LEGO® has a new(ish) stick that I've been wanting to have a poke about with: Bar 6L with Stop Rings, Double Bent or, as LEGO call it, Shaft 6 Module, w/ Flange (part 7078). Staggeringly, it's been available for a year already and I haven’t had a chance to properly shake this dog leg yet!
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Poking about with a bent stick
So far, part 7078 has been used as drainpipes, broomstick handles, trunks of potted trees, bent lampposts and more. There's probably an effective wheelbarrow handle or throbbing motorcycle exhaust that could be made from these too? Pipes on Star Wars ships are a given!
At the time of writing, this 6L bent bar is only available in 12 sets and after initially only coming in black and reddish brown, it has recently appeared in dark bluish grey and lime too. Currently it is available on LEGO® Pick a Brick (PaB) but only in those two initial hues.
element 6519109
Search PaB forelement 6537964
My greeble sensors tell me that this would be a phenomenal addition to my collection in both of the greys and maybe dark orange as well. I imagine any of the greens would please LEGO® Botanicals folks too. Hopefully we will see more colours in the not too distant future.
But in the meantime, I’m going to experiment with this bent stick and see if I can make it fit wherever I'm inclined to poke it. How much trouble I get into, remains to be seen.
Analysis
Toby did a quick analysis of Bar 6L with Stop Rings, Double Bent in his review of the June 2025 LEGO® Friends sets. I've only really succeeded in replicating his findings, but it is mostly its novel angle that I want to explore in my MOCs.
As Toby discovered, part 7078 is 5 bricks high, which is 6 modules. The kink is a ½ module step-over, and extends for one brick in height. This results in an angle of 22.6°.
There is some similarity with the horse hitching (2397, 49134) from 1987, which is two plates higher at one end. The difference in height of the two ends of the bent bar is approximately 1¼ plates, so their angles obviously don't result in a match.
These combinations were the most pleasing: Plate Special 1 x 2 with Angled Handles on Sides (92692, above left) has a very similar angle, and using four bars with Lattice 3 x 6 Module with Studs (23444, above right) results in a 3x3 square.
Then, playing around with simple clip attachments gave me the idea to introduce larger tiles into my experiments.
Then I got a little carried away with some tablescraps.
Initially the idea of a thin wing for a ship appealed to me. It presented possibilities for something I felt might be a bit different in looks. The new 4x4 triangle tiles (7975) intrigued me when attached at that unusual 22.6° angle. Spacing the construction out a little using some wedge plates to 'fill in' created what I thought might be a potentially interesting plan view.
Now I was fully into the building process – that frenzied, 'conceive, hunt, try, abandon, modify, test, move, harvest from other models and sets, dig out long forgotten boxes' phase.
MOCs
Even from the outset, I knew this would become a spaceship.
Although the new big triangles (here I tried the striped versions from 75441 Venator-Class Attack Cruiser) are set at an unusual angle, they still create a delta wing arrangement. In order to better close the gap between the wings and the body of the ship I slanted the wings downward (anhedral) and that was quite pleasing too.
Another new part that makes some of the following construction possible is the "ring pop" (5264). That clever clip enabled me to mount plates on top of the bar.
Now working in light bluish grey, I mounted the classic train window (4035) upside down, again using ring pops with a cheese slope on top, and that whole assembly just gently tucked behind two saucers (38799) at the front, making the canopy secure.
All this activity eventually produced this little spaceship. It's kind of moth-shaped, I think.
Some new wheels that first appeared in set 11370 Creel House (see Elspeth's review of the LEGO Stranger Things house) make excellent rocket boosters. The six spoke divisions are really visually appealing to me.
I love light bluish grey, but even I felt my design needed that splash of colour it had earlier. I added red parts that highlighted a big 'A' shape hiding there in the construction.
With its red livery, I decided to name this thing the Cinnabar after the beautiful moth. I guess that makes the grey one a Clouded Silver, or the Silver Cloud?
On the path to adding colour, I had messed about with other versions and variations based on the same basic construction idea. I would like to build a whole family of these ships, but I felt a little restricted by the current availability of 4x4 triangle tiles.
At time of photography just two colour options for part 7975 were available, plus the printed option, but August and September sets have brought us 3 further colours! The full range is currently:
- 4x in Bright Light Blue (6619271) in 43011 Lionel Messi – Football Highlights, and also available on Pick a Brick
- 8x in Light Bluish Gray (6585110) in 75442 The Mandalorian's N-1 Starfighter, 2x in 76354 S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, and also available on Pick a Brick
- 2x Light Bluish Gray with Vertical Dark Red Stripes print (6594310) in 75441 Venator-Class Attack Cruiser
- 2x Light Bluish Gray with Horizontal Dark Red Stripes print (6594311) in 75441 Venator-Class Attack Cruiser
- 2x in Dark Blue (6636257) in 72165 Umbreon vs. Garchomp Championship Battle
- 15x in Black (6636642) in 76355 Batman Returns Batmobile
- 2x in Dark Bluish Gray (6612508) in 11385 Star Trek: U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 Bridge
So sadly, other coloured versions will have to wait until I get hold of them!
Having made a spaceship as usual, I also invented this grey-breasted, kinky-legged wader. He's an odd bird, but with such bendy legs, I think that's fair enough.
The poor guy has cheesy feet too! To be specific, corner cheese (7826).
I wasn't finished table-scrapping though, I also built a microscale pod racer. I thought the staggered bar made a pretty good approximation for the attachment cables.
While I was in Star Wars territory, I experimented with a Republic era powered glider-type contraption.
Although the bent bars are visible here, I'm not sure how essential they are to this particular build.
I still felt that I hadn't explored the zig-zag of the bar quite enough. I wanted to find something else...
Further table-scrapping resulted in a silly metal detector, which gave my red spaceman 'detector envy' and inevitably meant that my Classic Space inverted radar dishes picked up some familiar signals.
However, in this configuration, the bent bars point inward towards each other (rather than being parallel). The wedge plates mounted on top are not employing reflected geometry (because the wedge angles are different) but the connection here does promote a similar anhedral tilt for the wings.
The eagle-eyed among you will probably have noticed the new baby fin – Wing 1 1/2 x 1 x 1 (8193) – lurking in there. Please see our recently published article about using part 8193 by Tom Loftus for a full analysis of this new and fantastically useful new part.
Again, the design hides the kinky bar but I don't think either this Classic Space ship or the delta wing moths would work quite the same without that unique angling of their wings.
Closing thoughts
Prices are not excessive for these bars; in the UK, PaB has them for 35p and while BrickLink prices start a little cheaper, they do quickly creep up from there to the more extortionate end of the scale.
One final quick modification to allow a spaceman onboard my new ship makes me hope that the lovely 2x1 slope (5404) will at some point appear as a 2x2 (and that furthermore, they'll print a Classic Space logo on it), and that in turn makes me wish once again for a 2x2 cheese grater. Maybe these are just bent pipe dreams, like my desire for a new standalone space theme.
In the end, it wasn't really just the kinky bar I explored here. Other recent parts included these:
- Equipment Cup / Teacup Saucer with Recessed Stud on Top [PLAIN] (38799)
- Wheel 11 x 11 with Pin Hole, Stud (5806) – these are currently only available in two sets: the big LEGO® Technic 42240 Aston Martin F1 and a small LEGO Technic magazine cover mount, 951325 Go-Cart
- Wheel 14mm D. x 9.9mm with Centre Groove Fake Bolts Large and 6 Spokes (5807)
- Ring pops a.k.a. Plate Round 1 x 1 with Hollow Stud and Underside Clip (5264)
- Big triangle tiles a.k.a. Tile 45° Cut 4 x 4 (Triangle) (7975)
Although I used the wheels in a more cosmetic way than the others, I'm very pleased to see the beginnings of a new family of parts. These wheels seem to be a natural continuation of the LEGO® Speed Champions wheels (66727 and 18976 that preceded them).
As for the 7078 bar, it may be a step to the side, but it's not actually proven to be all that kinky – at least not in subverting what I usually build out of LEGO bricks. However, new 3.18mm bars like this and the growing collection of parts that work well in conjunction with them (like the 5264 ring pops) are offering me options for how I approach my LEGO MOCs, and that is something I hope continues to provide new challenges and opportunities for exploration!
If you have enjoyed this content, please let us know in the comments.
READ MORE: Throwback to the 2017 introduction of another useful 3.18, the “Stud with Bar” (32828)
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