A splash of colour
Posted by Huw,
In my Ferris wheel review, I suggested that the colours were a bit subdued, something too that others commented on when we first saw pictures of it.
The beauty of LEGO of course, is that if you don't like something in a model you can change it, so I set about introducing a bit of colour into the wheel in the form of red gondolas, so as to replicate the colour scheme in this picture (thanks to Adambrick123 for posting a link to it in the comments of the review).
Unfortunately red 6x6 dishes are like rocking-horse droppings, having been in just two sets, Orient Expedition 7418 and Star Wars 7665, released in 2003 and 2007 respectively, so the chances of having enough already are slim. Thankfully, I think I must have two copies of the OE set and one of the SW set so just about managed to scrape three together.
So, what do you think? Look better? I think it does, a lot better, in fact. The red adds balance to the overall palette and brightens it up considerably. (Sorry about the picture quality: the model is too large for my usual photographic 'studio' and setting up the larger one requires a lot of faffing about that I don't have time for today).
Given the fact the red dish hasn't appeared in any set for eight years, and thus is almost certainly out of production, I think it's fair to assume that Jamie's hands were tied to some extent as to which colours he could use, being limited to those currently available. Obviously he has been allowed some colour changes, such as the transparent parts used on the spokes, but no set designer has an unlimited budget for them, so presumably having a new dish colour produced was not a priority.
If you want to add red ones to yours, there are some listed for sale at BrickLink here and here, but nearly all are used and most sellers only have one or two, so getting hold of them will be difficult.
But, it will be worth it; this little girl looks much happier in a red gondola!
Update: When I wrote this article there were at least 40 lots of the dishes on BrickLink; now there are just two! Clearly a lot of you have plans for a similar modification!
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66 comments on this article
I won't be doing this. I think the Ferris Wheel looks just fine the way it is, although I think one more gondola color looks better than just three. Otherwise, it's fine. It's somewhat disappointing that it doesn't look like a companion to the Mixer, but I also thought the blue, yellow, and red colorscheme paired with so much white was boring and basic. These colors are a welcome change.
I guess I don't agree with changing these Creator sets for some reason, since I also think the Detective's Office is just fine built as intended. Anyway, I think another color is nice, but not necessary.
Doesn't Pick a Brick has these?
Looks kinda nice! :)
Agreed...looks much better. Looks like bricklink is soon to be out of them.
MUCH better! I was looking at colors of 6x6 dishes and already purchased red ones off BL a while back just for this. Not many other color choices unless you want white or gray since you also need the slopes pieces to match ;) thanks for the review and pics!
I like it.
It already looks so much better. What would really be neat would be if you could get 2 blue and 2 orange and get a full rainbow! Those parts might not exist, though.
In blue, no. Haven't checked orange.
Agreed that it looks far better with the red gondolas. The original model looks like a CMYK print with one of the colour channels missing.
If you try to add 44375a to a Wanted List on BrickLink it won't let you because "The Part you entered has been marked for deletion". The same for just '44375'; only 44375b can be added. However, this doesn't mean people aren't selling them and BL certainly won't be out of anything "soon".
Searching 'Items For Sale' in the search box at the top of their site brings back many lots for both versions of this piece, in numerous colours including red, in both New and Used condition. I just bought one new from a seller in Hong Kong for $1.25.
DanRSL: no blue or orange unfortunately. The slope piece (30602) comes in these colours - and many more besides - but not the 6x6 dishes. Between the two mold variations (studs hollow or solid) you can get lime, dark red and dark orange though.
Displayed by itself, yes the red looks nice but if you add a companion sets like the mixer and maybe other buildings it would look cluttered. Red is notoriously over used in lego sets and in MOCs thus having a limited pallet of two or three key colors and spreading the themes around in a large scene gives each set an interesting composition. I think Jamie was masterful with color scheme in the cafe corner collections. Note the limited pallet and complementary color schemes of each building with the green grocer (the dark red curtains) and the fire brigade (dark tan with brick red). In the Ferris wheel, complimentary colors purple and yellow are the stars of the show; blue and orange the contrast. The orange center is the focal point.
Lucky I saw this article, but then again I check this website at least every second hour. Not really into mods, but wanted to include a bit of red since I saw the first images leak. It really makes a difference. Didn't realise that they were so rare. Just ordered three, so hopefully they'll arrive. Thanks for the heads up on this.
For hopefully obvious reasons, Huw's modest comment about his "sub-par" photography immediately put me in mind of this scene from 'Back to the Future'...
Dr. Emmett Brown: Please excuse the crudity of this model. I didn't have time to build it to scale or paint it.
[reveals intricate tabletop model of the town square]
Marty McFly: [impressed] It's good.
:)
@G2covers Great movie reference! One of my favorite trilogies!
Haha dangit Huw! A few days ago I thought about this and was going to do it but never got around to bricklink to fill out the orders :) Looks much better. C'est la vie!
Hi, can you, please, tell me, where you have ordered the red dish 6x6? I need to get it as well :) Thank you!
I think my least favorite color used is the blue on the support legs, just not a blue person. The red added is nice.
@G2covers, I did chuckle when I read your comment :)
^^ The link to buy them is in the article. I wonder if there'll be a rush on them at BrickLink now :-)
Omg. I swear there were like 20+ 6x6 inverted dishes on bricklink just yesterday. Now all gone. Lucky I managed to buy 1.
I have mixed feelings about red gondolas. It doesn't match color scheme of the whole set.
Nope, man, it doesn't look better
If a searched right, those two parts exist in lime and white. But I think 3 colors are enough.
I'm thinking of two other slight mods: (1) putting 1 x 1 red round plates on the trans yellow, same with putting 1 x 1 yellow round plates on the trans orange. This will make it look like it's flashing, and (2) putting a snot sign board across the A-frame. This will be a lot trickier, depending what name I want to put on this ferris wheel.
^^^^^^
Luckily I saw your article in time... A set for me and a set for a future giveaway. My credit card HATES me.
Damn you, Huw. I've already ordered a bunch more green 16x16 plates to make a really solid base for the Ferris Wheel. I really don't need to start scouring the planet for red 6x6 dishes as well!
Well this article has certainly cleaned out Bricklink for a while! The quantities have dropped just a little bit since it was published.
@G2covers:
"and BL certainly won't be out of anything "soon"."
It looks like reality cought up with you.
Sadly, I'm too late to the party (one [1!] red dish is left [you will have to buy the complete shop though]) and know thinking of buying dark red instead...
People are over selling the red gondola idea. It doesn't look better, just a little different.
This is the first set of 2015 I've really had to have it. - It can't wait.
It's also made the fairground mixer a more appealing set, to try and create a theme park style format.
More interestingly I want to see how far this set can be adapted. That can only lead to one thing... How big can this thing go... I also think this set is interesting by appealing to me as I tend to stick to more brick builds rather than technic etc which is featured a lot here.
Either way fantastic review, and I look forward to laying my hands on this set this weekend! :D
Is there any way X-pod lids could work as a substitute? Or is that a very different size/stud arrangement?I look at the gondolas and think of exploded X-pods. If so, that might be an easier substitute to find.
@HoloDoc Maybe I need to elaborate slightly. I was alluding to BrickLink not being a retailer with finite stock but rather a disparate collection of individual sellers. Someone amongst them will almost always get a certain piece in a certain colour back in stock if you wait long enough. Short- and medium-term is obviously a different story, as we are currently experiencing with the red 6x6 dishes, but in the long-term 'BrickLink' (as a collective concept) will never really "run out" of anything.
I'd like to see someone (maybe you, Huw) make the gondolas multi-coloured. Just alternate the slope pieces around the side. No idea if it'd look better, but it'd be interesting to see how it'd look.
Much better!!
Now a couple of orange and a couple of blue and you're set!
@tne328: Good luck finding enough of THOSE in red for a reasonble price D:
https://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?P=47675&colorID=5
^ and they're 9x9 not 6x6.
WTF. The other colors' price is 0.20. The red's price is 15.00!!!
Red dishes are ALL gone from BL noW! unbelievable!
There's a new listing for two this morning.... strangely the price has shot up to $23 each now :-o
Makes wonder if I can afford to keep the three I just ordered ;-)
It's almost as if lego new.........
expect a set release soon with a red dish in it!
@Huw "...rocking horse droppings"! Hilarious! :D
Just curious how it would look with New Dark Read instead Bright Red . Probably too subdued color for carnival ride.
I want to order now the ferris wheel but there's no freebie for May.
Maybe in June there's a free polybag?
Im not a big fan of changing a set, but it does look a Little better with red (or just with 4 colours). I think the funny thing here would be to do make the changes when holiday arrives. Christmas it went red and green. Halloween it went black and orange etc. etc.
Seems like it would be cool to use webbed antenna dish also to break up the color. I think that the use of an orange versus the red would be cool because if you have both the mixer and this set you have all six colors.
that being said it does look good with four colors.
Yes, Huw, the red looks fabulous. So yesterday I checked BL - one dish for $0.35. Today a bunch for $12 - $75. And I thought the white ones I got to complete my Taj Mahal were a little spendy! So, I will just have to enjoy the original Ferris Wheel color design, when I get it in a few weeks.
It looks like the brickset effect worked in favor of the aftersellers this time...
Quite a new variation on the "Brickset effect!" It's a pity the solid red saucers are so rare; unless Lego puts some in a new set I don't know that their price will return to "normal" any time soon.
Yes... A pretty impressive manifestation of the brickset effect...
The red does look great, but personally, I love the colors they chose for the original, especially the purple, which is a color that doesn't seem to show up in too many sets. I think purple, green and yellow are a nice combo, because of how unexpected they are compared to the standard red-yellow-blue. Of course, I have yet to see the model in person, so maybe it does come across as more subdued, but the images I've seen online look perfectly fine to me.
Not sure if I'll be picking up the Ferris Wheel; $200 is a high price tag for me, but it has definitely caught my interest.
Hmm, it looks less muted. But it's also now too cluttered color-wise. Maybe change the color of those supports to a more neutral or already-used tint, and the red would work..?
I used the dark red and it looks much better now. I love the red but finding the dish is a nightmare $22 a piece now nope. I have some black and brown, too bad I can't find the right orange to match up.
I just picked up orange parts instead of red. It won't be as nice as the red but I'm not paying $20 for one brick. If the price does come down one day, I'll pick up parts for red and blue too. Two cars each of six different colors.
Wait a go Huw! getting people scammed :P
^ They were .50 or less when I first posted the article!
"wait a go" never heard that eggcorn before.
I ordered the dark red instead on the lego PAB, prices of bright red are ridiculous now
Hi Everyone,
Like most of you I searched the internet for 6x6 red dishes. Hardly anywhere to find, most of the time just 1 in stock and always too expensive.
But I found a website: www.d85.nl where they still sell the red 6x6 dishes. The website is in Dutch and doesn't look professional at all. I wasn't sure about the website because of it's looks. You hear a lot about fake websites, you order something, pay and never hear from them again. But I ordered 3 red 6x6 dishes on this website and I received them today. They are in excellent condition. They cost €0,49 a piece today (for some reason 2 days ago they were 40 cents a piece). Total costs €5,69 (3 dished including sending the package and a little tax called BTW). In US dollars total costs would be 6,51.
So the website is in Dutch. Just click on "Schotel / Rond" and scroll all the way down.
44375 rood --> translation = 44375 red
gebruikt --> used (mine were in excellent condition)
Prijs: € 0.49 --> price : € 0.49
Voorraad: in voorraad --> Stock: in stock
I don't know for sure if they send orders outside The Netherlands but you could ask them (info @d85.nl). They don't have those other red parts necessary for the gondolas but you can find those on other websites. I got those from Brickplaza.nl and toypro.com
Regards Jimmy
The Wheel does look a lot better. Nice job on this, Huw. :)
Perhaps in the future, we could see more MODs / MOCs created by Brickset Admins and Members? ;)
@JimmyO thanks for the tip. Unfortunately the seller does not ship outside of the netherlands.
Huw, knowing that you have the power to influence the market you should avoid doing that. Just avoid mentioning how rare a piece is on bricklink when making posts. Let the genuinely interested people search the piece and do not attract attention. Now when the market is depleted people needing that piece for other projects will have a hard time because of you.
Great article Huw, thank you. I think that all venom should be rather directed at BL resellers raising their prices, not at you (like above). But quietly, they are also brickset users... :) Anyway... how about imagine another set in this subtheme for next year instead (with the hint of today's DM promo - 30303) ?
MUCH better with the red. All I can think of is Mardi Gras in the original colors. I have 2 red dishes so I'll come up with another color scheme and do 6 colors x 2 gondolas each.
Well, im sorry, apparently it was a terrible attempt at humor
Finally built mine today...Think the colours are absolutely fine... I'm more excited that the powerfunction lights can be used to up-light it too :)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/Edam/uplit1_zps2j3gp8mw.jpg
Very nice.
Lucky for all of you, there's gonna be a blue variation of this disc in Antimatter's Portal Hideout this summer, and around 6 of them, so that's definitely a cheaper option.
^That appears to be a plate...not a radar dish in 70172.