Another TMNT thread... ANIMATRONICS for mask $19.99

[jacobzking]

****see update video in post #8****



I just saw one of the most exciting things I've come across in a while. While in the walmart toy section I cam across a little plush frog, when you put its beak the mouth opens and the eyes roll around. Best of all, its mouth is almost the exact size a turtle mouth should be...

Ninja Turtle animatronics? - YouTube

the eyes are both just over 1"

the mouth opening is about 7" on both

the height of the lips (mouth closed) on both is about 2"

the only concern is the depth of the mouth... not sure if it would fit in the mask... with a human head in the mask. but I'm sure it would be a 5 minute job to shorten the animatronic mouth with a dremel tool, if needed.

i really think this would be a "fairly simple" procedure. slit mikes mouth open. rip the fur off of the mouth. recover with latex and paint. insert mouth behind mask.

same for the eyes (repaint them obviously). cut out latex eyes, mount animatronic eyes behind the eye holes. maybe just make some mounts and super glue them in to place?

then just reroute the touch sensor to the inside of one of your fingers so you could tap it between your finger and the inside of your turtle hand to make the eyes and mouth operate.

"how hard could it be?"

I might see if Casey at the propshopsite.com would be willing to try this before painting a head.

 

[EyeofSauron]

the question would be if its strong enough for the latex, which i would think is considerably heavier than the fake fur

 

[jacobzking]

the latex is fairly thin, i doubt that the weight of the fur would be much different than the weight of the latex. even if it was, i could just hollow out the plastic "flapper" and reduce it from a full flat piece of plastic, to just a skeleton with a dremel quite easily.

 

[Dericrw]

Possibilities are definately there! Would be awesome if it works out.

 

[Nobby]

yeah, that looks like it would work.
keep us posted with how you get on :thumbsup

 

[DeathProof]

Would you be able to rig it so you wouldn't have to keep smacking yourself in the face? That could get annoying

How do you move the touch sensor? I'm very new to electronics

 

[jacobzking]

lol... very easy. the sesnor will just have 2 wires running to it. simply remove the sensor from where it is now (on top of the mouth), cut the 2 wires, extend the wires and thats it.

i would run the sensor to one of the hands and place it inside the finger tip so all you had to do what tap your finger to trigger the sensor. piece of cake.

that part would be all of 45 seconds worth of work. cut, cut, solder, solder, solder, solder, done

also, if the sensor was too sensitive, you could simply replace it with a flat push button

 

[jacobzking]

here's an update. i went and bought the toy today and stripped it down. the eyes are ALMOST a perfect fit without any modification, but they will need to be moved outwards about 1/4" the beak flapper is actually small once the fabric is removed. I'll have to make a custom fiberglass piece to get the movement where I need it, but doesnt seem like too much work.

looks promising.

TMNT Animatronic test 2 - YouTube