Rankin-Bass Rudolph puppets - re-creations?

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Would anyone like to recreate Willy McBean from the movie of the same name?
Willy and Pablo were a "Must Make" for me when I started to make my R/B puppet replicas. I plan to make both in the sometime in the future.
Also I'm positive we are allowed to post about replicas other than Rudolph as long as they are Rankin/Bass. Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
 
This is not someone's personal build thread, if you look back at the first post, it was just a topic of discussion.

Stealing someone's personal build thread to talk about something else would not be warranted in most cases. ;)
 
Sorry for the lack of updates on my Hermey puppet. It's been a busy past few months for me. I wanted to get Hermey finished by Christmas, but I need a Vacuum Chamber and pressure pot for clean silicone molds and resin castings. Looks like it will have to wait until 2022.
Anyways since I couldn't start on a new character, I figured now would be a good time to go back and see what I could improve on Sam.
One thing I couldn't do during the summer was give him gloved hands. I tried to sew up some gloves for him but they came out horrendous. So I called it quits and moved on. However the past week I felt the need to give it another shot. It took me a while, but I was finally able to make a pair I was happy with.
- Here are the results -
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They came out AMAZING!!! I was honestly surprised they came out so good. Making tiny gloves with individual fingers was no easy task for me, but did make for a great learning experience.
That's all for now. Hope to hear of other replicas on this thread soon!

-Freedmeep
 
While I wait to gather the proper tools I need for Hermey, I figured I should get started on another Sam while I still have the time. My first Sam was too small for my Rudolph and I wanted to make a bigger and better one. This one will stand at 9 inches and should be near or accurately scaled to the real Sam photo puppet. The process should also go a lot quicker than my last attempt.
 
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While I wait to gather the proper tools I need for Hermey, I figured I should get started on another Sam while I still have the time. My first Sam was too small for my Rudolph and I wanted to make a bigger and better one. This one will stand at 9 inches and should be near or accurately scaled to the real Sam photo puppet. The process should also go a lot quicker than my last attempt.
Freedmeep1964, your Sam and Rudolph replicas are awesome. Look forward to seeing more of Hermey and your new Sam. Peace and happy holidays.

Pumpernickel
 
Hey everyone. Hope you all are having a great New Years day. Just wanted to let you in on a few updates regarding my replicas.

Rudolph:
When I "finished" my Rudolph puppet back in August, I thought that it looked great. I thought little to no work had to be done to improve my attempt. But as the months went by I started to notice that something was really off about the way Rudolph looked. I couldn't tell what it was at the time but I was eventually able to figure it out. The shape of Rudolph's head wasn't as round as the original puppet.
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The sides of his head looked too flat, making the puppet look somewhat dull. Lifeless. If that makes any sense. Anyways, I was able to fix this by adding on to the felt.
Here are the results.
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I definitely think it's much more close to the original look.
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I am very happy with the results!!!

Sam The Snowman:
I said in late November that I would start working on a new and better Sam replica. While I did get started on that, I thought it would be a good idea to go back to my first Sam and actually finish what I couldn't do or didn't do earlier this year. I was able to get Sam some gloved hands, added the details to his watch (could be better) and I added the holly to his hat.
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I think he looks good. Though I do think he'll go in storage with the Christmas decorations.

Also here's a size comparison of this Sam next to my new Sam.
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I can't wait to see how my new Sam will turn out. I'm sure it will be great.

That's all now. Happy Holidays!!!
 
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Hey everyone. Just wanted to leave a small update on my new Sam. Progress has been small as I came down with covid. But I managed to get a little bit done during that time. I wanted to make the face of this new Sam replica as close as possible to the Sam we see in the newspaper photos.
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I found a very simple and effective way of doing this.
To start I traced a mirrored version of the beard and mustache on parchment paper.
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Next I took some of the foam clay that the majority of Sam is made of. I press that clay agenst the mirrored drawing and it points itself on the clay (no longer a mirrored drawing).
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Then after letting the clay sit and dry for a while, I carefully sand out the image with my rotary tool. This gives me a clean sculpted piece with little to no imperfections.
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I am very pleased with the results. I don't have a 3D printer and this strategy was a cheap alternative to what a 3D printer could have accomplished. I feel I made a great choice choosing this look for my new Sam replica. The opened mouth gives the replica more life, while a closed mouth made my previous replica a dull look.
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The detail on these pieces will be added later. That's all for now. I think before I work on the rest of his face, I'm going to figure out what type of armature I'm going to give him. As well as get started on making a vest.
 
Sorry for being so silent the past months. I've been putting my replicas aside for a bit to get other things done. However I'm back and hope to be posting some more frequent updates on the new Sam and hopefully get started on Hermey soon. Anyways the past few weeks I've been working on the undershirt for Sam. I have gone through many failed attempts with the shirt's collar but I was finally able to sew one that I looks really good in my opinion.
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Really hope to post some more updates very soon.
 

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