The Disneyland Thread fka B.Y.O.B.

[Firelock76]

I don't see any 'coonskin hats either!  Davey C. would be most disappointed!

[Penny Trains]

I would imagine you could find the skins at the Trading Post:

Which, of course, was Crockett adjacent. 

The famous ear hats were invented by Roy Williams, the Big Mousketeer and Disney staff artist, as headgear for the Mickey Mouse Club TV show in 1955.  So in theory they should have spread to the park not long after the show's premier.  Certainly by November of 55 when the Mickey Mouse Club Circus opened out back of the Autopia:

It was the real deal too:

But note the small crowd in this photo:

Walt just didn't understand how revolutionary his fledgling park was and didn't realize that people weren't coming to California to see a circus.  It lasted until September of 56.

The big top was later used as a picnic pavilion.

[Postwar Paul]

Really cool to know about the circus ! That came and went B-4 my first visit in '59.

I just realized that I recall 3 different hat styles that we had:

1. The cap, with patch and visor. In one of our pictures, as I mentioned.

2. Marching Toy Soldier. When "Babes in Toyland" came out, and was being promoted heavily.

3. the " Yankee" ( Union soldier cap.) It is visible in one of your pictures of the hat shop.

We grew up with Disneyland!

[Postwar Paul]

It's funny how memories link together like a chain. One thing reminds you of something else that happened around that same time. I remember we had records of show tunes playing in our house. We had " My Fair Lady", "Porgy and Bess", "Camelot", among others on the stereo. We had Disney's soundtrack album for "Babes in Toyland". It was really nice. The album opened up and had stills from scenes in the movie. And all those songs! Maybe that's why I can almost sing along with this movie.

Then came the Beatles, and they dominated. Tv, movies, radio. By '65 and '66 you could change radio stations, and the Beatles would be playing on 3 different stations simultaneously.3 different songs, of course.

[Firelock76]

I know what you mean.  In the early 70's my friends and I swore if we had to listen to "American Pie" or "Nights In White Satin" one more time we were going to rip out our car radios and throw 'em to the side of the road!

Too much of a good thing indeed!

[Penny Trains]

There's a pic or two around here somewhere of me wearing a kepi while touring the Gettysburg monuments.  And for me it was anything by Madonna that was driving me nuts in the 80's! 

[Postwar Paul]

Don't get me wrong ! I love the Beatles, and it's never too much Beatles for me. I was just trying to paint the picture of what it was like in the mid 60's. You can't talk about the 60's without some kind of footnote about the Beatles. Still love their music to this day ! 

Paul

[Penny Trains]

tick...tick...tick....

[Leverettrailfan]

I was simply thrilled when more of my mom’s old records turned up (she got rid of most of them), and there was a copy of ‘Rubber Soul’. 

[Postwar Paul]

The Beatles were the " Soundtrack of my childhood". Their music was playing constantly throughout the sixties, on the radio, and in our house.

So, when we talk about Disneyland in the sixties, somehow my mind links to the Beatles.

Isn't that amazing ? 

 Here's another thing:

I was watching a clip on you tube last night of a very young Neil Young in Buffalo Springfield, roughly around the same time as "Rubber Soul".  It's amazing what this man has accomplished, ( he performed at Woodstock, for crying out loud ). Then became a Guru at Lionel. It's worth checking out, if you have an interest in music of that era...

[Postwar Paul]

Penny Trains

tick...tick...tick....

 

the clock is ticking. Could it be time for a trip back to the Magic Kingdom?

 

[Leverettrailfan]

Even though for me, it was growing up in the early 2000s, the beatles were indeed the soundtrack of my childhood, particularly my early childhood. We listened to them a lot when I was little. I think, at my request! They were the only ‘60s/‘70s artist I heard much of as a kid, in all honesty. Such great memories!!

[Penny Trains]

It took me awhile, but I finally found that Babes In Toyland at the Main Street Opera House pic!

And yes....I've selected my next target:

I need to incorporate both the Skyway and the Monorail into the Small World module permanently.  Look at the background of this pic and you can see that I had to severly warp one of the Skyway towers with steel wire to keep it from derailing the Monorail:

They've been fighting each other for 4 years and the time is ripe for finding a better solution than attaching something to one of the metal clips for the window behind the curtain!    The only real question is whether or not I'll rebuild all of Small World or just fix what needs to be fixed.

[Postwar Paul]

Penny Trains

It took me awhile, but I finally found that Babes In Toyland at the Main Street Opera House pic!

And yes....I've selected my next target:

I need to incorporate both the Skyway and the Monorail into the Small World module permanently.  Look at the background of this pic and you can see that I had to severly warp one of the Skyway towers with steel wire to keep it from derailing the Monorail:

They've been fighting each other for 4 years and the time is ripe for finding a better solution than attaching something to one of the metal clips for the window behind the curtain!    The only real question is whether or not I'll rebuild all of Small World or just fix what needs to be fixed.

 

Although Disney may have destroyed most of the negatives of the Babes in Toyland display on Main Street, modern forensics makes it possible to prove the existence of said display.

Just messin', but glad you found that picture. Apparently not too many pictures survive. Some day a picture of the trees may surface.

Your layout looks great, you don't need to change a thing ! I am very impressed with all the detail, even the Mickey Mouse logo on the station grounds !

Paul

[Penny Trains]

Postwar Paul

you don't need to change a thing !

  That would never do!    My to-do list:

1. Integrate Small World with Skyway and Monorail
2. Repair and enhance Small World
3. Add tower of 4 winds
4. Repair and augment Skyway
5. Main Street needs signage
6. Tomorrowland needs signage
7. Pangalactic Pizza Port
8. Hatmosphere
9. Circle Vision 360
10. Carousel of Progress
11. Repair Monorail Station (this one's kinda important because of the fire)
12. Re-roof Pirates of the Caribbean
13. Experiment with blue lamps inside Space Mountain
14. Second Monorail train
15. Second parking lot tram
16. Redo Town Square (flagpole)
17. Plaza (hub) gardens
18. Balloon vendors
19. Augment Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
20. Peoplemover
21. Rebuild Sleeping Beauty Castle
22. More figures (especially kids!)

And eventually it would be great if these "modules" all had a platform with base scenery and a plug and socket wiring system built-in.

I keep coming up with crazy new ideas all the time and that's the fun part! 

[Penny Trains]

And excursion cars for the DLRR. 

[Postwar Paul]

You are much more organized than I am. My projects start out with only the vaguest idea of what I would like to accomplish. I engineer things as I go, as problems arise. 

The final result is a surprise...

even to me !

[Penny Trains]

OK. Time for some new pics! Not much excitement I'm afraid, just A LOT of upgrading and enhancing this year!


First up, Pirates of the Caribbean needed a better roof:





I've been using that tile roof texture longer than I can remember! The new one looks better imho:






Of course, redoing one part of a paper model often leads to other things. So, one wall needed to be redone, the parapet on the roof needed straightening (which necessitated mixing paint to match the original red cardstock with a few years of sun fading) and while I was at it I replaced the original blue cobblestone base (which was so warped it looked like the building was on a hill) with a new red brick texture that's more complimentary than the blue. Here's a side-by-side with the original build photo on the left:

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1339x720.

Considering this model has been in and out of boxes for 6 years it's holding up fairly well.


This one earns the "most obnoxious paper model" award.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 2133x1600.

Why? Certainly not because of the buildings. Nope. What's new is the tiny little town square plot which replaces this:

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1271x720.

At first glance you might think the only paper model involved is the plaque at the base of the flag pole. But that overlooks the "death by a thousand cuts" fencing! Which is also a paper model! Anyhoo. While I had Main Street out of storage I added signage to the storefronts.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 2206x1600.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 2133x1600.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1885x1600.

I had planned to light them up but figured it would be too difficult to retro-fit them. Oh well!


Lastly, so far, I upgraded the trees on and around Tom Sawyer Island:

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1244x315.

Lichen is nice, but not terribly durable for a model that has to be moved around so much. My new type trees are more forgiving:

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 2133x1600.

And I uprooted and re-flocked the pine trees:

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1041x720.

Today I started making new trees for Sleeping Beauty Castle enhancements.

[wrmcclellan]

Becky - as usual - WOW!

[Postwar Paul]

I always enjoy looking at your models. They're great ! 

I won't be playing trains too much until the dust settles from this move, but it's the start of a new chapter, and I'm excited.

Keep on keepin' on, they look wonderful !

[Penny Trains]

Thanks guys!

I really am amazed at how much better these cheapo bottle brush pines from a craft store look.

And all I did was brush on some Elmer's Glue-All and dribble on some fine turf with a spoon!    Here's what they looked like beforehand:

I had tried to hide the "blueness" of some of them doing an in-situ reflocking job using hairspray and fine turf.  But I think you may agree the "clumpiness" that developed using actual glue rather than just hair spray makes all the difference.  They still look like cheapo bottle brush trees, and certainly they won't win any awards for portraying a conifer realistically, but they do look better!  

Call Hans and Otto!  I need to enhance those trees on the slopes of the Matterhorn too! 

[RJSMITHINDY]

Penny Trains, I’ve really enjoyed reading through this thread. Thanks for sharing the information and photos of Disney history as well as the construction & reconstruction of your Disney layout - a work of art. From one of your posts, I like you, wish Lionel would produce an O gauge tourist passenger car like WDW RR. Have you run across any good substitutes or something that could be modified? I’ve thought about building one from an O-27 flat car.

[Penny Trains]

Thanks!

One of the things I've considered doing over the years is modifying Bachmann's On30 coaches with Lionel trucks and couplers.  Their cars would be a good representation of Disneyland's original yellow coaches:

But I'm just not sure it would work, and at 75 bucks a pop experimenting would be hard to do.  (Of course, if I really wanted to be accurate I'd be using narrow gauge anyways!    But Lionel's are more reliable!  )

Of course, Bachmann can make these in just about every gauge except the one I want:

But what are you going to do? 

Another option is the MTH Overton cars:

Not bad.  But really not what I'm looking for.  A better option is a LaBelle kit: https://www.labellemodels.com/scale-passenger-cars-c-22_28.html?osCsid=3m3o0eusnnqgp79nih4iao21c1 again, not the cheapest option considering I'd have to build them and buy trucks.

So, what I consider my most plausible option is exactly what you've suggested.  Get some junker flatcars and build on top.  What's holding me back are 3 problems:

1. Celestory roof.
2. Sturdy framing.
3. Consistent seating.

One of these days.

[Postwar Paul]

I remember riding those clerestory cars, and my dad cautioning me to not be out on the open platforms when the train was moving. I was surfing around the internet, and I think it was  On the " Steam Channel", a guy had purchased at least some of the cars, and was operating them , with some very cute little " tea kettle " locomotives.

The Bachmann's are very close, but the trucks...

[RJSMITHINDY]

Penny Trains, I think we are on the same page. There are items out there that are hitting all around the target, but nothing out there to make this an easy solution for O/O-27 fans. Lionel seems to have the best relationship with Disney. Maybe if enough of us Disney fans email them a suggestion to produce one maybe they will get the hint: [e-mail]

In the meantime I’ll keep trying to come up with an alternative. 

[Penny Trains]

I.ve had one of these for about 30 years now:

Believe it or not I've seen people try to fit these with O gauge trucks so they could be pulled by MTH 4-6-0's. 

Speaking of which:

MTH did do a lot of work on the very set that would help me out of my jam.  Believe it or not that station is sold to go with HO scale WDW RR trains!    (They claim the monorail is HO scale.  I think it's S.)

[Penny Trains]

SLEEPING BEAUTY CASTLE

Time for an upgrade! 

I had hoped to rebuild the castle this year (and for at least 3 prior years) but the moolah never seems to be available for the ink and paper that would be required to build a new model.  She looks pretty good for her age though:

BTW I took this photo to demonstrate scale on a paper modelling forum.  That's a 1:43, 1:50 and 2 HO figures standing in the doorway.  From them and pics of the real castle we decided the model is closer to 1:50, although the designer never worried about such things.

Anyways.  When a piece of scrap castle material which was taken form a folder that lives in a box in the dark basement and not in the sun as the rest of the model does is placed beside it, the damage caused by the sun becomes more obvious:

Another issue was my "water".  I poured polyeurethane (water-based) over an acrylic painted base and well....

The poly migrated, to put it mildly.  Into the sand, up the castle walls and just turned my nice white sand beaches an ugly yellow over the years.

And then there was the "bite"...

A slight miscalculation of available real estate vs. generic measurements on my layout diagram resulted in a "field adjustment".    It didn't go away, but it looks a bit more "planned" than it wasn't. 

So....here's the enhanced version:

New trees, new clean beaches and a nicer bridge.

It should fit in better with my current scenery scheme.

[Postwar Paul]

Just as Disneyland sees occasional upgrades, refurbishment, new paint, etc... it stands to reason that a model would need the same. UV, dust, and natural deterioration are to be expected.

To make it new again....

 UV is an extremely destructive force in Garden Railroading. With some brands of track, the plastic ties may turn to dust in a few years of So Cal sunshine. But the rails are eternal...

You have brought back the vibrancy, and color. Looks great !!

[Penny Trains]

Back to what I started out to do, I finally finished project #1: fix the Small World vs. DLRR vs. Monorail vs. Skyway problem.

Due to it being just a few degrees below double heck this summer, moving furniture (let alone any more than I really had to) just wasn't possible.  I had to wait for cooler days to get the measurements I needed.  That operation looked like this:

The original center "island" was just a posterboard oval stuffed with lights and newspaper.  Last year those lights got damaged and that meant removing the whole garden to replace the string.

The new version is made like an "I-beam" of illustration board with holes drilled in the top section for the bulbs to poke through:

I also replaced the fencing in the cue area, made better water (hot glue over blue paint) and made a little "hedge" to block direct view of the bulbs and allow only the colored light to be seen.

And around back, the transportation department's issues are hopefully fixed.

So, that's what's new at paper Disneyland.  It'll be set up after I get the other two layouts finished. 

 

[Postwar Paul]

Your " to do " list

is getting " to done "

looking good !!