# Ghost Rider -theme, Halloween 2016



## Berserker (Sep 4, 2012)

good luck man; seems like a lot to pull off.


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## Attic Hatch (Sep 12, 2015)

Pretty ambitous!
Distortions did a "Hell Rider" animatronic motorcycle prop:





Only $7500!
http://distortionsunlimited.com/store/hellrider

It was shown being built on one of the episodes of "Making Monsters".


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## RattandRoll (Sep 6, 2007)

Attic Hatch said:


> Pretty ambitous!
> Distortions did a "Hell Rider" animatronic motorcycle prop:
> 
> 
> ...


WOW that prop is awesome!


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## J-Man (Feb 1, 2011)

I think you might be better off ripping some footage from the original movie and do a projection of the head/flames onto a static figure. Might work really well.


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## Attic Hatch (Sep 12, 2015)

I would definitely experiment with fire-n-Ice lights.
I used them to great effect inside my Mantis's head for "nuclear action" eyes , which were translucent street lamp covers.


Thinking out loud: 
Fire and Ice Light pointing up inside the torso.
reflective material in the torso. 
Flame shaped high back collar - maybe reflective.


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## Tiina (Oct 28, 2015)

Hi everyone! 

This is my first real Halloween prop -attempt, so hopefully I'm not aiming too high an big for the first try.. I'm counting on that I have enough time to do, redo and chance my plans 

Here in Finland Halloween isn't so big of an event as you guys have in the USA. Therefore I don't need to decorate so much outdoors as I do want to indoors. On the plus-side, I don't have to worry about weatherproofing  This years Halloween was in quite nice weather, but before we have had heavy rain and also plenty of snow. 

As I wrote to the 2016 Halloween plans -thread, we are having our Halloween party at my hubbys motorcycle-clubhouse. Small colorless club with HD-enthusiasts, 11 bros with "old ladies" + few quests, so probably about 50-70 people altogether. 

We wanted to incorporate bikes somehow to the theme and came up with the vampires/werewolves or zombies, but GhostRider is much better. So my thanks goes to _Scarecrow75_ for the idea! 


That Hell Rider -video is awesome! How could we ever compete with something like that! But: It didn't look as silly as I was afraid that the bike does a wheelie without moving forward. 

There are a few extra bikeparts lying around the clubhouse, leftovers when bros have modified their bikes. So I could probably borrow those for the prop, need to ask first thou  . Wheels, handlebar, frontfork, tank, and somekind of a frame. I don't need a real motor etc, so I could do it out of cardboard or foam or something like that. This would also keep the prop lightweight. 

That fire-n-Ice lights looked pretty cool, need to google around where to purchase and what it costs. Didn't even know there are lights like that available . High reflecting collar could do the trick, and if the GR would be in shadows, the collar itself wouldn't be so visible. 

(The skull came yesterday, and it isn't good enough for this. Need to find another, that one I'll save for something else...)


I was rolling the idea around in my head last night, couldn't sleep so I had time to think:
Depending on if we can place the prop in good place / angle: Caretaker standing in a long jacket, his horse behind him. Horse would move it's head and puff smoke when someone approaches. There is a storage-room near the toilet, that would be great for the horse to be placed. This way I would just need to make the front part of the horse (front legs, neck and head). It would look like it's behind the corner, and CT would block rest of the view with his long jacket. When someone goes to the toilet, the horse would act. 

Ghost Rider would sit on his Hell Cycle. If we figure out how to make the wheelie, it would do that. If not, then at least GR would turn the handlebars and his flames would ignite. Also we could make him move his arm with the chain. Don't want to put the arm in sync with the handlebar-turning so it needs a separate motor. If we go with the thin fabric -flames and airflow, we could make the front-wheel to "burst into flames" too  

Something like this:


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## J-Man (Feb 1, 2011)

If you need a custom Talking Skull, look me up. 
www.audioservocontroller.com


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

Just going to throw this out there and let you run with it if you want....

As a comic geek from my childhood who hooked onto Ghost Rider and Moon Knight (cause the normal books sucked, and these two featured more supernatural stuff), just feel like pointing out the movies REALLY took some liberties with Carter Slade. 

The original Ghost Rider is more *Ghost* than flaming head and skeleton horse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Rider

Looking forward to seeing how you pull this off whatever route you go with. Seriously, though, some of the villains in the comics are a lot more interesting than the movie.


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## Scatterbrains (Nov 16, 2008)

having built a couple of horses, my advice is: use a wiper motor for the head movement. The reindeer motors don't react well to torque, which makes the motor reverse. For fog machine, I recommend the Spencer's 700w one with the automatic timer....then you can just set it and forget it. I did run some PVC up a skeleton's spine for a rider and connected that to a reindeer motor, so the riders head goes side to side to. I used a red C7 bulb in the skull, and it glows red so I think finding a flaming solution should be easy....I have a fire and ice light and may play with that effect next year if I can remember it.


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## Machiavellian (Feb 10, 2013)

The ghost rider theme is so cool if your interested here is a costume I ran across a few years ago while searching for faux flames https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn4UcZtqlgM As far as the Faux flame thread here it is as well, but not sure if any one ever built one of these or not. http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/88571-fog-faux-fire.html
Good luck and keep us posted of the results


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## DvlsToy (Apr 6, 2012)

I love the idea, but don't forget, Ghost Rider is a comic character. Which includes vampires and werewolves and such as well! So your original plan isn't completely scrapped unless you want.


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## Tiina (Oct 28, 2015)

Thats right _UnOrthodOx_, original Ghost Rider isn't at all as he is in the movie. I'm just thinking that does anyone recognize him, if we make him to look (as he should) like he was originally written and introduced? I think everyone would expect him to look like in the movie. 

I like the original stuff is almost in every case the better one. One should not go and tamper them.. For example there is a movie called "Tuntematon sotilas" (The Unknown Soldier), from year 1955 in black and white. (Original novel was written in year 1954, a story about the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union as told from the viewpoint of ordinary Finnish soldiers.) We watch that movie every Finlands independence day. One year we tried to watch the 1985 version of the movie. It was so poor and such a violation to the original, that we just couldn't. 

But, back to the topic 

We need to study the villains more too! Fallen angels etc. I'm hoping that the sequel would come in post today, so we can watch it on weekend. Oh, how cool it would be to make the entrance look like the Broken Spoke biker bar in the movie. _[Ok, steady now, Tiina! ]_ 

Thanks for sharing the experience _Scatterbrains_! I came across to a list of animatronics earlier here on the forum, need to find that again. If I remember right, there was good instructions how-to. 

We are tossing ideas back and forth with hubby, and we are going to try do the faux flame with steam and lights. If we could find the fire and ice light, that might work even better. We'll do an experiment with a stream cleaner-machine. If we bend a pipe, drill holes or cut slits/gaps to it and mount the nozzle to it. Also a drain needs to be attached, some of the fog will surely condense to the pipe itself. This bent pipe would be around GR's neck hidden by the jackets collar. Lights beside the pipe. Maybe strips of led-lights, orange/red/yellow. Probably needs a small fan also, to make the air move more.. Need to test it. But not scrapping the fabric/airflow/light -idea yet!

We need to make GR's chest hollow to fit the steamer and fan inside. So depending how big the machine is, so bulky/muscular he will look  Or, if we can hide the steamer itself in the "bike" and just pull the hose through GR.. Just thinking ahead, best would be that we can use GR's frame to something else on Halloween2017.

I'm not sure at all, what the smoke-machine is that my hubby already has. Some small and not so powerful, he uses it in photoshoots. He said that the "puffing-time" must be quite short for the horse, the amount of liquid is quite small and wont last for long.


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## Tiina (Oct 28, 2015)

I want to make the horses skull look as authentic as possible and was thinking how to do it. And that how easy it would be with an actual skull.. There is a meat supplier that has horses too, but I don't know what they do with the rest of the horse when all the meat is taken. Then it hit me: mooses skull is quite similar to a horse, not exactly, but close enough. Both are big (500-700kg), long-nosed, vegetation-eaters. I'm quite sure no-one will spot the difference  Only distinctive difference is the tip of the nose, horse has higher than a moose. I need to put something over the tip of the nose to make him nostrils, and this will hide the difference even more. 








Here in Finland there is a hunting season for moose from last Saturday of September to the end of the year. Every group has certain amount of males/females/calves they can shoot. My hubbys dad hunts, and their hunting-group got all of their mooses already last weekend. We were visiting hubbys parents on Sunday, and I asked that if there is any chance that he could get a skull for me.. Hi did! The last moose was a full-grown female, and it's skin etc were just left for the foxes etc, needed just to fetch it back.. Just perfect, she didn't have antlers.

So, my boy-horse will be a she-moose in disguise. 

I tried to read the rules of this forum, and I didn't find out if this kind is forbidden or not. Please let me know if it is, so I will take it away. And I put it behind a link, so it wont pop up to anyone's eyes. Do not click the following link, if you are queasy / sensitive. Also, you can skip this paragraph if reading makes your stomach turn. Behind the link there is a picture of a head/meaty skull of the moose. The temperature here is just above freezing, so it was like it would have been in the refrigerator.. Not rotten yet. I was prepared to get the skull visible, but hubby beat me to it. He did almost all the gory stuff himself, I need just to boil the skull (to get rest of the meat off and the cartilage), and treat it with hydrogen peroxide (that's the stuff Marilyn Monroe used to bleach her hair). This will make the bone more whiter. I'll take a picture of the finished skull too. I'm also trying to get my hands on the long bones of the legs. They are fortunately easy to make myself, or to find made out of plastic or something. Moose has cloven hoofs, so they can't be used as horses hoofs.. _Edit_: My gosh! Yesterday when I got back home from work, my father-in-law came to visit, and he had front-legs of a moose with him, already almost to the bone. Yippee! He and hubby are boiling the skull and the legs today, he is a pensioner and hubby is on a sick leave. I just need to do the hydrogen peroxide -treatment.. 

Ok, safe text here on: 
I purchased a Ultrasonic Mist Maker, that we could use at the entrance. The clubhouse is on the second floor, and there is a access ramp to it (little wider than a car). Has anyone experience about how the Ultrasonic Mist Maker works in cold weather? According to the video, there is a big difference when used cold or warm water, but no mentioning about the weather/temperature of the room. If it is very cold weather next year, does the fog move/roll downhill the access ramp.. There is a stuff called dry-ice (the solid form of carbon dioxide), that would do the trick, but not sure where to get that. But, there is almost a year to figure it out. Dry-ice produces a mist/fog that it heavier than air, so it would roll downhill the slope/access ramp. I need to test the Mist Maker first.


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## Tiina (Oct 28, 2015)

Hi again, after some time! 

We almost skipped the Halloween, but now we are back on track  My father-in-law fell from the roof of the house, about 20feet (6meters) high and was in the hospital for months. He had a major surgery but is now paralyzed below armpits. But he is alive, and his head and hands work, so something positive. Me and hubby have been helping hubbys parents all the time, but now father-in-law is home and he has a hired helper so it's easier to us..

We are having the party on Saturday 5th of November, at hubbys motorcycle-clubhouse. Invites looks like this, and it says:
_"You have been invited to a Halloween-party
On Saturday 5th of November, starting 18:00 (6:00 PM)
Dig out your chilliest costume from the closet,
dress up scariest outfit and 
draggle yourself to our place.

Dress up to be something else than yourself, to make sure you don't get turned into a bunny or kitten or something like that.

Best costume gets an award. 
Come if you dare! 

BR, Tiina and Hubby

There is something to eat, punch and some wine on the house" _

I made the paper to look old with tea and dried it in the oven. Tried to get the invite to look like the contract of San Venganza  Let's see if the guests spot the resemblance by the theme.








I've ordered a lot of stuff from the ebay, still waiting for them. But "Carter Slade" is almost finished. I wasn't able to find a longer jacket, but he will be placed behind the "horse" so probably it won't matter. I need to make the jacket to look older, and obviously attach his head  And stuff his pants a bit, now they just hang there 








Ghost Rider v 1.0 was ready, but I'll do him again by someparts. I need to make him taller and bulkier. He was such a spindleshanks 

Because we got delayed and are so behind schedule at the decoration-stuff, we are going to go where it is easiest or fastest. We need to skip corners quite a bit . Fog flames of GR will be fabric, blower and lights. We didn't have time to make and test the fog flames . The mist maker will be used with the punch bowl. Horses smoke is still to be tested. I have two motion-detectors on the way, so maybe the smoke and the mist will go off by motion. We'll see. Still need to do the front-part of Hell Cycle, but if I don't have enought time, I can skip this.

Outfits are planned through, some parts are in the post. Hubby needs a shovel, but I'm sure some of ours is good enough. 

I ordered this award, need to "Halloween" it. Any suggestions? 
There isn't anything already Halloween-looking here in Finland, and ebay wasn't fast enough as an option. On the marble is an plate "Best Costume, Halloween 2016".


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## OctoberDream (Aug 7, 2011)

I tried a ghost rider prop one year. It did not turn out like I wanted. I could not get the flames to work. So, I converted him into a grave digger.


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## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

awesome skelly!!!


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## Tiina (Oct 28, 2015)

"Hmm, it's Halloween and I don't have ribs yet... " my GR is thinking.








But, flames are working. I wasn't able to do them as large/high as I would have wanted, but, they are fluttering.. We got the plastic skellyhand to right pointing-position. GR's other hand will be holding the flame lamp. If that can be fixed. 

Seems that every idea I have, something goes wrong and I need to take like plan F in action. 








Cauldon for the punch is ready. This went too easy, and I'm afraid that something goes wrong with the mistmaker. Probably the mist soaks everything, and the cauldon melts all over the palce. The plastic bucket was little too thin, and you can see the tape/cardboard through. But otherwise it came out just perfect! I did some loops, and they were painted same black as cauldron are now an iron chain. Loops are made out of finnfoam (an leftover insulation board piece), cowered with paper towel and glue. Connecting pieces are newspaper and paper towel + glue. 







The loops were originally made for the GR's HellCycles front fork, but we decided that maybe we'll do it next year.. And because there needed to be attempt nr 3, the connecting pieces are different 'cause he loops were too thick to be connected with them selves..

Caretakers horse is almost ready, I need to glue on his mane etc. And put something on his head to mimic bridle. 
First we tried with the eCigarette that the smoke works, and it did! Here is a video from that. After that hubby attached the smoke-machine he uses for photography and it works quite good too. Maybe too good - way much more smoke comes out than with the eCigarette - so we probably turn off the smoke-machine in some point. Also, we need to figure out some bucket or something to catch the water from the vapor, it condenses to the pipes that goes through horses head and drains back. 








It's Monday now and the party is on Saturday, so we'll have to do the remaining stuff in a quite of a hurry. Plus hubby has a photographing-gig tomorrow so he'll be out tomorrow and probably making the photos on Wednesday. Sigh.


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## Tiina (Oct 28, 2015)

On Tuesday, while I was driving home from work, I got an idea how to "hide" those bag in box -wines. Witches books 
I started to tear apart newspapers and glued the separated sheets together. I also dyed some notepaper-sheets brownish with tea. 
After the glue was dry, I cut off the excess paper, glued the L-shaped thing to a supporting paper and the whole thing to book covers. 
I'm not sure why the pages on the Potions-book are much lower than the Spells-book, but it doesn't matter. I'm quite pleased how they turned out , think they look like someone has read them a lot? For the next Halloween, I'll buy some thin leather and coat the book covers with that, to make them look more realistic








The horse is ready, and Ghost Rider has ribs, kinda. The sternum I need to do again, the first attempt didn't work. 








Tomorrow we'll go and tidy up the clubhouse and put most of the things ready, so on Saturday there is as little to do as possible. Hopefully members aren't too curious and keep out until Saturday


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## Tiina (Oct 28, 2015)

The party was on Saturday, and we had a blast! 
Hubby took pictures and I'm waiting for them, but here is a preview from my mobile. 








Few of the invited guests were sick, or didn't get a babysitter, so there was only ten of us in the end, but everyone had a great time. Hubby took photos of everyone, we got a halloween-themed backdrop and studiolights. Ghostrider and Caretaker/Horse were a hit, everyone loved them. The mistmaker didn't do enough mist and it didn't roll out of the cauldron, that we need to re-think for the next year.


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