Don't throw away your old warped Cellulose Acetate LEGO!

[LEGO Historian]

Many people look at the old Cellulose Acetate LEGO (1956-63 in Europe & Australia, 1961-70 in USA/Canada) as garbage, and worthy of a land fill.

But I think you might be surprised what it can be used for!! Especially the white bricks (which along with red, are the most common). My Dutch collector friend Henk, who collects old glued display models (and whom we fondly call the "glue sniffer") has been restoring very old LEGO display models, as well as rebuilding a few from scratch.

One of his most beautiful models has been a Greco-Roman temple building...

Here is another image...

This image shows all the warping of Cellulose Acetate white and red parts. This actually makes the old classic building look even more realistic... due to the fact that the deformities of the bricks appear like real aged stone.

New or used ABS bricks just cannot get this same effect... the lines are just too clean for a realistic look to classicial buildings.

So don't throw your old Cellulose Acetate parts away... save them for a possible building project...

Also... this classical model was from a 1958 continental European retailer glued display catalog, as shown here...

Also... for more information on old Cellulose Acetate and ABS plastic LEGO bricks... Chapter 60 - The LEGO Plastics Cellulose Acetate and ABS Plastic explains a lot of interesting information about Cellulose Acetate... can be seen here...

http://www.youblisher.com/p/626870-Chapter-60-The-LEGO-Plastics-Cellulose-Acetate-and-ABS/

From my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD/download...

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=73780

[SNIPE]

Are the pillars made out of this too? what dimensions do you think the base-plates are? looks like the two outer ones are 20x?

Edited May 15, 2013 by SNIPE

[LEGO Historian]

Hi Snipe! The baseplates are all the 10x20 thick baseplates (labeled as bricks on Bricklink).

Those Cellulose Acetat columns are made of the old style 1x1 round bricks without the tapered base (1955-65)... and they were small enough to not warp very much, if at all. But those had another problem... one that required the 1966 redesign (with tapered base). They were horrible for clutch power on top of each other. A stack of those would fall over very easily... when not glued. One additional benefit of the 1966 tapered redesign was that they could now also be put between the studs of the bricks.

Edited May 16, 2013 by LEGO Historian

[Bighappysmiles]

I like the fact that someone is doing this, it is very cool!

I don't think I could handle doing that though! I don't consider myself very OCD, but if a build looked like that with all the imperfection............I don't know what I'd do!

I do find this very cool though, it just makes the build that much more special when it's made up of the parts (or closest to) that the original thing was made out of! I'm still glad LEGO upgraded to ABS though!!!

[SNIPE]

I have some of these pillars in blue, they are very hard to pull apart with some bricks such as regular round 1x1's but I like them better than having rapers round the bottom.

I didn't know they were that old, gosh.

[spzero]

I come across a lot of the old CA lego in my bricklinking but most is badly discoloured and not fit for resale, especially white bricks, that end up looking tan from nicotine / sun dirt etc.

But its great to hold and feel and its sooooo shiny

[LEGO Historian]

Spzero, yes CA is very shiny indeed!! Interestingly enough old white CA that has been kept away from sunshine seems to retain its' extreme whiteness.... whereas old ABS still gets discolored... probably due to other factors as well as light.

But one CA color that really looks very shiny is black CA. One would think that black would be a difficult color to spot a difference between ABS and CA... but it really is quite easy... especially among new condition bricks.

But the easiest color of all to spot in CA is red. Mainly because it has an orange-red hue.

One thing about CA that I remember as a child is that when you open a new box of CA bricks... it gives of a very unique... not at all unpleasant... aroma. I fondly have memories of opening CA boxes and remembering the smell... something that is altogether not the same for ABS plastic.

Gary Istok

[alois]

I'm afraid the CA bricks I have are much more warped than those of your friend. It is physically impossible to connect them. I have divided the 2x4's into two portions: left warped and right warped. Using only one sort you can built very strange spiraling stacks of bricks. Other than that, they do not have any building value left, but I keep them because of their historic significance.

[antp]

but I keep them because of their historic significance.

I have a bag of unusable old bricks like that.

The blue & red slope parts as well as the trans-clear parts seem mostly OK so I keep them with my more recent parts (and use them), but most of the red & white CA ended in that bag.

Edited May 27, 2013 by antp

[Modulex Guy]

So is there any explanation for why the CA bricks warp in the first place?

[LEGO Historian]

So is there any explanation for why the CA bricks warp in the first place?

Heat and humiidity are among the contributing factors. CA is not a stable plastic (like other Acetates)... and it can lose its' form over many years... although if you have a set that has been kept at climate controlled conditions, it will not warp. I have a 717 Junior Constructor Set (1961-65, USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO)... and the parts are still in new condition and have not warped. This set must have been kept under ideal conditions.

By the late 1950s TLG knew that something was amiss with Cellulose Acetate... called "Cellidor" by the maker... Bayer Corp. of Germany. Continental European catalogs of that era mention that the parts should not be stored above 67 degrees Celcius,

For white CA parts.... if they've been kept out of sunlight they really maintain their whiteness. This is unlike ABS white parts... which can still yellow, even if they've not seen sunlight.

[antp]

Aren't current transparent parts still in CA ?

Or did they modify the formula ?

As these do not seem to deform.

[Fugazi]

No, transparent parts are currently made of polycarbonate (PC).

[LEGO Historian]

Cellulose Acetate trans-clear bricks can usually be identified by a Champagne or ginger ale color to the bricks. Once TLG switched over to ABS plastic (a process that happened fairly quickly in Europe/Britain/Australia in 1963, but took nearly 7 years to complete in USA/Canada)... the trans-clear ABS bricks have a more bluish hue to them.

You can usually tell a CA part (most are warped)... by doing the "wobble test" on a flat surface.... if a brick is placed (tubes down) on the surface, and it is warped... then usually it will wobble when weight is put onto different parts of the brick.

Also... one of the reasons (although never been proven) that I believe that USA/Canada Samsonite LEGO took so long to switch over to ABS... was I believe that TLG shipped their leftover Cellulose Acetate plastic pellets to Samsonite to use up... this would help explain why red and especially yellow CA parts are so common in Samsonite LEGO sets until nearly 1970.

[alois]

Continental European catalogs of that era mention that the parts should not be stored above 67 degrees Celcius,

Why would anyone want to store Lego at that temperature? 67 degrees celsius is hot! One would have to put the Lego into an oven to reach that temperature. I think the warping started at a much lower temperature.