Yard cut outs

[Danny]

My first year with LOR and man what fun. I'm sure like most I'm planning on next years display. I was wondering is their anyone out there that can point me In the right direction. I want to make some yard cut outs. Me and the wife are Disney fans and would love to make a few characters for Christmas and Halloween. Where can I find the plans to make the cut out I need.

[Denny]

We have plenty of cutouts in our yard, but plans for Disney are not available on the two sites that we use to get our plans.  For the Disney cutouts that we did use, I purchased children's coloring books, scanned the figures that I wanted, enlarged and printed the drawings.  Tape all the pages together and trace them onto the wood to cutout.

[Brian Mitchell]

I use the grid method for all my cutouts.  I find a picture I like and draw a grid on the picture.  Then I set a scale on the picture to get the size I want, like one inch equals one foot on the wood.    Draw the grid on the wood and transfer each square of the grid to the wood.  Since I have no artistic ability, I measure every point and basically connect the dots but I'm sure many people can freehand them.  I'm quite proud of how mine come out and I thank high school drafting class for each one.

[Mega Arch]

Go to a pawn shop or thrift store. Pick up an old style overhead dumb projector. Take a page from the coloring book and throw the image up on your plywood. Trace the outline with a sharpie. Paint between the lines. Cut, clear coat spray and mount. That's how we did it in the 80's.

[cumberland]

go to www.thewinfieldcollection.com  and order a catalog .  Catalog # 126 has many Christmas plans

[Denny]

I use Winfield almost exclusively, however, they do not have any Disney related cutouts.  Still, a great soure for cutout plans lthough

[Max-Paul]

Go to a pawn shop or thrift store. Pick up an old style overhead dumb projector. Take a page from the coloring book and throw the image up on your plywood. Trace the outline with a sharpie. Paint between the lines. Cut, clear coat spray and mount. That's how we did it in the 80's.

I am thinking of maybe getting one of those 60 buck projectors that connect to a computer. Just get a gif or jpg and then project that on the plywood. Its smaller and easier to store it till next time. Though the projection lamp might be more expensive. Have to ask how available are the lamps for the old school projectors. No really right answer. I just going to go new school.

[crewdog89]

Michael's has an EZ Tracer projector for $30.  They actually work really well and are pretty small, unlike one of those old school projectors.

[Danny]

I like to thank everyone for their great input. I have already been searching the web for the photos needed for my christmas/ halloween 2015 endeavor. Hoping to be able to share photos in the future.