Thread: Wolf from an animated Christmas deer

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Originally Posted by Ghost of Spookie

I'm also debating on how to turn my brown mask black. Don't want rush into anything so may take some time to mull it over and work on another project in the meantime. We did pick up a speaker jack for my white haired Spirit Ball guy at Radio Shack last night. I've seen my husband eyeing that prop too...

What about hair dye? don;t know how well it will work since the hair is probably plastic. you could do light coats of spray paint.

Originally Posted by daspizz23

Thanks for the recomendation - I just bought the same fur off ebay! Where did you get the mask/Did you post a pic of it yet? I'd love to get it now & not wait for the fur to come and match it.

Thanks again!

D

Sure, glad I could help. This fur seems really nice and soft. I want to make a coat out of it! LOL
Yea, this mask I was lucky to find after-Halloween at K-mart a couple of years ago. I had bought the smaller brown wolf mask, but went back another day and found this gray one.
The one spookie posted from Spirit looks pretty good. Just needs eyes, though.

Here's a couple of pics on how I made the mouth movement. Basically I took a small door hinge and used a scrap piece of metal on the back of it to bolt it onto one of the bars on the front of the reindeer head. Then cut two short lengths of wooden dowel and screwed them to the front part of the hinge. (The dowels fit in the wolf mask under the lower jaw). Ran some string from the end of the dowels down the neck, under a small pulley, then tied it off on one of the leg mounting boards (in front of the motor). As the head moves side-to-side the string pulls and raises and lowers the dowels, thus moving the wolf mouth.

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[ame=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v630/DaveNTracy/Wolf%20Project/?action=view&current=002-1.flv][/ame]







Any questions I'm glad to answer!

Forgot that I had this photo on my cell phone. Found this mask at Rite Aid pharmacy a few weeks ago. $19.99. Might be a choice for someone out there.




Thanks DaveintheGrave for the update. Especially on the mouth. I'm going to have to pour over those videos and pics. I'd love to add that extra movement if I can and have the time. Very neat effect. Your frame worked out well with that middle wooden section to mount to. Wow pulleys. Simple but I'm clueless. I'm going to have to go to the mechanical prop tutorial section for educating on this...

Originally Posted by DaveintheGrave

[color=yellow]Here's a couple of pics on how I made the mouth movement. Basically I took a small door hinge and used a scrap piece of metal.... As the head moves side-to-side the string pulls and raises and lowers the dowels, thus moving the wolf mouth.

WOW! this is fantastic!. Thanks so much for sharing

I think everyone knows by now I try to squeeze every possible prop movement possible from a single motor that I can. Would you believe I've got some tail movement going also using the same setup on the rear (without the pulley)?
Spookie--You can get the mouth movement without the pulley. I made it that way originally, but then got the idea for the pulley. It only helps a little bit, so it's not absolutely necessary. I think it wouldn't take you long to get the mouth movement on your wolf. The hardest part is mounting the door hinge to a stable spot. I used some bailing wire on each side of the hinge also to keep it stabilized.
Feel free to PM me if you need any help!
I'm ready to get started on the fur!!

Thanks, Halloweenie1!!

Originally Posted by Ghost of Spookie

Dragonomine was it gray though? The werewolf mask I saw at Walmart last night and online was brown not gray. I think the person who bought the gray fur was hoping to find a somewhat matching gray mask like DaveintheGraves.

BTW I dug through our garage and found a deer to use for my wolf prop yesterday. I could have sworn I bought the one from Big Lots last year (even remember being in another town going to get it) but the box I had said Walmart. So either there's another one somewhere or I'm totally confused about it. The Walmart one is actually nicely constructed with sturdy metal framing. The lights were a cinch to take off since they had these little recessed clamp areas to connect to the wire and they lifted off easily. Didn't have to worry about the antlers or tail either. The motor on it is really quiet. I assembled him, plugged him in and threw my wolf mask over his head. Left him on for a number of hours to see if there would be any problems. All is a go. This deer has an upright head and turns it side to side. My hubby came home, looked at it and asked if he could take it to the office. hehe. Later I could swear I saw him pet the thing on his head...I might have to guard this prop with my life. I'm still looking into what eyes to use on him (the ones he has or others) and hope to settle on some this weekend. Need to measure the mask to see how much space I have to work with. I'm also debating on how to turn my brown mask black. Don't want rush into anything so may take some time to mull it over and work on another project in the meantime. We did pick up a speaker jack for my white haired Spirit Ball guy at Radio Shack last night. I've seen my husband eyeing that prop too...

Oh! No, sorry! It was brown.

Dave that wolf is gonna look awsome , the mouth movement is really cool .

Okay -- I made another wolf today - I guess I now have a pack of wolves! The second one went so much faster now that I've done one already -- it only took a couple of hours! My cute little Cane Corso puppy Maizey doesn't know what to think! I bought an inexpensive mp3 player with attached speakers on Amazon, but the volume doesn't go high enough and you can barely hear it. I don't think that'll work on Halloween night -- it'll need to be much louder to be heard over the noise of everything else going on!

lol great vid of the dogs, it made me chuckle the way your dog had a bum sniff of the reindeer wolf...bet he/she was thinking WTF are you doing on my turf.

I love all the wolves guys! I cant wait to get started on my own! I just got my deer today actually 2 of them since someone sold them to me as a set. But mine seem a little tall, and the neck a little long. Can anyone tell me how tall theirs is like from feet to top of the head? I want to make sure I dont need to make any alterations to the frame before I start working. Thanks so much!