Light up Disney Castle # 71040

What light kit can I use for the Disney Castle.

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  • Rob Klingberg  Thank you for your reply.  I received the Production Update #1 last Friday I believe.  That is how I found out that I was part of the June 15th batch.  I just didn't know the castle status site existed and when I looked at the status page it had Order Groups listed so I wasn't quite sure what batch # to map to the June 15th orders so I thought I may have missed something.  Thank you so much for the clarification.  Now I know what group I'm in and can following along on the status page.  Have a wonderful evening.

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  • Rob Klingberg  Please let me start by saying my mind is blown by your light set.  I just discovered this forum today as I've recently decided that I wanted the lego disney castle to be the centerpiece of my Disney display collection.  That being said, I am definitely curious if you are still accepting orders.  I read lots of the posts in this thread but there's a good chance I missed some information.  So that is question #1: is this still available?

    Question 2: You mentioned being willing to construct additional lazy suzans like the one pictured above with the slip ring, are those available?

    I think that is it for now.  I'm so excited to get the light up kit and so afraid of missing out that I am willing to buy the light up kit before getting the castle.  This is going to just be the most amazing display I could ever imagine.  

    Thank you for helping us all enrich our love for disney!

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  • Rob Klingberg My apologies, I've located the place to buy;  I will have to talk to my wife and figure out what she wants.  I'm sure I'll be buying both add ons haha.

    My second question still stands, though.  Additionally, have any of you considered putting your castle in a glass case to keep it from dust?

    Cheers!

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  • Michael Organiscak The lazy susan option definitely gained some speed after I gave it a go (and committed the sin of cutting a 15x15 baseplate to "brick top" up the thing.

    At last word, our BrickStuff buddies -- in between assembling kits as they prepare to start filling orders soon -- appear to be inclined to both offer a kit (lazy susan with slip ring pre-installed), or a 'sold separately' do-it-yourself for those who either have the skills, inclination (or susan already in-house) to do it ourselves.  When I last peeked, the option isn't yet on the site, as this being late to the party appears to be a second-in-line on the work bench.  For the proposed price, both are outstanding options: the DIY kit was rumored to be priced at $25, the assembled slip-ring and susan (Amazon priced ~$24+ tax) put the two neck-and-neck... with the pre-assembled including "free" assembly at the cost of shipping (which Amazon may waive for Prime members and those who order enough); the susan I ordered is the same as the "Stuff" folks, link is above.

    But hmmmm... that glass case display is an interesting idea -- that's not come up previously that I've seen -- but at least in my household, that wouldn't fly.  (My bride isn't so passionate as the chief play engineer, age 8, who likely won't let much dust settle between royal balls and other gala events.)  I initially was going to do a display setting, but it wasn't long before "8" decided this was going to be a daily play piece, hence, the lazy susan and placement among the under-construction carnival-themed area (the third of three themed areas around the house we've now got going)...

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  • Paul George  Well I'm definitely impressed.  We are definitely in different situations.  My display will be for the enjoyment of myself and my fiance.  We won't have children until the display is finished, so that puts us a long way off of someone wanting to play with it, haha.  Although there's definitely a sense of extra value added when it's being played with;  they are legos after all!

    That is a very cool set up and your son is very lucky to have such an extravagant lego set to play with.  Look forward to the finished product.

    My fiance told me today to hold off on buying the castle because some of her family wants to buy it for us for our wedding.  I'm pretty excited about that as it frees up funds for other things for the Disney Display Project :) 

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  • The little one is certainly not suffering for a lack of toys.  ;)

    In terms of a display case -- assuming you're not looking to break the bank with a custom round case, I'd suggest plexiglass.  We have a local plastic place here that will custom fab stuff, but -- and I ain't *that* handy -- I found the quick-set glues and decent measurements would allow you to concoct a box with little effort.  (Talking four sides, a lid, and a base if you're thinking of being high class... but even a black rubber square base will seal things up and not require a lot of  prep or design work.)

    And for strict display purposes, the lazy susan is optional, but if I were going nuts -- and why not, we're here -- motorize a rotational mechanism.  (LEGO motor and some gears - google up the YouTube videos to slow a motor as seen on the Ferris Wheel set -- and this puppy will rotate itself to the content of the two of y'all.

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  • Michael Organiscak Hi Michael, thanks for your posts and questions.  Thanks also to Paul George for posting more photos of his awesome setup.  Personally, I want to know if it's possible for *us* to buy from Paul and get that cool moat and surrounding landscape in LEGO!

    For the Lazy Susan option, yes we will be looking at offering two versions:

    1. One with the slip ring pre-installed
    2. One as a DIY kit where you use a 8mm drill bit yourself to hollow out the center of your Susan.  We supply the slip ring

    We've had interest in both options.  As Paul mentioned, right now we're slammed getting ready to send the first batch of orders, so look for more details on options soon.  We're also cooking up some additional add-ons to the castle kit that I'm sure will make many Disney fans VERY happy.

    Also, a quick update on today's progress: we connected our demo castle model with remote control for the first time (until today, we'd just been testing parts individually vs. the whole), and it was just as spectacular as I'd hoped it would be.  We're heading down to Chicago on Thursday for the Brickworld LEGO convention, and we'll have our castle with us.  It'll be the first time we're displaying it in public, and it will have the full functionality onboard (including turntable).  So look for more photos and videos coming over the weekend!

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  • Paul George Blown away by that setup.  You circle cut a brick base and glued that to the lazy susan?  How did you do the water?  Is that paint under clear bricks, different blue transparent bricks, or solid blue bricks under transparent?  looks awesome, and I love the rock work around the moat, that must've taken some time and planning.  hoping ours looks half as good when done.  thanks for the images and inspiration.

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  • Rob Klingberg more add ons?!?! I can't wait to see what else you guys have in store. 

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  • Rick Prescott It's a blending of white plates nearest the "shore," then medium blue or medium azure (whatever I could find cheapest on Bricklink that day) and regular blue in the center, with trans light-blue 1x2 tiles on top laid out in 2x2 blocks (with the pattern the opposite of the adjoining 2x2 set, either a "basket weave" or "square basket" tile pattern, depending on whom you ask. 

    It's on my to-do list to post a quick tutorial on the Instagram page the kid and I share (username "legometro")... even though the original intent was to chronicle our build of the notoriously cool Green Gables Stadium MOC.

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  • Hey all, just wanted to say that your castle looks amazing with the moat around it and how it rotates. I've ordered the full kit (fiance doesn't know). We are getting married and all our tables have a different Lego Disney centre piece and the castle is either going next to the cake or at the head table so will look amazing lit up. Love the idea of putting it on a lazy Susan too which will go round on its own. Also looked at getting a display case for it to stop it from getting dusty, been quoted around £100 for one which is a lot but might be worth it

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  • It looks like most of the lazy susan discussion has focused on a manual rotation. I would like mine to be able to rotate on its own, like the carousel with the power function. Has any research been done on this option? I found a DIY on youtube that was interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi3bsdfLdm8

    Just curious

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  • Lisa Sullivan Thanks for your question!  We have been thinking about automatic rotation options, ideally using LEGO parts so the speed could be controlled with the LEGO IR remote and receiver.  No progress yet on this, but technically anything is possible with LEGO!  Stay tuned.  Once we focus more attention on the turntables, we'll be experimenting with several options and will share ideas here.

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  • Hello everyone, just a quick update here about the turntable options for displaying your Castle with external power (so you can rotate the Castle 360 degrees without pinching wires).  We've created a new post on the Forum dedicated specifically to the turntable topic, since we feel this option can be used to display other LEGO models as well.  Head on over and check it out-- it includes links to both models of turntables we plan to support, and also a link to the drill bits you'll need to buy if you want to pick up our DIY kit for adding power.

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  • Okay, admittedly only a third into the castle install, but just food for thought: instead of the sticky pads for the ceiling lighting, any consideration for a tile?  I first used pn #2654 when lighting the Assembly Square, and found it not only secures at least as well, but also seems to help disperse the light a bit more.

    I get it'd certainly bump the wholesale cost a pinch (they seem to run about 2-3 cents a pop, certainly more than the adhesives), but at least given it's currently super humid [for our area, at least and hot this weekend, my pads ain't holding as much as I'd like - so switching over to the round plates.  :)

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  • We are almost halfway through building the castle.  I'm new to lighting - Is it ok to build the castle before installing the light kit or should I be doing them simultaneously?

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    • Gregory
    • Gregory
    • 6 yrs ago
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    Paul George can you post a picture of what that looks like assembled?

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  • That's an outstanding question  Alison Narehood !

    In past posts, and from my own past experience, there's no wrong answer.  In my case, I built fully before there was formal confirmation of a kit (and I was going to just "wing it" -- but now don't have to do so). 

    Given I was lucky enough to be in the Group 1 folks, my kit's here and I can share that the instructions to install lighting are from the perspective of a castle already standing.  (For example, separate this wall from the base  there, then insert wire, and finally re-snap together.)

    My GUESS is it's easier to do so from a pre-built castle, particularly if you really want to take full advantage of the written and photo-detailed step-by-step  instructions.

    That said, it's probably not impossible to do so as you build, but my take would be it'd take additional noggin power to think around the 'top down' approach of the instructions (interior, then exterior, if you do both kits), versus a ground-up install, plan around some of the hide-here and stick-on connection points may not yet be built yet, etc...

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  • Gregory Aw, shucks, I like sharing.

    Including disclaimers.  🙂

    1. This represents the INTERIOR lights in, and
    2. I'm halfway into the EXTERIOR install... where I paused on purpose. (Given the need to pull this monster off the base plate, which is glued to a lazy susan, I'm waiting to proceed until the slip ring kits are available/in-hand, so I can finish it all at once), and then
    3. I'll be able to deal with some "brick slip" - I found when pressing the pieces together thus far - given the lazy susan has some give to it when pushed upon, I'm not getting all the pieces to fully re-seat.  (And if that doesn't work, I'm not such a purist as to be be above swapping out bricks for older equivalent and taking a metal file to giving me room for the twisted wire pairs to sneak between a few of the walls on the tighter connections.)  This is most prominently seen in the third (front door) photo.
    4. Yup, there's still interior and roof wires flopping around; been too lazy yet to tuck some of them away (and I goofed a bit and used the wrong wire length with the wrong side of the entry lights, so one's WAY too long, the other a hair too short, so I had to improve... another reason it looks a bit off...
    5. I'm ditching the sticky pads for any roof mount that has at least 2x2 clearance, to use a "Round 2x2 with Rounded Bottom (Boat Stud)" (part # 2654) in trans-clear or yellow (based on my mood/the room) -- once they arrive from my Bricklink order.  The humidity or my inability to mount 'em right is messing with them staying put for me.
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  • Paul George Thanks Paul, that's a really great suggestion. We use those "boat stud" parts for the lights in the Ghostbusters Firehouse HQ set, but until your suggestion, I hadn't considered them for ceiling lighting.  It looks like they would fit into all of the Castle lighting areas where we have a Pico LED in a ceiling (we tested it today in our shop), so again, great suggestion.  Definitely something for us to consider!

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  • I love catching up on this thread. Not sure when I'll be buying the castle but I'll buy it and all the lighting kit options at the same time. 

     

    Great pics! Keep them coming

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  • Got my first five 'boat studs' in yesterday, and am loving both the look (closer fit to the ceiling)... and that they can double as a wire management aid -- because, obviously, I'm lacking in that department thus far.  (i.e. that 1x2 plate in the back left corner.)

    Also got low-tech crafty on the kitchen pico, after finding I had more light than I desired "leaking" upward through the wedge tile.  The black 2x2 plate ain't elegant, but it's effective.  🙂

     

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  • Paul George Great photos of the boat stud solution, Paul!  I especially like the kitchen solution.  Those really are handy parts.

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  • Thanks Paul George  for sharing your pics and suggestions, just ordered a few of the clear and yellow boat studs to add to our build.  It's nice to have an experienced builder be among the first to begin this along with the excellent work done by Rob and his staff.  We are only half way through building the castle itself and haven't started on the lighting (the box is sitting next to it waiting) but we appreciate your observations and hopefully we will be able to share our own as we progress.

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  • Rick Prescott you make be blush - experienced, well... just note I've not shared how "well" my wiring has gone in some places.  (I've muttered that a hacksaw is going to fix a few of my problem areas... redefining 'plastic surgery' for cosmetic improvement <-- me.)

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