a new construction system for playmobil...

[playmofire]

Please please someone tell playmoibil to make a 4 way playmobil connector for steck !!! needed for more grand desings !!!!! surely it w
ont cost them that much to make !!!!! 

They used to so they have the moulds.

[Gustavo]

(There's some of my thoughts written down here:
http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=4644.msg61148#msg61148 )

It should be pretty too ... Look at the attached pictures ...

"Nobody" is perfect: I miss a ground for the steck buildings ... It's useful; and I miss a pretty building for the system X buildings: the holes make the system look awful ... "legolike", come on! ...

Steck at least is pretty. And one of the central ideas of playmobil is to be good looking.

[cachalote]

:wow:my god indianna, how it helps to have you on board.
  you are quite right.
  i guess the rest of us got carried away by mechanics forgetting the obvious solution - yours.
soft rubber plugs could do the trick - small deep ones for the "yellow" holes and big flat ones for the "red" holes.
i really don't know what kind of rubber though.
rubber has a way of cracking with time and to dilate or contract easily with variations of temperature.
if this can be solved (do we have a chemistry engineer amongst us?) i can see just another problem - how can they fit tightly without "bellyng" out and, at the same time be rigid and extratable.

all this solves a big problem - there will be no need to send th the garbage the all system of plates, walls and connectors.
but maybe new parts can be added - smaller horizontal plates that fit inside the walls instead of outside, and walls with extra holes to receive this plates on their vertical faces instead of their vertical ones.
this could be introduced gradually so that, in a few years, the x-system would be perfect and good-looking.  

[playmofire]

But aren't more and more bits and pieces being added to the system?  Rubber plugs to fill the holes that have to be taken out when the piece is re-used for a different designed building.  Multiple connectors, too.  Steck is simple to join, that is a strength.  It is simple in what it offers in terms of types of walls, that is a weakness.  But combine the first, ease of joining, to a wider range of wall types and designs and you have something very different.

Here is an idea I'm working on:

http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=4677.0

[socrates]

i think i understand you totally socrates and i think everyone else does.
when i thought more or less on the same problem i thought at the same time on the walls - that's why i duplicated the 1.25 system on both heights (up and down) for the "new" 2 way connector.
my solution would of course mean new pices for everything and not the possibility to use the "old" walls.
it would mean thicker elements maybe, if base plates are to be used also with columns in their downside (does the word exist?).
i don't really know what to think.
to be able to use a lot of "old" elements would be great.
... but the need to "fill" holes is already present on some of the walls and in all the visible "thiknesses" of the base plates (specially when they are used as pavements above ground level)...
and a full modular system should imply holes in every facade at fixed "half-heights" or "quarter/3quarter heights" levels...
... so many problems.
... or maybe there is no perfect solution?
maybe my "radical" solution could be somthing like this (like the drawing) with a cube as the base module

I like your sketch, but I think, these are too much holes.
Especially, I think this would infere with the static of the pieces...
There is a  special piece from the space series with lots of holes... Well, a connector like this would not work with the new plugs...

best,
socrates

[socrates]

Possible solution for the SystemX holes:  Playmobil could make plugs to fill the holes from a soft plastic material (perhaps similar to the stuff they use for unicorn horns.)  The plugs could be in assorted matching and contrasting colors.  When it becomes necessary to remove the plugs, a screwdriver-type blade could be slipped in along the edge to pop them out. 

This is a very good idea, Indianna! 
For the rigid plugs I thought you could just push them out from the backside. Then they would be reusable. For soft plugs I would be afraid that they would deform and might be too soft for overweight klickies...
Soft would be definitely an option as well.

best,
socrates

[cachalote]

well, i am just a bnib collector (although i take out and assemble all my sets) and i really don't think i will ever use playmobil's custom-construction potential. 

when i directed my attention to system-x it was just because of 2 things:
- playmobil is not apparently interested in going back to steck; 
- steck has no base plates and it has no potential to create walls with different "inside and "ouside" finishes (i think iths geometrically impossible). 

having cleared my position i must add that i just looked at system-x the way i look at modular buildings when i have to create one in real" life (i am an architect). 
so, maybe i exagerated in the number of holes. 
but i think that an "independent" ground grid that could be attached both horizontally to ground plates and vertically to walls would be a better "playing" system-x. 
together with indianna's brilliant plugs (something that playmobil - through ds - could sell in bags filled with them) i think we could arrive to a well-balanced solution. 

a final word just to say that my only problem with system x is the need to complete one of the sides of the 7718 set (it came that way from the factory, with its "x-holed" "thickness" partially exposed  ) and the gradually-growing-in-size parts - that are making the most recent sets very quick to assemble, depriving me of that pleasure. 

[Indianna]

Gordon is quite correct to point out that plugs are just more and more fussy little parts to have to deal with.     I was thinking that the plugs would be optional - available through Direct Service as Cachalote suggests - but not necessarily to be included with each boxed set.  The idea is that they would be available as an add-on for folks who want them for a finished look on their projects.  I like Socrates's comment about rigid plugs that could be pushed out from behind - do any of the current SystemX base plates or wall pieces have holes on the back or underside that would accomodate some sort of pushing device?

[Giorginetto]

I am sorry for re stating my love for steck my hatred towards system x  but these holes everywhere make them very unrealistic and the only sets they were good for were the space stations etc . the latest pirates , royal prison for example looks aweful in system x , holes, holes and nothuing but holes. Steck houses are realistic and steck desings are easier to make. We should all sign a PARTITION and give it to playmobil to bring back steck !!!!!! 

[flatcat]

We should all sign a PARTITION and give it to playmobil to bring back steck !!!!!! 

A PETITION might be better

I haven't said anything yet, partly due to the fact that I don't think Playmobil needs anymore construction systems. Steck works well for castles and medieval structures, and System X works well for modern town buildings, shops etc.

As much as I despise System X, I do think it brings modern, clean lines to modern buildings (ignoring the horrid holes), and Steck give a nice oldy worldy feel for castles and medieval buildings which in my opinion, no other toy has achieved this.

I just think that sticking to these two systems (no stupid clicking systems) and just bringing out new sets and new exciting parts is the way forward.

But this is just my opinion