Help needed w/ Crow (MST3K) puppet

squirk

Master Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
Could use help from the hive mind on a problem I am having with a Crow T. Robot puppet I have been working on. For reference:

1957653_418302694979733_1812441036_o.jpg



I know there aren't tons of ppl on here who have completed one of these, but I'm hoping there's enough general knowledge that can be applied to solve my issue.

Probably easiest to just watch the attached video - the problem is obvious.





The hinge on the mouth is a thick piece of elastic with E6000 connecting the two pieces of the mouth at the hinge point. The elastic is stiffened with hot glue.

The tension on the mouth is elastic string, looped through two small holes on the top piece and two on the bottom, and then tied together inside the mouth (I hope that makes sense). The mouth is opened with a thin wire, threaded through the same two small holes in the bottom piece of the mouth, and threaded through that silver grommet in his neck.

I am not sure where I went wrong in terms of getting the mouth to open and close straight up and down., and not casting to the left and right like in the video. I thought maybe the grommet and the bottom jaw were not centered, meaning that when I pulled the string, I was inadvertently pulling the jaw down at an angle, causing it to cast like that, but after a lot of experimentation, that doesn't seem to be the solution.

Did I make the tension on the elastic string too tight? Do I need to put more hot glue on the hinge and let it set in place with the mouth closed and centered?

This is kind of a stopping point for me, as I don't want to finish the rest of the head until I know I don't have to mess with the mouth any more.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Please and thank you.
 
Last edited:
The lower jaw on the screen used seasons 1 through 10 Crow is nested slightly inside the upper jaw around the area of the hinge. That provides a self-centering action. They appear to have moved to some kind of rigid hinge and a flush jaw in the revival; a lot of the promotional Crows made over the years also have flush jaws, so they're not good reference for how he was constructed for the series..

You'll notice that on the pre-Netflix version of him, his mouth never completely closes; this is because of the nested jaw assembly. The soft plastic of the lower jaw was squashed together a little bit and the elastic hinge then used to pull it up and inside just a little. I don't have access to my scans of the Amazing Colossal Episode Guide to hand, but I used them extensively as reference when I was building my own Crow ~20 years ago, and there's some BTS photos from the making of the Movie that show it really well.
 
Here's a pic of mine (I'm holding the jaw shut because the elastic is shot after two decades)

IMG_20201115_152255185.jpg


Notice the slight wedge-shaped gap at the front, also visible in these screencaps:

468e2bab7ee2b9b5daf5f02dd5ea2be4fe2c299f_00.jpg


74f.jpg


On mine, I also drilled a hole right through the jaw and threaded the fishing line into the mouth, tied it to the bottom end of the elastic, and then anchored that to the roof of the mouth. That ensured the string and the elastic where in line.
 
Thanks to you both. shotts63 - do you have a pic of how you set your shim? After all of my careful cuttiing with the Dremel to get the flush jaw, would really like to not have to re-set it.
 
Sorry, I don’t have any pictures as he is in storage right now. But it’s mounted the same as the elastic, and it’s more ridged to help return it to its proper place.
 
Hey all. I'm working on building my own Crow -- i've had most of the parts for about 20 years and i'm finally getting around to assembling.
Anyway, many of my parts are 3d printed, but i don't have good measurements on some of them. could one of you measure your soapdish/eye socket and let me know the measurements of it? I think i scaled mine too big... or point me to a good 3d model of one. Mine is based on a miniature Crow I found on Thingiverse. ;D
 
Hey all. I'm working on building my own Crow -- i've had most of the parts for about 20 years and i'm finally getting around to assembling.
Anyway, many of my parts are 3d printed, but i don't have good measurements on some of them. could one of you measure your soapdish/eye socket and let me know the measurements of it? I think i scaled mine too big... or point me to a good 3d model of one. Mine is based on a miniature Crow I found on Thingiverse. ;D
My vacuformed copy measures 155mm long, 97mm wide, and the eye-opening is 36mm wide.
 
Not to dive bomb the thread but does anyone know a good source for the Crow parts like the arms and such? Ive got one in the basement from when my best bud and I were in highschool that's his which we never fishined, and I'd love to do him up as a surprise. Ideally I'd like foundparts but replicas where able is fine. Love the thread
 
Awesome! Thank you!

I should have my custom soapdish printed shortly! I found a model, scaled it up, and hollowed it out, adding a pipe mounting point in the bottom, screw holes in the back for attaching the back plate. I know vacuformed versions are easier, but i made this one. :D

And as far as arm parts, for mine, i bought 1/4" square hardwood pieces from the hobby store (plastruct works well too) and laser-cut the hinge points out of thin acrylic. I assemble it with 3/4" long #6-32 screws, with washers on each side and locknuts.

Once I get access to the laser cutter at a friends workshop, (post covid) I can cut you those pieces if you'd like...

For my Crow's hands, i found a tiny puppet model on thingiverse, and scaled it up 300% to be the right size. They're not perfect but they're good for now. :D
 
Since this seems to be the most active Crow thread, does anyone have an accurate source for the rubber tubing on Crow‘s neck and shoulders? I’ve seen it referred to as a “Poppet” toy, and Gary Glovers book says to use tubing from a gas or oxygen mask, but isn’t very specific.
 
Since this seems to be the most active Crow thread, does anyone have an accurate source for the rubber tubing on Crow‘s neck and shoulders? I’ve seen it referred to as a “Poppet” toy, and Gary Glovers book says to use tubing from a gas or oxygen mask, but isn’t very specific.

It's 100% not a Poppet toy; I got some years ago and it was much too small, made of unpaintable nylon, and had the wrong profile. What I've heard is that it was some kind of scuba tubing, but nobody really seems to know for sure.

The best substitute I found – and what I used on my Crow – were bicycle shock boots. They're a touch too small, but not nearly as undersized as the Poppets and the profile on some makes is really close. This one is similar to the set I used:

 
Thanks guys. The bike shock boots look promising, although they seem to be getting harder to find.

I do have a 3D printer, so thanks for sharing your model. That looks like it'd be a good option if I can't find a found part.

I happen to also be a scuba diver, and the hose does look like it could be a BCD inflator hose.

Something like this: Corrugated Hoses. These hoses are 1" inner diameter, which seems to be about the right size?
 
The shock boots also have a 1" ID, and a 1.5" OD. They're a little small; I'd say the screenused tubing is more like 1.625" OD. Any way to find the OD of that scuba stuff?
 
I measured the tubing on one of my BCD inflators, and it was about 1.7" wide, so pretty close.

However, the hose isn't perfectly round, it's an oval profile, so it's something like 1.3"x1.7". So far, all the hoses I've found for sale that look correct have this oval profile. There are perfectly round inflator hoses, but they're narrower and the corrugation is different.
 
Not to dive bomb the thread but does anyone know a good source for the Crow parts like the arms and such? Ive got one in the basement from when my best bud and I were in highschool that's his which we never fishined, and I'd love to do him up as a surprise. Ideally I'd like foundparts but replicas where able is fine. Love the thread
I am currently building my own Crow and found a lamp that has the exact brackets and square tubing you need for the arms. It's a Bostitch VLF100D Swing Arm Desk Lamp. You need to cut the square tubing down and it doesn't have the wrist brackets. Those I made myself from sheets of plastic. Seriously, I bought a repo set of arms specifically for Crow and the parts from these lamps were much better.
 

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top