50th Details Part 1: Jungle Cruise

When it comes to adding 50th details to any of Olszewski's miniatures, I have to ask myself two questions: 1) What details were added to the building or attraction during the 50th, and 2) Which of those details can reasonably be added to the miniature?

We'll look at the answer to each question below when it comes to the Jungle Cruise:

1) As best as I can remember (and confirm through internet searches), the Jungle Cruise had two decorative additions to commemorate Disneyland's 50th: a hidden 50th Mickey above the queue entrance and one of its boats, the Congo Queen, was repainted in the gold and scarlet 50th color scheme (attraction vehicles repainted for the 50th were called "golden vehicles").  Below are a couple of photos showing these additions that I found on Jimhillmedia.com:

Photo by Jeff Lange

Photo by Jeff Lange

This photo was found on Pinterest and was attributed to startedbyamouse.com:

2) As far as feasibility of adding these two details, the hidden Mickey really shouldn't be too difficult to add.  I should be able to whip up a properly scaled version on Photoshop then print it on cardstock.  After that it would just need a small bit of adhesive to put it in place.

I pulled the following picture from agidistrict.com, and it shows the queue from the miniature.  It looks like the addition of the hidden Mickey would be relatively simple.  As a side note, agidistrict.com is an excellent website covering much more extensive customizations of Olszewski miniatures than what I am attempting.  The site is well worth a visit and the end results are phenominal.

photo from agidistrict.com

The golden vehicle presents a bit more of a challenge. There are four miniature boats on the attraction miniature.  The boat returning to dock near the edge of the piece look like it has the easiest access for repainting:

photo from agidistrict.com

My initial plan is to carefully mask off the water, surrounding details, and the boat's name sign on top of the canopy, then paint the canopy scarlet.  After the scarlet dries I'll carefully mask off the scarlet lines on the canopy, then paint the entire boat gold.  As long as all the masking is done correctly, I should get a golden boat with a gold and scarlet stripped canopy when all the masking material comes off.

At some point in the future I hope to have a separate post chronicling my additions to the Jungle Cruise miniature.  They should end up being a nice, subtle touch that will bring back fond memories of the 50th celebration.  The only thing preventing me from getting started is the fact that I haven't yet purchased the Jungle Cruise miniature.  It's high on my priority list, but I haven't yet been given the opportunity to buy it.  Minor detail, right?

Customizing Olszewski Miniatures

Previously I mentioned my intent to customize my Olszewski collection.  Here is some background on what I mean:

During Disneyland's 50th anniversary, several details and decorations were added to the park, including more than 50 hidden Mickeys.    I would like to add miniature versions of those 50th decorations to my Olszewski collection wherever possible.

Why the 50th?  That part of Disneyland history is particularly nostalgic for me because my wife and I went on many of our first dates at the park during that time.

Most of Olszewski's miniatures aren't designed to represent a specific time or season, so they're sort of like blank slates ready for additional decoration.  In fact, there is a set of decorative accessories in the works that will let collectors decorate their pieces for the Fourth of July, Halloween, and Christmas, just like the park gets decorated.  There's no word on when these accessories will be released, but they are eagerly anticipated by many collectors.

The image below is from colddeadfish.net and it shows a preview of the Christmas bunting, streamers, and other decorations that will be included in the Main Street Seasonal Accessory Pack:

My 50th decorations will fall into the same category as that future accessory pack.  For the most part I won't be making any significant permanent changes to my pieces, I'll just be adding temporary 50th details as best as possible.

Conveniently, Disney did commission Olszewski to release five of his pieces as commemorative editions for Disneyland's 50th, one representing each of the original lands plus the Haunted Mansion because it was such a popular release.  At least some of the commemorative pieces were decorated and painted in their 50th attire.  These commemorative pieces also came in special packaging that matched the golden scheme of the 50th, which was a nice touch.

Here is a list of the five pieces released as 50th commemoratives:
-Jungle Cruise, representing Adventureland
-Mad Tea Party, representing Fantasyland
-Mark Twain, representing Frontierland
-Astro Orbitor, representing Tomorrowland
-Haunted Mansion, honorary commemorative due to popularity

It appears as though not all of commemorative editions were actually painted or decorated differently than later open editions.  My source of information is basically limited to whatever I can find on the internet, and unfortunately there just isn't much out there because it's been 10 years since the initial release of these editions.  Here is what I found so far:

The commemorative Mark Twain is significantly different than the later open edition.  All of the bunting is painted in the golden 50th scheme and the 50th Hidden Mickey is present between the riverboat's stacks.

As far as I can tell, the remaining commemorative pieces, including the Jungle Cruise, Mad Tea Party, Astro Orbitor, and Haunted Mansion don't appear to be painted or decorated any differently than the open editions.  There isn't anything wrong with this, it just means that I can buy whatever edition I can find because the commemorative edition will need the same amount of detail added as the open edition in order to reach my goals.

In future posts I'll take a closer look at each of the Disneyland Attractions that have Olszewski miniature counterparts, the decorations added to those attractions during Disneyland's 50th, and whether those details can reasonably be added to Olszewski's miniatures.

50th Details Part 1: Jungle Cruise

Robert Olszewski's Disneyland Miniatures

Hello and welcome!  This is a little niche blog that I'll be using to chronicle my efforts to collect, repair, and customize miniature representations of Disneyland and Disney World buildings and attractions created by artist Robert Olszewski and sold by the Walt Disney Company.

I began collecting these miniatures in 2015, which if you know anything about the collection, is pretty late in the game.  Originally  Disney began releasing the collection in 2002, starting with Sleeping Beauty's castle.  Over 40 pieces have been released in the Disneyland collection alone since 2002, so I have had a lot of catching up to do.

Robert Olszewski's Sleeping Beauty Castle, 

image from Olszewskistudios.com

Little by little I've been grabbing pieces when I can at the parks or through the various Disney online retailers, including the Parks App.  Otherwise I'm stuck watching for reasonably priced second hand pieces on Ebay.  Since each piece of the collection has been a limited release with no guarantee of re-release in the future, it's been a bit of an uphill battle.

I can't be too picky with options so frequently I end up getting pieces with small defects ranging from cracked paint to missing parts.  I don't mind these defects because I'm confident that I can repair them.  My repair work also offers me an opportunity to experiment with customizing these pieces since their collector value is already impaired by the defects.

By using this blog to chronicle my efforts at repairing and customizing my collection,  I hope that it will help others who need to make their own repairs or who wish to try their hands at customizing their pieces.