While waiting for the Kong armature, check this

[pjam]

Garage kit sculptor and actor Jeff Yagher has built a single working replica of the original Kong puppet for a private collector. He cast it in foam, assembled it over an aluminum armature, and covered it with rabbit fur like the original.

Exactly what so many people dreamed of when they saw the armature replica that Sideshow will bring out in November.

Here it is:

Can't see photos

 

[oxbeard]

Can't see photos

If you follow the second link GOB posted and scroll down the page you can find the photos.

This thing rocks!!! I would love to see something like this become available.

 

[Gruff Old Bear]

Sorry. Changed the name of the Photobucket album. Have to fix a few links now.

 

[pjam]

Sorry. Changed the name of the Photobucket album. Have to fix a few links now.

Thanks Gruff, that is insane, superb, I hope someone does a Kong prop rep puppet and also a Yoda, hello? people want them.

 

[The Dwimmerlaik]

Thanks Gruff, that is insane, superb, I hope someone does a Kong prop rep puppet and also a Yoda, hello? people want them.

One day ill try to do it, right now i have never thinked about making KONG but one day ill do one

 

[pjam]

One day ill try to do it, right now i have never thinked about making KONG but one day ill do one

Whether it's Jeff or you or whomever, I think sideshow should hire one of you guys as a consultant to come up with a system to train them on how to do this correctly and cost-effectively so they may be offered to customers.

 

[puppet pusher]

Hey wax murderer, I'm impressed that you seem to be up on your Kong history--but I thought I'd risk your ire and bring up a few points of contention. I should state first off that its hard to state with any certainly exactly what transpired over 70 years ago and a lot of what we tell each other as "facts" are simply the views of a few people that have been circulated enough to become ingrained.

Yes, to the best of our knowledge, there were only two 18" Kong armatures and the 2nd was most likely made after the test footage was approved by the RKO bosses in New York. Marcel Delgado told a friend of mine that the two armatures were each reconstructed during production 3 times making a total of 6 different looks to Kong throughout shooting. He wasn't any more clear then that...Don't know if each was a complete from the armature-up reworking or not. Rebuilding a puppet every 3 days as you suggest isn't likely--maintenance maybe, but not a rebuild.

Here are two photos of what most likely was the 2nd armature. As you might know, both armatures were used in "Son of Kong" and were much later intended to be used in "Jack the Giant Killer" (for which both armatures were stripped of their foam before the effects company changed their minds and decided to build new armatures). Soon after, this armature "walked away" from the effects company in the hands of a collector.

The possibility of the use of a 24" Kong puppet for the New York scenes has been brought up a lot recently, but to the best of my knowledge and according to quite a few Kong experts, there isn't a lot to prove this was the case--and much to suggest this wasn't. As you say, there IS a larger scale hand over at the LA County museum--but that isn't enough to prove that it was part of a full 24" stop motion model. Anyone who has done stop motion will tell you that a puppet of that size offers a lot of problems. Might it have been intended for close-up shots of the hand?

The 4 1/2 inch jointed model that Peter Jackson purchased is purported to be the one used to film the high speed miniature fall from the empire state building, but again, quite a few people disagree. The smaller the model, the faster the camera has to run to give the proper feeling of weight. Using a model of that size to get the shot we see in the film just doesn't make a lot of sense...but I guess its possible...
--Chris

 

[lcummins]

Hey puppet pusher, haven't seen you around much lately... what are you working on lately? Anything you tell us about?

 

[puppet pusher]

Hey, lcumminus,

Yea, I don't post a whole lot here--but I'm big on lurkin!

What have I been working on? Finished "Monster House" several months ago and now I'm on "Spiderman 3."

BTW, I remember you saying you were unsure about getting SS's Kong armature--how do you feel now that you've seen it in person at the ComicCon?

--Chris

 

[lcummins]

Hey, lcumminus,

Yea, I don't post a whole lot here--but I'm big on lurkin!

What have I been working on? Finished "Monster House" several months ago and now I'm on "Spiderman 3."

BTW, I remember you saying you were unsure about getting SS's Kong armature--how do you feel now that you've seen it in person at the ComicCon?

--Chris

I love it! It somehow manages to invoke the feeling you are looking at the original. It makes an awesome display piece! You know, I just realized, I didn't get any pictures of it! Darn!

Monster House and Spider-man 3! Very cool! Are you doing computer graphics now days, or still involved in stop-motion stuff? Or both?

Sorry I missed you and your brother at the Freaks party in SD! Too much stuff happening!!!

 

[Darklord Dave]

On a related note - Heritage auctions just sold this:

Original Willis O’Brien armature of Mighty Joe Young

For this:

$120,750.00

 

[Mookeylama]

Garage kit sculptor and actor Jeff Yagher has built a single working replica of the original Kong puppet for a private collector. He cast it in foam, assembled it over an aluminum armature, and covered it with rabbit fur like the original.

Exactly what so many people dreamed of when they saw the armature replica that Sideshow will bring out in November.

Here it is:

wow. i just realized who Jeff Yagher. he was in V and my fave "Six Feet Under" episodes (dude that killed Nate's wife). i didn't know he did miniatures. wonder how much they'd cost heh.

 

[Gruff Old Bear]

Jeff Yagher sculpts garage kits for several independent kit producers, and he's a machine. Here are some samples of his work for just one producer this year alone -- I mean, these are a small part of his output of the last twelve months. All were built up and painted by airbrush master Steve Riojas, and all are 1:6 scale (yes, bigger than your Aurora models):

Check the coffin shape of the base:

This the first in a proposed series. Look closely; Steve has painted subtle pinstripes in the suit:

If you've seen any of the kits that replicate the James Bama box covers for the Aurora monster models -- "the kits Aurora should have released" -- those are Jeff's, too, sculpted for a different producer. I'm not exaggerating about his output. The guy's prodigious.

The Kong puppet is the first instance I know of where he has built a mixed-media figure. His brother Kevin is a special-effects expert in the film industry, and according to the IMDB Jeff has sometimes sculpted for his brother's company. He is beginning a new series of busts based on covers of Famous Monsters magazine.

I know that model kits, because they must be built and painted, are pretty OT for most folks on this board, but if any of you brave customizers want to dive in, PM me. I'll send you a link to the dealer who offers these (they're all still available), another link to a board for garage kit builders, and a lecture about the evils of recasting.

Now if Sideshow would hire Yagher to do something...after all, they hired Mike Hill for the PF Wolfman, so why not?