I already posted this technique in the History Theme section along with the MOC I used it in, but I thought this technique could be highly useful in many other themes so I'm posting it here. As far as I know, this is new and nobody has done this before. Correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, I came up with this on my own while I was toying around with my connections.

The ratcheted hinge piece and the clip fit together naturally and they form a smooth hinge (really nice for me as I do not have the old hinges).

That connection has been used in a few official sets before.  (I can't remember which ones off the top of my head.)  I was really surprised when I first saw it.  Thanks for posting, though.

Is it any different to using the handle modified plate that would normally be used to make this type of connection?

Nice! The technique appears in 10254 winter village train, holding the steam engine's headlight in place.  Can't think of any other official uses of the top of my head.

That is indeed the connection TLG often use in models where a few modules need to be connected, but also easily detached. I think themes like Star Wars, Ninjago and Nexo Knights have a lot of that, but other one too. Another use is something like this (see the connector at the back of the hinged wall):

But you know what they say, great minds think alike  And that's also a part of LEGO magic - coming up with new ways to combine pieces.

  On 5/11/2018 at 3:30 PM, MAB said:

Is it any different to using the handle modified plate that would normally be used to make this type of connection?

From what I understand, this connection is not as strong, so it is useful in places where normal play assumes disconnecting the pieces often, like the wall on the bus above or the rear module in https://brickset.com/sets/9499-1/Gungan-Sub.

Edited May 11, 20186 yr by imvanya

My brother and I used this technique back in 2009 or so on the roof of a muscle car for the LEGO Agents bad guys. It was a good way to make the roof hinge open while leaving the click-hinged side supports in place. The looseness of the connection also helped compensate for the imperfect geometry of the car roof.

Inferno Car

Roof technique demonstration

Given the sheer variety of click hinge pieces and clip pieces, I'm sure you could also find plenty of ways to use it for connections that wouldn't work as well with just one or the other. Or for places you have a click-hinged part that you want to hinge more freely.

  On 5/11/2018 at 3:32 PM, imvanya said:

But you know what they say, great minds think alike  And that's also a part of LEGO magic - coming up with new ways to combine pieces.

From what I understand, this connection is not as strong, so it is useful in places where normal play assumes disconnecting the pieces often, like the wall on the bus above or the rear module in https://brickset.com/sets/9499-1/Gungan-Sub.

I'm surprised to see this connection in an official model, though I'm not shocked that someone else had though of it before. I just happened upon it when thinking of what different ways I could connect my pieces.

@MAB, @imvanya is right when he says the connection is not as strong (not as much friction) + it just uses a different piece which I happen to have more of.

  On 5/11/2018 at 4:20 PM, Aanchir said:

Given the sheer variety of click hinge pieces and clip pieces, I'm sure you could also find plenty of ways to use it for connections that wouldn't work as well with just one or the other. Or for places you have a click-hinged part that you want to hinge more freely.

Yeah all the clip and hinge pieces make finding the right connection for your model fairly easy and this particular connection works well instead of a click-hinge for what I was using it in.

Yeah, not as strong as clipping in a bar properly, but I remember first finding that when I was out of one type of connector and was pleasantly surprised to see that it would still work reasonably well like that.  That's what I really love about Lego - the System.  Things are well thought-out when being designed so even if they didn't have something like this in mind it's not surprising to find that it works.

Good insight on the use case from the Gungan Sub, Brick Pilgrim.

Thanks for sharing - I'm sure it's new to other folks as well, and always fun to chat and see what creative things folks have done!  

Those clicky hinges are also useful for holding the 5x7 leaf  (or their 4x3 variants) parts vertically. The ends of the piece that have stud connections on the bottom do not fit, but the smaller ones do.

The leaf piece tends to hang at an odd angle (which admittedly looks out of place on its own) but with multiples hanging it can look like a willow or another weeping/drooping tree.