LEGO Motorised Lighthouse #21335 Review & Lighting Journal

"Follow the light to a truly moving experience.' - LEGO.

The LEGO Motorised Lighthouse #21335 was a truly welcome surprise after a string of movie and game-inspired sets.

The LEGO Motorised Lighthouse set was met with a lot of excitement from the Light My Bricks team as it is a callback to the classic days of LEGO, where you could just build for fun without worrying about recreating an exact replica of something on-screen. It’s for this reason that the LEGO Ideas series consistently produces some of our favourite sets!

With a hefty 2065 LEGO pieces in the set, it's one of the biggest LEGO sets currently available. The set allows you to shine your creativity with a buildable lighthouse that includes a pier with steps, a cave, and a lighthouse keeper's cottage.

Recommended for LEGO builders 18 and over, this set also comes with 2 Minifigures, a sailor, a lighthouse keeper, and a cat and seagull to bring the scene to life. The sailor also has a buildable rowing boat to explore the coastline.

This set is also unique because it is one of the first (and currently only) LEGO sets that uses new motorised lighting components... How's the nerve from LEGO trying to take our jobs by including their own lighting features? However, we can confirm that they should stick to the LEGO side of things and leave the lighting to the experts (us).

Even though this LEGO set comes with over 2000 pieces, the build itself is actually quite simple. With 404 glorious instruction pages, you'll be able to build this lighthouse in no time. However, we recommend not rushing the build, as some very intricate and small pieces require tender care.

LEGO added a nice touch to the lighthouse with some removable elements. This LEGO Motorised Lighthouse #21335 set allows you to remove a part of the back of the tower, revealing a staircase to the top, and you can also lift off the cottage roof to view the detailed interior and discover a treasure chest in the cave.

This is one of those sets where the reveal is just as good as the build. First, seeing all the different pieces come together to create a fully functioning lighthouse is impressive. Then, once you've added the batteries, watch in amazement as the beacon at the top of the lighthouse starts to rotate and light up the night.

Now that we've had a chance to build and test out the LEGO Motorised Lighthouse, it's time to put it to the ultimate test...

LIGHTING IT UP!

We're not going to lie to you; lighting the LEGO Motorised Lighthouse was a little troublesome. Especially because LEGO included their own lighting elements, and we had to find a way to work around them. But, we're nothing if not resourceful here at Light My Bricks, so we found a way!

First things first, we wanted to replace the dim lights initially included in the set to make a real beacon of light. To do this, we needed to almost wholly tear the model apart to access the battery box that powered the lights and the rotating tower. However, we have a custom Powered Up Cable that we have used for motorised sets in the past, and hoped it would work here. So we swapped the LEGO cable with with ours, and it worked perfectly. The motor is still on, and our lights are powered.

Afterward, we placed several types of spotlights around the base for the water. Eventually, we decided on their final placement, where they would fully cover the water areas without being distracting. We also added a cool White Bit Light under a Dark Green Trans Stud for a nice murky cave effect.

We then swapped LEGO's fireplace light for our Large Orange Bit Light connected to a flicker effects board that mimics a functioning fireplace. We also added an orange candle to the flicker board and yellow light to the outdoor oil lantern that fills the front of the scene. We used wireless power connectors for the house roof that power the yellow lantern, so you can look inside easily without cables.

We felt that the tower needed something in the windows, so we found a good way to clip a White Led onto the ladders of each level. They complimented the lighthouse beautifully and gave it a homely feel while still being able to remove the back panels to view the interior.

Now, the problem child... the rotating beacon. Technically we tried to light it first but decided to return to it later. We tried many types of bricks and lights to find the best solution and found that a Large Cool White Light inside a black round brick was the best at projecting the light directly into the mirror sticker LEGO provided. The luminosity of this light was comparable to the bright shine of an actual beacon and had no problem spinning with the motor.

Finally, we decided we needed an extra white spotlight as there was a dark spot next to the house. This filled out the space and completed the lighting kit.

We found the lighting additions themselves easier than trying to take instructional photos for our Light My Bricks customers. LEGO decided to stack many levels of plates and bricks on each other and the entire tower. We could only imagine the frustrations of LEGO and Light My Bricks builders who didn't have infinitely clear instructions to follow. We had to juggle components and route them in the easiest way we found, so the customer did not get too frustrated when installing. We go through the pain, so they have a more enjoyable experience. You're welcome.

The LEGO Motorised Lighthouse is a beautiful set, no doubt about it. Even with the challenges we faced through the building and lighting process, we couldn't be prouder of the final result. This LEGO set is the perfect addition to any seaside-themed LEGO collection!

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