Someone's turned LEGO 10334 Retro Radio into a working radio

It was only a matter of time but just over six months after the launch of LEGO 10334 Retro Radio, it has been turned into a working radio device.

Ahead of its release last June, 10334 Retro Radio impressed in our early review with the integration of the next-generation sound brick as well as the phone functionality to play your music. Unfortunately, both features lacked either compatibility with the rest of the build's features or the ability to work as a functional radio.

As standard, the set includes functional knobs that interact with the sound brick and a space at the bottom of the build to store a smartphone. Sean-uk on Reddit has made use of this spare area to expand the base functionality massively and unsurprisingly, you'll need more than the pieces provided in the box.

By adding a Raspberry Pi computer (not included in 10334 Retro Radio) and replacing the sound brick element with a custom configuration, they've figured out how to combine the two base features into one, adding the ability to play custom music and change it using the knob, instead of taking their phone out when they want to change the tune.

"I think with a bit of fiddling on the code side of things, you could make it flip through internet radio channels too which would add even more authenticity to it," suggests the aptly-named Admirable-Radio-2416 in the comments.

Sean-uk acknowledged this suggestion, responding; "Yes, that would be a great addition! The build instructions show how to get the button working with Python code, so you can use it to trigger pretty much anything from there."

They detail the process and exactly what you need over on their website, including how they replaced the sound brick to keep the functionality and the code required for the Raspberry Pi computer. Note that soldering and more skills are required, but the results should be worthwhile.

It's fascinating to see the lengths the LEGO community and other online communities will go to expand the official offerings of sets. Theoretically, this process might be able to customise 76429 Talking Sorting Hat too. 10334 Retro Radio is available now for £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99.

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