# Spawn Of Articulation....the Shadow Army...



## beelce

There will be 13 warriors in the SHADOW ARMY.....Here is a small group of warriors waiting to be painted and finished....
Yes,...that is THE killer bunny in my yard at about 7am one morning...I had to chase him away with the scythe to save the Spawn

OK haunters.....here is the way way that I did it










First thing is to work out all the measurements and then mark the PVC with all the cuts, flats, and bends. You can see on the drawing all the changes I made as I went along with the prototypes.










I like to use my little miter saw to cut up all the PVC


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## beelce

Every bone is marked with its position on the body...UL = Upper Leg....LL = Lower Leg...N = Neck.....










The best way to bend PVC is HEAT.... And you could torch the outside surface of the PVC and bend it just fine, but the heating is inaccurate and the results just look bad










SO....I baked the PVC from the inside....This a a 1/2" steel rebar from Lowe's ($4) that I heat up with 2 propane torches
When the steel rod is red hot, I slip the PVC over the rod and wait for the whole end to soften up...Keep rotating the PCV around the rod










After a few minutes....(takes about 1.5 minutes) you will see lots of smoke and the PVC will swell up and start to bend under its own weight.
Slid it off the steel rod and lay it on the the log wedges for bending


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## beelce

I used 2 large fans to push and pull the fumes away from me as I worked....once you get one big breath of the toxic fumes that come off of the PVC, you will use a fan also



















These tools are designed to wedge timber when you cut trees with your chainsaw or they can be used to split firewood.
I used them here because I had them handy and they did what I wanted them to do. I'm sure that any number tools you have on hand can give you the same results.



















I use a "dot" to mark the length of the flattened ends. (All are 2" except the "hips" which are 2 1/2")


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## beelce

Clamp down the top wedge, and let the PVC cool into it's final position










I used the weight of this extra clamp to hold the PVC in a straight line as it cooled










Here you can see that I used a "dot" with a circle around it to tell me that I need to flatten AND bend this end....










This piece is marked "N" for neck, and I used a string to hold it place while the PVC hardens (about 1 min)










A quick rounding off of the rough edges at the grinder


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## beelce

Every flattened end gets a 1/4" hole



















Here is the hardware set up for all the joints....
I used...1/4" x 1 1/4" hex head bolt....1/4" flat washer....3/8" split lock washer.....nylon insert hex lock nut....










I didn't have to tighten the joints too much as they really do not have to hold any weight










This was the best way for me to open the blucky chest to place the arms and shoulders onto the spine


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## beelce

I cut away the extra plastic on the skull....
amd I removed the strange and offensive portion of the pelvic bone










This is the stuff that I tossed out


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## beelce

I did add extra spacers to the Blucky to make them taller and look less "Neanderthal-ish"....here is the detail of the extra vertebrae made from 1" x 3" PVC, with a 1 1/4" x 1/2" ring glued together
I also added a 1" x 2" spacer to the neck










I also extended the "hip" joints to add a little length to the legs










The hands and feet and head are screwed into place....all the other Blucky parts are friction fit and slip over the PVC


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## beelce

These little guys can not stand up by themselves very well, so I added a black pole that slips over a small piece of rebar....










I can give them any pose they need...even running above the ground


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## Phil

Bravo! Love the simplicity of the joints and the end result. Thanks for the how to!


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## Joiseygal

Great How to Beelce. It really looks cool how the skeleton looks like he is running.


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## hpropman

Thanks Beelce! Simple and easy to follow. well done.


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## mickkell

that is very cool,are you going to use a strobe to light them up?fog machine and a strobe would be a great effect.great job,lots of possibilities here,thanks.


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## RoxyBlue

Killer rabbit! RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!


These guys are so fun to look at - such expression in a simple framework.

You put a lot of work into these - I'm impressed.


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## Devils Chariot

I used your idea on my current corpse, he has SOA ( spawn of articulation) legs! It's really a great idea! I simplified it at bit and used a heat gun and a vise, so I didn't get that nice offset like Beelce, but it woks in a pinch. Thanks Beelce, I'll have to give you a credit in my halloween video this year!


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## Creep Cringle

Running out to start my own army! Great how to, the photos are perfect and well explained. That you for the great work!


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## Bone Dancer

Excellent job, the photos are great and the how-to easy to follow. Looking forward to seeing your army on the march this year.


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## Spooky1

Thanks for the how too Beelce. The army is looking good!


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## KimilyTheStrange

Beelce - Awesome yet again!!! 
Thanks for sharing and not making it one of those "If I told you I would have to kill you" type How to's.... erm wait...your not sending the army after all of us commentors are you????


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## hpropman

KimilyTheStrange said:


> Beelce - Awesome yet again!!!
> Thanks for sharing and not making it one of those "If I told you I would have to kill you" type How to's.... erm wait...your not sending the army after all of us commentors are you????


They can't kill me. I am already dead - remember you killed me during the $20 prop challenge - saves me a lot of money on food though.


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## fritz42_male

Devils Chariot said:


> I used your idea on my current corpse, he has SOA legs!


What are SOA legs? (pardon my ignorance)


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## hpropman

spawn of articulation - I did not get it at first either


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## fritz42_male

Lol. Sorry. Braindead!


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## Lilly

great How to B..
cant wait to see the army in action


roxy you are so monty...LOL


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## Creep Cringle

My army has grown to a massive number of 4!!! These things do take a little time. Thank you so much B!!! I'm using them to pose some of my other characters. This should save me a ton of time later. Thank you so much!!!


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## Dark Angel 27

nice army! kind of reminds me of the cursed pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean


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## KStone

Good job with the "army" Beelce. Looks good!


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## mickkell

Nice work everyone.


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## creatrope

beautifully done, but appears quite labor intensive!


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## bobzilla

That's pretty awesome beelce !!!


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## Haunted Bayou

That is a lot of work but it looks like a really simple design that works great.

Can't wait to see the entire army in action.


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## beelce

Thanks Bob and HB... Yes the finished army THE SHADOW TRIBE, worked out very nicely. They were easy to set-up and pose...I got to get my pics posted!!!


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## beelce

Hey haunters...
Here is 3 more pics of the SHADOW TRIBE just before the went out to the woods to battle.

If you want to see more, I have posted a new thread in the showroom...

http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?p=561169#post561169


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## Jooky

Those look great. I just made a couple of them this weekend. Two things I did different than your version.

1. I used a heat gun to heat up the pvc pipe. It only took about 30 seconds on high to get it warm enough to form. No smoke, no fumes, and you can tell its hot enough because the pvc gets a "waxy" look to it.

2. I did not use nylon insert nuts. I couldn't find any in bulk packaging so I used regular nuts. Do you think this will make a difference in keeping their poses? Maybe I should go back and put some teflon tape on all the threads.

Thanks for figuring out and posting such a great low-cost tutorial. I figure each frame runs about 5-7 bucks not counting the Blucky.


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## beelce

Jooky....
Not sure if it will make much of a difference. The nylon just acts as a nut lock to help keep the nut tight. I'm sure you will find out it it matters for your set-up. You could also use a lock washer.


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## smileyface4u23

Hadn't seen this how-to before. It is fabulous. Love the detail and the pictures for every step. I feel like I need to build an army of my own.


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## Jooky

Just to update everyone. While regular nuts work, they do NOT stay tight. I would suggest finding the nylon insert nuts. I am going to get some locktite and dab a bit on all my bolts for now. That should take care of the problem.


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## beelce

Jooky, I highly recommend that you go with the nylon lock nuts. They are so much more flexible (design wise) than a locktite-ed nut. You can tighten them just enough to pose and re-pose your bluckies over and over. Then you can tighten the nut all the down when your ready to set the pose.


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## craigfly06

what type of PVC did you use? All around here I see is the sched 40, which is a thicker walled pipe. Would this work on that type? I havent tryed I was woundering about using a heat gun to flaten it out.


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## Lord Homicide

Don't forget this tip also... you can use the PVC shavings also if you have enough of it - for what I don't know yet but I've got a small brown sack full of them.


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## beelce

Hey Craig..... I always use sched 40 for my projects...it's more sturdy and should have a longer life span.


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## bjpc2716

very nice could i have a list of pvc pipe cutting list with measurements please


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