Tuesday, January 07, 2020

On the stick

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FRONT

Here's a look at the control stick for my recent Charlie conversion. I use a transition with a PVC pipe headstick by Braylu Creations. I also purchased the trigger and rocker from Braylu. As I recall, I may have been a beta tester for the items when designs were under discussion.
The photo on the left shows the raising eyebrow trigger (left) and the jaw trigger (right). I put the jaw trigger to the right so the ventriloquist can operate the jaw with the forefinger and the eyebrows with the thumb. The photo on the right shows the side-to-side self-centering eye control, a rocker trigger operated by a free finger or fingers.

Eventually, I will trim the bottom of the PVC pipe and add a very nice endcap with eyehook so it can be attached to the base of the body.

I'm feeling a little shy about my simple triggers-with-strings approach after watching some unboxing videos by Jimmy Vee. He has a website called thedummyblog.com with lots of videos of Jimmy unboxing and presenting some amazing figures. The mechanics in figures by past greats like the McElroys and Frank Marshal astound me. And there's the beautiful work by Chance Wolf. Their controls are so precise, compact and...look, ma... no strings. That being said, lots of folks have enjoyed my little guys over the years, so I'll just keep makin' 'em.

But do check out Jimmy Vee's website. You'll like it!

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