In which we examine a few elements in the new shade 426 White, and explore the effect of some of these changes and more.

While I was reviewing at the 10360 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft recently, I noticed that the white tiles and plates appeared to be ‘more white’, and indeed less opaque than that which had been seen in recent years. New Elementary published an article on article acknowledging this change and a revised cool yellow recently.

I am curious about the specific rationale behind the change, so I thought I would take a look at some of the parts in 10360, compare them with other examples that I have, and see if there are obvious advantages to the new pigment. I’ll also set a test in process, to see if this new pigment is able to resist yellowing on sun exposure.

Historically, the LEGO colour chart has included colour 1 White. In the New Elementary article, prompted by a post by colour expert Rylie Howerter on Flickr, they discuss the arrival of 426 White v.3 in 76313 Marvel Logo well as the 21060 Trevi Fountain.

The 10360 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is the first time I have actively encountered this colour. I’ll compare similar elements in this set and 31117 Shuttle Adventure, a Creator 3in1 set from 2022 that I opened after I finished building the newer set—parts there are of known provenance.

The difference in colour is barely perceptible to me in this shot, but staring at these two models in real life, the new shuttle just feels… more densely white. This is hard to clearly capture in a photograph, but is certainly a thing.

Elements in 10360

TLDR: Elements in 426 White are relatively opaque compared to older elements.

Bricks, Plates and Tiles

Let’s hold these elements up to the light and take a closer look:

The older elements obviously more translucent, letting more of the backlight through the elements.

Curved Slopes

Lighter colours of the 2xnx2/3 curved slope elements have been a little problematic in recent years, with thinner parts of the element revealing shadowing of the colour underneath.

The 2×3 curved wedge elements do not appear to have moulded with the new pigment in this set.

Clips

So far, all of the elements that we have examined are standard decorative elements, rather than functional. 1×2 modified plates included in 10360 appear to be the. Traditional 1White, rather than the new pigment. Meanwhile, the plate with bar on the end appears to have been produced in the new colour.

Perhaps we already knew this? Comparing online and ‘manual’ inventories.

Lets quickly look at the published inventories for the set – from two sources. The inventory listed on Brickset is sourced from the LEGO Groups online replacement parts database. The inventory on brickset for this 10360 is only 67% complete, missing 800 elements on July 20, 2025. In fact, of the elements we tested, the only ones to appear in the online inventory are the ones that were less opaque.

In contrast, here is the parts list from inside the instruction manual for 10360: over 150 different moulds are used for white elements in the set – compared with 17 in the online database. We can probably safely presume that all of these new elements have been produced with the new white pigment.

Other Physical Properties

We have examined transmission and reflection of visible light with these elements. Let’s go a little further:

Does 343 White V3. Fluoresce with UltraViolet (Black) Light?

Some pigments used in colouring LEGO Elements vary with their fluorescence under UV Light. In the past, I have seen particular inconsistency with different shades of Bright Light Orange/Flame Yellowish Orange; Red and even dark red, amongst others.

Here is the shuttle from 10360 compared with that from 31117 under Ultraviolet light. There is no obvious different between these two versions of white – and certainly no evidence of fluorescence with the new white pigment.

Is 426 White Worth the Weight?

LEGO Bricks are renowned for being put together using tight quality control, and little inter-individual variation. This new pigment appears to make these elements denser – not perceptibly so, BUT do they weigh the same as older elements?

I experimented using a number of tiles, as well as curved slopes. These elements are all virtually mint, only used to build the primary model.

I used a set of calibrated scales to weight a collection of elements using both 1 White and 426 White V3., and averaged their weights. I did this for: 2×2 curved slopes; 1×4 tiles, 1×8 tiles 2×2 triangular tile, 2×4 tiles and 1×4 bricks.

I compared the masses of these elements in 1 white with 426 white. I compared the groups using Student’s paired t-test, and took a p-value of < 0.05 to represent a significant difference between these groups.

Here is what I found:

All of the elements appearing in 426 white were, on average, marginally heavier than 1 White, although this was not significant for the 2×2 triangle tiles and 2×4 tiles. While there were suggestions that these elements were heavier, we may have not had a large enough sample size to adequately show a difference. Perhaps if I had 100 of each element, we would get a better picture.

Most of these elements were roughly 1% heavier than their older coloured equivalent. Does this imply that the new pigment element is somehow denser? However, the 426 White 2×2 curved slope was, 4.6% heavier than the older, more translucent version. I weighed up some of the light bluish grey 2×2 curved slopes from 10360 too: they all came in at 0.57-0.58g: essentially the same range as the newer white elements.

This leaves me wondering if there have been more significant changes in this element than just the shade of white.

Is there an unrevealed new mould?

This disparity in relative weights has piqued my interest.

Let us take a closer look at the 2x2x2/3 curved slope with shadows maximised:

It is possible to see the slightest shadow from the brick underneath through the ‘upper’ surface of the older 2x2x2/3 curved slopes. There is the slightest suggestion that the new element is more ‘filled out’ than the older one- but this might just be an optical illusion. I wonder if there has been more work done down to the mould than might be suggested by the element ID numbers. There are, however different codes – I presume references to the mold, and the position on the sprue, allowing complete traceability for any defective elements.

All of my 426 white elements came from mold 57 – Those 1 White from the creator shuttle were mainly from mold 28. The medium stone grey elements on the leading edge of the tail came from mould 55.

Given the disparity in the relative weights in the 2x2x2/3 curved slopes: 4% heavier rather than roughly 1% for the others we tested, I wonder if there has been a subtle refashioning of the mould, which should improve the overall performance if this element, particularly with lighter colours which are prone to showing a faint shadow when a piece is attached underneath. The more opaque shade of white will certainly assist in this.

The Holy Grail: Reducing Yellowing with UV/Daylight Exposure.

A common problem with white LEGO elements is yellowing as they age. It seems to be enhanced by sunlight exposure, warmth and humidity. It is the first thing I have heard people ask when they hear about this shade is “Have they fixed the yellowing?” To be honest, today: I don’t know. So let us set up a little experiment…

It’s now that awkward time of the year here in Australia, where the sun is fading for a few months, and UV exposure is sure to drop off over the next few months. That said, I have placed 2×4 tiles in 1White and 426 white on a plate next to each other. I have covered half of each tile to demonstrate variation within the one pigment, as well as the chance to observe them side by side. This might take a while. Hopefully, we shall have the answers by the end of the year. Maybe sooner. I have set a reminder to take another look at them in two months (and three and four and more).

Watch this space: I look forward to seeing if this new change to the white pigment makes a difference to the colour fading/ yellowing over time.

In summary:

The pigment dyes used in LEGO elements change from time to time due to issues with colour consistency, ink contractors, effects on strength and performance over time. I wonder if environmental safety might also play a part as the company goes towards eliminating petrochemicals in their base products.

In 2025, we have seen the introduction of a new white pigment used in LEGO Bricks. At this time, I can only identify it in standard bricks, tiles, slopes, curved slopes, plates and wedges – but not all of these elements, yet. For the time being, these elements are identified through inventories downloaded via LEGO.com. They are listed in the instruction manuals, and this difference is most likely due to the the new colour in use.

These elements are more opaque than recent elements (2022-2024) coloured with 1 White. Elements such as the 2x2x2/3 curved slope manufactures using 426 White seem to have more uniform colour performance than those produced with number 1 White.

Neither #1 or #426 fluoresce under UV light.

The new pigment appears marginally heavier, although some elements are disproportionally heavier than the others tested. To me, this suggests a subtle change to the mould, without changing the Design ID.

Whether the new white pigment exhibits less yellowing than the older version remains to be seen, and we have set an experiment in motion. Check back in a few months, and we will see how things are going.

Have you been troubled by white elements changing colour with time? Can you think of any creative uses for using the old and new pigment together?

Sets 31117 and 10360 were provided by the LEGO Group for review and research purposes. All opinions are my own. Where information has been explicitly revealed by others, I have endeavoured to list my sources. who knows, I might get an email next week filling us in on the difference. Or I might not.

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!

Post Script: in response to Huw Millington’s Question

White was much denser back in the 2000s, before coloured pigment was added to neutral ABS pellets, as you probably remember. How do the new ones compare with those older parts? –Huw Millington – editor, Brickset.com

I thought this was worth diving back down the rabbit hole. Sometime during the 2000’s, The LEGO Group changed from using coloured ABS Granules to adding pigments to uncoloured ABS Granules.

I ransacked my collection for elements of known provenance: known 70s/80s bulk lots; mid 2010’s already in my personal collection and elements from 10360.

Lets take a closer look at a 1×6 brick and some 2xn plates.

First the bricks: transparency is best examined end on. The second image shows that the 2009-2024 version of 1 white is less opaque than its predecessor. The third image makes is clear that 426 White is less opaque than we saw back in the 70s and 80s. Not that there is a subtle difference between the older 2 bricks and the new, based on the depth of the side supports within the brick (shorter in the newer bricks (2010ish onwards0

Now Plates: these were limited by what I could easily access: i hacve a 2×8 from the late 70s-early80s; a 2×6 from the 2010-2024 vintage and 2×4 from 10360.

Again, the 2010s 1white is the most translucent, compared with white abs pellets and 426whitened pellets. The third image demonstrates that the newest plate (from 10360) is slightly more translucent than the white plate from the vintage era.

Unfortunately, I don’t have enough vintage elements close at hand to weigh in a reliable fashion… on the other hand – I can probably stop with this experiment now…

Thanks for the question, Huw.