DisneySub Hall of Horror
October 2004
Just in time for Halloween, be prepared to have the dickens
scared out of you with this Disney Nautilus replica from Model Ship Technologies.
It came out of nowhere in the late 1980's which is scary in and of itself, and then just when
you thought you were safe and comfortable with the Harper-Goff Disney Nautilus, this ugly
example hits the streets. Hide your children and cover one eye because you are about to behold a terrifying sight!
The outer skin is wrapped with silver duct tape. Yes I said TAPE. Then it was wrapped around and around just like a mummy! Look at the photo closely and you can see the edges of the tape lines. The creator of this Nautilus decided to indulge his artistic licence and not only omitted the rudder and prop but decided to add these large fin-like structures where the prop guard struts usually go. Oh and what the heck, let's just leave off the skiff.
But it is suppose to be a Disney Nautilus right? We think so, but how could they have gotten so many things wrong? William Babington saw one of these as kid and wanted one in the worse way. But then again, there wasn't many Nautilus replicas on the market in the 1980's either. Then later, William saw one of these things made into a hood ornament. OK lets look take a long hard look at it again, yes it is a Disney Nautilus! But I say again, what where they thinking?
Here's a shot of the headless Nautilus holder. You have to give the folks at Model Ship Technologies credit for making it big. This Nautilus was over 50 inches long. Yes I'm sure it's a Disney Nautilus now. There is no mistaking the rackers, wheelhouse, dorsal fin, the over-all shape and such. But where are the anchors, speed screw, atomizers and glass viewport? I guess they decided just to leave that off. At least the guy holding the sub has the right idea on his T-Shirt as to what he should do with it.
Below are 3 detail shots. We see the wheelhouse window is modeled with just a large green light and an extra one on the side just for good measure. The middle photo shows how the lighting electricals were accessed with a drop down panel were the bottom hatch would normally reside. On the right is a view of the salon area, again modeled with just illuminated lights and no large glass dome for the main viewport. This is turning out to not be so much of a review but more like a bad nightmare.
Our next set of detail shots really show off the finer details. On the left is the skiff area, but wait where's the skiff? The middle photo is of the scuppers and at first glance that doesn't look too bad but there are those tape line again. Maybe the folks at Model Ship Technologies had stock in the duct tape market? The last photo is of the dorsal fin and hatch area. Not exactly accurate to the Haper-Goff design is it? That's one heck of a angle on the fin, better reduction of water resistance I suppose.
We finish our "review" with these last 3 photos. On left is another shot of the salon area. The photo in the middle details the discharge vents near the keel of the Nautilus. Not as I know them but I'm going to give them some latitude on this one. But we have saved the "best" or in this case the "worse" depending on how you are looking at it, for our last photo. It is the ramming spur. It is rendered in a snaggletooth type arrangement. Remember those neck chains a lot of groovy guys wore in the 80's that looked just like this? It was suppose to indicate virility or something like that. It's possible that this theme carried over to this Nautilus ramming spur. I hate to admit it but it's the one part of this sub I really enjoy looking at.
Just to prove that they actually DID produce this thing, here is another sighting of the M.S.T. Nautilus. This was taken in 1997 or 1998 by Lewis Crow at the museum
aboard the USS Intrepid in New York City. He hasn't been back since, so we don't know if it's still there. If anyone else spots one of these, please let is know.
Happy Halloween!
