How to Make an Anchorman Sex Panther Bottle Replica Tutorial

I have been asked by a number of people to put together a tutorial to show how I made my Anchorman Sex Panther bottle replica, so here it is...finally.

Step 1: Find Some Reference Material

The first thing I do whenever I'm making anything is to gather some reference material. Unfortunately, in the case of Sex Panthers, there weren't that many close-up photos of the original bottle out there, and the ones that I did find didn't really look that good when you got up close? So I decided that I would take a bit of artistic license and make my bottle and make it look a bit more, Panthery?

Step 2: Start With a Basic Shape

To make life a little easier I always try and find something that already exists to use for the basic shape. In this case, I needed the Sex Panther bottle to be hollow inside so I just used a 50mm plastic Christmas tree bauble for the basic shape.

Step 3: Choose Your Medium and Get Sculpting

Originally I intended this to be a one off piece so I used Superfine Milliput Epoxy Putty to sculpt the Panther head shape.

Be careful if you choose to do the same though because once the putty sets hard you are stuck with that shape. Just go slow build it up in stages and whatever you do one side match it on the other.

Step 4: It's All in the Little Details

I went for a Happy Buddha kind of shape in the end, with a cleft chin.

Step 5: Smooth Finish

The advantage (and disadvantage) of using Milliput is it sets hard after a few hours. Obviously, this means you won't need to worry about molding and then casting the finished piece, but it also means you can get a really nice smooth finish with some fine sandpaper too. Just be careful not to sand off any sculpted detail.

Step 6: Making the Base

I needed to flatten the base of the bottle off to stop it from rolling around the table so I cut a circle out and replaced it with a bit some hard plastic and resin. My old Homebase store card worked well for this.
I did notice that it was a bit front heavy though so I balanced mine out with a few 2p coins I glued together. Maybe not the best solution for this problem but it worked for me.

Step 7: Left Ear Bottle Stopper

In the original Anchorman film, Brian Fantana removes the left ear of the Panther Head bottle so he can "musk up". I wanted my bottle to work the same way so I turned it into a basic bottle stopper with a Dremel tool and some more epoxy putty.

Step 8: Time to Get Painting

I used car spray paint and built up the thickness in layers. Normal vinyl gloss paint would be cheaper and work just as well I think. The eyes and teeth were painted in with white acrylic and then just varnished over.

Step 9: All You Need Now Is a Box to Go With Your Bottle

I'll be uploading another tutorial soon to show you how to make the box to go with your bottle. If you'd like to check out the one I made then head over to my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/sexpantherreplica/

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial, please let me know if you have any questions, give me some feedback or just reach out to say 'hey', I'd love to hear from you.

Stay classy ;-)