# Animated Tombstone



## The Watcher

This is a tombstone that Dave in the Grave did. We are going to do this at the Florida Haunters M&T, July the 18th. It is the first tombstone I have ever done, so go easy on me. I have certainly found a great respect for all those wonderful tombstones I have seen on here.

SDC10626.flv video by brushe2008 - [email protected]@[email protected]@http://vid511.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid511.photobucket.com/albums/s360/brushe2008/[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@[email protected]@s360/brushe2008/SDC10626


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## Devils Chariot

That looks cool Watcher. Do you have any stills of it, I'd like to get a better look. How'd you animate it?


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## pyro

ya i want to see how it works


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## The Watcher

Thanks, it is amazing the things Dave in the Grave figures out. This is the inside.


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## Devils Chariot

I thought there was some kinda catch mechanism. Lemme guess when the wooden arm hits the round part of the wheel, that when it loses its traction and slams the lid shut?


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## The Watcher

The way you are seeing this the cam runs counter clockwise. When the wooden arm is of the cam the lid drops down. as the cam hits the arm it raises the lid and give it time for the hand to reach out of the tomb about 3 inches then come back do the little wave motion then back just as it drops again. hard to see the little wave. My camera is not very good with night videos.


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## Devils Chariot

I saw the wave! It's very cool.


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## RoxyBlue

(I swear I posted on this thread and my post disappeared!)

I like this prop! If you could get a daylight video so we could see the details a bit better, that would be lovely.


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## The Watcher

Don't feel bad Roxy, the older I get, the more things seem to disappear also. I will get some tomorrow. But then you will see my flaws!


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## Mr_Chicken

Awesome! If I didn't have too many projects already I'd certainly make one of these!


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## DarkLore

That's great. Can you post some more photos..inside and out?


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## Dr Morbius

Id like to remind everyone, that the Showroom should not be used to discuss how a prop works or how it's made. Please start a new thread over at the General Prop discussion forum for this. Thanks, (takes moderator hat off)...

Wow! Nice mechanism. I think you did a fine job on it!


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## The Watcher

Sorry Doc,I didn't mean to mess up. I seem to have the natural ability for it. You can ask my wife.  I don't mind sharing with others, but I will not post any more info about the workings on this thread. This is just a day picture to show the the look of the tombstone. Since my Camera doesn't take good night pictures.










I do want to thank everyone for the great replies.


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## sharpobject

Awsome job - I especially liked the slamming noise - it was unexpected.


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## Tyler

Ok, thats awesome!! Its a great effect, will look awesome in a cemetery scene!!


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## Devils Chariot

Nice Paint Job Watcher! Is that a lamb on the top?


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## RoxyBlue

(drums fingers) Is the new thread up yet?


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## DarkLore

Apparently not yet. Somebody snitched on us. Watcher...feel free to PM me some photos. lol


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## The Watcher

Thanks Sharpobject, Tyler, and Devils Chariot, yes that is my attempt at a lamb. I tried to do it out of white packing styro, with a kitchen knife. So I know it is rough. But I am going to put some Moss on it to help, I hope, when I get back from Florida. The other tombstones I saw like this, open side ways. My wife and I went for a walk in the local cemetery. In the old section went found some small crypts like this, with lambs. We are going to bury it down in the ground some and use the fresh dirt for, what else? A fresh grave!  Roxy you can save your fingers now. I wasn't really going to add any more. Then I saw your reply, and as I was replying I saw Dark Lore had posted also. Any questions feel free to ask. you can drop me a note also. I do appreciate the feed back.


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## The Watcher

I moved it to props.


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## rottincorps

OK.....vary nice job.......I have so many things going on right now......Hold on .......HEY LEAVE YOUR SISTER ALONE!......SORRY THE KIDS ARE MAKING ME NUTS....So great job wish I had time to build this ....well there's always next year.
Rottincorps


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## rottincorps

Well now that I see this running in the day light.....its time to make time to build this ....again great job!


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## Front Yard Fright

That's awesome!
Great job!
.


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## scourge999

Thanks for the videos. So amazing and effective. That's a 1,000 level of the scare factor. Really creepy.


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## Phil

Thanks for posting the video of the mechanism. I love the action! Great job.


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## The Watcher

Thanks,you folks are most welcome. The forums should be all about sharing. I know I have Learned so much on here.


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## Scary Godmother

Wow, that came out great! I have never seen a mechanism like that before, kind of has duel action, very cool. Great job!


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## RoxyBlue

Thanks for being so considerate of my fingers, Watcher This is just a really clever set up, gives a great effect in the prop, and looks very do-able even for those of us who are not particularly mechanically inclined.

What kind of motor did you use?


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## mroct31

For those of us not in Florida hook us up with some specs of the parts involved in this very interesting prop when you get them so we can give it a whirl!


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## Bone To Pick

Very cool prop, Watcher!! Is that motor the same or similar to to the 4 rpm 12 vdc gear motor that Dave the Dead used for his HeadPopper? If so, you're getting a lot of bang for your buck. Excellent job!


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## The Watcher

Roxy it has to be easy, if I can do it.

mroct31 I will try to do get some measurements on things posted. But it will probably be after the m&t. I have been hurt this week, but I have to start framing a house tomorrow. So I can Leave next week for Florida.

Bone To Pick It is the same motor. The motor dave used , they don't make any more. You could use a wiper motor, But I think you would need a speed control to get it slow enough for a good effect. Most of the other motors that are around 6 rpm or less the price jumps to 50.00 plus. So I tried to trim it down as much as I could. Also it makes it much more doable at a m&t.


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## FrozenPumpkins

If you could post a full tut or direct us to one, I'd really appreciate it! I really like this prop - it looks simple enough to make but is still very cool!


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## Spooky1

Very cool. Thanks for adding that last video. I was wondering how the mechanism worked.


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## dionicia

Allelectronics.com has them for $9 bucks. It's a 5 rpm gear motor, 12VDC. The item number looks to be CAT# DCM-276.


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## hpropman

dionicia said:


> Allelectronics.com has them for $9 bucks. It's a 5 rpm gear motor, 12VDC. The item number looks to be CAT# DCM-276.


Thanks for the link I just ordered 4 motors. They should be good for the FCG rig as well they seem to have a lot of torque. Awesome prop I love the mechanism.


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## Terrormaster

I've used these motors before as well - last year two in Agnes and this year in Cletus. Excellent motors with great torque. To really take advantage of the torque it helps to drill a hole in the bolt you use for a shaft and carter pin it in place.

Watcher thats an awesome dual mechanism - totally ingenius!


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## Warrant2000

I was checking into those motors and they look like just what I'll need for a few things. Web site says it's DC.

I'm electronically challenged...what's the difference between AC and DC? I can splice the red to the red and the black to the black, but that's about it. Would I need anything else?


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## hpropman

Thanks for the tip TM! Warrant on my website int he links section is a course on electronics (free). It will help you out a lot and do not be afraid to ask questions there is a lot of knowledge on this forum. It is not that hard. But to answer you question yes normally red is positive and black is negative. If you reverse them the motor will just turn the opposite way.


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## Warrant2000

Thanks hpropman. I went to that site and the next thing I knew my wife was shaking me saying I had been unconscious for 3 days. (kidding) 

If I get a DC motor, will I have to do anything weird to plug it into my house? I've seen talks about converters and such.

The most complicated thing I've done is wire a security flood light setup to an extension cord so I could plug it in for my MIAB. I have several old computer powere supplies laying around that I might be able to use (if I just knew how!)


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## The Watcher

Warrant2000 All you need is a 12 v dc walwart. You can get them a t walmart HD, American Science Surplus has 12 800 ma for 3.00 they also sell the motors. There's are 4 rpm that is the one I used. These are great prop motors.


Thanks everyone for the kind words. Dave in the Grave is the one who designed this. He let us build it for the m&t in Florida. He is really super smart, but best of all just a wonderful person. It was his crawling Skeleton that led to Bourno's crawling Zombie. He just did some moving eyes that look right to left, but pause in between, using this same motor. I want to build some of those for a cauldron on my table.I will try to get some measurements up on this as soon as I get time.


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## kprimm

Watcher that prop is great. It is simple but very cool and looks fun to build.I would love to have some measurements for it and parts list. I would really like to build one myself. heck i would like to make that my very next prop i build.
Awesome work, if that is your first prop then you are way ahead of the game.


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## midnighthags

WOW!!! Brilliant prop! 
I want one!!!!!


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## IMU

Fantastic job!


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## The Watcher

kprimm said:


> Watcher that prop is great. It is simple but very cool and looks fun to build.I would love to have some measurements for it and parts list. I would really like to build one myself. heck i would like to make that my very next prop i build.
> Awesome work, if that is your first prop then you are way ahead of the game.


I am sorry It isn't my first prop. It is my first tombstone. I have never finished on before. We had the Walmart ones we would buy each year when the kids were small.


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## Jaybo

dionicia said:


> Allelectronics.com has them for $9 bucks. It's a 5 rpm gear motor, 12VDC. The item number looks to be CAT# DCM-276.


Great little motor! It is very quite and has lots of torque. You can also find it here for $2.99.

I will definitely be trying to reproduce this prop! Great Job!


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