The Think Tank

Well, we’ve worked long and hard and we’ve finally managed to get the halloween decorating finished!  And we even did it in time for our Halloween Pre-Party on Saturday.

Mom and Maure spent the morning and afternoon cooking up some really great food for the party, while Shannon and I finished up the last minute decorating and party preparations, including setting up the voicebox for the Crypt Keeper.  By the time that 5pm rolled around, I had officially put a close to this years halloween decorating.

The party went great and I think everyone had a good time.  Most everyone we invited showed up and shared some good food, good laughs and some good brews.  Although, I was a little disappointed in how the pumpkin and apple beers turned out: they were pretty lacking in flavor compared to usual.  Most people said they were still good though, so I guess if you didn’t have a reference point you weren’t as disappointed.

I still have a couple of projects left, namely to finish updating the soundbox for the crypt keeper and to fix the fog machines.

*** UPDATE  ***

This project is now 99.9% done!  As you can see from the picture, we have finished the sign for the top and we have also finished the mechanics of the Crypt Keeper and the voicebox is fully functional – I just have to adjust the timing and he’s done.  Should only take about 10-20 minutes.

***   End ***

We worked for about 10 hours on Friday afternoon and night to finish the construction of the crypt.  Mike and Mairi came over for a while and helped me and mom put the plywood up, and then I carved out the gaps between the stones while mom and Mo painted it.  We finished up around midnight or a little after.

The front and north sides are the only two that really show, so I didn’t bother with the styrostone on the back or the south side, I just left them plywood painted the same stone color as the rest.

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Construction of the new Crestfallen Mausoleum is well under way!  I had originally hoped to the use an Easy-Up tent frame for the Mausoleum but after a little testing it turned out that just wasn’t going to work.  After a little thinking, I decided I just needed to buck up and build a wood frame for it.

I’ll update this post later with complete construction details including a material list if anyone is interested.

I measured the yard where it was going to live, and decided to make it 4x6x7 feet.  The four foot depth looks a little funny from the side, but is very convenient because a single sheet of styrofoam will cover the whole thing.  I thought about making it 4×4 but it looked too narrow from the front.  Six feet looks much better.

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A couple of years ago I made a skeleton that sits up out of a coffin in the yard and yells at unsuspecting trick or treaters.  I used a wireless remote that we use for Christmas lights later in the year and I used the soundboard from a cheap halloween prop to power his voice.

The wireless remote worked perfectly in every trial I put it through, but became very sketchy both years at the height of Halloween night: half the time it would not pop up, and when it did it often did not play the audio like it was supposed to.   My theory for the two problems are these: I think the wireless remotes are getting interference from lots of cell phones in the vicinity, and the voicebox I rigged up was always pretty hokey and needed redoing.

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We’ve been busy busy busy!  As always I am behind schedule but all in all I am doing pretty well.  We managed to get the vast bulk of the outside decorating done over the weekend, leaving only the spiderwebs (which we usually wait to do in deference to the weather) and the building of new projects and repairing/updating of the new Voicebox for the Coffin Popper and the continuous fog machines, and the construction of the new crypt I want to build.

Full photos are available at thinktankgallery.com and will be updated as I get the new pics taken.