Halloween 2008
In 2008 we entered into a Halloween yard display challenge with our friends Dan & Becky.
While we did actually win the yard contest, it should be duly noted that
Dan & Becky absolutely blew us out of the water with their incredible inside haunt, which unfortunately didn't count in the contest.
Giant Spider
In order to "step up" to the yard display challenge, we built a
giant spider animatronic out of plywood,
chicken wire, monster mud, and PVC. It was
animated using a windshield wiper motor. The spider required a tremendous amount of work and unfortunately the meachnics broke down often.
Sadly, the spider no longer exists as it was dismantled and destroyed after Halloween.
[ See construction photos here ]
Graveyard Digger & Scary Guy
We also built 2 free-standing full-size static creatures:
The Grave Digger and "Scary Guy". These were built using 3/4" OSB platform bases with 2x4 lumber and chicken wire. Scary Guy was
repurposed as a clown in 2009.
We did a complete rebuild on the FCG (Flying Crank Ghost) since the wiper motor had finally died. We built a new aluminum rig which is the standard FCG rig that
you see plans for all over the Internet. We also got rid of the crappy PVC frame that we used to hold up the old rig and built a new wooden post frame to
hang the new rig from. This is about 100 times more stable and uses a lot less room than the old PVC frame.
This is also the year that we first started using several colored LED spotlight bulbs that we ordered from MinionsWeb to help light our display.
In addition to this, we also added realistic thunder & lightning
effects using white flood lights, a CD player, and an electronic color organ kit that we assembled for under $10. The results are amazing!
Another new thing we built for 2008 was a lighted "Haunted Drury" sign. The lettering was hand-carved from a 1/2" pine board using a Dremel and
was backlit using a strand of orange LED Halloween lights.