It’s nearly Christmas, when twinkly lights are everywhere! So why not add some to your Technic sets? Reader Francesco Frangioja has done just that…

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When TLCB and Game of Bricks kindly offered me the chance to pick two light kits for 2020 vehicle sets, in addition to the LEGO Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger kit, which I chose because I’m a big fan of the Fast & Furious franchise, I also chose the LED kit for the LEGO Technic 42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R. Being Italian and an engine enthusiast, the choice was practically forced!

The lighting kit comes in a cardboard box, black and premium quality, which has only the logo of the manufacturer on it. Because TLCB and Game of Bricks have sent me two different kits, there was an additional identification (handwritten) tag with the number of the set in which to install the light kit itself (left-bottom corner). 

Inside the box I found: 

• Three numbered plastic bags with tiny LEDs stripes and the thin, very thin cables
• Two un-numbered plastic bags with the battery box, one “hub” to connect the single part of the LED circuit and the USB connector to connect the LEDs “circuit” to the battery box
• One booklet with the explanation of what each component is and its use/purpose

Also for this kit, as for the specific one for LEGO Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set, the actual building instructions are on Game of Bricks’ website, consisting of a series of “photographic” steps showing where to place the individual “light points” and how to organise (where they have to pass) the various wiring. 

Now that I’ve become familiar with the Game of Bricks system and had ways to practice with the tiny connectors I was able to follow the steps for this set very easily. 

The fist task is to install the elements included in the plastic bag No.1, by inserting the LED elements behind the trans-clear round tile in the front headlights, simply by “squeezing” them between the tile and the underneath Technic pin. To install these lights, of course, you need to remove the front fairing, not before applying the first of the connection strips behind the handlebars.

Compared to the kits of other manufacturers, the peculiarity of the kit from Game of Bricks is that only a few of the “light points” are glued into LEGO brick. In practice, only the bricks of set 42107 which have to be physically replaced with counterparts with the LED already wired and glued inside, have been inserted in the light kit. All other “light points” are realised by fixing the LED element between the transparent and to-be-illuminated LEGO element and the stud of the underlying piece.

The rear section was just as easy to manage; in plastic bag No.2 the envelope contains the LED elements to make the tail lights. Since the official set didn’t include brick-built ‘lights’, the Game of Bricks kit also contains the Technic Pins and the 1×1 trans-red round plates to build the rear taillights themselves.  

Once the wiring steps are completed, you need to attach the tiny connector to a “splitter piece”, also equipped with adhesive tape to fix it in the position indicated by the photographic instructions. The connector are very thin, so the use of a modeling plier can make the job easier. The cables, although very thin, are very resistant to traction and torsion. You just have to pay attention to the “scissors effect”: if you “staple” them too hard between brick and stud, you risk that they get cut. Therefore, you must always pay a lot of attention and procedures gently and carefully.

The third and last step is to install the parts which are in the plastic bag No.3: the LED strips which will provide the “halo” (light) effect, which will be applied under the frame and on the inside of the left and right sides of the fairing.

The battery box requires 3 AAA-LR03 batteries and includes a female USB connector. Once the installation is finished and all the LEDs are connected, the final result is really beautiful. 

Unlike the light kits I have tried before previously, the solutions of modular wiring and the interlocking of the lighting elements between the transparent bricks and the stud below implemented by Game of Bricks are perhaps the two most significant pluses: not having (or having just a few) bricks with pre-glued LEDs inside, you do not have to do too many replacements of parts of the official set for it to be illuminated. In addition, the modularity of the wiring also allows you to decide from time to time if and which lighting elements to insert and which not. 

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Thanks to Francesco for joining us here at TLCB to review the Game of Bricks lighting kit fo the LEGO 42107 Technic Ducati Panigale V4 R set, and if you’d like to light up your own Ducati head to the Game of Bricks website by clicking here!