Tower Bridge piece count change

brickboiler

Was at work tonight and noticed the Tower Bridge box now says 4295 pieces, instead of the 4287 pieces listed on the one I have (and listed on Brickset). Just curious if anyone else has noticed the change, and where the extra 8 pieces came from, why the change, etc...

prof1515

Lego probably had some complains about stability in part of the model and did a slight redesign to address it. They've done it before with other sets and I'd guess that's what they did with this model.

patrickbrans

8 white 2x4 plates have been added.
Change in instructions attached :)

nkx1

^Wow, I can't believe you were able to find that! Great job. I wonder why the change? Visually and structurally, the difference is negligible.

It's odd that they chose to still incorporate two 1x2 blue pieces in the center of the assembly on the new instructions, considering those two pieces are not visible from the exterior and they do nothing structurally. My guess is that it was too difficult for whatever reason to omit those pieces from the revised model, so they chose to incorporate them into the build (in a rather odd fashion). Or maybe imperfect software was used to revise the instructions causing that oversight.

I haven't yet built my copy yet (it's still sitting on a shelf in the box), so I have no idea where this assembly goes on the model, but the old version seems more uniform to me.

Si_UKNZ

I noticed today that my TB box doesnt have a piece count on the front - the older ones used to.

LegoFanTexas

The same thing was done to UCS Falcon...

The original set had 5,195 parts, the revised set had 5,197 parts.

I never did figure out where the two extra parts went.

maques

If someone sends me both version of this UCS Falcon, I will do the hard part... :-)

Bobflip

I'll do it for one version.

SumoLego

(It's a sausage and a 1x1 tile cookie.  'Cause Wookie like cookies.  And the MF is a complete sausagefest.  Even the hairy guy is a dude.)

https://youtu.be/X-4la8Go3ys

waynegg

patrickbrans said:

8 white 2x4 plates have been added. Change in instructions attached :)

So, essentially, 16 of the 24 1x2 blue plates are now useless bricks which are thrown into the build in lieu of removing them from the design?

SumoLego

Appears that way.  Burying the 1x2s inside the white tower caps seems like a complete waste.

Aanchir

SumoLego said:

Appears that way.  Burying the 1x2s inside the white tower caps seems like a complete waste.

Maybe it's cheaper logistically to just add the new parts than to add the new ones AND remove the old ones. Also, those 1x2 plates are in a rare-ish color so removing them might have reduced the set's value as a parts pack, if only by a little.

leemcg

Seems to me that it won't be very easy to remove those 2x4 plates...

Lyichir

I just realized a possible reason for the change. The new version of those 4x4 inverse slope pieces has holes in the bottom! It's possible that the addition of 2x4 white plates was just a matter of filling those in.

leemcg

I think that is a good explanation. 

TigerMoth

The simplest reason for not removing the obsolete parts is that it means they don't have to coordinate the change in contents with the change in instructions. Once they've changed the packing machines, it doesn't matter if there are still copies from older print runs. A handful of plates isn't going to break the bank and is a small price to pay for the alternative potential headache.

Paperballpark

The version I have is the older version without the 2x4 plates in white, and the 2x2 inverse slopes have the holes in, so you can see through to the 1x2 blue plates if you really try hard enough. TBH it never bothered me. I suspect they just left those in as it would have been too much hassle to remove them.

playwell

Speaking of tower bridge any more news on Big Ben?