The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Jerry, you're a dog's best friend!

George P.

Wes, It can be done. I made the right foot and about four inches up for this Nipper. Jerry

Nice job, Jerry.

I have seen it live!! And he has done a great job. Stan

Here's my ailing Nipper. Wes

Let's fix him! That's a great Nipper and quite early.

Jerry B.

The little 9" Nipper is coming along. When I started this project there was a fair percentage of Nipper that was missing. Where sections of Nipper were missing on the back end took some pieces of a cereal box, dampened, and placed up against the inside of the body and glued. They were held in place with oversized chunks of foam rubber. When dried, I covered with a thin layer of a water based fibre plaster. Where the snout and part of the head were missing I glued a piece of foam rubber to the inside of the head with a portion sticking out in front. When it dried in place I trimmed the snout into a rough shape leaving space for a thin layer of plaster. When the plaster dried I shaped it with my Dremel and then sanded. When I was happy with the general shape of the body I applied a thin layer of Elmer's Glue to the repaired sections. I did that because the dried plaster is so porous. If I applied paint at this point the repaired places would have a different look because of the porous plaster. The glue also covers little imperfections.

The next step is to fabricate ears. The ears on this early Nipper are quite a bit different than later Nippers. On later Nippers the ears stand up and give the impression of being quite alert. I think the makers of this dog attempted to make the ears more like a real terrier. The dog's head is rather blocky and the ears come out and hang down. I'm going to experiment with layers of pieces from a brown paper grocery sack.

Jerry Blais

Here are some photos of Rolfs' 9" Nipper. Joan thinks he is quite original with the possibility of work done on the ears. The nose seems a bit bulbous. I tried to replicate a similar snout.

Jerry Blais

Nipper is coming along great Jerry. Are you planning to replicate the King Cole sticker?

I thought I would copy and reduce the red Old King Cole sticker from Rolfs' book. It will go on the inside of the body. I'll also place my name and date on the underside of the left rear foot.

Jerry Blais