Ravencrest Cemetery

My first attempt at a rough "how-to" on building a prop. This was the first prop I built that I designed to be somewhat bulletproof, to keep it from failing on Hallwoeen night. This is, in no way, the only method that could be used to build a similar prop, but it is the method I came up with to guarantee myself a higher possibioity of success in something I had not seen done before.

To start, I built the armature for the character. I used angle aluminum, aluminum tubing and 1/4" bolts. Below are the shoulders arms and wrists. The aluminum tubing was hammered flat on the ends and then drilled to make joints that I could "pose" in different starting positions or to move at different angles.

To achieve arm movement I experimented with using cabling that is used for braking and gear shifting on bicycles. These lines were run up the arms and to the center of the "body" to very small pneumatic cylinders. This idea is still being refined, as I was not pleased with the overall range of arm movement. The cables would basically pull tight, like muscles, when the cylinders were actuated and then "relax". Angles and leverage are working against us! Springs may be the answer, but we have yet to see...

I used pool noddles to fill out the arms, legs and shoulders. I used aluminum because I wanted this to be fairly lightweight. Since the pneumatic cylinder driving the rising action would need to be placed at a difficult angle to make the effect work I didn't want it to have to work too hard.

That piece sticking out the top was cut down and a foam wig head put on it. I got a Grey Nosferatu mask from Death Studios as well as some matching Monster Hands which ended up being more like Giant Monster Hands...more on that later...

Next came a sleek long black jacket from Ebay for $25 (actually a ladies jacket! But don't tell Nosfe...he'll get a complex.) and some thrift store black pants and we had this:

On to the frame! ->