AUTOMATA - "Pirate Puppet" Pt.2

AVAST, YE SCURVY KNAVES! Tis time for the next part of me PIRATE project!

Well as you can see, I've made a good bit of progress since my last post.  I have most of the mechanical stuff figured out.  There will be some fine-tuning on this as I add the strings and make sure all the movements work properly.  I'm sure I'll hit some snags when I try to make a jacket out of fabric.  But I figure this pirate wasn't able to sew that well with a hook for a hand.  Speaking of a HOOK...below are the steps to create that.

I then made the steering WHEEL. I found some nice wooden components at one of the local craft stores.  The "peace signs" were the right size for the main part of the wheel, once I cut out the middle area.  I glued some dowels into holes I drilled into a wooden spool.  Then I filled in the gaps with Sculpy.

Next up...the HAND that turns the wheel

Here is the way the Wheel Hand will look like it's turning the ship...a string from below will pull the wheel, causing it to rotate.  The arm segments are very loosely connected by screw-eyes.

The movement of the HOOK ARM was inspired by a cast-off umbrella given to me by my friend Susie (since she knows I collect junk).  The levers on the umbrella was just the engineering I was looking for.

 A string will pull the arm upwards at the shoulder area, and the hook will give a "High 5" (or maybe that would be a "High 1").

Each of the movements of the puppet will be activated by "keys" that you press in the front of the box.  When the key is pressed, it will pull a string from underneath.  I may alter the length of the levers that you see here, once I add the strings.  Currently, most of the pieces of the pirate are not glued to the box, so I can take things apart to paint it, and work on the rest of the sculpture, the jacket, etc.

That's it for this post.  Check back later...there's still a lot more detailing yet to add to this SALTY DOG!