You will have observed a sudden explosion within the variety of films—horror movies, specifically — that characteristic Mickey Mouse, however which aren’t made by Disney. If you happen to look intently, you’ll see that all of them comprise the model of Mickey from the unique Steamboat Willie cartoon. That’s as a result of the copyright for Steamboat Willie expired and in order that model of Mickey is now within the public area. In honor of the event, Jaimie and Jay of Depraved Makers constructed this terrifying Mickey Mouse animatronic head styled after the characters from the 5 Nights at Freddy’s franchise.
Depraved Makers have expertise on this area, as a result of they constructed a Springtrap animatronic a couple of months in the past. Like that undertaking, it is a life-sized animatronic robotic. However in contrast to Springtrap, that is only a head. Nonetheless, that definitely doesn’t make it any much less creepy. It nonetheless retains the unsettling actions and decrepit styling that makes it appear to be a forgotten theme park attraction left in storage for many years.
To begin the undertaking, they commissioned BeardlessProps to create a 3D mannequin of the Steamboat Willie model of Mickey. That mannequin accommodates a number of damaged and battered items consistent with the theme. After 3D-printing the pinnacle components, Depraved Makers started working bringing it to life.
A large quantity of that work went into giving Mickey the precise look. Plain 3D-printed plastic wouldn’t lower it. One cool trick they got here up with was to stay shredded black fibers to the plastic utilizing Mod Podge. That gave it the looks of felt and didn’t require any sanding or smoothing of the prints. Different areas acquired a coat of Bondo physique filler to cowl the layer strains and create texture. With some paint and weathering, the outcome was phenomenal. We don’t suppose that Hollywood prop makers may do any higher.
Mickey’s head and jaw motion comes from a number of small servo motors. An Arduino UNO board controls these. It receives instructions from a Sony PlayStation 4 controller related by means of a USB host defend. That was a intelligent thought, as a result of it lets Depraved Makers carry out the puppeteering work with a well-recognized, intuitive interface.
Sadly, the animatronic failed whereas Depraved Makers was filming it in motion. They’ve some restore work to do earlier than it’s again in service and we’re wanting ahead to seeing that in one other video. However what we did get to see earlier than the failure was improbable. This appears to be like precisely like what we’d count on to see if Mickey Mouse existed within the 5 Nights at Freddy’s universe.