Thread: Outdoor Flying Crank Ghost

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Howdy,

This year I am interested in building my first flying crank ghost.
I am also interested in putting it into a tree...

I have seen a lot of tutorials so I feel that I can build the FCG, but I don't know what kind of hiccups may occur by putting it in a tree.

- A lot of people light up their FCGs with black lights. Is there anyway I can do that outside?
- All the hanging props I have put up before have been tossed around by the wind. What can I do to stabilize it from blowing around?

Anymore potential problems you guys can think of? Any solutions?

Thanks!

You'll have to build a frame and secure to the tree, probably using clamps of some kind. I wouldn't want to nail anything to a living tree. Your big problem is that it will need to be perfectly level, and the ghost probably will need to be weighted better (and not cheesecloth, maybe?) in order that the lines don't get as easily tangled.

You can use blacklights outside, but they need to be protected from the weather and not aimed at your audience (should never be where people can stare right into them; black lights don't cause a retina reaction that tells the eye to blink and can cause blindness if stared at for too long).

All of that can be minimized if you use a crypt/mausoleum type of setup to "stage" your ghost. The enclosure makes more sense if you're doing a graveyard type setting, protects your ghost from most weather conditions and allows you to have a sturdy, stable framework for both the rig and the black light.

HauntProject.com - Your visual source for Haunting How-To's

There are a some different crypt designs mixed in with the other facades here:
HauntProject.com - Your visual source for Haunting How-To's

I have done one off a roof peak. We built a cheap wood beam and laid it on the roof held down with bags of salt Worked flawless !!!! Our ghost was standard cheese cloth and a 4 foot black light. It was a big success.

I have taken rope and tied it to the rig of my FCG, thrown the line with a rock attached to it and pulled it up into the air over a tree branch. Plugged it in and instant ghost. No failures.

These are just mine but I think you should be fine

If you want to stabilize the ghost with weight cool. The head should be fine. Maybe add some fender washers to the hands to just keep the tension on the lines that feed over the pulleys. They are small, can be painted and cheap...the best part.

-PB

I know of some haunters who have set up the FCG motor mechanism on the ground (facing up) and then attached pulleys to the tree branches for the 3 control lines to run through. I know someone on this forum did it a few years ago.
As far as the wind problem--When I made some Axeworthy ghosts out of bridal veil material I sewed some 1/4" nuts and washers onto the very bottom of the veil material in several places for added weight. This probaly won't help if the wind is real strong.

If your in a windy area the lines will be a problem they will be tangled all the time.and you may have the ghost blown into the branches too.so keep that in mind.

Question for DaveintheGrave

Axworthy Ghost and FCG are 2 completely different props. I'm confused on which one you really mean.

-PB

My FCG is indoors and made of bridal veil material (tulle).
I made some smaller axeworthy ghosts a few years ago using the same material and a blucky skull. Since it's so windy here in NC I used nuts and washers to give the material some weight to fend off the wind. I figured the same idea would work for an FCG to keep it from blowing too much in the wind.

Thanks for all the feedback!

Putting the FCG in a crypt would probably simplify things. My main reason for wanting to put it in a tree was to replace the hanging blucky I had last year.

My original theory was that the three strings that come off the FCG's arms and head would keep it stable enough, but I never thought that if I got a big enough gust that it could spin it around and get those strings tangled.

I like the idea of weighing down the cloth. I had pondered the idea of using fishing weights.

I think what I will do is keep it simple, or at least less error prone and put the FCG in a crypt. Once I have the FCG built I can try and see how it will hold up in a tree.

I still like the idea of having a ghost in a tree, maybe I'll try and build a static one.

Thanks again everyone!

I did exactly what you are talking about 3 years ago in Northern Virginia. My FCG platform has 4 or 5 eye bolts on the top, and I just used black rope to tie it up into a large tree. you can level it pretty good using different rope lengths. Then I used one of those cheap clamp-on light fixtures and a Compact Fluorescent blacklight bulb clamped to another tree limb. I painted the back of the fixture (facing the audience) flat black.

I also took random sticks and such that I found around and tie-wrapped them to the FCG frame to camouflage it a little more. It worked amazingly and everyone was very impressed with the whole thing.

Two notes: It didn't rain, and it was not windy at all! Those two things would have probably caused me to rip the whole thing down in a rage and launch it into the woods behind the house.

-EEric

This guy is a member on here and it looks like he had outdoor FCG's, you should ask him. spider-rider

The FCG's are about 20 seconds into the video.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5-D4lbB3xo]YouTube - Spider Rider's Halloween 2008[/ame]