# Looking for Stalk-about owners and Builders.



## Vilessence (Nov 3, 2012)

Is there a Stalk-about Lurker group ? I have found a few post but would like to get a group started or join a group .

Want to hear from any one that has an interest in Stalk-abouts or over sized costumes. Would be a way to share ideas and help with designing.


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## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

I've always wanted to build one. I think you need a good sized back-pack to make one, which I don't have.
I think some people have built them using PVC pipe instead of the back-pack.


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## Vilessence (Nov 3, 2012)

I have built 3 now and each one has a different frame. With the weight I carry on my sound system pvc will not hold up. The first one I built was foam and clothe with a set of 24 inch stilts. Vile my 3rd stalkabout is made from emt conduit ,mdf board and fiberglass .


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## madmangt (Sep 4, 2009)

Great idea! I have really wanted to build these, but most of the time when I see them here, there aren't quite enough details to get me started!


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## Pumpkinhead625 (Oct 12, 2009)

I've got ambitions to build a stalkaround reaper myself. I've been kicking around ideas for the framework, and also some ideas for articulated hands and arms. I'd love to join a stalkaround builder's group.


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## Atomic Mystery Monster (Jul 29, 2003)

These sites have instructions on how to build your own Stalkaround.


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## Uruk-Hai (Aug 31, 2008)

I'm currently working on one and hope to have it ready for next Halloween. Would love to join a group to discuss methods.


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## The-Dullahan (Feb 26, 2011)

I have built many an oversized costume. This year, I was 18 inches taller wearing a long black cloak and robe with no face showing, carrying a roughly 12-foot-tall scythe and wearing a large hourglass on a chain around my neck.

Last year, I was slightly stilted, roughly a foot (I am 5'10 naturally) and also built up from the shoulders and head slightly as an undead Celtic barbarian with a massive 6' x 10" sword that I swung at "challengers" (ToTs)

Another time I was a 12-foot-tall Scarecrow, leaping out at people on stilts from a scene I setup to make sure I looked less-likely to have been an actual person and just another lawn ornament.

Another time I was a little taller still, with a 12-foot armspan and had rigged a setup where I would operate my costume from the middle of it (to keep the knees in the right place) by stilting myself 18-inches taller and then adding a rig built up from my shoulders to the head I had made, so that it would tilt and pan and rotate the same way I moved my head four feet below, via linkages and a helmet. The arms, I controlled by being able to reach only to just after the elbow, where as if I were to extend my arm, the rig would do the same, but allowed within my design a means to control the wrist up and down and also make the wrists able to twist/turn, in a realistic sense. It was fun running around in this 150+ pound costume all night, but my costumes tend to be a tad heavy.

Let's see if I can dig up some photos.

Here is my Barbarian costume (And a Minion) and behind us, you see the rig I built to showcase my costume from the year before (Which was the big one I described in the previous bit) as I do this every year, to fool children and leave echoes of my previous costumes.


For a sense of scale, the skulls you see on my shoulder are life-sized. And heavy. Very heavy.




























Here is my Scarecrow, but to be honest, this is ALSO from 2011, and is the rig I built to re-create my costume from 2008, which is the Scarecrow I told you about.










Here is my big Daemon Skeleton costume with the complex-sounding linkages and whatnot.



















The funny thing is, with all the complex things I build, the countless hours I spend making them (all by hand) and money I invest (Four-Digits at times) into arranging Halloween costumes...I only wear them once. Except the Scarecrow. I wore that again, this year on the thirtieth, whilst helping my Sister cater a Halloween event at her job as part of her last-day celebration. I also took it out to the side of the Highway (right outside is the tourist section of Us192, thirty seconds from Walt Disney World) and danced around, just because I could.)


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## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

Very cool costumes!


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## El Cucuy (Dec 30, 2011)

the one I made was a simple construction, two pieces of bamboo about five feet long that were insertened in my back pocket. two ladder brackets attachedn to the main bamboo uprights that go over my shoulders, a card board pumkin head and more bamboo for the arms. I'll look for pictures ( this is the one on my avatar )


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## Vilessence (Nov 3, 2012)

El Cucuy said:


> the one I made was a simple construction, two pieces of bamboo about five feet long that were insertened in my back pocket. two ladder brackets attachedn to the main bamboo uprights that go over my shoulders, a card board pumkin head and more bamboo for the arms. I'll look for pictures ( this is the one on my avatar )


 Nice to meet you . Hope you find your pictures.


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## El Cucuy (Dec 30, 2011)

this is all I could find, you could bearly see the bamboo shoulder , marionette style with extenders at the elbows for maximun arm extension.
hope this helps.


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## Vilessence (Nov 3, 2012)

http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-costume-ideas/124435-what-goes-bump-night.html Well I have 2 threads running guess I need to get the Group started and get all the info to one place.


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## matthewthemanparker (Sep 8, 2007)

Here is my stalkabout I built a few years ago. I'm still working on it as I've never been fully satisfied with the head movement but never budget enough time to get it right. I've changed the head and shoulders over the years.

First year.









Latest picture.


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## Alleydweller (Jan 18, 2013)

Hi The-Dullahan,

Not to go off-topic, but can you tell me where you got (or how you made) the giant pumpkin head in your pics? We live on a street that is closed off every Halloween for a massive trick or treat event and is known locally as Pumpkin Alley, so am planning this year to make an inanimate giant pumpkin-head thing to welcome visitors. Thanks!


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## MRCHEDDAR (May 3, 2010)

Say here is a nice Video series & A great Tutorial from our own Rania

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx3gjhoR_AI&feature=channel&list=UL

http://www.stopandeattheroses.com/2012/11/the-build-of-giant-pumpkinhead.html


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## Alleydweller (Jan 18, 2013)

Thanks MrCheddar!


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## Darkslide632 (Sep 10, 2010)

I have put together a couple. My first was what I consider the "normal" style...

















And then my second attempt with a "hunched" style, where the head comes out of the front, rather than sitting on top. This costume is my baby, haha. His mouth works, and his fuel rod lights up super bright (4 UV LEDs in the bottom) and bubbles... some day I will do the same with the tubing on his shoulders, etc.









Here is a video of him in motion. Not the best quality, but it works.

http://youtu.be/swBv5tA1xCA

Unfortunately right before the video was taken, I sprung a leak and had to drain his fuel rod. I don't think I vented it enough, and the air pressure caused to to blow a gasket, so to speak.

Going to revisit my clown this year, I think.


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## Alleydweller (Jan 18, 2013)

Awesome - love the head motion!


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## Wolfman (Apr 15, 2004)

I'm gonna give one of these a try. A Scarecrow with a Jack O'Lantern head.


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