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So far it is going good. Even though it is only July my Halloween building is in full swing. Takes up most of the garage but making it so it breaks down easily to be stored.
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15 Foot Spider for my big prop this year.
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Looks great! What are you making the body out of? It's seems pretty light-weight - foam?
I'm doing a giant spider this year too so I'll be following your progress closely.
I'm doing a giant spider this year too so I'll be following your progress closely.
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681 Posts
It is made out of 2" blue styrofoam.......used spray adhesive to glue them all together the size i wanted and then with a sawsall, small hand saw and an small 90 degree grinder i shaped it all out. Covering it with rubberized basement sealer to make it waterproof (that is the black you see) At the point now that i am going to start detailing. Paint, lighted eyes, and going to texture the legs with the sealer and rolling them in kitty litter to give the legs texture. Also going to make a huge web. Have two five foot skeletons ( the $20 dollar ones from spirit halloween) we are wrapping in webbing for victims and have made a large egg sack for her as well. Will post more here on the progress as i go. And will post the final setting around halloween which is only 112 days 17 hours and 36 minutes away.Looks great! What are you making the body out of? It's seems pretty light-weight - foam?
I'm doing a giant spider this year too so I'll be following your progress closely.
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681 Posts
Tried to get the scale as close as i could to a real spider scale (body to leg size). And did the legs so they segment down to smaller sizes just like a real spiders. (Made those out of PVC starting at 2" and going down to 1") I feel it gives it a more realistic look and i used wood dowels that slide nicely into the PVC to be able to connect the segments and get the angles i wanted.
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Leg joint are done with wood dowels.......for each size of PVC the corresponding wood dowels fit nearly perfect inside it. I glued them in and attached the next size as a stud off that end and drilled and bolted the next leg segment to that. Then took my grinder and shaped them a bit to make it look like a real spiders leg segment. I will take a couple pics of the leg joints tonight and post them so you can see.
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I have to say that the smaller tapering PVC legs really make it a nice touch. Again AWESOME work! Looking at the pics, it appears that the are 4 metal rods holding the body up off the ground. Is this correct or it the spider supporting itself on just the legs?
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681 Posts
There are 4 small posts supporting it. Beings that it is so big and the legs have such a span they wouldnt quite hold itself so added them for a bit more support and stability. Once they are painted and it is up on the roof of the garage i dont think you will notice them.
Here are closeups of the legs:
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Great realistic form! The realistic leg posing is tricky to get.
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Yes it is. I really have put alot of thought to it. Sent months thinking and looking at pictures of spiders. Then time in the store looking for fittings that would create it and never found the right fittings and that is why I went with the wood dowel solution. Hoping it all looks good in the end. I do want to make the legs textured for a nice look. My thoughts right now were coating them with the rubber coating and rolling them in sand. But then thought that may not give me the bumpy texture i want so now i am thinking kitty litter as it will give it a bigger texture. Any other thoughts on this would be appreciated.
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Mine is much smaller but I too went with wooden dowels to get the legs to taper how I wanted.
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I wondered about mixing some short fibers in with the paint on mine to create texture and a slightly hairy appearance. Never tried it though. Was contemplating chopped up chip brush bristles, but was also thinking a wavy fiber night work better. Would want some to lay flat for texture and some to stick out for hair. Wavy fibers would probably have worked better.
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For a gritty finish out of the can, I use http://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/consumer-brands/restore/vertical-restore It takes a lot for it to run and it sticks everywhere. I used to get it at our Home Depot, but now they special order it in. You can see the result on my cemetery gates.http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/141242-cemetery-gates.html
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Great work! Looks very similar to mine, except your legs look much better thanks to your ingenious use of wooden dowels. I went with more of a black widow look, and you went a little more like a tarantula.
For texturing, if you kept the foam board 'saw dust' shavings those might be ideal. If you didn't keep them, it's not much of an effort to make more.
For texturing, if you kept the foam board 'saw dust' shavings those might be ideal. If you didn't keep them, it's not much of an effort to make more.
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681 Posts
I have a bag full of some of the scrap foam pieces i cut off and some dust still in there. Thanks that might work out really great.
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668 Posts
Looking rally good!
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342 Posts
Check out Rania's spider build. She used great stuff foam and burlap strips to texture the legs. There is a video on her blog showing how she did it.
http://www.stopandeattheroses.com/2013/09/the-build-of-giant-spider.html
You could also just fray some lengths of jute twine to get a hairy effect.
http://www.stopandeattheroses.com/2013/09/the-build-of-giant-spider.html
You could also just fray some lengths of jute twine to get a hairy effect.
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342 Posts
And I forgot to say how great the stepped down sizing of your spider's legs turned out. They look great! Did you say this is going on your roof? If so, how do you plan on anchoring it up there?
Looking forward to seeing the finished prop!
Looking forward to seeing the finished prop!
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681 Posts
Plan on putting in some eye screws to secure it down and caulking them in so they wont leak water.
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