Animatronic Pirate Barker Build

[Lord Hater]

Hey! Remember the Pirate Barker Bird outside of Disneyworld's Pirates of the Caribbean?

(Photo from DisneyFans.com)
No? Me either! But he's really cool, so I decided to build one!

Originally called the "Plaza Parrot," he was designed by Marc Davis - best known for animating Cruella DeVille.

Here's Marc pretending to draw the finished animatronic:

Luckily there's a lot of great reference for this bird on the internet.
Disney brought one to D23 to promote the Pirates of the Caribbean movie:

And the incredible Kevin and Jody made one to auction for charity:

 

[Lord Hater]

Step one was to model one in ZBrush:

There are two problems with ZBrush - 1) It's the worst sculpting program on Earth. And 2) There's nothing better.
But like a million Monkeys working away at a million typewriters, eventually you get something pretty good.

 

[Lord Hater]

The next step was to design and build the armature.
Learning from my first animatronic - I didn't try to 3D print it - I made it from aluminum.
.

 

[division 6]

Another EPIC BUILD.

 

[animator]

I'm so excited to see this!

 

[Lord Hater]

Another lesson learned was to design with maintenance in mind. Accessing the head servos and beak linkages was a nightmare, so this time the face is a seperate piece, held in place with magnets.

The face is 3D printed resin- making it fragile and it will shatter when you drop them on the floor right after you paint them... Sigh.

Another huge improvement over the previous build is using Design Master paint. Designed for flowers, it's fine enough to use on fur and feathers as well as hard surfaces, allowing you to match colors across multiple materials. Amazing!

 

[Lord Hater]

After 3D printing the shells in PETG, the next step was to pattern the fur.
An neat trick is to use paper towels. They're cheap, easy to work with, and did a great job!

 

[division 6]

Looks like he may reappear in Florida at a new Pirate Tavern.
Link

 

[Lord Hater]

That would be amazing!

 

[blewis17]

I am an AVID fan of both the Disneyland and Disney World POTC attractions and have amassed a modest memorabilia collection over the years. I would LOVE to have a static prop of our beloved barker bird! I LOVE you progress so far, and if you would be willing to do a commissioned work, PLEASE PM me!

Kevin and Jody's Barker Bird was auctioned off back ~12 years ago I believe, but it has recently re-appeared at Heritage Auctions Disney/Marc & Alice Davis' collection. You can see him here... (time code queued and ready)

 

[blewis17]

Resurrecting Lord Hater's thread from last year, I wanted to show off his amazing talent! This little animatronic was always a favorite of mine, as for over 30 years it beckoned guests into the wonderful world of the Pirates beyond! (until Johnny Depp's pirate took over the attraction in 2006, and the animated barker bird was removed... although he IS scheduled to return to the Florida park later this year at the new Pirate's Lounge, after a near 20 year absence). If you've seen Lord Hater's Tiki Bird videos from a few years ago, then you know his dedication to the project!

(UPDATED with better video)

 

[blewis17]

At the top of my bucket list, for sure. Total turnaround time was about 2 months. At each step along the way, Lord Hater gave me frequent updates, progress photos, options and his opinions and recommendations. He has thoroughly researched his Tiki birds, and this little guy too!

While not his full animatronic version, this static version below rekindles the great memories I have of Florida vacations with my family, and my favorite dark ride attraction of all time. So, I present to TheRPF some beauty shots of the completed figure provided to me. The parrot is perched on a gunpowder barrel (themed to the attraction) and stands almost 3 feet tall from base to hat. I cannot say enough great things about the final result. Enjoy!