Images from my visit to the LEGO archives in 2004

 

  • Images from my visit to the LEGO archives in 2004

    Posted by Huw, 28 Nov 2010 06:10. Filed under Brickset.

    1552: Maersk Truck and Trailer Unit
    Town/Special, 1985
    More details...
    ©1985 LEGO Group

    Those of you that have been visiting Brickset for some years will know that I visited the LEGO Company's archives back in 2004 when I was in Billund visiting the designers of the X-Pod sets to discuss a project that later emerged as X-PodWorld.com (anyone remember that?)

    Anyway, I had limited time in the archives so had to be very targeted in what I photographed. I therefore tried to find as many promotional sets as I could, particularly those from the 1980s which we didn't have good photos for. I added them here at the time, but for some reason some of them have been overwritten by inferior images in the intervening years. So, having finished processing the images from our latest visit, I thought I'd dig them out again, clean and straighten them up and ask bluemoose to work his magic on post-processing them. They've come out quite well, although not as good as the latest batch because, of course, in 1994, digital photography was in its infancy. So, here are some of the highlights:

    You can read about my first visit in this article from the company's in-house magazine, LEGO Life. I could have looked a bit happer, holding one of the rarest sets ever, couldn't I :-)

    Unfortunately the archive has been moved from where I visited it in 2004 and the new archive no longer holds most of the rare promotional sets, so fans may never get a chance to photograph them again...


    12 comments, latest one posted 31 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by Markey in Belgium, 28 Nov 2010 06:34

That Maersk truck is really nice Huw! Thanks for posting new images : )
I'd love to have a look in their archive myself.

Posted by metalgearsolid_MGS in Singapore, 28 Nov 2010 07:23

I would love to visit their archive too. Must be the dream of many AFOLs. (^_^)
Thanks for all the updates!

A MISB MD Dairy Truck is listed on eBay @ US$2,500! :D

Posted by Legolijntje in Netherlands, 28 Nov 2010 08:55

I want also to the vault. Too see all that lego, and maybe, find another unknown set :D

PS:
For people who don't now what x-pod world was: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.x-podworld.com
(it's 1 link inclusive the little star, not 2)

edit: it's funny; here ( http://web.archive.org/web/20041024160909/http://www.x-podworld.com/ )(again 1 link) you can see a picture (top-left) taken by "Huw". Is it the same Huw? I think so.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 28 Nov 2010 09:25

^ Thanks for digging that out! Yes, that was my site and my image!

Posted by legobob in United States, 28 Nov 2010 09:39

thanks again Huw for putting so much effort into this site

Posted by jonbuddy in United States, 28 Nov 2010 11:02

Haha, "healthy competition" with Lugnet. :-)
Looks like you're winning!
EDIT: I want to register on X-PodWorld.com now! :P

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 28 Nov 2010 11:56

The site was ahead of its time. The original idea was to encourage people to go out with their X-Pods and phorograph them with a landmark behind them, then pinpoint it on a map. That was never done, because it was would be years before the likes of Google made it possible to create map mash-ups easily.

Unfortunately, the site became awash with creations photographed by kids in their home/yard which wasn't the original idea.

The site died a natural death when X-Pods were discountined.

Posted by jonbuddy in United States, 28 Nov 2010 13:34

Awwwww....... ;(

Posted by miies in Netherlands, 28 Nov 2010 14:25

I love that Maersk truck. Doesn't look 1980 at all - could just have easily been released in 1990 :)

Posted by brickmatt in United States, 28 Nov 2010 15:23

The unknown space ship for sale on Bricklink doesn't include box or instructions - the seller could have taken the pieces from other sets.

Posted by Toa Of Justice in United States, 28 Nov 2010 17:05

1651 links to the wrong set. Here's the correct link: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=1651-2

Posted by Matthew in United Kingdom, 29 Nov 2010 13:46

Huw, you said 'Unfortunately the archive has been moved from where I visited it in 2004 and the new archive no longer holds most of the rare promotional sets, so fans may never get a chance to photograph them again...'
So where are they then?

Commenting has ended on this article.