You really didn't think I was done, did you?
Not a chance! So here we go!
Four years ago, when I started this insanity, I built A LOT of structures in a very short amount of time. To accomplish it, I short-cutted whatever I could with an eye towards rebuilding low quality items at a later date. Last year Space Mountain got rebuilt because it was sagging, bent and generally not "up to code".
This year, it's time to repair, rebuild and enhance Frontierland a bit. So I started with one of those 50/50 projects. That's 50% good quality and 50% low quality. This is the Tom Sawyer Island module with the Mark Twain sternwheeler, the good half, and Fort Wilderness, the not so great half. The Mark Twain is a fantastic free model and if you have the need for a close to O scale riverboat I'd recomend it in a heartbeat. However, some parts of this paper model really need reinforcing, especially if the model has to stand up to the requirements of packing and unpacking of a seasonal layout.
My first build of the model was a shelf dweller, as there was no layout for it to sit on at that time. So I didn't need to worry about how strong it was and I built it as per instructions. But when the ship came off the shelf and onto the layout, it suffered. A LOT. The decks sagged and bowed the sides of the ship right along with them. Also since it was inkjet printed (the new one is too by the way) it was prone to moisture danage, which it had plenty of. So, the time came to rebuild it. This time, I reinforced the decks and side rails with posterboard and mirror image parts on the back side. I also decided I should add lighting, so 5 gow's went in to the 3 decks, wheelhouse and mast light. I also used a small brass bell instead of the kit's paper bell.
Doing all of this REALLY made the fort look B-A-D bad. So, the old fort had to go. In the 70's and 80's there was a magazine published in Germany called Micky Maus. In the center of the magazine there was always(?) some kind of Disney craft project including games, calendars and many simple models. Of course, you had to buy all the issues involved in a series if you wantd to build a model. The original fort I used on Tom Sawyer Island was made using pieces from one of those kits, which I found out there on the net at seite42.com. It was a fast way to raise a fort and I was never terribly happy with it. So, it went! The replacement fort (unlike the real one at the real Disneyland I might say ) was rebuilt using bamboo skewers, dowels and craft sticks (matchsticks). I stained the wood with a light acrylic wash.
And to complete the rebuild, I finally built the dock for the Mark Twain which enhances the scene quite dramatically. Having a river without a near bank was never meant to exist for so long! Maybe there were some pre-Columbian, flat earth things involved there...
Anyhoo, enjoy!
More to come!
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Nice work.
My family and I visited Disney world many many times when we lived in Fla. Back in the 70s you could go there very reasonably, back when they had the old ride tickets. If I remember right it was only about 18 dollars a day then. Now it is near 100 dollars a day per person, wow.
Becky,
Very good work again...as usual. You are the cardboard queen!
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
Enjoy your work as always. It might interest you to know I was one of the first people to visit Disney World when it first opened. I went with a church group. It was also my first look at the Florida East Coast Railway. I saw it from the curch bus window.
George
Good Lord, that steamboat is a PAPER model? Just incredible! The only thing missing is Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson singing "Make Believe" on the hurricane deck!
Becky, you continue to amaze!
A big mountain deserves BIG improvements!
Bridges to nowhere may be fine in some places but they looked pretty dopey on a roller coaster. The original trackwork in this pic is discernable by the trails of hot glue left behind when I pulled up the wire "rails". While the tracks still come from and end up going nowhere at least they now do it on the back side of the mountain or inside a mine shaft that appears to descend below ground. The bent-work is bamboo skewers cut and assembled on the fly, meaning the only measurements came from my eye and not from a ruler. The hills may look impossible and you'd be right! But this is supposed to be a thrill ride!
So after much effort, here's the improved (and much enlarged) Big Thunder Mountain Railroad module.
Don't bother trying to head into the Longhorn Saloon, the doors wereblocked by a giant boulder that washed down in the earthquake of 87.
Although maybe you could use some of this stuff to get into that saloon...
Btw, that rock wall over on the left of those barrels is just a flat sheet of paper. I'm good but I'm not THAT good!
Originally I had used a thick golden wire for the "rails", but it was hard to shape and I was out of it so I had to find something else. The solution came from a heavy duty extension cord with a cracked and peeling outer cover. I stripped the covering away and kept a fair amount of the black conductor hoping that this would work. And it did! It's just hot glued to the ties and was easy to shape.
Well there we are, another one of those "should have done's" is finally done.
Great job! If you wouldn't have stated that wall was paper wouldn't have known.
As usual, outstanding!
Regards, Roy
Time for an update.
Over in Tomorrowland....
Most of what you're seeing isn't new, just enhanced. For example, until a few weeks ago the building on the right (Star Tours) was just the orangish monolith with the black triangle and the red and yellow swoosh thing to the left of it. The problem was not being able to decide what that building should look like. But since I was also tired of not having it finished, I decided to keep it similar to the building next door.
This building doesn't have much depth because it borders Sleeping Beauty Castle. Oh, that orange piece the "Star Traders" sign is mounted on started life as a disposable cap for an HP ink cartridge. I have quite a few and I'll be using them for signage throughout Tomorrowland.
Over in Fantasyland...
The new carrousel is ready to go. This is a modification of a 2-story carrousel I found on the net. The fencing, stepped decks and the finial are my own additions. Unfortunately it only had 3 colors of horses and those are all the same style. But there's 12 of each and though it's hard to see in this photo each one is mounted on a brass pole.
There's lots more that I'm working on!
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