Automatic Binding Bricks / LEGO Mursten
2021-04-22, 4:29 (This post was last modified: 2021-04-26, 16:23 by N. W. Perry.)
2021-04-22, 4:29 (This post was last modified: 2021-04-26, 16:23 by N. W. Perry.)
Automatic Binding Bricks
Sets 700/1, 700/2, 700/3 (1949) — the very first!
These models are arguably the first "official models" ever. While instructions weren't yet included in the original LEGO sets, these three houses appear in the catalog of 1950 as examples of what could be built with each of the three basic sets.
However…as far as I can tell, they actually couldn't be built from those sets, at least not according to the listed contents. Maybe some of them could, but at least with 700/1, the model uses more 2x4 bricks (115) than are included in the set (84), and there aren't enough 2x2's left over to substitute for them. And that's not even accounting for the available color selection and slot configurations…
This, of course, assumes that these are meant to be full, 4-sided models—and they really must be, or the roofs wouldn't stand. (I'm not even sure they would in the first place!) So I've guessed at what the two hidden sides might be, as well as the color scheme. These were two-tone colorized B&W photos anyway, and the color selection was not fixed in those days—you were limited to whatever colors you got in the box! So that's also conjectural.
But in any event, it's an interesting glimpse into what the building process would have been with these very oldest bricks, available in only two sizes and two slot configurations—and with no real clutch power at all, despite the name!
(See the original catalog images here.)
Sets 700/1, 700/2, 700/3 (1949) — the very first!
These models are arguably the first "official models" ever. While instructions weren't yet included in the original LEGO sets, these three houses appear in the catalog of 1950 as examples of what could be built with each of the three basic sets.
However…as far as I can tell, they actually couldn't be built from those sets, at least not according to the listed contents. Maybe some of them could, but at least with 700/1, the model uses more 2x4 bricks (115) than are included in the set (84), and there aren't enough 2x2's left over to substitute for them. And that's not even accounting for the available color selection and slot configurations…
This, of course, assumes that these are meant to be full, 4-sided models—and they really must be, or the roofs wouldn't stand. (I'm not even sure they would in the first place!) So I've guessed at what the two hidden sides might be, as well as the color scheme. These were two-tone colorized B&W photos anyway, and the color selection was not fixed in those days—you were limited to whatever colors you got in the box! So that's also conjectural.
But in any event, it's an interesting glimpse into what the building process would have been with these very oldest bricks, available in only two sizes and two slot configurations—and with no real clutch power at all, despite the name!
(See the original catalog images here.)