Wicked Makers

Making a Halloween Animatronic from Scratch?!

Added 2023-06-07 21:02:00 +0000 UTC

We're finally doing it!

We've always wanted to build our own animatronic but it seemed like a daunting challenge. Conceptually it shouldn't be that hard, right? PVC frame, motor moves a thing which pushes and pulls another thing, wrap a character around it and BAM!

Or, well, something like that...

In reality, it's of course been a bit more challenging... The classic wiper motor is great for high-torque movement but they're really heavy! Balancing the prop so it stands up on two legs WHILE moving around is also very tricky. The more it moves, the harder it is to balance. Just imagine your favorite toddler learning how to walk and watch how wobbly they are, that's basically how props are before they're fine tuned and balanced. 😁

As challenging as it's been, it's a TON of fun. We're making "Huggy Wuggy" from the game Poppy Playtime, which has been requested about 10,000 times. :) He's super tall and kind of looks like a stuffed animal but with a horrific mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

ALSO, Jay custom made some adjustable PVC joints to help do custom angles for elbows, knees, shoulders, etc. and once they're ready we'll make the 3D printing files available to patrons. It's been great to not be limited to just simple 45 and 90 degree angles.

If all goes well, the video should be done in about two weeks!

ALSO ALSO, Jay will be at Midwest Haunters Convention this coming weekend. If you're going to be there, drop a note! Would love to say hello.

Stay Wicked!

~J&J