# Haunted Mansion Graveyard



## heresjohnny

Hi everyone, hope you are doing well. I have managed to get started on my theme for next Halloween. There will be a new ghost, my take on a grave popper, and a focus on recreating some elements from Disney's Haunted Mansion as a home for my ghosts. I sneak off to Disney when I can and ride the Mansion early in the morning, and I can usually get several rounds in with no one sitting near me. I think the ghost hosts get amused at the old guy who wants to stay in his doom buggy for multiple rides Riding without others nearby allows me to 'study' things a little closer than usual. One thing I learned is that there 9 tombstones used repeatedly throughout the graveyard, referred to as the nine old men.










I plan on building all 9, starting with the 'murdniwg' stone. Below is the template I created from photos, the final template is 36" tall, and has been mounted on 2" foam. Stolloweens paper mache clay will be used to add the dimension. More details, pictures, and some vidoes I found online that show the graveyard with the lights on can be found on my blog. Much more to come!


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## RoxyBlue

(claps hands at the news that there will be a new HJ ghost)

Looking forward to seeing your progress on this theme!


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## discozombie

I too am leaning toward a Haunted Mansion theme so Ill be following closely


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## heresjohnny

Finally finished the first tombstone. I built a rig to make it rock back and forth, but it was not sturdy enough, so I will finish that after the prop contest.


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## FoolishMortal42

Can you show the mechanism that you used to make it rock back and forth? I am looking to build a rocking tombstone this year and would love to see how you did it.


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## fontgeek

A couple of questions.
Are you going to make these with rounded bottoms, and long/tall enough that you can partially bury them? The rounded bottom gives you a smooth curve/surface to let the tombstone rock side to side. Think of it like the bottom of the stone smiling. the stone being elongated keeps you from having an exposed corner or edge to the bottom of the stone. Besides it being a bit more aesthetically pleasing, it, the buried portion of the stone, helps support the stone from moving forward or backward. I hope that made sense.
Are you or did you use a windshield wiper motor on this?


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## heresjohnny

Thanks for the questions! I will post pictures once each rocking mechanism is done. 

I am trying to do more then a slow rocking back and forth, the tombstones in the Haunted Mansion have a variety of movements, and I am trying to make the mechanisms and tombstones interchangeable. The plan is to hollow out the base to make room for the mechanism, have rods that go up into the tombstone for support, and rods down into the ground to secure the base. Collars will fit over the base to hide the gaps during movement (no holes in the front yard allowed ), and the base will stay square.

The movements (side to side, and back and forth, shaking, etc) will be driven by cams to allow a variety of movement, and small DC gear motors. The tombstones will be light, and I do not think something as powerful as a wiper motor will be needed.


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## deadSusan

Nice tombstone! This is going to be so cool. I am looking forward to seeing it.


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## heresjohnny

Finally had some time to work on props today, and finished the first tombstone rocker. I ended up breaking it after filming the video, I was testing to see how much lateral force it could withstand, and the wood holding the axle for the pivot split. I will replace the axle block and axle with aluminum. In case it is not clear, there will be several mechanisms, each with a different movement, that will be interchangeable with all the 9 tombstones (once they are done).


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## RoxyBlue

I really need to find a way to use cams in a prop or two. I love the randomness of the movement you get with this mechanism.


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## heresjohnny

RoxyBlue said:


> I really need to find a way to use cams in a prop or two. I love the randomness of the movement you get with this mechanism.


Feel free to ask questions!


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## The-Hog-Flu

Great work! Where did you get the motors from?


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## heresjohnny

The-Hog-Flu said:


> Great work! Where did you get the motors from?


ebay for the TDY-50 and TCY motors (deer motor) and 3 RPM DC motor. Each seller has a variety of motors. The TDY and TCY motors can be seen here. 3 RPM 12 VDC seller has several similar motors  here. 120 6RPM motors are from surplus center here


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## discozombie

Great job on the stone. Im totally going to copy your cam idea for the movement.


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## heresjohnny

Another tombstone done.










This one is Styrofoam only much faster then paper mache over foam, and I like the result of using a Styrofoam knife to add the detail. Plan to build a rocker for this one that is more of a shaking forwards and back instead of side to side, modeled after movement I have seen in the mansion.


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## scarycher

very cool, I wish I had some of you guys, building skills. love your cam movment


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## RoxyBlue

I wanna see that baby in motion Of course, I will then be envious since none of our tombstones move.


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## heresjohnny

Here is the second tombstone rocker!


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## heresjohnny

Forgot to mark the video public, should work now.


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## RoxyBlue

Nice movement, HJ!


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## discozombie

great design nice work


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## [email protected]

I'm impressed how much movement you've managed to get out of a tiny little cam wheel (if I'm getting my mechanical terms right). When I first saw the completed prop I had my doubts that the mechanism would be very robust (in wind/rain/etc.) but now I think your design will withstand the elements just fine. Nice job!


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## Mr Grimsley

heresjohnny, you are officially my hero!!!


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## heresjohnny

Thank you everyone, I appreciate the comments!



[email protected] said:


> I'm impressed how much movement you've managed to get out of a tiny little cam wheel (if I'm getting my mechanical terms right). When I first saw the completed prop I had my doubts that the mechanism would be very robust (in wind/rain/etc.) but now I think your design will withstand the elements just fine. Nice job!


Yes it is a cam, and just a little movement at the base translates to a good amount of rocking. I hope it stands up to the elements :eekin: The first rocker I built initially used wooden dowels for the pivots, but this broke during testing (i.e. me shoving on it). Both rockers now use aluminum rods and aluminum angle, resulting in a much sturdier platform. We get a fairly consistent sea breeze during the day, that makes summer days tolerable but wrecks havoc on tombstones.


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## heresjohnny

One final addition to the Haunted Mansion graveyard props. This is the arm that hold the tea cup that comes from a crypt. The video shows details on how it works.


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## Hellvin

Very nice work -- both the mechanisms and the stones themselves! Coincidentally, I was just working on a (last minute) implementation for door movements using cams as well.


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## RoxyBlue

That's ingenious, but then, that's true of every prop you make:jol:


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## Pumpkin5

:jol:I love the Crypt Arm! The movement is great, and I love the angled tomb coming up out of the ground. The suggestion of it being unearthed is very cool. I want to do a couple of these next year for my graveyard. Thanks for sharing the post.


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## The Halloween Lady

You always have the most amazing prop movements! I have such a hard time with this. Your stones turned out as lovely as your fantastic ethereal ghosts!!!


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## heresjohnny

Thanks everyone! 

I tried to get detailed in the videos, but if you have any questions feel free to ask!


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## Spooky1

Heresjohnny, You are a mechanical genius. I love the rocking tombstones and crypt arm. Like Roxy said, we need to add a cam mechanism to our yard.


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## heresjohnny

Thanks to Pumpkin5, I am working on my 9 old men tombstones again, and I have Glidden Gripper! Used it for the first time tonight, will see how it all turns out tomorrow.


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## Pumpkin5

:jol:Yay Johnny! You push me (inspire) and I'll try to do the same for you. This is looking so awesome!!! So loving your aesthetic, and your tombstones.


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## BillyVanpire

The-Hog-Flu said:


> Great work! Where did you get the motors from?





heresjohnny said:


> ebay for the TDY-50 and TCY motors (deer motor) and 3 RPM DC motor. Each seller has a variety of motors. The TDY and TCY motors can be seen here. 3 RPM 12 VDC seller has several similar motors  here. 120 6RPM motors are from surplus center here


you can find the same style motors on microwave ovens spinning the platter.
3-6 rpm ..bonus it comes with a power connector too 

i like the tombstone rocker johnny, my ichabod is getting one.


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## RoxyBlue

I love that stone! The face is wonderful.


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## heresjohnny

3 stones down, 6 to go. The stone in it's natural environment (the Haunted Mansion), and my recently completed copy of it is shown below.



















I love the detail of the Haunted Mansion graveyard, so much more than just tombstones.


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## Pumpkin5

:jol:Great work Johnny! You nailed it!


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## The-Hog-Flu

Nice job man


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## bobzilla

Wowza!
Love your work


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## RoxyBlue

Damn, you're three stones ahead of me:jol:

I really like this stone. it has a tribal feel to it.


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## heresjohnny

Thought I'd post a little about how I make the templates. I start with the best photo I can find of the stone, and load it into GIMP (i.e. open source Photoshop). Gimp can be used to rotate and skew the image to get the perspective right. For example, the picture, and rotated and skewed image are shown below.
















The image has also been converted to black and white. This is done by adjusting the brightness and contrast to get the cleanest edges possible, then using the threshold function, which basically converts a picture to a 2 color black and white (no gray). Next I scale the image to the final size, using inches instead of pixels. Finally I add a grid to help line up the pages, and verify the rotation and skewing of the image. The final step is to load the final scaled image with the grid into Microsoft Paint, and print it out to scale. This will print the image at the correct scale, all you have to do it tape the pieces together.

In the case of the next stone, I had a picture of it with a good perspective, so all I needed to do was threshold and scale it.



















I tape the pattern directly to the foam, and use it as a temple to carve the stone.


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## BillyVanpire

nice technique johnny, looking good!


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## FoolishMortal42

Great work. Your mechanics are an inspiration. Are you going to do the crypt with the arm with the trowel and bricks?


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## heresjohnny

FoolishMortal42 said:


> Great work. Your mechanics are an inspiration. Are you going to do the crypt with the arm with the trowel and bricks?


I have thought about it. Now that you mention it, that is one of the more distinctive elements in the grave yard, I will have to try and squeeze it in this year. Thanks for the idea!


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## Pumpkin5

:jol:Very cool! I think I like your stones better than Disney's.


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## bobzilla

Nice Johnny!


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## Doc Doom

How did I miss this thread? AMAZING work!!


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## heresjohnny

Ah, the flurry and fury of the last week before Halloween, when I seem to get most of my work done. Lots of sawing and sanding, dremeling and painting, and I just finished the final 6 of the 9 old men tombstones. Still need to detail a little, but here they are, the 9 old men of Disney tombstones from the Haunted Mansion.


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## Pumpkin5

:jol: They are simply fantastic. WOW! You do great work all the time, but you are really good under pressure.


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## bobzilla

So awesome!
Love em!!!


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## RoxyBlue

They have so much character!


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## Spooky1

The tombstones are beautiful.


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## heresjohnny

Thanks everyone! It was a pain doing 6 stones at once, but when it was done, I was like, I have 6 more stones, cool.


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## mroct31

On the tombstone rocker 2 how is the top piece of wood mounted? Is there some type of hinge being used?


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## Lightman

Really terrific tombstones. Great collective photo...you are trully talented.


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## heresjohnny

mroct31 said:


> On the tombstone rocker 2 how is the top piece of wood mounted? Is there some type of hinge being used?


If you watch the video starting at the 1:34 mark, you will see 2 rods sticking out of the sides of the board that the motor is mounted in. Those are made from 1/4 aluminum rod. I made 2 L brackets that are attached to to board that rocks back and forth, with holes that slide over the aluminum rods. That acts as a hinge.


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## heresjohnny

Lightman said:


> Really terrific tombstones. Great collective photo...you are trully talented.


Thanks, but it was more a matter of turning a picture into templates, and tracing


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## House of Darkness

Excellent work on all the tombstones! Are you planing on doing any more graveyard related items from the Haunted Mansion in the future?


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## heresjohnny

House of Darkness said:


> Excellent work on all the tombstones! Are you planing on doing any more graveyard related items from the Haunted Mansion in the future?


Thanks House of Darkness! I would like to build the skeleton arm mason that is bricking himself into a tomb. Plan 2 is to build an animated ghost story teller that recites the welcome to the Haunted Mansion. If things go really well (which usually doesn't happen) I will make a gargoyle from the entrance foyer.


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