# Miniature motor and peppers ghost illusion



## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

I have two 25 inch tall 15 inch wide peice of glass and I want to make a little peppers ghost illusion with it. I _was_ going to use a television and a big scream tv dvd, but have figured out its a little diffecult to make. My original plan was to make a box(with no bottom) that sits over the tv with a peice that goes up with glass to refect it and make the illusion. However I think its differecult to make work and too hard for my skill level. So I was thinking maybe if I just made a simple fram where they have no extra peices, just a wood frame holding up the glass peices at the correct angle. The problem with this of course is that I'm not sure how to hide the prop that is being reflected.

The other problem about this is since I wouldn't use a tv, then I would require some sort of moving prop, maybe a crank ghost? but I called this toy and hobby shop today and they said that all the little motors go like 200 rpm minimum. I don't know anything about motors, the only animatronic i ever made was Mrs. Fitz who used a fan motor.

So please HELP?!


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## frstvamp1r (Nov 5, 2006)

Gothic, 
as far as low RPM motors, I have seen at some home improvement places near their bar-b-que area motors for rotisserie stuff, they are usually very low rpm. As far as for your peppers ghost, where will it be placed in your haunt? near a window, outdoors, where? My peppers ghost illusion I had set near a window, so I hid the monitor right below the window sill. I have seen it done outside in a cemetery, now THAT was awesome. Check out what I had posted about pepper's ghost and I have a diagram and some videos I made for it.


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

You may find the monster page of halloween helpful. 

To get a low rpm motor you can use an icecream machine. The others tend to have very low torque and bind up easily. I did a pepper's ghost using foam board from lowes. I cut what I needed and buit my own box Then had a piece of glass cut at Lowes to fit in the top. It went from the front edge and sat on a little piece of foam at the back edge. The monitor rested facing up pointed toward the glass. It it is set up a little above eye level it worked great with Yoric the animated skull image. I even rigged up a microphone and speaker to ineract with the ToT'rs


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## BTH (Jul 2, 2006)

A miniture FCG is very easy to make. The motor needs to be powerful enough to do the job, but quiet. That eliminates BBQ motors and ice cream makers. Here are a couple that would do the job quite well; http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G16034 
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/DCM-245/6-RPM-GEARHEAD-MOTOR/-/1.html

Here's a video of my little FCG. It would be perfect for a small Peppers Ghost scene. It runs on a 9 volt battery and lasts all night. Stuck my hand in there for size reference.
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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Very nice BTH, did you use one of the motors that you are showing on the links there? He looks very good.


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## BTH (Jul 2, 2006)

No I didn't. The motor I used was a gift from a friend several years ago. The two motors I linked to would do the job quite nicely though. You just need to have a 5 -7 rpm motor that runs very quiet. I looked into these motors when a group of people were looking to build miniature FCG's. I did buy the first one I listed for $2.99 but can't seem to find where I bought it from. I'll keep looking. It is a fantastic motor for the price. The hard part is mounting to the shaft, but it is plastic and I have had some success with square stock. I bought the creepy guy from Walgreens a few years ago for I think three bucks. Here is a pic of him before adding arms. The hands came with him sewn to his front.


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

An Ice cream motor would be way too big for this.


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## GOT (Apr 17, 2007)

I have used the 117-Motor3 on this page

http://www.cheaplights.com/cart/page18.html#14195

for a mini crank (alien spider thingy) and it is very quiet. It is a little slow though (about 3 rpm). It also can not take too much torque. The motors from electronic gold mine are good as well but they do hum and you need hub to attach your crank arm to the motor shaft.

http://www.garageofterror.com/2006crawler.html


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## GothicCandle (Mar 26, 2007)

wow I normally never get replys this fast! Thanks!!! and thanks for the motor suggestions BTH, Thats really helpful. 

In order to make a peppers ghost, because the prop being reflected is moving it would have to be an upright set up. one side reflecting the other side, not the top reflecting the bottom because the prop would have to be laying on its back(on the floor, unble to move) in order to be reflected upwards. So it must be left to right in order to use a realy prop and not just an image on television. So, How can I hide the prop being reflected? I was wanting to display it in the window, but since toters go right up to it they would, to my knowlege, see very easily that prop and ruin the illusion.


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## BTH (Jul 2, 2006)

Place it to one side or the other and put up a small hidinging wall so the prop cannot be seen from the front. This wall could be at a slight angle so as to improve the hiding of the prop. You will have to light it one way or another but I would think one LED would do it. Your glass will be at an angle to the side but it is still vertical. I think a little lace or shabby type of curtains would be easy to direct the veiwing area where you want it. You will have to take some measures to get the kids to stand right where you need them in order to make this effective. You could also film the prop and still use the TV. I always hang my mini from a tree limb and direct a blacklight at it. I've sprayed it with the UV hairspray so it lights up quite well. I also get it real close to the pathway so you can almost touch it. The strings disappear in the low light and it makes for an extremely easy way to make them scratch thier heads wondering how this ghost is just floating in midair.


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

This is where I have purchased many motors for different purposes. Make sure the one you choose is continuous duty.

https://www.surpluscenter.com/home.asp

These folks have everything at amazing prices.


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## Bone To Pick (Oct 23, 2007)

BTH, I suspect the site provided by Aquayne above is the one you're thinking of. I previously got it off of Dave The Dead's "HeadPopper How-To" thread:
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=12048
I ordered 6 of them for upcoming projects. Pretty sure they were about $3 each (+ shipping). Easy to order online and they arrived within a week.


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## grim reaper (Aug 18, 2005)

the motor i used for a full size fcg was a motor form a microwave, the one that turns the turntable in the bottom, i thinks it 5pm and has a fair amount of torque.


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