PlaymoFriends
General => Report & Review => Topic started by: playmofire on September 20, 2016, 13:45:37
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I recently bought some of the re-issued Victorian street lamps from Playmobil Direct Service, and here's a brief review.
The lamp costs £4 and comes in 4 parts in its sealed plastic bag. Assembly is easy with the lamp glass just sliding in to the lamp frame and the lid and base just clipping on.
The base has three clips which hold the body in place.
The hole in the base of the "glass" and the top of the column is square, but that doesn't stop an LED fitting in it if you want to have the light working. In the picture, the LED is taken from a Playmobil train set.
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The wires from the LED can be simply fed down the column of the lamp and out the side, although you will have to cut a slot in the base for this. Alternatively, if you are planning to fix the lamp to, say, a station platform, you would drill a hole through the base and the platform and run the wires through those to a power supply.
There is some appropriate detail moulded into the sides of the base of the lamp column, and for those with a steady hand and good eye, this could be highlighted with brush or pen in gold or some other suitable colour. The two circles on the column, btw, are greatly exaggerated by the lighting in this picture. In real life, they are barely visible and certainly not noticeable.
As regards size, this is the lamp alongside a standard 7.5cm Playmobil figure, with her boyfriend showing off to the camera.
For those who want actual figures, the height is approx 18.5cm or 7 and one eighth inches.
Overall, a nice addition to a station or street scene.
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Great review
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Thanks for that review, playmofire! I loved the show-off guy!
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Thanks for the review. Time for some Narnia dios.
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I just got two of these, but I need four at least. It looks like the old ones were powered by battery. I don't know if I will attempt electrifying them.
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I just got two of these, but I need four at least. It looks like the old ones were powered by battery. I don't know if I will attempt electrifying them.
Yes, I seem to remember an AA battery sat in the base. I remember having one in my hand from a 'bargain bin', though I didn't buy it :(
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The base will still take an AA battery, all that is needed is a means of connecting it to the LED.
Does anyone have the instruction leaflet for the original lamp?
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The base will still take an AA battery, all that is needed is a means of connecting it to the LED.
Does anyone have the instruction leaflet for the original lamp?
Connecting the battery should be easy enough, but how were the old ones turned off? Did you just remove the battery when you were done?
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I have the plans from 5360, the fence, and 5340, the post by itself with the roses man. No harm in posting the crop from the 5360 here, I suppose. I don't have an original lamppost, unfortunately, but I have a new one.
(http://playmodb.org/misc/5360_lampassembly.jpg)
The base twisted to turn the light on and off - on the plans, the base looks like it contained a metal bit to open and close the connection with the battery. The bulb looks pretty standard... Gordon, you probably have one in your firetruck bits.
The inventory for 6465 - Vintage Street Lamp (http://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showinv.pl?setnum=6465) came from the official site. Two of the five parts appear on the plans for the old sets. Of the others, "30 06 2320 STREET LIGHT POST" and "30 24 9503 STREET LIGHT BASE II" are obvious but I wonder what "30 60 8710 Straßenlaterne-Zubehör" are. By its number order, I think it's in the original, too. (I'll get those others categorized properly now when I get a minute.)
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"30 60 8710 Straßenlaterne-Zubehör" means street lamp acessories so it would be interesting to know what it is or looks like.
There must have been some connection between the bulb and the battery and the on-off switch.
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This is interesting:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/PLAYMOBIL-VICTORIAN-FLICKERING-STREET-LIGHT-LAMP-9V-12VDC-NEW-/201613005184?var=&hash=item2ef1125180:m:mUqcAyVATSLVPVlRUwiN5wg
Although you can also buy it cheaper from the same seller:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/PLAYMOBIL-VICTORIAN-FLICKERING-STREET-LIGHT-LAMP-9V-12VDC-GARDEN-RAILWAY-/191905933202?hash=item2cae7c2792:g:z0UAAOSwnNBXVrHC
Or with no bulb and wiring:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/PLAYMOBIL-6465-VICTORIAN-STREET-LIGHT-LAMP-NEW-SEALED-IN-BAG-/191886694084?hash=item2cad5696c4:g:g9UAAOSwdj9XT1jE
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I think all those are the same price. How can they be sealed in a bag but come fitted with a LED? (It doesn't say they are in the original bag mind you).
But most of all, how come this seller can resell DS items on eBay without getting stopped by geobra?
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But most of all, how come this seller can resell DS items on eBay without getting stopped by geobra?
There are always plenty of ds items on ebay. And considering that playmobil will not serve a LOT of people, it is NOT a bad thing, IMO.
Besides.. how could they?
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You are quite right, Graham. It was the second one down that confused me:
http://stores.ebay.ie/hobby-toys?_dmd=1&_nkw=flickering+new
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Besides.. how could they?
Stop people reselling DS items...
With the much-rumoured Blacklist! Those Gnomes of Zirndorf have their ways!
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DS items are frequently on eBay, still sealed in bag. I'm not sure how they could stop people doing it, since I doubt eBay would release their details.
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Stop people reselling DS items...
With the much-rumoured Blacklist! Those Gnomes of Zirndorf have their ways!
I suppose if you buy something and change your mind later you can sell it, no? At least I think so. Nobody is forced to buy. If they made the sets accessible to everyone, that would stop (except for discontinued, but <channelling Mal Reynolds> the way it is is the way it is </channelling Mal>).
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I'm going to buy one of the working streetlamps to see how they do it.
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DS items are frequently on eBay, still sealed in bag. I'm not sure how they could stop people doing it, since I doubt eBay would release their details.
If a Geobra employee bought one item from a seller they wanted to investigate, they would then gain access to that seller's contact details on eBay, which might well tally with details on their own files (Paypal email address, DS order email address, for example). No need for any special agreement with eBay. I am not advocating this, you understand, but there are simple of finding out who is selling DS items if they want to! There are also ways of avoiding detection too of course, like using different contact details for eBay and PM.
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Rather than buying one of the working streetlamps, I just asked if they had an on-off switch. They don't. They just have a pre-wired LED with the wires coming out through a hole drilled in the base of the lamp.
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I suppose it would be useful to know the specs of the LED, where it can be obtained etc. Do they have a voltage rating, for example?
Edit: found this http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/3mm-white-led-n66kg (http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/3mm-white-led-n66kg) but it is rated at 3.3 volts, so maybe no good with one battery (1.5v)?
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It says 9-12V DC. A search on Google turns up a few suppliers.
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Rather than buying one of the working streetlamps, I just asked if they had an on-off switch. They don't. They just have a pre-wired LED with the wires coming out through a hole drilled in the base of the lamp.
Did the seller give any recommendation of what to attach the leads to for optimal operation?
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I don't have the email with their reply any more. I used a six volt LED from a 4018 Playmobil train with a 1.5 volt AA battery on when I tried it out as the battery fitted into the street lamp column.
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And that worked just fine?
You can get power bars for dollhouse lights and special sockets for the lights. That might work.
(http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/dollhouse_news/FEB2009/dollhouse-electrical_clip_image002.jpg)
Here are a couple of articles that give some brief information that may be of help:
http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/dollhouse_news/FEB2009/dollhouse-lights.html (http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/dollhouse_news/FEB2009/dollhouse-lights.html)
http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/dollhouse_news/FEB2009/dollhouse-electrical.html (http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/dollhouse_news/FEB2009/dollhouse-electrical.html)
I have to admit I was very disappointed when I bought some of these and they had no lights! (Especially as a couple of them were a gift …)
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This was just testing to see what could be done.
With only 1.5v the LED was dim (on the train it gets roughly 6v), so if you want an impressive light you need more volts. You also need some way of turning the lamps on or off, so if you have a number of lamps then a common power source with a switch is the answer. With just one lamp, an appropriate battery hidden away which you just connect or disconnect would work.
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Wesley, here is the eBay listing with some details of the LED etc. they sell:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PLAYMOBIL-VICTORIAN-FLICKERING-STREET-LIGHT-LAMP-9V-12VDC-GARDEN-RAILWAY-/191905933202?hash=item2cae7c2792:g:z0UAAOSwnNBXVrHC