Home› Brick Owl

Which color is the old brown?

MrLegoSellerMrLegoSeller
in Brick Owl Vote Up0Vote Down
On BrickOwl there are three different types of brown you can choose from when choosing a piece color: Brown, Dark Brown, and Reddish Brown.

Now, I'm pretty sure Reddish Brown is the color of brown Lego sets currently use for their pieces, but a long time ago (say, early 2000's, late 1990's) they used to use a different shade of brown. But which shade of brown was it? Could someone tell me which shade of brown they used in the early older 1990's - early 2000's sets?

Thanks!

Comments

  • 11 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • HoddieHoddie
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Reddish brown and dark brown are in current use.
  • MrLegoSellerMrLegoSeller
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    So "Brown" is probably the version of the old brown color?
  • MinifigManMinifigMan
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Yes it is. You can also look at inventories of older sets:
    http://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-bandit-ambush-set-6024/inventory
  • MrLegoSellerMrLegoSeller
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    Yes it is. You can also look at inventories of older sets:
    http://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-bandit-ambush-set-6024/inventory
    Awesome! Thanks!
  • robernatrobernat
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    @MrLegoSeller
    The Lego company switched in 2004 towards some newer colors: Brown (Old brown), Dark gray and Light gray got discontinued and replaced by Reddish Brown, Dark Stone Gray and Medium Stone gray. Along with that, others colors got newer colortones and since then, most colortones ain't 'stable' either. The reason for this is that TLG stopped using Bayer as 'exclusive' producer for the ABS and so now TLG is using several suppliers for the ABS. Since also 'plants' are spreaded around the world, this may affect the quality and colortones of certain colors, even within the same set. White used to be a soft warmish yellow white, now there is also cold grayish white and in many sets it's just 'mixed' :-( Red, Yellow, Blue, all have their variations nowadays, not always 'attractive', particulary not for MOC builders. Current Reddish Brown (as of 2007) has at least 5 shades, some Medium Stone Gray technics pins almost look like Light gray... Shame really that TLG doesn't make efforts to at least have a decent match on the ABS pellets, guessing QC is less important then benefit nowadays :-(
  • TeupTeup
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    White used to be a soft warmish yellow white, now there is also cold grayish white and in many sets it's just 'mixed' :-(
    I assume you mean the other way around? For my 80's space collection I've been going over my inventory to check the mix for those cold white ones because those new yellowish white ones look too different from my vintage white parts.
  • robernatrobernat
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    @Teup
    No, I do not mean the other way around...
    Parts from the early eighthies are a slightly different colortone compared to the more recent (as of 1996) white's, with a clear 'cold grayish' tone as of 2011/2012...
  • HoddieHoddie
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    The variations in yellow are so noticeable it's embarrassing from a QC perspective, but then again the primary use is as a toy so understandable.
  • TeupTeup
    edited July 2015 Vote Up0Vote Down
    @Teup
    No, I do not mean the other way around...
    Parts from the early eighthies are a slightly different colortone compared to the more recent (as of 1996) white's, with a clear 'cold grayish' tone as of 2011/2012...
    Hmm I see.. I just took some new 1x3 bricks from my inventory, probably produced since around 2013. I have 2 types, a translucent yellowish one, and a cold solid grayish one. Although there could be more types that I simply am missing.
    I grabbed some old Futuron parts, and they resemble the cold grayish one 100% to the best of my vision, at least.. :P I think those yellowish translucent ones are pretty ugly.. :(

    image
  • BrickItOnBrickItOn
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    I was actually thinking about this today. For completing old sets, you definitely don't want the whitest part.
    I always pick the whitest parts first when I am picking an order however. I guess that is natural (?). But I don't know if a customer is creating a moc with several orders (and probably wants white-white), or restoring a classic set. In rare occasions when a customers orders a lot of old parts I ask if they want the hard white, or the warm white.

    I know it sounds/is ridiculous (and customers wouldn't understand), but I actually thought that the color "whitish" could really be what you want when you are restoring an old set...

    Just trowing my thoughts on the internet :)
  • TeupTeup
    Vote Up0Vote Down
    I was actually thinking about this today. For completing old sets, you definitely don't want the whitest part.
    I always pick the whitest parts first when I am picking an order however. I guess that is natural (?). But I don't know if a customer is creating a moc with several orders (and probably wants white-white), or restoring a classic set. In rare occasions when a customers orders a lot of old parts I ask if they want the hard white, or the warm white.

    I know it sounds/is ridiculous (and customers wouldn't understand), but I actually thought that the color "whitish" could really be what you want when you are restoring an old set...

    Just trowing my thoughts on the internet :)
    It's an annoying dilemma. But well... whether MOC builder or vintage collector, I don't think anyone is happy with that yellowish translucent white that most sets have nowadays... :P It just looks cheap, like a clone brand.. my guess is that it's made with the transparent plastic with white pigment while the solid cold white ones are made from actual white pellets, like they always used to be.
Sign In or Register to comment.