Pee-Wee's Big Adventure Clown

I think it's an illusion, it looks way off in person too .. but the top of the one clown's head is at the eyebrows of the other. With the base difference, it ends up around 3" difference.

Are you painting your Santa head for the evil face? I just noticed that head looks like plastic, and has the indentations. Is the neck the same size as PWF's resin cast?
 
billy baloney said:
I'm still painting, I know he's not as menacing without his fangs, I'm not quite sure how to tackle 'em, but this is what I got so far, this one kinda gave me fits, he's fighting me all the way, I guess that's why he's the Evil one.
I'm waiting for the face paint to cure a couple of days before I extend the Evil grin, do the teeth, and the flesh tone.

View attachment 552184 View attachment 552185 View attachment 552186

P.S., it amazes me how the green outline really looks black in pictures, because in real life there is a big contrast.
Click to expand...
Thanks, BB: That's what I've been waiting to see. Love it. And again, excellent work on the paint job. The evil face is less creepy to me than the friendly face. -- BB
 
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billy baloney said:
I'm still painting, I know he's not as menacing without his fangs, I'm not quite sure how to tackle 'em, but this is what I got so far, this one kinda gave me fits, he's fighting me all the way, I guess that's why he's the Evil one.
I'm waiting for the face paint to cure a couple of days before I extend the Evil grin, do the teeth, and the flesh tone.

P.S., it amazes me how the green outline really looks black in pictures, because in real life there is a big contrast.
Click to expand...


Paint job looks great! I am happy to see that the resin head looks almost identical to the plastic one. I had a lot of concern when the mold was made for the head that it would not have the detail/definition of the plastic ones. But the shiny spots on the various curves are in precisely the same places. If I would have had a better head, I would have included the indentations and joining lip in the resin version, but my head was missing the lower two indentations and portions of the lip.
 
billy - Any idea what year your Santa was from (e.g. by looking at the motor date code)? I guess they must have made clowns and Santas after they switched to that thicker neck.

Speaking of, I'd love to know why they made the neck change, and what those screwholes were for (my guess is holding the two mold halves together, or maybe bolting it in place for the forming).

And it also leads to the question - which neck style was the movie clown? Hard to say with the ruffles covering everything up, but I tend to lean towards the skinnier neck (I posted earlier about not getting my Custom Displays clown neck to match the movie .. but I played with the angle and finally got it ... it's a weird, very upwards-facing angle they're shooting that at). Again, with the ruffles it's just academic since you can't see much of the neck anyway.
 
Duckbutt said:
billy - Any idea what year your Santa was from (e.g. by looking at the motor date code)? I guess they must have made clowns and Santas after they switched to that thicker neck.
Click to expand...


No, unfortunately, the original motor stickers were missing on both Santa's, there is a nice clean place where they were, and I didn't notice anything when I took them apart.

I can't figure why they were changed either, because if you look at the newspaper articles, one shows a picture of Malcolm with two fat heads with the sparkly nose paint scheme in the background, and the pic of the little girl standing by a "fathead" clown also, but, all of the shop pics have the skinny pee-wee paint scheme heads, I'm 98% positive the movie clown is a skinny neck because those all seem to have that paint scheme and are taller, while the other style tends to be the shorter dumpy ones
 
Yep, I recall noticing that when we were discussing the face paint schemes a couple pages ago. I guess we can add this to the list of questions for PWF if he makes another call to the inventor sometime.

If you look at your Santa head at the same angle as the closeup movie shot, does the neck look thicker? I suspect the ruffles hide most of any differences, so doesn't really matter. I was thinking when I get around to molding my spare head, I might try to make the neck match my Custom Displays clown (or better yet, make separate neck molds to produce either style).

I'm hoping to get some time for base work tonight since my Amphenol plugs are in the mailbox. On a side note, the wheels on my Custom Displays clown are actually 5.5" instead of 5". I'd like to figure out how to replicate the hubcaps some day .. seems like it falls into the category of sheet metal stamping/forming, which I'm not too familiar with.
 
No, Pwf's and my original are the skinny style, 6 1/2" wide, 6" deep, with 2 1/2" from the bottom of the chin to the bottom of the neck.

I see what you're looking at, and I think it's just the angle of the camera and the green outline on the stock clowns may be drawn out a little wider making it look fatter.

I wouldn't waste my time and resources doing both versions, I'd definitely go with the pee-wee style if you're going to recast them, because that's what everyone wants, in the rare instance you get somebody that just wants a replacement head, they aren't going to know the difference or care unless you tell 'em.
 
Hmm, I'll have to measure my necks when I get home. I was assuming that was the thicker neck style, since PWF's clown was a similar vintage as my first clown (and the thicker heads seem to have those wider / V-shaped indentations). It is hard to not get thrown off by the facepaint for sure.
 
On a side note, here is a comparison of those neck shots when approached from a better angle (even this is not exactly correct - my clown should be facing slightly more to the right - but you get the idea).

Clown necks.jpg
 
Cool! Any photos while you were making it billy? I was planning to try a sheet of ABS and a heat gun first to see how easily I could manually mold over an original torso. How sturdy and thick is that stuff compared to the original? And what's the cost of that much material? Looks good for sure.
 
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Sorry, once we started, we were too busy working to take pics, it was pretty fast paced, with cutting, heating, positioning, rolling it out and making sure everything kept it's shape until it cooled.
I have to say, Pwf stumbled onto a great product, I was skeptical at first, but it worked great for this application, I was impressed with how it turned out myself.
This is the only other pic I have when we first started:

torso 002.JPG
 
Duckbutt said:
Cool! Any photos while you were making it billy? I was planning to try a sheet of ABS and a heat gun first to see how easily I could manually mold over an original torso. How sturdy and thick is that stuff compared to the original? And what's the cost of that much material? Looks good for sure.
Click to expand...

Billy is shipping it to me this week, so I can't comment on the sturdiness and thickness just yet. Wonderflex comes in different sizes. I purchased the Jumbo size (43" x 55") which was able to do both the front and back pieces. It cost around $60 for the sheet with shipping included. What I liked about the stuff is that it has a relatively low melting point, around 150F. From what I've read, it should be durable. If it ever gets cracked or broke, you just re-heat the plastic and patch it with the same material.
 
Cool! On the subject of necks again, my Custom Displays clown neck is about 5" wide, 5.5" deep, and 3-4" from chin to bottom (guessing, I can't actually see where it stops). My other clowns match the dimensions billy posted earlier.

Got my NOS Amphenol plugs in today, they are an exact match - hurrah! No part number to be found, but here's what they look like for anyone's future reference (rated for 125V / 15A):

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1447217850.329742.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1447217875.460428.jpg
 
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Duckbutt said:
Cool! On the subject of necks again, my Custom Displays clown neck is about 5" wide, 5.5" deep, and 3-4" from chin to bottom (guessing, I can't actually see where it stops). My other clowns match the dimensions billy posted earlier.
Click to expand...
That's weird, is it the same head just with a longer tapered neck?, the short neck looks aweful long as it is, my original one was even a little longer, but uneven, so I sanded it down to level it out.

the torso is just as rigid as the old one was before I fiberglassed it, once it's stapled together on the frame, it will be more stout', the Wonderflex doesn't harden into a hard plastic like you think, it stays some what pliable, and like Pwf said you're able to reheat it and add to it, so you make it as thick as you want.
 
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I believe the head is the same, just a taller/skinnier neck. I was looking at those old newspaper photos earlier, there are some good photos of that neck style (incl. the one he's handpainting I think).

It is strange indeed, I'd love to know the reason for the two versions. Definitely a question for PWF to ask next time (and also what those holes were for).
 
Are the indentations on the neck in the same place? I can't imagine there being two molds. Mr. Malcolm had told me that he had to agree to buy 2,000 head pulls before they would even make the mold. Maybe they simply cut it down to save money on plastic to accommodate a more standard size?
 
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