Wooden Armatures

I've determined the limit of my wooden armatures. They're not as good as metal ones. Specifically, the joints can't be made super-tight. We're planning on having the armatures suspended in mid-air via a steel rod at all times. They won't ever have to be tied down to a floor. Though they can be (there's holes in the boots for screws). That means they won't have to support their own weight in dramatic over-balanced poses. The joints can't be quite tightened enough to lock them down and make them immovable. Though i've got other Mgyver ways to do that (taping brass rods under clothing). It's possible they could have been lock-down-able with a much harder wood, like maple, but hardwood ain't workable with hand tools. And they're more than good enough for what we intend to do with them.

On the bright side, they're very fast to make, are super cheap, are endlessly correctable, and weigh nothing. They're so fast to make, they're almost disposable.

In the remote chance anyone reading this wants to make one, here's some technical particulars:

Scale is 1:3 (i.e. a 6' person would be 2' high in this scale).
Wood is mahogany plywood, about 1/4" thick.
Balls are generic wooden balls available at hobby shops. They come with the holes in them. No idea what they're actually for.
Connecting rods are 5/32" brass or aluminum (lower legs are brass). They fit perfectly into said wooden balls.
Connecting rods are glues into wooden balls with 2 part 5 minute epoxy glue.
Hardware:

#6 - 1" metal bolts
#6 metal nuts
#6 washers
#6 Nylon insert lock nuts

Body mass is 1" thick insulating foam.
Foam is glued to itself and wood with 5 minute epoxy putty.

That's about it.