Custom made model of Rapunzel tower from Disney animation Tangled

A while ago I was into scratch building models based on buildings from animated movies. It started with the Carls house from Disney./Pixar movie UP which became the most popular model on my website here http://themodelmaker.net/victorian-dollhouse-disney-pixar-up/ I made few other buildings but my favorite is still this one, Rapunzel tower from Disney Tangled. It was ordered from me as an engagement ring box. I made the roof removable with secret ring compartment inside the top section.

I liked the movie so the researching for this model was pure joy. I watched it few times. I then looked for the images online showing the tower from all angles. I also downloaded the real building from Disneyland to help me see the details on the rear side, not visible in the movie. When I build something like that, I want to be as accurate as possible so the ring box can later double as movie collectible.
When I downloaded everything I could find, I started drawing the model in CAD with images in the background. I had to determine the size and shapes, so I started with few elevations. Then I started breaking it to smaller pieces, like roof, main structure. I drew outlines of each piece so the plan and elevations match. I thought about using my 3d printed for this build, but it produces visible lines from layering process and I thought it would be hard to sand in very small areas. I went with old school knife cutting styrene sheets and laser cutting.

Laser cutter speeds my process of cutting parts in flat sheets of material of different thickness. I draw outlines of the parts in CAD and put them all densely packed on 300x500mm sheet. Then press cut and it burns all of them precisely. It speeds my process greatly because parts are usually perfect as I draw them.
For round elements I used 0.25mm stripes cut with a knife to the right width and rolled around different diameters tubes or deodorants to form the plastic rings in right dimensions. Humbrol Poly Cement melts the plastic so few 0.25mm layers build up the thickness and it becomes strong and rigid. Wooden beams were made from layers of narrow styrene stripes. The small imperfections were fixed with model filler but the surface finish was perfect, much better than 3d printed. You can see it in photographs above.
The stone base of the tower is sculpted with Milliput around cardboard roll taken from kitchen paper towels. Milliput is 2 parts epoxy putty, I use it everywhere I need strong and durable sculpture. It sets in 2 hours, so I sculpted it in sections, stones first and later the smooth, plastered areas. I used it also to build the base shape of the roof and later covered with laser cut paper roof tiles. I used 2 tubes of super glue to attach them, slowly, layer by layer, gluing my fingers in the process and probably poisoning myself with the fumes It took few hours to put them this way but I think the effect was the most realistic and fastest I could get. I am glad that I didn’t try to sculpt them by hand as I planned initially.
Everything is as usual, painted with my favorite Valleyo acrylic paints. The interior is lined with red felt. The ivy is model railway foliage from my local model shop. The whole model is about 40cm tall and packed with details.

I hope you enjoyed reading the short description of my process. It took me a month to build the whole thing from scratch and I sold it for fraction of its real value. This is always a case when building a totally new model from start. All the development takes time and people usually don't see its value in the finished product which at the end looks like a toy from the shop. Each of your upvotes will give me a chance to bring back some of this value so I can break even. Let me know if you are interested in this kind of blog posts in the future. If you want to see my other builds, browse my Steemit profile. Thanks for your attention and support.