One of the earlier elements of the LEGO® Modulex system was the architectural profile brick. There were several sizes and the details are interesting to review. One style of the brick had a stud on top, an open side, and an open bottom. You can see each of the three sides has a different texture: smooth, shutters, or vertical bars. There are 2 different height versions of this style of profile element: 4 brick height and 5 brick height.
Peter Dibble has done a fantastic job documenting the history and development of LEGO Modulex. I was able to help him by supplying some materials and information, which he did include in the video. He’s done a great job. Take a look!
I’m working on sorting and organizing my inventory of Modulex elements. Here’s a peak at one of my sample boards. There are a few elements that I need to replace after they went missing during storage and shows. I’m planning to start updating this blog more often. Let me know what your questions are!
I can’t bear to watch, but here’s the interview with the guys at BEYOND THE BRICK. We discussed all things LEGO Modulex (including the recent attempt to re-issue the bricks and the demise of that hope). I had a great time talking with Joshua and Matt! Thanks guys for inviting me to join you!
I received an email this morning that informed me that “Modulex Bricks A/S has been sold to LEGO Juris.”
The email included this statement from Anders Kirk Johansen (owner of Modulex Bricks A/S):
“I was approached with an offer from LEGO Juris – a company in KIRKBI A/S – who had an interest in acquiring the company and its intellectual property rights, as it is important to the Kirk Kristiansen family to keep these rights within control of the LEGO Group.”
The Modulex Bricks A/S Facebook page had this announcement:
“We are pleased to tell that LEGO Juris A/S has acquired Modulex bricks in a mutual agreement. It has been important for the LEGO Group owner family to ensure historic rights stay within the owner family. The potential to produce Modulex bricks has also been addressed and there are no plans to manufacture Modulex bricks in the near future. Thanks for your interest in Modulex and for joining this Facebook page!”
So, it looks like for now, there will be NO re-issue of the Modulex bricks. Of course, we still have all the vintage bricks we can enjoy and collect!
UPDATE: all test bricks, moulds, and materials that Modulex Bricks A/S was in the possession of, have been turned over to The LEGO® Group as part of the agreement. Which means, anyone who was given some of the re-issue test bricks has some very rare bricks in their possession!
I was recently doing an online search and found that Brick Journal’s website posted a pic of one of my LEGO® Modulex® MOCs — back in 2011! I guess I missed it the first time around! Here’s a screen shot.
This is my tornado on a farm. It’s made from the rotating plate element, and showcases the special Modulex® “foil” placed over the small colored bricks to make the field of planted crops. In this MOC, I used brown foil (it’s really adhesive backed vinyl), but there are many colors that were available (e.g., white, dark grey, red, dark green, light green, blue, orange). The small grey bricks with the slot (bordering the tiles in the center) are from an office element that had a plastic sheet standing in it to represent an office room divider.
Here’s the MOC from another view (so you can see the farmhouse).
Most people are familiar with the mark that is on the top of the studs of LEGO® Modulex® bricks. The earliest bricks have “LEGO” on the stud and the later bricks have “M” (for “Modulex”) on the stud.
But did you know that there is more information INSIDE the brick that can tell some of its story?
The molds to make the bricks have marks inside each brick to tell what part of the mold the brick came from (I’ll post more about this practice in the future), but we also have a mark that can help us identify how old the brick is!
The very first bricks had “LEGO” on the stud and had a mark “Pat Pend” on the inside, while the patent was still in process. Once the patent was granted, the expensive molds continued to be used, but had the words “Pat Pend” scratched out!
Later, when new molds were made with the “M” on the studs, there was no mark about the patent at all.
Check out these photos of all three types of bricks.
Here are the three types of 2 x 4 bricks, the top is the oldest, with “Pat Pend” inside, and “LEGO” on the stud. The second has the “Pat Pend” scratched out, but still has “LEGO” on the stud. The final brick is a new mold and has “M” on the stud, with no mark about the patent on the inside.
Can’t see the marks? Take a closer look.
This is the oldest brick, you can see “Pat Pend” marked on the inside.
Here you can see that the “Pat Pend” has been scratched out in the mold.
This is the newer mold, with the “M” on the stud, and no mark inside about the patent.
Read the words of Godtfred Kirk Christiansen as he describes Modulex in the introduction to an early brochure for the company. I’ll be scanning manuals that I have collected and sharing them on this website and also at the seminars that I hold at various LEGO AFOL (Adult Fan Of LEGO) conventions. My next seminar on the “History of Modulex” will be at BrickFair, NJ (during the AFOL setup days).
MODULEX is a further development of the Lego system, so it is no accident if you have found a similarity between the two products.
Some years ago, when I was planning a building, I wanted to use a model as a supplement to the prepared drawings. I had built a model using Lego elements and soon discovered that there were special great benefits of this kind of model building. I could change as much as I needed. And I could work without scissors, glue and other tools.
On this basis our engineers started to further develop the Lego system. And the result was the Modulex system, which by its nature has exactly the same properties as Lego. A product with very steadily uniformity and extremely small tolerances.
In this brochure we show you some examples on how Modulex in practice have solved many different tasks. We hope that by studying these examples you will get an insight into the endless possibilities of Modulex. And that you will be inspired to an effective solution to your planning problem.
Godtfred Kirk Christiansen
CEO
A/S Lego Systems, A/S MODULEX
Many thanks to Thomas Bryde for help with the translation!
Tiny LEGO® Modulex® Pumpkin Kit
Celebrate the arrival of Autumn with this limited edition LEGO® Modulex® Pumpkin Kit. These are original, vintage LEGO® Modulex® bricks from the 1960s & 1970s. The kit includes 25 bricks, including 2 more than you need to complete the pumpkin. One of the extra pieces is another olive slope (so you will have a pair). Instructions included. These pumpkin kits will be on sale at the upcoming BrickFair NJ in Somerset, NJ (Nov 1-2, 2014). You can have one of these limited edition kits for just $12.50. Hold a piece of LEGO® history in your hand!
Limited Edition Minibricks Madness LEGO® Modulex® Pumpkin Kit
Here’s a quick photo of the Pumpkin with a BrickFair Minifig.
Pumpkin with BrickFair 2010 minifig
What were LEGO® Modulex bricks made from? Were they made from the same kind of plastic that LEGO® bricks are made from?
Great question! Actually, the answer is “Yes” AND “No”!
When my source from the original Modulex® company was telling me about colors and pigments, he also said that they experimented with both ABS and PPO for the plastic. Apparently, these two plastics yielded slightly different colors with the pigments. He also felt that the range of colors for the PPO was larger than for the ABS.
You can learn more about these plastics at these links:
PPO (Poly-phenylene oxide)
ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene)
