Favorite Prop (Best Bang For The Buck)

2173 Views 15 Replies 12 Participants Last post by BuriedAlive, Jul 16, 2007

The Mortician

Discussion Starter · Jul 14, 2007

Having not spent a lot of cash, what prop have you created that year after year remains a favorite of yours

I understand that defining "a lot of cash" will vary from person to person, but most would agree on cheap vs. expensive

How much did it cost, how long did it take to complete, how do others react to the finished product, etc.

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

Samhain

· #2 · Jul 14, 2007

My fave has to be Grim, my shadowy tormented soul, mainly cos he's the only one I have...
I probably did spend quite a bit of money on him to date, and he's not really finished (his head keeps swinging into his chest which is really annoying, need to find drill!)
My best friend didn't want to be in the same room as him, so I guess you could call that a success!

Sloatsburgh

· #3 · Jul 15, 2007

I hit a couple of dollar stores. Found this white/glow zombie masks (collored with black marker), another one had hood masks (which I cut out the mask), $1 cape, $1 weapons.

so, cash spent: $4.

Built a couple of 5'-6' wooden T's out of 2x3/s with a triangle base. Added some chicken wire to form a head and chest.

Couple of hockey jerseys for arms, with a cast of curtain rods and skeleton arms built out of masking tape and dry cleaning wires.

So maybe another $2 of shared expenses in material.

Add in maybe a half bolt of black fabric I got for free (don't ask) to cover the body so that I don't have to worry about legs and I had about 5 of these statues around.

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/9513/2004leftsideze9.jpg

Time to complete.. maybe 2-3 hours each, constantly evolving. Takes about an hour to assemble and pose each year.

Also helps that I dress in black in a full cape and white face paint and some times stand among the statues moving at right moments. I had made many people jump and I will hear a parent or two comment "every year he has these and I never know which one is going to move."

See less See more

turtle2778

· #4 · Jul 15, 2007

Id have to say my first try at a "prop" was my Cousin ITT candy bowl. It cost me about 15 dollars to make tops. ITT was a huge success, my family loved him and i sold several on ebay. Now some shmuck on there is selling them so why bother. I used a wig for the hair and an old box for the body. I glued the hair on and then added a bowl to the top of his head for candy and to hold stray hair down. Then i added a hat and some sun glasses and WALLLAH a Cousin Itt.

See less See more

spokanejoe

· #5 · Jul 15, 2007

So far...My FCG. I made mine scary looking insead of pretty and every year I get great comments on it . People want to take pictures with it. I also made a winged flying skel ala Vile Things and it was a great addition also. The skel was alot more work,so I would have to say for the best bang for a buck my FCG ...cost about $40.00 because I bought a good Dayton motor from Graingers to run it. I made it in 1 weekend-about 10 hrs of work.

The Mortician

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jul 15, 2007

I would have to say for the best bang for a buck my FCG ...cost about $40.00 because I bought a good Dayton motor from Graingers

spokanejoe

Forty dollars for a FCG is an unbelievable price!
Did you already own some of the needed hardware?

If you don't mind my asking, how much did the motor cost and what number?

slightlymad

· #7 · Jul 15, 2007

MIB definitly it only cost 20 for the motor everything else was either curby's or laying around. Gets the kids every year

Zombie-F

· #8 · Jul 15, 2007

I've only had it one year so far, but my favorite is my static "Emperor of Evil" prop. It cost me under $30 to build and it is well-proportioned enough that most people thought it was a real person standing there. Hell, the night I first set him up in the graveyard, my wife thought someone was standing out there when she got home from work.

I got the costume at the Ocean State Job lot for less than $20 and the PVC was leftover from another project. I filled him out with mesh wire hardware cloth and some pool noodles a co-worker gave me.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y32/Zombie-F/Halloween%202006/Haunt/EmperorofEvil.jpg

skeletonowl

· #9 · Jul 15, 2007

I built a boneyard BBQ from plans off of hauntproject. Got free wood, free logs, $20 blucky (although a corpsed 10 could do the same) gray pvc pipe and a 5.99 motor off Ebay. About two days of 3 hour work. Drilling the wood was the hardest part.

1031fan

· #10 · Jul 15, 2007

nice prop there Z - great pose and proportions as you said - also - nice lighting to hide any imperfections if there were any

The Mortician

Discussion Starter · #11 · Jul 15, 2007

slightlymad said:
MIB definitly it only cost 20 for the motor everything else was either curby's or laying around. Gets the kids every year

I really need to get off my butt and build one of these before long

BuriedAlive

· #12 · Jul 16, 2007

My FCG. People who come to my haunt annually are never ceased to be amazed by it. Of all my props, animated or static, the FCG is what people most comment on.

Haunted Bayou

· #13 · Jul 16, 2007 (Edited)

I made a static ghost with the intention of making her a FCG but never got around to animating her. The kids are facinated with her. A $2.00 wig head, a package of cheese cloth and a black marker. Last year I added a plastic torso dress form to her. Now she has a figure. LOL!

However, my favorite is my first prop. Mrs. Bates gets as many comments as the ghost does. A $5.00 rubber skull filled with foam, a cheap wig from Walgreens and some old stuffed clothes of mine. Put a strobe on her and you got Mrs. Bates. I bought a Bates Motel sign at Party City for about $20 several years ago to let people know who she is. Nobody gets it.

The Mortician

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jul 16, 2007

BuriedAlive said:
My FCG. People who come to my haunt annually are never ceased to be amazed by it. Of all my props, animated or static, the FCG is what people most comment on.

Got any pics or videos?

Lilly

· #15 · Jul 16, 2007

Its hard to say which is my fav.. I like them all

BuriedAlive

· #16 · Jul 16, 2007

Patch Master said:
Got any pics or videos?

Best I can offer is this...
http://www.monsterguts.com/media/fcg.wmv

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.