Gully Mouse
The star of the Gulliver's theme parks, Gully Mouse. An animatronic which stands outside and talks and sings to guests, Gulliver's Kingdom in Matlock Bath - England
Pre-Restoration
Gully was in an unfortunate state, the character did not function at all. The mechanism was failing and even had some snapped pieces, fur was also massively sun-faded due to him being outside.
Mechanical Restoration
The first step of any restoration is fixing up the mechanics, there was some snapped pieces which made this project very tricky but our expert mechanical engineer was determined and was able to get it fixed up even with the problems in the way.
All pneumatic air cylinders were repaired and the mechanism was properly cleaned and oiled to work perfectly.
Cosmetics
The main cosmetical issue was the sun-faded fur, we stripped the character of all its fur and used our own technique to restore the fur to bring back the original colour, this not only made him more presentable but made him look more like the character seen on signage and the parks advertising just like his old self. We also added fake grass and flowers to the stage which makes it look way nicer than the bare wood that was there beforehand. A new outfit was sewn for him as the original was dryrotten.
Theming
We wanted to make the dome that Gully lives in pop, and so while we were modifying the air system (removing the rotten hut behind the dome which housed the air compressor and placing it in a much more protected area) we thought a much needed refresh of the Building was needed, we added some of the missing details from some faces of the base of the dome, and gave the dome a fresh new repaint which suited the area better and makes the figure much more noticeable and appealing to passersby.
Electrical System
The original control system was badly damaged, we however replaced this with one of our estate of the art animatronic control systems, this allowed for more energetic movement out of the character and the addition of LED lights, we created and programmed new tracks for Gully, this allows for a more engaging presence of the character. The air compressor was also switched out for a new silent one to reduce noise levels and make this character silent.