Ok, It’s an Automata Frog!

The last post showed a chunk of wood with little description. Well here is the scoop.

Often when making automata characters I find it necessary to assemble things as I go to hide mechanisms. This means, of course, that you won’t get at them ever again so you’d better have things right. In this case this little automata frog has eyes at move side to side, a moth that opens and eyelids that go up and down. There is no way to assemble all of this with the body together.

This frog body is three pieces, an abdomen, a lower head piece, and a head top piece. The eye, blink and mouth mechanisms have to be assembled before the head pieces are put together. Here are eyeballs lids and top of head with some paint done laid out in front of the lower head piece before assembly. The jaw is temporarily in place, not painted yet.

The next photo is a view of the pieces held together to check all the clearances before assembly. The linkages required inside the head can now be fitted. It is often challenging to continue to work to finish the body with linkage wires sticking out.