Rocket Raccoon Animatronic Puppet Build - WIP

Hey guys just wanted to share our current progress on our Rocket Raccoon puppet we're currently building for our group at DragonCon.















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And the rest of our current progress:

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Can't wait to see more!

I didnt know you were making this, man. Oh..cant wait to see it come together. GREAT start!

Thanks guys. The build has been done primarily by Austin Thompson (the mustachioed gentleman in the photo) and myself. Caitlin of Contagious Costuming is currently sewing the jumpsuit. We started a build on his gun but decided to table that until Rocket himself was done. I hope we have enough time to pick it back up before DragonCon.

Very cool!!

so very cool......maybe were related.....im mike Dickenson?....

Where did you get the teeth?

For his scale (slightly larger than movie for ease of movement) we went with a coyote jaw. Sadly the tongue won't fit in as well.

We got the teeth from this online taxidermy supplier:

http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/VJW108-P7324C250.aspx

Some more update pics on Rocket's jumpsuit. (Sewn by Contagious Costuming)

Wow! Just, wow!

Any updates?

I'm going to try to keep this thread primarily Rocket focused but I don't currently have any photos (hopefully I'll be able to add some later tonight).

Honestly been a bit all over the place this week as I'm also helping with a Groot, Gamora, Drax and Star-Lord for this group.

I don't currently have any build threads going on those guys but just for fun I'll put a brief pic of the rest of the group progress.



Groot's sculpt and the freshly made mold. We've already cast some foam latex hands for Groot as well. The body is currently being built out of foam.


The base cut for Gamora's Godslayer. Handle sculpt is also done. First Gamora makeup test for Contagious Costuming is on the right.


Here's a bit of the progress on Drax's daggers. They were lasercut and then had Smoothon Free-Form sculpted unto them for the handles. We're also currently doing some Drax scars out of silicone. Hopefully I'll have some progress on that over the weekend.



And here is the 3d design for the SL helmet I intend to print this weekend. Hopefully after that and some TLC I'll have that bad boy looking decent.


So that's all I've got for the moment. Sorry it's not Rocket focused for now but we should have a little more progress on him this evening.

wow, amazing....freaking awesome

I need one of these for my office. Does it cost less than a new car?

Would love to see some progress shots of Rocket!

Hey guys sorry it's been a while. Finally have a pic of Rocket in action (it was a mad dash to DragonCon over the last week). Here's us with of course the impeccable HurleyFX after the big Marvel shoot.

Hi there everyone. I think this is the first time I'm actually posting anything here. I'm the one making the puppet seen above. Mike has graciously accepted the role of internet-poster-of-things. I thought I'd jump in and talk a little about the trials of the rocket puppet and some next step version 2.0 things I'd like to try.

Things I wish I had done differently and plan to fix since we have more time post-Dragoncon

1. The hands: Currently they are made of a hard material making them heavy, rigid and generally unnatural looking when you see him moving around in person. The plan is to remove the sculpts from the arms, strip them, make molds and cast foam latex versions with a manipulable armature. Something that I could add a squeeze grip to on the elbow rods to make them open and close.

2. Proportions: I think he has a few arm length neck length issues that can be resolved by stripping and trimming.

3. The Head: Oh goodness the head. I think he looks pretty great if you were making a raccoon character, but we were in fact making a specific one: Rocket Raccoon. I think with all the knowledge of how we made the first one we can translate it better into a sculpt that will more accurately reflect the exact look of the character. That said, it does afford me the great opportunity to document the head build better on the second go around and actually show you all what we did. I think technically the head was solid, but the basic sculpt was the issue really in the end.

4. The harness: Some minor adjustments to the harness and rods would make puppeteering him a much more comfortable experience.

5. Animatronics: We ran out of time and didn't have enough time to anchor everything. Now that we have time, that will happen.

Now all that said I think there are a number of things we did, just right. I think the jump suit that Caitlin (Gamora above) made was unbelievable. I also think that mechanically and functionally, the puppet was pretty well done considering this was a first attempt at anything beyond a sock puppet. All in all it was a fantastic lesson in material science and it's not over yet. I'm already too deep into the build to call it done before I am absolutely satisfied.

Thank you all for reading and following our adventurous misadventures in rocketry.

You guys were fantastic at dcon. Wish I could have gotten some pics with you. Great work and looking forward in seeing what else you do.

Had a blast hanging after the shoot with you guys! I can't get enough of the GotG stuff!