When it rains it pours! LEGO have released yet another awesome automobile set, hot on the heels of the Ferrari 488 GTE! While the former was a Technic builders delight, this time around we’ve got our hands on an Expert Creator model - the sleek Porsche 911 10295.
Appealing to a slightly different audience, the Expert Creator auto models contain a considerable amount more detail than a Technic set, though less ‘engineering’. Built more for display, they are a joy to build… and of course to light!
Now mentioning detail, the Porsche 911 is on another level! Moving gearstick, emergency brake and adjustable seats. We’ll definitely want to get in there for a play around once it’s built… will most likely need an interior light to see what’s going on! ;)
Our design team got underway quickly with this one, after the epic project that was the Colosseum, everyone was turbo charged for a faster build time and away they went.
Now the main question or challenge the team faced was the interesting option of building the 911 as the Turbo or Targa models! We don’t think a LEGO set has faced us with this challenge before and we met it head(lights) on. While the Targa option is effortlessly cool (who hasn’t imagined themselves driving one of these with the top down?) we are partial to power here at Light My Bricks, so Turbo it was going to have to be!
Finally if the 911 didn’t already offer enough interesting build options, the set comes complete with three different kinds of number plates! Japanese, European and New York. All very cool, like the car itself, but we couldn’t resist those European plates.
Once the build was complete it was time to tackle the design of the lighting kit. Again, the main question the team faced from a design point of view was how to give the Light My Bricks audience the option to light both modes, more on that a bit further down.
When it came time to light those iconic headlights, the team knew something unique was going to be required - a single standard bit light certainly wasn’t going to cut it! First they tried several large bit lights, which are usually reserved for a challenge such as this. The result was definitely bright-er, but still not suitable for the show stopping classic car.
The lead designer then began to get a strong sense of deja vu... “feels like we’ve been here before with needing a custom solution for an iconic headlight?” He was of course referring to the Lamborghini Sian! Which saw the team work side by side with our manufacturing partner to produce the now famous 48 LED light bar! The decision was made there and then to call them up and see what they could do to produce an ultra bright Porsche 911 headlight.
A much quicker process this time around, the team whipped through several prototypes before landing on the final completed component. The finished headlights each contain 14 LEDs, arranged in such a way to produce a steady ring of light. Fit to light up any dark highway the touring car might find itself on!
With such an awesomely detailed dashboard, a working interior light was an absolute must. Light My Bricks automobile fans will already be very familiar with our NC Pushboard, but for and LEGO lighting hobbyists who are new to our products, the NC Push Board is made up of a tiny circuit board measuring 10mm x 10mm, featuring both and IN and OUT ports and of course, a push trigger. When connected to power via the IN port, once the trigger is engaged or pushed in, it will cut power to whichever lights are connected to its OUT port. So, perfect for a working interior car light! Checkout that moveable gearstick!
In terms of choosing between lighting the Turbo or Targa options, there is very little to do from a lighting point of view. Simply a matter of repositioning the interior light down to where the gearbox is located. However, from a build point of view, there is a little bit of work to be done with those extra LEGO bricks. So we’d advise selecting your favourite mode before undertaking the assembly.
Finally, it was important for us to highlight those ultra-cool European plates. But in a subtle way - you don't put bumoer stickers on a Ferrari and you don't put neons on a Porsche! We switched out these tail bricks and with some open stud replacements, which allowed our trusty bit lights to work their magic!
And there we have it! A really cool, unique Expert Creator automobile. We’d never produced a kit like this before, allowing for two different build options and we relished the challenge! Which option will you light up? Let us know via social media! race you there, vroom vroom!