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Cleaning between the studs of a build
I've unpacked a few of my models after moving home some time ago, these models have been in a cardboard boxes for several months and need cleaning:

I've tried compressed air, which only makes some of the dust airborne. I've also tried cotton buds but the process is tedious and they end up looking like this after several stokes.
More importantly, I would like to be able to clean my models without going through the tedious process of taking them apart, washing, drying and building them again.

Anything wrong with a quick submerge in water? You shouldn't have to take them apart if you only care about surface dust.

@Pubby Drying models can take a long time and damage stickers. I find it doesn't get rid of the deeply ingrained dirt.

When cleaning dust from scale models, sculptures, figurines or LEGO models I use an artist 'Fan' brush.  This is the best method I've found to clean dust rapidly without damaging models.

The fan brush's long hairs combined with the thin spread enables you to dust 'any shapes and surfaces without risk of damage.  For example, it would clean a LEGO antenna (1 stud attachment only) without making it fall.  You can can really push the brush into the bumps and cracks and the long hairs will bend and reach around the features.
Also, when dusting a big piece, I also set an electric fan a low power to blow air across my work table. This prevents the dust from just going up and settling back down on the model.
A huge advantage, learned after cleaning model boats, is that it is also perfect for dusting ropes (small cables).  This worked like a charm on my LEGO Technic crane with all the complex cable system.  It is also good on cloth, so it would work for the minifigures capes.

Have you tried one of the smaller portable vacuum cleaners? I've had a few of the battery operated "Keyboard Cleaner" type of thing, which usually come with a brush nozzle and work quite well.
Unlike firing compressed air and scattering dust/crumbs/contaminants everywhere, they are designed to catch most of it.

Faster than doing it by hand with a tooth brush or cotton bud.

Would be nice to have some tool which combine both compressed air and vacuuming

@Joubarc You might be onto something there!

Some of the more advanced ones can reverse the flow of air to generate that sort of effect. Alternatively just reverse the batteries ;)

I've tried a handheld car hoover but it doesn't have enough suction power. Instead I've been using a Dyson Animal vacuum to get rid of most of the dust.

I've successfully used a paint brush to clean my dust-covered MOCs.

A soft toothbrush can do a good job on an assembled model. Just make sure the bristles aren't too stiff. They could scratch the elements. It's still tedious, but easier than cotton swabs.

I'd recommend using a paint brush - larger, and ca, be very soft too.

I'd considered that option but felt there was still a danger of floating dust...

Try the cyberputty gunk that picks up dust. it's basically silly putty but it does what it says it does. I use it for random things like this all the time. Radioshack has it for $1.99 last I saw.

I couldn't find a link for the one sold at RadioShack, but Cyber Clean looks like what you describe - and it does indeed look like it could be a good solution for LEGO too. If I can find some, I'll definitely try it. Read also this thread on fbtb, people who tried it there seem to find it useful too.

I did try it since then, and for that kind of usage (built model which you don't want to take apart), I would tend to say it's very good - just press it on the model around, and it captures (most of) the dirt. The only downsize I see if the limited life of the stuff, so you'll need to replace it after a while, sooner if your models are very dirty.

I use a static duster for dusting models. They use soft polyester filaments that won't scratch, and which attract dust using static charge. It may take a few passes to get all the dust if it is thick, but they work well.

Most of the answers here use various combinations of air and brushes to get rid of dust. This works fairly well; I used to dust my model airplanes with the same paintbrushes I used for painting them. I second the tiny portable vacuum cleaner too.
However, my go-to option for dusting models that have been standing around too long is soapy water. I recently partially disassembled the 4483 Lego AT-AT that's been standing on my desk for years. Pop the legs off, the head off, and the panels off the top, etc; it comes apart into, say, 10-15 large modules. Dunk them in soapy water then rinse in warm clear water, and let it dry. It takes a while to dry but when it's done, it's clean. Much cleaner than the dusting approach.
I've washed individual pieces this way too, by putting them in a mesh bag (like the kind for washing delicates in a clothes-washing machine) first, then dunking the whole bag of parts into the water. It takes a while to dry though.

My personal favorite method is using a submerged toothbrush. It works much better than any other method I've tried, as the brush dislodges the dust and the water ensures that the dust does not fall back.

I just use my Dyson DC39 vacuum cleaner with either the crevice or dusting tool. As long as you're careful, this works well.


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Flash update breaks the Mindstoms NXT viewer
After udating to the lastest version of Flash on my Macbook Pro (OS X 10.7.4) The Mindstorms NXT software that comes in the box no longer displays the build instructions. It does load up, but the build instructions pages are blank.
Is this a known issue, and is there a fix available?

You may want to contact the LEGO customer service about this, even if they don't have a fix ready at least they'll know about the problem.

This is fixed using the NXT software version available from http://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms/downloads/software/nxt-software/ instead of CD that came with the NXT set.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


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LEGO Scalextric?
I have a couple of these car parts in my collection but cannot find anything about them. They are copyright 2003 and show a number 3213 on the back axle.
Interesting is that they have 3 electrical connectors on the underside that suggest it gets power from a track of sorts.  Something like LEGO scalextric.
Can anyone shed some light on what this is and how it worked and was controlled?

Sounds like this:

Which can be found in set 8364 only. It's recharged by pushing the car on a charging track piece, itself powered by batteries:
.
Not particularly good, but the sheer number of track parts in the set makes it interesting to buy for some people.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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


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Does the PF Servo motor return to center?
Does the PF Servo motor, which was introduced in the 9398: 4x4 Crawler model, have return to center feature?

Here is another video from Sariel which shows that it returns to center: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Gvuzsngg8

With the 58122c01 Remote Control Unit it returns to center if the remote is not actuated.
With the 64227 IR Speed Remote Control Unit  it returns to central position when the stop button is pressed.

Yes it does, see http://technicbricks.blogspot.fr/2012/06/pf-servo-in-action.html


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Is the Lego 8884 IR Receiver compatible with earlier IR Speed Remotes e.g. from set 7897?
I'm thinking of buying the new Train power function, e.g. 8884 IR Receiver, 88000 Battery Box, and 8879 IR Speed Remote. However I already have the set 7897, is the Speed Remote from this set compatible with 8884 IR Receiver ? Does anyone know ?
I think the train motor is compatible by the way, correct me if I'm wrong.

Generalizing the question, are RC and PF compatible?

I think RC devices are not compatible with PF devices due using different IR protocols.
For instance, see this forum thread for more explanation. Also this cool site.
Summarizing,

RC and PF can use the same rails
RC and PF cannot use the same remote controllers
RC and PF uses different engines:

RC places it in bogie (as 9v do)
PF places it in body

That about sums it up; in addition, note that the motor itself has a different connector, so you could still use it with the newer PF elements, but you'd need a conversion cable.

You can only control PF IR receivers with the PF remote controls. These are the normal (8885) or the speed control (8879). With the speed remote control you can also choose different speeds. And yes, the train motor from 7897 is compatible with power functions, as long as you use a extension wire (acts like adapter from the old 9V-system to PF, 8886 or 8871).
You could also use a trick by controling a motor via the receiver from 7897, wich controls the PF remote control. But that´s a bit tricky, and I  haven`t found a way yet where you can actually control the speed stepwise :/


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Why did they cancel Mars Mission?
Does anybody know why LEGO canceled the Mars Mission line? It was so good and I almost had everything! I don't wanna buy off eBay because that can get expensive. I liked it a lot!

In this forum, I found a reply from the Lego Group in response to an email asking a similar question but related to the Mars Mission games:

Thank you for contacting us and for your interest in LEGO® brand products.
Unfortunately, because The LEGO Mars Mission line you inquired about has been discontinued from our current product line, we do not intend to create new games based on this theme. Each year, several items are discontinued and new ones added. By doing this, we provide a product line with more variety and continuing challenges to our LEGO builders. You may like a game based on our Space Police theme called Galactic Pursuit, http://spacepolice.lego.com/en-US/games/default.aspx. You may also like a multiplayer interactive game named LEGO Universe that will be released this upcoming summer. To preview this new game, you can visit LEGOUniverse.com. I hope this information helps!
Thank you again for contacting us.
--LEGO Direct Consumer Services

Basically, "fantasy" themes such as this one usually stay for a few years, then get replaced by others. There may be similarities, though, such as being related to space & aliens, or fight against evil (exo-force to Ninjago), and some series do last a bit longer, but in a nutshell if you like some theme you shouldn't wait too long before buying some. I'd tend to prefer buying a bit more of a given theme and skipping others rather than trying to get a bit of everything.


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How can the 12v Train 7823 Container Depot be used to load container ships as per Lego Catalogue
As I kid I was always confused by the description of the 7823 Container Depot
 in the Lego Catalogues:

..."The crane can be raised so container ships can be loaded."

An example can be seen in this scan of a 1988 UK catalogue.
Now as an AFOL I am still confused by this. I still have the set from my childhood and although the end of the crane gantry does hinge up, it doesn't give the crane any extra reach. I suppose it is possible that the train track could be removed and the base plate be placed right next to the 'dock side' to use the crane to load/unload ships, but even then is it really necessary to raise the end of the gantry? There is already a lot of height clearance even without the gantry end raised.
Can anyone shed any light on what the Lego Group meant by this description?

I think by 'crane' they are referring to the hook. The hook can be moved by rotating the winch tied to the string. Looking at the instructions there doesn't appear to be any other possibility.

@Ambo100 - I understand your thinking here but why would they specifically mention 'container ships' rather than just talk about the cargo on the rail cars? Also, they don't mention 'lowered' only 'raised, this fact coupled with the otherwise seemingly pointless hinge on the end of the gantry still makes me think they are referring to this ability to raise the hinged end of the gantry. Maybe there is a 'Lego scene' out there somewhere in an old catalogue or instruction book that shows this set loading a container ship that would solve the mystery? :-)

At least the same catalog does have a cargo ship. I assume raising the hinged part allows the crane to stick out further and maybe reach far enough to load a ship, but it's strange anyway.

Perhaps it is a translation issue? Does anyone have a non-English copy of the same catalogue? Is the wording any different?

If it's a translation issue and they meant "ship container" instead of "container ship", then Ambo100's suggestion makes even more sense - they would just mean you can lift/lower containers, and the meant the same containers as found on the cargo ship. I looked at the instructions again and the whole hinge thing just doesn't make that much sense, except to ease building.

I have this set. They probably meant to write "Shipping Containers" can be loaded, not Container Ships.

Whilst there is quite a bit of clearance on the crane as it stands, the Container Ship (4030) was quite a high sided beast - although you can see that better on the catalogue page:

I would think that a bit of extra height from the hinge would be useful to make it over the edges of the ship - assuming you haven't raised the crane's base.
The alternative answer is that they are trying to make the model more real-world accurate, where the cranes lift up as the ship comes in, and then go back to flat to load:

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What disinfectant can I use on used LEGO parts?

Possible Duplicate:
LEGO cleaning techniques and tools

I usually purchase LEGO parts at yard sales and the like and would like to disinfect them before using them.  Can I use any spray disinfectant on parts without ruining them?  Should I be wary of any disinfectants that would cause LEGO parts to fade in color?

Hi Ivan, if you take a look at my answer to the linked question, you'll see that The LEGO Group recommend using a Mild Bleach for disinfecting your bricks.

Soaking the parts in a 50/50 mix of warm water and white vinegar works as well - it cleans, removes odors and disinfects without leaving any residue.

In the past I have used dish soap and a basin and just soaked them in hot soapy water for a while. I then learned that MegaBlocks float while LEGO sink.


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What is currently in the LEGO Store Pick A Brick Wall?
The LEGO Stores feature the Pick A Brick Wall, where you can buy a small or large cup of LEGO bricks. The selection changes every now and then.
Where can I find the current bricks that are available at the LEGO Store?

The bricks in the Pick A Brick Wall are subject to change. As soon as the supply of one type of brick is exhausted in a store, they replace it with another type of brick. There is no particular rotation or order, it is just whatever happens to be in the delivery that the store gets from Lego.
From Lego.com:

Selection varies by store and the elements are always changing

The brickbuildr.com website has a section dedicated to an effort to inventory each Pick A Brick Wall through submissions from the community (not the Lego store itself), but it is often a little out of date.

I wrote a website where users can update the contents of the Pick A Brick wall for various Lego stores.  The site is http://www.wallofbricks.com/
I used my iPhone to inventory the wall at the Lego store in Orlando, FL. If you inventory your local store please send me some feedback on how the process works.  I tried to make the GUI easy to use from a cell phone so that you can inventory a wall quickly.


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How much does a life sized LEGO person sculpture weigh?
Generally, how many pounds of LEGO would it take to make a life sized person sculpture?
Do they weigh anywhere near the same as the real person they are modeled after?

The image posted in your question shows the Lego brick artist Nathan Sawaya.
On his website, he states:

A life-size human form sculpture typically has 15,000-25,000 bricks.

So, lets use 20,000 for our calculations.
Next, how much does a brick weigh, well of course it depends on the type of brick, but if we take the common 2 x 4 Brick , Bricklink tells us that one 2 x 4 Brick weighs 2.32g.
20,000 x 2.32 = 46,400g
= 46.4Kg
= 102.3Lb
= 7.3 Stone

So one could say they are very roughly equivalent in weight.
But if anything, the Lego versions are likely lighter than their human twins. This is especially true if we consider that many of the bricks will be smaller than the 2 x 4 Brick we used in the rough calculation above. For example, according to Bricklink, the 2 x 3 Brick weighs 1.92g and the 2 x 2 Brick weighs 1.21g.

So that means that if you were to make a life-size Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, you would need at least 2x-3x times that many then, around like 40,000-60,000 pieces, if you take into account his helmet, his long flowing purple cape and his boots and his gloves. That's my goal, actually. I plan on giving this LEGO artist, Nathan Saway a run for his money.

Hmm, two 2x2's would weigh more than one 2x4 (2.42g) - generally the density of the element would increases as the size decreases because more of the volume is taken up by the thicker sidewalls.


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Repairing Lego minifigure torso cracks/damage
I have a ton of Lego minifigures that I really put through their paces throughout my childhood (fighting pirates, exploring space... basic stuff really). A number of them are damaged on the torso. Starting at the base on the left and right sides of the torso there are cracks that extend upwards toward the minifigure's "armpit". The cracks cause the legs to be loosely attached to the torso (and hence fall out sometimes).
Is there a way to repair damage (probably not) or hide it and prevent further cracks from creeping up the torso?

Do you think Crazy Glue (aka: Kragle) would do the trick, it worked in the LEGO Movie

I think the reason Lego mini figures split down their side in the first place is because we take their arms off and put them back on again. Another reason could be that they just split during the years and we can't do anything about it, or maybe Lego plastic is cheap, so, I think THE LEGO COMPANY should suggest about making the plastic stronger and unbendable or uncrackable.

I think you can go to https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/replacementparts and get a new one or call LEGO and ask them to make better plastic.

The replacement parts site only has general pieces. They won't have a torso from a 1993 Ice Planet set.

one thing that worked for me is to use a very small needle-nose plier or a tweezer to hold the torso from inside while pushing the crack apart (very carefully). now you can use a toothpick or a needle get a bit of superglue in the crack to fix it.
note that this just works for bigger cracks like the ones going up to the armpits.

Can't believe I'm upvoting an answer with the word "glue" in it

Note that solvents seem to work better than glue: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/1037/what-glue-should-i-use-for-permanent-lego-construction

I had this trouble when I was a nipper. My dad owned a model shop so I used the same glue that you use on Airfix type kits ("Polystyrene cement") - you can get this from model shops. Use a cocktail stick to smear a bit inside the figure, above where the top nobules of the legs will go so it won't interfere. Don't use too much because it kind of melts the plastic, almost like welding it.
Because of this it'll dry and hold the crack shut, but because you're not holding the crack open when you apply, you won't see the glue, it'll be like a patch on the inside.
Be sure to test on a scrap bit of lego 1st to see how it affects the plastic. Add too much and it'll turn your figure into a shapeless blob.
also note it takes maybe 20 mins to dry

There is at least one possible way to hide the damage to a cracked torso and brace it at the same time. Wrapping the outside of a cracked minifig torso with a decal and/or a piece of transparent tape can increase the snugness of the pelvis/torso fit as well as reduce the rate of future cracking.
There is a downside. If you do this without taking due care, your minifigs will look shoddy. Sometimes it's better to use a cracked stock minifig in the background of a model rather than having a poorly repaired minifig stick out like a sore thumb in the middle of an otherwise stellar project.

What I have found that works, most of the time, is DURO super glue. Extreme safety must be exercised as it is super glue and can cause skin to bond and burn as well as prove poisonous via inhalation. I would recommend using wet(with water) latex cleaning gloves as the water seems to prevent the gloves from sticking to themselves or each other to handle the glue, and then using a nail or something thin to apply it to the crack. However, it can cause the piece's colour to rub off, so be careful. One should always test the cracks(dependent on piece, e.g. putting legs into a torso). and look for more(with magnified glass (glasses, monocles, loupes, magnifying glasses, etc.) before returning it to use. The glue must be left to dry for at least 8 hours(maybe more), even though it will initially appear dry. Still, it seems to work. The torso I had from Rodney Rathbone had a bad crack on the left side, and some DURO seems to have done the job.

I used option 2 and I couldn't fit the needle. So if you can't get a bottle of gorilla glue and stick the tooth pick. First take out the legs and the where the crack is. Then you stick the toothpick into the gorilla glue and apply on the inside crack and outside crack. Make sure you get the cracks bottom where it transitions from inside to outside


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Removing glue from Lego bricks
When I was five my Dad used some kind of a good glue to put together a set together so I didn't loose any pieces. Putting the ethics of that action aside, I want to split the bricks from another and remove the glue. I tried heating up the set in boiling water but the glue didn't budge. Any ideas out there?

Unfortunately, knowing which kind of glue was used might be a crucial piece of information. And some may be impossible to remove altogether (Methyl-Ethyl-Ketone like they use in LEGOland parks, for example, as it fuses bricks together)

See also this answer regarding glue.

And why do we even have a tag [tag:glue] anyway?

Put them in fire. Sure, it will melt the LEGO parts bricks but it will also get the glue off.

Don't remove the glue at all. What your dad glued up back then is now a relic.

Tough job.
You can try using some nail polish remover to try to start breaking down the glue.
From Removing Super Glue, which they give for advice for people that accidentally glue their fingers together, this procedure might also work for the bricks.

...even though Super Glue is incredibly strong, it has one weakness: acetone.
Acetone is often found in household nail polish remover, and a small amount on the end of a Q-tip or cotton swab applied directly to the glue should dissolve the bond without damaging the skin.

A lot will depend obviously on how much glue was used inside the bricks, but perhaps a little crack and a small screw driver to help pry them apart and keep applying the acetone to the reachable edges can help break them apart.
I don't know if acetone will do something to the brick's color or structure, so proceed carefully.
Good luck.

Yes, be very careful with acetone as it's been shown previously to ideal for melting bricks together

Please, DO NOT USE acetone!!! I used it on some legos and the lego pretty much MELTED. DO NOT USE ACETONE!!!

@Kaylee yes, for images look towards the end of the this article

Well, maybe you could try using a nail in between the bricks. I personally have never glued legos together, so I am just giving an idea. Odd, right?
Good Luck!

Non acetone nail polish remover is used to remove glue and polish bit notnharm artificial nails. It's used tonremove pitch from cars without harming paint. After reading this, I guess it's about my only hope.


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Alternative (back of box) builds of 7822 Railway Station - is there an 'official' configuration where the track terminates at the station?
I am looking for a scan or photo of the back of the box of the 7822 Railway Station
Background:
As is common with Lego sets, there are a number of alternative builds pictured on the back of the set box and sometimes in the instructions themselves.
Some time ago I found a website with a picture of an alternative build of the 7822 set that was described as an 'alternative build'. Sadly I can't find the picture again but the configuration of the station was such that the train line servicing the station terminated at the platform, and did not continue on though as it does in the main build. It is this configuration in particular that I am interested in.
Known alternative builds:
There are various depictions of other alternative builds available on the internet, one such that shows two different configurations in the same picture is this scene from the back page of the 7834 Level Crossing (Note: The version in the middle of the page on the right may be the one I am interested in, but I can't see the position of the track in that picture.)
The YouTube video 'LEGO 12V Train Dream Layout' shows the alternative build from the top of the 7834 instruction scan at around the 0:20 position in the video opposite another set in the main build configuration.
Answering this question:
I am very happy to receive answers on any of the possible alternative builds for the 7822 Railway Station and make this question a resource for anyone interested in different configurations, but the accepted answer will be for a clear scan or photo of the back of the 7822 box. (It may or may not show the configuration I am thinking of as the mysterious picture on the internet that I am thinking of may or may not have been an 'official Lego created' alternative build).

If no one comes up with anything here, you could write an email to LEGO directly and ask for the images. They might be able to help you: http://service.lego.com/en-us/contactus/

I contacted LEGO customer service and got this reply: "We wish we could provide pictures of your older LEGO® train set but unfortunately, they aren't available through us. There is hope though, Peeron.com is website run by a group of LEGO fans that contains information on LEGO sets, replacement parts, building instructions and more. It’s not affiliated with the LEGO Group but we know from other fans that it has a good collection of older building instructions to download, discontinued pieces to purchase, and great set information.". Of course I had already checked Peeron.

Here you go: http://goichot.free.fr/lego/7822/8.JPG
Have been looking myself for hours as I have two 7822 sets but no box...

With the way I run my trains, there's no way I'd allow any minifig to sit on the yellow seats. Wait, yes I would :-/

While it's not the "official" answer you're looking for, you could add the a bumper just outside the station, like this guy has:
http://www.freelug.org/spip.php?article558

Thanks for the interesting link but I'm not sure it really answers the question. However I think the buffer designs will be useful for other projects.

I thought the question, as you asked it, was how to get an end-of-the-line at the train station. My suggestion, then, was to simply add a buffer right outside, and call it a day. Was that not the question you wanted answered? (I know it wasn't the answer you were expecting but I figured it could be a useful stop-gap.)


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Program a full rotation of a NXT motor in X seconds
I'm interested in mimicking the functionality of the Arqball Spin, at $60 it isn't cheap so I'd like to make the most out of my Mindstorms parts.
I'd like to use NXT-G to program a motor to rotate 360° in 20 seconds. NXT-G can only controll the power of the motor and duration (Unlimited, Degrees, Rotations & Seconds). The power of the motor can be set from 0 to 100 seemingly arbitrary values:

I don't mind using 3rd party software to program the motor, provided it's easy to use.

Do you have access to the Rotation Sensor at all? You might be able to do some internal calibration prior to the main run?

@Zhaph-BenDuguid Yes, I do, but it hasn't helped much. My motor is weak at low power (4-12-ish), it would turn at a reliable speed so I increased the power of the motor and added a small gear to power a larger one.

The problem can be restated:
360 / 20 = 18 deg / sec = 1 deg / .056 sec
One degree is the smallest increment provided by the rotation sensors.
NXT-G has a timer sensor with 1/100th second resolution.
In pseudo-code:
Set a motorPower variable to 10
Start a timer
Loop until rotationDegrees >= 360
    If timeElapsed * 18 > rotationSensorDegrees
        motorPower = motorPower - 1
    Else
        motorPower = motorPower + 1
    End If
    MoveBlock (power = motorPower)
End Loop
MoveBlock (stop)

Of course, use of the 8 tooth and 40 tooth gears to give a 5 to 1 reduction would give even better results.  Even the best programming will have trouble offsetting bad mechanics.


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Is it possible to obtain a replacement part for a collectible minifigure?
My son's latest collectible minifigure purchase was missing its legs.  Is it possible to get a replacement set of legs?

I had a part missing from a brand new Cars lego set (old set but bought brand new at retail and unopened). Lego wouldnt provide the missing part as they said they no longer produced it. I eventually managed to find the part on eBay (albeit second hand and not cheap, although mint condition)

In short, yes it is possible.
The best place to find replacement parts is Bricklink.com.
You don't mention which minifgure is missing its leg, but for example, here is a link to the 'Hips and Legs with Studded Belt and Safety Pins Pattern' of the Series 4 minifg 'Punk Rocker'.
To find the required part for your minifig, a good starting point would be to look thorough the Collectible Minifigures Catalog Gallery on Bricklink and go from there.
As for cost, it varies greatly on based on rarity and desirability of the part you are looking for.

LEGO will replace a part for free on their website, providing it was missing from purchase. Sadly replacement parts aren't available for Collectible Minifigures, but you can contact them to let them know.
Ensure the Minifigure packet has been fully emptied, it's quite easy to lose parts when you open the packet.

+1, Lego is very good about providing replacement parts for pieces that were missing from a newly purchased set.

@JW8 True, but I did try using a set ID from one of the minifigure packets on the part replacement site but they don't do replacement parts for them.

got it - I've never replaced parts from the minifig packs before, only the usual sets.

While they don't replace specific parts for CMF (because of the nature of their production), they may offer to send you a new mystery pack. You may not get the same figure, but the next one should be complete.


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How can I upgrade the firmware of an RCX 1.0 to an RCX 2.0?
I have an RCX 1.0 set from 1998 and I would like to upgrade the RCX 1.0 to RCX 2.0.  Can this be done? Exactly how would I obtain a firmware file and load it?  I do have access to the Bricxx Command Center, if required.

Not a definitive answer, but I really doubt the hardware is similar enough 10+ years later that you can just re-flash some firmware.

Actually, it's the exact same hardware.

The hardware of RCX 2.0 is identical to 1.5, and the only difference between these two and version 1.0 is the charging port which had been removed. So they're compatible and you can indeed use a newer firmware on an older brick.
You'll need the Mindstorms 2.5 SDK, which contains the latest official firmware. It's probably not on the LEGO site any more, but Philo has saved it for posterity on his site.
You may also want to use a compatible, but faster, firwmare from Dick Swan, you'll find it archived here.
As for uploading it to the RCX brick, I think there's indeed an option for it in BrickCC but I'm not too sure where, so I can't help much there. It's probably in the documentation somewhere.

I confirm that Bricxcc can upload firmware to the RCX (in tools menu)


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Lego with hollow posts underneath - dates?
When did TLG change the small posts on the underside of the modern bricks and plates , eg 1x6 and 1x4, to hollow ones?

As an aside, this change is probably still ongoing. New molds will be done that way (I assume to save on plastic), but replacing existing molds which still function perfectly just for this would be too expensive, so you'll still find both types in recent sets. No idea when it began, though.

In my 2012 star wars sets 9492, 9493 and 9495, the plates have hollow "posts" and the bricks have all solid posts, so I guess basically I have 2 questions, 1: when did they start to introduce the hollow posts? and- 2: did they stop using hollow posts for bricks or are they still phasing solid posts out?

Pictures? Not sure what you mean.

Basically I was answering 2. : still phasing out. But they probably won't force it, so it can take an awful lot of time. Also, while we AFOLs make a distinction between both versions, LEGO doesn't internally - as long as two parts have the same functionality, they're treated as identical.

Here's a pic of 1x6 plates as an example:- http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/6226/dsc01854il.jpg

I can confirm that some bricks have hollow posts.  I ran across this in attempting to answer a "how much does a brick weigh" question.  What I thought was a homogenous batch of bricks turned out to have a few with hollow posts.  The bricks were all purchased new in the last three years.
From a "material cost productivity" standpoint, it will be in TLG's best interest to migrate to the hollow posts since parts from these molds will require less material to serve the same function (but not immediately).  An expedient time to do this would be when a mold is at end of life requires replacement.  So, I would expect to see significant variation continue for years to come.  The balance point is the cost of replacing a single mold with the reduction in processed material costs over the expected remaining life of the mold.  So the older the mold is the less cost effective it is to replace prematurely, but the newer one represents less time in service to amortize the mold over fewer piece parts... both of these things mean that the replacement will likely be when the mold normally reaches end of life.  Since the useful life is very long, it is more likely that we are seeing parts from line or factory expansions.

I would tend to agree with all of this, and we've established that non-hollow tubes still exist as of today for various manufacturing reasons - but we still don't know when they started using hollow ones, which was the original question.

I was answering question #2 (ref comments).  If we are going to have more questions like this, it would be helpful to get some current or former employees to join the group and respond.  The original question will not have a simple answer.  As a manufacturing process that would have needed to be developed, the TLG likely "used" solid posts long before they started shipping solid posts.  Additionally there would have been a lag between shipping and customers seeing them.

I believe that hollow studs likely appeared long before hollow posts and the manufacturing process development required to achieve the hollow stud, led to the further improvements required to implement the hollow post.  So what the original poster seems to really want for question #1 is a history with milestone dates for some indeterminate purpose.  I'm better with the "why" on this than the "when".

Answering the question tl:dr style: Around the 90's.
Long story, quote from another user:

I recall having read somewhere that LEGO didn't replace all the molds in one go during the 90's. LEGO kept using the old molds until they were worn out. This meant that both solid and hollow tube bricks and plates were present in sets during that time, sometimes even in the same set.

This is an example of the main difference between plates:

.

What I would like to find out was an article/video of someone who have actually found those different molds on the same set, but no luck for now.

i have an original 8440 from 1995. It has still solid studs on the 1x4 and 1x6 but hollow studs on 1x2 en 1x8 plates. Quote found on social media

I’m going through a Lego lot from the '90s (around '91 to '95) and there are some pieces that have a hollow bottom and some that have a solid bottom. On the other hand, I think the solid bottom was around in the early 2000s too. It just really comes down to the fact that there are many different Lego factories and they needed to make another mould of the exact same piece at different times because it’s being used more frequently. After they update the piece, in this case to having a hollow bottom, but sometimes they keep the old mould because it still works. I have gotten these sets and some colours had solid bottom and some didn’t in different colours so I imagine that in that factory one machine with the newer mould was making that piece in that one colour and the older mould was making it in the different colour. Even more annoying in that sealed set that I mentioned, there was even one colour with some pieces with hollow bottom and solid bottom but the set that I’m talking about is from 2003 and it’s not plates that I’m talking about but bricks. But if the solid bottom did not make it to the early 2000s then I would say the hollow bottom came out around maybe '94-'95 and probably did not retire the old mould until they needed to replace it with the updated version. But also one other thing too is if the piece was around early 2000s they might’ve kept the old mould in storage instead of destroying it in case they needed it if, I don’t know, it was busier that year, and they needed to take it out of storage or the other mould was down but it’s best to check if you see anyone opening a sealed set of the set that you’re getting pieces to it and see what mould variation is shown in the video on the set.

Hi Billy and welcome to Bricks.SE! Thank you for your contribution - I took the liberty to edit it a bit in order to improve readability by correcting typoes and breaing up run-on sentences, but feel free to edit anything I might have gotten wrong. Meanwhile you're cordially invited to take the [tour] and read the [help] pages to learn more about this community and how it operates. Play well!


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Lego Mindstorms NXT software error
I have installed the retail version of the NXT software. Due to pitiful performance on my Mac (OSX 10.7 Lion) I followed guidance on other forums and uninstalled Flash 11 and reinstalled 10.
Now when I start the application, I get the following error:

I have read on one site that a patch is necessary, but the linked patches are for the EDU version of the software as opposed to the retail version (I guess?) so they won't even install properly.
Any suggestions are most welcome. I see that there are other alternatives out there to program the NXT, but frankly for the cost of this product, this software should just work. (Lego, I hope you're listening.)

I'm in the same boat. 10.7.5, retail, file broken 1003, tried the patch, even uninstalled everything, reinstalled from ISO, and tried the driver and tried the patch. Nada. I was really hoping the answer wouldn't be NXC. I'll certainly try that, but I guess I'll call tech support Monday. Ideally I'd like to use NXT-G like everyone else. This is lame.

Jesse - I'm in the same boat as well.  See my comment under "There are a number of Mac patches".  I had hoped to be able to use NXT-G on this Mac... this is really irritating.  WHY doesn't it even give the FILENAME of the "required file"?!?!?

Yep. Same boat. Lego software has always been spotty, so I guess I'm not surprised. Kid is bummed, though.

Note: LEGO does not sponsorize, endorse or probably not even read this site, so saying things like "LEGO, I hope you're listening." is pointless. If you want LEGO to listen, you best bet is always to speak to them directly, via their customer service.

I'm in the boat too, my mindstorms has been like this since early june. Tried tons of sites, never worked. Re-downloaded it 4 times, and tried different downloads 7 times.

Here we go. I was browsing around looking for answers when I stumbled upon this thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4158314?start=0&tstart=0
One person mentioned Lego tech support sent him a link to an ISO. It looked like maybe it was a newer ISO than the one I was using, so I tried it: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31950731/MINDSTORMS%20NXT%20Retail%20MacWin%202012-06-21-1305.iso
It worked great! No patches, no nothing. Just installed that, restarted, and suddenly I have NXT-G working on Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5. Word.

Although I would point out that dropboxes can disappear at will, so this link may not be around forever - and as this isn't coming from an official source (mentioning in a chat room that it came from LEGO tech support is not the same as getting it directly from them) - so please ensure you have up to date Anti-Virus software in place before downloading and installing any file from the internet.

This seems promising, but yea, LEGO linking to their own software via dropbox seems a little suspect.

The second link gives me an HTML 404 error.

There are a number of Mac Patches available from official Mindstorms support site:

Mindstorms Support > Files > Patches

They include:

Software 2.0 Fix (Mac)
Snow Leopard Fix
MAC Leopard Fix

The interface isn't all that obvious:

First, click on the file you wish to download from the carousel, then click on the big "Downloads" button, you should then find a link to the appropriate downloads:

Thanks for this. I've applied these patches, and that's when the errors actually started. I think I've found the way forward here, the NXC environment: http://nxc.ruby4kids.com/nxc-language-reference. My son is still a little young for even the graphical IDE, so the raw programming environment is perfect for us.

I just installed the latest NXT-G2.0 on Lion - 10.7.5 - and it was REALLY borked - wouldn't resize right, threw random errors, generally almost worked but not quite.  I would resize the outer window, and the program area would get smaller!
Then I installed the "Software 2.0 fix (mac)"... and now I see "Error:  a required file is broken" - it's even more broken.

Having recently ran into this issues as well on OSX (10.6) here's the solution that worked for me:

Uninstalled Flash completely
Re-install the NXT software from the CD
launch and run

Apparently, only the version of Flash that was used when they developed the software is the one that will work with it. It gets installed with the software if it's not already installed.
That does mean you maybe want to create a separate user account just for running NXT so only that has the older version of Flash.


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Can 10153 9V train motor be powered by the Power Functions Battery pack?
I am currently making the switch to Power Functions with my Lego Train collection and am wondering if I can power the old 9v motors that I used with the metal rails, with a battery box from the power functions line? I tested it and it does run but I'm concerned that it may burn out or not be safe... Any advice?

As a rule of thumb, "I tested it and it does run" is a pretty sure bet if's safe as well. LEGO wouldn't release electrical stuff that could be used in a wrong way by kids.

In short, yes it's perfectly safe to run your old 9v motors from your Power Functions battery box.
This excellent online reference has a lot of information on various LEGO motors. Both the old 9v train motor and the Power Functions train motor are listed.
The information on the site shows that the characteristics of the two motors are very similar with the old 9v motor drawing 0.38A @ 9V and the Power Functions motor drawing 0.38A @ 9V.
The old 9v motor does draw slightly more current, (0.40A), @ 4.5V compared to 0.36A @ 4.5V for the PF motor, but this difference is negligible and will not translate into any damage to your motor or battery box.

Also there is official confirmation from LEGO via their Power Functions FAQ

Can I use Power Functions elements with my old 9V elements?
Yes, with 8886 Power Functions Extension Wire or 8871 Power Functions Extension Wire 20” you can use most of the 9V elements with Power Functions.

Nothing like an official quote from LEGO, I just can't help wondering why they say "most" of the 9V elements.

@Joubarc - Yes I wondered that myself! Maybe the subject for another LEGO Answers question :-)

@Joubarc see https://bricks.stackexchange.com/a/9607/6551


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how to build a diorama
I have almost all the items from the Lego Castle Fantasy set, and I would like to build a nice full Lego diorama, but I have no clue on where to start. Do you know if there is a tutorial on how to plan the diorama and how to build the terrain to make it solid enough to sustain the items and movements?

There's a couple of questions in here: There's already a good answer on Planning Large Structures for Transport, which covers some of the basics, so it might be better to focus on "how to build a sturdy terrain section" - the composition planning is a whole other area ;)

If you have access to some Duplo elements, these make good "bulking" blocks for larger terrain sections - as the 2x2 and larger bricks fit over the top of the duplo studs you can build a fairly stable base using those, and then work on the sides and top with System elements as needed.
Otherwise it comes down to sensible building techniques such as starting with larger blocks, overlapping them correctly so that each layer provides support to the ones around it.
There's a good answer on how to build a large structure for transport, which talks about using Technic bricks and pins to connect the sections together, as well as the answer on connecting levels of a multi-story building using tiles and jumpers or 1x1 plates to provide some grip while still enabling access inside.


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What LEGO cases are available for phones?
I would love to have a LEGO case for my HTC Desire that have LEGO compatible knobs so I can attach LEGO brick on it. Be free to post answers for LEGO case that is for other phones as well, as this is probably something that is interesting for everyone - not only those with HTC Desire...

Someone has taken the drastic move to make their own... I don't want to sacrifice LEGO bricks like that...

Nice suggestion in the link, but involves gluing LEGO which is seen by many users of this site as a crime!! :-)

@mcqwerty: and I agree. I changed the text around the link to express this...

I am not sure such a case exists for the HTC Desire.
All of the LEGO style phone accessories I have seen in the past have been for the iphone.
A bit of searching turned up these items:
What appears to be a case with LEGO compatible studs (for iphone)

Check out this page for other LEGO relates accessories and a picture of the above case in use with actual LEGO built onto it (near the bottom of the page).
There is also a TinkerBrick LEGO iPod/iPhone 3 case which has studs on the front and sockets on the back. There are taking Votes for the next supported phone on their site.
There is a mock LEGO silicone iphone case available here. The two pieces can be attached in different positions.

To wander off topic slightly, there are other 'phone related' LEGO style accessories available that are compatible with most phones:

Dock cover available here.

LEGO brick earphones available here.


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How many hours of travel does it take to wear out LEGO monorail tires?
I've seen some pretty impressive LEGO tire driven/cushioned monorail displays that put miles of wear on the track and the train cars that ride on it.
I'm hoping a monorail expert can tell me (about) how many hours of travel do you get out of the rubber monorail train wheels before you have to replace them?
Do you have to use something to clean the tire marks off the track, or does it wipe away?

Are you talking about brick-built monorails, or the official LEGO monorail?

I'm asking about LEGO element monorails :)

As far as the official LEGO monorails go, I don't think I've ever worried about replacing the tires because of wear.  The load on the tires is really low (LEGO bricks don't weigh that much, after all).  The bigger problem is age.  LEGO's rubber doesn't age that well (I find), so depending on how you care for them, you may have to replace them once every few years.  Other people may have different experiences.

@Nick2253 That sounds like the makings of an answer. I'm planning on asking this question at the Brickcon convention next month. The monorail guys put a lot of miles on their models.

I went to Brickcon 2012. I asked Joe Meno about his red Monorail and he was most helpful. He flipped it over to expose the undercarridge and he was able to show me LEGO tires with fifteen hours of running time. The tread does indeed wear off and the tires actualy begin to split. The rubber doesn't cling to the rails themselves, but residue does begin to accumulate below the tracks. The ease of clearing the area of the tire debrie all depends on what you have built below the track. It can be blown clear, or wiped away.   These two sizes of tires were used to run Joes train.    ...The tread on the driven tire is beginning to wear down.  ...and you can see the non-powered wheel has begun to separate.

But you were asking about real monorail parts originally, right? That said, GBC modules which use fast-spinning wheels & tires to propel balls are also subject to tyre disintegration, very similar to what your pictures show.

Actually, I was asking about rubber wheeled LEGO monorails in general.


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I found this piece in a yard sale grab bag. What other elements do I need to make it work?
I found this piece in a yard sale grab bag. What element(s) do I need to make this element function as it was originally intended?

Technic Turntable Large Type 1 Base (2856).
It's a Turntable Large Type 1 Top (2855) which is part of Technic Turntable Large Type 1, Complete Assembly (2856c01).


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Instructions on small car, came with Technic Race Car, circa 1986
When I was about 10 (so, about 1986), I had a Technic race car (formula-1 like), and the instructions had an alternate thing you could make. It was just a small car, with rack and pinion steering.
I must have made it 100s of times, and would like to find the instructions again, to make it now. I don't have the race car kit, but I probably do have enough LEGO to make the smaller car.
I've tried to work out what the original kit was, but can't locate it.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Thanks, Brock

Any additional details you remember? Colour would definitely help, as well as an indication of the size.

Your best bet is probably to browse the list of Technic sets on Brickset (sort by year of release, ascending).
There aren't that many before 1990 so it should be easy to find, one which sounds a bit like what you describe is 8865 Test Car from 1988.

I don't really remember any more details. I think it was mostly one color, red or black.
The Test Car linked above might be it. I can see it has a moveable seat, and I think I remember that.
The three models linked all look like ones we (me and kids) could make with our existing stockpile.
Thanks for the help.

the two sets that come into my mind when reading the description are a Go-Kart (8842) and a Roadster (8832) - maybe it's one of those (would be a lot easier if you remember some additional details - the main color, for example).


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What's a good base collection of tiles?
I recently picked up a copy of the LEGO ideas book, and been inspired. As a novice builder, I've noticed that almost every model makes use of tiles to provide a finished look, which seems like a great idea.
Accordingly, I'm interested in buying some tiles in bulk for assorted building projects, but I'm overwhelmed by the options. Bricklink has many kinds of tile. What would be a good starting set of tile pieces to aim for, and roughly how many? And what's the difference between tiles with and without grooves? Is the groove on the bottom? Is one piece much more useful than the other? Argh! So many options! Can anyone recommend a sensible way to proceed?

All modern LEGO sets now use the groove ones. The without ones haven't been sen new for a long while.

Looks like there are really two different questions here. Allow me to address the question regarding grooves on the tiles:

What's the difference between tiles with and without grooves?

Basically, on tiles without grooves, the vertical edges run continuously straight from top to bottom. On tiles with grooves, there is a small lip at the bottom of the tile just large enough for a fingernail or a separator tool.
A visual comparison between the 1 x 2 tile without groove (red) and the 1 x 2 tile with groove (grey) shows the continuous vertical sides vs. the lip that forms the 'groove':

Is the groove on the bottom?

Yes, it runs all the way around the bottom of the tile.

Is one piece much more useful than the other?

The difference is mainly in the ease of removing the tiles once attached to another Lego element. As I mentioned above, the groove leaves enough space to prise the tile away from whatever other LEGO element it is attached to. In the case of the 2 x 2 Tile without groove that you reference in the question, according to bricklink, it was discontinued in 1978 after the 2 x 2 Tile with groove appeared in 1973, so I would guess that LEGO considered the 'with groove' to be a better design.

LEGO definitely favors the "with groove" option as it's easier to remove. Since they aim their toys at kids, they wanted to remove the frustration linked with the difficulty to remove non-groove tiles. All new tiles have grooves, so when buying some, you can pretty much forget about non-grooved ones unless you've a very good reason to (completing an old collector set for example). By the way, even "jumper plates" are grooved now.

Whilst I can't answer specifics on types and quantities, look out for sets that include a reasonable umber of tiled pieces. The modular buildings all include a fair number and range, as do the Minecraft series of kits. Our local Lego store (Watford, UK) had a whole cup of 1x1 tiles all in a dark colour that someone had put to one side, but they weren't 'on the wall' when I looked.

Note that the Minecraft sets are predominantly 1x1 tiles, which may limit their usefulness.

What to do for tiles? Have a collector rifle through their collection for hours and see how many of each piece they have! (Did that for you.) Here's the base you wanted:

10 1x1 wih studs, 20 without
200 studs (some say they're plates)
20 2x2, both kinds each, 30 circular, 10 circular without studs
16 1x2, 8 without studs, 8 grilles
4 3x1, both kinds each
8 3x2, studless don't exist
40 4x2, 4 studless
8 6x2
4 8x2
4 10x2
4 4x4, 6 circular, 2 open circular
6 6x4
4 6x6
4 10x6
1 baseplate


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How do I keep LEGO boxes looking their best for as long as possible?
I want to buy a few cool sets for investing purposes or to give to my kids later on if they prove to be poor investments. I'm not going to open the boxes they'll just be stored but it might be nice to display them on a shelf or something to remind me of why I like them.
So how can I keep the boxes looking their best for the next five or ten years? I assume that fading from sunlight damage is the biggest problem so what needs to be done to prevent that?
Note that I'm asking about the boxes here and not the bricks which is covered in this question: How can I store LEGO bricks as long as possible?

While the LEGO plastic elements are very durable and should be considered as safe as long as they remain in their box, the boxes themselves are much more vulnerable.
As you mention, direct sunlight may be damaging to the printing, but you'll also need to be wary of humidity and possible shocks.
As a minimum, I'd recommend storing them in another cardboard box, if possible an original one from LEGO as dimensions will match better. If not, you'll need to make sure there is sufficient padding so that your LEGO box doesn't move freely in the cardboard box. Padding might be a good idea anyway if you aren't too sure of how careful you'll be with the outer box, a dented corner happens very fast.
Of course, you'll want to store the boxes in a dry area, and out of reach of other hazardous elements (cats come to mind - shredding boxes is the raison d'être of some, the rest prefer peeing on everything which you'll want to avoid too).
All this isn't exactly specific to LEGO, but my last bit of advice would be to turn the boxes from time to time so that the weight of the elements settling inside don't always affect the same side. Or at the very least, store your boxes flat. If you were to store a big box on the same side, the bricks inside will put enough pressure on the side that they'll eventually deform them.

Fortunately there are no cats in the house. What about displaying them?

Well I wouldn't go as far as to say "display" and "preserve" are incompatible, but it's certain if you want to display them you'll have to sacrifice some protective measures. Light, obviously, but you can at least make sure it's not sunlight. Also, you're likely to display them in a standing upright position, which as I said can cause a settling problem. Your best bet is probably to build cases (glass, plexiglass?) which encase the boxes tightly, but how to do that is a question probably better suited for Home Improvement. Or transparent wrapping foil, maybe?

Yeah I was wondering if something along the lines of a deep picture frame would be doable

Well shoot, if you want to display it, send it off to the Action Figure Authority and have them grade it and seal it in carbonite: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2007-LEGO-STAR-WARS-10179-UCS-MILLENNIUM-FALCON-2ND-EDITION-GRADED-AFA-9-5-/321057358932?pt=Building_Toys_US&hash=item4ac0828454

Just keep them away from children, and store them on the shelf. the boxes are very easy to dust off, and they will not be harmed form the dust.
Also, do not put anything heavy on top of the LEGO boxes! I have had experience with this, and it leaves a crease in the box. Actually, you should not out ANYTHING on top of the box, unless it is another empty LEGO box. Or a full LEGO box. I would say that the maximum weight would be the heaviest LEGO box, because the weight is spread out. Only put other LEGO boxes on top of the box. They were meant to be stacked.

Not putting anything heavy on the boxes seems a very valid point. I'm a bit curious about your statement that LEGO boxes are meant to be stacked. As far as I know, LEGO boxes are actually seldom stacked; rather, they are bundled together in bigger boxes which are themselves stacked, so the boxes themselves don't have to support a lot of weight. Is this something you read somewhere? If so, a reference would be neat.

I meant that they were meant to be stacked on each other. LEGO box on another LEGO box will not cause damage.

What great storage ideas! There are a lot of lego loving kids in our family, so I'm going to have to share these ideas.

Please do not stack the Lego boxes, especially the big sets. They are going to crush the lower ones.
If you need to, at least make sure to put a board or something between the two layers to distribute the weight evenly.


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Lego Mindstorms RCX RIS 2.0 IR tower Windows 7 / XP driver
So I've recently dug up my old Lego Mindstorms RIS 2.0 (RCX) and have spent the past few days trying to install it into my Windows 7 laptop. It worked fine, except it could not find the correct drivers for the IR tower. Installing it on a Windows XP Virtual machine has given the same result.
Any suggestions/patches?

Do you also have a PC with a Linux install?  That is how I'm using my old RCX 2.0.  If you do I'll put up an answer with the Linux info.

USB or traditional serial? I assume the former,  but both were common in the rcx days.

I have the RCX IR tower setup and working on my Windows 7 laptop.
I downloaded the drivers from the ROBOTC.net site here (labeled 'RCX Device driver')
Direct file download link
Note: I am running Windows 7 32-bit, according to the ROBOTC site, this driver is 32.bit only and

No known 64-bit driver is available for the RCX.

Please note as of 2022 the accepted answer NO LONGER WORKS (RobotC.net no longer hosts this file). An equivalent tower driver can still be found from here: https://www.philohome.com/sdk25/sdk25.htm
As with before, the USB IR Tower will only work on 32-bit Windows (and also Linux, though that's a different question). If you run 64-bit Windows you will need to:
a) Run the Mindstorms software in a Windows XP virtual machine, OR
b) Get a Serial Port version of the IR tower and a USB to Serial adapter.

If you’re attempting to use the USB RCX 2.0 on Windows 7, 64 bit OS, I used the free version of Oracle VM VirtualBox. I installed Windows XP. In the settings section of the VM software for the XP machine, go to the USB tab, add the USB IR tower (by clicking on the unlabeled “+ add filter” icon on the right side of the page (note: your host OS will not have access to any ‘filtered’ items you add, so don’t add your keyboard or mouse..!). Windows XP should see the IR tower after you begin the XP machine again.
Thanks MindS1 for edit!

The NI-VISA method you described is not necessary with the Virtualbox VM. When using the virtual machine, the USB Tower bypasses the host OS entirely. Additionally, NI-VISA seems to only work with the original Robolab programming software and is not compatible with the official Lego software or any other 3rd-party solutions.

I searched for this problem as well and want to share my solution with you.
I am on Windows 10 64 bit and had no driver.
So I did these easy steps:

Go to Device Manager and select the USB TOwer
Go to Driver/ Update Driver
Select: Search on this Computer -> Select out of a list on this Computer
Pick the  LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Firmware Update Mode -> Install

Hope I could help someone with this.

Phillip can you explain better ? Where "LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Firmware Update Mode" comes from ? I don't have such folder/driver neither by installing mindstorm sdk, thanks for clarification

The LEGO Mindstorms NXT driver has the same vendor ID (vid) but not the same PID.
When you modify the .inf file and deactivate the driver signature, the driver is well installed, but tower is not able to communicate with leJOS
driver found here:
https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/login.php?redirect=download.php&id=982176

URL links to forum which requires registration, so no information could be reached. Basically this is pointless as URL does not provide any additional details. If there is relevant information please post it into answer directly.


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How does the remote control on the 9398 4X4 Crawler work?
Been looking for a good option for creating a remote control car but it seems Lego released an "official" way via the 9398 4X4 Crawler but it's expensive. How does it work? And that's really two questions . . the "how" as in the mechanical part and the "how" as in, does it feel like a regular remote control car? Supposedly there are a few new technic parts in this kit according to this site which I assume are to make it act like a regular remote control car.

You'll want to read the TechnicBricks review of that set, which is quite detailed.
In short, there are two new motor types; one of which is a servo motor used to control the direction. As the remote used is the usual on/off one, it means you'll be able to steer right or left, but with no granularity (you can also go straight ahead, of course). The other motor is a regular one, but again the lack of granularity on the remote means you can't modulate the speed of the car.
TechnicBricks also has an article dedicated to the two new motors themselves.
Having never really used remote controlled cars, I can't say how it compares to the real stuff. I suppose the lack of speed regulation can be a problem, but you should be able to build a better remote using the IR Speed Remote Control .
Edit: according to LEGO the new motors will not be available separately before march 2013, which I suppose means they will be available separately.

"build a better remote using the IR Speed Remote Control" Anyone considering this should be aware that the Speed Remote Control has no concepts of absolute values, it just detects rotation "clicks" of each control nub and sends "+1" or "-1" signals for the appropriate channels. These then get interpreted by the PF receiver as adjustments to the current output, from -8 to +8. The problem is, there is no mechanism to ensure that any and all signal sent gets received, and lost signals will result in the controller and receiver in desynchronised states (for example remote in 0, but model in -3).

It is built like a regular RC car, there is a two channel remote and receiver combo with outputs for a motor channel and for a servo channel. The steering is done with two separate servos (S Motor, as Lego calls it), which are connected in parallel to the receiver.
The remote is a tiny two channel affair with two side-by-side levers that move front to back, like a tank control. One of these is (crudely) converted into a wheel type direction control, which you turn forward or backward for direction control.
The RC system uses infrared, not radio, so you will have to point the remote towards the vehicle.
This whole remote setup might be the biggest letdown with regard to the feel of a proper RC car. That, and maybe the performance of the drive motor.
As far as I know, the radio can be switched to four different channels.
I don't own the set, I just read the build instructions available at Lego
There is a video of the vehicle in action at Frequency. OMG! They puts the precious in the sand and waters!

There's only one servo (SV) motor.

Nice video! It looks like it's REALLY SLOW.


text:
Do regular Lego trains fit onto Duplo tracks?
I have a small kid and a bunch of LEGO Duplo train track. (Like what's in this set.) Would "grown up" sets, like the Emerald Night or Maersk trains, work on that track? They look pretty close (the wheels are a little more than 4 studs apart)  but I'd love to hear a definite yes or no from someone who owns both.

Related useless factoid: the racks on the DUPLO bridges are compatible with standard Technic gears.

The answer is kind of.
I own the Emerald Night and a bunch of Thomas Duplo track.  The wheelbase of the Emerald Night is wide enough that the "rails" fit inside the wheels.  In fact, the passenger car fits perfectly on the track.  Unfortunately, neither the engine nor the tender fit as well, due to the fact that both have pieces on the bottom that are too low to allow them to sit properly with the rails inside the wheels.
This means that the engine will not move on its own.  In fact, I have my doubts it would move well even if the wheels reached the track, as it would require the flanges of the wheels to have enough traction to pull the train.

It depends on your goal, as Jason said. He illustrated pretty well why out of the package lego trains don't run on duplo track. However, if you just want something for your kids to dink around with, it is possible to build a wheeled train that will drive on duplo track without using a duplo train as it's base. The trick is to use monster truck tires or "offroad" style tires, and a 2x4 axle that is flat. If your track is curved and not all straight, you also need your tires to articulate on swivel hinges.
Here's something I rigged up for my son from only parts I already have:

It worked well on a fully circular track, though it would catch a little if I made a squiggle track. I think the smaller off-road tires would have worked better but I could only find one four stud wide axle in that size.


text:
Are the molds for LEGO bricks maintained in house or is maintanance partly outsourced?
I'm a maintenance engineer myself and busy with my MBA courses with the following strategic question: what maintenance can be outsourced or not. I was wondering if Lego does all maintenance of the molds in house, as the molds are the core of the product and the essence of what makes LEGO unique.

On a business level, my observation is that if something is critical to a business then it's difficult to create a sufficiently explicit and flexible outsourcing contract that also makes it cheaper than doing it in-house.  If LEGO needs mold X rebuilt urgently, would their contract allow for that?  In house they could just ask the employees to work overtime, and failing that get management to do it.

Moulds are maintained in-house.
As you say, the moulds are at the very core of the business of the LEGO company and are thus treated with all the seriousness you can imagine. Considering also that some moulds are in effect trade secrets by themselves (especially for parts which aren't publicly known yet), LEGO wouldn't want any of them to exit the company. (It's been said that retired moulds are embedded in concrete of new buildings, but that's probably an exaggerated version of "they are destroyed".)
If I remember correctly, National Geographic's reportage on LEGO (in a serie on ultimate factories) showed some very interesting insight on the moulding process, including the making and cleaning of moulds, which I'm certain will be interesting for you. You can find these on YouTube; in particular, watch the interview of one Finn Kirkegaard at the beginning of part 2. You'll also notice that these things are absurdly heavy, which would make the transport of them an issue too.

"The YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated due to multiple third-party notifications of copyright infringement."

What was the name of that documentary, so that we could find it elsewhere?

Found one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swC8ZTRxgbQ


text:
How can I make a Lego heroica scale gladiator arena?
Sorry all my questions are about heroica, but this needs to be easy so that I can build in a few mins. I will make gladiator micro figures as well, if someone can make a Lion too!

Which size are you aiming at?

@Joubarc - I'd assume Heroica/Microfig scale.

Let's assume that the Heroica figures are exactly half the scale of the normal LEGO minifigure.  That would be roughly 1:100.  At that scale, 1 meter would be roughly 0.75 studs long or the height of a standard LEGO brick.
Now let's convert the Coliseum dimensions:

Height: 50 meters  ~ 50 bricks high
Length: 189 meters ~ 142 studs
Width: 156 meters ~ 117 studs

To calculate the real dimensions of this LEGO construction, let's remember that a brick is 9.6mm high and the distance for 1 stud is 8mm (= 1 stud radius + the distance between two studs).
Using these values we get:

Height: 50 bricks = 480mm (~18.9 inches)
Length: 142 studs = 1136mm (~44.7 inches)@
Width: 117 studs = 936mm (~36.9 inches)@

@Those two distances are calculated by multiplying 6.4mm with the number of studs, and then adding 1.6mm for the last little bit of beam left after the last stud.

The distance for one stud is 8mm (2 times the radius plus the distance between them). For example, a 1x1 brick is 8mm square, while a 1x2 brick is 16mm the long way. That is why 5 plates equals 2 studs: 5 x 3.2mm = 2 x 8mm = 16mm.

@oddtodd You are totally right and I have made the fix.  I have no idea where that 6.4mm came from.  Thanks for caching this mistake. (...and I'm like, I need a coffey)

You're going to need a lot of pieces. And I don't know if you are talking about making it for your game boards or for your minifigures. I, the LEGO know-it-all, will help you out. I have made a ton of things, including a LEGO to-scale tennis court. That was fairly easy and I made it in about 3–4 hours.
So, if you want to make an arena, you first have to make a square- or circle-sized, box-like base with walls. Make four walls and put them all together as if you were making a house.
Then, make some stands. These will be supported by poles or stacked bricks ot have the height over the wall. This will take a lot of pieces, but very basic ones. What you want to do is use long skinny 2×12 or 2×10, or any longer plank, and 2×4 bricks, and you will want to build some seats or bleachers with those. I will upload a pic of those soon.
Then, you want to kind of make a roof over those bleachers. And of course you also want some entrances and maybe a gate or tunnel. Then you can use the bear from LEGO forest police, make some chariots, and have fun.


text:
How can I power an NXT motor without the NXT brick?
I know almost nothing about robotics, so I was wondering how can I power the nxt motor without using the nxt brick, and how can I send signals to it?

I think the simplest way is to use an NXT Converter Cable (Available from Bricklink).
This has an NXT connector on one end and the standard 9v connector on the other. You can connect the 9v connector to any 9v battery box, (e.g. Battery Box with Switch (9V)) and, depending on the polarity, power the NXT motor forward or backward.
Now, the issues:

The speed of the motor is determined by the strength of your
batteries. With new batteries the motor will run at full speed and
you have no ability to vary this speed. Off/forward/backward are your
only options.
There is no way to receive feedback from the motor, so no way to
control the number of rotations as you can when connected to an NXT.

You can vary the speed if you use an old 9V transformer, or the PF battery (with yet another adapter cable).


text:
What was the 12v AC socket for on the 7864 transformer?
The 7864 transformer had, in addition of the main regulated outlet for controlling trains and a fixed 12v DC for plugging in remote controls and lights, a third socket available which provided 12v AC.
This third socket was blocked with a plastic plug, as seen on about every photo of it I can find, and I've never seen any reference of it being used in an official, LEGO-endorsed way. Even the official instructions bundled with it don't mention the port, treating as if it doesn't even exist at all.
So I wonder, what's the story behind this? Did LEGO have something else in mind with it, which was later abandoned? Or did they just toss it in because they had it internally available?
Retro-compatibility could also have been an answer, but the two AC socket on the blue transformer are apparently 16v (for switches) and 3,8v (for lights), so I'm thinking that's not it either.

Is it possible it was for use with other sets, such as the LEGO #4561 Train Set Controller.

I think it's unlikely due to the fact the 7864 was released in 1980 and the 4561 wasn't released until 1999. Also 7864 is 12v and 4561 is the later 9v system.

Agreed, 4561 is 9v era so it wouldn't make much sense

I had one of those, and afaik it was just used for the lights.  I had like 2 light poles in my set and they where used for that.   lights is about the only thing that could take AC current instead of DC in lego.  Those weren't LED's at the time.  I just can't find any pics online from the ones I have(had...).
Edit: Found it, it was powering this light brick: http://guide.lugnet.com/set/1140

The socket could power lights, indeed, but as far as I can remember the official way to power lights was through the extension port of the transformer (as seen in the instruction manual for set 7867). My question is not really what one can do with the socket, but why did LEGO put it in there in the first place since there seemed to be no official use for it (unless someone can point to a link showing otherwise), and considering it was capped as to say "don't use this, folks".

It was capped because it's AC and putting your trains on it would backfire.  I found the set I have, there where 4, not 2 : http://guide.lugnet.com/set/7867

But I see your point, indeed the manual doesn't tell you to use it in the front but on the side, I do remember my dad (the engineer) telling me it was ok to use on the lights, knowing the plug wouldn't survive my curious hands :)

Unless your dad worked for LEGO, he doesn't count as official :-)

Cheers!  Didn't know this gem existed in the SE family till today.  Wish I had more time to play with my mindstorms sets.

I think it's for test purposes if the fixed and/or regulated 12VDC outputs don't work anymore.
This output is fixed 13VAC so it might be directly connected to the secondary coil of the transformer before it is rectified by a diode bridge.
With this output it is very easy to test if the transformer is broken or the electronics without opening the unit.

That sounds like a possibility, any further evidence?
Also, from having opened mine when i was a kid (bad idea), I seem to remember there wasn't much electronic in it - the regulation was done mechanically, by connecting to different sections of the transformer coil.

The AC output might be useful for blue era switch points. I guess this is how the transformer is built:


text:
How Can I paint my LEGO Bricks?

Possible Duplicate:
How do I change the color of a brick?

Is there a way that I can paint a white LEGO brick?  I would prefer paints that will not come off easily.

Rather similar to our first ever question: How do I change the color of a brick

Years ago for one of my projects. I used some acrylic paint to match something with the rest of the building. It can be done. But removing the paint is going to be a pain in the tail feathers. The parts never did look right after that. So I advise against it.


text:
How to straighten 32L axles?
I have a number of the 32L technic axles, but most of them have some bend to them.  Is there a straight-forward way to straighten these?  Trying to bend them by hand has not seemed to change anything, and I'm afraid I'm going to snap them if I try harder.

As a side note, I'm not sure these axles were ever intended as real Technic parts and I'm fairly confident they won't handle a lot of torque (considering even shorter axles can easily twist when using a PF XL motor).

There's still value in getting them straight, even if it's just for the visual aspect.  I might also try using them in a high-speed-low-torque application, or maybe put a bunch of worm gears on them to create a leadscrew or something.

I have had some success straightening bent train level crossing gate barriers by first immersing the pieces in a bowl of hot water*, for around 5 minutes to soften the plastic and then immediately trapping them between two hardback books and applying weights until they have cooled.
So by using Joubarc's method to hold the axles straight combined with a pre-soak you may get better results.
*LEGO is plastic and plastic can melt, you only want to soften the plastic not melt it further out of shape. See this question for more.

I brought a bowl of water to a boil in the microwave, waited for it to stop boiling, then poured into a tumbler, then soaked the bent half of the axle in the water for 2 minutes, then "quickly" put the 32 cross-hole bricks on it and set it up as Jourbarc described, and let it sit for a couple of nights.  The axle, while still noticeably bent, appears to be less bent than it was.  After I've applied this technique to the rest of the bent axles, I may attempt a second application.

Apparently you can soften plastic dice by putting them a few seconds in a microwave (check the "Real Life" section) - maybe it would help with LEGO, but I'm not sure I would want to try it myself (especially if the warm water approach works fine enough).

I'd suggest storing them straightened up for a while, if possible in 32 adjoining 1x2 bricks with cross hole, and add a few layers of bricks to hold them in place. At least it's a pure LEGO solution, but I'm not sure how efficient.

Do you mean this part? I could imagine that would work. If you don't have enough you could just place one at each end and at regular intervals along the way.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. I didn't have a computer with me at Skaerbaek I didn't bother adding an image or link - that's fixed now.

I tried this, with 32 of those bricks, and left one of most egregiously bent axles in it for about 2 weeks.  I couldn't tell that it made any difference.  I'll try the hot water approach next.

I know that this is an old question, but I recently purchased a set with these in it, and they were bent like you describe when I took them out of the box.
Lego were kind enough to send me replacements for free.

I got one severely curved 32L axle which I straightened with hot water in a plastic tub.
Leaving the axle in water about 70-80°C for a few minutes managed to do most of the straightening job.
Try not going much above 80°C as otherwise you reach the temperature at which ABS will start to become rubbery (used in injection moulding). At about 95-
105°C your part’s shape will be ruined because of ‘melting’.
To further straighten the axle, I repeatedly put the axle in hot water for 2-3minutes, then slightly “over-bent” the axle (to overcompensate the remaining curvature), and then keeping the axle held this way under running cold water for half a minute. This way the axle becomes rigid again, in the desired shape.
On subsequent iterations I applied the same method very locally to cancel out remaining local curvature.
Eventually the axle can be straightened enough for it to do its intended job again. It took me no more than 20 minutes.


text:
LEGO brick competitors?
I'm trying to find all the competitors to LEGO. I know there is MegaBloks. What are some more?
The base idea is that they should be bricks and they need to connect to each other like LEGO. However, it does not need to be compatible with LEGO.
Also open source designs are always welcome!

Playmobil is the one I can never remember.

I don't think Playmobil really qualifies as "should be bricks and they need to connect to each other" - there are a few sets where you can build houses from a few different wall and floor pieces, but that was about it.

Mega Bloks: the well-known Canadian brand
Oxford toys - review
Hasbro KRE-O
K'Nex - yes, they do bricks too (not sure about compatibility though)
Cobi
Best-Lock
Character Building from The Character Group, a range of licensed products including Dr Who, Deadly 60, HM Armed Forces and Ben 10 to name a few.

Disclaimer: some of these retrieved from the lugnet off-topic/clone-brands group; they also mention "Art Asylum’s C3 Brand" but the site doesn't seem to work.

Perhaps I phrased my question a little off. I want to know if there's any LEGO like bricks that's not compatible with LEGO.

Both questions have merit, so you may want to edit your original question to ask for both.

The connectivity of K'NEX bricks are amazing, they are designed for builds that undergo torque and pressure.

In terms of semi/incompatible systems, there's a number of them that are supported through the Free Universal Construction Kit files for MakerBots and other 3D printers:

The Free Universal Construction Kit offers adapters between Lego, Duplo, Fischertechnik, Gears! Gears! Gears!, K’Nex, Krinkles (Bristle Blocks), Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, Zome, and Zoob.

Besides the resources mentioned by others, you might also be interested in this excellent compilation of all LEGO knockoff products and competitors titled Communist LEGO. It is in a form of a PDF and is a highly enjoyable read: http://www.1000steine.com/brickset/miscellaneous/clonebrands.pdf

Wikipedia has a pretty complete listing as well.

Ausini
BanBao
Best-Lock
Brictek
Built to Rule
Cobi
Character Options
CoCo
Cogo
Enlighten Brick
K'nex (Note: some sets feature Lego-compatible studs)
Kre-O
Laser Pegs
Lite Brix
Mega Bloks
Nintendo (Manufactured Nintendo Block, later rebranded N&B Block)
Oxford
Rokenbok
Sluban
SY
Star Diamond
Tyco Super Blocks
Super Blox

From the back of my head, I would also add

Ionix (Tenkai Knights)
Nanoblock

LEGO-like, but not compatible?
Nano Blocks.
http://www.mynanoblock.com/site/

Montini; made in the '60's in The Netherlands, but Lego put a stop to that. Compatible underside in alternative positions if Lego doesn't have hollow stud for ×2's (the ×1's okay), as has pins, studs taller so Lego plate leaves a gap.
Large Mega Blocks fits atop Duplo, although they also make fully compatible.
Tente of Spain, hollow studs, brick with same N° of studs rests atop Lego, but not holding on.
Unknown British, a fraction smaller as using inches, used it at primary school in the 1960's.
Pennybrix, ~1964 by tri-ang. L-shaped studs.


text:
Is there a documented process in 'Jamming' an NXT Ultrasonic sensor?
Just trying to gather a bit of information for a competition between a few other NXT builds, I was wondering if there was a way to make the ultrasonic sensor completely useless for the competition as I'm sure it would put a new spin to my opponents.

Isn't that... cheating?

Since everything is fair in love and war, you could do this:
Using an Arduino and this NXT compatible shield, you could program it to send a continuous burst at 11494,253Hz creating noise in the frequency range of the NXT Ultrasonic sensor.

This site shows how to use the Shield with the sensor.  All you have to do is modify the code to create a long burst instead of a controlled ping.

Depending on the contest, non-LEGO material might be explicitly excluded - unless you hide it in your pocket or something.

Assuming of course that it is an accepted countermeasure in that competition. :)


text:
Homemade methods for interfacing a Servo with LEGO bricks
I'm looking for non-destructive way to structurally attach a standard servo with LEGO bricks.  I'm interested in answers for either Large, Medium or Small size servos.
I'm using LEGO Mindstorm/Technic bricks to prototype all kind of robotic projects and I often use non-LEGO parts for the electronics (e.g. Arduino, Servos, LEDs, ...).  I'm always trying to find better ways to integrate those non-LEGO parts without damaging the LEGO bricks.
I'm aware that there are some commercial adaptors available on the market but I'm interested in creative homemade solutions (low-cost to no-cost).
For example: here is one way to attach a medium size servo to a LEGO Technic beam:

At first I thought you were speaking of the electr(on)ic part of things, but now I think you may rather be after the physical assembly to LEGO parts - right?

@Joubarc Yes I'm talking about the physically attaching servos and LEGO bricks together. I'll clarify and add a image to help.

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

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

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

To add to this answer, I would also suggest looking at The Free Universal Construction Set. While they don't provide anything for integrating legos and servos specifically, there's a lot of examples of how to integrate Legos with non Legos components (some of which might make integrating a servo easier.)

Depending on your rigidity requirements, I've found double-sided tape to work well.
It's cheap and found in many general goods store. The servo itself can be taped and supported on all four sides and/or the bottom to many types of lego brick surfaces.
You can also use double-side tape to mount a lego surface to a servo control horn. That provides nearly infinite mounting flexibility. However, the control horn attachment will not be very rigid or support a lot of weight without an additional structures to support whatever is actually moving.
When finished, you can just peel the tape off.  (...which is sometimes easier said than done.)


text:
Help Installing NXT-G On Mac 10.6.x
I'm failing to install NXT-G on Mac 10.6.x.  Whatever I try seems to end up with an error saying "A required file is broken" when I try to run the IDE.  Could someone talk me through the steps please?
Thanks.

The drivers are probably not installed correctly.  You have to run the legodriver.pkg (by double-clicking on it) which you can find in the 'Parts' folder.
You should use this detailed list of steps (and references). The legodriver.pkg is mentioned on point 5 of the fix for OS 10.6.


text:
Are there any African American LEGO minifigures besides the ones from the "Sports" basketball series?
I was wondering if there were any African American LEGO minifigures besides the ones from the sports basketball series... I got a brown head from a LEGO Stormtrooper set instead of a black one. I then painted it. Do any other sets have them?

See also: http://bricks.stackexchange.com/q/287/132

I know this is an old question, but it's still a problem that Lego, inc. has (it seems like Lego's official position is that lego minifigs are non-racial - but they pretty obviously read as european or white to most people) -- interestingly Lego Duplo does not agree at all: http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Education-People-4591514-Pieces/dp/B0085Y3JNS This is something I don't get. It bugs me as we've been transitioning our son to "little legos" and suddenly the worlds he has to build seem mono-cultural, un-diverse, and also a bit of a sausage party (he's gotten 6 or 7 sets, totalling about 20 minif

I found a few at https://minifigs.me

There are a few on Bricklink, if you search by part colour:
 3626bpb212
 3626bpb159
 3626bpb749
 3626bpb424
 3626bpb214
 3626bpb573
 3626cpb1088
 3626cpb1124
 3626cpb1067
 3626cpb0906
 And the standard smiley is also available.
If you search for the older Brown colour (instead of the current Reddish Brown) you find that there are basically only the very rare Lando head, as well as the old NBA heads.

nice search idea

Minifigs from licensed sets are made to look like their license counterparts, so there are some there, most notably Star Wars Mace Windu and Lando Calrissian which have both been made in 4 different versions.
There's also one in Prince of Persia: Seso, and maybe you can count the gunner zombie from Pirates of the Carribean.
As for non-licensed sets, I don't see any other than the NBA ones.

Technically the NBA ones were licensed ;)

Color me wrong on that one

2018 and still no better in the African American minifig or any kind of diversity. I need more diversity for my Brick Films. Although we did get Mae Jamison in the new Women of NASA set:

The main LEGO minifigure is yellow to offer a "non-denomination play experience", rather than trying to represent specific races and regions - Only licensed sets have "realistic" colours, and that sadly seems to reflect the make-up of the specific licenses - there have been few recognised women in NASA so there will be even less BAME women :( See also female:male ratios of gendered mnifigures. There are three new sets based on Black Panther which add a further 4 heads.

The Jurassic World theme also included a limited number of BAME heads as well.


text:
How to sell massive, vintage and unsorted lego collection with manuals?
So I was a big LEGO collector as a child in the early 1990s. The genres I have are town/city, pirates, and castle. To store them, I broke them all down to fit into 2 giant plastic tubs. I still have virtually all of the instruction booklets/foldouts that came with the LEGOS, and a few of the boxes as well. Some big sets, particularly the pirate ships and castles.
My question is how to go about selling them. Should I sort them? I've tried to pull the figures/accessories out, but otherwise it's overwhelming! I was pretty careful as a kid and didn't lose much, but it's hard to say how complete everything is just by looking (90-95% I guess).
I was thinking of listing the sets and their manuals in there and taking photos as best as possible (especially of the figs). Any suggestion where to sell them online?
Apologies for the long post.

Similar to How should I go about selling $3k worth of unsorted LEGO sets?

Depending on what you have, your best bet is probably to re-build each set, and sell them as complete.  Try BrickLink if you're not in a hurry to sell.  You can see how much sets are selling for, and price yours accordingly.  You can list them until they sell, and they only charge a small percentage when the items sell.  If you want fast cash, sell them on eBay.
These two sites will get you the most bang for your bricks.

Zapper buy unsorted Lego. As of today (July 2016) they pay £3.50 per kilo. Can be sold in 0.5kg increments but you need £10 minimum worth of trade before you can send it off but this can be made up of books, DVDs etc. all in the same package.

Do you have a link?


text:
Making or buying a really long Power Functions cable
I'm working on a train layout and have built 2 automatic switches for the switch track. Each switch track is powered by M-Motor. I'd like to connect the 2 motors to a single IR receiver and battery pack with 6 AAAs. Unfortunately the longest extension cable I can find is 20 inches. I need a much longer cable than that; more like 8 feet. Is there a limitation to the length? Is it possible to make or buy such a cable? I'd like to avoid adding more Power Functions equipment if possible.

As the PF plugs are specific, the simplest thing to do is to buy a short extension cable, cut it in half and solder another cable in the middle. Current in PF cable can be pretty high, so to avoid too much drop it's best to avoid thin cable, I recommend 0.5mm² of copper section.

That's what I ended up doing using 4 wires in a CAT 5 cable. Thanks for the advice!

I found two independent tutorials how to create electronic contacts compatible with the original Lego contacts, which are located at two knobs of a 2x2 brick:

http://robotics.benedettelli.com/attachment.htm
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lego-Electric-Connector/

Interesting, but these are about former 9V connectors, not PF ones

Oh, I was not sure so I asked how both connectors differ.

Two not-so-good (but where no LEGO parts are harmed) solutions for the sake of completeness:

You could daisy-chain a few extension cables; if you just need the one long cable in one instance it'll do the trick.
You could use older 9V cables (the longest being nearly 10 feet long) and converter cables. A bit awkward for a PF-based system, though.

I've been using both solutions when displaying GBC modules, as the placement of modules is always different and the length of the cables isn't fixed; but since the power source comes from a 9V transformer, it makes more sense to use also 9V extensions before converting to PF.
I'm not sure this would be the best solution for you, but it all depends on circumstances.


text:
What's the exact opacity and translucency of transparent bricks?
As answered in this question, transparent bricks are made of PC (polycarbonate) and as listed in this answer and on Brickipedia there are fourteen transparent colors:
40  Transparent (clear)
41  Transparent Red
42  Transparent Light Blue
43  Transparent Blue
44  Transparent Yellow
47  Transparent Fluorescent Reddish-Orange (Transparent Dark Orange)
48  Transparent Green
49  Transparent Fluorescent Green (Transparent Neon Green)
111 Transparent Brown (Smoke)
113 Transparent Medium Reddish-Violet
126 Transparent Bright Bluish-Violet
143 Transparent Fluorescent Blue
182 Transparent Bright Orange
311 Transparent Bright Green

I am interested in the exact optical properties Transparency and translucency of this colors. How much percentage of light is absorbed? Has anyone measured with a prism which wavelength gets filtered out for each color?
P.S.: Why do I want to know? I want to put different kinds of LEDs in transparent bricks and like to know how the light is influenced. There are LEDs in different colours (light temperature) and one can calculate the luminosity at specific voltage and current. I'd like to calculate the luminosity as modified by the polycarbonate which the LEDs are put into.

If the question is 'How would you measure this?', you would probably be able to get some help from Physics.SE. I would assume you would need a fairly sensitive light sensor to detect the differences in reflected light.

Do you want an homemade method for doing this at home?

@jakob Any more info you could give us?  If you answer the questions from Ambo100 and I we could move forward with this question.

I don't want to measure this but I'd like to have some numbers, charts, technical specifications etc. to know how light from specific LEDs would be changed.

There are more transparent colours than what's posted in this question. The optical characteristics vary a lot between parts. It depends on the age of the part, its condition, and what kind of part it is. Also the parts are not manufactured to precise optical characteristics, so any two batches of parts of the "same" colour might have different properties. I'm not sure you can get a crib sheet for this, you'd be better off just experimenting with the bricks you get.

I have a couple friends in the LEGO company, so I asked one of the guys behind piece creation about this. It turns out that TLC itself doesn't have this information.
The problem is,  lab-testing the exact opacity and light absorption depends on certain ideal conditions. These conditions, like for any test, require the material to be identical in every way to the other materials except for the tested variable.
But there is no piece that comes in every color! And even worse, each batch varies slightly from the others. TLC's QA department is good, but not that good.
So while this is certainly a worthy concept to test, you will likely find that your own results will be the most thorough ones you can get. I recommend that you personally do whatever you need to find your answer, and maybe tell us in a comment or on chat what you found!