Review: 1x5 plate
Posted by Huw,
The internet was buzzing with excitement recently when what looked to be a 1x5 plate was seen in a photo of one of the summer Vidiyo sets.
We now have the set in question in hand so can confirm that it does indeed contain a new size of plate. We therefore bring you this exclusive and comprehensive review of the part.
Is it an element we've all been waiting for, or an unwanted POOP*. Read my verdict after the break...
* POOP - Part Out of Other Parts, a term given to LEGO elements that could have been made from other smaller parts, often a sign of juniorisation.
First, a history lesson. Pieces that are 1/3rd the height of a standard brick were introduced in the late 1950s and the first ones were used primarily as baseplates. It was not until 1962 or so that smaller sizes -- 1x2 and 2x4 for example -- were produced and used within models.
They were not always called plates. On this blueprint from 1965 they are referred to as 'new slimbricks' and I must say I rather like that name.
The 1x3, 1x4, 1x6 were introduced in the late 1970s, followed by the 1x10 in 1983 and the 1x12 in 2008. So, it's been 13 years since the last 1xn plate was launched.
The table below summarises when each size of square plate first made an appearance, based on data from BrickLink inventories:
| Length | 1x | 2x | 3x | 4x | 6x | 8x | 16x |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1962 | ||||||
| 2 | 1962 | 1962 | |||||
| 3 | 1977 | 1962 | 2012 | ||||
| 4 | 1977 | 1962 | 1970 | ||||
| 5 | 2021 | ||||||
| 6 | 1977 | 1978 | 1970 | 1979 | |||
| 8 | 1972 | 1958 | 1956 | 1958 | 2001 | ||
| 10 | 1983 | 1978 | 1959 | 1971 | |||
| 12 | 2008 | 1988 | 1966 | 1967 | |||
| 14 | 2012 | 1972 | |||||
| 16 | 1984 | 1966 | 2011 | 2011 | |||
| 24 | 1966 |
The new 1x5 plate, design ID 78329, is exactly one stud longer than the red 1x4 on the left and one stud shorter than the blue 1x6 one on the right. It is therefore ideal for use in situations when a 1x4 is too short and a 1x6 is too long!
The 5-long 'Technic rotor, 2 blades', the current version of which is shown in blue below, was initially used 1986, in Arctic Technic sets 8640 Polar Copter and 8680 Arctic Rescue Base where it was used, believe it or not, for attaching helicopter rotor blades.
It has had to suffice when a 1x5 plate has been called for in the intervening years, but it is not always suitable on account of its rounded ends and axle hole in the middle instead of a fifth stud.
The new plate resolves these issues by being identical to other square plates, other than in length.
Verdict
So, is this a POOP, or a much-needed element that will facilitate exciting new building opportunities? One could argue that it's a POOP, and that a 1x2 and a 1x3 could do the same job as this, but often that's not the case because to provide strength to such a construction another layer of plates is needed to join them together. One could also say the same for just about every other size of plate: they can, after all, all be made from 1x1s and 1x2s!
So, my view is that it is a long-overdue element that will find its way into many new sets in the future and which will be useful to those who build in odd widths, in particular when interfacing System parts with Technic elements, which are commonly an odd length.
I understand that a black version can be found in a summer Speed Champions set while a tan one appears in 21171 The Horse Stable, so I don't suppose it'll be long before our parts bins are overflowing with them.
Now, where exactly should I put them...
I hope you enjoyed my tongue-in-cheek review and perhaps learned something while reading it.
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set the part came in for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
288 likes
83 comments on this article
"The new 1x5 plate is exactly one stud smaller than the red 1x4 on the left" should be "The new 1x5 plate is exactly one stud longer than the red 1x4 on the left"
Great write-up, Huw - I especially love the chart detailing when each plate length was first introduced.
Have we ever received any official explanation for why it took so long to introduce this piece? Does LEGO fear people might accidentally mix up 1x4 and 1x5 plates when building a set?
Now we need 1x5 tiles :)
I was working recently on a model which requires some 1x plates to be put on top of a 1x2 windows with rounded top and ever since they each have one stud in the middle, complete row required me to put a 1x5 plate or sacrifice few 1x4s. Honestly, this plate is going to be really helpful in complex spots like the one I had.
"The new 1x5 plate is exactly one stud longer than the red 1x4 on the left and one stud shorter than the blue 1x6 one on the right. It is therefore ideal for use in situations when a 1x4 is too short and a 1x6 is too long!"
Thank you, scientist
I think I love the term POOP, it's really rubbing off on me
@Grahame said:
""The new 1x5 plate is exactly one stud smaller than the red 1x4 on the left" should be "The new 1x5 plate is exactly one stud longer than the red 1x4 on the left""
This had me laughing out loud, and I was set on quoting it in the comments too :)
Have we been waiting for it? Yes, and it is a valuable addition to the slimbrick family.
But more importantly, we're still waiting for the Return of the Goat.
How does it look compared to a goat?
Can we go back to calling them slimbricks instead of plates? It sounds way cooler!
@Brickalili said:
"Can we go back to calling them slimbricks instead of plates? It sounds way cooler!"
Sounds too much like a diet product.
That would be a great April's fool joke.
Thanks Huw!!!
"New Slimbrick" would be an excellent rap name.
If there was a mistake in the text it looks as if one of the other editors beat me to correcting it, so thanks whoever it was ;-)
This is great! But I'm gonna be honest, the most interesting thing to me was the fact that POOP is a real LEGO term, and I've never even heard it!
@wiggy said:
"I think I love the term POOP, it's really rubbing off on me "
SOAP is normally not your friend, but in this case perhaps make an exception.
Studs
On
Angled
Plates
Trenchant analysis
I have checked the math. 5 is indeed 1 larger than 4 and 1 smaller than 6. Ace writing job.
Yep, I remember back in the day when we’d ask my older cousin to buy us a pack of slimbricks from the liquor and tobacco store.
Unless this is used to make 5-wide vehicles, this will be a POOP piece to me. Totally unnecessary.
This part may be useful and I'm sure I'll use it more often going forward if I have them, but I don't think I will seek it out. I've POOPed enough over the last 30+ years with LEGO as a kid, and no POOPing while in my dark ages, but back to POOPing as an adult. It has worked just fine, but I'm sure in those instances for stability it will help. But it isn't ground breaking in terms of invention.
@Huw, I don't know what you had for breakfast when you wrote this but I hope there's more where this came from.
And yes, for 7 wide trains this plate is great,especially if it's coming in black. Would also welcome 1x7 and 2x5 but they make take a while to appear...
@Brickodillo said:
"How does it look compared to a goat? "
The 1x5 plate weighs less than a goat. At least, the white one does.
@Huw, it looks like one of your 2x2 round plates got in with your 1x6 plates!
Since so far they've only been shown in Vidyio set, I assume they'll be flying off the shelves now! :P
Putting this one up for the Pulitzer in Criticism
I was curious about why a 24 x 6 plate (3026) was need in 1966 and I see that the very first train wagon and truck trailer used this, together with every train carriage, trailer and garage service station since then with some more unusual uses in Attach on Hoth , Disney Castle and Snow Resort ski Lift in 2017.
May I humbly suggest that you put them with your 3x3 and 3x3 cross plates, as well as the 4x4 corner plates. Like many of us, you've undoubtably had this problem before...
BTW has anyone noticed the 2x3 cutout plate (73831 ) also introduced this year in a Mario fig?
So what do we call a very attractive woman that likes LEGO now?
I might be wrong here, but I think it will be used only in essential situations only, unless they become much more widespread.
@BovineBrick said:
"Have we been waiting for it? Yes, and it is a valuable addition to the slimbrick family.
But more importantly, we're still waiting for the Return of the Goat."
All hail the goat.
Please let us know when your bins are overflowing with POOP.
@Koldpizzza said:
"Please let us know when your bins are overflowing with POOP."
Just have a child... ;)
@ambr said:
"I was curious about why a 24 x 6 plate (3026) was need in 1966 and I see that the very first train wagon and truck trailer used this, together with every train carriage, trailer and garage service station since then with some more unusual uses in Attach on Hoth , Disney Castle and Snow Resort ski Lift in 2017."
It's interesting that it saw quite widespread use in the 1960s and 70s but seems to have fallen out of favour lately. It's a wonder they've maintained the mould for such occasional use.
I learned 3 new terms today. POOP, slimbricks and valley bricks. Love them all!
@Paperballpark said:
" @Koldpizzza said:
"Please let us know when your bins are overflowing with POOP."
Just have a child... ;)"
It's funny, because I realized that in the UK, "bin" refers to what we would call a trash can. I laughed out loud. Have two kids, gone through lots of POOP.
Cheers.
Conclusion: yup, that's a 1x5 plate alright.
Silliness aside, I love the history and data brought in, nice review!
@Huw said:
"They were not always called plates. On this blueprint from 1965 they are referred to as 'new slimbricks' and I must say I rather like that name."
WOW!
I always called plates “Slim bricks” as a kid, because that’s what my two older brothers called them.
Now I know why - they are old enough to have seen 60’s marketing.
I never knew it was official Lego terminology.
Great little article - many thanks Huw
@Brickodillo said:
"How does it look compared to a goat? "
Goat! Goat! Goat!
It should perhaps be noted that this is not actually the first nx5 plate in existence, with the Plate Modified 5x6 with Hole (1967-1973) being the first, unless its hole disqualifies it. I've had one of these from my dad/uncles for years!
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=711&name=Plate,%20Modified%205%20x%206%20with%20Hole&category=%5BPlate,%20Modified%5DT=S&O={%22iconly%22:0}
Good to see a new 1xX plate element this year. So many brackets and curved slopes, time for a plate. Great, odd numbers, no POOP at all, will hello a lot with all the SNOT ... But how to store it? New shapes will stay in the New shapes drawer for a while, but when 1x5 plate becomes a standard element in many colors I need to reorganize my sorting system. And I hope the keep the 1x5 Technic plate alive, the rounded corners are very helpful sometimes ...
^ I remember that piece, it was used on truck cabs. The hole allowed a precursor to a Technic axle attached to a wheel block (https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=799c800&idColor=11T=S&C=11) to be connected to a steering wheel on the roof.
@sideswinger said:
"This is great! But I'm gonna be honest, the most interesting thing to me was the fact that POOP is a real LEGO term, and I've never even heard it!"
@Huw which brings,once again, a request for another article. Could we have an article on Lego AFOL's vernacular?
Most people will know MOC and SNOT, and now POOP; there are also BURPs, bley, FART, SNIR, SOTS(a variant of SNOT), SHIP, and SPU(or NPU). And I am sure I don't have all of them.
Clearly the 2x2 round have no businesses in that bin and must have been mocked at all the time (most likely for cutting around the corner!). All 2xn slimbricks have to move to the right and up; and the 1x5 will go at their true rightful place which is between the 1x4 and 1x6. Order will be restored and one can only look for good times after this wrong is sorted.
There is also a case for placing the 2x2 corner between de 1x2 and 1x3.... Although this one might be a source of philosophical debates.
Log into Brickset for the morning news.
Read a story about unwanted POOPs.
Good times.
To me, the fact that lots of sets have used the part 32124 "5-long 'Technic rotor, 2 blades'" as a 1x5 plate says to me this was needed. The most recent set I noticed it used this way is 10277 Crocodile Locomotive.
@HOBBES said:
" @sideswinger said:
"This is great! But I'm gonna be honest, the most interesting thing to me was the fact that POOP is a real LEGO term, and I've never even heard it!"
@Huw which brings,once again, a request for another article. Could we have an article on Lego AFOL's vernacular?
Most people will know MOC and SNOT, and now POOP; there are also BURPs, bley, FART, SNIR, SOTS(a variant of SNOT), SHIP, and SPU(or NPU). And I am sure I don't have all of them.
Clearly the 2x2 round have no businesses in that bin and must have been mocked at all the time (most likely for cutting around the corner!). All 2xn slimbricks have to move to the right and up; and the 1x5 will go at their true rightful place which is between the 1x4 and 1x6. Order will be restored and one can only look for good times after this wrong is sorted.
There is also a case for placing the 2x2 corner between de 1x2 and 1x3.... Although this one might be a source of philosophical debates."
https://www.brothers-brick.com/lego-glossary/
I fear no man. But that thing... It scares me.
@Huw, what drawers are those you use for storing parts with that perfect compartment tray in them?
"POOP"
P- People
O- Order
O- Our
P- Patties
Petition to rename plates Slimbricks, and bricks Fatplates.
I feel seen :D
Hopefully its not another 13 years before the 2x5 is introduced...
Or the 1x7...
For me, the 1x5 plate is a nice piece to exist for convenience, but it's not a piece that's drastically going to revolutionize the way I build. It'll be helpful for certain applications where a POOP substitution isn't strong enough.
Well having just read the Captain Underpants where he takes on Professor Pippy Pee-Pee Poopypants, this was the very next thing I read. Makes me wonder if Huw is really the secret identity of Dav Pilkey...
@moggy001 said:
" @Huw, what drawers are those you use for storing parts with that perfect compartment tray in them?"
You could be less subtle and simply ask Huw if he wears boxers or briefs.
@wiggy:
Ew?
@Brickodillo:
I'm guessing longer, and not as tall. And it might look a little more odd.
@Brickalili:
"SNAP INTO A SLIMBRICK!!!!!!!" So says the late Macho Man Randy Savage (yeah, you might not get that one in the UK).
@sideswinger:
It's an AFOL acronym, but enough AFOLs have been hired as set designers over the years that the company has certainly picked up on it (they even defined it during the first season of the US version of LEGO Masters).
I find it interesting that while system plates and bricks have generally been even lengths (1L and 3L aside), the technic liftarm beams are always odd lengths (the occasional 2L and 4L aside), which has made for some really interesting building choices. I've def noticed official set builds where they have to make a needlessly complicated 5L piece using 2L and 3L pieces, so I'm excited that 5L is joining the system family.
Forget the LEGO Inside Tour. I want to see the secret lab where they have developed that thing! Most probably by a brilliant German scientist they have captured during the war,
@Grahame said:
""The new 1x5 plate is exactly one stud smaller than the red 1x4 on the left" should be "The new 1x5 plate is exactly one stud longer than the red 1x4 on the left""
It is also one stud narrower and one stud shorter than a 2x6.
Awesome stuff.
Unless of course you are used to building Cobi sets that is, then it's old news to you.
;-)
@moggy001 said:
" @Huw , what drawers are those you use for storing parts with that perfect compartment tray in them?"
Really Useful scrapbook drawers, as reviewed back in 2015: https://brickset.com/article/15709/review-really-useful-scrapbook-drawers
I now use them exclusively and have around 100 drawers in stacks of various heights.
Finally, the smallest Pythagorean triple in LEGO.
@Huw Very interesting article regarding history of plates, I have often wondered why 1/2 size plates have not been made. A half size 1x2 brick is about standard brick size and would give my MOCs a better scale.
Still remember when boxes of slimbricks started to appear in my local toy shop, Redgates in Sheffield.
Still refer to them as slimbricks which confuses my son and some of my Lego chums.
I think we also need plates that are 1 1/2 length or width, to match halfway with jumper plates like 3794/15573, 34103, or 87580.
The 1x5 plate was very much needed in my opinion, to make stronger connections, rather than relying on those 1-stud connections like you would when stacking 1x2+1x3 or 1x4+1x1. Having 2-stud (or more) connections is so much better.
A 1x7 plate is not needed so much.
You covered everything but not the part number. Over at LDraw.org we are having a discussion if the entry in your database for Mini Genie Lower Part "No. 1" is wrong:
https://brickset.com/parts/design-18329
or the review at New Elementary:
https://www.newelementary.com/2021/05/lego-vidiyo-review-43115-boombox.html
which listed the same design number for: Plate 1 x 5 in White (6350399 | 18329).
Could you please just turn the plate and have a look?
I can do better than that: https://images.brickset.com/news/59409_P1052566.JPG
I had to take a photo to read it, it's so small and I'm old :)
It's 78329
Thanks Huw, much appreciated!
I'm now calling bricks New Fatplates.
Thanks for the review. I am still unsure if I want any of these plates.
If they turn up in a set I think I will just replace them with a row of five 1x1s and be done with them.
SNOT always makes me giggle.
POOP is a whole new level :-)
OMG ! Cobi shares will plunge now... They have the full range for a long time e.g. 1x5 and 1x7 plates.
@xccj :
There's a really obvious reason for that, though. Bricks were produced in mainly even lengths. Technic bricks were likewise produced in mainly even lengths. Pin holes in Technic bricks were placed between the studs, but this meant any even length Technic brick had an odd number of pin holes. When it came time to start making beams, they simply cut away the “brick” parts and cleaned up the resulting shape to produce the “beam” profile.
And technically 1x2 (thick w/ 2 pin holes) is the only even length beam, since anything that looks like a beam but has one or more axle holes is a liftarm.
Anyways, I won’t be satisfied until they produce a 1x100 plate, so I can slap binocs and a trans-clear cheese wedge on it and call it a SHIP.
I love how this article *almost* seems like a satire.
There have been several times where I’ve needed a 1x5 plate. Coincidentally, I’ve got a model now that could use them in white.
I’m sold!
Speaking of POOP, do we have a comprehensive POOP list on this site so I can view all of the POOPs? I'm familiar with some POOP, but I'm always eager to learn about new or uncommon POOP.
I would love a plate exactly half the length of this one.
Necessary? Not especially. Useful? Definitely.
@Tim_Johnson said:
"I feel seen :D"
Your site was made for this stuff
If Google search takes comments into account, this page might be the top result in a very different corner of the internet for a while...
Hello!
For my part, and one of my lives, I'd like to find that blue one with the axle hole in it. But I'll settle for a mixed bag of all of them. That's the most interesting discussion I've ever seen on Lego in years.
I'm missing one peace in the grid: the 8 x 11 plate (part no. 728). This peace has also an uneven number. Releases in 1962.
I guess it speaks volumes about my knowledge (or lack thereof) as I had no idea this part did not exist. Over 2000 sets dating back to 1979 and yet I had no idea. Perhaps I should just turn in my AFOL card now and go sit in the corner.
@mfsinger:
I don't remember the reason, but I've read that they aren't allowed to use odd length plates and bricks unless they're absolutely necessary. Secondary market prices support this, as they tend to be quite a bit more expensive than pieces even one stud longer just because you very rarely encounter a set that includes them in volume. Older mosaics with 1x1 square plates, and the second wave of mosaics with 1x1 square bricks were really the only exceptions that I can think of.