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Balcony Chuck restoration
Topic Started: May 30 2015, 07:28 AM (41,096 Views)
80sgirl
Member Avatar
Electroidal Animal Doctor
Since I plan on restoring Chuck, I figured it was time to make a thread. First post is more of a record of where I'm starting from.

Posted Image

The good:

He has all his body cosmetics.
They're in great shape.
Has all his cylinders and a valve bank.
Parts seem to be in good working order.

The bad:

Mech is missing the right forearm and hand.
Whites of the eyes are marked and discolored.
Irises are chipped, scratched and also mismatched.
No nose.
No lower lip.
No tongue.
Is that white thing supposed to be teeth?

The unknown:

Status of cylinders, valves and other mechanics. (No compressor or controller to test those yet.)

Working on either getting the old right forearm/hand from the previous owner or a replacement from another member.

Eyes are really important to a character, whether they're 2D or 3D. Here are Chuck's.

Posted Image

Now you know why I've taken most pics with his eyes closed. I think the iris on the left eye is newer, or at least intended for a different bot. It's a different size, and the lines are painted in white. The pupil is off center too. I'm hoping to find a replacement that matches the smaller one on the right eye. Lots of wear on both from the eyelids rubbing against the surface and taking the paint off. My plan is to fill the chipped areas with epoxy putty, then sand smooth and repaint.

Eyes I can keep shut, but the nose and teeth stick out all the time. Still waiting on most materials, but I got tired of looking at the pull tab hanging from his mouth and made him some new teeth from some imitation leather. I looked at pictures and guessed on the size and shape, but I think they turned out pretty good. Even though he still looks weird without a nose, the new teeth make him look much better already.

Posted Image

On figures of this age, they used French stretch terry fabric to cover his nose, snout, jaw and lower lip. The tongue was made from satin. The previous owner reupholstered his snout and jaw, but didn't use the same type of cloth.

Unfortunately, stretch terry is not easy to find except online. The pink fabric looks fine so I'll leave that for now until I can find the correct fabric. My plan is to give him a new nose and recreate the lower lip and tongue. I ordered black and red stretch terry from fabrics.com. Hopefully they should arrive next week. There should be plenty of fabric left over if I have to redo them if/when I find the correct pink cloth.

I hope to work on him a little each day.
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Patrick Boots CEC

Talking Cosmetics, If you can make a vector of the Eye you can get them duplicated on probably the same materials by a company. As I'm Aware, VintageMuseum is selling a Chuck Balcony Vest. The Derby Strap is easy, if you can make a vector of the PTT Logo & Chuck' signature. (I Remember someone was asking for those a while ago)
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BrenBill
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i decided to try and create a vector of chuck's eye, not too bad in my opinion

check it out here!
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80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
Patrick Boots CEC
May 30 2015, 09:03 AM
Talking Cosmetics, If you can make a vector of the Eye you can get them duplicated on probably the same materials by a company. As I'm Aware, VintageMuseum is selling a Chuck Balcony Vest. The Derby Strap is easy, if you can make a vector of the PTT Logo & Chuck' signature. (I Remember someone was asking for those a while ago)
Going to see if I can replace the left iris with a smaller one. If not, I may try taking them off and using the smaller one as a template to cut the larger one down to size. I bought some epoxy putty to repair the chips, but still waiting for it to arrive.

The hat is another matter. It turns out the bot had a unique hat, and the one that came with him is from an employee. It's too big to fit between his ears, and made from very thin, fragile plastic. The bot's hat is slightly smaller and made from harder plastic. It also had elastic loops that went around the base of his ears to hold it in place and hold his ears up. That's why this bot's ears don't stand up. I'm pretty sure the walkaround hat is made the same way, so now I'm in the market for one of those.
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toycollector

Great work with his teeth! That alone makes him look so much better. That little white rectangle that used to be his teeth looked really weird on him.

I kinda want to see a picture of him with his eyes open just to see how it would look.
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80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
toycollector
May 31 2015, 01:54 AM
Great work with his teeth! That alone makes him look so much better. That little white rectangle that used to be his teeth looked really weird on him.

I kinda want to see a picture of him with his eyes open just to see how it would look.
Here ya go.

Posted Image

The iris size and different colors probably wouldn't have been noticeable in a restaurant since people usually sat further away, but now that I've noticed it's something I just can't un-see. I'd be happy with either size, but I do want them the same. With them being different sizes, the pupils aren't the same size or height and it just looks unsettling to me. I'm pretty sure I can trim the larger one down with an x-acto knife and repaint it to match the smaller, but I'd rather see if I can find one that matches sizewise first.

Gonna take a minute to talk about eyes. Ask any artist and they'll tell you eyes are super, super important. There are studies that show eyes are the first thing people look at on a face, whether it's a real person, a drawing or a 3D figure. If anything is off (like the pupils are different sizes, they don't point in exactly the same direction or they're not symmetrical) people notice immediately and it creeps them out. It might take them awhile to figure out what's unsettling, but they definitely notice subconsciously.

How much the eyelids open is also very important. If they open too far, it looks like the bot is staring which also creeps people out. If they don't open far enough, they look tired. The eyelids on this bot open a little too far. Luckily that's easy to adjust, but a lot of stores get it wrong. Here's some pics so you can see what I mean:


Fine:

Posted Image

Fine:

Posted Image

Terrifying:

Posted Image

Edited by 80sgirl, May 31 2015, 06:49 PM.
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Vega-Three
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But maybe if they're all terrifying, kids and adults alike would be less likely to go up to the stage and abuse the characters! I say if that's the case, let them all have the 'deer in the headlights' stare.
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toycollector

Thanks for taking the picture! I know what you mean about not being able to un-see those little scratches. I have the same issue with a few things I have where I can't help but notice the tiny little imperfections in them. Hopefully you'll get them all fixed up nicely though.

I totally get what you mean about the eyes. When I think back most of the images of animatronics people called creepy or unsettling had the eyes open too far like that. I was just never able to pinpoint exactly what about them was creeping people out until you mentioned it here.
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HipsterChuckE
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Don't do much anymore
Chuck E. look like he cold and naked.Ether way,I never notice Chuck E. eyes are blue.I always seen them as green.Its look kinda of creepy of him without all of his parts.But alittle fixing on his fur and face will make him a new Chuck E.
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Patrick Boots CEC

Well, CECE Changed them to green with the rockstar designs... I'm Seen Balcony Chucks with like Yellow Eyes.
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80sgirl
Member Avatar
Electroidal Animal Doctor
They were originally hazel. Yellow lines painted over a blue background. The actual material is black and the pupil is unpainted. The mech for this bot was originally from the guest, which is why his eyes are blue.

Later on they changed to blue, and now green. But since parts are interchangeable, some techs are lazy and some stores are cheap you see bots with all different eye colors.

I found out the local library has a set of 3D printers and allows patrons to use them for free, so I'm going to try making new irises from scratch. It might not work since I'm not sure how well the material will sand, but it's nondestructive so I figure why not try that first?
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Patrick Boots CEC

I wish I had access to a 3D printer...for free...
But from what I have heard Chuck and the guest are pretty much identical.
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Menutia
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80sgirl
Jun 1 2015, 10:05 PM

I found out the local library has a set of 3D printers and allows patrons to use them for free...
Wow! That's awesome! Haven't heard of that type of 'toy' being available in my area. Good luck!!!
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80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
Menutia
Jun 2 2015, 04:01 PM
80sgirl
Jun 1 2015, 10:05 PM

I found out the local library has a set of 3D printers and allows patrons to use them for free...
Wow! That's awesome! Haven't heard of that type of 'toy' being available in my area. Good luck!!!
I know there are other bots out there with chipped irises. If it works out I'll make a few pairs in both sizes and make the files available. Should help other fans with bots that have damaged or mismatched eyes.
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MustCTV
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#ChuckE.AndPals!
WOW, you've done a really great job at this restoration. Looks great. *high five*
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80sgirl
Member Avatar
Electroidal Animal Doctor
He looks a lot worse now. Tore his head down today to start working on his eyes.

Posted Image

When I was taking his eyelids off, I found one of the posts that holds them on over the eyes is missing a split washer. I wonder if that was the cause of all the iris damage? Managed to get his irises off in one piece. Went down to the library (a 50 mile drive) and found they close the 3D printing lab early on the first Thursday of the month. So that's gonna have to wait until next week. The trip wasn't a total loss, though. I did manage to find a really close match for the dark blue.

The whites of his eyes are also really bad. Whoever painted them did a terrible job.

Posted Image

Posted Image

I'm going to sand or strip them before I repaint. I found a flat, off-white spray paint I'm going to try to repaint the whites. Now I just need to figure out how to get them off the mech.

I also found a replacement egg for his nose. The fabric is due in on Monday according to UPS.
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Mr. Cheese
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You should keep him. It's better to have something, Than to destroy something. Plus, it's a rare find.
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80sgirl
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Electroidal Animal Doctor
Oh, I'm not destroying him. These bots are kind of like a car. They were made for the commercial environment, so it's possible to break them down to replace parts. I'll be putting him back together once his eyes are repaired. I needed to take his head apart to get to his eyes so I can fix them. They were in terrible shape:

Posted Image
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AD Machine
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Eagle Scout
80sgirl
Jun 5 2015, 03:40 AM
Oh, I'm not destroying him. These bots are kind of like a car. They were made for the commercial environment, so it's possible to break them down to replace parts. I'll be putting him back together once his eyes are repaired. I needed to take his head apart to get to his eyes so I can fix them. They were in terrible shape:

Posted Image
Are you going to find him a vest?
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80sgirl
Member Avatar
Electroidal Animal Doctor
AD Machine
Jun 5 2015, 06:58 AM
Are you going to find him a vest?
When one becomes available I'll buy it if the price isn't ridiculous. Until then it's a waiting game.

Another member was selling one with a costume, but I don't need the costume and they don't want to sell the vest without it.

I ordered some red felt and will try to make him a vest to match the fez hat. It won't be a direct copy of the official vest, though. Not sure how that's gonna turn out, because I haven't done any sewing since I took home economics in junior high.
Edited by 80sgirl, Jun 5 2015, 09:00 AM.
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