# GOT goes Rot



## GOT

I have always loved Jack-o-Lanterns and especially liked the pumpkin scarecrows. I have always wanted to make 5 or 6 of them to put in my yard but, alas, I have ever only made one kind-of-lame one. Once I saw Pumpkin Rot's pumpkin sentinels ( http://pumpkinrot.com/pages/Page33.htm ) I knew I was going to have to do this. The problem is I HATE paper mache (almost as much as I hate people who are good at it). I am a man of infinite patience, but anytime I have made something with paper mache, I froth at the mouth at the tedium and it never comes out looking any good. So I have been passing on the Pumpkin Rot thing because I knew it would result in nothing but pain.
Then I got an idea...a very expensive idea it turns out. I would just buy a good pumpkin, make a latex mold of it then make the pumpkin out of two-part foam (wait, he hates paper mache but has the patience to take a week to make a latex mold? Ya, it isn't logical). So, I have an approach. Now, if you look at that Pumpkin Rot Sentinel, well, come on. A scarecrow with that much personality is going to have to say something....

I will keep you updated on my progress. First, I bought a nice pumpkin.










Then, I dig out my old-but-never-opened quart of liquid latex and take four days and the entire quart to paint up a mold.










Then I de-mold it and throw the whole thing away because I not only rushed it and ended up with cracked latex, but didn't have enough latex to start with. I then order a gallon of latex and take another ten days putting down about fifteen layers instead of four (did I mention how I hate paper mache because I don't have the patience for it). Half a gallon of latex later, I have a functional mold.


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## GOT

I used a 3 lbs foam which costs about $30 for two quarts but the stuff expands about 15 times its initial volume. I should get a lot of pumpkins out of two quarts. Or maybe just two. And let's blow through a quart and a half of the stuff to find out that you are going to have to order more and mix up half of your $30 two-quart kit to fill your big-a$$ pumpkin mold. Ya, put a balloon in there to help with the volume? This stuff isn't going to cooperate with you there. Besides, I need the bulk for what I want to do. Here it is in its $15-for-raw-materials-only glory.










Now for a little carving...










Much more carving to follow.


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## GOT

While I was making the mold, I was also making some plastic pieces for a pan/tilt system. My scarecrow will do the two-axis thing, rather than three axis. Here are two of the pieces. I still need to make a few more.


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## GOT

I used the blade to a bow saw to carefully cut the jaw free from the rest of the pumpkin. This also allows me to hollow out the area behind the mouth and eyes. I don't want to hollow out the entire thing so I went about half way into the pumpkin.



















It is now starting to look like a Jack-o-lantern.


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## DeathTouch

Really nice!


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## Offwhiteknight

Very nice. I'll be very curious to see how this continues.

(as an aside, I do my own pumpkinrots using store-bought JOLs and corpsed up bluckies with a PVC internal skeleton...they look pretty good I think, but this project of yours seems to have the potential for serious awesomeness)


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## Headless

Looks great so far!!!!


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## RoxyBlue

Are ya SURE you don't have the patience for papier mache?

This is a very funny thread. Oh, and nice pumpkin/jack-o-lantern to be


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## Rahnefan

Dude you do not know how I love that pumpkin. What variety is it? The original I mean.

Good work so far. Really eager to see more.


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## GOT

It is called a Fairytale Pumpkin. I had to rummage through a lot of bins to find one that was tall enough to carve a good face. Most of them were too flat. That sucker is heavy!


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## morbidmike

very cool


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## halloween71

Looks great!!


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## scaryjak

I will be following this thread. Looks great so far!!!


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## Allen H

Looks amazing so far! Make sure you do the A/B foam on a super dry day, the less humidity the better the rise from the foam.


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## GOT

I have come up with a name for him. He will be Crow Killer. That means, I need a large fake crow (with wings spread) that I will impale on one of the spines that will be coming from his back. I already have some smaller black birds that I will also impale on spikes and he will be holding one of them. I have seen some for about $20 (with shipping). Does anyone know of a place I can get a cheap, but life-sized fake crow (wings opened)?
I am almost done with the next set of plastic pieces that will be used to hold the servos and his jaw in place.


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## FRIGHTGUY

Love how this is coming along and interested to see the progress!


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## GOT

I have finished my pan/tilt system, though I am having trouble getting my Parallax ServoPal to work. I used VSA for this demo, though I will not use VSA for Crow Killer.






I will hide the entire assembly inside the pumpkin head, though that will take some thought as to the best way to get full movement, but have only a small hole at the bottom of the pumpkin.


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## nixie

Loving this!!! He's looking amazing and I love the mechanics. I need to learn more about this mold and two-part foam process, I'm a complete failure at paper mache.


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## kiki

how heavy is this ..?


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## GOT

The plastic plus two servos weights 7.5 oz. I am a little worried about the weight of three servos and the foam pumpkin all supported on the one servo shaft so I put a ridge of the bottom piece to almost touch the servo casing. That way there could never be too much torque on the shaft. We will see how that works.


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## GOT

Ok, progress update...

I made a jaw hinge using two "Great Planes" medium nylon pinned hinges (I bought a box of them at the local hobby shop). I cut a slit through two bamboo cooking skewers, put a hinge through each, made a crossbar and built up some areas with sulfur-free clay then did a dragon-skin mold of the result. The actual hinge is made of those same two hinges and some Smooth-on rigid polyurethane plastic. The original model looked better but this is functional.










I attached my jaw servo to another plastic piece I made then carved a servo-shaped hole in the roof of the mouth of Crow Killer. Those spikes help hold the assembly in place.



















I then attached some piano wire from the servo to a small hole I drilled in the jaw hinge. We are almost ready to talk.


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## GOT

I don't like the idea of a wire being visible since the inside of the pumpkin will be lit. Therefore, I saved some pumpkin guts and am drying them on a string. I will use these to hide the servo and the wire.


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## Drago

Seems like you got well thought out plan, looking real good


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## GOT

Well, I am having to make a few adjustments so he is not talking yet, but I have started painting him with polyurethane plastic (inside so it looks wet and shiny) and liquid latex (outside for more texture). I am not finished yet but he is looking good. The candle inside is a real candle I hollowed out and melted around a supped up flicker LED assembly (http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=24483).





































He should be talking soon.


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## dave the dead

Looking good! Love the gooey insides.


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## Lunatic

Brilliant work Got! I love all the details and it's function. Looking forward to seeing it work. It looks like the hardest part is finished. Congratulations.


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## Rahnefan

I am eager to see more of this. Looking great!


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## tcass01

He sooo rocks! I see a headache of scarecrow work in my spring todo list.
A word to the wise though, never leave your computer unattended with props in the room. I found a note from Chuck, my Grumble, It says,"I wanna talk, too!"


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## kiki

looks fantastic.. cant wait to see how you create your whole scene..
are you up for adoption..??


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## Headless

He's looking amazing.


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## RoxyBlue

I really like the exaggerated mouth, with the corners reaching above the eye line. It makes the facial expression even more demented in a good way


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## GOT

It speaks...






But it doesn't really want to. Maybe a stronger servo than a HS425BB is needed here and the jaw got a little crooked with all the adjusting I had to do. I attached a rubber band to the inside to help straighten out the jaw and help with the servo. Fortunately, I don't really want this guy to talk. He is just going to occasionally scream at the kids.
By the way, if you are planning on using VSA with the sound analysis software to sync the voice with the servo, make sure you don't put the servo in upside down. I had to manually flip the min/max settings for each syllable.


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## RoxyBlue

He has a great speaking voice Also looks really good.


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## GOT

Been working on the head movement (not ready for video yet) but I did finish (almost) one of his hands. He will be holding a crow in this hand (larger than the crow shown here) and one of the wings of the crow will be fluttering. All I need is a large-yet-cheap fake crow with it's wings extended. Any suggestions? I am trying to keep the cost of the crow itself to under $10.




























By the way, I made the hand by finding several similar dead sticks in the green belt by my work and used a Dremel to cut out and change the angle of the joints. Then it was just a matter of gluing the pieces together. I also pulled off some bark from a large dead branch and glued it to the back of the hand to hide the screws where the fingers are attached to the hand.


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## niblique71

WOW that's WICKED COOL!! Love those hands. The head... Already amazing and looking forward to the completed prop.


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## RoxyBlue

Very organic hands - I like it!

Michaels usually has crows in both extended and nonextended wing style every year around Halloween. Dollar stores often carry them as well.


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## GOT

A quick update...

I redesigned the tilt part of my pan/tilt system because I didn't want to support the entire head on one servo stem. It now tilts only forward but the system is much sturdier.










I also finished Crow Killer's arms.



















I think I got a good blending of the skeletal and the tree.


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## GOT

I cut up two different sizes of PVC pipe for the stem and made a base out of sculpey. I glued the base onto the head and wrapped the PVC pipe in plastic wrap and masking tape. That plumping flex-pipe is just a guide to keep the pipe sections together during taping.
I then ran all my wires up through the stem and painted it with liquid latex (with Mixol pigments for color).



















I found a nice piece of twisted vine in the same area I found the wood for it's arms and wanted to incorporate that into the stem. So, I attached it the the last piece of PVC pipe. To make the transition from PVC pipe to real vine, I twisted some cord up the PVC pipe and painted over it with liquid latex. I also painted the first few inches of the vine with liquid latex to make the color transition more realistic.



















More to follow...


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## RoxyBlue

Wow! I love what you did with the arms and hands - really nice blend between branches and skeleton. If you keep this up, you're going to have one fantabulous prop.


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## GOT

For something made out of foam, that head turned out pretty damn heavy! I am almost ready to test the pan/tilt but I may have to regroup here. So very heavy....


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## pagan

GOT said:


> Any suggestions? I am trying to keep the cost of the crow itself to under $10..


so.. Remember that green belt where you found the sticks.. Go back with a .22 and a bag of stale bread... 

Seriously, awesome work. You have taken a classic pumpkinrot piece and evolved it. Can't wait to see him finished!

Btw, for what it is worth, I don't care much for paper (or "papier" as that high-falootin, brilliant sob calls it) mache either.. But I was seriously reconsidering my relationship with latex and 2 part foam a couple of years ago.. My project didn't turn out nearly as freakin COOL!


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## RoxyBlue

I guess I'll have to classify myself as a high-falutin, brilliant SOB now since I always use the term "papier mache" (French for "chewed paper", in case anyone is interested)

Any updates on this creation, GOT? I agree with pagan - he is freakin' cool!


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## GOT

Well, I have been working on the rib cage and body structure. I took this picture of him with some pieces arranged but I think the picture make him look lame so I was not going to post it. I will add more vines and some torn burlap clothes. The rib cage is not done but I am waiting to add the electronics in here before I finish it. Plus he will have spines coming out of his back like wings with some birds impaled on them (these spines will move when he screams at the kids). So, here is the picture, but this is not what he will look like...


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## beelce

He's way cool GOT.....!


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## pagan

I don't think he looks lame at all, watching the creative process unfold is what keeps us So interested.. Otherwise there would just be a showcase thread with alot of demands for a build tutorial. Keep up the good work!

Oh.. Btw.. No offense to Pumpkinrot, Roxy or any other high-falootin brilliant sobs out there.. I speak purely out of jealousy


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## RoxyBlue

LOL, pagan, none taken


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## GOT

Well, he is turning into the scarecrow from hell. Not in that cool Halloween way but in that what-did-I-ever-do-to-you-to-make-you-hate-me-this-much way. My pan/tilt design, then re-design fell flat on it's face. The head, even though it is just foam, weighs three pounds. To make matters worse, I could not center the head on the neck if I am going to have a functional jaw so the neck is off center like a real person's head is. I thought I could counter-balance the head by adding weight to the stem, but this just added more weight to the head in general.
Turns out ServoCity (www.servocity.com) has just come out with their "servo blocks" that are designed to solve the exact problem I am having. I was trying to avoid them to minimize the cost of my project but I officially threw in the towel on that. Here is the new system using two servo blocks. I moved one of the servos to the body rather than having both hiding in the head.




























And here is a video...


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## GOT

And here are a few more pictures. Still not ready for his head movement yet. As I said, the scarecrow from hell. That smirk on his face, that is aimed at me.


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## Sawtooth Jack

Really into this build. This thing is gonna rock a lot of folks come Halloween. Nice work.


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## RoxyBlue

That's what happens when you go Rot - there are consequences, such as smirking jacks

It appears you came up with an excellent solution to your problem, and I really like the movement you're getting with the servos.


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## Pumpkin5

:jol: Can I just say...WOW?! I love this scarecrow, crow-killer creation! I love the Pumpkinrot feel of the prop, and you are such a perfectionist! Well done! I can't wait to see the finished prop.


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## GOT

So, there is a movie that just came out that I want to see. It's called "We have to talk about Kevin". It's about a woman who is trying to navigate life as she raises a horrible sociopathic kid that is hell-bent on her destruction. It doesn't matter how hard she tries or how much she loves and cares for him. The child...










... is just plain...










evil.










Please meet Crow Kevin Killer. Oh Crow Killer, have I not loved and cared for you. Have I not moved my car out of the garage so that you can have your own spacious dwelling? Why do you hate me so? You have only a 2-axis mechanism in your neck - not 3. There is pan and tilt, but no roll. So why are you cocking your head at me like that? You shouldn't be able to do that. It wouldn't be that brace that I spent an hour trying to affix to your fat head would it?










You know, that brace I made a special mold for and used that super-tough Smooth Cast 380 polyurethane plastic. That brace that now looks like I made it out of pasta...

Either I mixed it up wrong or the plastic isn't as tough/ridgid as I thought it would be because that brace used to make a right angle.










Back to the drawing board. I guess the brace will have to be made of metal. And just think that originally, I was thinking of making a bunch of these scarecrows...


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## GOT

One metal brace later and another hour trying to attach it deep in the narrow hole in the pumpkin head, I am now finally ready for the first head motion test. I like it!






Next step - a tracking mechanism so that he follows you as you walk by. Otaku is helping me with this part. I also have to finish stuffing his chest full of speakers and other electronics, give him moving spines sticking out his back, hide that spring, give him a few fake crows to mangle, give him a few rags to wear, etc.


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## goneferal

That is freakin' amazing! I love it! Bravo!


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## RoxyBlue

I love him almost as much as I do the evil child comments

Glad to see things are working out with this guy. He is so deliciously evil looking and his movement just adds to that illusion. Or maybe it's not just an illusion.......


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## MorbidMariah

Not only does this prop look outstanding, this thread is freakin' hilarious! :lolkin: Can't wait for more!


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## Ramonadona

Your blog is hilarious! Not so much interested if the pumpkin ever is finished...just keep blogging!!!


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## GOT

"And my head, I'd be scratching as my thoughts are busy hatching if I only had a brain..."
- Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz

Well, considering his past behavior, I'm a little frightened of what thoughts will be hatching out of this guy, but it's time to give him a brain. I am putting this part in the Technological Terror section.

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=30718


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## Pumpkin5

:jol: I am obsessed with Crow's hands. They are so organic looking as if they just grew that way. This is going to be one awesome prop for Halloween night! And I was cracking up over you talking to your prop...it is amazing how the prop becomes an entity that you talk to, reason with, argue with....I think that is symptom all prop builders are infected with.


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## Ramonadona

Whew! I thought it was only me!


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## Blackrose1978

GOT said:


> I used a 3 lbs foam which costs about $30 for two quarts but the stuff expands about 15 times its initial volume. I should get a lot of pumpkins out of two quarts. Or maybe just two. And let's blow through a quart and a half of the stuff to find out that you are going to have to order more and mix up half of your $30 two-quart kit to fill your big-a$$ pumpkin mold. Ya, put a balloon in there to help with the volume? This stuff isn't going to cooperate with you there. Besides, I need the bulk for what I want to do. Here it is in its $15-for-raw-materials-only glory.
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> Now for a little carving...
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> Much more carving to follow.


Where do you purchase your foam at?


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## GOT

I get it at artstuf.com


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## BIGANT

This is great man I too have wanted to build one of these but I simply dont have the patience for paper mache, also it rains almost every single day here in south Florida so I fear it would never hold up anyway. I cant wait to see the final product!


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## EverydayisHalloween311

I've gotta have me some pumpkin sectional statues for my haunt!! Genius haunter you are!"


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## Daphne

How on Earth did I miss this???? The pics are gone but the videos are still there. Wow! Just wow!!


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