# New to Forum, New to Haunting and Seeking Suggestions for Toxic Waste / CHUD Theme



## SleazyG (Dec 21, 2012)

Earlier this year, my sister moved into a neighborhood she and I both assumed would inundate her with trick-or-treaters this Halloween. Her house is on the periphery of the development and, unfortunately, a group of her neighbors a couple of blocks inward garnered all the trick-or-treaters with some very ambitious and well executed yard decorations. All Halloween night, cars sped past her house and into the heart of the neighborhood, dropping off children at the houses elaborately decorated as scenes from "Pirates of the Caribbean." Few children even reached the houses on the edges of the neighborhood. While I admire her neighbors' efforts, I am also angry that I've been out-Halloween'd for the first time in my life. Needless to say, I need to step up my game for next year. However, I don't intend to encroach on their territory...they can retain their dominance as the best "family-friendly" decorated houses. I'm aiming to terrify since older children and teens are the only group likely to make the trek to the house.

My first idea to attract attention was to place rotating beacon lights at eye-level near the sidewalks. Eventually, this led to an idea of creating a hazardous material spill/toxic waste dump motif for the yard...and then it dawned on me: create a C.H.U.D. house! That movie destroyed my childhood, so what better theme for traumatizing Halloween decorations?

With the quality of masks and pricing from Trick-or-Treat Studios being excellent, I'm working with their "Sewer Monster" and "Meltdown" masks (pictures below). So far, I've figured out how to excise the latex eyeballs from the CHUD masks and replace them with 120v sockets outfitted with yellow S11 indicator bulbs to perfectly replicate the glowing, amber eyes seen in the 1984 film. Right now, I'm working on a CHUD that sits on a crate until activated by a trick-or-treater, at which point it will stand up and reach outward. I'm doing this by reverse engineering a metal bicycle pump for use as a pneumatic cylinder (since it's not PVC, this is OK, isn't it?).

I'm planning on building a set of kicking legs and a "grave grabber" to replicate a man whose abdomen is dissolving into toxic waste, i.e. his thrashing legs will protrude from the waste pile and his arms will attempt to pull his torso out of the fluorescent green waste as well. This will use two 18rpm gear-motors and the "Meltdown" mask.

Near the melting torso gag, I'd like to put a pop-up scare with a second "Meltdown" mask rising from inside a toxic waste barrel (again with a bicycle pump air cylinder).

I have two more "Sewer Monster" mask to use, but I don't know what to do with them?

My questions are:

1) In addition to the CHUD that stands up and reaches out, what would you like to see an additional two animated CHUDs do?

I was thinking the other two CHUDs could fight over severed body parts, but this is already scary for my sister's two young children, so I should at least avoid gore. I'm thinking one of the monsters can be messing around with the green toxic waste, i.e. the scene in the film where the Daniel Stern character stumbles upon the monsters' lair and they're all reveling in the toxic waste as if it's a therapeutic mud bath. I have an additional 4rpm motor I can use or I could always rig another bicycle pump and solenoid. I was also considering having a CHUD pop up from the sewer with a manhole cover lifted above its head (recreating the image from the original poster). However, no one would have sewer access in their front yard and I don't want to build any facades, cityscapes and/or sewer sets. It's OK if it looks like some toxic waste was accidentally dumped in a suburban front-yard, but I cannot attempt to recreate the film's sewers or Manhattan locations.

2) I need a crate to hide the mechanics of the sitting CHUD, but no one would store toxic waste in a crate. Does this even matter? It would be cool to have green light show through the cracks of the crates.

3) I need multiple barrels for scenery, but cannot store them throughout the year. Has anyone tried bending Masonite/hardboard to create a barrel? I'm hoping that works so the barrels could later be unfurled and stored flat the rest of the year.

4) My sisters' front yard is sunken below street level on a corner entrance into the neighborhood. I don't think anyone will even see the CHUDs from the street. I'll need to attract attention as drivers bypass her house and drop off their kids deeper in the neighborhood. I think yellow police beacons mounted at eye-level are a good start, but what else would catch your eye and make you say "Let's not forget to check out that house on our way home"?

5) How much black light am I going to need to make piles of spray foam painted green fluoresce in the dark?

6) What is the preferred, budget-friendly way to activate these gags?

I appreciate any input and look forward to new ideas.


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## the bloody chef (Dec 14, 2012)

First of all...Welcome! Sounds like you have an ambitious time ahead! I am not really familiar with the movie, but I have an idea that would work for barrels that is cheap, easy to make and easy to store...I have a 'pop-up' laundry hamper that I got at bed bath and beyond...around 15 bucks...pretty close to about 40 gallons or so and looks like a barrel!...it has one stiff coil covered in fabric and comes with or without wheels..w/o is much cheaper....a simple paint job and Voila! A toxic barrel! It would be easy to make it sturdier with firring strips or PVC if you wanted to put something heavy in it. To store, simply collapse and put back in the handy carry case that comes with it!
Also- a little about the glow in the dark spray paint...do it at night...and be careful not to use too much...you can make it look cheesy in a hurry, but if you don't use to much you get the effect you want...doing it at night with the lights will give you a better view of what it will look like than doing it during the daylight.
Good luck!!!! :zombie::xbones::zombie:


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## craigfly06 (May 11, 2012)

Sounds like a great set up. I have never used GID paint, but I have heard it looks "toxic" if you add blacklight. That might be a thought. I like the way the set up sounds I just wanted to say that.


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

I've done a toxic waste/zombie/laboratory theme for several years, check out the video's in my signature to see. To answer your questions:

1 - Moving CHUD's are great, add some sound or background ambience noise to match your scene. I've purchased sevreal tracks from poisonprops.com that work great.

2 - That works perfectly. Maybe adorn the outside of the crate with a large toxic waste logo, OSHA style. Use spray foam painted green oozing out of the lower cracks.

3 - Rounded cardboard works good to make barrels also, just requires some painting. Cardboard is suseptible to weather to be cautious. Barrels with removeable tops can be used as storage for all your other Halloween props and items.

Other mechanical means can be done using deer motors, and various other low RPM (60 RPM and below) motors from various sites.

4 - Green lighting and strobe lights! Illuminate your house, roof, and surrounding trees and bushes with green CFL flood lights in silver clamp light-holders. Make the entrance of the haunt lighted and obvious.

Signs are great also, especially day-glo green and orange. Put signs on nearby major intersections, simple, short, with just the location, hours, and "Haunted House". Everything needs to be able to be understood within the time it takes to stop at a stop sign, then go.

5 - Don't use the blacklight bulbs, they put out little light and get VERY hot. Instead, get a few flourescent tube lights. You can get some at pet supply shops, or home imporvement stores. 1 large flourescent tube will glow everything with 15 feet. Smaller "fish tank" tubes will work out to about 5 feet.

6 - The cheapest way to activate a moving prop is to have string connected to it and you (or a handler) stand behind the curtain like the Wizard of Oz, pulling the various strings. Next is a *shiatsu massager *- there are many threads here and online about how to make props using this contraption. Find them at thrift stores or garage sales. Activating a shiatsu can be manual (someone turns the power on/off) or automatic through a variety of sensors. Cheapest one I use is a IR driveway security light with 2 sockets (~$20). Then plug in an outlet adapter  and plug in the shiatsu. Place the sensor on the ground facing your traffic. When someone walks past, it will turn on the shiatsu and activate your prop motion.

You can also use a remote power switch to manually turn it on/off from a distance - but then you have to be watching it.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Putting strobe lights at eye-level (driver's eye level) is a recipe for disaster and a fine or lawsuit. All it till take is some driver saying he/she was blinded or distracted by your light and the police (and lawyers) will be there in a hurry. If you can shield the lights so that they can't actually get projected into the driver's eyes, maybe only flash/shine on your house, you can get the effect without the lawsuit(s).
Drums are great if you can find them, but don't be afraid to look at other containers too. Trash cans (round ones) can help with the effect. You only need a few in front to look totally realistic, ones line up behind only have the tops viewed. You might also look at those collapsable barrels made for doing garden work, they have an internal springy frame, much like those collapsable sun shades for your car.
The spray foam is an easy way to get the "foaming ooze" look. Make sure your paint doesn't dissolve it BEFORE you go to paint your props with it.
The frequency for blacklights doesn't carry very far, and the bulbs tend to be fragile and expensive. You might consider using many, smaller green LED spotlights to illuminate your props rather than trying to do it all with one big light.
A trick we've used to make long lasting glowing "Fog" on the top of a barrel or cauldron was to use "angel hair" (spun glass) fluffed out to look like fog with colored lights below it. You can use twinkle lights or those color changing pool lights to get a morphing fog look. The changing colors and positions of the lights tend to make the fog look like it's moving.

I'm not sure how a toxic spill actually relates to Halloween, but if it works for you...


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## EverydayisHalloween311 (Oct 14, 2011)

Welcome to the forum! Sounds like a good idea. Lots of folks here to offer advice e


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## SleazyG (Dec 21, 2012)

Thanks for all the input and ideas. I'll definitely check out laundry hampers for barrels and glow-in-the-dark paint for fluorescence. I never thought about painting in the dark with black lights to avoid overdoing the fluorescent effects. Good idea. I might be able to hide some black light tube fixtures in fake crates, but it sounds like I'll need at least two or three fixtures to properly light the area that needs to glow. I remember the heat the incandescent black lights would generate and I never once saw them make anything glow. I wonder if anyone even sells them anymore?



fontgeek said:


> Putting strobe lights at eye-level (driver's eye level) is a recipe for disaster and a fine or lawsuit. All it'll take is some driver saying he/she was blinded or distracted by your light and the police (and lawyers) will be there in a hurry.


Wow, I never thought of that. Thanks for the warning. I should probably mount them really high, like eight or nine feet above ground, if I use them at all. They're not really strobes, just a cylinder of LEDs that light up in circular succession simulating a rotating light, but you're right about someone using them as an excuse for litigation. Maybe I should just use a regular 'ol light bulb in an industrial looking fixture?

Both the house and the yard is sunken beneath street level, so my biggest hurdle is to create awareness from the street.



fontgeek said:


> I'm not sure how a toxic spill actually relates to Halloween, but if it works for you...


You're right, it actually doesn't have anything to do with Halloween, but it's no more unrelated than alien abductions or clowns. I guess it has become a popular theme because black light effects are fun and the toxic waste angle gives a lot of flexibility regarding the monsters/characters you use (humanoids, giant bugs, melting victims, etc.)

I'd really like to do a display based upon the original 1978 film, "Halloween," with likenesses of the actors and an authentic 1970's vibe to it, but sadly, kids would probably complain at the lack of gore or that it didn't look like "the new one." Not to mention, probably everyone is sick of Michael Myers.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

You can do the strobe effect, you just need to make sure that the light is blocked from shining into drivers eyes. So, if it's flashing on the house or facade, it should draw the attention of passers by, but maybe have an opaque or translucent shield wrapped around the side(s) that would face traffic. Make up some official looking signs to post on the surrounding fence, and maybe see if you can scrounge something that looks like Hazmat suits, even if they are ruined. Having zombies, or collapsed skellies or manikins in damaged suits gives you some props or monsters.


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

I don't have any suggestions for you but want to say I look forward to seeing you pull this off. The toxic spill theme fits right in with scary and therefore Halloween!!


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

To jump on fontgeeks back, a cheap HAZMAT suit can be the paper painter coveralls from your local hardware store. Something like this, or the white ones. I add things to mine, like name plates on the front, logo's on the back. You could also use colored duct tape to attach small boxes, panels, and hoses to make it look more robotic.

With your two animated CHUDS, you could have an actor dressed as the third one that jumps up and gives a scare that the ToT's won't expect after seeing 2 previous "fake" ones.

Regarding the bicycle pump, they are designed to push air in one direction. If you reverse the flow to make the handle rise and raise your prop, you are running the risk of too much air pressure that will make the pump parts come apart or explode. At best your prop broke, but at worse you have injured someone. When working with pneumatics, please treat it just like electronics, *no shortcuts*. It's better to spend the extra money to have a reliable and safe system that can handle the pressure of an air compressor.

Since Santa bought me an air compressor this year, I'll be getting some pneumatic parts and building me some pop-ups for this year.


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## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

Looks like everyone has given you lots of advice, so I'm just going to say, Hi and Welcome!


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## SleazyG (Dec 21, 2012)

I've looked into the pop-up laundry hampers to simulate toxic waste barrels. They didn't look convincing as is and I worry about painting them because paint is ultimately not as flexible as fabric. I fear the paint will flake off when they're collapsed.

I did find some cheap wood paneling at Home Depot that bends easily into the same radius as a 55-gallon drum. The paneling is 1/4" MDF with really fake wood grain printed on it. It should paint easily. The only problem is, I need a top and/or bottom applied to the looped paneling in order to simulate a barrel. I can't jam a circular sheet of plywood into the looped paneling because the loop is not perfectly circular (the cylinder created by the looped paneling is slightly oval). The paneling just splits apart when attempting to use a screwdriver or other implement as a wedge to get the plywood disc in there. The closest I've gotten to solving this problem is using small angle/corner brackets to attach a hardboard disc to the top of the looped paneling to simulate a top/bottom. Unfortunately, the nuts/bolts used to hold the angle brackets tear through the cheap paneling if the cylindrical paneling is stressed. I'm sure fender washers will help, but I'm wondering if anyone has any other suggestions on how to affix tops/bottoms to these fake barrels?

I'm still investigating how to make a lighted sign or beacon to attract attention to the house from the street. I'm thinking about mounting two double-light fixtures 9' or 10' feet off the ground and have the four light bulbs alternatively flash on and off. I would use 25-watt ceramic/opaque red bulbs (the bulbs with that milky coating that obscures the filament like old-school Christmas lights). I'm thinking 25-watt bulbs are dim enough to not blind anyone and the ceramic coating disperses the light so it's not directional. Does this still sound like a nuisance-creating-liability? I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds no more distracting than your average Christmas light display.

Also, I'll need to dress the CHUDs and I want them to look suitably disgusting and dirty. I've never had luck dyeing thrift-shop clothes because they too often have polyester fibers that won't accept dyes. Can I paint the clothes with tempera paint or some other cheap, non-toxic paint?


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Welcome to the forum. Look forward to seeing what you come up with.


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## Warrant2000 (Oct 8, 2008)

If you make the disk slightly smaller than the drum shape, it will easily fit in, then use shims (thin wood wedges) to fill in the crack and make it snug.

To secure the lid, use 2 pieces of scrap on each side of the hinge, and put longer bolts through it all. Those two pieces will act as a "clamp" on more surface area of the MDF, making a stronger hold.

If things are still not working, make a sturdy circular frame, then wrap the MDF around it. Secure the lid to the frame, not the MDF.

Light bulbs are pretty non-hazardous. It's the flashing-strobes-in-your-face that is a problem. The lights don't need to be noticable from very far away, just when they are about 50 yards or so from your place.


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## theundeadofnight (Aug 14, 2011)

Good idea for a yard haunt .The masks look great . Any pics of your progress ?


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