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2,586 Posts
Hi boils & ghouls!
I've finally completed my latest revision to my venerable Hell Hole. I'll have to apologize for not having it set up in the yard for the (later) pics. I prefer to set it up the day of, due to having to dig a rather large hole which is stressful enough on the lawn just being there 24 hours or less.
It's gotten more than a few upgrades in the process:
- Leering mech added to the skeleton.
- Hinged the left arm so the body can rotate freely.
- Pinned the left arm in place so it won't sag. Pose & Stay skeleton problems fixed...
- Reinforced the skeleton spine with solid 1/4" steel bar so the spine won't sag over time
- Added the lava flow around the hole itself.
- Used 3 different shades of orange string lights for color/lava temp variations.
- Permanently incorporated the sound (mp3 player/amplified speakers).
- Threw some UV led's into some ping pong balls for the eyes.
- A pair of micro LED up lights to highlight the tombstone itself, & one behind the tombstone to highlight the background. I just used some white 5050's, orange 3 mm, and a flicker amber 5 mm T 1 3/4's I had laying about.
- Weather sealed box on the back side to house a 110v outlet for daisy chaining any other AC powered props in the vicinity.
- Last but not least, I added an expansion chamber channel underneath to pipe in & slow down the fog, vs. the dryer vent I used previously.
It still has:
- FS-2 flicker fire effect. Although I thought it looked better with one, vs. the two it had previously. Better definition to the individual flashes that way.
The first pic doesn't really show off the color differences between the different light strings well. But, an earlier mid build in progress test pic does much better. It doesn't do justice to the real life pics your eyeballs take though.
Updated OP: 11/13 to include Halloween night pic.
Concerning the sound, one speaker is plumbed into the sidewall down in the hole, and the other mounted to face street side to broadcast the sound out, but away from those standing in front of the effect. With the tombstone in place, it sounds as though all of the sound is coming from the hole itself.
I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for looking!
It's gotten more than a few upgrades in the process:
- Leering mech added to the skeleton.
- Hinged the left arm so the body can rotate freely.
- Pinned the left arm in place so it won't sag. Pose & Stay skeleton problems fixed...
- Reinforced the skeleton spine with solid 1/4" steel bar so the spine won't sag over time
- Added the lava flow around the hole itself.
- Used 3 different shades of orange string lights for color/lava temp variations.
- Permanently incorporated the sound (mp3 player/amplified speakers).
- Threw some UV led's into some ping pong balls for the eyes.
- A pair of micro LED up lights to highlight the tombstone itself, & one behind the tombstone to highlight the background. I just used some white 5050's, orange 3 mm, and a flicker amber 5 mm T 1 3/4's I had laying about.
- Weather sealed box on the back side to house a 110v outlet for daisy chaining any other AC powered props in the vicinity.
- Last but not least, I added an expansion chamber channel underneath to pipe in & slow down the fog, vs. the dryer vent I used previously.
It still has:
- FS-2 flicker fire effect. Although I thought it looked better with one, vs. the two it had previously. Better definition to the individual flashes that way.
The first pic doesn't really show off the color differences between the different light strings well. But, an earlier mid build in progress test pic does much better. It doesn't do justice to the real life pics your eyeballs take though.
Updated OP: 11/13 to include Halloween night pic.


Concerning the sound, one speaker is plumbed into the sidewall down in the hole, and the other mounted to face street side to broadcast the sound out, but away from those standing in front of the effect. With the tombstone in place, it sounds as though all of the sound is coming from the hole itself.
I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for looking!