# My Projects for 2012 - Just some ramblings/reflections



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

So what did I incorporate the top half into you ask? I found it made a great back drop for the SkullTronix Seance Scene....Fun Fact: The table for the crystal ball is the card board box that "Zombie Bait" from the spirit store came in...Just threw 2 pieces of the green erosion cloth (also from spirit) over it and viola...a table!....ZR


----------



## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Oh, I can see why you drooled over it *wipes puddle off of the keyboard* Congrats, that is an excellent score!


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Here is the Angel Of Death statue....I need to build a base for it and it will go right in the middle of it's new cemetery home....Sinister isn't it?........ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

This fellow was made from a now defunct company called Scare Parts...I knew I wanted him the second I saw him in the warehouse, I just didn't want to pay the asking price but when he came down an extra $100, he found a new home....He's setting where he'll be in the haunt, one thing about it is it takes about 80 pounds of pressure to raise and it's spring return so it's kind of violent for the platform it's sitting on....I'll have to reinforce underneath it before it goes into action...The platform is about 3 foot tall so he towers over you when activated....Should give some good scares!....










Here is a video link I took on the night I brought it home to show it in action.......ZR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mAxdNO9gNk&context=C31fb6b4ADOEgsToPDskKhoTpLFxOrgBCzjSPX8ErL


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

This is another Scare Factory prop I just had to have....It towers over 10 feet tall and will be used outside....The statue when activated comes down and hovers right in front of you....I could actually feel the air move when standing in front of him when he came down!....This will be inside a fence for obvious reasons....He's going to be at the end of the haunt....I'm going to have a robed "butler" animatronic holding a skull instead of the tray right beside this tombstone...The skull will say "I see you've made it to the end alive but just remember, there's always next year"...Cue the reaper screaming coming down off the tombstone with strobe light....Should be cool........ZR










Here's a video link of it in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymyu...xt=C31fb6b4ADOEgsToPDskKhoTpLFxOrgBCzjSPX8ErL


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

I don't have pictures yet but I also got 4 paintings/portraits....I can't remember the name of the company that made them but I saw them several times in haunts on the Extreme Halloween shows on the travel channel....Also a truckload of camo netting and he threw in 4 gargoyles for good measure.....It's hard to believe with all this stuff, I didn't even get 1% of his inventory....You'd have to see it to believe it....I only saw the garage but he also has several semi trailers stacked full....I decided I spent enough but it kills me to know it's only a half hour away and I didn't look at any of the tombstone/cemetery items............yet.............errr.............help...........LOL.....ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Thanks Raven's Hollow Cemetary....Yes, it was definitely a cool score....I gotta admit I get a little jealous when I see everyone but me score all those craigslist lots but I guess everyone get's their day....It's just a matter of when....ZR


----------



## Zombie Sniper (May 14, 2011)

Wow. Those are some awesome props.


----------



## Mourik (Nov 7, 2011)

I love the fireplace! My experience with craigslist has been a bust.
Awesome pick ZombieRaider!


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

I'm finally using up 3 weeks of vacation/holiday that I didn't get to use this year....I spent today putting some studding up for the walls....I HAD walls last year but they were made out of styrofoam which is nice and light weight but not so good for hanging portraits or scene setter wall paper or anything really.....I scored some rough cut 2X4s at work that are 7 foot 4 inches and I tore apart some plywood boxes they were throwing out so I got a fair amount of plywood that is 4 ft by 4 ft...This will allow me to make much sturdier walls and have no problem hanging things on them....The 2X4s even had 2 screws per board about 4 inches long that I was able to re-use....Here is some of the progress from today...Hopefully I can start putting plywood covering on it tomorrow.....ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Thanks, Yes - I consider it a blessing to acquire such awesome props....The only prop left that I keep looking at is the Night Frights Bust...It sure would look cool sitting on that fireplace.....LOL.....ZR


----------



## doto (Nov 20, 2009)

Fantastic!!!


----------



## Raven's Hollow Cemetery (Jul 3, 2011)

Count me among those that haven't seen a decent CL, or any, for that matter...score. Every dog has his day, it's said. Seriously though, those are some outstanding pieces. iJelly.


----------



## Candee (Oct 24, 2010)

Can see why you'd be drooling. Great props.


----------



## Kymmm (Oct 1, 2009)

Fantastic finds!! I would be giddy knowing those were among my inventory!!


----------



## boobear (Jul 2, 2009)

Oh my goodness! Those are awesome props! Congrats! I'm so jealous.


----------



## Jack Skellington (Oct 25, 2005)

Definitely got some great stuff there, so does he still have stuff for sale or was that the last of it?


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Jack Skellington said:


> Definitely got some great stuff there, so does he still have stuff for sale or was that the last of it?


As of October he had TONS of stuff....BUT....I told a local fire dept that does a haunted house....They picked up a couple truck loads....There was a local pro haunt that took a considerable amount after I got my stuff....He mentioned there was someone trying to get funding for the whole package, not sure if it went through....There were probably several other deals I don't know about....It was local pickup/cash only....Thanks...ZR


----------



## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

Incredible scores! Always admired that Scare Factory fireplace too. I have one of their sales books that features the fireplace. Would you like me to scan the picture for you? I'll also look for the Angel of Death too.

Drooling too by the way...


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Terra said:


> Incredible scores! Always admired that Scare Factory fireplace too. I have one of their sales books that features the fireplace. Would you like me to scan the picture for you? I'll also look for the Angel of Death too.
> 
> Drooling too by the way...


Hi Terra....I think I'll pass on the scan for the fireplace only because I already have probably 100 different pics of it from the web I've collected over the years...LOL....The Angel Of Death might be a cool one to see though....I'm not even sure who makes it honestly....It's not nearly as well documented as the fireplace....I bet if you had the fireplace, it would be donned in 3D paint in less than a week....LOL.....Thanks....ZR


----------



## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

heheh. Yep, painted up all cool 

How 'bout next time I hit the brouchures I'll see if I can find the Angel of Death and scan it.


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Terra said:


> heheh. Yep, painted up all cool
> 
> How 'bout next time I hit the brouchures I'll see if I can find the Angel of Death and scan it.


That sounds cool Terra.....Thanks.....Well, need to get out there and start putting up plywood!.....Thanks again everybody!....ZR


----------



## DannyK (Sep 21, 2008)

Really dig that reaper...the movement is really cool!!

any chance you could take a pick of the internals? I figure it's a "z link" with some sort of soft stop, but 'd like to see how they did it so I can improve on the design.

thanks

dK


----------



## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

Freakin sweet score.I have always lusted over the swooping reaper.I love to look at scare factory props they are so cool.I need to save my money to buy some of them.


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Hello DannyK....The mechanical part is buried in storage at the moment but I'll see if I can get a pic here sometime soon.....It has a big air cylinder that normally stays open.....When it is activated it sends air in the other chamber causing the air cylinder to pull shut....It has a long metal shaft that the reaper attaches to and the reaper has weight at the bottom of it's bar so it stays upright as it's coming down....Hope that helps......

Halloween71.....Save your money and get them second hand like I did....I couldn't afford to pay Scare Factory's asking price....You'd have to be a pro haunter or just rich to pay retail...That being said, I can see why they cost so much, not just the craftsmanship but the amount of hours it would take to make, plus they have to make money so they can keep building monsters....ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Well it's been a busy couple of days...I got the plywood up to cover the walls and the scene setter wallpaper up...It is the same layout as before but the walls are MUCH more solid...I used a pack of the stone scene setter for the first time and like the results of it as well....I think it adds so much for so little money....I got the fireplace moved over to the first room for the entrance way room...I just used a piece of the stone scene setter for inside the fireplace which was an easy solution....








This will be where it will reside from now on....The plan is to replace the picture above the fireplace with a computer LCD monitor inside a picture frame with 2 way mirror....I have a fairly descent digital video camera so I want to video the Skulltronix skull doing the Ghost Host routine...I figure just use a black background and use the colorsplash cans to light it's face...The camera has audio inputs so I could just run the feed out of the laptop that's running the routine to keep the audio nice and clean and in stereo....After getting the video synced in VSA, I could just re-align the colorsplash routine so they still shine on the fireplace in time with the video....Hopefully that will all come together OK....LOL......ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

This is the doorway directly to the right of the fireplace room...This will be the portrait Hall with the organ playing at the other end of the hall....


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

I know the organ looks extremely green with the lights on but it's got a cool glow under blacklight....This is where I'm thinking the Night Frights Bust would be a great replacement for the bust that's sitting on the organ....I would do the Halloween song routine and add more pipe organ to the existing sound track.....Some of the keys have air cylinders to make them move so I could program them to play in sync to the song as the bust sang....My biggest concern other than not owning a Night Frights Bust at this time is the 6 foot distance you need from the bust to the projector....sigh....I need taller ceilings....LOL.....ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

This is standing at the organ looking back at the other end of the hall.....


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

This is standing at the organ looking into the next room....It will be the Seance room....It was a huge hit when it debuted in 2010....ZR


----------



## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

Oh, awesome how you were able to use the upper part of the fireplace in the séance room. It actually helps to unify the two rooms together so nicely. I would have never known that there was scene setting inside the fireplace. Looks like stone. Would love to take a tour of your whole haunt!


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Thanks Terra...I was concerned for awhile about the fireplace top because I just couldn't figure out a good way to use it....I built a huge table type thing at first but it took up too much space, thought about using it for a doorway entrance but don't want to alter it, finally cut the table thing down about a quarter size and covered it in erosion...err... I mean spooky cloth....Found a winner!, Didn't take up too much precious space and fit into the scene.....On to the next!.....ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Spent the last 2 days couped up making a video for the portrait that is going above the fireplace....I used a picture (Thanks scourge!) that morphes into the skulltronix "Ghostly Host" routine....Spent a long time on the filters and such to make it more ghostly...I wish I could show you guys the high quality version in it's entirety but copyrights keep me from doing so here's a demo...Let me know what you think.....ZR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_loUMMKIX4&context=C31fb6b4ADOEgsToPDskKhoTpLFxOrgBCzjSPX8ErL


----------



## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

The video turned out great!


----------



## halloween71 (Apr 22, 2007)

Very cool vid.I am a big fan of scene setters.


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Well my 3 week vacation is quickly coming to end.....I go back to work in the a.m....I'm really happy with the progress I made....Reconstructed the main walls, recorded and finished the entrance portrait video, fully finished and dressed out the entrance room, fully finished the seance room....
Most importantly I cleaned, categorized, boxed alot of props, timers, cords, etc......When I was done, I was amazed and embarrassed at the amount of space I have alotted for Halloween stuff as a whole....There is enough stuff to do more than twice the area that I do....It made me realize that I needed to make a decision on what exactly I want my haunt to be....Of course I've had the same wild imagination as everyone else but the reality is I'm just one person so unless I win the lottery for a much bigger building and some help, I'm never going to use all this stuff......I also realized when it comes to Halloween stuff, I'm like a hoarder...Even though I get new stuff, I keep the old stuff....So, I've come to the conclusion it's time to figure out what the haunt is going to be and get rid of the rest.....Hopefully I'll get some pics up of what I got accomplished....For now, I'll just leave you with a pic of the angel of death in her final resting place....I salvaged the base out of a tomb I built last year....She stands a tad over 7 ft.....ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

I don't have any new pics or video of progress but I just wanted to share my excitement....I finally placed an order this evening for a Night Fright's Ghost Bust !!! YEAH!!!!....I ordered the Halloween Song routine with it....My vision is to set it on the organ and have the organ play while it sings....Currently the organ has air cylinders on a few keys but I want to replace that set up with a servo setup....I also ordered a BOC (Board of Chucky) from Skulltronix to control the servos....It can control 16 servos though I'm not sure yet if I'm going to animate all 16 keys....I'm not sure what servos to get either....I've never worked on a servo project from scratch before so it's all new....I'm also going to have to add more organ sound to the audio track.....That's all for now....Just wanted to share.....ZR


----------



## Paint It Black (Sep 15, 2011)

Thanks for documenting and showing all of your set-up. Everything looks great. I empathize with the "hoarding" comment. I haven't gotten rid of too much Halloween either. When I have, I always wished I still had it for the next project!


----------



## Trinity1 (Sep 5, 2009)

Omg, everything looks awesome so far! Where do you have your haunt? You may have said in a previous post and I missed it...so if that's the case I apologize


----------



## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

Congrats on the Ghost Bust. I remember you've been coveting that for a long time. Woot!


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Paint It Black.....Thanks.....I've actually done really good at pitching things laying around for projects and just got rid of a bunch spirit store bought props to make room for the new stuff....I've still got a ways to go but if I think back to last year at this time, I've made tremendous progress!

Trinity1....I'm a couple hours from bucks county....I've been there but can't remember why?....LOL

Terra....LOL....YEAH!....WOOT!.....Another piece of the puzzle!

I got the servos and another enttec box ordered tonight so I should have 40% of what I need to finish the project when it all get's here....The other 60% is time and patience to learn and not fry something in the process.....ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

It's been quite some time since my last update and there has been a TON of things completed since the last one....The inside of the building is just about done with some tweeking here and there but I'm happy with it....I've done a few tours and people for the most part have been blown away!......It's late so I'm only going to post a pic or two.....Here's the first one.......










This is ambient mode before the portrait goes into it's "ghost host" vsa routine....Probably the coolest thing I like about this room (aside from the fireplace) is the way the lighting stays in sync with the lighting in the video....The only tweek left in this room is positioning the motion sensor so it triggers immediately as the door opens to enter the room.....Even though you can't see it in this pic, I strung up torn cheese cloth and burlap off the ceiling which really helped take away straight corners and made the room seem bigger....You'll see what I mean in some of the other pics.....

Here's the knight in his corner with the lighting in place....I bought 2- DMX LED par cans from Guitar Center called Venue....I wasn't able to get them to work right with DMX so I ended up setting the dip switches to get these colors and are using them to light up the knight and portraits....They aren't anywhere near as easy to use as the Chauvet LED/Color Splash jr series so I won't try something cheaper again....One of the Venue lights barely works in stand alone mode so I don't think they are made very well.....Any way here is the knight!










It's getting late so I'll post more later.....ZR


----------



## im the goddess (Mar 10, 2012)

Very nicely done. I assume this is your basement? It's so nice you have the space to have a permanent set up. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing more.


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

im the goddess said:


> Very nicely done. I assume this is your basement? It's so nice you have the space to have a permanent set up. Thanks for sharing. I look forward to seeing more.


Not a basement....Just a 14 X 32 building.....










Yes, it's great having a permanant set up....I'd never be able to set up everything myself in such a short time frame without doing it that way.......Thanks.....ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

I got the Ghost Bust in place!....I was worried I wouldn't have enough ceiling height to get the required distance and angle but it worked out great! This prop has had the most compliments during the walk throughs I've given over the last few months...I'm thinking this will be the highlight prop this year and has me second guessing the extra work that I put into the organ to make the keys move....Some people don't notice right away because they are so mesmerized by the bust while others don't notice at all....I used a BOC DMX servo controller with 15 servos (I broke number 16 while installing) to pull down on the keys and make them "play" in time.....This is the first project I've done with servos and it was fun!....I updated the VSA software to 5.0 so I was able the use a joystick to record the servo movements in real time one servo at a time....I'm pretty sure that saved alot of hours versus using the mouse to enter the data....The BOC also has 2 RGB LEDs that was intended for eyes in a skull.... I spliced and extended the cables to put one under each of the 2 skulls on the ends....Finally a chauvet LED splash jr on the ceiling to shine down on the organ.....This routine plays the "Halloween Song"....I added more organ sound to the audio track to emphasize the organ's presence more....I've heard compliments in this room ranging from "I don't know what to look at because there's so much going on" to "that bust is epic" to "this room is my favorite you've done so far".....Many people really like the seance room which will be my next update but I think the organ room is going to be the winner this year.........


----------



## Serpentia (Sep 10, 2011)

Oh my, Zombie. I am afraid that meantelpiece would be set up in my house as a permanent fixture! That is just tooooo cool.


----------



## bognosh (Jun 16, 2012)

Move to Alaska.... lol. Love your devotion. 3 weeks vacation time to work on it. So jealous.


----------



## Danielj2705 (Jun 17, 2012)

Wow! First off what amazing finds and then to see the pictures above-WOW! 
Blew me away! Well Done!


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Serpentia....lol.....That's what my sister said when she saw it for the first time........

bognosh......Alaska wouldn't work out.....I'd take my vacation when there was 24 hours of daylight forget when to sleep and fall over dead of exhaustion....lol

Danielj.....Thanks....I'm glad you like it....Stay tuned for more....I have a few more updates since I haven't posted for so long........ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Next up is the seance room...I added another LED light to bring out some of the detail and dressed the room more....The biggest addition was the box to the left in the pic with the skull on it....That is a scare box I built to have the zombie pop out at just the right moment....The zombie is a re-purposed Spirit zombie tombstone lifter....I really liked the lifter but it just didn't fit in my cemetery and was too slow of an animation since the cemetery is a much faster paced part of the walk through....Now he hides in the box and jumps out at just the right time.....This is the first pneumatic prop people encounter and it does startle them from the few early tours I've done....This is the last room using VSA routines and it's the last room I lead way....From here out is the cemtery and has several pneumatic props....I can't wait until Halloween to see their expressions when I tell them they go first from here on out....lol......


----------



## Danielj2705 (Jun 17, 2012)

Everything works perfectly together!


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

The Zombie Bait is at the transition from haunted house to cemetery area....I used a chauvet splash jr to light this area and a few small green LEDs on the floor....A picaboo box with a motion sensor acivates the prop.......


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

You find yourself in a cemtery when you go around the next corner.....I added more lighting for the Angel Of Death statue since the last update....I just realized I didn't get any pics of the overhead bat that is in this area so I'll have to add that at a later date....


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Not sure If I mentioned this before but the coffin is the first Halloween prop I ever built - 1993....Now it's chained to the wall with a pnuematic cylinder that pushes it forward with a strobe light and scream...Scares my sister everytime...lol


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

passing by the statue standing over 7ft...As mentioned, more lighting added......


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

It probably won't happen this year but there is a pneumtic prop that pops up behind the Get A Life tombstone.....It was a last minute thing in 2010 and really needs to be updated.......The Scaretaker is as cool as always though....


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

I got the air,electric,lighting,programming, etc for the half coffin guy done.....I also got the much needed bracing under the platform that supports it done.....The platform wasn't designed to hold the weight much less the animation of it when it comes crashing back down....Several 2X4s with support legs coming down has made this much more sturdier.......



















That's all the pictures I have for now so I'll have to get out there for a few more to finish the updates....Hopefully get some video soon too....ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

It wasn't as hot today so I was finally able to go out and work on the entry/facade....I came up with a cool way to hold the netting up...I planted the 4x4 you see on the right side and used some eye bolts and clothes line to string a pattern for a "roof' for the netting to lay on...The idea worked well enough that I'm going to do that for alot more of the camo netting too....Clothes line doesn't take up much space compared to building wooden structure counterparts.....I'm going to put the reaper holding lantern and some tombstones inside the fence area....I'll probably build a base for the reaper to stand on and put speakers and a soundtrack with intro music lightning/thunder inside of it....ZR


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

I set the front entrance up to do a lighting check Sat night....It consists of 2 par 36 cans on each side and a small light over the door to help light the ramp that will be there the night of.....










I managed to get the M.T. TUME tombstone finished up and painted Sat as well....I'm very low on cash so I decided to make it instead of buy it since I had all the materials laying around to make it....I just needed to put the 8 hours into making it....I was dissappointed that the projector squashed the image down when I projected the image to trace out....Not sure how to keep settings in the laptop the same....When I plug the projector in, it automatically sets to a lower image resolution and squashes the pics....Other than that, I'm happy with it....FYI, you can buy this tombstone (it looks better than my copied version) at beyond the grave.com if you have $115.....










I also made a monument earlier this year....I used alot of great stuff foam in a can for this one....First I made the skull using a blow mold skull as the mold....I also used the spray foam as a glue to hold the pieces of styrofoam together....Before glueing the skull to the tombstone, I used a hot wire engraver to make indents around the teeth to give them definition as well as the nose and eyes.....I also cut the excess off the back of the skull to give it a flat edge to butt up against the tombstone.....I used the great stuff foam to glue it to the tombstone and finally I sprayed the foam on the entire thing and used a putty knife to spread it as I went along to make it more like texture and fill in any cracks....I was happy the way it turned it out too......










That's all the time I'll have for tombstones for this year.....ZR


----------



## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

All of your scenes look really great! It's amazing the difference between daytime and nighttime with lights. The lights really make the scenes so much more colorful. And Spooky!
Nice work!


----------



## ZombieRaider (May 18, 2008)

Thanks Dave!.....I'm sure you know, it takes time to get the lighting just right...ZR


----------

