After many many days (24 of them in fact) the Home Alone house is finally finished so I thought I should share some photos of it, showing the details and preferably without a beer in it.
If you are interested in the actual build process here is the latest build post
But there was one more thing to do on this set - it was a lighting kit. Now I have seen these sorts of kits, mainly on instagram for a lot of Lego sets and I generally think they look pretty Naff, but if ever there was a set it suited, and a time of year it suited I thought it was this one. So I shelled out my 40 bucks, sent it over to Estonia, to a company called Game of Bricks and got back a tiny package of lights.
I must admit I was concerned about this, it looked complicated and fiddly and I didn't really think it was going to work, but we (myself and my wife who has tiny hands very useful for this sort of thing) spent a good two hours, plenty of wearing and doubting if it was a good choice and eventually we had the set all wired up and when we turned it on, well it worked (mostly) and it looks pretty good.
Here is a example of how small and delicate these wires are (they are designed to fit in gaps in Lego pieces so you know tiny.
Now I'm sure that people who know what they are doing think we have done an awful job, there is a lot of sticking wires to things, which means it's a one time only type of thing, and it could have been neater, and maybe not all of the lights actually work but I think we did okay, I mean here is a sense of the tiny spaces you are working in
But enough of the building, let's see some of the final product...
There are lights for for all of the internal rooms, the treehouse, the car, a strong of light along the front - it gives off a fair amount of light as well.
Some of the lights go within translucent pieces which is impressive.
Of course not all of them work, as you can see the right light is out here but I can't be bothered chasing down the connection
And the lights on this one are two different colours
These lights in the attic windows are particularly nice though
But enough with comments on the lights, let's see some details of the build itself...
Here is the man of the moment - Kevin standing in the upstairs hallway
His battleplan for defending the house from the Wet Bandits
The dining room, with particularly unusual chairs - these are connected to nothing, and have fangs for legs, also the turntable with the wig on it is impressive - it spins for the party scene.
The Kitchen is impressive with it's microwave, Little Nero pizza boxes, a fridge, which actually opens and has stuff in it - but weirdly all of this hidden, I've had to take the roof off for this shot.
And back outside we have a treehouse, complete with flying fox from the attic window
And of course Kevin's mom looking panicked - as she should
All in all it's an amazing set - not one I would have chosen (It is my wife's not mine) but it's really an very fun build with lots of cool little details, particularly if you know the movie well and as for the lighting set-up - well if you are into that sort of thing, and you have a set which is going to stay in it's build form for all time then it's worth the investment.
You've certainly put in the hours. Merry Christmas, you filthy animals :)
There's a light kit for the Mack Anthem I've been meaning to get. One of these days I'll make it happen.
Nice! It's great to see if finally done. I do like the lights; it definitely fits the season! I think it looks really nifty. And now that you've done it once you'll know how to do it next time you may use them.