Element Review: Plumes

[Blue Monarch]

I never loved the plumes. Nevertheless, they were used to determine the leaders/factions within my army. I never had a knight's helmet without the plume. However, I did love the dragon knight plumes. I would like to see new designs, maybe some that don't stick up so much.

[The Blue Knight]

The plumes are, in my mind, included in the group of indespensible pieces that are the "life" of castle sets. My MOCs at least. Great article Ben! I would dearly love to lay hands on one of those blue plumes. The only non-blue element on The Blue Knight. Ah well...

[starbeanie]

Ben,

Any idea if someone has the blue feathered visor??

Bret

[architect]

Ben,

Any idea if someone has the blue feathered visor??

Bret

Bret,

I have never seen any pictures of the this visor other than in catalogs. This leads me to believe that no fans have a copy. It is even possible that LEGO does not have a copy of the blue visor.

While there were a few other elements in the late 70's and early 80's with more flexible (non-abs) plastic, most were in colors like grey and green. Adding flexible blue plastic for only one element may not have been cost efficient. Or perhaps the designers thought that one visor should be metal grey color and not "painted". This would be an interesting question to ask them.

Ben

[starbeanie]

perhaps the designers thought that one visor should be metal grey color and not "painted".

Hmmm, makes me want to change the body to a matching grey color since the only part of them that matches is visor and body.

That could get expensive though since light gray torso's/arms aren't exactly common.


Bret

[architect]

perhaps the designers thought that one visor should be metal grey color and not "painted".

Hmmm, makes me want to change the body to a matching grey color since the only part of them that matches is visor and body.

That could get expensive though since light gray torso's/arms aren't exactly common.


Bret

All you need to do is fine a pre-fleshie Harry Potter and brasso off the torso. This should be fairly affordable to create an all grey classic knight.

Ben

[starbeanie]

I was thinking more like changing all of mine.

Did you see the pic I posted?? I couldn't think of a better place to put it then the original thread in B/S/T.

Bret

[architect]

I was thinking more like changing all of mine.

Did you see the pic I posted?? I couldn't think of a better place to put it then the original thread in B/S/T.

Bret

Yes I did see your impressive army. You were correct by posting it there. Posting pictures of armies is better in the B/S/T forum or the Castle Mocs forum. Posts about which minifigures came in a set or rare pieces in an official catalog are better in the LEGO Castle Sets forum.

Ben

[starbeanie]

I could have put in Castle Mocs as "Soldiers on a parade ground"

Bret

[rogue27]

Something interesting to add, but I'm not 100% sure of the accuracy of what I'm going to write. I believe it to be true from my own observations:


The classic plumes were made from ABS plastic while the plumes in the Legends sets were made from PP plastic.

The same change was made to flower tops, wavy flags, and classic swords.

The PP plastic makes these elements more flexible and actually increases the grip life of the wavy flags where the ABS versions often lost their grip strength after spending years on a lance or flagpole. Unfortunately, using PP also results in a reduced color saturation and different surface texture, so modern plumes don't look as good as the ones released in the 80s and early 90s.



I am disappointed that the classic plumes will never be used at retail again, but maybe they can use up the molds doing alternate color plumes for an accessory pack. (Ambassadors, take note!)

[The Blue Knight]

Something interesting to add, but I'm not 100% sure of the accuracy of what I'm going to write. I believe it to be true from my own observations:


The classic plumes were made from ABS plastic while the plumes in the Legends sets were made from PP plastic.

The same change was made to flower tops, wavy flags, and classic swords.

The PP plastic makes these elements more flexible and actually increases the grip life of the wavy flags where the ABS versions often lost their grip strength after spending years on a lance or flagpole. Unfortunately, using PP also results in a reduced color saturation and different surface texture, so modern plumes don't look as good as the ones released in the 80s and early 90s.

I never got a legends set, so I didn't know this. I agree, too bad this part won't come back in it's original form. Plumes are critical part of the "life" elements in a castle layout. I hope TLC makes a new version of plumes in the future.