PlaymoFriends
General => Report & Review => Topic started by: playmogal on June 19, 2011, 01:54:15
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Ras,
I just built my first PM lighting kit (7484) for the 5302 mansion. It was a bit tricky but does work on the first floor so far. Below are photos of the box, a left view and right view of the wiring wall on the first floor, and its placement on the odd shaped baseplate, which is one piece for the entire floor. This is all I built today because we spent so much time painting the roof and window inserts.
I did click the light switch on the wall piece, and WOW!!!, all four lights work! Hoorah! Hubby is busy working on a logging mill for his trains, so I did this one by myself. Now that I have done one, putting the second floor kit in will be much easier.
Will post more photos when the first floor is up so we can see what the installed lights look like. Hope this helps, Pgal :wave:
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Pgal, maybe you could start your own topic about this, perhaps a report and review topic on the lighting kit. That way it won't be hidden within this topic if someone is searching for a review of lighting kits.
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bb: Sounds like a good idea! Could you please start a new topic as I am not sure about how to move my last post to a new topic. Hopefully I will figure out this new topic process soon!
Cheers, Pgal ::) ::) ::)
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Sure, I'll move your post. The reason you aren't figuring that out is because you can't do it. ;) Only mods can split and move topics. But starting a new topic is very simple. I'll move your post, though and rename it to be a review of the lighting kit.
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Oh nice. I've never seen one of these outside their box... looking forward to the review!!
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Great !
I am really looking forward to the rest of this. I am still wondering if I should get the set(s) to create lignting for my shops!
Looks promesing! Thanks Playmogal.
Bogro
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Great !
I am really looking forward to the rest of this. I am still wondering if I should get the set(s) to create lignting for my shops!
Looks promesing! Thanks Playmogal.
Bogro
You know the answer is "Yes". ;D
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Look forward to the continuation of the review, pgal. And, again, Playmobil have got the eye for real life detail - it looks just like when you have the electricians in at home, wires all over the place and apparently no real hope of it all ever working!
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You know the answer is "Yes". ;D
I was afraid of that ;D
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Thanks, Guys! ;D
Progress report: Last night I ordered two more lighting kits from US DS....they really are cool so far! Put the fixtures on the light bulbs and the clips on the bottom of the ceiling baseplates. Next I will run the wires through the clips, and voila! the lighting will be complete on the ground floor. At least I know not to call the ground floor the first floor because it will confuse all of the Europeans here!
The second floor walls are complete now except for the lighting wall; hubby slept late and I did not want to wake him pulling it out of the closet in the bedroom. Yup, we do have mostly clothes in our closets...the PM take up much of the rest of the house though! But I have been thinking that it is time to give away half of our clothes to folks who need them rather then letting them take up space in the closet, where we could park a few PM sets if needed!!! ;D ;D
It was much easier building the the next floor once the bottom floor was built. This afternoon I'll finish the second lighting kit and move on the next floor, which uses the extension kit ordered with the 5302.
I see no reason why these lighting kits cannot be used in many other buildings. All you need is an interior wall, which could be a problem with many sets, but not with custom builds. The lamp shades are cute and offer several styles and colors to match your decor. Looks like hubby will not have to build a low voltage lighting set up for this house unless we decide to run it off of the house current with a wall switch, like he did for Petronas Towers and our Taj Mahal. Will build in the light kits first and see what the finished product looks like.
You will need 3AAA batteries for each lighting kit and two AAA's for the front door bell. Haven't gotten to the fireplace in the living room set, so do stock up on AAA's to be safe.
Have to go water the garden before it hits the 90'sF at 9AM. Later, Pgal :wave:
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Sad to say I don't own any playmobil lighting but that might all change once I see what you build! All these 5302 and related set reviews are making me want it even more!
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Progress Report: 5302 is up and lit up! :love: :love: :love:
The 5302 is my second major PM set after the modern house, which was quite easy to build. The 5302 was not easy to build as a novice, but it is up, and the bottom 3 floors are lit now. Using the US nomenclature with the ground floor called the first floor, the 7484 lighting kits added a small wall in the middle of the mansion to hide the batteries, attach a very cool looking blue sconce and hold a manual light switch.
All four of the individual ceiling light fixture wires run out of the top of this wall. I ran two to the right of the wall and two to the left on each floor. The wires attach to clips hanging from the ceiling, and it is easier to run the wires through the clips before you attach the clips to the ceiling. Turn the wires sidewise so they are thinner to thread them through the small slits in the clips.
You can select the light fixtures from those supplied with each kit; there is a choice of colors, and I chose two fixtures of matching colors for each room. There is a lot of room here to customize the fixtures with any design you prefer, so this kit opens the door to whatever type of lighting your heart desires! Wooooohooooooo!!!!
Note: Those with arthritic necks should take Ibuprofen first!
It is hard bending your neck to see in each floor and run the wires under the ceiling to their hanging positions. You may need a flashlight to see what is going on if your room is dark, which it should be to avoid damaging the PM with sunlight. And if your close vision is not good (you wear or need reading glasses), GOOD LUCK!
I cussed the darn lights until they hung just right. It takes a lot of adjusting because the fixtures don't weigh enough to hand down on their own, so you have to twist and pull on them until the gods smile on all four fixtures...and that is just for one floor!
Note: Stop and take a few drinks of your favorite beverage or you will be in a really foul mood by the time you finish this lighting project. An ice cream sundae or a mango smoothie may put you in a better mood, too.
I repeated the wiring and fixture hanging process on all 3 floors, including the extension floor, because there is never enough space to decorate a house without an extension floor, and who wants a dark mansion? Not I, said Little Miss Peep.
That brings us to lighting the attic...that gives me a headache just thinking about it. I played with the fourth lighting kit in several locations and did not find one I liked. Then I decided that natural/room lights would be better up there than breaking up the room with an interior wall for the lighting kit. So I have one kit left over to use somewhere else, which is fine with me.
Once we get used to the lights and fixtures, I will decide how to decorate the interior walls if at all. The lights change the look of the walls, floors, windows and furnishings, so that is why they come first. Hubby lightly primed the plastic curtains white, and you can see them in some of the photos. The white reflects the light better than pink, and matches more furniture colors as well.
And the painted window inserts are installed for the first two floors. I used a Valspar satin spray paint in a cappuccino color, 65047, from Lowe's here in the US. May spray the flower boxes next, but will wait a few days to let things settle in. Will have to stare at the lights a bit and see what the house looks like in daytime light levels.
Summary:
The lighting kits for 5302 are an outstanding product and a good value at $27.00 each for the regular floors. The attic may not be the best spot for the lighting kit.
Be prepared to spend some time and effort installing them if you are not a PM genius...yet!
If you can, hold off decorating the place until your lighting is in. Lighting will change the look of your 5302 and make it come much more alive.
Have fun, Pgal :wave: :wave: :wave:
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It's looking great! :)9 Sounds like a lot of work!
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Excellent results!!! Too much work indeed!!
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oh they are very nice !!!!!! :) :) how do you cover the wires on the roof so they won't be seen? or you can't? :hmm: :hmm: these bulbs seems to have very stong light !!! in emma's bistro custom they weren't so bright ... is it the camera that adds more lighting? :hmm: :hmm:
thank you for your pictures very intresting to see that !! i'll probably buy this house after the reviews i seen :)
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:thanks:
They look great-I'm not sure why you would have green lights in your bedroom though, wouldn't it make you look ill all the time? :-\
Anyhow, I like the overall effect.
naflibomyalp
:)
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Very effective lighting, but like playmo1989, I'm intrigued to know if the wires can be hidden.
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Thanks for the helpful comments and questions! It was fun getting us this morning and seeing in daylight what we did last night. PM has made major strides forward with this kit, and we are pleased with the lighting so far!
While installing the lighting was a lot of work, I do like the interim product and will be tweaking it quite a bit to improve the end result. The brightness of the LED lighting has not bothered us so far because it is a cool looking like, not too warm in color. If you want to lower light levels, it would have to be through the fixture itself.
As to hiding the lighting wires, the best you can do with the kit supplies is to pull the wires tighter, but there is no easy method to hide them in the ceiling baseplate. Generally we are looking down at a mansion, so this may not be a deal breaker. If you want to mount the entire thing at eye level or higher, the wires would be more noticeable. We would consider drilling into the baseplates, but this makes it much harder to take apart for renovations. And I do love to remodel now and then!
As to the color of fixtures, the first go round I was just matching pairs for each room by looking at the trim and potential furniture colors. Today we'll tryi out various colors of stiff felt sheets for room rugs. I built the mansion furniture kits this morning and began putting these parts in the house with pieces from other non-5302 sets.
So far the lighting makes a huge difference in the ground floor kitchen. living and dining areas. The next big question hubby will address is whether to continue using the 20 or so AAA batteries or to rewire everything to work off of low voltage wiring using house current. Again this would mean losing the ability to take apart floors as needed, and I am not ready for that final stage.
Maybe PM will sometime soon begin to offer lighting kits that can be plugged into the wall. Hubby (an engineer who can build anything) makes a raised wooden base containing the wiring, and has run low voltage (12 volt variable DC per supply) wires to a switch on the wall for ease of use. Pop the switch, and our Taj Majal and Petronas Towers miraculously light up the circular stairwell. It is a joy to watch! One day we'll have PM beside them!
Again we want to thank PM for offering this kit (and 5302!) and the progress they have made in lighting up their dollhouses. While installation requires some tedious work, it is well worth the effort.
TTF, Pgal :wave:
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Maybe PM will sometime soon begin to offer lighting kits that can be plugged into the wall
i think they don't make these for children safety reasons...
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I'm not sure why you would have green lights in your bedroom though, wouldn't it make you look ill all the time? :-\
green light calms you down i think ... why would make you seem ill? :hmm:
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Green-looking skin makes you look like you're about to throw up.
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Green-looking skin makes you look like you're about to throw up.
no not at all ,i used it in my room when i was younger was cool colour 8-) ...
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What does 5302 lighting look like with a full house of furniture and company?
The movers have arrived, and most of our belongings are unpacked just in time for a housewarming party for the neighborhood. The big question is what do the yellow walls look like in a full house.
We are quite pleased with the lighting now that there is furniture all over the house. And it was great being able to see everyones faces as they relaxed in our house for a few hours.
The yellow walls on all but the attic floor mean that there is not a huge need for bold color elsewhere. It is a warm looking interior, and the LED lights keep it that way.
The only thing we would change is hiding the wiring a bit so it does not hang down below the ceiling. Attaching it through a lighting channel would be wonderful, and could take the shape of a drinking stray split down the middle into long halves.
The photos below show some of the rooms lit up. We are relying on room and natural light in the attic and have not painted the already dark brown walls yet. Enjoy the photos!
Cheers, Pgal :wave:
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Thank you for these extra pics! This set grows more into me!!!
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:lol:
The woman relaxing in the hammock with the chaos all aroud her made me laugh. Great photos-Playmobil should employ you for marketing, you're certainly persuading me that I really need these sets!
naflibomyalp