Remember the Crash Test Dummies?

[Mikie-Wan]

You guys remember the Crast Test dummies from the PSA seat belt commercials? They were called Vince and Larry and It sounds silly but I'm looking into making a head cast (nostalga I guess) and I think it's simple enough for my skill level. good first casting project.

Only thing is I can't find any good pics of them.
Their old commercials are on youtube but I have no clue how to get a screengrab.

just thought I'd ask for advice or help
-Mikie

 

[GrenadeKing]

Press the "prt sc" key. That is the print screen key. It copys the image of whatever is on the entire screen at the time. You can then paste it into Paint and save it for referance.
It should be on the upper right side of the keyboard.
I have used it succesfully with Youtube before. Works great.

 

[temponaut]

Cool project idea, Mikie.

Here are a few caps to start you off.

Sorry about the blurriness. It was the best I could get off of YouTube.

Vince:

Larry:

Vince and Larry:

Thanks, Pilot, for hosting! :thumbsup

 

[DavidS]

ya know i remember having those action figures as a kid.... you push a button on their chest and they explode

 

[Mikie-Wan]

Thanks Temponaut!!!
That helps me out alot! I really appreciate it.
And GrenadeKing I'm trying your advice right now, Thanks too

-Mikie

 

[Mikie-Wan]

I had the action figures too
actually I think that was my first action figure, I was about 6 or 7 and I loved that thing to bits, even after I lost the left leg I still had it in my pocket everywhere I went.

But recently I've been getting interested in learning how to do roto casts like head sculpts and masks (Zorg blows my mind)
my sculpting skills are amature at best so I was thinking of something simple and easy to identify. if I can do the sculpt justice, then I'd like to learn by experimenting, how to create the jacket mold and rotocast the head.

It looks to me like it was a 2 piece mask that would attach over the actors head (maybe like the senate guard helmets) so I think that makes the casting part easier.

Off to buy clay

-Mikie

 

[Raffles]

If you're interested you can get a program for saving youtube videos at snapfiles .com

 

[Ti-el_terall]

I had a doll thats legs, arms and head were attache don with velcro. It was pretty cool.:cool

 

[phase pistol]

Once there was this kid who
Got into an accident and couldn't come to school
But when he finally came back
His hair had turned from black into bright white
He said that it was from when
The cars had smashed so hard

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

"Crash Test Dummies".

 

[Raffles]

Once there was this kid who
Got into an accident and couldn't come to school
But when he finally came back
His hair had turned from black into bright white
He said that it was from when
The cars had smashed so hard

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

"Crash Test Dummies".

After the huge amount of airplay that son got I wished they had used those guys to crash test cars instead!:angry

 

[Supa troop]

Is this ok for you?

Good luck with the project :thumbsup

 

[thefish]

You know, many moons ago, while in high school, (must have been the summer 88 or 89,) I played one of the crash test dummies at a public event in my hometown. Worked for the DMV for the weekend, sweating my heiney off, but it was fun.

The costumes were shipped to them, and looked the part, as they'd been beaten to death. The heads were two-piece fiberglass with velcro around the collar to keep the jumpsuit in place. We used black and yellow duct tape to keep the head sections together. It was hot and miserable conditions, and we got really sick of hearing "hey dummy!" from the kids, but we played up and had a blast!

Keep us posted on this, and best of luck with it.

EDITED TO ADD: Yes, SupaTroop! Bumped me! THOSE are the costumes. Could have been one of those, but I seem to remember them being worse for wear than that. We were wearing longer cuffed gardening gloves though, that tucked into the cuff of the jumpsuit, so you couldn't see any skin.

 

[Mikie-Wan]

HEY Thanks SupaTroop!!! The pic really helps.

And Fish, That's exactly what I was thinking, I'm glad you posted.
I thought it was a 2 part mask.
looking at this pic I think they cut out holes where the circular safety logos on the forehead and cheeks were and replaced them with screen painted to look like the logos for ventelation.

Fish do you remember if your suit you had these vents?
or was the facemash solid like the original commercials?
I know it was a while back so don't worry if you can't remember I just thought I'd ask.


THANKS GUYS, the help is awesome!
-Mikie

 

[dropshipbob]

My mother volunteered at a local hospital and I remmeber her telling me just a few years back about how they had a safety demonstration and two other teenaged hospital workers got suited up in Crash Test dummy costumes.
So it would seem that they are still out there...just in case you don't want to reinvent the wheel.

 

[Mikie-Wan]

Well, I'm tempted to try and track one of these costumes down but I thought about it. And I really just got on this because it's simple and I want to learn how to rotocast.
Yes I like the crash test dummies.
But I mainly chose to do this because they are so simple looking, so easy for me(a newbie) to sculpt. and I want to learn how to go from sculpture to resin cast (or fiberglass)


but I am glad that you let me know the costumes are still floating around, because with my skills this thing could go south real quick.

 

[ZOMBIEREPELLENT]

I used to have one of the crash test dummy masks, but I messed it all up to make a corey taylor mask and his was rumored to have originated from one.

 

[PHArchivist]

Read the last bullet point!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093148/trivia

 

[Mikie-Wan]

heheheee

see, Vince and Larry are everywhere

Quick update:
I picked up a huge block of clay and I've started sculpting this project.
I'm using a mannequin head display as a foundation and I'm building the clay up off of that.
Just trying to get everything smooth and symetrical (sp?)
I think I'm going to have to cure the clay and sand and buff it afterwards though because I just can't get it perfectly smooth without my fingerprint streaks.

-Mikie

 

[thefish]

I don't remember those vents in the top of the mask on the one I wore. I only remember the black mesh for the eyes, a small area below the nose, and the mouth, (which was only attached at the top on ours to allow for the admission of a drinking straw.)

I don't remember there being holes for the ears either, but there must have been because I remember hearing fairly well in the thing.

Good luck with this project!

Long live Vince and Larry!

 

[GuntahKela]

These characters were in Miami this past weekend. The police were running their "click it or ticket" campain, and these dummies were there for publicity. They showed them very quickly on the news. I guess they are still touring.