Eyes and head -- Crow’s eyes are ping pong balls with square pieces of electrical tape for pupils. The piece around his eyes is a soap dish made by the Schwartz Plastics Co. of Glendale, California. Like most bot parts this piece is no longer made and a bugger to find. The part behind the eyes is a lacrosse (or hockey...this is always going to be debated) made by Cooper and is the XL7-FG.
Mouth -- This part is a plastic bowling pin cut in half. This is made by Empire toys and the pin you want is the older version. The older version is made of thicker stiffer plastic and had an “e” embedded in the front. This pin is still made but there are some differences, the new version is thinner and has a crown shape instead of an “e”.
Neck -- This is can be made of many things (bot building is based on substitution). It can be made from a piece of PVC pipe and some tubing (said to be from a old military gas mask...but I don’t know about that).
Torso -- This part is a Tupperware (or Tuppercraft) Floralier flower vase set. To complete Crow’s chest area you will need one complete set plus another tray from a second set. One set is composed of a tall slender conical vase that fits into another smaller and wider conical vase; these two vases then snap onto the tray. To finish the chest cavity you will need a section of drainage pipe the same kind that is used for Gypsy.
Arms/Shoulders -- Crow’s arms are the WL81 Alpha or “Genie” halogen tube desk lamp. This was made by Wallace Products. This is the 15” style lamp, one important note is that both sections of the lamp need to be shortened by about 2 inches otherwise your Crow will look like an orangutan. To finish off the look, foam pipe insulation is placed on the arms. Also the same tubing that is used on the neck goes over the connection between the shoulder and upper arm.
Hands -- These are from a toy. It is one of those little grabber toys that little kids always annoy their parents with. These usually are composed of a long plastic pipe with a trigger at one end that controls the pincher.
I. The Eyes:
A. First, poke two hole in each of the ping pong balls, a little
less than a half-inch apart from each other. I used the pointy
end of a compass to do this, but you can use anything that’s
sharp and has roughly the same thickness as a toothpick (like
an icepick).
(See Diagram 1)
B. Stick two toothpicks into the holes, one end of each in each of the ping pong balls. Using 5-minute epoxy, glue the two ping pong balls in place, making sure to leave a little open area between the two toothpicks. (See Diagram 2) Let it sit for at least an hour, and don’t let the epoxy run onto the front of the eyes, because it’s almost impossible to get off once it’s set!
C. Paint the assembled ping pong balls light yellow. The Brains use “Dupicolor High-Visibility Yellow.” I couldn’t find this exact color, so I used Testors 1277 Fluorescent Yellow. One thing to remember when making these replicas is that the lights on the “Satellite of Love” set make the colors look different than they do in real life. When painting, I used two 1-inch PVC couplings set next to one another to make a stand. (See Diagram 3) That way, the eyes didn’t “roll around” while I was painting them, avoiding ruining the paint job. Also, paint doesn’t stick to ping pong balls very well, so remember to use several light coats and let each coat dry before going onto the next coat. I also sprayed them with acrylic clear coat, to make sure that the black from the inside of the soap dish doesn’t rub off on Crow’s eyes once he is all assembled.
D. DO NOT attach the two pieces of electrical tape (for Crow’s pupils) until after the eye mechanism is place in it’s final position inside the soap dish. The reason? Even though you thing you know which way his eyes are pointed, your finished Crow may in all actuality be looking up or down. You’ll save yourself a lot of headaches if you resist temptation and wait to put these pieces on last.
II. The Mechanism:
MATERIALS:
1. 1 set screen door rollers (maybe more, if you mess
up)
2. sturdy kite string or a heavy fishing line
3. 35-mm film canister lid (or more ridged plastic of
equal size)
4. 1 long screw (about 2 inches long)
5. 1 short screw (about an inch long)
6. 1 5/8 inch dowel
A. Using a drill, or whatever means necessary, remove both the axle and the pop rivet holding the useless piece of metal from the wheel and the metal wheel housing off the screen door rollers. You can discard the useless piece of metal, but save the axle. (See Diagram 4) This takes a lot of patience and you may ruin several of these things until you get it right.
B. Take the lid off the film canister (or use the substitute plastic disc) and drill three holes in it as shown. (See Diagram 5) The center one should be a little smaller than the either two, and all three should be within the little “lip” on the inside of the lid.
C. Drill a hole on each end of the dowel, making sure that you know how long the dowel needs to be. The length of the dowel will be determined by how long you want the shaft at the bottom of Crow to be. From the soap dish bottom to the bottom of the shaft, my Crow replica stands about 2 1/2 feet tall. That’s also how long the dowel is cut. If you make a mistake it’s pretty easy to cut a little off the PVC pipe at the bottom of Crow or, simply add a little more. This is not an exact science.
D. The screen door rollers I used came with a couple of small screws (though not all of them do). Attach the two metal wheel housings onto either end of the dowel. On the top one, put the film canister lid between the wheel housing and the dowel, to create a stop, so the eyes won’t move too far down the shaft of the neck once Crow is all put together. (See Diagram 6) You may want to epoxy these pieces in place, so they won’t turn, but so long as you don’t move them too much, they should stay on their own. Make sure they line up to one another.
E. The Wheels:
1. Clamp the wheel to a workbench and drill a hole through
each wheel as shown.
(See Diagram 7a and 7b)
Using a pair of wire cutters, cut the edges off the sides of the
wheels as shown.
(See Diagram 7a and 7b)
These are necessary to get the eye assembly down the shaft.
2. Re-attach the wheels in their housings using the original axle. By putting a little dab of epoxy on one end and a small piece of black duct tape on the other, the wheel should stay on it’s axle. Squeeze the two pieces of metal back together, just far enough so both wheels turn freely, but don’t fall out.
F. Put the short screw through the hole in the top pulley. By turning it with the ping pong balls eyes next to it, the threads should grab hold of the space left between the toothpicks. The way I have it, the Toothpick in the center is below the screw and the other one is above. If there is not enough room for the screw to fit, you can drill it out a little or if there’s too much room, you can add more epoxy (but let it set). You want it to be snug, so they won’t fall off.
G. Place the long screw through the hole in the bottom wheel. Make sure that the cut areas are parallel to the screw. Those nifty cuts are there so you can get the assembly down the shaft!
H. Take the kite string (or fishing line) and tie it to the screw at the top (you may have to loosen it a little to do this). Thread the string through the back hole of the film canister lid, down to the bottom wheel, as tight as you can, and wrap it around the wheel. You can tie it off on the bottom screw, but don’t cut it! Run the free end up the other side of the dowel, feeding it through the other hole and behind the eyes. If you can, wrap the string around the wheel. Then, tie it off on the back of the screw, and tighten it. Cut off the excess string.
It should work now. When you push down on the bottom screw, the eyes should look up. When you push up on the bottom screw, the eyes should look down. If it doesn’t work, your string may be too loose. You may have to string it again.
Once you’re sure that the mechanism is working, push down on the bottom lever, to make Crow’s eyes look up. Very carefully, thread the mechanism down the shaft of Crow’s neck (don’t forget to thread it through the soap dish first!). You have to remove the soap dish in order to do this, but once you get with in an inch of the final position, you can snap the dish into place.
Test it again, and assuming everything went as planned, turning the lever from side to side will turn Crow’s eyes, and pushing up and down on the lever will make him look up and down. Now, you can put on Crow’s pupils. Because the mechanism tends to bind on the bottom, make Crow look down. Cut out two pieces of 1/2-inch by 1/2-inch pieces of electrical tape and position them on the ping pong balls so he looks like he’s looking down. Now, when you move the mechanism, he can look down, straight, and up!
Now take it all apart and paint the thing Testor 1642 Lime Gold Metal Flake.
E-mail:
pmgilbe1@students.wisc.edu
