# 2012 newbie first props (grounds keeper, cauldron creep, FCG)



## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

First off I must say great site, there are alot of talented people and great ideas. Hopefully I can add to the content. I will start off with the third prop I have made and my first props ever for halloween.

My grounds keeper (suit, pvc, chicken wire, plastic drop cloth, bucky skull, )





































I still need to dirty up the clothes with dirt and such and i am thinking maybe add some hot glue webbing to lantern and hat.


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## Dr. Maniaco (Sep 7, 2012)

Nice corpsing job!


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## gypsichic (Jun 6, 2006)

great job!


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## Anda (Jun 20, 2012)

Great job! I love the opened pant leg. The corpsing is really good. :smilekin:


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## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

Dr. Maniaco said:


> Nice corpsing job!


Thanks for the compliment, I think it turned out alright for the first attempt at corpsing. the finish is what seems to make it or break it really. I followed the youtube how to from still beast studios on plastic corpsing so I cant really take all the credit.

My first prop for this year was the cauldron creep. Only real difference from the others I had seen was I used two wiper motors instead of a vent motor. I am running the whole cauldron creep from an old tower computer power supply. I am running the eyes and leds in the cauldron from a 3.3v from the power supply. I am also running the head motor on the slow circuit from another 3.3v output from the power supply. The stirring motor is running 5 v on the slow from the supply.
Nothing really innovative here but here ya go.



























I also wanted to use wiper motor for the torque as i am using a bucky skull.

As far as fog goes I have a chauvet 1300 machine going through a "reverse" vortex trash can chiller that goes to a manifold and I have piped the cauldron into the manifold.


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## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

My second prop was the FCG, The only real difference here is I also used a wiper motor and did the "center mount" of the motor instead of motor behind the head if that makes since. One issue I noticed with the wiper motor is people having issues with the speed but again i had another tower computer supply and like the cauldron creep head motion i used the 3.3v source which gives you right at 7 to 8 rpm. I first made it and noticed the "body" seemed a little bit to flat. i had remembered the "plastic body" technique I had seen on still beasts you tube channel and convinced my wife to let me make a clear saranwrap and packaging tape "mold" of her chest area (neck to below sternum). I then attached this to the fcg and drapped the cloth over it.


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## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

fantastic job on those!!


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## Cat_Bones (Jun 1, 2012)

Awesome job!!


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Nice work indeed!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Beautiful work on the groundskeeper and cauldron creep. Clearly your wife is a keeper if she lets you build things in the kitchen and make molds out of her torso

BTW, the YouTube video will need to be made public for us to view it. It's currently marked as private.


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Great looking props! Nice work.
If I built things in the kitchen I would be speaking soprano due to my wifes reaction!


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## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

okay lets try this

sorry its side ways

http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf

-

and the cauldron creep during the day as I was testing out the manifold fog system but it was windy, but it was more proof of concept.

http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf


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## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/mjohns66/photobucket-9779-1349277662859.mp4

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/mjohns66/photobucket-8356-1349277552814.mp4


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## tallahassee (Oct 19, 2010)

It looks so awesome...and creepy!! I love it!!


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## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

These are your first props? Wow, you've done a beautiful job.


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## jmarkc (May 31, 2011)

Well done!


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## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

Spooky1 said:


> These are your first props? Wow, you've done a beautiful job.


Yes these are my first three props I started about a month ago on them. I guess you could say my first "prop" was the "reverse" vortex trash can size chiller but that is going to be hidden in garage and have a manifold and piping system to the yard. My first visible prop was the cauldron creep which I started at the beginning of sep. then moved onto the FCG. I finished that about a week and a half ago and finished the grounds keeper monday night. I should have started earlier since I still have headstones to make and finish my foam pumpkins as they are going to have the 4" pipes from the fog manifold piped into the back of them so the fog will come out of them.

I also got two black crows I found at michael's and did some surgery with battery packs and red leds for eyes. So I am going to put them around the yard as well.


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## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

As I have said before this site was an invaluable resource in information. That and youtube has also been great as I have seen people from this site post their how to's on there. i got inspiration from skaustins channel and alot from stillbeast studios channel. so you could say I did my homework some what before hopping in. This is also one reason I went with what you could call the tried and true props (cauldron creep, and the FCG) for this year. The grounds keeper was a corpse except only bones i had was the skull two hands and two forearms so i "corpsed" chicken wire and pvc but it is the same concept. Hopefully next year I will have something a bit more original.


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## Dr. Maniaco (Sep 7, 2012)

Sweeeet job. I only know enough about electronics and motors to put myself in a hospital. 

I, too, follow Stiltbeast Studios. Allen not only knows how to create these great props, he knows how to create the fast, inexpensive, yet good quality props. I've learned a lot from his videos.


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## theundeadofnight (Aug 14, 2011)

Hi mystang ,

Nice work on the FCG and Cauldron Creep . I bet you get lots of compliments coming your way this Halloween .


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Mystang, your corpsed fellow looks outstanding! Very nice job! And I love your Cauldron Creep, which bones did you use? They look bigger than mine and I just wondered. I used a Walgreen's skelly and tore him apart. Your bones look bigger and beefier than mine. But great job on both. I would love to see your FCG........
Please......................


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## graveyardmaster (May 14, 2012)

fantastic job there...well done!


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## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

Pumpkin5 said:


> :jol:Mystang, your corpsed fellow looks outstanding! Very nice job! And I love your Cauldron Creep, which bones did you use? They look bigger than mine and I just wondered. I used a Walgreen's skelly and tore him apart. Your bones look bigger and beefier than mine. But great job on both. I would love to see your FCG........
> Please......................


You can see the FCG via the links on the previous page but i would assume you are talking about the "model" that was used....

As far as the bones they are true "bucky" resin bones not a plastic skeleton. They are from anotomical chart company as forth quality or something like that on amazon bag of bones stuff. You dont get a full skeleton but you always get a skull and alot of other stuff . The shins are actually upper arm bones with a rib screwed to the back of it to give it correct appearance. The thigh bones are actually both left thigh and the fore arms are a eib bone screwed to another bone.


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## VooDoo Von Shrunkenhead (Apr 16, 2009)

Great job!


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## Sawtooth Jack (Apr 9, 2011)

Nice work!


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

love them both ..groundskeeper is my fav!


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## silentskream (Sep 20, 2012)

what did you use for the ribs on the groundskeeper?
you say you only used a bucky skull - but it looks like bones are there in the ribcage - is that just an illusion?

very nice work! I'd love to see the FCG - but the video link is private.. please make it public so we can view it!


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## Monk (Aug 26, 2008)

nice work, I would also like to see the FCG.


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## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

silentskream said:


> what did you use for the ribs on the groundskeeper?
> you say you only used a bucky skull - but it looks like bones are there in the ribcage - is that just an illusion?
> 
> very nice work! I'd love to see the FCG - but the video link is private.. please make it public so we can view it!


Okay link is now public, as for the ribs you are right i forgot to mention those. They were loose ribs in the bag of bones i had. Since the body is chicken wire in structure i ziptied the ends of them to the chicken wire and corpsed them


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## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

It is hard to embed you tube from your phone but lets try again.

Cauldron creep day






Side ways fcg...


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## MrGrimm (May 19, 2009)

Wow! That's one hell of a years output! Great job!

Really love the corpsed ground keeper


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## cerinad (Jun 23, 2008)

They are all great!


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## silentskream (Sep 20, 2012)

mystang said:


> Okay link is now public, as for the ribs you are right i forgot to mention those. They were loose ribs in the bag of bones i had. Since the body is chicken wire in structure i ziptied the ends of them to the chicken wire and corpsed them


Very smart! A great way to get the look without buying a whole body.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Wow Mystang, I am so glad I came back to see your videos. All of your props are first rate! How long have you been haunting? This looks like seasoned haunter's props, not a newbie. You are very talented! I love them all!


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

Well, for a newbie I'm really impressed. You went all out. Lookin' great.


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## smileyface4u23 (Apr 1, 2008)

The corpsing is fantastic!!! The movement on your FCG is great! You did a fabulous job on everything!


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## mystang (Aug 23, 2012)

Thanks for the comments on everything, but what good would a grounds keeper be with out a grave yard...





































As before i used inspiration and tips and tricks from this site to make this happen. I must say out of all the projects so far this was the biggest pain to date. That and i had to make a hot wire cutter from scratch so that did not help


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