# I just had an interesting idea...



## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

So I'm watching an old episode of Masters of Horror, and this house has a thundercloud hanging right above it. It got me to thinking " I wonder how hard it would be to replicate that effect?

So, after thinking about it for a few minutes, I believe I may have worked out how to do it. I'm going to run a 400w fogger full of swamp juice through some PVC pipe to the crest of the roof, then "T" it to run down two slightly smaller pieces of pvc to the edges, where I'll cap it. I have a broken strobe light (The bulb area got kicked last year. strobe circuit still works) I'm thinking that I can run LED's off of the strobe circuit and mount about a dozen blue LED's under the top of the crest on the back side of the house and have them strobe onto the cloud of fog, creating a lightning effect. Couple an mp3 player with some powered PC speakers, and I have thunder and lightning to order. 

What do you all think? will it work?


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## dead hawk (Jun 5, 2012)

well that sounds like a lovely idea but wont the fog go down or be too unpredictable based on the wind on the roof of the house but other than thatsounds like it would, wish you luck.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

It is a neat idea, though I would worry fog might make it look more like the house was on fire as opposed to a storm cloud. To me the key to 'cloud' would be a formation above the house with no apparent connection. I think you'd see fog rising, or floating, or simply blowing away from your vents on the roof...that sounds more like smoke to me.

Also, I don't think you're going to have much luck running LEDs off a standard strobe circuit. The strobe is designed to store hundreds of volts and slam it through the bulb at high and relatively uncontrolled current. With a LED, you only want a tiny amount of voltage and release it at a controlled current. When strobing a LED, you can usually run above the rated current, so long as the duty cycle is kept low, but it still needs to be controlled.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

You know, corey, I honestly didn't think about the fact that strobe lights are so much brighter than regular lights. That idea might not work. I can still work around a way to make the fogger work, and I'll just have to use a couple of strobe lights with blue gels on them.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

I think that wind and general air movement is going to be the major challenge.
With a real cloud, the air is saturated enough/moist enough that a cloud tends to stay together, as a recognizable formation. With fog machine fog, you don't have nature as a support system to maintain your "cloud". You also have to realize how dark it will be at the time you were going to create it. If the people can't see it, then why bother creating it?
The idea sounds neat, but the actual creation and effect are a different story.

If you really want the effect, you may have an easier time creating a framework that you*could attach batting to, then you could plant your speakers and lights on the same framework so that all of the sound and light comes from "within" your cloud.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

That might work, too, fontgeek. Could probably built the frame out of furring strips and chicken wire. I wonder what it would look like if I pumped fog into the inside of it?


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