21046 Empire State Building with light kit from Lightailing
In the summer of 2021, Luca from www.lightailing.com offered to send me a lighting set from Lightailing for review.
I decided to use the lighting set (LGK315) for the LEGO Architecture Set #21046 Empire State Building, the set stands decoratively on my cupboard anyway and is a nice test object for additional LED lighting. So far I have no experience with pre-assembled light kits and I am looking forward to the delivery.
The lighting set for the Empire State Building costs 37 Euros in Lightailing's online shop and is rather a smaller set from Lightailing's wide range.
The delivery arrived
The lighting set contains the following components:
- Pre-assembled lighting set with integrated LEDs in LEGO bricks and LEGO parts required for installation.
- Battery box for three AA batteries with USB connection
- Illustrated instructions for installing the lighting kit
- General instructions on how to use the Lightailing lighting sets
- A multilingual promotional booklet
Everything is well packed in a small black box.
First test
Before installation, I test the lighting set. The LEDs are already built into the LEGO parts, everything is already wired. AA batteries in the battery box, connect, switch on. Done.
Everything works and the LEDs shine on the desk and the LED in the 2x2 round plate starts pulsating and flashing.
Laying the thin cables in the base plate of the set
The illustrated instructions show what all has to be put back in order to install the lighting and cables. First, the outer four spotlights are fixed to the base plate. Laying the cables around the studs is a bit tricky, but if you put in temporary fixings every now and then, even this challenge succeeds.
The other illuminated components are installed in the upper end of the building. Then you have to detach a long row of grille tiles to run the cable down along the facade.
Laying the thin cables in the facade
The cables are so thin that they fit well between the gaps in the grille tiles. The tiles on the base plate, under which the cables now run, stick up a little, but that doesn't bother me.
The conversion goes quickly, I don't need the step-by-step instructions, the principle is quickly clear.
The Empire State Building is certainly a simple candidate for retrofitting lighting. Lightailing offers much more complex and expensive lighting sets. The installation in larger sets should then also take correspondingly longer.
But now I'll let the pictures speak for themselves …
Empire State Building with light kit from Lightailing
Upper part of Empire State Building with light kit from Lightailing
Lower part of Empire State Building with light kit from Lightailing
From the helicopter perspective
Verdict
Lightailing lighting is a real asset for LEGO display models. In the truest sense of the word, they let the models shine in a whole new light.
Thanks to the pre-assembled LEDs with cables and modified LEGO bricks, handling and installation is really easy even for electronics laymen without experience with soldering irons. Of course, the thin cables are a bit tricky to handle, but they should not be conspicuous in the model later on.
Two points of criticism are allowed:
- The 8 LEDs of the lower 4 spotlights are very bright. The Empire State Building illuminated in this way almost becomes a full-fledged room lamp. I would like to see a dimmer here to be able to adjust the luminosity individually.
- The top LED in the viewing platform flashes and pulses in different colours. For me personally, this is too colourful and too fast. A much slower pulsation and only one colour would be more appropriate for this set. And since the lighting set is completely pre-assembled, it is probably not possible to convert it so easily.
On brickset.com you will find another Review: Lightailing Downtown Diner Kit using another Lightailing light kit.
But now a few impressions in black and white.
Impressionen in black and white
Impressionen in black and white
Impressionen in black and white
Thanks to Lightailing for sending the kit for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
