A great new LEGO® part introduced in 2016 is the 1x1 tile in the shape of a quadrant. The first unprinted colour of these I got my hands on was Medium Azure, and I sent some to Elspeth De Montes and Chris McVeigh to see what they could make with them. What with The New Black parts festival overrunning, this mini-festival has been somewhat delayed! But we have some lovely ideas from Elspeth to enjoy today and one from Chris tomorrow.
As an Azure/Azur fan, be that dark or medium, I was excited to receive a few Medium Azure 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 (Element ID 6150307 | Design ID 25269) from Tim many moons ago when the summer sun was still warming the northern hemisphere. My excitement waned a little when I realised that I only had this one colour of quarter tile and the lack of any other tiles of a circular nature (other than round) at this time, meant the possibilities were fewer than I first imagined.
If I had been sensible and left them lying on my desk in a ‘to do’ position then all sorts of colours of quarter tile would have appeared, not to mention 2x2 and 4x4 curved tiles. At time of writing, there are six colours of 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 available, not counting any printed versions such as watermelon, waffle or pizza slices.
- Medium Azure (Element ID 6150307), found in 41124 Heartlake Puppy Daycare and 41232 Super Hero High School
- Brick Yellow [TLG]/Tan [BL] (Element ID 6145570) found in 41150 Moana's Ocean Voyage, 10255 Assembly Square and 21032 Sydney
- Bright Red [TLG]/Red [BL] )Element ID 6170390) found in 21306 The Beatles Yellow Submarine
- Black (Element ID 6172383) found in 41230 Batgirl Batjet Chase and 10255 Assembly Square
- White (Element ID 6172366) found in 21306 The Beatles Yellow Submarine, 41232 Super Hero High School and 60149 4x4 with Catamaran
- Medium Stone Grey [TLG)/Light Bluish Gray [BL] (Element ID 6176433) found in 10255 Assembly Square, 21034 London and 21033 Chicago
Then out came 21306 The Beatles Yellow Submarine and my little BMW logo solution no longer seemed so clever as I could simply place the alternate quarter tiles in position.
The other idea I had was to use the 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 with other available Medium Azure tiles to add some curves to a simple ‘LEGO Tile Font’. What could be better than New Elementary tiled out in Medium Azure? Tiled writing is not really seen very often for the very reason that a lack of curves mean that brick-built words look better and are easier to read.
READ MORE: See ways that quarter tiles can be combined with the new macaroni tiles from Assembly Square
See what Chris McVeigh made with Medium Azure quarter tiles.
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Nebd Elepqentary? Oh, Elspeth, you missed one very simple little change that would make the M and W look so much better...
ReplyDeleteThe tone of your comment comes across as very sarcastic and condescending. If you're inspired to do your own version, just do it.
DeleteGiven the flavor of many of her posts, it felt acceptable at the time that I posted it. But when I posted that I'd stayed up way past my bedtime working on a project for a show on Sunday, and I admit some of the humor has faded with a good night's sleep.
DeleteAs for building my own, I have no benefactor sending me piles of parts, and I think the only quarter-round tiles I currently own are from the Yellow Submarine. I also have half a dozen displays coming up in the next two months, a growing backlog of MOCs that I haven't even photographed, and more "must-build" MOCs on my plate for the next few months than I'm certain I can keep up with. So, as much as I enjoy seeing what other people come up with here, experimental building of the type you showcase is, by necessity, pretty low on my list of priorities right now.
Purple Dave, interestingly I did try the quarter tiles in the 'vice-versa' position at first but I quite liked the cutie curves of the version I chose but perhaps this was too much of a personal choice rather than aesthetics. I will show the other option and we can have a poll ;-) Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it might depend on the font. If it was a font that had a lot of decorative flourishes (like Old English), random curlicues would be entirely appropriate. This looks like something more in the Art Deco style (specifically the Art Moderne aspect) and the split peaks feel a bit off for that style.
DeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteWonderful article as usual. New Elementary is simply wonderful. I'm generally not a fan of reviews, just because of the objective way they usually look at a set, which, in my opinion, is not right the way to look at a set, as you can only enjoy toys subjectively. However, you guys look at the parts, which is a great alternative.
For anyone who's interested, here's a screenshot of an .lxf of the logo next to a logo with the suggested alternate "w" and "m": https://www.dropbox.com/s/ilg7qyhprvet9nk/New%20Elementary%20logos.png?dl=0
I can see why you changed it, Elspeth. However, I do agree the alternative is a little more legible.
If the link doesn't work for anyone, just tell me, and I'll fix it.
I still prefer the look of the top version, but now I'm wondering what it'd look like with another row of regular tile in the center. This would drop the center of the "M" and raise the center of the "W" so they lined up with the sides.
DeletePurple Dave, I'll do that and take a picture, but first, do you mean only on the "m" and "w," or all the letters?
DeletePurple Dave, I think this is what you meant. It's the bottom one in this pic: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ctncg0osksfzsji/New%20Elementary%20logos-new.png?dl=0
DeleteThat's what I meant, yes. Seeing it, though, the W and M look a bit overpowering.
DeleteThanks for your article, I love the Azure colours too :)
ReplyDeleteJust by way of information, I emailed The Lego Group and they said that Azur is supposed to be Azure, it is a spelling mistake!! Their website has trouble deciding what language to display, so Azur is the German word for Azure!! It is similar with Lavender - Medium Lavender displays as Medium LavenDEL - again the German form of Lavender!! A correspondent said they would look into it...