The finished 'bot. The proportions work out well with the larger Barrel (of Monkeys) and the larger Eveready flashlight hoods.
These two pics show Servo's functional arms, with puppeteering by yours truly. The arms are controlled by the highly scientific method of running a string through the arms, and pulling it. Actually, with this system you can make his arms "flap" for a truly comic effect. More on this later.
NEW! I finally managed to get one of those C More Bunz dolls, so here's a shot of Servo, with his new, functional arms (they're fully extended in the pic). All ready for the movie! Well, he was, until the @#$%!!!ing squeeze bulb broke, so now the arms don't work until I get another squeeze bulb. Look below to see how you, too, can install C More Bunz arms on your Servo (It's harder than it looks).
A couple of detail shots of my control mechanisms. The "butt shot" shows the ring you pull to control the arms and the "head shot" shows my head connection piece, described below.
The folks at BBI are right. It is completely irresistible to dress Servo up in ridiculous costumes.
A couple of early shots. You can easily see the wooden disk attached to Servo's head.
Why? Because he IS huge! And unwieldly!
The Head:
-Carousel Executive Snack Dispenser with an extra lid.
-Small screw eye
-Plywood for head disk
-Coffee can cover (impromptu bearing)
-12" PVC with male connectors at both ends
-Small bottle silver paint, black paint
-Can of Testors Ruby Red Metal Flake paint
First, remove the handle from Servo's beak with a hacksaw. Watch out, on the newer models the piece slides easily! I had to reconsruct new triangular pieces for the sides of the beak out of JB weld because I sawed too much of the handle off. Next, remove the globe from the gumball machine. My earlier model one broke right off with a screwdriver, but the newer model one had to be sawed off. Now remove the bottom of the head and drill a small hole at the top (at least 1/4" from the edge) to put the screw eye in. Screw this in and use epoxy to make sure it stays in place and to strengthen the plastic around it. Now take your extra lid and glue it on top of the the gumball machine. Paint the head assembly and extra lid with several LIGHT COATS of Testors Ruby Red Metal flake. The paint runs like a racehorse, so make the coats really light. Let dry for a day or two. Now, take your small bottle of silver paint and paint his beak silver, and the inside black. This is much easier than using spraypaint. Now build replacement base by cutting out a wooden disk the size of the bottom of your head and drill a 1 inch hole through the center. ditto on the coffee can cover on the hole, but it is easily cut out with scissors. Before you glue this in, thread some high strength fishing twine from the bottom of the mouth (if you can't fit a drill in here to create a hole you can make a loop using the existing spring catch and a small wooden piece with epoxy), through the screw eye, and out the botom. Put masking tpae around your knots. Now glue the disk, painted flat black, on. Screw the PVC with the male connector onto this (if needed you can attach a treaded cap to the inside but mine stays on fine without it). Slide the coffe can bearing up the neck rod and play with this until you get sick of it and move on to the body.
The body:
-Barrel of Monkeys barrel
-2 Eveready flashlight hoods
-Wood to build shoulder shelves (I like working with wood as opposed to plastic)
-1" PVC for upper arms
-Replica springs (available from Ed Mairecki, or off of a C More Bunz Doll)
-Replica doll hands(Ed again)
-Replica Engine Block (Ed yet again)
-Flat white paint
-Testors Ruby Red
The Barrel of Monkeys barrel is about an inch taller and about $50 cheaper than a resin replica (no disrespect meant to Tom Seiler, it's just I don't make enough as a student ot pay much more than $20 for a single part). It also is nice because it has an easily removable top so you can paint the halves seperately, and have easy access to screws on the inside (arm strings too). Drill a 1" hole through the center of both top and bottom. Now pull out your engine block. Using a Dremmel tool or small grinder, fit the block to the curvature of the barrel. You can fill in any gaps with JB weld when you glue the bock on. JB Weld sticks really well to the resin, but not so well to the plastic of my barrel. So I drilled some holes and stuck the JB weld through them and spread it all around the inside to create a solid "plate" and the block is as stuck on there as it will ever be. Now paint the block/ barrel red metal flake and let it dry a day or so. The next step while the barrel is drying is to build the shoulders. For my shoulders, I used two larger versions of the Eveready shroud to make the proportions look good with the larger barrel. I glued a wooden shelf inside the shrouds and then drilled a small hole through the shelf into the barrel where you want the shoulders to be placed. Trim the shrouds so they fit the barrel with either scissors (if you use vacuformed copies) or sheet metal shears and a file (if you used the real deal, like me. That plastic is awfully thick. Also on mine I had to flatten out the bottom edge so the shrouds wold rest on the barrel). The barrel of monkeys barrel is really nice here because you can screw of the top and draw the curve on the shrouds themselves with a pencil, instead of hit-and-miss with one piece barrels. The screw off top is really helpful in threading the arm mechanism. But I digress. Anyhow, attach the shoulder with screws and then take it out and attach the 45 degree 2" long PVC lengths for shoulders, then paint this all white. Of course, if you bought replica upper arms, you could easily paint the shroud first, attach it, and then glue on the replica shoulder (painted) afterward. Glue on the springs to the end of the PVC. Now comes the hard part (the screw off top REALLY helps). Thread a string through a second hole in both shoulders through the barrel, down through another hole in the bottom of the barrel as a loop. Tie the ends of the strings off on the top ends of the springs, where the hands go. When you pull the loop at the bottom of the barrel, the arms should constrict up. Now attach the white painted hands on the end of the springs. If you bought Ed's springs and hands, simple friction should do the trick. Stick a key ring on the end of the arm loop so you do not lose it. Finally, paint the engine nozzles (or whatever the heck they are) silver. On Ed's mold, they are a separate piece. Now stop playing with the arms (It's fun isn't it? You can make the arms flap if you get the timing right.) and start building Servo a butt so you can set him on something when you stick the head through the torso.
NEW! Here's how you can install a set of C More Bunz arms on your Servo:
Take the doll and rip all of his clothes off (stop looking at me that way!) then remove all of the hoses and springs (carefull with the fragile air bladders!) from the little beast until he's a naked, plastic shell. (Rip the head off too 'cuz it's fun.) Now, taking a hacksaw, saw off the plastic at about a 45 degree angle with at least an inch or so more material than you want on the arms showing. It's very hard to make the arms longer, let me tell you! I had to resort to using JB Weld and a washer to extend the little runt! Anyhow, mount the thing on a washer and a bolt (JB Weld works well for this, and sands easily), then drill two holes into your shoulder, one for the hose (big), and one for the bolt (smaller). Connect all of the hoses back up and it should work. If the upper hoses are too short you can make new ones out of the lower, longer hose and still have plenty left to work with. Careful with the squeeze bulb- it has a tendency to rip around the end. And on the small air bladders, I reccomend gluing them to the arm hoses so you don't have to worry about them becoming disconnected so you have to disassemble the while danged thing again just to reconnect them. Have fun!
The All-Mighty Butt:
-Boo Bowl (I got a similar salad bowl from CyberGregg)
-Vacuforms of Turbo Trains (Ed again)
-Nuts and Bolts (about 10 small sets, with extra washers)
-Foam insulation (the easiest part to find)
-Some extra 1" PVC
-A female connector for your neck rod (one end threaded, the other end normal)
-Some 1 1/4" PVC to fill the gap between the bowl and your female connector
-Flat white paint
-Flat black paint
The butt was probably the hardest part to find because I bought Ed's trains, which only fit the curvature of the real bowl or his replica. I thought: "A Tupperware Bowl can't be that hard to find" and boy was I wrong. Thanks to CyberGregg for providing me with a bowl for a VERY reasonable price! But the Turbo Trains still didn't quite fit the curvature of the bowl, so this is how I remedied the problem without being forced to cut my Vacuformed Trains: First, take your bowl and mark out 60 degree marks all the way around. Then measure about 3 inches down (you'll have to look at your turbo trains for an exact fit) and drill a small hole that fits your bolts. Drill another little hole through the square elevation near the front of the roof of your train. With a bolt in place, your train should be solid on the bowl about 1/4" from the top. Personally, I hate the fact that on almost all the replica Servos I see, the botbuilders raised the Turbo Trains from the bottom so there is a gap between the trains and the foam insulation. So I made sure the foam fit well in place before drilling anything. But I digress. Anyhow, when you're done, you should have 6 evenly spaced holes an equal distance from the top of the bowl. Attach your turbo trains and test the fit. By tightening up the bolts which go through the Train and Bowl (use a small washer to make sure you don't rip out the top of your train), the Trains should fit the curvature nicely and they should flatten out for the "squashed" look seen on the show. The plastic is so thin and flexible, you don't really need to tighten them all that muh to get them to fit. Also now is a good time to drill the 1" hole through the center of the top. Be careful, my bowl was brittle plastic which cracked in several places when I drilled the large hole. I wasn't a problem, though, easily ifxed with a little epoxy to strengthen it. Also now you should drill three small holes (or maybe four)- one for your arm string loop to pass through, and two to put bolts in that will hold your barrel to your bowl. Have the neck pipe running through the entre assembly when you drill these- it allows for a smoother line up of the parts. You'll have to sand the heck out of the three holes anyway, later to let the neck spin freely. Now that you've drilled bunch of holes in the bowl, paint it. I used primer on the inside becaise the bowl will get much more abuse down there and primer sticks up better than the white I was using. When the bowl has dried, reassemble the Turbo train assemblies and bolt the barrel to the bowl. Put the foam insulation on and test fit it- than stick it on using the adhesive strips on both sides (easy- just make sure you don't end up with an ugly gap in the back). Now put the head in and test fit the length of the neck. If the neck is too loose, you can make a spacer out of the 1 /14" PVC to fit over the connector at the bottom. I used the end of a plumbing fixture that I used for Crow's "Poppet" tubing. Now extend your nadle as long as you want it. I have mine so Servo ca nsit on a table, but you can easily make a longer piece and stick it in the connector. And when you use a key ring for the loop at the end of the nouth string, you can slide it off and put a smaller rign on, that fits inside the 1" PVC pipe, then you can add an extension to the string ono the keyring that allows you to puppeteer him without making a new mouth string! I try and make parts as easily servicable or changeable as possible. You can get an idea of the inner mechanisms by looking at the "butt shot" above.
1. Don't spraypaint his beak silver, just paint it with a paintbrush from one of those 99 cent bottles of Testors silver. It looks nicer and is cheaper (I tried spraying my first beak and it totally "pruned up" on me, so I guess now I'll convert that one into a theater sillouette model.)
2. A "Giant Barrel of Monkeys" Barrel is about 1 inch taller and at least $40 cheaper than a resin copy. You see them on Ebay all the time.
3. PVC shoulders are easy to make, instead of buying resin copies. If you really want the right arm, try to find a C More Bunz doll which has the arm springs too and works, so you only need to buy the hands from Ed (These are a really good deal! Doll shops charge you about the same amount for a pair of incorrect hands, and they don't paint well.)
4. A small grinder or Dremmel tool is invaluable when fitting your Engine block to the curvature of your barrel.
5. I you buy vacuformed trains from Ed Miarecki, get the barrel too. Then you don't have to pay shipping twice because it's impossible to find a bowl that fits. Luckily CyberGregg (see links) set me up with one. Also, to produce the "oval" look of the Turbo Trains, drill holes in the bowl, and anchor some bolts in the Trains. Then you can control the shape of them individually and you don't have to worry about screwing up your nice painted bowl with glue. Actually, whenever possible, you should use fasteners as opposed to messy glue, especially on the shoulders. And, if you use a Barrel Of Monkeys, you can twist off the top for easy access to the screws, which can be on the inside.
6. For my Tom Servo head, instead of getting a PVC fitting to attach to the puppeteering rod and spending days on end sanding and cutting it, I simply built another base out of wood, then screwed the puppet rod into it (the rod had male ends at both ends, making it easy to remove).
7. You cannot emphasize enough that light coats of Metal Flake paint are needed on the bots. Any drips or runs are painfully visible through the several coats of paint. Also, JoeCrow reccommends that you use some generic red underneath as a primer, then use only one coat of Testors. That way you only need one can, as oppoesd to three. Unfortunately, he told me this after I had applied 2 coats of Testors to my Servo.
8. Build Servo first! He's the easiest to build and it doesn't take much engineering to get him up and running.
Look for similar "Crow" and "Gypsy" pages soon once I get some pictures of them.
