# Zombie Mind Control



## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

This prop is one of several brain jars I am building. I wanted it to have a bit of a steampunk look to it.










In one of the other thread's I mentioned that I have built several props that use internal servos to drive animatronic movement. (see Mourning Wood Stew thread) The oversized eye on the front panel is driven by a couple Hitec servos. The controller is stored inside the case.

On the side of the case, the brass grill secures a speaker (4" if I recall correctly). Lifting the water meter lid, reveals the servo mechanisms for those interested enough to want a look. I figure this type of prop can be educational and inspiring as well.










All of the lights on the front are led backlit, driven by a 9v battery. Thanks to Spideranne for the clear leds I used. They were so bright I had to mount paper between the light and the lens to keep from blinding the person looking at the prop.

So...why call it a Zombie Mind Control? I built three standing shiatsu zombies that have been wandering around my garage for the past month. I had so much fun building them, I figured, if a Chinese guy can put thousands of terra cotta warriors in his basement....why can't I have a few thousand zombies haunting my garage in the after life? 2,997 more to go...whew.

Each zombie has amplified sound (see woot thread) that will turn on when power is applied. (Credit to Joker for bringing Zombie technology to the DFW/Okie MnT.) So I thought...Zombies eat brains....why not use one for bait? The first switch on the panel controls the front lights. The next two switches control wall outlets built into the back of the prop. Basically making this just a thoughtful power strip I guess. Turn on the power and the zombies on the left start thrashing about...."Eat Brains....arggh." Next switch....and you get zombie chorus in stereo.

Here's how the zombies are made....









2x4 sections for legs. A 9" box in the middle to fit a shiatsu w/the handles sawed off. Wood planks used to make feet. The rest is simply pvc, pool noodles, and one of your Dad's old torn up suits.

The brain jar itself is lined with blue lights that flash around the top of the rim. You cannot see those lights in any of these photos. The red lights are wired c7 lights with a bimetal switch so they randomly pulse like a Frankenstein lab. I should add...this prop is made to match a prop I did last year that I call The Petrified Man (my favorite prop).

I created this thread so I could continue a discussion I started in another thread. What is a good light solution to light up the brain jar without the bulbs generating a lot of heat? (You should have seen the look on the lady's face today as I purchased about two dozen bottles of hand sanitizer to put in this jar.)










I'd also like to find an old clock or something that has a brass ring I steal to seal off the rim of the brain jar containment area. I might have to settle for gold colored door stripping.

For those curious...the brain is not from a store. You're going to have to ask a buddy for a spare brain, make yourself a mold and....well....figure it out. Luckily some of us have friends that work with cadavers. Muu-hu-ha-ha-ha.

(see Fritz42_male's $10 servo controller for more picaxe info.)


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Thats a nice looking prop. Great for the mad scientist lab!


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## Toktorill (Sep 15, 2007)

Wow, that's a beautiful piece of work!!!


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

Very nice ... did you make the brains?


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## ghost37 (Jul 30, 2008)

WOW! Great job, Love it!


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

Nice prop DL.

Where's the vid of the Zombie Horde?


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## DeathTouch (Sep 6, 2005)

That is too cool. And the name sounds like a rock band.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Wow! That thing's fantastic. I'd love to see your haunt this Halloween. It's going to be wild. By the way, I seem to have lost my mind when I was down in Texas. It's not the one you are using, is it?


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

That is just a beautiful piece, DL, and I would love to see the video when everything is in place.

Hmm, I used to have a co-worker who acted as if he'd left his brains at home. I think I know where they might be now...


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

I am sooooooo jealous!

Where the heck did you get those fantastic lights and the meters?

When I was back in the UK recently, I sold off some old sailing kit including some bras portholes with screw down covers - they would have done very nicely to keep the brain in the jar so the zombies couldn't get at it!

Maybe you could find something similar in a chandlery?

http://www.huronlights.com/new_store/images/BP-702-lg.jpg

Or even mock one up in carboard and bits and spray with brass effect spray?


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

fritz42_male said:


> I am sooooooo jealous!
> 
> Where the heck did you get those fantastic lights and the meters?
> 
> ...


I bought the lens (lights are just hand wired leds underneath) on ebay. I think they were from some kind of guitar or amp. They weren't cheap...colored glass. But the packages with the switches and lens were stolen from my mailbox. Kudos to the gov, who tracked down the thief, put her in jail, and recovered my parts.

I have various designs for brain jars. One of my first versions uses a brass porthole to secure the top...with four brass rods down the side, locking the jar to a base. The problem I had...I have a very large antique glass bottle that I bought. But I don't know how to properly cut it in half top put something inside.

This is 1 of 4 mad laboratory props. It's about 21 inches wide and about 10 inches deep. Next year I should have enough for the scene.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Wow, I don't see how you are getting all of that done...oh wait a minute...you are hyperactive...LOL!


Great props....We need a gallery of your work. hint:devil:


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

I agree re the gallery - very nice work!


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Very cool. You have nailed the detail. Can't wait to see the zombie's in action.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

lol...I don't plan on putting a gallery or album together. But I'll try to post something showing the props that go with this one.


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

OH EM GEE. That is some fantastic work!

For a low-heat light, you could use a LED. I was at Radio Shack shopping for LED's and found several different colors in several different Illums. I bought a medium bright one that takes 2 AA batteries to power. In fact, I soldered another smaller LED to the first one and they both worked off the 2 AA's.

I have 2 of those sound boxes but haven't tried them out. Couple questions: how loud are they, and how is external power applied?


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## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

DL you know the dollar store has little skulls and tombstones that light up. nIf you can find one. You can take the bottom out it has 1 red and 1 yellow led. they flash. and if you bend them over the would hide in the lid. For a buck, I don't think you can beat them. Batteries included.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Thanks for the suggestions. 

The lighting tends to reflect back from the jar. I was hoping to light it in some way that makes the jar glow but doesn't make the lighting method evident. I might try to acquire a piece of green acrylic (est 4" wide and about 15" long), warm it up and bend it around the base of jar. Then light it with leds.

The woot sound boxes aren't the highest quality manufacturing...but they are definitely loud enough for a prop. Much better than the cheapo speakers from BL. They fit perfectly inside my zombies. They are battery powered with AAs inside. I could wire power to them but there's no point. I only need them for one night and I'd rather not have more electrical cords.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

I don't know if anyone is interested...but I'll post these anyway. When I create a prop like this, I sketch out the panels to make sure I'm working in appropriate size. The images could be printed as a panel for static versions of a brain jar prop.










Higher resolution image (wood background)

Higher resolution image (black background)


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## Jaybo (Mar 2, 2009)

DL, when do you find time to sleep? Every time I turn around you've got 4 more props built!

Kudos on this splendid piece of work!


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

Holy...wow....craftsmanship.....my brain. Now in jar. You good is worker are you....Grrrrrrr....snif snif. 

Me think one word.

AWESOME!


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

The box puts me in mind of the novel 98.4 by Christopher Hodder-Williams. People were having their brains, ears, eyes and mouth removed and put into thigs like subs, ballistic missiles etc. The missiles were called ncbms nerve controlled ballistic missiles.

A VERY freaky scenario and an excellent story from a very under-rated author.

This box looks so much like one of the things described in the book it's excellent!


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

I love this prop. I love steampunk horror sci-fi stuff. You rocketh. 

Hey, as far as lighting the jar... if you want to fill it with fluid, use UV-reactive fluid and light it from below with UV LEDs. The LEDs give off very little light; the grand majority of the light will be the reactive glow from the liquid. You can get florescent marker dye in various colors that puts out an insane amount of glow, or go the cheap route and make glow water from a highlighter pen.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

I tested the UV solution. I've got a 2 liter bottle of tonic water, a black light, and two UV spots. I tested the tonic water against the UVs and wasn't impressed. I thought surely the quinine would glow better than it did. I wondered about using laundry detergent but I didn't try it. Is there any chance that tonic water is a lousy brand and doesn't have a normal amount of quinine in it? I really expected that to be a great effect.

No offense intended to those who use flourescent marker juice...but it reminds me too much of black light posters and Spencers. A bit too artificial to match the rest of the style.


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

I would add RIT whitener. All the glow with none of the suds. Unless you WANT suds, that might be an interesting effect. You can add a little at a time until you get the right amount of glow easily.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Dr Morbius said:


> I would add RIT whitener. All the glow with none of the suds. Unless you WANT suds, that might be an interesting effect. You can add a little at a time until you get the right amount of glow easily.


I don't think I read your post before. Luckily I have time to try this. Hmm...suds....that's a curious thought. I never thought to add something to the tonic water. A few suds might be useful.


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

I am sure you have thought of this but, cut a hole in the bottom of the wood under the jar and through the table supporting it. A light mounted under the table will add little heat and hide the light source. you may change the white cotton on the bottom to glass beads or easter grass or similar to make it glow. Look for the sheets of icicles at local store. Christmas stuff can be used by us too. I wonder what the holographic icicles would look like with enough light?


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

The brain is mounted to a large bolt at the bottom. There is a hole there for the bolt to sit in. The jar is heavy so I wanted the bottom of the prop to be very solid.

The cotton was in there as a way to keep the brain for wiggling during transport. I took it out. I considered fogging or frosting the bottom of the jar to refract some of the light. I won't decide the final method until Halloween afternoon.


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## alteridiom (Oct 23, 2009)

One of the more original props I have seen and it is incredible. Nice work.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

I really appreciate the comments. Thank you.

On Halloween night, the Zombie Mind Control seemed to be a favorite. I decided to stick with just plain tonic water in the jar. A side effect I could have predicted but didn't think about.....the brain is magnified by the liquid. You can see this in the photo below. (By the time setup came around, I was too tired to pick up RIT. I'll have to try that next year. And I'll probably add a few UV leds around the base of the jar.)










After a few hours of standing among the zombies...and a few extra beers past ToT time...it was hard not to imitate the zombie dance...

http://www.mourningwood.com/MourningWood2009/MOV05480.MPG

If you watch closely, you can see the eye move on the prop.


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

A couple more zombies were placed in the driveway. (We were running out of yard space beside the house.)










As the kids would wander the haunt, the adults would use the zombies in the driveway as a photo op.










The dancing zombies offered a lot of bang for the buck. Easy to build, very reliable, and they got alot of attention. I didn't even bother hooking up their sound.

Sorry about the angle of this video....

MOV05486.MPG


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Very impressive. Neck massager powered?


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## DarkLore (Jan 25, 2009)

Yes. At the beginning of the thread I show a simple illustration of how they are constructed.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Oops. Missed that!

I'm going to rebuild a grave grabber to this format.


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## madmomma (Jul 1, 2009)

Great props. Will have to consider some of them for this year!


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## Joiseygal (Sep 3, 2008)

I remember seeing this thread a few months back and I can't believe I didn't comment on it. I love this! I want to do a Zombie/Clown theme this year for Halloween and I love how your zombies move and look. Great Job and you have giving me some great ideas!


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## Volscalkur (Feb 15, 2010)

Wow! That is a really excellent prop, the whole idea is really cool and you did a super job executing it! :smileton:
A fish tank bubbler that comes on in the brain jar while the zombie is thrashing would be cool!


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