Random part of the day: Ladder 1X2X2
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random part is 31593, 'Ladder 1X2X2', which is a System part, category Decoration Elements.
Our members collectively own a total of 768,240 of them. If you'd like to buy some you should find them for sale at BrickLink.
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26 comments on this article
Where's the chutes that go with this? You can't play the game without both...
Remember the days when this piece was all that was necessary for a tractor-trailer truck's grille? Of course, tractor-trailers were a lot smaller in those days, so their grilles were smaller, too.
Ladder, Grille, Building texture, Spaceship vent. The possibilities are endless.
But only if it doesn't get stood on and half of it snapped off.
Classic 80's part!
I used the dark tan version recently in a MOC modular façade - instead of the masonry brick - to surprisingly good results!
@Murdoch17 said:
"Where's the chutes that go with this? You can't play the game without both..."
Chutes? Round here we use these things when playing fun kids games of random chance.
https://brickset.com/parts/design-30115
Also we call those things slides. (Chute is generally still accurate in referencing the object, we just reference the action intended.)
Every time I see this part I get so angry. I just work myself into a ladder
You can put 1x tiles in the gaps to make a louvre. A nice detail for a space or cyberpunk scene
With 6450 and 6480 being among my first sets, I really loved this part and was eager to get it into more colors!
Unfortunately it took me ages to get a new one: old grey in the amazing Warp Wing Fighter. I later got yellow ones in Rock Raiders HQ and am still missing white and red ones.
I got dark tan ones though from a TMNT set. Note though that the earliest parts were made from a softer plastic, I assume PP, as it shows the same wear as the walkie talkie parts. Modern parts seem to be ABS?
EDIT:
Has anybody yet mentioned that this debuted in the 1980 reboot of Trains alongside the 1x1 round Plate?
The ladder of the law has no top and no bottom...
@Miyakan said:
"Ladder, Grille, Building texture, Spaceship vent. The possibilities are endless.
But only if it doesn't get stood on and half of it snapped off."
I used them in dark-tan over 1x2 clear bricks to form barred windows on my MOC of the TMNT Shellraiser, but that's the only time I can recall building something with them outside of my childhood.
It's not very useful as a ladder, if that's what it was really made for. You'd need at least 3 or 4 to have a really good length ladder.
A great greeble part.
Especially in white and black. And yellow, too.
The most ingenious elements are the ones that lend themselves to any number of building possibilities without being too obvious about their intended purpose. This is one such piece, equally at home in a range of play themes (esp. Space and Town) and purposes. It is among my very favorite elements!
I especially like that you can group multiple of these together to make a long ladder or a larger truck grille.
Wonderful part. Useful in any setting. Classic from my childhood. I am sobbing.
An essential side of any floating vessel.
Love it when they use this as the little step up into a big truck
Such a great part! Right up there with the triple thruster jet!
What happened to poor old Rowan Atkinson? Oh wait, that's an adder.
@Murdoch17 said:
"Where's the chutes that go with this? You can't play the game without both..."
Or go for the original name and get yourself some snakes...
I've got a couple sets where this is legit used as a ladder but I think most of the time its for creating detail suggesting vents
@Atuin said:
"Note though that the earliest parts were made from a softer plastic, I assume PP, as it shows the same wear as the walkie talkie parts. Modern parts seem to be ABS?"
Now that you mention it, yes, I recall that several types of pieces that are made from ABS nowadays were made of that softer material back then. I have quite a few from sets I got during my childhood. They were also much more prone to bitemarks - to me classic signs that pieces came from your childhood instead of from more recent times ;-)
Favourite sets with multiple of these: 7814, 7816, 5580, 4554. But good to see that the part has been in production for such a long time.
@AddictedToStyrene said:
"You can put 1x tiles in the gaps to make a louvre. A nice detail for a space or cyberpunk scene"
NPU!
I like the way the spacing is wide enough to hold a Lego mini-fig foot so they can hang on while the train is moving. The previous version part 4175 is only from 1994, but I'm sure this appeared in Lego City before then? Anyway took 26 years before either part appeared in white for the ghostbusters ECTO 10274 and never in green.
Oh wow, I never knew how old this piece was. And here, I didn't get a set that included it until 7297 in 2005, where it forms the entrance steps into the cab, and I assumed that it was relatively new at the time...
@ambr said:
"I like the way the spacing is wide enough to hold a Lego mini-fig foot so they can hang on while the train is moving. The previous version part 4175 is only from 1994, but I'm sure this appeared in Lego City before then? Anyway took 26 years before either part appeared in white for the ghostbusters ECTO 10274 and never in green."
Part 4175 actually came out in 1980, and it was Lego Town then. It was in white in 6385 in 1985.
One of those parts you rarely need, yet you have half a drawer full of them. Really nice for making city-scale construction machines.