection.
On the other hand, if your looking to 'play' with that piece afterward, I don't think any paint method can resist that abuse.  like mentioned by Rory Alsop you're better off finding the real thing.

According to Auto Body Repair by Duffy and Sharff, the best solution for any interior or exterior (non-flexible) ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, the plastic LEGO elements are made of) component is to apply a standard lacquer based system, no primer.

It's Lego blasphemy to change the color of the bricks (or to modify them using, say, a dremmel) but that said I would use the spray paint that is made for plastic. Of course, whenever I go to Lowes the color selection is limited so you may not find the color you need.

nor would it be likely to match any of your other bricks.

Actually, designers do spray existing pieces when they need to use a not-yet-produced color in their test models. It's hard to speak of blasphemy when even supernatural beings do it.

Use clothing dye to change the color. It works for wear and tear. It doesn't wear off. It dyes the part rather than coating it.

I don't know who bothered to down-vote this answer, but even Iain Heath likes this method. http://www.brothers-brick.com/2013/06/30/50-shades-of-bley-iain-heaths-mad-lego-science/

I just thought of a new method: Order custom sticker sheets and apply the stickers. Might be tough to get the color right, though.

Hm, maybe try using British Paints Spray Paint. I think they are the best brand. Just make SURE that it is the exact same colour with the other ones you are using. Spray at about 35-40cm distance from the block. I tried it and it works well.

Hi Anonymous! While this is a nice answer, it would definitely benefit from some additional details. For example, why do you think that is the best brand? What properties distinguish it from the others? What was the colour combination you used (LEGO brick colour and paint colour)? Is there anything one should be careful with when applying the paint?

If it's on display, then paint it, use water colour paints, or use permanent marker. They all work well.

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What piece is this ARC-170 Starfighter cockpit?
I got these with the ARC-170 LEGO Starfighter (archived):

I'd like to get more if possible. They are a part of the cockpit.

Is this from the cockpit?

@BoltClock Yes it is. Sorry, should have mentioned that in the question. edits

It's common for the pieces to have numbers printed on them. Try to see if the numbers are visible.

That looks like 30384 Windscreen 7 x 4 x 2 Round. In general, BrickLink is a pretty decent place to browse around for parts identification. Peeron is also pretty good.
BrickLink provides a comprehensive list of windscreens both plain and decorated.

Ahh, experienced researcher found the brick where I just found the set

+1 for Peeron. If you know the set, you should be able to find the piece there.

This is the Trans-Black Windscreen 7 x 4 x 2 Round

(7259) ARC-170 or (8088) ARC-170 Starfighter.
The part can be found in these sets on Bricklink and a cool alternative list.

I believe the question is asking for the specific piece, not the set.

@Rebecca - I expected that first identifying the set would help find the brick... See the last links

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Where or how do I get replacement stickers for my LEGO set?
I have a BMW Williams F1 LEGO set 8461 that I built when I got it several years ago.  I unfortunately let it sit out on my shelf for a long time.  The stickers have peeled and cracked and some have nearly disintegrated.
How or where do I get a new sheet of stickers so I can rebuild the model properly and then have it put in a case so I can help keep this from happening again?

UPDATE (put this here as it would not fit in the comments).
I got my response back from LEGO.  The set is too old and they do not carry that set of stickers any more.

Dear Scott,
Thanks for getting in touch with us.
We're sorry we no longer have the stickers you need. We try really hard to keep as many replacement LEGO® parts as we can, but sometimes we run out of pieces from old sets. A second hand toy expert or collector might be able to help, or you could even try searching at flea markets or second hand shops.
Thank you again for contacting us. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reply to this email or call one of our friendly Customer Care Advisors at 1-800-835-4386 (from within the US or Canada) or 1-860-749-0706 (from outside the US or Canada). We are available Monday through Friday from 8AM - 10PM EST and Saturday through Sunday from 10AM to 6PM EST.
Daniel
  LEGO Direct Consumer Services

You can either buy them on BrickLink, or contact LEGO Customer Service directly. BrickLink might be the cheaper of the two options, but if LEGO has them in stock, they are guaranteed to be factory-new.

I just checked BrickLink and there don't seem to be complete sticker sheet available.  All of the sets they have for sale all seem to have the stickers that are poor similar shape as too mine.  I will give Lego a try and cross my fingers.

For older sets, you can buy replicas made by some Dutch fans. I've met them on a few occasions and have seen the stickers they make and quite frankly, the quality is excellent. As far as I can see they don't do Technic sets yet, but it can't hurt to ask.
Granted, they are not genuine, but for genuine LEGO sticker sheets you'll usually end up paying a fortune, and then they'll peel off anyway.
For genuine stickers, don't forget eBay or even Google.

we occasionally also do technic stickers indeed, currently I'm trying to reproduce the Ferrari set.

oh! it would be my very happy day if you could make replacement stickers for set 6450!
http://bricks.argz.com/part/6450stk01 for reference. I certainly would buy these.

For long-retired products, it may be possible to find scanned images of the stickers online.
Then use a high quality color printer to print new decals which you glue to the bricks.
The result is not perfect, but often good enough to fool an untrained eye.


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What tool can get two 1x2 plates apart without damaging them?
Teeth and pliers tend to leave unsightly marks on the bricks.
Fingernails don't work too well.
What tool do you recommend to separate them?

You could try the great brick separator. Designed for this specific purpose, it's probably your best bet.

Perfect image...

I normally use two big bricks: one on the top and one at the bottom.  Then you push down while rotating.

Or you could use, guess what, a new brick separator:

(http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=96874)

In addition to the Brick Separator, there are some parts that work well for this

Original here.

There's the great LEGO Brick Separator that can be bought in the LEGO Online Shop:

I love this thing. It's just great if you want to take care of your nails and teeth.

As of now it has been replaced with a new variation.

I use a fingernail most times,  or a guitar pick if the bricks are stuck too firmly.

I (and my sons) use a plastic knife designed for children. We found ours in IKEA (larger bricks for houses)
I have also used this lego tool with moderate success

A flat-style staple remover (as opposed to the jaws style) does well to maintain the surface of a stuck brickage. It also can be jimmied back and forth without much slippage.

You can always try the Official LEGO Brick Separator. It would probably take a couple to work best on 1x2s though - one on the top, one on the bottom.

Disclaimer: I haven't tried this personally.
You could use two removal-tools (one to grab the top piece, one to grab the bottom piece)

I usually put 1x2 bricks on the top and bottom of the stack of plates. This gives me enough leverage to break up the stack between the two plates. Afterwards, I remove the plates from the bricks.

I've separated several plates (and bricks too) with a simple spring-based hair clip.

Ew! No metal bits!

Why not? It's been quite successful for me.

Because metal damages our precious ABS bits.


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What is the "LEGO Master Builder Academy"?
At a LEGO store I saw a box advertising the "LEGO Master Builder Academy". It came with a book and a code for online registration, and mentioned a subscription fee.
What is this "Academy"? What do I get with the set? How much does it cost?

Seems to be US only

They'll be bringing the line over to Germany soon. I recently participated in translating the instructions for three kits, and other accompanying materials, from English into German.

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.

It's what replaced the old "BrickMaster" program where Lego company would send a comic book and a new small Lego set every month.
There are pro's and con's to the new program but it's about the same except the first set is a much bigger "starter" set and the building books are more detailed (and I think the comic part is gone but I may have just missed it . . . I've just been getting them and putting them in the closet and not doing much with them).

PRO: The new books do a better job of explaining how to build the model and have details about why.
PRO: The books are real books and not pamphlets.
PRO: Each set builds off the prior sets
CON: It's more expensive
CON: It's all on the same "space" theme for now whereas the old program you would get a set from the different series like City, Star Wars, Creator, etc.

This answer is incorrect; only the first theme is a space theme. It also doesn't provide any information about the costs or what the online aspect is.

@JoeWreschnig The first set is the only set that is out. And all of them in the set are the space theme whereas the old brickmaster program every other month you got a completely different series.

The second set, which is out, is microbuild themed with an airport and race track - not space. (It does include a space shuttle, but those aren't "space lego" usually.) The next sets are robot, flight, creature, and car.


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Do any programs exist that allow you to build your own LEGO manuals?
What I'm looking for is a program or website/webapp that allows "virtual" building of a LEGO model, step-by-step, and allows you to save these single steps to get a complete building plan in the end. Like the original manuals, this should include:

An image of each step
A list of pieces needed for each step
Optionally "detailed" views for very tricky parts
Possibility to download/save or link to a plan (as PDF, for example)

The Lego Digital Designer is ideal for this job. Avalible for Mac and PC it allows you to build models from scatch, order them, and get them delivered. Or, if you've got the bits already it can make instructions for you. It has a range of technic items (see image below).

Importing a model will also enable you to view the part number and details which could be very useful for finding out exact pieces/parts.

I'd hardly call LDD "ideal for this job"... As soon as models are more complex than bricks linearly stacked on top of each other (and none of the fun models work that way) it easly screws up and spews out nonsensical garbage...

I suspect this answer is no longer applicable.

I tried LDD at first, but frankly, the order in which it adds the parts is often quite nonsensical:

I also tried a bunch of other tools, some of which are mentioned elsewhere on this page, with mixed results.
So what I ended up using, with great success, is LIC (LEGO Instruction Creator). It's beta, somewhat buggy, and for all I can see it was written by just one AFOL in his spare time, and the development has stopped. But it's very easy to use, quite versatile, and I am more than happy with the results. Here's what it looks like:

(Scroll down for sample images of the final instructions for two models.)
Basically, it's a WYSIWYG editor that takes an LDraw model as input. And a surprisingly powerful one at that. Some of the things you can do with it are:

switch between vertical and horizontal layout;
add, delete, or merge steps;
move individual parts between the steps;
move everything around the page freely;
rotate individual parts or the entire model, automatically adding rotation icons if you wish;
"displace parts with arrows" (just like in TLG's instructions, where the part has not been connected to the model yet, but an arrow shows where it's supposed to go and which way around) — this can be done in any direction, up or down, left and right, top and bottom, and for several parts, too;
make a template for your instructions (things like fonts, font sizes, background color, and so on and so forth), so instructions for different models have the same, your very personal, look and feel;
add text labels such as part counts, your name, really anything.

LIC will also automatically create a parts list as the last page of the instructions. Allegedly it can also export to PDF, and integrates with POV-Ray for higher-quality images, but sadly neither of these options works for me (as I said, there are some bugs). Might work on a different machine, though, or a more recent OS. I don't know.
So anyway, my complete toolchain looks as follows:

MLCAD/LDraw for modelling. It has a steep learning curve, but once you have figured it out, it's a breeze.
Then I feed the LDraw model into LIC, which generates a draft of the instructions and allows me to fine-tune them interactively.
Then I save the instructions as images and do some final retouching in GIMP - moving stuff around a couple pixels, adding photos, stitching pages together, etc.

The final result can be seen on my Brickshelf. Here are just two sample pages:

All tools I mentioned are free and available for download. Follow the links.

Many thanks for this RegDwight - hopefully more people will see this answer and learn about a great tool.

This looks great. Is there a Linux port somewhere?

google closed code.google.com but it seems the original author moved the project to github and is working on it again https://github.com/remig/lic

@ℝaphink did you try running it on Linux? On my Debian machine it worked fine after installing the packages python-qt4, python-qt4-gl and python-opengl

LIC is now deprecated. It's GitHub page (that @josch mentioned) now suggest a new in-browser version from the same developer: Web Lic, which is still actively maintained.

See AlternativeTo's list.

LEGO Digital Designer (official; most popular)
LDraw (2nd most popular)
Konstruktor
MLCAD

You can do all this in Google Sketchup with SketchyPhysics simulation, of course! And the pieces are easier to fit in, and GS is generally more flexible and easier to use, unlike LDD. The disadvantage is, you don't get LDD's Building Instruction Generation capabilities.
(You can download bricks for Sketchup from the online gallery. For example, LEGO Mindstorms NXT parts.)

"You can do all this" in Google Sketchup, yes, except create instructions, which was the actual question. :-)

LPub

LPub is a program that allows you to produces step by step instructions for models. It's an alternative to the built-in Building Guide Mode featured in Lego Digital Designer which produces a set of instructions automatically (although not necessarily in the most logical way).
LDD model instructions can be created in LPub provided that the parts in the LDD model are also available in the LDraw library (cf. this related question). An .lxf file can be opened in LDD and exported as an LDraw file (.ldr). The LDraw file you exported using LDD can be opened in LPub.

Unfortunately LPub seems to be quite dead with the last commit being made in 2006 http://lpub.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/lpub/LPub/Source/ and the author taking 2 years to respond https://sourceforge.net/p/lpub4/discussion/702453/thread/d284c304/

You should look at LPub4.  This is an OpenSource (GPL) tool that can create high quality instructions from LDRAW compatible files.  It runs on Windows and OS X and with my patches on Linux as well.
Note that the LDD license states "Any commercial use of the software is strictly prohibited" so keep that in mind if you are intending to do anything commercial with your instructions (such as selling them).  GPL software such as LPub can be used commercially, though you do need to make sure to understand the license obligations it carries

"though you do need to make sure to understand the license obligations it carries" - unless the OP plans on redistributing the GPL'ed software, there is not much they have to understand about the license obligations.

BrickLink Studio is a design tool to build models (like LEGO Digital Designer) and includes the ability to create instructions as PDF or images. Therefore the models are divided into steps via the modeller or in the step builder (part of the instruction maker).

Steps can be reordered
Parts can be moved between steps
Parts can be grouped into submodels with their own steps (these can be converted to so-called "callouts" so that they don't appear in the normal steps ordering but in a separate box within another step)
Instruction pages are generated automatically from steps
View/angle/zoom of model can be changed on a per page basis (kept until the next view change)
Elements on pages can be moved
Brick insertions can be visualized by displacing the brick with an arrow indicator in all directions
Manual insertion of elements like images, rotaion symbol, free-text fields ...
For some layout elements presets can be defined and saved into a configuration
Parts list

If you want to pay some money for professional software, I'm pretty sure that SolidWorks has a complete set of LEGO parts that you can use.
http://www.solidworks.com/

+1 nice idea, but looks a bit overpowered - the LDD seems to be axactly what i was looking for.

Are there any LEGO part libraries compatible with Solidworks?

I found this site with at least some info on LEGO in SolidWorks. I heard about using SolidWorks with LEGO from someone else, and I don't actually have any experience with SolidWorks. Neverthereless, here's the site: http://www.solidworks.com/sw/education/10039_ENU_HTML.htm

The LDRAW package contains a tool called LPUB.
If you design your LDR files with various "step" instructions, you can have it generate a PDF with one page per step.
Some tools, such as BrickSmith (http://bricksmith.sourceforge.net) present steps in a hierarchical fashion so that you can step through them. Others, such as MLCAD, show them as breaks between the various steps.

Bricklink Studio.
It generates good instructions like these:
It's also very straightforward to use:


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Do tools exist to help me translate a real world object to a LEGO design?
It can be a big challenge to create a design for a large object. Are there techniques or tools to simplify this, and to help estimate numbers of blocks required?

You can convert your LEGO design to a virtual object! http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=56336

If you have a 3D model of the real world object, you could check out this question: http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/3074/is-there-a-way-to-convert-a-3d-model-into-a-lego-sculpture/3075#3075

Lego Digital Designer (~140mb, Mac and PC) is quite useful for creating 3D designs. I haven't personally used it that much but it is quite a powerful tool. It will tell you the number of bricks used in a model as well.
At a pinch, MS Paint (pixel-based), Google Sketchup (find some templates for bricks) and Minecraft could even be used for planing builds.

This doesn't seem to answer the question as asked. Or  explain what advantage LDD has?


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How can a sticker be removed?
In my younger days I may have placed a few stickers on my bricks.  Including some that covered multiple bricks.
Now my daughter has the tendency to do the same thing :)
How can I best remove the stickers, particularly old ones?

Anyone tried WD40?

@Kramii: Relevant

I am posting this as a comment and not an answer because it is a brand name thing, but I personally use Goo Gone (tm).  The best technique tha I know of is to get the sticker(s) off with your fingernails or another hard object, and then use Goo Gone to get the residue off.

I have to use the Goo Gone outside so the smell doesn't disturb my lady, but it is worth the trouble for getting rid of sticker remnants.  I've never used this directly on LEGO, but it has worked great on clear plastic food containers I was cleaning up to store LEGO.  They look like new with minimal effort.

the best way i found out till now is to get them of as good as possible with your nails or a plastic-knife (i wouldn't recommend to use metal knifes or razorblades - if you do, be careful to avoid scratching the bricks surface) and then remove the remaining glue with:

pure alcohol or
glass cleaner
cheap hairspay (spray 2-3 seconds from very close distance and then rub of with a piece of cloth) sometimes also does a good job

I performed my own experiments to determine which methods work by randomly applying three stickers (which are similar to the stickers that come in LEGO sets) onto a simple brick wall.

Using my finger nails to peel the stickers worked well. This is how I've always removed stickers and in my experience, I haven't had any problems doing so.
Heating the brick wall for 15-30 seconds, evenly with a hairdryer made it easier to take the sticker off manually. It was still quite fiddley to pick the corner but the sticker comes off more smoothly.
Firmly taping over the stickers with sellotape and peeling off failed to work, even after several attempts. Two of the three stickers had been peeled into half.
Sceptical about using a sharp blade to remove a sticker, I'd re-built my LEGO wall out of old, damaged bricks. Using a craft knife to remove the stickers was very easy, however there was a risk of scraping the brick and causing damage.

I haven't tried hair spray, pure-alcohol or any other chemical cleaning products.

Seriously? A RAZOR BLADE ON LEGO BRICKS?!?! I don't care how old they are! They are LEGOS! You must respect them!!!!!!!!

@J.Walker I tried a couple of methods from the other answers to to this question and one of them suggested using a knife.

Best to remove as much as you can by mechanical means (plastic spatula/fingernail, nothing harder unless you like scratching your bricks) then use some 'Sticky Stuff Remover' to get the sticky residue off.
This stuff works on just about anything without leaving a mark, Lego is made from ABS and will not be affected by it.

I have used a razor blade to remove the sticker, then a wee bit of food oil to remove the residual glue.
Sometimes just using some tape and a repetitive dubbing motion have done the trick as well.

If you don't care about preserving the old sticker, remove it with your fingers or a plastic knife and then use rubbing alcohol to remove the remaining sticky bits. As other posters have noted, metal knives/razors leave the risk of scratching the plastic bricks - it all depends on the level of confidence in your knife/razor skills.
I use alcohol instead of harsher chemicals (like glass cleaner or hairspray) to reduce the amount of possibly toxic chemicals on the bricks, since kids will be playing with them after the sticker is removed.

Acetone (fingernail polish remover) works quite well also, I used to use it to get rid of marker and stickers on my LEGO bricks as a kid. Definitely do not soak your bricks in it though or you will notice your brick will turn out quite rubbery when you remove it! I found that out the hard way.

As Joshua points out, Acetone is a solvent that will dissolve ABS if left in contact with the elements for any length of time.

I use a hair dryer to heat the sticker up a bit.  Then a plastic scrapper or plastic knife or fingernail to scrape off the sticker and as much of the glue as possible. The genuine LEGO stickers seem to come off better than the after market stickers.  I use a bit of rubbing alcohol on a micro-fiber cloth to remove any residue. The remove any alcohol with a dry micro-fiber cloth.
This leaves nice clean LEGO's.

There is/was a product called Un-Du that would soften the adhesive of stickers so that they could be removed and reused.  I was able to find a few links online, so I guess it's still around.  The "patented" part of the "Un-Du" product was the tool extension attached to the bottle.  The important part is the liquid and that is plain heptane.  I haven't checked it against ABS, but I think it's worth a look see

Rapid remover works wonders. Also, hot water soak and then just peel it off.


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Are Nanoblocks compatible with other building bricks?
Recently I have found Nanoblocks, a Japanese brick toy, in American stores. How compatible are these with other building toys? They look to be approximately the same scale as Modulex.

they sure don't look the right size :P http://www.mynanoblock.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/slide-11.jpg Edit... oh wait that's the "mini" series

No, that's what I'm asking about. They appear about the same size as Modulex (although I've never used Modulex), and AFOL are a creative bunch - I wouldn't be surprised if someone figured out a way to integrate them with regular LEGO bricks as well.

It appears that the goal of the nanoblock producers is to make "the world’s smallest toy building blocks"1.  And they appear to be too small to be compatible with LEGO.  See the following video comparisons of the sizes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cobnr8fWTY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QXGP837-dU
1. http://www.mynanoblock.com/site/?page_id=2

Obviously they aren't going to fit right on top of a LEGO stud. But the question is about generally compatibility - for example, are they compatible with Diablock (for which there are LEGO-compatible adapters)? Are they compatible with Modulex, which is a Lego Group product incompatible with standard LEGO bricks but at the same scale? Are there any LEGO pieces which will serve as a hacky adapter?

I can attest that Nano bloks (left) are not the same scale as Modulex (right).

Duplo = compatible with normal Lego even though 2× the size as has hollow stud. Tube of normal 2×2 fits inside. Nano blocks 2×2 being 1/2 size of normal fit with a brick having a hollow stud, e.g. 1 round or 1×1 with holder. But Kawada Nano Blocks don't use tubes, so not fit like this when other makes do.
Guess that Nano Blocks' plastic = 1/2 as thick, could only attach Lego by over hanging a corner with it touching the 2nd stud.
I've just got some 1/2 size bricks, don't know what brand, can attach under Lego ×2 by having 1/10 on 1 side & 2/5 on the other.
Edge of System Lego fits between 2 studs, so can trap between brick & tile.
They also fit end of ×2 Modulex by 2 studs on a corner, if both ends of 2×5 then can join the 2 with nano.
Duplo, need to miss every 3rd to avoid the ribs.
Tenté, thinner walls & bigger stud than System Lego, tight fit, not holding when not reaching the edges.
Photo, arms & legs of Lego, head & torso of Nano Blocks. 2nd is Nano Blocks on Lego 1×2's with 1 stud  (at 90° to each other) & then Modulex on top.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Do any of the KRE-O Transformers sets actually transform?
KRE-O, a LEGO-compatible brick toy, has several officially licensed Transformers models. I have two of the smaller ones and they do not actually "transform" - you take them apart and put them back together in a different form.
Do any of the sets use model functions to provide transformation, or are they all simply different models using the same bricks?

There's an almost 20 minute video about the kre-o Optimus Prime at youtube where pretty much everything is shown in detail - except the transformation itself. I'm really sure that if this was possible without disassembling and building it from scratch then it would be shown here, so the answer seems to be: no.

I've recently seen a TV advert for these, and they are quite definite about the "Travel in vehicle form, then REBUILD into robot form".

I've not bought any but nothing I've heard suggests they can, and looking at the designs I can't see how this would be possible.

None of them transform.  You have to take them apart and rebuild them into each mode.  They are essentially 2 models that use some of the same bricks between each mode.

I have built al of these sets, and I have to agree with everyone else on this one.
However! If you use a couple of the moving parts, or hack with some same-scale LEGO pieces, you can buid them to transform all by yourself.
The Optimus Prime set is actually potentially hackable enough to rebuild as a real transformer alone, but you won' t get it to look  like a "normal" transformer, nor its namesake.


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Are DUPLO blocks compatible with LEGO blocks in any way?
Can I build a model out of both DUPLO blocks and LEGO blocks? Do they fit together?

Yes! You can add LEGO on top of DUPLO, and DUPLO on top of LEGO. Here's an example picture from The Brick Blogger:

Because stacking LEGO on top of DUPLO requires the particular LEGO tube design on the bottom (to fit in the hollow top of the DUPLO bricks), many "LEGO-compatible" bricks do not share this compatibility with DUPLO - at best, you can stack DUPLO on top of them, but not the other way around.
In addition, you can use only some types of LEGO bricks with DUPLO. Plates, tiles and other modified pieces can't stack with DUPLO. DUPLO can sit happily on top of plates, but plates and tiles only balance on top of Duplo, there's no real clutch between them that way.

JANGBRiCKS has a nice video explaining this: http://youtu.be/abdZ2pSnde0

Some elements are compatible, others are not. IIRC

You can stack regular 2x2, 2x4 etc lego bricks on top of normal duplo studs and they fit and hold fine.
You can't cover only part of a stud, so bricks with odd dimensions can't stack completely on top of duplo and 1xn parts can't stack on top of duplo at all.
Bricks with curved edges are similarly going to be incompatible.
Thin plates don't have enough depth to take up the taller Duplo stud.
You can stack Duplo bricks on Lego studs but only the outside of the brick grips the studs which in my experience leads to a relatively weak connection.
Duplo base plates have studs with flat tops. These are incompatible with Lego.

It seems that the basic Duplo-compatible Lego bricks are a lot less common than they used to be. I just looked at a "Large Creative Brick Box" and found that only about 16% of the contents was traditional Duplo-compatible bricks. Themed sets (including the "Juniors" range ) often contain hardly any.

Duplo bricks manufactured post 2002 are also compatible with a larger brick, produced for a limited time, called Quatro- it is 4 times the size of standard system bricks in every dimension. Older 2x4 bricks were limited by the height of struts between the tubes.

Yes! Duplos are 8x the volume of the corresponding Lego bricks.

You are correct, but that fact does not prove that they fit together. As @Joe Wreschnig say in his answer, many "LEGO-compatible" bricks are not compatible with DUPLO, although they have the same volume (and "outer shape") as a LEGO brick.

The answer is: Yes. In fact in my annual project I use a Duplo part that a friend got me from one of the Lego Land parks. Never had a problem using it.

Yes, the even by even sized bricks fit to the Duplo studs, can't overhang. Lego plates on top leave a gap. Could overhang from that and add bricks under it, but why bother as it costs more (A 2×2 Duplo brick costs 50p, a 2×4 LEGO System brick costs 19p). Any Lego fits under, but only some Duplo hold with fancy tubes then still not at the corners.
The Duplo brick's walls have the same thickness as older normal Lego, with ribs.In fact older 2×3 without cross support fit if over hanging, so this just leaving 3 normal Lego studs on the corners not over hanging. A 2:3 slope 3×3 fits when over hanging corner, so could build a roof with eaves.


text:
What is an Erling brick?
I have seen people refer to the "Erling brick" or "headlight brick" on LEGO forums. What kind of brick are they talking about?

What i want to know is why is the stud inset in the brick?

I definitely know them as the headlight brick, and they look like this:

HoMa's world of bricks has a nice page dedicated to this brick!
http://www.holgermatthes.de/bricks/en/lampenstein.php
LEGO's Pick a Brick lists this as an "Angular Brick 1x1", Design ID 4070 (equivalent to the piece/part id).

The Erling Brick: named by the LEGO Designer Erling Dideriksen, who invented this element in 1979.

The model shops refer to this brick as a "washing machine" brick :-)


text:
How can I invert the direction of blocks in a structure?
I have a structure with some blocks facing in the 'normal' direction:
 nn  nn  nn  nn
|  ||  ||  ||  |
 --  --  --  --

I would like to somehow connect a layer above this that has the blocks facing the other way so that I end up with:
 --  --  --  --
|  ||  ||  ||  |
 uu  uu  uu  uu

 nn  nn  nn  nn
|  ||  ||  ||  |
 --  --  --  --

How can I achieve this?

+1 for ASCII art bricks. Also I think I once encountered an element that'd let you do this, but I can't remember right now...

@BoltClock see http://meta.bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/6/how-should-i-diagrammatically-represent-lego-bricks-in-questions

Wouldn't the one ring bind them all?

It depends on how close they need to be.
The following solution works, if you're happy to have things sticking out around the join:
"Brick 1x2 M. 2 Holes Ø 4,87", [part:32000:7]; There's also a 1x1 brick with a hole, [part:6541:7].
Which could be used as:

For tighter coupling, the Minifig Wrench [part:6246d:0] can also fit over a stud, and is deeper than one stud, allowing two bricks to be inserted:

Respect goes to Erik Amzallag for this one.
I guess it comes down to how you want to hide the join - you could use tiles on the studs that stick out, which wouldn't be possible with the wrench method.

Using the wrench: Mad skills.

Yep,not my mad skills though ;)

Just note that the first technique is officially an "illegal" build as per this presentation, so Use With Caution :)

Indeed, however it used to be acceptable, and if I'd done it via only one stud that would be fine if a little less secure.

Just to add to the wrench idea, the same can be achieved with 11010 Minifig Ring 1 x 1

Holger Matthes has a good page on SNOT building which includes a few techniques on how to get stud-down orientation.
Also, don't underestimate tiles, sometimes you can just lock the upside-down part into place without attaching it with studs at all (I did this when I was a kid to use a black 3943 — Cone 4 x 4 x 2 as a train chimney as the inverted part didn't exist at the time:

None of the inverted parts are actually attached, but they are locked in place by surrounding parts. You can see inverted parts in orange in this partial build; the blue parts are tiles in the usual direction:

Another good part to inverse stud direction is the 4081b — Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Light - Type 2 ( as the studs are exactly one plate apart. You'll need to hide it in the construction somehow, but it can be very handy.
For example, both that part and the tile-on-tile technique are used in this window roof to inverse the below arch:

It all rests on a tan Tile 4 x 4 with Studs on Edge, which is also used higher with a Train Roof 6 x 6 Double Slope 45 / Slope 33 to finish the roof. The following image illustrate a partial build, will all upside-down parts colored orange:

Edit: there are of course more techniques to be found on the Internet, but some are more simple or place-efficient than others. For plates for example, the use of levers is as compact as you'll ever find. For bricks, you can also stuff a Technic axle in the tubes, as illustrated here. Simple and efficient.

Another edit, this time answering the question with the intended stud direction.
On a 2x4 brick/plate, place a 3185 — Fence 1 x 4 x 2, then add two 87580 — Plate 2 x 2 with 1 Stud with the stud facing down in one of the empty holes of the fence. This is probably the smallest offset you'll get, but the thickness of the fence isn't really standard, so whether it's useful or not depends on the rest of your creation.
If you're willing, there's also the Clikits Bead, Ring Thick Small with Hole which accepts a stud in both directions.

Just a note on the edit - neither of those techniques would work to answer the question "How do I end up with studs together" - both the levers and axles methods result in "Studs facing out"

Right, I had stored the question in a corner of my mind where it evidently got corrupted (I need to tidy up the place sometimes). 4081b has the same isue, as a matter of fact. But most of the time it's more or less the same issue anwyay.

I know that feeling ;)

This is very old-school, but that's how I was doing SNOT in the early 80's: a plate, or a tile (as shown) snaps between 2 studs. I prefer tiles to plates, as I don't have studs-alignment issues, but I've used both, and both work.

I have never found a solution that I was completely pleased with (and gluing is a no-go), but the closest I've ever come is using these.

Using Technic beams can work in this situation. As the holes are the diameter of a stud and are deeper than two studs' height, it can be used to some extent. See When did Lego decide that it was okay to put a stud into a technic hole? for more information on the limitations of this strategy.

I came up with this
(6 plates / 2 bricks)

Blue = Plate 1 x4
Orange = Plate 2 x4
White = Tile 1 x4
Yellow = Tile 2 x 4
DkblGray = Bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 2 Inverted
also this
(2 plates thick)

Part# 15535 : Tile, Round 2 x 2 with Hole
and
Part# 18674 : Tile, Round 2 x 2 with Open Stud

This one i saw somewhere else

("2.5" plates thick)

Part# 18654 : Technic, Pin Connector Round 2/3 L

Great answer. I would probably also add the height/thickness of the layer used to connect 2x4 bricks together. Like "6 plates / 2 bricks" for the first one, "2 plates" for second one and "2.5" plates for last.

You can wedge a 1xN plate between studs (at a 90 degree angle) to the "normal" orientation. Repeat a second time, and now 2 bricks are stud-to-stud.


text:
What are the best options for building a LEGO RC car?
I would like to build a remote controlled car. And if someone already has a good solution for that I would be glad to try it.
It's been a while since I had the time and material to build some LEGO creations. And now I am willing to start anew.
Last time I toyed with LEGO there were electric engines and such, but all I had was remote controlled with a cable and the functions were very basic. I am looking for a more advanced and wireless solution.
I am aware of the Power Functions. But I have no experience with these. Would these be a good start? What are the other options?

Edit: Mindstorms as suggested in a few answers could be the solution, but I am not sure it will be practical yet...
It seems there was an official line of LEGO RC cars at some point. I was thinking about something more like it.
Although I'd like to avoid cutting and gluing 3rd party components I don't mind hacking a few parts together to get something really cool.
As suggested by @pcantin there are adapters I could buy to interface LEGO with 3rd party engines etc... I will look into it. But I would appreciate some better pointers in this regard.

Edit I am already aware of the Power Functions IR remote control It's a good solution to start with (now), but I was looking for something more advanced.
I have never heard of Arduino before, but as a developer I am absolutely thrilled by this solution. I won't have the time to test it now. But it could become the answer I was looking for.

Some inspiration on YouTube: LEGO technic car with Power functions. Hats off to this chap!

This is probably my favourite all lego rc car - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHWDSnWk2jU

Here's one I made last year. (http://phillipecantin.blogspot.com/2011/10/lego-rc-car.html)

@pcantin I like the form factor! very efficient!

Personally I would go with Arduino (on the car) and an Android phone as the controller (via bluetooth). There's plenty of reference on the web about mixing the two.
The main problem is interfacing with non Lego parts (motors, PCB, ...).  Luckily, you can find Lego adapter parts in many Robot/Electronic sites. For example at Pololu:
http://www.pololu.com/search?query=lego&x=0&y=0
Edit 1 (Howto)
Android bluetooth communication:  There's the main page and the sample (I started from that one and modified it). You can also use the 'Sena Bterm' app to send and receive characters (no programming necessary but very basic).
Arduino bluetooth communication: This is the most simple part.  All you need is a bluetooth breakout board and connect it to the Arduino like so.  Using the board is as simple as any normal Serial communication ex:
void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(115200);
}

int inByte = 0;

void loop()
{
  if (Serial.available() > 0)
  {
    inByte = Serial.read();

    if(inByte == '1'){
       Serial.println("test1");
    } else {
       Serial.println("test2");
    }
  }
}

This code reads the incoming bytes and write 'test1' or 'test2' in return.
Hardware: this is the coolest part because you get to do what ever you want.  I personal use a lot of Lego Technics and sometime modified them to interface with foreign parts.  Search the web and you'll find cool Lego-compatible stuff like this servo joint, this servo bracket or this wheel.

You have the most interesting answer ATM, but do you know any good tutorials which could help me with the planning of such a project?

I've added more details in 'Edit 1'

Thank you! I have never heard of Arduino. After checking out the main website it seems to be a solution I would enjoy a lot. I will probably start with the LEGO Power Functions and as soon as I get one of the Arduino boards I'll start playing with that.

Cool. When you get there, if you have any questions I'll be there

I use a Mindstorms NXT brick and an Android smartphone for my remote controlled tank. The downside is that the NXT motors are slower than the regular Power Functions motors, and connecting PF motors to the NXT brick requires additional components.
Personally, I am satisfied with NXT motors and don't bother kludging PF motors. (Yet.)
Here is a modular truck design as an example: http://www.nxtprograms.com/MTV/index.html
I use this app for my remote control: https://market.android.com/details?id=org.jfedor.nxtremotecontrol

LEGO have produced an IR Speed Remote Control unit as part of their current "Power Functions" range.
This offers:

Features 4 RC channels, 2 stop button and 2 direction control switches!
Use the jog wheels to control your motor speed!

You will also need the receivers as well.

This controller is now scheduled to be retired soon.

The MindStorms NXT controller can work over bluetooth:
http://mindstorms.lego.com/

Bonus points for using your android phone accelerometer to determine the vehicle direction. Super fun to do, and the effect on people is great.

The 9398-1: 4x4 Crawler is an interesting candidate with the new servo motor. It comes in 2H2012.
There are more pictures on TechnicBricks.

I saw an official Lego remote control car at the Lego Store once and I should have gotten it that day because I haven't seen it again.
That said, with Mindstorms and a bluetooth enabled phone it should be possible to build one one your own.

Mindstorms and bluetooth? Do you have any links?

@Coyote I wish I had links! But since the NXT 2.0 supports bluetooth it should be possible to control it from a phone and I'm sure I've seen that (though it was probably too laggy).

I would not recommend Power Functions if you are just getting started, as that system is being retired. It sounds like Technic Control+ should meet your needs. A set like the Off-road Buggy (42124) might be a good place to start:

That set provides two motors and a Bluetooth hub for forward, reverse, and steering controls from your smartphone. You can create customized controls for nearly any setup in a MOC using the Powered Up app.
Physical remotes are a more complicated story. There have been a few train sets that use physical remotes (28739) for the Powered Up products:

The remotes are sold separately, but are not very flexible out of the box. They can pair with hubs that control Technic motors, but they simply provide on/off control and can't be easily used for speed control or a return-to-center servo like you'd likely want for steering. However, sets like the Batmobile work alright with a physical remote, thanks to the skid steering.

If you're a technical individual, it is possible to upload custom code to Powered Up hubs using Pybricks or similar software. This is commonly used to create autonomous robots, but it can also be used to customize the interface between the hubs and a physical controller.
Here's a Github repository that includes code demonstrating how to program hubs to work nicely with the physical remote for certain sets. For example, here's the code needed to get the Off-road Buggy to work well:
from pybricks.pupdevices import *
from pybricks.parameters import *
from pybricks.tools import wait

steering = Motor(Port.B)
driving = Motor(Port.D)
remoteControl = Remote()

#steering calibration sequence
steering.run_until_stalled(500)
steering.reset_angle(0)
steering.run_until_stalled(-500)
maxAngle = steering.angle()
steering.run_target(500, (maxAngle/2)+10)
steering.reset_angle(0)

#main loop
while True:
    #update pressed buttons information
    pressed = remoteControl.buttons.pressed()

    #commands to drive forwards or backwards
    if Button.LEFT_PLUS in pressed:
        driving.dc(100)
    elif Button.LEFT_MINUS in pressed:
        driving.dc(-100)
    else:
        driving.brake()

    #commands to steer
    if Button.RIGHT_PLUS in pressed:
        steering.run_target(1200, (maxAngle/2)-5, Stop.HOLD,False)
    elif Button.RIGHT_MINUS in pressed:
        steering.run_target(1200, -((maxAngle/2)-5), Stop.HOLD,False)
    else:
        steering.run_target(1200, 0, Stop.HOLD, False)

    wait(100)

One possible replacement for the soon to be retiring Power Functions remote is the one included in Remote Controlled Stunt Racer, however this remote appears to be more limited, only offering 2 "forward/reverse" channels (one of which could be configured to control a steering column), rather than the 4 channels offered by the original.
This is also available separately.


text:
What are the arched things above a wheel called?
I have a bunch of second hand bricks and some are "wheel wells" for the lack of better words.
I would like to find out how I use them for example at bricklink, but then I need to find the name for such a thing first

I call these mudguards or wheel arches

That is a Vehicle, Mudguard 2 x 4 with Arch Studded (and a darn hard part to figure out at that).

Very nice - The crop was from a vehicle I found on the net - strangely enough I have many more that do not show up as mudguards - some of them are part of a "chassis" as well... I guess I will need to photograph them all :)

I've spent about half an hour yesterday looking for this on Bricklink and failed miserably. Thanks!

i'm calling those things "fenders" (don't know the "official" name, too).
EDIT:
if found wheel arch 2x4 in the LEGO-shop. this isn't exactly what you were looking for, but looks like a "newer version" - so maybe we should call those pieces "wheel arches" in the future.


text:
Are LEGO minifigs' arms supposed to come off?
I can get the arms off my LEGO minifigs, however, will doing so repeatedly wear them out?

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 :)

"and neither are their hands" - wait, are you sure about that? Ever since the 1990s, I used to regularly exchange hands (think pirate hooks, differently coloured gloves, etc.) between minifigs the same way I'd switch around legs (not individual legs, I mean the hip + legs part) or heads. Never seemed to loosen anything about the hands, and didn't require an amount of force that would have made me worry about breaking anything.

I did it regularly as a kid and, while it takes some effort, it had to be done a considerable amount of times for any damage to appear.
Removing arms allows for more variety in your minifigs, but also to use these elements separately for other purposes (never underestimate the usefullness of a single hand, or the architectural value of a torso).
Also, note that other arms have been produced (mechanical arm in the Agents theme, rock arms in Power Miners), so you can have interesting minifigs by using these. Same for boxing gloves recently released in the collectible minifigs serie.
One last thing - some minifigs are produced in China (for magnets, for example, or minifig collections) and there are some concerns about their quality, so you may want to be careful with these. Note that while the fact that they are produced in China (you can recognize them at the rectangle engraved in the arms) is a certainty, the fact that the quality is less good is subject for debate.

I can't add much more in the answer without really going off the topic of the question; I guess this topic should be a question fo its own. That said, LEGO has its own quality standards to maintain and they will sure want them enforced by all their partners. I think the main issue with these minifigs was that some were slightly translucent, but LEGO has had the exact same problem with regular bricks (when they started mixing the ABS and color themselves instead of buying colored ABS), so maybe the Chinese aren't to blame if they followed the LEGO recipe to the letter.

From my experience: Normally No! But you can yank them out softly.  If you do it to often they'll become loose.

The only arms you can legally take off are found on Mos Eisley cantina aliens. Use the blue light saber to take them off cleanly.
By the same logic, you can only swap hands on certain Luke Skywalker minifigs. Or pirates. This is also true now for certain Anakin Skywalker minifigs.

The arms of skeletons also come off easily.

In my case, it depends. On older minifigures from the 80's, 90's, and early 2000's it's okay. (I'm not saying it's a good thing) Sure, doing it too many times will gradually wear them down, but not enough to the point where the torso or arms break. New minifigures from 2012 and onwards though, NEVER TAKE THEIR ARMS OUT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! Newer minifigures tend to crack and wear out more often. I don't know why this is, but it could be a decrease in the plastic's quality over the years. (LEGO seems to be running cheap) Taking out the arms can (and will) cause massive cracks down the side of the torso piece. Just recently I got new Luke Skywalker and tusken raider minifigures from set number 75173, and BOTH of the minifigure's torsos ended up with giant crack from the bottom of the torso upwards towards the arm holes within 1 week of each-other. This crack causes the arm to loose support and come loose. I was enraged by this, and had to re-order the torso pieces. In conclusion, I wouldn't take out a minifigure's arms unless they are from older sets.

Thanks for sharing, and welcome to Bricks.SE! If you aren't aware, LEGO customer service will replace broken elements (including cracked minifig torsos) at no cost to you.

Also, I have received several minifigures from various boxes that had no hands mounted to their arms from the factory, which indicate it is a "legal operation".
I don't think they aren't ment to be ripped off often, but if doing so gently, they shouldn't break.

Question was about arms. What factory set specifically are you thinking of? Also, insertion once had to happen at birth, removal is the point.

I don't recall the exact product number of the boxes. But my point is, if you get to assemble it, I guess it is meant to be disassembled too.

They are not designed to be removed and doing so can make it hard to replace.
It is not a very good idea to remove Lego arms except on the minifigures listed above.

I've found that when a hand is pulled out it often (but not always) creates a crack in the arm, so that when the hand (or another different-colored one) is replaced it'll be a bit loose. It could certainly depend on the age of the minifig tho'.

I used to do it as a kid all the time and not always gently, what happens after a long time is: a small crack appears from the "armpit" down, it's less of a crack and more of a "line" and the arms become a bit loose but I'm not that bothered by it because it's nostalgic.
Lego minifigures are in perfect condition only when they stand on your shelf.

Not even standing (as attached to something) is safe for minifigures as their legs may also crack due to constant pressure from being attached to stud.


text:
What is "micro-scale" building?
I have seen references to "micro-scale" building in LEGO documentation. How is this different than the "normal" LEGO building scale?

It refers to building items at a much smaller scale than the usual "mini-fig" scale.
For example the "Micro" Star Destroyer:

 4492 Mini Star Destroyer

Edit to add:
Officially however, when bought as a set they are usually referred to as "Mini-scale".

Microscale is not just a technique, it's an artform:

blog explaining it and a few showcases
a very nice example

A few years ago, there was an official building competition specifically centered around microscale models. The winning entries were made into real LEGO sets.

LEGO are now bringing out a microscale version of their entire line (so far) of modular Cafe Corner sets


text:
Is it safe to wash LEGO pieces in the dishwasher?
I've heard from a lot of people that LEGO can be washed in the dishwasher, but I'm concerned about warping, losing stickers, wearing off of painted pieces, etc. Is it safe to actually wash them in the dishwasher? Is there any other precaution you should take?

See also Lego cleaning techniques and tools.

I have had good experiences when putting them into a washing bag. Stickers will usually come off. Paint differs from model, year and make. Some of my bricks from the 80'ies (such as this one) still look very new, with the original print intact.

People seem to belive it's not the recommended way to clean LEGO, but I appreciate having some first hand real world experience and will use this method for really old and stained pieces.

I've used this method and had great results, that being said I don't use hot water, or dishwashing soap, just water.

LEGO does not recommend using a dishwasher to clean your bricks:

We recommend that you clean or wash your LEGO parts only by hand at max. 40°C or 104 degrees (F) Fahrenheit. Higher temperatures may affect the quality of the LEGO parts. You can add a mild detergent to the water, followed by rinsing with clear water. Please don't put your bricks in the washing machine or dishwasher or attempt to dry them in ovens, microwaves or with hair dryers. Any electrical parts, such as cables, motors, battery compartments, can only be wiped off with alcohol. Air-dry parts at room temperature. For disinfecting please use mild bleach.

(emphasis mine)

I can vouch for this first hand - even hand hot water can warp bricks!

The real answer here is no, but please have a look at my answer to this other question for an alternative that really works, bringing them up as new, with only a little elbow grease - a bath of Milton solution.

At some point, LEGO recommended the use of a washing machine instead of a dishwasher, since you could limit the temperature to 40°. However, you'll need to make sure all parts are safely enclosed in a cloth (pillow case for example), and don't expect your bricks not to be scratched at all.

I have washed thousands of Lego and Duplo bricks in the washing machine as per the suggestion of Lego Store staff that have kid's events. The Lego stores use washing machines. None of by bricks have warped. I use warm water wash on gentle cycle, and I soak them by lifting up the lid. I add about a half cup of chlorine to a load to disinfect the bricks as I have many different kids playing with the bricks.
I purchase washing machine nylon net bags at the dollar store, and put the bricks in the bags. Equipment bags also work well. Do not wash small items that can poke through the netting holes, and especially leaves that get stuck in the small holes of the nylon net bags and rip them apart - those I wash and disinfect in the sink. There are all sorts of strainers available for you to use to fish out the parts from a sink.
I throw Duplo bricks without bags or nets directly into the washing machine, as they are huge, and I shovel them out using a huge draining spoon also purchased at the dollar store. I have over a thousand Duplo bricks and so far not one has been damaged. Stickers are another story. Some are affected, some are not.

How about printed Duplo bricks?

I have a front loaded washing machine, it sounds like you have a top loaded machine that can be opened during a wash cycle. Do you think the different action would scratch the bricks more?

I would not recommend using a dishwasher. I have seen terribly worn bricks with a very ugly, dull surface as a result of multiple dishwasher procedures. Sometimes you can notice that a dishwasher etches even a glass surface.
The damage could probably be caused by a combination of the water properties, detergent being used, and temperature.

Don't use the dishwasher. My husband misread washing machine and we put them in the dishwasher nearly half of them warped!

Front load washers should be fine with the regular bricks as long as you use the gentle cycle. ABS plastic is tough.
As for dishwashers, they have heating elements that heat the water to a temperature way beyond your water heater. Washing machines never get close to the temperature that dishwashers use. I never saw steam coming out of a washing machine but steam comes out of my dishwasher every time I open the door to it. That is a clue that water is close to the boiling point.
If you are really worried then throw the bricks into a tub full of soapy water and let soak for 3 hours, mix it around, throw in a cup of bleach at the end, drain with strainer over drain hole.

The steam coming from the dishwasher is not because of the water temperature used for washing. It is because the dishwasher is using high air temperature to dry and so avoid traces. https://home.howstuffworks.com/dishwasher.htm Anyway, even if water is not boiling it is still too hot for bricks.

I wouldn't recommend it, as I once received a large number of old (not sure how old) and dirty Lego pieces. My parents then preceded to put them in the dishwasher. Some of the parts, such as the standard bricks survived, but pieces such as plates became bent and warped.


text:
Where can I get 'classic' Lego heads from?
The new heads with expressions are all well and good, but I for one prefer the expressionless 'classic' faces.
Are they available anywhere?

I think http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/220/whats-the-most-cost-effective-and-efficient-way-to-buy-bricks is going to be our single canonical "Here's how you find bricks to buy" question.

The well known, smiling, gender-neutral multifigure head can be bought on auction sites like Bricklink.
The classic faces are still in production now and are on the minifig or every set in the modular series. (The Grand Emporium alone has seven of these heads) As well as other modern classics like the carousel, winter toy shop and town plan.
Up to five of these heads can be found in most editions of the Vintage Minifigure Collection.

bricklink has links to most lego bricks, new as old.
Something like this head?

And if you want to know in which sets it's still in use, you can then use the "In Sets" search feature and browse by year. It's still in use nowadays (But it's bound to change from hollow to recessed stud some day, I suppose)


text:
What is SNOT building?
I have seen reference on LEGO forums to "SNOT building". This sounds gross! Are there really squishy-sticky LEGO bricks, or what?

SNOT stands for Studs Not On Top and it means building structures where you use hinges or other techniques to change the direction of the bricks, so they are not one on top of the other as it's done traditionally.
This is a very simple example of SNOT:

The technique is particularly useful for spaceships and even some LEGO sets rely on it, for example, look at the wings of the Imperial Shuttle (10212):

as well as any of the star destroyers, like the latest one, the Super Star Destroyer (10221) (the surfaces near the borders are placed at an angle):

There are many ways of performing this technique. Swooshable's SNOT reference tool has many more practical examples.

There are two variants of the Imperial Shuttle. Both rely on the SNOT design. {I have the newer version of the Imperial Shuttle.}


text:
Where can I find instruction booklets?
Is there any place where scans or PDFs of instruction booklets can be downloaded?

Yes, from themselves, for sets from 2002 onwards.
D-N-D Bricks(archived) use to have a lot of older sets' instructions.
List of archived instructions.

These sites are absolutely marvellous:

Let's Build It Again - this has user submissions too
BrickFactory - if you can't find it on here, then it can't exist
WorldBricks - looks to be another cracking resource

(Having just spent some time looking through these, I just don't know why I hadn't tried looking for this stuff before.)

If you have an Android device, the app Lego Scans is also very convenient.

Ever lost a LEGO® scan or you maybe want to take a trip down memory lane?
  This app enables you to browse through 4000 LEGO® scans by box number or by theme.
  You can choose to save the scan image files to your SD card for offline viewing! This also enables you to view the scan in your favorite image app!

This app was removed from the Play Store some years ago.

The following sites all have instructions:

Lego (2002 onwards)
The Brick Factory
D-N-D Bricks
World Bricks
Peeron
Cubiculus - not scans, but recreations of instructions from many official sets

Peeron also has a bunch of instructions for sets over 5 years old.  In addition, it has a parts breakdown of most sets Lego has produced.

Lego.com. Just hope you have the box or some information. Lego.com Support- Set Instructions

Welcome to LEGO Answers.  This seems somewhat redundant to the other answers.  Can you add something to make this more helpful?

Besides being a great LEGO community website, Brickset has even different versions of almost every set imaginable.


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What is the largest single LEGO piece?
What is the largest single LEGO piece ever produced? This does not include LEGO affiliates like Duplo.
Clarifications

It must be a purchasable block.

By largest, I mean largest by Volume/Weight of Plastic

Does this include special one-off bricks? I have seen some giant things that could be considered "one brick" in the Lego Store at the Mall of America, for example, but they're not things you could ever buy.

Must be a baseplate.  Waiting for the ?x? count to come in...

Note that DUPLO isn't really an affiliate of LEGO, DUPLO is LEGO.

By "no affiliate", I think he wanted to exclude things such as playtables or other furniture pieces, which would easily win.

The "Extra Large" grey baseplate is 15"/38cm square, with 48 studs to a side.
Alternatively, the moulded castle baseplate had a greater volume (with height), and a base size of 32x48 studs and 6 bricks high (15"x10"/38x25cm) (in other colours as well):

Tim offered up the following, also with a base size of 32x48 studs, 6 bricks high (15"x10"/38x25cm) (it came in a few other colours too):

Peeron also lists a 48x48 Raised with Staircases and Pits:
Peeron.com
As well as a very old "Giant Base Plate" and a "Road 3-way Curve with Gray Pattern", both at 50x50 studs.
Joubarc suggested the "Boat Hull Floating 74 x 18 x 7":
Peeron.com
Stretching the definition of "Single Piece" somewhat, the "Electric Technic Control Centre with Yellow and Red Buttons" from the Technic Control Center was a beast of a part:
Peeron.com

Made this CW to allow others to add their contenders

It's still pressed from a single sheet, so the volume of plastic is probably less.

@fredley Techincally I believe they're injection moulded rather than pressed, and the thickness is usually consistent across the part...

This is getting silly - I need someone to get all these pieces and weigh them, or measure their volume via displacement ;)

A LARGE bounty will be awarded to anyone who does that!

@Zhaph it's my understanding that baseplates are vacuum-formed. There is a mold involved but the sheet of plastic goes in whole.

@erikolson Fair enough :) that would have some impact then, and I imagine their automated factories wouldn't leave the plastic heating up long enough to sag into the middle for added thickness on the sides

this brick has always annoyed me, when sorting my bricks

ooo, soccer stadium base. nice.

if you're just counting the basal area, it seems to be the gray 48x48 baseplate:

man, this was a beast of a baseplate. Also game in green as half of the lego football field.

Before that, the extra-large gray baseplate was 50x50, but nowadays only the 48x48 can be bought.

Also in Blue, plus some rare ones that were never in sets: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4186

If you go by Volume/Weight. This is heaviest single-element I've ever seen.  It's not just plastic but it's one element made and sold by LEGO.

Good call, I didn't think about "multipart" single bricks, although I think I can still trump that one with a different Technic controller hang on...

I think there's two categories: Single plastic-only piece and Single Lego element.

There you go, Electric Technic Control Centre with Yellow and Red Buttons ;)

Yes, and there's one sitting in a box in my loft. Was one of my brother's sets, lucky so and so ;)

I found this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJXPkhjGwkg&feature=related) with the Electric Technic Control Centre in use

@Zhaph :
(from my sister's LEGO collection)

What set was this from? Possibly a Belville one?

@tombull89 Yeah, my sister's: Bellville 5862

Your sister's, yeah, right :-)

@Joubarc And we all know how many 'sisters' you have.


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How many different colours of LEGO bricks are there?
Excluding translucent pieces, how many colours of official LEGO bricks are there?

Maybe if you quantified 'recently'. There have been some new colors in the past few years, especially with the Friends line. There are also 'old' colors in new shapes, like the pink and purple leaves in the Elves line.

The official LEGO color chart at Peeron has 111 colors listed. There are 14 listed as "transparent" (or "tr"), so - 97.
The Peeron guide also lists CMYK, RGB, HTML Hex Codes (displayed as the sample), and Pantone numbers for each.

The latest palette officially released by LEGO in 2010 has 51 colors in use, including 33 regular colors, 14 transparent, and 4 "effect" (silver, gold, metallic, phosphorescent).

Of course, as 81bronco points out, there have been a lot more, but these are the one LEGO was effectively using as of January 2010. In the few years before that, LEGO was busy rationalizing its palette of colors to eliminate seldom used colors as much as posible. Considering the downsize to 51, I don't think they've removed any more since.

According to the 2010 Company Profile presentation (http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/factsfigures/default.aspx) there are currently "58 different colours"!

Weird. I wouldn't be surprised if they couldn't tell for sure themselves, though. And maybe the 7 missing ones are reserved colours (there's no Maersk blue in the chart, for example), or maybe they reintroduced some between the chart and the company profile.

This Flickr image from Brick Colorstream shows all the known colors of LEGO bricks, charted along a timeline of when they were available. According to that image, there was one new color in 2015, "Conductive Black".
(Click for full size)

Here's an interview with the author of that image: http://www.newelementary.com/2015/03/lego-colour-chart-reference.html
It's a fun read on how the flickr stream and image came to be.

According to the LEGO customer service site which allows you to search by color family, there are 9 color families and 23 exact colors:
Color Family Exact Color
-------------------------------------------
Black        BLACK
Blue         BRIGHT BLUE
Blue         EARTH BLUE
Blue         MEDIUM BLUE
Blue         TR. BLUE
Blue         TR. LIGHT BLUE
Green        BRIGHT GREEN
Green        BRIGHT YELLOWISH GREEN
Green        DARK GREEN
Green        TR. FLUORE. GREEN
Green        TR. GREEN
Grey         DARK STONE GREY
Grey         MEDIUM STONE GREY
Orange-brown BRIGHT ORANGE
Orange-brown DARK ORANGE
Orange-brown FLAME YELLOWISH ORANGE
Orange-brown REDDISH BROWN
Orange-brown TR. BROWN
Purple       BRIGHT PURPLE
Purple       MEDIUM LILAC
Red          BRIGHT RED
Red          NEW DARK RED
Red          TR. FLUORE.REDD. ORANGE
Red          TR. RED
White        WHITE
Yellow       BRICK YELLOW
Yellow       BRIGHT YELLOW
Yellow       SAND YELLOW
Yellow       TR. YELLOW

http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Pick-A-Brick-ByTheme

Bear in mind however that some shades are considered "rare" or "exclusive" and aren't available through Pick-a-brick. Also, some shades aren't listed - search for Element ID 4505990 and you find a cup with an exact colour of "Warm Gold"

For anyone reading this answer from 2011 please note that the colours olive green, yellowish green, medium azure, medium lavender have since been added in 2012. And light aqua and lavender were added in 2011. https://www.bricklink.com/catalogColors.asp?v=0&itemType=P&itemNo=


text:
Do LEGO bricks float?
Is it possible to build a boat out of LEGO bricks? I appreciate you couldn't make it watertight but would a LEGO boat float by itself due to the buoyancy of the bricks themselves?
Pictures of any home-made floating constructions would be really interesting.

The rowboat from many Pirate sets is known to float, along with a couple of minifigs, treasure and other elements on board.

Could you use cling film (plastic wrap in the US?) as a seal between the bottom layer of bricks?

Also, what about glue? (I realise this might not be so practical).

@UmberFerrule Gluing Lego?!?!

Oh dear! Have I blasphemed?! ;)

@fredley Sure, if you want to put 'angry eyebrows' on your giant LEGO robot of doom.  .\ _ /.

Lego boats like the ones shown below float, not because the bricks are buoyant, but because the model displaces water.

The plastic is a bit heavier than water and should sink, however in practice I have experienced that 2x4 bricks (and the like) have a tendency to trap air inside them and actually float rather well.
It probably isn't failsafe, however for shorter periods of time (like a half to a full hour) would probably work fine.
(I haven't actually tested the time it could stay afloat, I'm trying it out now. When my small mini-boat has sunk, I will add the time here.)
Update:
24 hours have passed, it is still floating.

It sunk about 1mm compared to the beginning, but nothing of importance. However while I did push it around from time to time, it was still in still water and stationary most of the time. How it will perform during play is unknown.

Notice how the internal structure of the bricks causes the air to be trapped inside them.

A few years back there was this solid single-piece hulled police boat which would float.
There was also a small red boat (pre-2000) that came with part of a pirate set (I believe, anyway)
As for building a boat from scratch...no. It tended to capsise then sink (somewhat impressively). Place 2x 4x2 bricks on another and place in water, they only float on their side. I expect this is down to a center of gravity but I'm not a sciencey type so I can't confirm for sure.

There is also a brown variant of this red boat.

In fact, it comes in more than just two colors. Probably four or so (blue and black?).

@PaŭloEbermann: The brown variant is actually more popular.

There are several other floating boat hulls (or small boat, inflatable boat, canoe...). Maybe it's worth mentioning that some  of them are are in many pieces (http://www.peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/psearch?query=boat+section&limit=parts).

Yup, I have one red and one brown of the boat shown above and they came with a 1990's pirate set. Don't remember which one though.

I had a Police-Boat when I was a child that had a one-piece-body, so it was watertight and able to float:

There are some other LEGO-boats with similar bodies (even some bigger ones) that should also be able to float.

My brother had that set as well. The body was actually three pieces, not one -- front third, middle third, back third. But each third was watertight and buoyant.

It's actually a three-piece hull: bow, stern, and.. uh.. middle. My brother and I had two of these and one fire boat. Made a great trimaran.

There is another not mentioned way to achieve flotation. My kid discovered it today with his "water bat": surface tension. The long flat wings did the trick : ) It is not exactly due to the buoyancy of the bricks themselves as wanted in the question, but might help as a complement.

For more on the Physics underlying:
Surface tension

In addition of the various boat hulls, you can use pneumatic tanks for extra buoyancy.
If you want to motorize your boat, keep in mind that means extra weight, which has to be countered in some way.

My kids had Captain Redbeard's Pirate Ship - it certainly floated in the bathtub!

I believe many of the other Lego pirate ships could float, particularly if they had molded single piece hulls - see this list.

My children play with the lego fishing boat (see picture) in our bath tube. This design does have a serious flaw (imo). Even if there are very small water waves in our bath tube, water enters the boat which then becomes to heavy and sinks. So if you are planning to built your own lego boat i would make sure the sides are high enough to prevent water from entering the boat. Or if you are really clever make a water drainage system like normal boats have.
Lego fishing boat 4642

You also asked for some examples. Found this simple but effective example online.

For a very small "boat" - something like a 4x8 plate with 1x8 and 1x2 brick sides it might stay afloat for a short amount of time before the leakage takes it down. For larger stuff, LEGO is just too heavy when you get in to building the necessary structure for a real boat.
There were some sealed-hull boat sets I remember from childhood that were designed to float, so using the special parts from them would make it possible.

Yes, if built carefully.  When I was a kid I made a number of lego boats to play with in the tub, and later in the pool. The main thing I remember was to make the hull upside down and out of at least two interlocking layers. Lining the inside with plate also helped.

Already a correct answer accepted, but... the original question seems to be "do Lego bricks float by themselves?"
Most Lego bricks are made of ABS plastic which has a specific gravity greater than 1 (but only slightly).  So, they are heavier than water and will not float naturally.  You can get small bricks to float initially since small bubbles cling to their surface, but they will all sink eventually.
Since ABS isn't affected by salt water - it might be possible to increase the salinity of the water to a point where the bricks naturally float (would need to be higher concentration than sea water...)

Whilst a solid block of ABS would sink, LEGO bricks are hollow. The issue of floating is displacement - this is how steel and iron ships float - they displace as much water than they weigh, and so are buoyant.

Yup.  But I'm not sure the brick connections are water tight.  I can imagine lots of designs using plates that will still let water into the "hull" I am more pointing out that you don't need to be all that water tight for the boat to actually float.  Sebastian Wahl's answer nailed it tho! :-)

True - the fact that they aren't water tight was demonstrated very well by James May when he built his LEGO house, complete with wine glasses that leaked red wine everywhere ;)

I'd have to say that in general, only the parts that are designed to float will do so reliably.  You may be able to make some sort of raft by inverting several large bricks (studs down).
I haven't tried Lego bricks in water (other than a police boat set), however, when using Duplo's in the bath tub we were only able to make submerged structures.  The water easily seeps into the bottoms of the bricks and causes them to sink.

Yeah they float but make the hull wide not narrow as it will stay up right if you make the hull wide. Narrow means top heavy. I first started making LEGO boats now I make home built boats. And no need to be water tight for LEGO just get more surface area. Who knows you might even be able to make a cruise ship that floats.

Styrofoam bits trapped in brick-built chambers might work Ok to keep structures afloat.

That would certainly work, but I don't think that there are any LEGO Styrofoam parts. The purist in me tells me that I must use LEGO only.

Yes, just as long as the bottom is able to displace the boats weight onto the water.. Just like how a Polar Bear can walk on thin ice; displacement.

I think you don't mean 'thin ice' (Polar bears can't walk on thin ice, they fall through because they are heavy), but 'iceberg', where the buoyancy required to keep the iceberg afloat is provided by displacing an equivalent mass of water. Still: Wha?? That's the weirdest analogy ever.

This answer's also not useful. "Do Lego bricks float?" "Yes, as long as they weigh less than an equivalent volume of water." That's nearly question-begging.


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How do you repair yellowed or faded LEGO blocks?
In particular, I've had white blocks that have yellowed in places. Can the colour consistency be restored? Or at least improved?
I'd be more interested in people's actual experiences rather than simple suggestions.

Has anyone tried using Vanish Oxi Action (or other oxygen based bleaches)?

When I first got my kids some LEGO I did it by bulk buying 25 kilo bags of used bricks off the Internet. Now these bricks had obviously been in outdoor sandpits, chewed by dogs, hidden under carpets - you name it.
We successfully restored almost all of them by by washing them in a bath full of a Milton solution, scrubbing each one with an old toothbrush and then leaving them to dry on a towel.
This cleared up some yellowing that we had thought was sun damage and fading, however there were some (especially some black pieces) that just looked off-grey and no scrubbing sorted them.
I would suggest trying this method, but if it is sun damage that is more than the outer surface I think you might not have any success.

For those of us not in the UK, Milton Sterilising Fluid is a weak solution of bleach (sodium hypochlorite). Similar products in the US might be Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface or Fantastik Cleaner with Bleach.

I was about to answer that's it's usually hopeless, so it's good to see there's a solution, even if it's partial.

I wonder how the plastic reacts with this solution.  Some products get into the plastic, reacts with it and can make it more brittle.  I would be careful before using anything else than natural soap and water.

No reaction at all - admittedly, Milton is the bleach of choice in the UK for cleaning kids toys etc., so it is pretty mild.

A quick wash in a dilute bleach solution is not likely to harm the integrity of the plastic. A prolonged soak in a strong bleach solution, however, can leave pits in the surface of the ABS plastic and make it brittle.

I have used the Retr0bright method with great success for restoring yellowed bricks. Originally, this solution was hit upon by fans of retro computers wanting to restore old yellowed computer and game consoles to their original color. LEGO fans picked up on it and have had good results.
The solution is essentially hydrogen peroxide with sodium percarbonate added as a catalyst. The bricks are submerged in the solution and placed in UV light (sunlight or under a UV lamp). Depending on the strength of the solution and the light, the process can take several hours to a couple days.
Hydrogen peroxide is readily available, although in the US it is usually sold in a fairly weak 3% solution. Sodium percarbonate is the active ingredient in various "Oxy" detergent boosters.
The old Retr0bright site has information about the chemical reaction that takes place which restores the original bright color. Unfortunately the user discussions are not archived and do not seem to be transferred to the current site. The site owners do not recommend bleach for this purpose. Although a prolonged soaking in bleach solution can remove much of the yellowing, it will also leave pits on the surface of the plastic, causing it to become brittle.


text:
Is it possible to build simple logic gates with LEGO mechanics?
I built a simple bitshifter in Minecraft yesterday. I wondered if something like this could be built with LEGO?
Maybe there is a possibility to build gates with rubber bands and those movable mechanic stuff. Did anyone of you do something like this?

Various people have done this - however most of the links seem to point to a [then defunct] blog by Martin Howard (Randomwraith) from 2004.
A more recent, and available, post on this, using newer pieces can be seen here:

LEGO Logic by Keshav Saharia

Based on a lack of gears and rack and pinion elements, Keshav decided to rebuild the logic gates using an approach based around levers. Extra care was taken to ensure that the movements were uniform so that the outputs moved the same distance as the inputs.
Starting with the simplest gate, a NOT Gate was built:

Then going back to first principles, a NOR Gate:

Combining a NOR with two NOTs gives an AND Gate:

Finally Keshav built the XOR Gate out of 3 NORs and 2 NOTs (or 2 NORs and an AND):

All images used with permission

Thats a great link.. maybe someone could build a computer ;)

I think those gates work only in small scale, because of the friction.

Thanks for the link to my blog! By the way, you have my permission to use my images. I'm not really into the whole copyright thing so feel free to use them. Credit would be nice :)

Thanks for the link! Unfortunately my site has been up and down like a yo-yo lately, which is very frustrating. I don't know if the decoupling that I referred to is present in all gates, but it does appear to be in the NOR gate, shown above. In that case the inputs don't seem to be attached to the central levers, which would mean the output when going from say an 1,1 input to a 0,0 input wouldn't change :-( It looks like this blogger has attempted to solve the problem though: http://spillerrec.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/mechanic-nor-gate RW

I'll offer a bounty of 100 to anyone who creates an SR latch and explains why Q or ~Q is set when the inputs are 0 and 0.

Not directly an answer, but I thought that people interested in this question would also be interested in an inspirational post...
I've seen a binary calculator like this live and have since then thought on building it with lego. Ah, sweet plans...

Thats a good idea, but I was thinking of the elements of digital technology, like simple signal tracks, OR and NOT gates.

There's this project, and with a mechanism like that you have a pretty high limit on the complexity of what you can do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYi9sJkS19Q

Credit where it’s due, Keshav Saharia’s gates were an attempt to simplify those found here:
http://www.randomwraith.com/logic.html
If you look carefully Keshav's gates you'll see that they suffer from a fundamental flaw in that they can't be reset, the input rods are completely decoupled so pulling them out does nothing.
RW

Glad your site is back up now - at the time I'd linked to Keshav's post, the link to your original blog was dead :( I'm also not sure what you mean with the decoupled comment - it looks to me that you can indeed move the input rods back out and effect the output, due to the hinging effect on the levers.


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Cleaning lego: substances that can be safely used without causing damage?

Possible Duplicate:
Lego cleaning techniques and tools

I've used a normal washing up solution of Fairy washing up liquid and warm water to good effect previously, but I do find the blocks attract dust very quickly.
Has anyone used anything else?


text:
Is there an official LEGO brick color reference?

Possible Duplicate:
How many different colours of lego brick are there?

Is there a canonical reference for the different colors of LEGO bricks?
Ideally this would be a color-matching system like Pantone or RAL but if such a reference isn't available something like sRGB would be acceptable as well.

This question provides a link that includes Pantone colors.
http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/75/how-many-different-colours-of-lego-brick-are-there

Good catch, that went up while I was fetching the Wikipedia links for Pantone and RAL - I'd rather close as duplicate than delete, though, as I think this title is differently-searachable.

Every color used in LEGO over the years is listed on the official LEGO color chart at Peeron. It also includes CMYK, RGB and Pantone references.


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How has the basic brick changed over the years?
The basic 2x4 brick has many versions. For example the modern one has thinner walls and funny shaped tubes  compared to an early 1980s brick. What were the changes over the years and how did they affect building?

I can't provide a list of all the minor changes, but I can at least tell the most significant change made in the history of the basic 2x4 brick (which applies to all other bricks and parts, too):

1963: Material changed from Cellulose Acetate to Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)*

In general, there are no essential changes made: a brand-new brick still fits together with one from before 1963 as long as the Cellulose Acetate hasn't deformed too much during ageing (which is the main reason they switched to ABS, it's more robust, scratch-proof and doesn't deform so easily).
The main "change" that really affects building is the continuously improving precision in production - this happens all the time, so there's no point on the timeline. The effect is simple: better fitting bricks improve the stability of your construction.
*Transparent bricks consist of Polycarbonate, axles consist of Polyamide

You can see from the patent (http://i.stack.imgur.com/QRwhY.jpg) that the basic design hasn't changed markedly.

The brick as it stands now hasn't seen structural changes since 1958, which is why LEGO celebrated the 50 years of the brick in 2008. The brick before 1958 didn't have the bottom tubes, which were part of the patent you mention.

@Joubarc - Current 2x4 have thinner walls (with vertical "ridges") than earlier 2x4 bricks from around 10-15 years ago.  This seems to have more rigidity as well as a reduction in the amount of plastic.  I'm not sure if it improves or reduces the clutch power.

@CadeRoux — right, but it's not really a structural change. I think the clutch power should be the same, since they've left plastic on the part of the walls where the studs touch it. But they're less plastic, that's for sure.

This diagram from WRme2 on Flickr provides a representation of the mold variations from 1949 to 2022:

Hollow tube 1958 (2×4 weighing 3g)

Gets a horizontal ridge called a flowrib & end pips, holds together better (now 2•68g)

Colours charge & black shine, maybe from being made from ABS instead of CA?

ABS 1963

Flowrib removed (= weight)

In USA gets slits in tubes

As Pat. Pend. ends, those words get obscured, & stud pips instead of side pips 1974

2×3 & 2×4 get cross-members, ribs & thinner walls (2•25g) (sorry I don't get the joke? tubes still round). [2×2 gets ribs]

The N° for 2×4, 3001, inside those bricks.

& for the 1×

1×2 1955

Gets pillars (not for 1×1), 1×6 now has 1 cross-member instead of 2 1959

Gets full depth cross-members, & 1×6 back to having 2 (but there is also some with just the 1)

Cross-members on all pillars, & not full depth again

Hollow pillars

The 1st using tubes, & 1× sans pillars don't hold together well, okay for buildings. Must be bigger under & smaller studs? Some one wrote that the new thinner bricks don't hold as well on underside. I've 1×2 with notch for wires, hold together okay, even though no pillar, but guess the pillars must help.
With cross-members & ribs, when I tested using bricks that came just before, holds less well underneath, using 6 studs there holds less well than 4 atop. But better with the 1st using tubes, 4 underneath better than 8 atop. But no better at holding 1 stud under.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us :) But can you please rework the answer to use full sentences and proper words instead of abbreviations and netspeak (i.e. "Some 1 wrote", "&", etc.)? You might want to take a look at other questions and answers to get a feel for the style used on this site if that helps. Normally we'd edit your submission to fit the guidelines, but in this case I see multiple spots where I can't even start to guess your intended meaning (for example "No. 3001 inside"). Thanks!

Sorry, but this answer has a bunch of random text and is unreadable. Could you structure your answer in a different manner and provide additional details in a clear and easy text please?

I could, but not going to, going from what I've noticed mostly, so don't know all date.


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What's the largest LEGO construction ever?
In terms of the number of bricks used.
Is this house, constructed by James May for the show Toy Stories, the biggest?

This house was owned and built by James May. Legoland refused to move it and the building was dismantled weeks after construction was over.  The 3.3 million bricks were apparently give to charity. http://techcrunch.com/2009/09/22/james-mays-lego-house-has-been-demolished-try-not-to-cry/

Isn't this 'off topic'? But not one to become a click-happy close-voter when given the privilege, I guess we could have a few 'fun' questions.

@muntoo trivia is on topic in most SE sites

I'm not even sure this is really "trivia" - for Lego fans it is a guide to potential vacation spots.

MMIX? As in Knuth's MMIX?

@Pubby8: As in Roman numerals for 2009, the year it was built. No connection. (Though the original MIX was also a numerical pun in Roman numerals.)

This house is the biggest lego ever built unless proven otherwise.
I searched a bit and could not find anything using more bricks.
Here are some other project falling short from the 3.3 millions bricks :

Shopville Le Gru,Grugliasco (Italy), 1.5km long, using 2,901,760 bricks, 13 February 2005
LEGO Millyard Project at SEE Science Center in Manchester, 3 millions bricks, permanent

Here is a list of LEGO records : http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/lego.html

It depends what you mean by 'construction'. The largest construction project would probably be one of the LEGOLAND Theme Parks. The miniland part of the Windsor park alone has 40 million bricks.
James May's Toy Story LEGO home was made with 3.3 million bricks although some of the bricks accounted for the separate models made to furnish the home.