One good turn deserves another! The Volkswagen Camper Van is back again, this time with a new coat of paint and fitted out for a beach trip! We couldn't be more stoked - Surf's Up!
Light My Bricks has a lot of fond memories when it comes to VW auto sets. The T1 Camper was one of our first ever light kits, followed shortly by The VW Beetle. Back then LMB hadn’t develop more advanced components like our NC Push Board or Flicker Effects Board, so in comparison to more up to date kits, it may look a bit more stripped back! However the fundamentals of a great light kit are all there with the original T1 Camper Van and as a result that light kit is one of most popular to this day!
So having said all that, you can bet when LEGO announced the T2 we marked our calendars and counted down the days to release! Relishing the opportunity to show how our lighting skills have evolved in the release of the T1! In the meantime we wanted to know what differences there would be outside the obvious, between this beach babe and the original red rocket!
A surprising difference that caught us off guard, is the different in piece count. The T2 clocking in at almost a thousand bricks more than the T1, while only being marginally larger in physical size. This points to the overall increased level of detail in the T2, especially with the interior (more on that later) as well as the extra bricks and pieces like the surfboard and beach chairs etc.
Once the set arrived and the updated Camper Van had been built it was time to light it up! Our designers definitely took queues from the original campster, but were determined to take the lighting experience to the next level with this update with more than a fresh coat of paint!
A go to for all expert creator auto set’s is to implement one of our wildly popular NC Push Boards on the driver’s side door to control an interior light on or off. What instantly caught our design teams imagination with the T2 is that awesome functioning sliding door! Very quickly a decision was made to implement a second push board that would serve to control the lighting in the rear of the van while the drivers cabin interior light would be separately controlled by the original board.
It wouldn’t be camping without a portable stove right? A versatile Flicker Effects Board and trusty bit light made sure this camper van staple was lit up for dinner. Ingeniously, the stove light runs on a separate circuit to the interior lights - so is not affected by the doors opening or closing. Makes sense!
One challenge the team faced while designing the T2 light kit was navigating the reasonably small, but highly detailed interior space. More commonly a LEGO set will have wider open space to work, like with a Modular Building for example. Or a more traditional creator auto will focus on the exterior with head and taillights featuring more prominently like the Porsche 911. Much like an actual VW Camper Van, space inside is at a premium, so our team had to work their nimble fingers very diligently, in and around the bricks that made up camper’s kitchen!
What a blast (from the past) lighting up this peace loving flower power mobile! Before we go we have to highlight some of those final brick details, like the additional licence plates, surfboard and beach chairs. But most interesting is the canvas pop-top roof! We personally love this new non-brick LEGO innovation. What about you? Let us know what you think in the comments below, or tag us in your Camper Van posts on social media! Until next time… Surf’s Up!
