Hi Pete, thanks for your post!  I just sent you a link via e-mail to the latest versions of the instructions.  Let me know if this helps.  Also, FYI since you were one of our early Disney Castle customers, the printed instructions you have are likely v1 documents, which means they recommend installing the lights in a different order than the current instructions recommend.  Most of this happens in the interior lighting section, so if you haven't done that yet, you likely won't notice much of a difference.  We made this change in response to customer feedback.

Good luck with assembly, and let us know if we can help with anything else!

Pete Hi Pete, glad the digital files helped.  But not glad to hear you're struggling with the installation!  When you mention the bottom of the castle, are you referring to this step:

 The only wires you should really need to fit under plates are the edge white spotlights (on the far left and right in the photo above)-- these need to have their wires come under the big brown plates and into the center for connection to the BRANCH15 adapter.  And then there are the long cream-colored plates, where you need to lift the edges of the plates to get the wires under.

Always try to run the wires so they pass between studs, not over/on top of them.  This shouldn't weaken the overall plate structure very much.

As for the wires for the color-changing spotlights, these can be twisted using a pencil or tweezers to gather up any slack, so that you don't need to hide every bit of wire with the plates.  Does this help?

I know Paul George on this forum has become a master of wire threading, as has Jim Pirzyk .  I know Paul has completed the castle-- hopefully he'll see this mention and jump in to provide his own suggestions.

Someone's making me find my instructions, eh?  Step 5... and I'm also a "version 1" instructions guy.

I will confess I went off-script in a number of places, though don't recall a lot of drama on the underneath wires (and mine is mounted to a lazy susan/baseplate, so wire management was important).

Pete - are you looking generally for suggestions, or is there a particular wire or step/stage that's giving you fits? 

I confess I've taken a few paths, depending on the challenge. In a few places, I modified and used a shorter piece from The Pile, didn't put in a piece that was prescribed, and {gasp} filed or cut a few bricks to get a true click together (most notably the front two torch lamps)...

Hi Pete

Pete said:
I suspect it must be a result of the wires slipping out of the plate grooves as i'm trying to reattach them. Is there some sort of special technique to stop that happening?

 There are several different techniques I use here,

1) use a temp 1x2 plate to hold the wire on each side of the bigger plate you want to attach.  I would attach the wires with the 1x2 plate first, in a spot that is not in the way.  Then put the real plate/brick in place and remove the temp plates.

2) use tape or museum putty instead of the 1x2 plate above and again remove once everything is seated properly.

3) Find a similar part that you can use to swap out, so replacing a 1x2 brick with a Technic 1x2 brick, or a 1x1 round plate with a open stud (85861) for the standard 1x1 round plate.   I've also used Modified plates and bricks so I can wrap the wire around the ends to help keep them in place, like 2921, 4081b, 15712, or similar.

4) Modify a part (Gasp!)  I have been known to drill out holes in parts to create a place for wire.  The 1x1 round plate in Trans-Yellow does not (yet) exist with the open stud (the Trans-Orange does), so I've been known to drill a hole through it to run wires.  I have created a 2x3 Technic Plate.  I also have been known to modify BrickStuff parts to do the same.  To fit the normal extension wires through a Technic hole, I wind up cutting off the tabs from the connector ends, then it just fits.  In extreme steps I will cut the wire and re-solder them after running them through a hole, like the hole in the Round Tile 1x1 with Bar and Pin Holder (20482).

I also have a question on how hard are you pushing your plates in, I will say the larger the plate is, the less of an issue of it popping off.  The plates that come off the easiest are usually the 1x1 round plates with the pico light underneath (see option 3).

Pete Hi Pete, thanks for sharing your frustration.  I can see you're likely at your wits' end, which is never something we like to see.  In the photo you shared, your castle is in many more pieces than we'd expect to see.  I wish I could teleport to your house and install the lights for you 🙂, but failing that, we'd be happy to take the kit back and issue a full refund.  This kind of experience is not what we want our customers to have.  I'll send you a direct e-mail so we can start the return process.  Again, our apologies that the kit was not what you expected.

K8 Sure, send us an e-mail to info@brickstuff.com and we'll send a link to download the latest copies.

Christopher Nicholson not at all— everything is pre-wired by us. Our system is plug-and-play— no soldering needed. As you can tell from reading this thread, however, this is our most complex kit to install (largely because the Disney Caste kit itself is highly complex and somewhat fragile). We aim to deliver the most realistic final installation possible, which to us means designing the installation instructions to conceal as many wires as possible. As you can see above, some of our customers have elected to modify some bricks to route wires, but this is not required (we didn’t modify any bricks for our in-shop demo model).

I hope this helps explain— please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Lorna Stern Hi Lorna, I'll send you a link to download a PDF version of the instructions.  Hopefully this will help-- the main power cable comes in under the base of the castle and then up through the base to the area above and behind the main front door, where the master effect controller is mounted.  Look for a direct message with the link to download.  If after seeing the PDF copies you are still having trouble, just let us know.  Thank you.

Rick Moser Hi Rick, thanks for your question, and sorry for the confusion.  You are correct-- the photo above Step 13 does show the white spotlights already in place.  You're actually the first one to point this out-- we didn't notice it ourselves.  You can complete Steps 13 and 14 without the white lights mounted, because these are actually covered in the very next section (Step 36 tells you to mount the white lights), so it won't be a technical issue to not have them mounted in Step 14 (though I agree, it is confusing).  We will make these changes in the next update of the instructions.

I hope this helps explain, and I'll send a PDF copy of the instructions directly.

Thank you.

Jon Pahta Hi Jon, certainly!  I will message it to you directly via this forum.

Jon Pahta Hi Jon, thanks for your questions and feedback.  We're planning an overhaul of the instructions for the Disney Castle in early 2019, and I agree that a walkthrough video would help.  It would be a huge effort to make it (we'd have to remove the lights from our castle and basically re-install everything), but I agree it is needed.

As for future sets, one of our customers already documented his work using our off-the-shelf components to light his Saturn V:

https://forum.brickstuff.com/t/63kfnn/nasa-saturn-v-21309

And yes we are planning many new kits for 2019, including the Aston Martin-- with sound!  Stay tuned.

Jon Pahta Hi Jon, the one remote controls everything.