Thread: Puppet Master Clown

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Here is my version of the puppet master clown; I wish I could claim this idea because when I first saw it I was amazed. This is a killer clown idea!



From bottom to the top, the base is 24” across and the next level is 18”. They are 10” apart; the four supports are cut at 17 degrees.



The body sub base is 6 x 8”. The frame is all ¾ pvc. Splitting the tubing made the “foot” of the prop, then heat it with a paint stripper gun and press it flat in my vise. Then screw it to the sub base.

You can see the external supports on the legs going up, that is ¼ plywood nailed into the side of the sub base to stabilize the structure, if this was not done then body was very wobbly.

The motor is a 12VDC, just made a small wood box for it and placed it in the center. I used bolts and wing nuts to make easy to remove if needed, this is really an upside down FCG setup. To manage the lines I used ¼ copper tubing, I flared the inlets so as not to cut the lines on the sharp end cuts.




To get the lines out to the arm I again used copper tubing in the same way as on the bottom.

I have not fixed the body sections into place as you see it. I will do so by driving a screw into the connecting points when the time comes.

The upper motor is an 110V unit, its purpose is to make the head nod back and forth. Take a good look at the way the head is supported. This comes from some time back for one of our hunting brothers who came up with this for the three axis talking skulls. What you see is a ¾’ T with a hole cut in the bottom for the rod to pass thru.





So that is where I am in this project with a bit to do, hope you like it.

PMT

this is going to be kewl

keep us posted on this!

amk

The next think to do is lock down all of the joints and bulk up the body with some Dacron Batting. Once that is done its time to hit the sewing machine, I hope my wife will help . after it is dressed it will be time to load the puppet and move on to the head.
PMT

I've been working on one of these, too. The problem I'm having right now is that the puppet strings only move an inch or 2. Any ideas on how to get more travel on the string??

I was thinking the same thing, what I was going to try is moving the eye-hooks out to increase the travel distance. It should work, but I am not sure how far will be to far?

PMT

Please keeping pics. I really want to do one of these either this year or next. I've had some other ideas to do like this too so really need the tips on making one. Great work so far!!!!

Originally Posted by propmastertucson

I was thinking the same thing, what I was going to try is moving the eye-hooks out to increase the travel distance. It should work, but I am not sure how far will be to far?

PMT

I tried moving the eyelets out. It doesn't effect the travel of the string. I ended up making a longer arm coming off the wiper motor. Now it has about 2 1/2" of travel. I should have taken pics and started my own thread. I used one motor that moves the head and the puppet, and it's mounted in the torso area like the one for your head instead of in the base.

cant wait to see the finished prop looks good so far!

Hi, its so cool, to see some-one making your idea. Love the head turner, could not work out, how to do it on mine.
I just looked at my tutorial and realized that i used an old pic for the eyelet layout. you will need to move the eyelets out more from the center.
Can't wait to see your finished pic

After locking down the joints the frame was wrapped with dacron batting to give it some bulk and soften the corners. Then off to the sewing machine, with what could be done on the machine the rest had to be sewed on the prop. Here are a few pics so far. some still to be done but I am happy how it is going so far.


Thanks for looking

PMT