Original 1929 Oscar cast to make statuettes awarded in 2016

LOS ANGELES -- The statuettes for the upcoming Academy Awards are based on an original Oscar from 1929.

The film academy announced Tuesday that a New York foundry is restoring features of the original design to the Oscar statuettes for 2016 using digital scans and 3-D printers.

It took Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry three months to make the 50 statuettes needed for the Feb. 28 ceremony using the high-tech process. Oscar was previously made in a more traditional way by Chicago's R.S. Owens & Company, the academy's foundry for the past 34 years.

Oscar is still plated in 24-karat gold. Oscar's dimensions remain the same: He's 13 -inches tall and weighs 8 pounds. And he's still just as hard to get.