Floating Zero from Nightmare Before Christmas

[jdblue1976]

As requested here are details from my Floating Zero prop, my first. I don't have pictures of all phases of the build. I started taking pictures with the intention of documenting the whole build but alas I was pressed for time and forgot all about the pictures.

Zero Vid.avi - YouTube

[jdblue1976]

I bought a piece of open cell foam from Michaels to carve the head out of.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/IMG_6838.jpg

Michaels only had open cell or the green floral type foam so I went with the open cell. Open cell is easy to work with but isn't exactly easy to finish. At the time I was thinking I would cover it with felt, but it didn't take long to realize that wouldn't work.

Foam Putty to the rescue.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/IMG_6851.jpg

After some research I found a product made by Woodland Scenics for railroad modelers called Foam Putty. (Bought it at a local hobby shop) This product is like a very lightweight drywall mud. Spread it on, work it like clay, then sculpt or sand it after it dries.

[jdblue1976]

After carving the lower jaw I created a hinge template out of cardboard.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/IMG_6842.jpg

I fab'd the hinge out of scrap sheet metal I had on hand.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/IMG_6845.jpg

I carved out a pocket for the hinge then used the Foam Putty to integrate it into the jaw.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/IMG_6847.jpg

[jdblue1976]

On the bottom of the jaw I notched out a slot for a wooden dowel to which I mounted the arm armatures.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/IMG_6855.jpg

I used wire hangers to make the armatures that are threaded thru eyelets. I also drilled a hole in the end of the dowel to receive wire that would make up the backbone.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/IMG_6854.jpg

[jdblue1976]

Right after last Halloween I pickup some small decorative pumkins from Michael's that were the perfect size for Zero's nose. They are made from foam so I used a soldering iron to hallow out the middle from the bottom. I then used an Exacto knife to carve the J-O-L face. The foam was white so I painted it yellow. Also the outside of the pumkin was too yellow so I painted a little red on it.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/IMG_6860.jpg

To make the nose glow and flicker I used the inards of a flicking LED votive candle. I mounted the LED in the bottom of the J-O-L and ran wires to the battery/on-off switch which was mounted on the back of the head.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/IMG_6858.jpg

I made a trough in the roof of the mouth to run the wire in, then covered it with Foam Putty.

[jdblue1976]

Here's a preview of the mechanism. I didn't take any photos during the fab so I'll have to get more with it in place.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/IMG_7302.jpg

I did a lot of pre-engineering on this so I'll try and convert those files to post here as well.

[Wildcat]

He looks awesome and the movement is great. Interesting looking mechanism. Would like to see a diagram of it.

[jdblue1976]

Here's the movement in motion. I'll diagram it and explain it next.

Zero Mechanism_xvid.avi - YouTube

[Spooky1]

Wow, that's a lot more complex that I imagined. Nice work.

[Spooky Dave]

Excellent prop, wonderful motion. Love the ingenuity! Agreed, that looks like a fairly complex mechanism. Bravo!

[jdblue1976]

Here's an overview of the mechanism.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/MovementOverview.jpg

Basically I hung him like a marionette. The red lever controls the height of the head, the blue is the arms(wings) and the green is for the tail.
The deer motor from Kindy's is crappy because it has very little torque. (Maybe that was a newb mistake on my part.) Had to add an anti-reverse device because these motors can go either way. Also because of little torque had to add a bunch of batteries to counterbalance the weight of the puppet.

[jdblue1976]

Follow the colored strings to the appropriate lever.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/HeadandTailcopy.jpg

The head and tail work like most FCG do. Except for that extra pulley.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/ExtraPulleycopy.jpg

That "Extra Pulley" was intended to make the puppet kind of bounce up instead of being a pure sin wave motion. (I think it would work better with a motor that had torque, and I didn't have to use batteries to counterbalance everything, maybe next year.)

[jdblue1976]

I added a cam to the crank so I could make the wings go up and down.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/ArmMechanism.jpg

I roughed out the motion in Autocad and produced a motion study in Powerpoint so I had an idea of how the wings would work relative to the head. Once that was roughed out I had a rough cam profile. I had to adjust the profile after it was fab'd out of MDF. Again, I think the wings would work better with a motor that had torque.

[jdblue1976]

I had every intention to make the mouth open and close. But because of the lack of torque I'm not able to pull that off. If I had the arm lever pull up on the mouth too, then that would throw off the counterweight of the head.

Let me know if you want more detail on any thing.

Thanks for all the positive feedback. I really enjoyed making it and I'm already thinking about what to make next. (Oogie Boogie perhaps)

[RoxyBlue]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this up. My jaw dropped when I saw the complexity of the mechanism - Spooky1 was looking over my shoulder and said "It's like a marionette":)

[psyko99]

The design is ingenious. I don't see anything newb here. Most of the prop building we all do involves a lot of trial and error. Awesome work.

[Toktorill]

Fantastic prop! Very cute, awesome motion, and brilliantly thought out!

[Vlad]

Just fantastic!

[Jaybo]

Hmmm....I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you just might be an engineer? :D

Your prop looks wonderful! Any chance we could see a video from outside at nighttime?

[jdblue1976]

Thanks Jaybo.

Is it that obvious. Yes I'm an engineer of the electrical kind.

Regarding the outdoor nighttime video, I'm trying to find a camera that will pick up the black light. My cellphone does well in the daylight, but not so much in the dark. I may have to breakout the old school camcorder.

[jdblue1976]

Of course Zero needs his tombstone.
http://i1196.photobucket.com/albums/aa406/jdblue1976/ZeroTombstone.jpg

[jdblue1976]

As requested here's the final product. (Sorry for the low quality)

Zero from Nightmare Before Christmas - YouTube

[RoxyBlue]

That tombstone is perfect, as is Zero. This is one of my favorite props of the year. His movement is so ghostly and smooth.

[Lunatic]

JD, that really is a beautiful prop. I'm very impressed with your creativeness including that awesome mechanism. It lools fantastic!

[jdblue1976]

Thanks guys.

I'm glad Halloween is here. It's time to enjoy it.

[hauntedkimmy]

Amazing!!! I love Zero! Wonderfully done!!!!!

[jdblue1976]

Thanks!

[JustJimAZ]

Just echoing other comments here, but really, this is well done. The whole effect is great!

[jdblue1976]

Thanks!

[mister witch]

This is first rate work I am impressed with the look and movement!! Bravo.Thank you for sharing all the tech behind the prop as well.:p

[jdblue1976]

Thanks very much. It's my pleasure to share.
I've learned a lot from this site as well.

[Joiseygal]

Amazing job! The movement is awesome!

[Chickenwire]

top notch!

[jdblue1976]

Thanks