PrestonAltr
New Member
Hey Everybody!
I wanted to share the progress on my Barker Bird animatronic replica. A bit of background: The Barker Bird lived outside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Walt Disney World on-and-off until the early 2000's. Unlike the realistic parrot squawking at the queue in Disneyland, the WDW Barker Bird was every bit a character as the pirates in the ride.
Here's a video of him from 1989:
I began with a Squawkers McCaw parrot toy I bought off ebay. First things first, I used a seam ripper to remove all the "feathers". Truthfully, it was all just fabric, so it didn't get too messy.
I used this original fabric to pattern out what I would use as a base for the new feathers. I ended up using a blended, "tennis ball green" fabric. I also removed the wings from the bird to help with the process.
Next, I gave the beak a fresh coat of paint (and a gloss coat) to be more accurate to the ride.
Around the eyes, I similarly painted a yellow/green color scheme. Second photo shows it attached to the head (Progress).
A fun aspect to this character is a plucked stomach with an anchor tattoo. To give the impression of plucked feathers, I used a pen to punch holes into the surface of the foam. In the second photo, you can see the tattoo mounted to the new fabric (as well as a few remaining feathers that were punched to add to the effect).
Next came the feathers. It was incredibly important to match them to the original, so I reached out to a feather dying company to get them exactly right. Here you can see them next to Kevin and Jody's rendition of the bird.
Very slowly, I began to add the feathers to the body, and I'm very happy with the result!
To control the parrot, I programmed an Arduino Uno to set off relays in time to an audio file whenever someone passes in front of a motion sensor. The beak is operated by a blue and a purple wire that run down the left side of the bird (or it opens its eyes if you reverse polarity) and the body is animated using the electrical contacts inside.
To add to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme, I had him perched on a bucket with glowing embers inside, like he was in the prison scene from the ride. To accomplish this, I used one of those LED flame light bulbs you can find on Amazon (and are advertised on Facebook quite often). The embers themselves are just Great Stuff dusted with a little black spray paint.
I wanted to share the progress on my Barker Bird animatronic replica. A bit of background: The Barker Bird lived outside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Walt Disney World on-and-off until the early 2000's. Unlike the realistic parrot squawking at the queue in Disneyland, the WDW Barker Bird was every bit a character as the pirates in the ride.
Here's a video of him from 1989:
I began with a Squawkers McCaw parrot toy I bought off ebay. First things first, I used a seam ripper to remove all the "feathers". Truthfully, it was all just fabric, so it didn't get too messy.
I used this original fabric to pattern out what I would use as a base for the new feathers. I ended up using a blended, "tennis ball green" fabric. I also removed the wings from the bird to help with the process.
Next, I gave the beak a fresh coat of paint (and a gloss coat) to be more accurate to the ride.
Around the eyes, I similarly painted a yellow/green color scheme. Second photo shows it attached to the head (Progress).
A fun aspect to this character is a plucked stomach with an anchor tattoo. To give the impression of plucked feathers, I used a pen to punch holes into the surface of the foam. In the second photo, you can see the tattoo mounted to the new fabric (as well as a few remaining feathers that were punched to add to the effect).
Next came the feathers. It was incredibly important to match them to the original, so I reached out to a feather dying company to get them exactly right. Here you can see them next to Kevin and Jody's rendition of the bird.
Very slowly, I began to add the feathers to the body, and I'm very happy with the result!
To control the parrot, I programmed an Arduino Uno to set off relays in time to an audio file whenever someone passes in front of a motion sensor. The beak is operated by a blue and a purple wire that run down the left side of the bird (or it opens its eyes if you reverse polarity) and the body is animated using the electrical contacts inside.
To add to the "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme, I had him perched on a bucket with glowing embers inside, like he was in the prison scene from the ride. To accomplish this, I used one of those LED flame light bulbs you can find on Amazon (and are advertised on Facebook quite often). The embers themselves are just Great Stuff dusted with a little black spray paint.
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