Pee-Wee's Big Adventure Clown
- Thread starter Duckbutt
- Start date
PeeWeeFan
Well-Known Member
It is a little tough to get a good pic of the inside. I tried my best though. It almost acts like a light box. The mold weighs 6.1 ounces. It cost around $140 to print from Shapeways. Most printers aren't even big enough to print something that size. I attached a better pic of the outside. If you zoom in you can see some of the print layers, but they are pretty fine.
PeeWeeFan
Well-Known Member
Poured some plaster tonight. It could have been a little thicker, but it should setup nonetheless. I used cold water to give myself some more working time. And yes, the mold is sitting in kitty litter (new I should add). I didn't have any sand lying around. We'll see how it comes out tomorrow morning!
PeeWeeFan
Well-Known Member
The plaster buck finally dried enough to pop out of the mold! The surface is a little textured in spots (mostly due to the use of petroleum jelly), but I should be able to sand it without difficulty. It likely would not even matter. The vacuum form plastic should not pick up on it. Next time I will try using potter's plaster though. It's supposed to create a stronger casting and dry out a little better. I may try a different mold release, too. I now have the buck sitting in front of a fan to dry out some more. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. The best part is that my mold can be used over. The wsf material worked out great! Just as it's name implies, it is strong and flexible. I see vacuum formed clown heads in the near future!
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FOR-EV-ER!
keep us posted, I hope you're able to get good enough detail from the vacuum process, probably have some trial and error on what thickness plastic to use?
keep us posted, I hope you're able to get good enough detail from the vacuum process, probably have some trial and error on what thickness plastic to use?
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PeeWeeFan
Well-Known Member
lol... thanks for the video! That pretty much sums it up! It likely will take some trial and error. I'll probably try 0.02 and 1/16" to begin with.
Duckbutt
Well-Known Member
Cool! Good to see that the print and buck turned out. Man we gotta get one of these made for the skinnier size neck/head. It would be a shame to go through so much work and still have that fat neck (maybe I'm biased since I have seen both, but the skinny neck looks much better in person).
Yeah, I had to hit rewind and pause when I first watched it, it does look very similar, especially the cheeks, mouth and nose, but the eyes and the top of the head and ears threw me off, I didn't think that much about, I guess they could've doctored it up.
Well, there you go PWF, you can start a new thread and sell AHS clown heads on the side!
Well, there you go PWF, you can start a new thread and sell AHS clown heads on the side!
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PeeWeeFan
Well-Known Member
There is a hobo clown on ebay. Looks to be in good condition. Not an original Custom Displays clown though.
It appears a place called ABC Warehouse - Happy Sign Division made these mechanical figures in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1990-10-15/news/0501130480_1_gorilla-automan-car-wash
It appears a place called ABC Warehouse - Happy Sign Division made these mechanical figures in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1990-10-15/news/0501130480_1_gorilla-automan-car-wash
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$2500.00 bu-koo money!
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PeeWeeFan
Well-Known Member
I did some checking into ABC Warehouse. They are still in existence, but they were only a distributor for the mechanical advertising figures. The story was a bit misleading. They said the company that made them went out of business quite awhile back, which was probably Custom Displays.
Makes since, because it's obviously the same head, robot and block style base, everybody that has one that doesn't know what it is just assumes it's from the '50's
Duckbutt
Well-Known Member
What's the eBay item number or title? For some reason I'm not seeing it yet with my (insanely complicated) search query.
Not much new on the clown front here. We had a baby last year, so still not quite able to get much free time for clown work. I've been searching for another of the 'original style' Custom Displays clown, but haven't seen anything yet. Closest is that crappy newer one in eBay Canada, and another even crappier newer one on local Craigslist.
Not much new on the clown front here. We had a baby last year, so still not quite able to get much free time for clown work. I've been searching for another of the 'original style' Custom Displays clown, but haven't seen anything yet. Closest is that crappy newer one in eBay Canada, and another even crappier newer one on local Craigslist.
the item # is 201693130256
PeeWeeFan
Well-Known Member
Finally got around to buying the stuff needed to build my vacuum former. I ordered a 18" x 18" box drawer for $25 to save on time. I also found some metal pegboard for $10. I already have the screen trim and corners for the plastic holder. Some people use regular pegboard, notorious for bowing, and some drill holes in MDF. I thought the metal would make a good, strong platform. I also ordered some styrene sheets. Hopefully by Christmas I will have vacuum formed clown faces.
Wow!, how cool is that?, they had quite the extended family of automatons!, makes you wonder what happened to all that stuff, and why you don't see more of it, I wonder if the stationary clowns were built the same way and didn't have motors and mechanisms or if they just had a mannequin type body?,
That's odd how they advertised in a Harold Gale catalog, I would have never thought that, since they were the competition.
That's odd how they advertised in a Harold Gale catalog, I would have never thought that, since they were the competition.
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