Craig Smith of South Milwaukee, WI, built this Yoda with moving eyes and ears.
We all love Yoda. Some have the life size statue in their home. But this thing tops them all. Built from a Halloween mask, the Yoda stands about life size. The eyes were cut out of the mask and the head was filled with a support foam shell. Inside the mask is a homemade motion apparatus. A 4RPM motor with an offset crank shaft moves the eyes left & right, and the ears up & down. A vertical slot for the crank allows the rotating shaft to move the eyes left and right yet allowing the up/down motion to occur as well. The same kind of slot is in the ear wires, but a horizontal slot allows the up/down motion for that function. The eyes are hacked plastic balls with the liquid inside that keeps the floating weighted eyeball always looking up. The ball was cut in half, liquid removed, and assembled with pivot points and sway levers on a connecting plate.
It is darn creepy to see Yoda and then do a double-take as his ears raise as he looks over at you. Ought to keep my very young boy away from my vintage 1977 Star Wars toy collection.
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