Stop-motion question

[chas_ucla]

I have kind of an odd stop-motion question...try not to laugh.

I'm doing a "Studio 54" type of set in 1:6 scale (yep, 12" action figures and their women) and for a master shot I need at least a few seconds of a large dance segment with a band playing in the background. Does anyone have experience with keeping these sorts of figures standing? I bought a few doll stands but I've got about 30 figures I need to have propped up.

Here's one idea I just came up with -- tape a large sheet of heavy styrofoam down to a flat surface. Cut pieces of coat hanger or thick wire. Use a soldering iron to make a hole up the G.I. Joes/Barbie's, uh, buttocks; stick the wire up their butt with the other side of it inserted firmly into the styrofoam. This seems to be a cost-effective way though I won't be able to test it out until this weekend.

Does anyone have any other experience with propping up these kinds of figures?

[Foxfurr]

That was actually the advice I was going to give.


If you have a drill, you may want to drill holes up through the feet and into the legs, and stick the wire in that way. It'd be less visible, but you'd want your styrofoam to be deeper than the hole you're drilling into the figure for balance.

[Hanthx]

Making toy porno movies again eh Charles?

Does your wife know?
Heheh

Good luck on your project.

Scott

[chas_ucla]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Foxfurr:
If you have a drill, you may want to drill holes up through the feet and into the legs, and stick the wire in that way. It'd be less visible, but you'd want your styrofoam to be deeper than the hole you're drilling into the figure for balance.</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the advice, but the problem with that is their legs are so thin to begin with that it would have to be one hell of a long, thin drill bit for it to work. It would also permanently damage the dolls to the point where they might not be able to do any sort of future "leg movement." I think destroying their buttocks would be less, uh, problematic...hmmm....if only they weren't so top-heavy...

[mcarter4121]

Why not just nail a wire staple over their feet? Or bend a loop of wire and tie it to their ancles or loop it over the feet and put it through the base and tie it on the bottom. They could be raised and lowered to move their feet in time to the music...

[chas_ucla]

Hmmm...that might work...do you think the loop of wire would be strong enough to hold one foot down while the other is raised? The G.I. Joe type figures are extremely top heavy. Well, at the very least I can keep them standing up...THANKS!

Scott: sorry to disappoint - I promised myself an "R" rating this time around!

[StopMoWorks]

The wire or rod in butt sounds good and quick solution, but I don't understand the need for the styrofoam . Should be like 5/8" -3/4" particle board as your animation surface. (cheaper than plywood) and drill completely through to insert your wire, but preferably, a length of threaded rod (home depot) and also drill a hole into the puppets rear end [img]graemlins/cry.gif[/img] so threaded rod will fit snug, then maybe hot glue around the butt [img]rolleyes.gif[/img] . Then the other end of threaded rod goes all the way through into the hole in particle board, sandwiched on each side by two nuts [img]redface.gif[/img]

Soldering iron sounds a little sloppy and cannot get accurate or deep enough hole. Threaded rod comes in various sizes & lengths to about 3 foot long and just hack saw to length you need. 8-32 threaded rod should work (and get 8-32 hex nuts). A real stop motion puppet would have an internal jointed skeletal armature, with threaded holes in the feet, but this does not seem applicable in your case, as you want a quick solution to pull off your brief animation shot.

LIO [img]cool.gif[/img]

[chas_ucla]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by StopMoWorks:
The wire or rod in butt sounds good and quick solution, but I don't understand the need for the styrofoam . </font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well...believe it or not, it's because I don't even own a drill! I'm not exactly the handyman type but your advice sounds great. thanks!

[Foxfurr]

Thanks StopMo... that was uh... risque [img]wink.gif[/img]

chas: I think that your original suggestion is probably best for what you're doing.

[MovieStuff]

If the floor surface is smooth plastic or glass, just use some double back foam tape on the feet. That stuff is super strong. You can cut it to form fit their shoes (assuming they're flat on the bottom like GI Joe's. If their feet are hidden. stick them in some modeling clay.

Roger