Random part of the day: Cockpit 8X6X2, W/ Ø3.2 Shaft

At this point it's impossible to keep track of all the bubble windscreens produced.

I wonder how they figure whether one of these needs a bar vs hinges to pivot. Purely aesthetic, or is there a mechanical or play feature advantage to one over the other? This one, being a bar, can be set to any operable angle, but the similar click hinge versions are stuck at intervals.

These bubble canopies are awesome. It’s hard to believe it’s already so old. I still think of them as new!

From the Egghead mech. I need to pull that out of storage. Great set.

@MeisterDad said:
"I wonder how they figure whether one of these needs a bar vs hinges to pivot. Purely aesthetic, or is there a mechanical or play feature advantage to one over the other? This one, being a bar, can be set to any operable angle, but the similar click hinge versions are stuck at intervals."

Might just be me, but I feel like more cockpits are using bar+hinge these days (could just be which sets I’ve been buying). Maybe down to click hinges losing clutch with time and use but bars holding out pretty well?

Thought about getting one in T. Yellow...but really wanted the slightly smaller sized 'bubble' canopy in that color.

If you told me in the 80s and 90s that it was possible to get LEGO without angles, I wouldn't have believed it.

@MeisterDad:
Size probably plays some role, with very large canopies like the UCS X-Wing seeming less suited to the limited strength offered by clips. The XL-15 has a bar, though, and it’s pretty long. Now I’m curious.

Click-hinge canopies were introduced in 1999 (2x), 2001 (3x), 2002 (2x), 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, and 2011, with the last new design being the UCS X-Wing 2 canopy from 2013. Bar hinges were used on new canopy designs in 2010, 2011 (4x), 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 (2x), 2017 (2x), and 2022. So, between 2010-2013, they appear to have fully transitioned from click hinges to bar hinges on new canopy designs. Somewhere in there, they also revised the click hinge design twice. The first time was by increasing the friction between the teeth on the hinges, due to how weak the click hinge design was when it first appeared. The second was by removing a few key teeth, which made them easier to open and close without ripping their mating hinge parts loose. If the second revision happened around the same time, maybe the transition was the result of too many complaints of canopies that would simply break free of their models when you tried to open or close them. While they could revise old click hinge designs, it was simpler to just switch to bar hinges going forward.

@jkb: I'm assuming you mean other than circular bricks, which have been around for ages.

@TheOtherMike said:
" @jkb: I'm assuming you mean other than circular bricks, which have been around for ages."

Yes, exactly! and circular plates and tiles of course X)

@jkb:
I see lots of 90° corners where the stud-notches are located.

@PurpleDave said:
" @jkb:
I see lots of 90° corners where the stud-notches are located."

They don't! count! XP

@PurpleDave said:
" @jkb:
I dunno…. I have a book of short stories set in H.P. Lovecraft’s universe, and in one of them, three people take refuge in a shelter that was specifically designed to be free of angles, because some sort of nasty creature could get in “through the angles”. What the creator didn’t account for was that by imprisoning himself with another male and one female, they’d create a love triangle, and everybody died."

Now, the discussion is going too far in the wrong direction... =/ LEGO Cthulhu wouldn't be Kid-friendly, would it? Wait a second... c0

@jkb:
https://www.maskofdestiny.com/0004859

I think he turned out pretty cute, actually…

@PurpleDave said:
" @jkb:
https://www.maskofdestiny.com/0004859

I think he turned out pretty cute, actually…"

Not bad, one could put a nanofig or two next to him.

@jkb:
I just have to figure out where he ended up. You know how it is, always misplacing your Elder Gods, and they never seem to turn up when you want them. I have a spot in one of my SW Bionicle cases marked for him, but for some reason I decided to take him out at some point, and I have _no_idea_ where he ended up. If this happened before I bought my condo, he’s probably buried in a box somewhere.

He should be green, from what I understand, but I started with the octopus, so color options were incredibly limited. As Henry Ford said, I could summon him from the deep in any color, as long as that color was black. Dark-red wouldn’t happen until 2009, and even then some of the other parts have never been made in dark-red (torso, feet, and wings, but there’s a part that’s similar to what I used for the latter). The GitD blue octopus from 2008 would have looked awesome, but even more of the same problem there.

@PurpleDave I see. Yes, Elder Gods get so upset when they get misplaced or even lost. Better not to anger them.
If your Ctuhlhu shows up eventually and you decide to display him, maybe you could try some green lighting to get the look your looking for.

@PurpleDave: That story is another example of why threesomes solve everything.