Bad spray

For some unknown reason when i was spraying the red on my teeth, when the paint was drying it looked like it didn't want to stick to the surface or like there was something like grease on the surface area before spraying had started. The other factor could be that I used a cheap primer from Wilkinson's and maybe that is why the paint was not sticking to the surface area. I resolved it by sanding the red paint back and respraying it. But yet again the same thing happened. so this time I have really let the paint cure so when i come to sanding and spraying it again the problem should be resolved.

Finished piece

Yay, this is my finished piece. It still has to be touched up here and there but over all I am very pleased with the out come. I could have gone down different routes to make this model but I have treat this as a learning curve and i think have have strengthened and developed the skills I already have.

Damage to me lovely teeth

I dropped them didn't I. I finished spraying them the night before I dropped hem, i was letting the paint harden over night. So the next morning I went into the spray room to check up on my work. It looked lush and finished but as i picked up the stand i has secured the top jaw to, some how the top jaw had become unstuck and just slid off and hit the concrete floor smashing the teeth off it. I had no choice but to stick the teeth back on and fill and sand the remaining cracks. It doesn't look as good as it did but I will have time after the crit and before the London show to touch it up or repair it again.

This elastic band in side is what keeps the whole mouth lifted up and kept up. When u press down on the teeth and let go it should return to its original position.

In the wind up toy it actually has a small spring and works off that. If I was to put a spring at the correct scale in my model it would probably not work as the strength of it would be to much but an elastic band does the job just as good and maybe cheaper.

Choosing to vac form the tongue was a great idea because it gave me exactly what I needed for my expected end result.

The tongue had to be hollow so that all the mechanics could be hidden away underneath it. I thought the best way to make the tongue was to get some yellow foam cut and sand it to the correct shape i need, then I painted three layers of fibre glass resin on it to make it tough enough to vac form over.

The end handle was made out of acrylic rod and turned out on the lathe. The metal tube was a cheep, old scalpel handle that was the exact size I needed, so i just used that after I polished it up.

I didn't make the inside mechanism out of fast cast I just maid it out of MDF and sanding sealed it. when it was ready I sprayed it with white gloss. I didn't cast this piece because it is hidden under the plastic tongue so wouldn't be seen anyway. Also the mechanism wont work so I just made an interpretation of it.

The out come of the teeth were great. They did need a really good sand and tidy up but they worked perfectly. I should have taken more time and care sculpting the teeth as when the fast cast vision came out the mould it was a lot harder they clay so took more time to sand back. The gums or base of the teeth I made out of MDF but the teeth themself I decided to sculpt them out of clay. I decided to do this because I wanted to use my sculpting skills as well as my mould and casting.

This is a test piece that went wrong. The bits inside are what keeps the mould lid from sinking into the setting fast cast.

The top jaw was moulded and then cast from in the same way as the bottom jaw. So far i have made all the main pieces from fast cast. i like this way and it is also helping me to develop my moulding and casting skills.

I just made the top jaw out of MDF but i did not add the teeth until a later date. I did it this way because in the industry something like this would be massed produced. On the original piece itself the teeth you can see are made separately and then added on later.

In the end I mould and cast the bottom jaw. I also cast the side hinges then glued them on. I finished it off with some car body filler to get rid of the join lines. So when sprayed you will not be able to tell that they were made separately.

For the bottom jaw i was going to vack form it but after a few attemps it was not working as well as it could have and I need to think of another way of making it

This funny looking piece sits in one of the feet and the rest is up in the main body of the model. This piece is very important as it holds the spring or in my case elastic band and allows the teeth to bounce and move freely.

The finished feet and legs looked really good. I was very happy with the finish of it. For the legs I just made them out of MFD then mould and cast them.

With the sculpted template I made a mould then cast from it using fast cast. The cast that came out the mould looked really good, neat and clean. There were hardly any bubbles . It only needed a bit of sanding to get rid of slight roughness.

Making The Teeth

I started off by making the teeth. I just photo copied the real toys feet then enlarged them four times bigger.

After I had done that I placed the photocopies on to a piece of MDF then cut round the shape of the feet until i had a template to work from.

With that template I sculpted up the toes using clay.

Different Designs of Wind Up Toys

There are so many different designs for wind up toys. You can see how they are mass produced as they all have the same mechanism but they just have a different design to look at. This means that the same mass production machinery can be use for making different toys.

I really like the sushi toys. they are unusual and detailed to look at.

Looking at the different packaging makes me want to make something similar for my set of chattering teeth. I think it would look really good at the London show.

Packaging

Some of the packaging that these toys come in are quite good. Only some are individually wrapped in their own packaging, these ones would normally be a lot more expensive than a loose toy from a box of twenty or so. You are only paying for the packing as the toy inside will normally turn out to be just as the some as the box of twenty toys.