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| | | Author: | NicksVintage  | | Posted: | Aug 5, 2022 14:33 | | Subject: | 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 124 times | | Topic: | Inventories | | Status: | Open | |
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| I recently picked up a 6980 with its box and it appears to be all original pieces
in like new condition. The puzzling thing is that it has a mixture of 4081a and
4081b (1x1 plate with thin and thick ring) and a mixture of 4085a and 4085b (1x1
plate with thin open-O gray and thin U clip - white). The set is complete and
doesn't have any evidence of other pieces swapped out. Mold details like
solid pins are correct for this age of a set. It feels like these pieces have
been in the box for decades. This leads me to believe that Lego might have shipped
6980 with both part variations for each of those 1x1 modified plate types. Can
anyone verify this? If that's the case, could we get the 4081b and 4085b
listed as alternates?
Thank you
Nick
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| | | | | Author: | NicksVintage | | Posted: | Aug 5, 2022 14:49 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 45 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| One additional note - The three 3001 blue bricks should probably be 3001old.
That's what I have in the box at least.
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| | | | | Author: | rab1234 | | Posted: | Aug 7, 2022 22:12 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| Possible, but I think the more likely scenario is that whoever originally owned
this had other sets from the era and when putting the parts back in the box for
the final time before storing them away, they weren’t careful about molds (probably
had no idea there was a difference).
In Catalog Requests, NicksVintage writes:
| | I recently picked up a 6980 with its box and it appears to be all original pieces
in like new condition. The puzzling thing is that it has a mixture of 4081a and
4081b (1x1 plate with thin and thick ring) and a mixture of 4085a and 4085b (1x1
plate with thin open-O gray and thin U clip - white). The set is complete and
doesn't have any evidence of other pieces swapped out. Mold details like
solid pins are correct for this age of a set. It feels like these pieces have
been in the box for decades. This leads me to believe that Lego might have shipped
6980 with both part variations for each of those 1x1 modified plate types. Can
anyone verify this? If that's the case, could we get the 4081b and 4085b
listed as alternates?
Thank you
Nick
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| | | | | | | Author: | NicksVintage | | Posted: | Aug 8, 2022 00:42 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 29 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| In Catalog Requests, rab1234 writes:
| | Possible, but I think the more likely scenario is that whoever originally owned
this had other sets from the era and when putting the parts back in the box for
the final time before storing them away, they weren’t careful about molds (probably
had no idea there was a difference).
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Certainly a possibility. I'm reaching out to an owner of a sealed set to
see if they can lift the lid and look through the plastic window to find which
part is represented. Not holding out much hope for that 
FWIW, Classic space sets in the catalog here from 1984 list the 4081b as an alternate
e.g. 6971 https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6971-1#T=I
and
6881 https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6881-1#T=I
This set is 1983, but who knows when they actually started switching over the
parts. It doesn't seem unusual that Lego might have mixed in old parts with
the newer ones coming out as they were packaging up sets. People probably did
not care about part variations back then (as many still don't care today).
I like a set to be consistent so I might just swap them out anyway.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | SezaR | | Posted: | Aug 8, 2022 04:15 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 45 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| In Catalog Requests, NicksVintage writes:
| | In Catalog Requests, rab1234 writes:
| | Possible, but I think the more likely scenario is that whoever originally owned
this had other sets from the era and when putting the parts back in the box for
the final time before storing them away, they weren’t careful about molds (probably
had no idea there was a difference).
|
Certainly a possibility. I'm reaching out to an owner of a sealed set to
see if they can lift the lid and look through the plastic window to find which
part is represented. Not holding out much hope for that
FWIW, Classic space sets in the catalog here from 1984 list the 4081b as an alternate
e.g. 6971 https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6971-1#T=I
and
6881 https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6881-1#T=I
This set is 1983, but who knows when they actually started switching over the
parts.
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The part 4081b were first produced in 1985. So if a set was released in 1984
or 1983 and TLG continued to produced it in 1985, they first tried to use all
their 4081a in their stock first, and then and only then they started to use
4081b. Remember: TLG never threw anything away!
I think we can see white 4081a in a photo I uploaded
https://www.bricklink.com/messageThread.asp?ID=245556
Here is the tricky part: I know that all (or almost all?) sets produced in EUROPE,
in 1985 or later, came with 4081b.
Sets produced in Canada, by Samsonite of Canada: I don't know.
Sets produced in USA, produced in USA: TLG continued to have 4081a in certain
colors (and not all colors) until mid 1987!
Now questions for you:
Is the box of your copy American?
There may be a 4-digit number printed on one seal on the box. What is that number?
Some other parts may give a clue. Are the blue stancion
or
?
It doesn't seem unusual that Lego might have mixed in old parts with
| | the newer ones coming out as they were packaging up sets. People probably did
not care about part variations back then (as many still don't care today).
I like a set to be consistent so I might just swap them out anyway.
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | NicksVintage | | Posted: | Aug 8, 2022 09:05 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| | | Now questions for you:
Is the box of your copy American?
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Almost certain that it is American. See attached. There's a residue of a
price tag sticker from an American toy chain (nonexistent now) called Toys by
Roy.
| | There may be a 4-digit number printed on one seal on the box. What is that number?
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I did not see a number printed on the seal.
I have the 5mm stanchions
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Some other parts may give a clue. Are the blue stancion
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or
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | SezaR | | Posted: | Aug 10, 2022 00:17 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| In Catalog Requests, NicksVintage writes:
| | | | Now questions for you:
Is the box of your copy American?
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Almost certain that it is American. See attached. There's a residue of a
price tag sticker from an American toy chain (nonexistent now) called Toys by
Roy.
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Yes this box is American because there are writings on it such as "Ages 8-12"
and "427 interlocking pieces".
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| | There may be a 4-digit number printed on one seal on the box. What is that number?
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I did not see a number printed on the seal.
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That's a pity.
in any sealed copy, TLG placed a Lego catalog. If there is still a catalog inside
the box, assuming it is the one that was placed inside the box by TLG, that can
help to know what year your copy was produced.
I checked American catalogs and it looks like this set was sold until the end
of 1985.
1985 is the year parts such as
and
were first produced.
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I have the 5mm stanchions
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Some other parts may give a clue. Are the blue stancion
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or
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So it is likely your set comes indeed with original parts. Specially, it is unlikely
that 17 blue 4081b in your copy were not original but were collected to replace
original blue 4081a!
I hope this helps.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | NicksVintage | | Posted: | Aug 10, 2022 13:17 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 30 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| | | in any sealed copy, TLG placed a Lego catalog. If there is still a catalog inside
the box, assuming it is the one that was placed inside the box by TLG, that can
help to know what year your copy was produced.
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There was a mint condition catalog in the box. It's the 1982 Medium US catalog.
I guess this throws a wrench in the idea that it's a 1985-produced set. Still
weird that I have the 5mm stanchions and as you said, so many 4081b parts. The
set doesn't have the signs of playwear at all which suggests it's not
a mix of old pieces. What I do know about those 4081a's though is that they
bend/break easily if you are forcing an antenna post through it. Perhaps the
original owner broke those parts and did swap them out. That doesn't explain
the stanchions though.
Thanks for your comments and research, very helpful!
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Author: | SezaR | | Posted: | Aug 10, 2022 16:11 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 34 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| In Catalog Requests, NicksVintage writes:
| | | | in any sealed copy, TLG placed a Lego catalog. If there is still a catalog inside
the box, assuming it is the one that was placed inside the box by TLG, that can
help to know what year your copy was produced.
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There was a mint condition catalog in the box. It's the 1982 Medium US catalog.
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1982?
Then that catalog from 1982 is not original to this set because this set was
released in 1983 so we can only expect to find a catalog from 1983, or 1984 or
1985 (or 1986...?) coming with this set.
| | I guess this throws a wrench in the idea that it's a 1985-produced set. Still
weird that I have the 5mm stanchions and as you said, so many 4081b parts. The
set doesn't have the signs of playwear at all which suggests it's not
a mix of old pieces. What I do know about those 4081a's though is that they
bend/break easily if you are forcing an antenna post through it. Perhaps the
original owner broke those parts and did swap them out. That doesn't explain
the stanchions though.
Thanks for your comments and research, very helpful!
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| | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | Aug 7, 2022 22:22 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| In Catalog Requests, NicksVintage writes:
| | I recently picked up a 6980 with its box and it appears to be all original pieces
in like new condition. The puzzling thing is that it has a mixture of 4081a and
4081b (1x1 plate with thin and thick ring) and a mixture of 4085a and 4085b (1x1
plate with thin open-O gray and thin U clip - white). The set is complete and
doesn't have any evidence of other pieces swapped out. Mold details like
solid pins are correct for this age of a set. It feels like these pieces have
been in the box for decades. This leads me to believe that Lego might have shipped
6980 with both part variations for each of those 1x1 modified plate types. Can
anyone verify this? If that's the case, could we get the 4081b and 4085b
listed as alternates?
|
I don't know much about 4085b but I'm very skeptical that 4081b was produced
when this set was released. The page for 4081b gives production years of 1980-2022
but I would be shocked if that were true - it would mean that the two different
molds were used from the start.
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| | | | | | | Author: | SylvainLS | | Posted: | Aug 8, 2022 07:39 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| In Catalog Requests, peregrinator writes:
| | […]
I don't know much about 4085b but I'm very skeptical that 4081b was produced
when this set was released. The page for 4081b gives production years of 1980-2022
but I would be shocked if that were true - it would mean that the two different
molds were used from the start.
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‘Production years’ for parts are automatically derived from production years
of the sets they appear in. So they are mostly wrong.
Say the real dates for variant A were from 1980 to 1987 and for variant B from
1985, as soon as there’s a set produced from 1980 that was also found with a
B, B’s years are extended to cover this set’s years and therefore become 1980-2022.
One way to correct this error would be for the site to not take into account
the sets for which the part is only in Alternate.
And for real accuracy, we need to be sure that for all Regular/Alternate couples
in inventories, the older part is always in Regular and the newer always in Alternate.
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| | | | | Author: | peregrinator | | Posted: | Aug 7, 2022 22:26 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 37 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| In Catalog Requests, NicksVintage writes:
| | I recently picked up a 6980 with its box and it appears to be all original pieces
in like new condition. The puzzling thing is that it has a mixture of 4081a and
4081b (1x1 plate with thin and thick ring) and a mixture of 4085a and 4085b (1x1
plate with thin open-O gray and thin U clip - white). The set is complete and
doesn't have any evidence of other pieces swapped out. Mold details like
solid pins are correct for this age of a set. It feels like these pieces have
been in the box for decades. This leads me to believe that Lego might have shipped
6980 with both part variations for each of those 1x1 modified plate types. Can
anyone verify this? If that's the case, could we get the 4081b and 4085b
listed as alternates?
|
Also, at least one of the grey 4085s looks like LBG to me. Could be the lighting.
There is definitely a slight difference between the two of them, but some early
LBG parts had a slight translucency about them and the one on the left looks
like that to me.
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| | | | | | | Author: | NicksVintage | | Posted: | Aug 8, 2022 00:34 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 32 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| | |
Also, at least one of the grey 4085s looks like LBG to me. Could be the lighting.
There is definitely a slight difference between the two of them, but some early
LBG parts had a slight translucency about them and the one on the left looks
like that to me.
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The gray 4085's in the photo are 4085a so that's not part of the issue.
It's the white clips that are thin U instead of thin open O.
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| | | | | | | Author: | normann1974 | | Posted: | Aug 9, 2022 11:05 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 28 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| | | Also, at least one of the grey 4085s looks like LBG to me. Could be the lighting.
There is definitely a slight difference between the two of them, but some early
LBG parts had a slight translucency about them and the one on the left looks
like that to me.
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The light gray come in two distinct color variants as described in
the note for the part. This may be the case here. You will not find 4085a in
LBG.
/Jan
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| | | | | Author: | Izzycsek | | Posted: | Aug 10, 2022 16:41 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 23 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| Antenna Small Base with Black Lever; Item No: 4592c02 (can be seen on the right
side of the picture) is not part of the set, that means for me that the parts
found in the box are not exclusively from the set 6980. It can be a solution
for the 4081a/b and 4085a/b and the 1982's catalog problem.
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| | | | | | | Author: | NicksVintage | | Posted: | Aug 10, 2022 20:17 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 30 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| In Catalog Requests, Izzycsek writes:
| | Antenna Small Base with Black Lever; Item No: 4592c02 (can be seen on the right
side of the picture) is not part of the set, that means for me that the parts
found in the box are not exclusively from the set 6980. It can be a solution
for the 4081a/b and 4085a/b and the 1982's catalog problem.
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That's a good point, I don't know why that one part is in there, as no
other added items were found. I think I was deceived by how all the pieces are
in like-new condition that it was a pure set. I'm OK with resting the case
on the part discrepancy unless someone with a sealed US version of this set can
prove otherwise.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | macduff2000 | | Posted: | Aug 10, 2022 23:20 | | Subject: | Re: 6980 Galaxy Commander - parts 4081a & 4085a | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Inventories | |
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| I own a 6980 Galaxy Commander set I received in ~1983 and there were only 4081a
variants in my set. The box front photo shows most of the 4081a parts included
in the set. Several of the 4081a parts in my set were broken within a year. It
was very difficult for 10-year-old me me to push the antenna parts through them.
Even though the 6980 was still sold in 1985 they might have all been unsold inventory
from earlier production runs.
I'd say that unless there is a sealed copy of 6980 that has the 4081b variants,
there is currently no proof that 6080 ever shipped with 4081b variants.
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USA, Washington
Canada, British Columbia
France, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Denmark
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