Experiments

What’s up with white? Part 2: Comparing the effects of twelve months of environmental exposure on pigment 426 White and 1 White.

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An image showing a label on a black surface with the title 'What's up with white?' and details on comparing the effects of twelve months of environmental exposure on two white pigments, alongside a cautionary note 'do not touch, science in progress'.
A close-up of a light switch covered with black tape, featuring a label that reads 'do not touch science in progress'. The switch is mounted on a yellow wall.

It is a property of ABS and other plastics that they will undergo photooxidative degradation – the materials will yellow with age, particularly in response to ultraviolet light.

In 2025, the LEGO Group introduced a new white pigment in selected sets. This colour, referred to as 426 White V3 is more opaque than the 1 White that has otherwise been in use since LEGO® Bricks started to be coloured by adding pigment to raw ABS stock in the early 2000s. Given the relative opacity to 1White, I wondered if there might be a difference in the yellowing exhibited by these elements after prolonged exposure to sunlight. So I masked off some tiles,

I will apologize for drifting back into high school science practice write-ups and the lack an a priori power analysis, and subsequent dodgy statistics, as we set out to answer the question “Is the new LEGO pigment 426 White V3 less susceptible to yellowing when exposed to sunlight?”

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What’s up with white?

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A close-up of LEGO pieces in different shades of white, with text overlay reading 'I Spent My Afternoon Comparing These Two Shades-Of White'.

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.

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Stressful Legalities? Wedging elements between studs

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In recent years, we have seen more frequent use of the tile wedged between two studs on a brick or plate. And almost inevitably, the question will crop up in some online forum ‘Is this LEGAL?’ I wrote a little about this back in 2017. This topic of conversation has come up again most recently as a result of a small detail on the LEGO ICONS Concorde model, and has, I suspect, resulted in a surge of activity on that previous post.

Now, there is no LEGO Police (outside of LEGO City, LEGO Town and most recently LEGO Friends) who will come and enforce the way you have built your model: You do you. If it goes together in an aesthetically pleasing way, we won’t judge you. But it might put some of your LEGO Elements at risk…

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New Cardboard Pick-A-Brick Boxes: semi-exhaustive testing.

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If you live within coo-ee of a LEGO Branded Store, you will probably be familiar with the standard pick-a-brick cup. Coming in 2 sizes, they provide LEGO builders with a fantastic opportunity to load up on a variety of elements in bulk, with out having to deal with online ordering and delivery times. However, as a stackable truncated cone, they can be difficult to fill to maximum efficiency. Especially if you are looking to stock up on basic bricks.

Sometime between now and the end of March 2024, the Plastic pick-a-brick (PAB) cups are being replaced by cardboard boxes. This is in line with the company’s goal to ditch single-use plastics in packaging by 2025. [the imprecise rollout date is dependent on when regions deplate their supply of plastic cups.)

The LEGO Group sent over a sample of the boxes to evaluate: and so I set out to answer the questions that many people have about these boxes.

And quite a few that they may not!

But before looking too closely at them, let’s remind ourself of the cups that will be replaced:

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Are LEGO® Plastic Bags Waterproof? Stress Testing Internal Plastic Bags II

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A couple of weeks ago, I subjected some of the forthcoming internal paper bags to some stress testing, to see if they were going to withstand travelling in a ‘deboxed’ fashion, as well as holding together while soaking in water. The bags held together, but waster certainly got into the bags, and I drew the conclusion that the bags were likely to be typically fit for purpose, but might not stand up to floodwaters in the way that plastic bags might.

Readers Sue Ann and Trevor got in touch, and suggested that I might be overselling the ability of the plastic bags to protect the LEGO® elements from flood waters (with their associated stink and filth). And so, I put them to the test.

What did I do? And how did they perform? Read on, after the break

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We Stress Test the New ‘In Box’ Paper Bags

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At the recent Recognised LEGO® Fan Media Days, we were treated to a presentation by the sustainability team with regard to progress being made on their various programs. The first part if the presentation was from Therese Noorlander, Senior Director of Sustainability Engagement. She spoke about some of the history of sustainability withing the LEGO Group – taking it back to the the Great Yo-Yo Craze of the 1930s: when the craze ended, leaving the company with boxes of unsold yo-yos, they were cut in half and used as wheels for toy wooden trucks, through to the ongoing research with regard to finding a sustainable material to use for plastic bricks. Most of this information has been published previously, and can be found on the LEGO Group’s sustainability website.
However, some of the most exciting news, not previously covered elsewhere, came from Anne Boye Møller, who for the past four years has been the Project Lead for the sustainable prepack. She works with a team based in Denmark and the Czech Republic and was proud to announce that the first generation packing lines are ready to go, and some of the first SKUs(sets) have been packed using these paper bags.

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