One of the great things about LEGO bricks is the system: the way elements fit together and interact with each other, sometimes in unexpected ways. Studs and tubes are easy to understand. As are minifigure hands and the way they plug into the end of a tube or anti stud, or clip over a 3.18mm bar. Every so often you come across a new set of interactions, and wonder just how far these relationships between elements extend.
This happened to me this week: While my sorting continues, I was browsing through my holding bin of bricks with bows and arches. Look, over there, a distraction. And before I knew it, I found myself considering the 1x4x2 arch and what I can place snugly under this arch. Fortunately, during The Sort, most of the the relevant parts end up in the ‘bricks with a curved surface’ bin.
The arch fits nicely over the top of a window frame 1x2x2 2/3 (Design ID 30044).
The curve of this arch perfectly describes a semicircle, with a radius of one stud (that is, a length of a 1×1 square plate). This is the same circle described by a 2×2 round plate, brick, tile or droid body. Also the base profile of a 2×2 ‘dome brick’ officially known as final brick 2×2 Design ID: 30367. But more on that element later.
I have several other bricks that look like they should fit underneath this arch, with a studs up orientation. Those parts are a few of the bricks with arches and/or bows, including:1x1x1 1/3 with arch; (Design ID:6091); and 2×3 with arch (Design ID: 6215); brick 2×2 with bow and knobs (Design ID:30165) and 1x4x1 1/3 (Design ID: 10314). Let’s see how they all line up after the break…
