Random part of the day: Tank Upper Part 8X6X2

I got one of these in yellow with chrome printed on it. From set 4654

Used one of these in my gunship MOC

this and the bottom are some of my favorite large pieces, when I was a kid I used a bunch of technic lift arm pieces to put giant bird legs on it, there were no windows for the minifigures and i think there were some lights on the top

@Galaxy12_Import:
I own and have built 7628, and that didn’t ring a bell. Two of them, in trans-black. If they were trans-clear, they might have stood out more in my mind. You get one unstickered in 7897, which, along with the color, probably explains why you can still buy them at semi-reasonable prices, considering they were only available 13-15 years ago.

My parents got me and my brother two 3180 a long time ago, and I own 7938, so I actually have a strangely large collection of these.

I hope 7897 is the random set today.

I seem to recall a similar part that had less studs on the top. While you could argue that version has less building potential I thought the smoothness made it look nicer.

@PurpleDave
I think the trans-dark and chrome must have different IDs because they don't show up in the roster linked by Huwbot. I agree that trans-clear would have more versatility.

I still had 3180 built until recently, but these parts went all yellow and the stickers were almost all peeled off. =(

Disappointed this has never actually been used in a tank build. Tanker yes, tank no

this part got a revival with the Space theme. Such a weird part, but I absolutely love it.

I have 7 red ones in 7938, the only time it appears in red. Looks great as the double height brick gives the impression of lots of internal space but mini-figs can only stand in the middle and not where they meet, which is probably why the slope brick 4x6x1 is used nowadays for train roofs as well as been less Duplo.

Ahhh 7897 is a great train, and this in trans black is a great part usage. When I bought it I also BrickLinked extra parts to make additional coaches.
AND bought three of 3180 to turn into rail tankers, so I have LOADS of these!

I bought a bunch via Bricklink in white to build 4999 long before it was re-released to the public. I expect most of them actually came from 3180

Still a nice part, especially when they added the Design number 49949 in 2019 to form an actual "tank", or cylinder cargo hold, this is just the lid.

I don't have the 2019 rockets but it seems great for that purpose, but I do have the submarine in 60265: Ocean Exploration Base.

^ My son has both 2019 rockets and I can tell you it's a very useful part; although not very realistic, it provides lots of easily accessible space to add cargo to the rockets.

We have the space station too, but despite being a similar design to the underwater base you mention, it does not use this part...

@Minifig_Jez:
Whatever you may thing of the set design, that was objectively part of the worst Train system they made. HOG-power was a better design than RC trains. It was easy to convert the model to 9v, and even PF was easy if you didn’t use the IR receiver (with a Li-Poly battery, you can use the built-in regulator and just drop it on the tracks with the motor already running). But RC shut off if your line of sight link between the receiver and controller was interrupted by anything, like a building, a brick-built tree, a double-decker bus, a minifig with a balloon in its hand, or an insect flying past your layout.

Brickset's database is incomplete; there's at least one more set, 4504, and at least one more color, Light Bluish Grey. I realize Brickset doesn't control the database, I'm just saying. (I initially thought 4504 had this, so when it didn't show up on the list of sets containing this part, I checked Bricklink.)

@PurpleDave said:
"Ah. The treads must be on the lower part, and the turret goes on this, right?"

It's funny: the use of the name "tank" for the landship fighting vehicle was originally a bit of subterfuge by the Allied Powers in WWI to keep the Germans in the dark about what exactly those large hunks of metal were supposed to be before their first engagement..."Infantry support vehicles? Naw, just a bunch of storage tanks..." Obviously the impact was great enough to change the meaning of the word forever.

@Harmonious_Building said:
"I still had 3180 built until recently, but these parts went all yellow and the stickers were almost all peeled off. =("

My 3180 has been sitting out exposed to intermediate amounts of sunlight and hasn't yellowed at all. Interesting.

@oldfan:
Yup, I’m aware. I also know the Allies used inflatable tanks for a bit of subterfuge later during WWII, after people knew what these things were capable of. Somehow we avoided referring to giant yard-balloons as “tanks”. Probably why we call the mobile artillery by that name is that nobody outside a select circle of high-clearance officers, and whoever developed the initial designs, knew them by any other name. The people who actually assembled them and any enlisted troops would have been told they were “tanks” to avoid any possibility of word getting out by accident. By the time anyone tried to correct this, the name had stuck. Everyone knows the A-10 as the “Warthog” for a similar reason. Officially it’s the Thunderbolt II, but someone commented that it was as ugly as a warthog, and the name caught on so well with the troops and public that you could throw as much money as you want at getting people to revert to the official name, and the only people who will care are the ad agencies that handle the PR, and whoever has to sign the checks.