Vintage set of the week: Baby's Cot and Cabinet
Posted by Huwbot,
This week's vintage set is 271 Baby's Cot and Cabinet, released during 1973. It's one of 8 Homemaker sets produced that year. It contains 49 pieces.
It's owned by 273 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
59 likes
28 comments on this article
For what baby? Only a normal minifig would be suitable for a cot that size.
What was that? Normal minifigs were originally made for babies in the homemaker theme?
So all this time...
Mmmm, no grove tiles...
We've come a long way, baby.
Stickers across MULTIPLE BRICKS?!?!?!
I'm so glad LEGO stickers aren't anywhere near that obnoxious today.
@Maxbricks14 said:
"For what baby? Only a normal minifig would be suitable for a cot that size."
Eh, minifigs aside, it should be possible to make a Homemaker baby using the bendy arm design. Just skip the hair, only add one brick for the torso, and reduce the arms to just the wrist segment.
@AverageChimaEnjoyer said:
"Stickers across MULTIPLE BRICKS?!?!?!
I'm so glad LEGO stickers aren't anywhere near that obnoxious today."
But people were complaining about how the 76417 Gringotts sign doesn't line up because it was split across multiple stickers. One big one could've fixed it!
The original idea behind the "Homemaker" sets was to make buildable doll's house furniture - so they could be used in conjunction with non-Lego toys (similar to the Town Plan sets being HO scale so you could run a train set around them). That's why all the surfaces were tiled over so there was no (or few) visible studs.
The heavy use of STAMP makes it hard to find these sets now with all the stickers intact.
Indeed, in the 1970s, LEGO wasn't that big and children had toys from other manufacturers. Small dolls and 3-5" action figures were common and kids often made furniture, vehicles and buildings out of LEGO to play with other toys.
I had no idea the 1x1 tile was THAT old (okay without the groove, but still)
@Maxbricks14 said:
"But people were complaining about how the 76417 Gringotts sign doesn't line up because it was split across multiple stickers. One big one could've fixed it!"
....how about two that just aligned a bit closer?
Or even better: Perfectly aligning prints over multiple pieces! And yes, other than what Lego tries to make us believ, that is actually possible!
@WizardOfOss said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"But people were complaining about how the 76417 Gringotts sign doesn't line up because it was split across multiple stickers. One big one could've fixed it!"
....how about two that just aligned a bit closer?
Or even better: Perfectly aligning prints over multiple pieces! And yes, other than what Lego tries to make us believ, that is actually possible!"
Indeed. I am just building the TOS Shuttle, and that's a perfect example for how it can be done. Actually any of the Star Trek sets shows that. Or any Cobi set too.
@merman said:
"I had no idea the 1x1 tile was THAT old (okay without the groove, but still)"
Yes, they have been around a long time. I remember trying to prise off tiles without grooves from plates as a kid. It is not so bad if they are at an edge, but very hard to do in the middle of a larger part. It is almost 50 years since the grooved version came in, they obviously realised the issue way back then.
@WizardOfOss said:
"Or even better: Perfectly aligning prints over multiple pieces! And yes, other than what Lego tries to make us believ, that is actually possible!"
The way LEGO prints parts, I'm not sure it is possible. LEGO prints parts individually, so any minor offset in printing leads to an offset when prints are meant to be aligned across parts. Whereas some other companies print across parts that are assembled and so any random offset is applied systematically across those parts so they match, at least as long as they are kept together. It also has the advantage that the print goes all the way to the edges. This can be seen on cheap minifigures from clone brands where the torso and legs come assembled. Other companies printing parts can also print to the edges, so maybe they also have jigs where there is a bleed area to the sides allowing them to print to the edges. This is one area LEGO need to up their game compared to other brands. I find the gap or misalignment is especially annoying on minifigures where the print is meant to continue from torso to hips and legs as these tend to be viewed quite closely but not as bad on larger builds where you tend to look from further away.
Why oh why didn’t I take the blue pill?
So are those supposed to be warm and cold milk bottles or are they taps and that upside down tile is a sink?
The dingos took ma baybee.
@ToysFromTheAttic said:
"The dingos took ma baybee."
Liar
Those stickers are kind of cute though.
Baby you're a rich man,
Baby you're a rich man,
Baby you're a rich man too.
(It's part of a Beatles song, for those wondering)
@CCC said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Or even better: Perfectly aligning prints over multiple pieces! And yes, other than what Lego tries to make us believ, that is actually possible!"
The way LEGO prints parts, I'm not sure it is possible. LEGO prints parts individually, so any minor offset in printing leads to an offset when prints are meant to be aligned across parts. Whereas some other companies print across parts that are assembled and so any random offset is applied systematically across those parts so they match, at least as long as they are kept together. It also has the advantage that the print goes all the way to the edges. This can be seen on cheap minifigures from clone brands where the torso and legs come assembled. Other companies printing parts can also print to the edges, so maybe they also have jigs where there is a bleed area to the sides allowing them to print to the edges. This is one area LEGO need to up their game compared to other brands. I find the gap or misalignment is especially annoying on minifigures where the print is meant to continue from torso to hips and legs as these tend to be viewed quite closely but not as bad on larger builds where you tend to look from further away."
I know from Cobi that in some cases they assamble the pieces before printing, but not sure if that's always the case? I mean, in some cases we're talking pretty substantial subassamblies consisting of quite the number of pieces. And not sure about other brands either?
But even without going that far, I think Lego should be able to print closer to the edges, and more importantly, have more consistent tolerances. I mean, in a set like the Singapore Skyline you stack printed bricks, plates and tiles, all with repeating patterns for the windows of the buildings. And it's always a challenge to sort the pieces in a way to make them align the best. If you don't, well, the pattern is all over the place. How hard could it be to print pieces consistently?
But back to the Gringot ts set, if Lego isn't capable of doing better, I'd appreciate it if for cases like these (also thinking about Speed Champions and the likes) they would just offer both separate stickers and a STAMP. Do you want something that looks good? Use the STAMP. Do you want to be able to take your set apart, use the separate ones. Everybody happy.
@WizardOfOss said:
"How hard could it be to print pieces consistently?"
Perhaps they hired Jeremy Clarkson to design and built their printing machines.
Like you said, how hard could it be? :-)
@WizardOfOss said:
"But even without going that far, I think Lego should be able to print closer to the edges, and more importantly, have more consistent tolerances. .... How hard could it be to print pieces consistently?"
Yes, both consistency and closer to tge edge printing would be good. As to how hard, I guess it is too hard, given what they currently do!
@AustinPowers said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"How hard could it be to print pieces consistently?"
Perhaps they hired Jeremy Clarkson to design and built their printing machines.
Like you said, how hard could it be? :-) "
The British racer guy from Top Gear? (I only know him from Forza, so I don't get it.)
@CCC said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Or even better: Perfectly aligning prints over multiple pieces! And yes, other than what Lego tries to make us believ, that is actually possible!"
The way LEGO prints parts, I'm not sure it is possible. LEGO prints parts individually, so any minor offset in printing leads to an offset when prints are meant to be aligned across parts."
It's absolutely possible. They talked about it following the issues one of the large Creator cars had with wonky print alignment. The issue is that getting a precise match between two prints requires a painstaking setup process, which they only do if it's specified as a requirement for that part.
@Modeltrainman said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"How hard could it be to print pieces consistently?"
Perhaps they hired Jeremy Clarkson to design and built their printing machines.
Like you said, how hard could it be? :-) "
The British racer guy from Top Gear? (I only know him from Forza, so I don't get it.)
"
Unfamiliar with Jeremy Clarkson?
Well on that bombshell…
@Modeltrainman said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"How hard could it be to print pieces consistently?"
Perhaps they hired Jeremy Clarkson to design and built their printing machines.
Like you said, how hard could it be? :-) "
The British racer guy from Top Gear? (I only know him from Forza, so I don't get it.)
"
The joke being that him and his colleagues on Top Gear (and later the quasi-follow up show "The Grand Tour" on Amazon Prime) often did crazy challenges like building car-related stuff, always thinking about the idea first and then saying "how hard can it be". We'll, needless to say that they usually mess up the job massively. Hilarity ensues...
@Brickalili said:
" @Modeltrainman said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"How hard could it be to print pieces consistently?"
Perhaps they hired Jeremy Clarkson to design and built their printing machines.
Like you said, how hard could it be? :-) "
The British racer guy from Top Gear? (I only know him from Forza, so I don't get it.)
"
Unfamiliar with Jeremy Clarkson?
Well on that bombshell…"
Yep, I'm quite American...
@Modeltrainman said:
" @Brickalili said:
" @Modeltrainman said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"How hard could it be to print pieces consistently?"
Perhaps they hired Jeremy Clarkson to design and built their printing machines.
Like you said, how hard could it be? :-) "
The British racer guy from Top Gear? (I only know him from Forza, so I don't get it.)
"
Unfamiliar with Jeremy Clarkson?
Well on that bombshell…"
Yep, I'm quite American..."
Ah yes, the US. Surely Jeremy Clarkson's favorite country ;-)
(I bet they love it almost as much as they like Australia....)
Go watch the Top Gear US Special from 2007! Peak Top Gear!