LEGO answers some questions about Quality

Recently the Ambassador program was given a new line of communication for dealing directly with the Quality department. A number of questions were submitted and here are the answers.

QUALITY ISSUES & COMPLAINTS FROM LEGO FANS
1. Instruction booklets come loose in the boxes. They sometimes get damaged during transit. If they were tightly packed in polybags, it could prevent such damages. Stickers also get wrinkled, they could be packed with instructions.

A. Yes we know and we have started to package building instructions, labels and textiles in all sets with more than 1000 pieces in a poly bag. The current solution is a quick and dirty one. Version 2 will be ready with-in the first 3 month of 2011.

2. Fans are having hard time choosing colors from instruction booklets. Black and dark grey are especially very hard to distinguish.

A: It is not only fans that have the issue. All of us have. The last 4 years we have tried to optimize this 2 or 3 times by adjusting the printing technique with no luck. For 2012 second half products we will introduce an out-line for black elements – cross fingers that it will help.

3. Injection marks on transparent parts are ugly, fans don’t find them suitable for building. Especially window/glass pieces require more attention about molding.

A: There have been made some changes but give us an overview of the elements and we can verify/show if they have been corrected

4. Slopes come with different surface textures. Some are completely smooth while others have grain on them. It would be better if they were standardized.

A: 2 – 3 years ago we ensured that all roof tails’ have the same surface. By an unknown reason back in 2003 the surface of roof tails was changed from rough to smooth. All set manufactured the last 2 years should have uniform roof tails

5. Studs on certain parts are sometimes solid and sometimes hollow. This should be standardized too.

A: Sorry no. A hollow stud are there either because we need that building function (a tool for the minifigure fits on to the hole) or because we for technical reasons cannot make the stud hollow from the back. Look at the studs from the back on a plate. The studs is hollow otherwise we cannot control the dimensions.

6. Small tires are covered with some greasy material. Dust sticks on them and it’s hard to clean it.

A: We need the grease in order to remove the part from the mould. Yes it tend to be sticky and we are constantly trying to improve the materials used for tiers as they give other technically challenges.

7. There is a major tone difference in same colors. Dark red, red and yellow are the most troublesome colors about this issue. Also, some pieces are translucent, especially red ones. They look too bright next to other parts in same color.

A: We are constantly improving our colors and many improvements have been made the last 3 – 4 years. Please judge the current quality based on set packaged the last 6 months and feedback on that as we want the right quality.

9. Figure heads or torsos are problematic. Some heads don’t fit on some torsos, they stay too loose.

a. We need some examples, and please do so in order for us to correct the moulds.

If you have any questions or quality issues that you would like me to forward on to LEGO, feel free to do so in the comments. If you have quality concerns, try to be very specific. Links to a picture help a lot. If you have an issue with a particular part, make sure you include the mold and cavity numbers from the element. They generally look something like “3-1″. This signifies the mold and cavity from which your part came. It is a lot harder for the Quality department to look for problem if they don’t know which mold or cavity is causing the issue.

Sand red rust bucket

Every so often Peter Norman (swoofty) floods flickr with great train models. While this is great for LEGO train fans it makes life a bit difficult for me in choosing what to blog. This time I decided that the most novel of them all was a heavily weathered old Alco RS-1. Weathering in LEGO is hard enough at a small level but attempting it at this scale is even harder. I think Peter has made an admirable job of it here.

Anubis Awakens

Apparently Andrew Lee (onosendai2600) has access to some of the new Pharaohs Quest sets. In his own words he is “too cheap to buy the pyramid set and don’t want a magnet fig. So this happens.” The whole Anubis figure is excellent but I’m especially enamored of the half-altered feet hinting at a transition from stone to flesh. The D&D fan in me thinks this is particularly nifty.

Modernist house

Niek Geurts‘s modernist house is an architectural feat. The builder created this original design inspired by the Dutch architect Willem Dudok. There are quite a few subtle details you may not notice at first glance such as the diagonal tiling of the sidewalk and the construction of the brown walls using plates.

There’s even a complete interior to the house. You can see all the pictures on Flickr.

Latest lego Auctions

Hey, check out these auctions:

LEGO 8803 SERIES 3 MINIFIGURE YOUR CHOICE, NEW

US $5.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-22-2012 10:29:20 PST Buy It Now for only: US $5.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

LEGO 8803 SERIES 3 MINIFIGURE YOUR CHOICE, NEW

US $5.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-22-2012 10:29:20 PST Buy It Now for only: US $5.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Drove my Chevy to the levy

LUGNUTS is currently running an interesting monthly challenge and Peter Blackert (lego911) has more than risen to it. His ’55 Chevreolet Cameo appears to have all the little details just in the right spot. I’m sure Don McLean would appreciate it.

30 Cool LEGO Mindstorms Projects Kit: Dark Side Robots, Ultimate Builder, and RIS

Product Description
Most toy industry analysts predict that LEGO’s MINDSTORMS Robotic kits will
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Now, users of all ages can create another 30 incredible MINDSTORM projects with
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30 Cool LEGO Mindstorms Projects Kit: Dark Side Robots, Ultimate Builder, and RIS

Castle of the underworld

Ivan Angeli from Serbia presents a bloodcurdling red castle in an underground city from the Dungeons and Dragons universe. The extreme proportions of the architecture is fitting of the fantasy genre. Check out the gallery on Brickshelf for more photos including construction and detail shots.

Toys R Us

Oh, and be sure to check out his new site, Brick City Depot!

Courtesy Toys R Us by Brian Lyles.

A delicious slice of orange

The LEGO Speeder Bikes contest over on Flickr is picking up steam, with more than 70 entries so far. There are dozens of notable entries, but one that jumped off the page for me is this orange and dark gray bad boy by Peter Taylor (darkblne).

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