Review of the Briksmax LED Light Kit BX483 for Boutique Hotel

 

Hey brick fans, welcome back to Bricks and Figs!  Today I'll be reviewing the Briksmax LED light kit for the Lego Boutique Hotel.   As you can see from the picture above, the hotel looks amazing with all of the interior and exterior lighting.

Briksmax provided me with this awesome light kit to review so I wanted to share with you some behind the scenes shots of what goes into lighting up a modular building.   Check out their huge assortment of light kits on the Briksmax website.

Power Supply

If you've never lit up a Lego set, you might be wondering where the power comes from.

Briksmax provides a USB plug and battery pack (3 batteries required, but not included) to power all the lights in the kit.  If you don't want to use the double A battery pack, you can attach the USB plug directly into a USB power source.

The boutique hotel has an unused area in the corner, so I took the opportunity to make a small cubby to hold the provided battery pack and one of two first floor expansion boards.  This isn't required by Briksmax, but I thought it would make all the wires look less messy.  

Hotel Lobby, Art Gallery and Outdoor Bar

On the lower level I used a total of three 6 port expansion boards:

1.  for the streetlamp, hotel lobby ceiling and the upper floors of the hotel.  

2. for the room keys light and front entrance lights

3. for the adjoining art gallery and outdoor bar lighting

I placed one expansion board under the stairwell inside the first floor and the other sits outside behind the art gallery.  The boutique hotel came with a dumpster behind the art gallery, but I decided to remove it from my set so that I could accommodate the battery pack and expansion board.

Briksmax provides step by step instructions in the provided manuals, but I decided to freestyle my lighting runs.  In the pic above, I used my own 1x2 technic hole brick to feed the connecting wires from the power supply into an expansion port inside the building.  I did this to avoid crimping the wires under the bricks.

At this junction, power is distributed three ways:

1. Feed wire to the El cubo Art gallery expansion board and hotel main floor lighting expansion board (see the powers supply pic).

2. Feed wire to the wireless contact point between the first and second floor (see pic above).  I deviated from the instructions by placing all of my wireless contact pads for each floor in the hotel stairwell.  The wireless connectors supplies all of the power to light each floor of the hotel.

3. Exterior street lamp connection.

Briksmax provides a light-up streetlamp to replace the standard one that comes with the hotel.  The wiring for the street light is connected to the expansion board under the stairwell.

The wireless contact pad provides power to the art gallery ceiling light and it's dedicated expansion board.

See how the colour changing LED light transforms the static sculpture into a vibrant work of art.

The lighting for the El Cubo sign is a bonus add-on by Briksmax.

Here's the ceiling light strip for the art gallery ceiling. All the wires to light the outdoor bar terminate at the expansion board pictured above.

Here's the underside of the first floor ceiling.  The wireless connector feeds power to the light strip and then upwards to the next floor.

Hotel Second Floor

In their lighting kit, Briksmax provides LED lights for the desk lamp and bedside lamps (see orange circles), but I chose not to apply them, since my focus is just having the general interior lit up from the ceiling lights.

It's not pretty but here is the ceiling lighting for the second floor of the hotel.  Power from the wireless connector goes to an expansion board that connects the main LED light strip and three other LED dot lights.  In addition to the light strip, I put a dot light in the stairwell, the small bedroom and in the entrance to the larger bedroom. A wire feed will forward the power to the third floor.  I used my own circular gray pieces to hold the wires in place, but it's probably a cleaner look if you hide the wires under the long white plate pieces as per the Briksmax instructions.

Hotel Third Floor

The third floor wireless connector will power the ceiling lights and the light in the spire on the roof.

Briksmax provides led lights for the TV and bedside tables but again I chose not to use them opting only to use ceiling lighting.

For the third floor, I've placed dot lights on the ceiling bathroom, in the ceiling rotunda and in the stairwell, and the larger strip light all terminated to the expansion board.  The spire light on the rooftop also feeds down into the same expansion board.

The orange pointer shows you where the LED light is situated.

Summary

So here is a complete list of all the Briksmax components I used to light up the boutique hotel modular building.

- battery pack

- usb plug

- 5 expansion boards

- 4 strip lights

- 13 dot lights

- 1 colour changing dot light

- 1 light standard

- 4 sets of wireless connector pin/pads

Briksmax provides some substitute Lego parts to use as well.  I also supplemented these parts with my own to make it a bit more custom, but you can achieve the same results by just following the Briksmax instructions.  I can make use of the unused lighting parts in future building block sets.

As you can see, there's not a lot of exposed wires showing for the viewable areas.

Here's a few more shots in the dark around the hotel.

I didn't have any defective parts in my kit but if you did, Briksmax will send you free replacement parts if required.  I've used other LED light kits before Briksmax, but find that they give me the most flexibility in choosing what I want to install.  Their instructions are easy to follow as well.

If you missed my Briksmax lighting kit unboxing post, you can find it here.

Well, that's it, hope this post helped you to decide whether Briksmax is the right kit for your Lego lighting needs.  Bye for now!

Unboxing the Briksmax BX483 LED Light Kit for the Boutique Hotel

 

Hi brick fans!  Here's a quickie unboxing post about the new Briksmax BX483 LED light kit for the Lego Boutique Hotel.  Let's see what we get in the box that Briksmax has kindly provided to us to review.

Opening the light kit for the Boutique Hotel, everything is packaged and wrapped up nicely.

There are two instruction manuals, one user guide and a customer service card.  The manuals provide the detailed step by step instructions on how to integrate the light kit into your set. The user guide describes some of the components and how to attach them together.  The customer service card has contact information for assistance and if you need replacement parts for missing or damaged items.

All of the lighting apparatus is packaged in these static free pouches.

Pouches with the letter A contain the different LED lights, differentiated by the length of the attached wire.  Wire lengths typically come in 15cm and 30cm lengths.

Pouches that start with the letter B contain the brighter LED light strips which come in different lengths, either 4 stud or 6 studs long.

Pouches starting with the letter D contain the connecting wires and expansion boards for the LED lights.  There are different sizes of expansion boards and different lengths of connecting wires.  In my kit, the shorter 6 port expansion boards were incorrectly labelled as 8 port expansion boards.  The pouch should have said D01 instead of D02.

Pouches labelled with the letter F contain the wireless contact pieces which supply power to each level of the boutique hotel building without wires.

There is a pouch containing all the spare pieces you might need to modify your set to adapt the light kit to it.  If you are a Lego purist, you will be pleased to note that Briksmax provides real Lego pieces for the kit.   The pouch labelled D09/G01 contains the USB plug and adhesive pads for attaching the expansion boards to the building walls or ceilings.

Finally, pouch C02 contains the custom street lamp.  Pouch E06 contains the battery pack (uses 3 double As, not provided).  And also included in every light kit is this useful set of tweezers to handle small and delicate parts.

The Briksmax LED light kit is available through their website or their affiliated retailer Lightailing.com.  Use my discount code ITSNOTLEGO to save an extra 10% off your entire purchase.

In my next post, I'll review the installation of the Briksmax BX483 LED light kit into my boutique hotel.

Today's Review: JMBricklayer 30001 Remarkable Ancient Machine (3-in-1) Building Set

 

Hey brick fans,  I'm excited to show you another new not Lego building block set!

Who is JMBricklayer?

Today's set is brought to you by  JMBricklayer, whose sets are manufactured by the Shenzhen Aifu Network Technology Co. Ltd.   According to their website the company was founded by a group of "building set freaks" who wanted to create their own brand of bricks of the coolest products.

You can find so many of their unique building block sets on the JMBricklayer.com website.  

You can also find their products on the JMBricklayer Amazon store.  This store is targeted towards U.S. customers.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, this and certain other sets are 30% off between Nov.24 and Nov 28.   

👉 Regarding the details of the JMBricklayer promo, I've just been provided more information which you can find on my Alt Brick Deals blog site.

Big thanks to JMBricklayer for providing this set to me and as always, I aim to provide a thorough and unbiased review.   Ok, let's get into it!

The Brand:  JMBricklayer

Set name: 30001 Remarkable Ancient Machine 3-in-1

Theme: Civilization Medieval Times

Number of Pieces: 568

Age rating: 8+

Stickers:  None

Printed parts: None

Minifigures: None

Missing or deformed pieces:  None

Cost: $39.95 USD 

Where to get it:

 👉 JMBricklayer Online Product Link:  https://www.jmbricklayer.com/product/3-in-1-medieval-weapon-30001/

 👉 JMBricklayer Amazon Store Product Link: https://amzn.to/3UXXXN8

About the set, it is a adaptable mobile weapon one would find during the medieval times.  It's sheer size would strike terror in the hearts of those who would choose to get in the way of the advancing army.

You can build it three different ways depending on your weapon of choice. The options are:

1. The Catapult

2. The Projectile Cannon

3. The Ballista or Giant Crossbow

In this review, I will build all three versions and provide my opinion on which weapon I like the best.   See if you agree!

What's in the box?

The sealed boxed set arrived in fairly decent condition all the way from China.

Inside the box, one finds a colourful 153 page instruction booklet comprising 316 steps in total, eight large bags of bricks and technic parts and four gigantic wheels.  While the bags are numbered, they don't correspond directly to any steps in the instructions.  You basically have to open all of the bags up at the beginning to start your build.

The most important pieces of the set in my opinion, because without the rubber bands, the 3-in-1 models would not function properly.  There are four different sizes that control the amount of tension each weapon needs to operate.  While only two rubber bands of each size is ever used per model, JMBricklayer.com has included one extra rubber band of each size in the event of breakage.  More details about the rubber bands below.

Also the proprietary brick separator proved to be indispensible when separating the parts to build the next version of the model.

I want to mention that the brick quality and clutch is excellent.  I've included a pic for your reference so you can examine the quality for yourself.  Despite building and re-building the different versions, the bricks and technic pieces held up well in my opinion.

I started building the weapons in the order listed in the instructions but you may choose to build them in any order you want.  Here's the breakdown of the pages and steps for each weapon you may want to build:

V1 Catapult: pages 1 thru 54, steps 1 thru 116

V2 Projectile Cannon: pages 55 thru 109, steps 117 thru 229

V3 Ballista/Crossbow: pages 110 thru 150, steps 230 thru 312

Besides building the weapons, there are also instructions to build the target:

Target: pages 151 thru 153, steps 313 thru 316.

Version 1: The Catapult

So first up is the Catapult, which will be used to launch projectiles.  I believe the technical term for this medieval device is called an onager, which is a torsion powered sling with a bucket at one end.  

Here is the base and the sling arm.  Because this was my first version of the build, I think I ended up inadvertently using the larger sized rubber bands which did not propel the projectile as far as I would have liked.

As mentioned earlier, there are 4 different sizes of rubber bands, ranging from the smallest 1.6 cm to the largest 4cm in diameter.  I've provided a list of the rubber bands used for each weapon below.

Catapult (V1): page 27, step 64 - 1.6cm x 2

Catapult (V1): page 50, step 112 - 2.4cm x 2

Projectile Cannon (V2): page 85, step 179 - 3.2cm x 2

Projectile Cannon (V2): page 104, step 224 - 2.4cm x 2

Ballista/Crossbow (V3): page 146, step 308 - 2.4cm x 2 / 4cm x 2

Here's a close look at the bucket with black projectile in the "sprung" position.  

Here's is the projectile ready to be catapulted.  Pushing down on the green levers will release the tension and fling the arm upwards.  As you can see, I probably used the wrong size rubber band, as there doesn't seem to be enough tension.  It still worked, mind you, it just didn't lob the projectile as far as I wanted.

The pictures on the JMBricklayer website do not truly portray the size of this gigantic rolling medieval weapon.  Here is a look at one of the wheels.  I made this stopper from the extra parts to prevent the catapult from lurching forward whenever I tried to launch a projectile.

And here is the completed catapult complete with spikes and chains!.  The sand blue and light green accent pieces go nicely with the brown and nougat brick and technic pieces.

To give you a sense of scale, I've placed some of my minifigures interacting with the medieval weapon.

Those soldiers and civilians unlucky enough to be captured will have their severed heads hurled back to the enemy!  Yes, I had too much fun building and playing with the catapult.

It's too bad the set doesn't come with some medieval themed minifigures, because it's a lot more fun to pose (and launch) them with the gigantic weapon.

Here's all the extra parts left over after building version 1.

Version 2: The Projectile Cannon

Before you can build each version of the weapon, you have to pretty much disassemble the entire model.  That's where that brick separator is really needed.

The structure of the projectile cannon has a different layout and therefore the base needs to be rebuilt.

Projectile cannon is firmly attached to the base.

A projectile is placed inside the cannon.  When the trigger is pulled back and released, the projectile is fired from the cannon.

Here is the projectile that you build for the cannon.  Unfortunately, it kept getting stuck in the muzzle every time I pulled the trigger.

The good thing about having a large army is that the soldiers are expendable.  Here's a good volunteer practising to be a human cannonball.

During testing the vehicle kept rolling forward as I pulled the trigger, so like the catapult, I had to put the stoppers on the wheels to prevent the forward momentum. Also I found that the trigger would not stayed locked down, so you pretty much had to hold the machine in one hand and operate the cannon sling with the other.

We seem to have lost our volunteer soldier after his unfortunate ejection test, so here is his replacement, the Executioner.

Version 3: The Ballista (Giant Crossbow)

Once again, we have completely disassembled the projectile cannon and are moving on to building the Ballista (crossbow).

With the Ballista/crossbow completed, it's time to load in a deadly projectile spear.

You definitely do not want to be in this position when the projectile is launched.  The giant crossbow was clearly the winner over the other two weapons in terms of effectiveness.  The projectile arrow could be loaded and cocked, ready to fire.  When launched, it easily shot across the room.  And I didn't have to lock down the wheels to fire the projectile.

There is no way Lego would ever make this deadly crossbow, but boy it sure is way more fun than shooting those puny Lego stud shooters. 

Clearly the nobles and foot soldiers have found their favourite weapon.  Time to raid, pillage and loot!

Final thoughts!

I tried to take videos of me launching the projectiles for each version of the set, but found I really suck at it.  That and the machine kept rolling away on me.  Also, I was a terrible shot and missed the target every single time. So, yeah, sorry no videos this time.

I thought that this Medieval weapon set was very unique as I've not built anything like this before.  It would really look great in a Lego castle diorama , protecting the fortress.  The bricks are top notch and brick clutch is excellent.  The choice of colours really enhances the set as well.

The weapons machine rolls too well, so much that I had to put stoppers in front of the wheels to stop it from rolling forward while trying to launch the projectiles.  

The wheels, front and sides didn't change too much over the three versions of machine.  I would have liked to have seen a common rolling platform, where you only needed to build the desired projectile weapon and attach it on top.  Oh, and add in a braking mechanism to park the vehicle, as it were.

From a weapons effectiveness perspective, I had the most fun with the Ballista/Crossbow, then the Catapult, followed by the Projectile Launcher.   Maybe it would have been better if I had used the right rubber bands, I dunno.

How to improve this set?  Throw in some minifigures, of course!  But, yeah I know that most sets are not including the minifigs, because they don't want to incur the wrath of Lego.

How awesome would it be to have all three versions of this set instead of having to build and rebuild?  Even better with 30% off!

The limited sale is only from Nov 24 thru Nov 28th 2022, so act fast if you want your 3-in-1 Ancient Weapon machine!   Other selected products are also reduced by 30% during the sale period.

For the complete details of the JMBricklayer.com sale, visit my other site 

👉 Alt Brick Deals.blogspot.com

So which weapon version did you like the best and why?  Please let me know in the comments below.

And thanks again for visiting Bricks and Figs, see you next time!

Don't forget to check out some of the other Lego alternative brands here.