Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Main Street Platform Assistance Forum

At the suggestion by one of the Platform collectors, Olszewski Studios has established a forum where collectors can exchange information about their experiences in setting up their Olszewski Disneyland Main Street, U.S.A. Platform. The purpose is to facilitate helping others so everyone's adventure in "Bringing the Magic to their home" is fun and achieves their having a complete and functioning Disneyland Main Street, U.S.A. Collection. By posting your questions and comments on the forum, responses will be provided by members of the Olszewski Studios staff and other collectors who have experienced similar issues and suggestions as to how they resolved their adventures. The Blog Title above links to the Electrical Light Kit installation instructions prepared by Travis Tokuyama and Bob Olszewski. Those instructions also includes a one-page set of instructions for removing the base from the Disneyland Marquee Sign for placement in the Platform. Visitors to our web site can find other "instructions" by typing that key word in the search engine provided.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Main Street Platform Fanatics….
I’ve been a model builder and Disneyland crazy for as long as I can remember…. Robert certainly has surpassed anything like I expected from the Park with this wonderful collection……

I am having so much fun with this thing…. But, I know many collectors will not be “skilled” modeling people, so I want to share my observations and “enhancement" projects… and, I hope you’ll do the same…….

I can’t type a lot right now but I want to share a couple of things on the light kits….
The instructions are great and the install is easy but, 2 things –
First -a simple thing is…. When you go to put back the roadway, be careful… remember the trees on each side will be in the way… don’t put one side of Buildings back, leave a little room and position the roadway first over the Hub and Town Square… then set the buildings….

Second, I have the old Castle and the Old Hub…. I found the Battery holders on each have separated… A little electrical tape or a rubber band will keep the parts together if you don’t want to get into replacement…. Remember – You’ll have an extra Red/Green connector on each wiring harness if you have the old types….and you don’t use the Resistors (the things that look like white batteries) if you have the new Castle and/or hub….

I had trouble making the Resistor work for the Hub…. At first no power though there seemed to be connection… I pried out just a little, the Brass contacts (ends)… The wires that go in may have had bad connections… and it worked.

I’ve a lot more if people are interested so I’ll check the Blogg frequently

Some of the stuff I’ve done or am working on:

Made a bunch of miniature signs and banners from Disneyland Photos on my inkjet to place around…
Installed a sound chip so when you press a button, you get the “All aboard” spiel from the Main Street train Station…
Instead of putting the Platform on a table, I suspended mine 2 feet off the floor with speaker stands so I can work under it…. Also put Blue LED’s that face down and reflect off the floor (looks like the platform is floating)…

Changed the roadbed in front so it doesn’t go all the way across…
Placed miniature red “Fire Barrels” along the train right of way (breaks up all the green)
Made 5 Tunnels for the train (one for each land and NOS)…

I’ve plans for adding lights to the buildings where the internal lamps don’t reach…

Adding LED “up-lights” to the Tree Packs to show off the Train better at night…

Adding some Water effects to the BackStage……
And more……

I hope you all have as much fun with this…….I’d be happy to answer questions… really want to hear what you might be thinking of doing ....

ImissWalt

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Greetings Ray,
The lighting kit arrived today and is already installed. The unit works well and was fairly easy to install. One confusing item was that the 100 ohm adapter was in package B along with the A wiring kit and the 68 ohm adapter was in package A along with the wiring kit for side B. Easy to figure out by counting the wiring hookups. The marquee was another story, I followed the directions very carefully and by plugging the male plug that comes off the circuit board to the red and green connector nothing happenef. I could not get a complete circuit until plugging the male red and green connector from the marquee into the female red and green plug on the wiring harness. The lights look good but side B seems to be under powered at least for Central Plaza. The four street lamps barely have a small orange glimmer when the lights com on but as the timers go off in the various buildings the 4 street lights become nice and bright. The wiring instructions are backwards for the news stand and the stroller rental. The are not 2 lights holes for the news stand but there are for the stroller rental. Thanks, Ed Russell

Daveland said...

Everything was a breeze; was able to do it all by myself...however, to put the road back, because of the trees, I will be enlisting assistance to make sure I don't break anything. Still have yet to get the marquee right. Request - anyway to get actual photos of how the connections are supposed to look? That would be a great help. Thanks! Even without the marquee, all lit-up it looks GORGEOUS!

Flyboyhi said...

Hi, collector in Hawaii here with the full set and platform.

I found placing the roadway difficult with the "risers" on the roadway (the black rubber feet with adhesive) I couldn't line up the cabling just right. It would be too high on one side because I set on a wire or two.

So, I have now placed the risers on the platform itself so I know exactly where to route the wires. The roadway just rests on top of it. :) (I had access to extra ones).

I had previously done that to the hub and plaza just because.

Anyways, good fun!

Tim

Anonymous said...

Hi:
to Davlandweb.... I fount the on/off Hydrant switch to be faulty... It the Marqui is to be on you platform "forever (we bought 2) then bypass it and hot wire the circuitboard,,,,,,

and to Flyboyhi... GREAT Idea sticking the rubber mounts to the platform makes placement easier and... later, when you put all the pieces in place, you'll find some hight problems, evening out the hight of the pavement between each building.... It'll be easier to add a shim or carve off a little of each rubber mount to make this adjustment....I'm going to do it to all the locations...
imisswalt

Daveland said...

Thanks imisswalt for the advice; I ended up talking to Travis and got everything wired correctly; the Marquee flickered for a bit and then was out. It appears that the hydrant is faulty as you suggested. Will get it taken care of one way or another. Thanks for the advice. Would love to see pics of what you've done with your model - sounds very cool, especially the water effects. Feel free to email me pics; dvdpicasso@aol.com. Thanks! I just finished setting up the train tonight and it really is so awesome to see it chugging around the model. I still have the ballast to add, but that will have to be another weekend.

Anonymous said...

I had the same issue with the wrong ohm attachment on the wrong harness - but easy to fix.

I'm also still not able to get the marquee to work right. To be honest, I kind of got lost on the directions when it talked about marking with a dot, and X and a dash... Getting the black/white wires from the marquee's lights to the control board is easy to figure out - but if someone could explain using colors what to do with the other two wires sets from the marquee, and the two wire sets from the control board - it would be most appreciated.

I am REALLY excited about this - we finally got the cork layed down and the train running - need to fix a couple joins but otherwise it's good... Having some other power issues with the train (the two wires hooked to the adapter doesn't work for me so I jury-rigged the original track's power segment into the platform track...

DM said...

I first wired the base running the wires down the center of main street but did not like fumbling with the wires and the roadway. I took it all appart and drilled holes under all of the buildings and wired it all from underneath the platform. Real clean installation and only the connectors come up under each building.

I purchased a remote control kit with a lamp module, receiver and transmitter from home depot. Plugged all three transformers into a power strip and the power strip into the light module and you have instant remote control for the lighting! Here is the Home Depot link.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100396462&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&cm_mmc=1hd.com2froogle-_-product_feed-_-D27X-_-100396462

waltyensid said...

imisswalt,

For the Marque, when you say..."bypass it and hot wire the circuitboard", can you describe in detail what you mean.

Thanks,
Tom

waltyensid said...

imisswalt,

For the Marquee, when you say..."bypass it and hot wire the circuitboard", can you describe in detail what you mean.

Thanks,
Tom

The Brother said...

Correct Marquee Wiring Instructions. Travis, our GM, asked me to pass the following:

~Reconnect the Black/White wires to the Black/White wires on the circuit board (2 sets).
~Reconnect the Green/Orange wire from the fire hydrant to the Red/Black wire on the circuit board.
~Connect the Red/Green wire from the fire hydrant to one of the Red/Green wires on Lighting System "C". This should make the Marquee work. Thanks,

Unknown said...

Ray and Travis,

I have the both the old Castle and the old Hub. And I agree with past comments that the side "B" is under powered. I tested the power at the ends of the resistor, while in place in the old "AA" battery holder. Without any of the other pieces in the chain being on I registered the power at around 1.75 volts. As each individual piece in the chain was manually powered on the power to the (at the resistor) dropped around .1 volt. The end result was that with all pieces on the "B" side being turned on the overall power dropped to only 1.166 volts. I'm assuming it would be less since considering I'm still missing the Grotto piece for this side. Since the lights on the Hub were designed to run on a "AA" battery, which provides 1.5 volts, the 1.1 volts it's now getting appears to be far from adequate to power the street lamps in the Hub.

I'd try and replace the resistor but I'm not sure what the wattage is of the 68 ohm one in the line already.

Anyone have any ideas just let me know.

Thanks,
Neal

waltyensid said...

Hey all.

I have the original castle and have removed the three screws from the base and I thought the Castle would just remove from the base easily like the other pieces due from their bases, but it seems stuck. Is there something else I need to do? I don't want to force it out if I have failed to unscrew everything.

Plus, the battery casing is different on this piece. There is nothing to unscrew to remove the battery pack. Any help or thoughts would be appreciated.
Tom

The Brother said...

Reply to Tom's Posting on Oct 28. The Castle piece may have a tight fit or due to the long time that the base has been attached it may stick slightly together. Collector who experience this will need to use some force for separate the base from the piece. The battery pack items need to stay in place in the original castle as these are needed with the lighting kit.

The Brother said...

Some are having problems getting the turnstiles to fit in the pre-drilled holes and have asked what to do. Travis, our product expert suggests: "If the turnstiles plug is too large to fit correctly, have the collectors file or enlarge the hole on the base. Do not have them try and reduce the size of the plug on the turnstiles. This will occur in other areas of the platform as well and a file or sandpaper will need to be used to create larger openings for various items."

The Brother said...

Each setup is going to be different, and we at Olszewski Studios haven't heard of anyone having this big of a difference though. Can the road be shifted to the other side slightly to make more room? Do you have any gap fillers on the other side that may be pushing the road to far to the left side, causing the problem? Please see if this works and if not let us know at info@olszewskistudios.com and we'll look into a replacement.

Anonymous said...

This is how I resolved the under-powered hub issue many of us with older battery version hubs are having. The instructions for the lighting kit had only one of the green & red connectors at the end of the "B" cable used for the old style battery version of the hub, so I cut off the extra connector complete with the red & green wires where it is soldered to the "B" cable, leaving the other conector still intact. (just in case my modification had any problems and I if wanted to undo it)

I cut the wires using a wire cutter/stripper tool but good some scissors or a utility knife will also work. I stripped back the insulation where I had cut the wires about 1/2 inch. I then took one of the AC/DC power supplies that came with one of the buildings and cut of the D/C round connector at the end of it's wire. Using my finger nails, I pulled apart the black wires about 1.5 inches from the end. I stripped back the insulation on both black wires about 1/2 inch. I tinned all 4 wires using a soldering iron and solder. One of the black wires from the transformer has a white line on it. This is the (+) positive wire and MUST be soldered to the red wire from the connector. The remaining plain black wire (-) negative or ground should be soldered to the green wire fro the connector. I insulated my solder connections with some small heat shrink tubing. (if you don't have a soldering iron, you can simply twist the ends of the wires together and tape them with electrical tape to secure and insulate them from shorting out to anything. Please double check your connections to insure that the black wire with the white stripe is connected to the red wire and the plain black wire is connected to the green wire. (WARNING! IF THESE CONNECTIONS ARE REVERSED YOU MAY DAMAGE YOUR HUB's CIRCUTRY)

I still had my platform on risers so I simply disconnected the "B" cable from my hub and connected the red and green connector from my transformer to hub instead. There is a hole beneath the hub. I ran the wires under the platform out to my AC strip and plugged it in. You could fish the wires through the closest opening in the base if necessary.

That's about as layman as I can make it. Hope this helps! It works great for me.

Anonymous said...

Hi:
It's been a while since I posted anything but a couple of things...
1- I mentioned you can hot wire the Marguee before... you can do this to any Fire hydrent switch...Simply cut and splice together the red and Orange (or the 2 reds if no orange)at the switch..the switch will always be on now...

2- If you start to see cracks in the roofs of the building... Don't Panic.... it's only the roof paint cracking, not the model.... Robert has said that he will provide "touch-up" kits in the future and they should have paint in them to touch up... As I had an "extra" of a building (I broke it, actually) I found out a couple of things... The trees, benches and lamp poles can be removed if you use care.. rocking them back and forth works best.. but very carefully...All items are placed in small holes.You can drill the walkways to add things that won't move.. I want to place extra benches around back stage and additional light poles on my model..I'm hoping Robert will sell extra matching lamps and benches...as well as a lot of figures to populate or platforms..
Hope everyone is having fun with their Platforms...

Unknown said...

Hi to all! After working with my platform for a while now I have a couple of tips that might help others in their platforms.

My first comments, have to do with the tiny LED's that go into the street lamps. While working on some alternatives to powering the street lights in my older version castle and hub I successfully blew the street lights in front of my castle. Initially I found the tiny 1.3mm lights difficult to find. However, I found an ample supply of them at my local "Doll House" supplier. In fact, I found a ton of very cool "ideas" for my platform while visiting the store. One of my ideas will launch me down the path of recreating the Christmas decorations which cross Main Street during the holidays. They have several variations of "Christmas" light strands available.

Second, I have begun buying people to populate my platform, both in the park and backstage areas. The ones I've been buying are from "Woodland Scenes." The figures don't have bases, which I like. So, I use a tad bit of rubber cement on their feet. The use of a pair of hobby tweezers makes placement of the figures much easier too. The nice thing about using this type of glue is that it isn't damaging to any of the platform pieces and you can easily move people around if you so choose. The glue also easily just rolls right off anything that it's attached to. There are other figurine options availabe as well either on line or through your local model railroad shop. The size I'm using is "N" Guage. I have found "Z" guage figures on line, though the options don't seem to be as plentiful as "N" scale is and, the retailers are fewer in number. Regardless, the figures that come as accessories for the platform are "N" guage so they all seem to fit in together very nicely.

Third, I'm installing some additional lighting on my platform. The first added light is the train signal found trackside at the north end of the Disneyland Train Station. The second one(s) are two "period" street lamps on the far end of the platform on opposite ends of the castle. That area just seemed very dark when just using the lights at night. The two new lights light up the Fantasyland side of the castle nicely. Initially, I installed "N" gauge sized lights. Though they look good up where I put them, I think "Z" scale lights would have been a little better. I may change them at a latter date.

Lastly, I integrated the added lighting (with plans on additional lighting down the road) with some switching pads which I had from a past train set. I tapped into the accessory power outputs on the train's power pack and then ran my lighting wires to the one switch. These switches can be purchased in several different input configurations. And, with some, you can "daisy chain" them if you want to add more lighting at a later date. Other switching alternatives are available through model train retailers that might fit your specifc set up better.

As with "imisswalt" if anyone has any ideas of questions I'd love to help out.

Neal.

Vicki Saltzman said...

I have been collecting the Main Street building since they first came out. I have made dollhouses and furniture for many years. The instructions for the electrical are way over my head. Does anyone live in Orange County that I can hire to help me install the electrical kit?

Thanks. I would appreciate any recommendations for someone who could help.

Unknown said...

I'm trying to build a custom small one for a holiday scene for several buildings (Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Main Street Station, Roundabout) I know the buildings unscrew from their bases. Can anyone tell me if the platform is recessed where the buildings go and if so about how deep the recess is or if they just set flush on top of the platform?

I'm also trying to figure out how to connect the Main Street Station tracks to the rest of the track on the board! Think I need to build custom ramps.

Lastly, I'm thinking about adding some lighting (my platform is only 2' x 6') I'm wondering how hard it would be to install one of the three lighting kits from the Main Street platform and if not too hard, which one should I get?

Thanks!

Unknown said...

I finally removed one of the buildings from the base. I see that I'm either going to have to do my own wiring to power the buildings or get something from Olszewski? I suppose the cleanest solution would be to wire my platform using the same connectors and pipe them all to the same transformer, but I'm not an electrician so I'm not sure how much power I will need and if I'll need more than one transformer. I suppose the safe way would be to power everything using its own transformer and just buy an extra jack for each building and connectors? I need to power Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Central Plaze, Main Street, Cinderella Castle, Marquee.