Thread: Advice on animated Crocodile

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This is probably quite an odd request, but its something I've been pondering over. At Christmas last year my local CVS had animated reindeer on sale for 19.99 I went an bought one hoping to turn it into a Halloween prop. Surprisingly when I used by extracare card it rang up at 9.99, so needless to say I bought the other 3 on the shelf. I have 3 that move up and down and 1 side to side. I am currently working on transforming one into a dragon and the other 2 into various other goodies. The one that goes side-to-side I would loooove to turn into a crocodile to help set the mood in the front of the haunt with our Peter Pan and Captain Hook ship. The deers' legs fold down nicely, or I could do some amputation of its poor legs. Regardless, I was wondering if anyone had any advice. I was thinking about finding a crocodile mask and then covering the rest in a faux crocodile "leather" fabric and sewing up a tail of some sort, I'm not sure if this would work or not. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Here's a link to a thread the Lynn started a while back. I remember seeing the pics but it looks like she took them off of her photobucket.

Alligator popout

Her pictures are still on her photobucket:

http://s146.photobucket.com/albums/r...032/Alligator/

Cool, I didn't check that link! She did a nice job! I remember seeing some pics too of the work in progress.

I don't think I have ever seen anybody transform a deer into an alligator.

I will be interested with what you come up with.

I bought my gator from little spider when they were still in business:

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t=IMG_0254.jpg

http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t=IMG_0167.jpg

I glued the foam filled latex gator to a sheet of plywood cut to match his outline and then I attach a 24" air cylinder to him. I added a couple of casters to his underside to make him move a bit better.

Thank you to you both! ^_^ That alligator Lynn made out of foam is incredible! That is a great idea with the air cylinder and castors, if I can't the deer to work I may try and whip up something similar to that. Thanks for all the advice and links! Greatly appreciated! ^_^

I've contemplated making an alligator over the years. I've had a swamp theme and really feel like one would be a great addition. I've seen alligator/crocodile props that lunge forward but I like the idea of just having his head go back and forth. Any movement in an otherwise static prop is great. I'd love to see what you end up doing (even a tutorial).

BTW really nice price on those reindeers.

Originally Posted by Ghost of Spookie

I've contemplated making an alligator over the years. I've had a swamp theme and really feel like one would be a great addition. I've seen alligator/crocodile props that lunge forward but I like the idea of just having his head go back and forth. Any movement in an otherwise static prop is great. I'd love to see what you end up doing (even a tutorial).

BTW really nice price on those reindeers.

I actually saw one that lunges forward on a track, for a mere $8,900 + $500shipping hahaha (http://www.frightcatalog.com/Hallowe...gator-1001027/) My only real concern is making the crocodile "movable" per say. Making him out of styrofoam while it would be super detailed wouldn't allow for any range of movement. I have a few ideas scattered around my garage, if I come up with anything I think will work I'll definitely post them up ^_^

This is kind of late, but there was one on MonsterList or one of the project sites a couple of years ago. It was made out of one or two sheets of styrofoam and had a moveable snapping mouth. The link has since become inactive but I printed out the instructions while it was still up. If anyone wants me to send them a copy I would be happy to. Just PM me your address.

Doing an alligator with th reindeer motor should be doable IF its very light weight. You may need to add a counter balance to off set the weight of the head you add.

My foam alligator was pretty light weight but it was still plenty of weight for the cylinder that was lifting it and a reindeer motor doesnt have near the torque that the cylinder was capable of. It may end up just not moving since the motor reverses if it hits something ... it may just keep trying to reverse.. You'll just have to play with it a little to get it balance so theres not too much drag on the motor.

glad you guys liked my alligator. Sadly Im not doing an thing that requires me to carve foam.