Jump to content
Light-O-Rama Forums

The West's Area 3522 (2013 Halloween Display)


Tracy West

Recommended Posts

I was on the fence about what to do for this years Halloween display and really was not sure if I wanted to continue with my Haunted Castle / Cemetary Theme or just do a cemetary or what? Nothing was inspiring me until......

 

One of my employees brought me this 8 foot round old metal satelite dish that was given to him by a man he gets wood from. He had heard me talk about taking one of those dishes and turning it into a UFO and such.

 

So when he dropped by unannounced at my door with this thing I was then like... OK!!! I am inspired to change my theme!

 

So I stepped into it full throttle and started working on turning this metal monster into a space craft. It will have landing gear on it, lights, lasers and fog coming from it once completed. I am also going to build a half circled crashed UFO as well.

 

I asked David Moore from HolidayCoro to help design singing Alien faces which he took my concept alien and turned it into reality! Way Cool! B)

 

Here is a pic of the the dish primed and the dome section (where an alien head will be lit up). Still working on the landing gear.  

 

Hopefully will get this part finished this week and get it ready for wiring of the lights.

 

I have completed the mouth movements for the 5 sequences I am doing and have started working on the lighting parts. I have a lot to do but this is going to be a fun project.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Singing aliens is a great idea! Hope you're able to find some really cool music to go perfect with your theme. There was someone a couple years ago that did a spaceship/alien theme that was pretty cool. Maybe someone knows who it was and can post the thread for you for some additional ideas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Singing aliens is a great idea! Hope you're able to find some really cool music to go perfect with your theme. There was someone a couple years ago that did a spaceship/alien theme that was pretty cool. Maybe someone knows who it was and can post the thread for you for some additional ideas.

 

Music for show: (1) 2112 pre/post

                          (2) Mr. Roboto

                          (3) Children of the Sun

                          (4) Flash

                          (5) Close Encounters / Final Countdown

 

Yeh the guy that did the UFO on top of his house and in his yard was an inspiration. He had a wonderful light display.

I am going to incorporate the singing aliens in with my show and hopefully pull off something fun.

Edited by Tracy West
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Messing around with the fitting of the dome with lights.


It is not correctly fitted but I had to put some lights in it to see how it
would look!


There will be a alien face inside the dome that will add to the effect.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Created an Alien Head that will be inside the dome of the spacecraft.

 

Hopefully will get to sodder and wire up the lights to the dome tomorrow and work on putting together a dmx controller.

 

Damn Honey Do's are keeping me from playing! :wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Created an Alien Head that will be inside the dome of the spacecraft.

 

Hopefully will get to sodder and wire up the lights to the dome tomorrow and work on putting together a dmx controller.

 

Damn Honey Do's are keeping me from playing! :wacko:

Cool!!  Gotta keep the better half's happy so we can play with our toys!!  Been toying with the idea of using a fog chiller on Big G or just using what I got.  I have a Chauvet Hurricane 1300 which puts out 25,000cfm of fog (according to their web sit).  May have to test it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cool!!  Gotta keep the better half's happy so we can play with our toys!!  Been toying with the idea of using a fog chiller on Big G or just using what I got.  I have a Chauvet Hurricane 1300 which puts out 25,000cfm of fog (according to their web sit).  May have to test it.

 

I had my 1300 hooked up to Big G and it worked really well. I just wished it had been dmx controlled so I could had fired it off at will.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was finally able to do a little work after a long weekend of LAWN WORK!!!! :angry:

 

I was able to get to the garage and do some soddering on my RGB lights inside the Alien dome and got the wiring zip tied to the under side of the craft.

 

It looks pretty cool and it will look really good when the dome is lit up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had my 1300 hooked up to Big G and it worked really well. I just wished it had been dmx controlled so I could had fired it off at will.

a member here made me a relay that works quiet well with my LOR controllers, they got a workout last year

Link to comment
Share on other sites

a member here made me a relay that works quiet well with my LOR controllers, they got a workout last year

 

Yeh, I built a relay the year before and then I bought those vertical dmx fog machines... Put the relay in a box after that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeh, I built a relay the year before and then I bought those vertical dmx fog machines... Put the relay in a box after that.

what does DMX buy you that the relay's don't? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing really other than maybe a little faster response time. Plus all my dmx stuff was daisy chained and it made it easy to work with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally figured out how to get the landing gear on without having to bend metal pipe.

 

The landing gear looks pretty cool and the spacecraft is really starting to take shape.

 

I got a kick with seeing people who drove by looking at my UFO parked in the driveway!!! :lol:

 

It still needs to be wired for CCR's, fog hoses and the mesh will be filled in with foil insulation, but I am pleased with how it is all coming together. B)

Edited by Tracy West
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally figured out how to get the landing gear on without having to bend metal pipe.

 

The landing gear looks pretty cool and the spacecraft is really starting to take shape.

 

I got a kick with seeing people who drove by looking at my UFO parked in the driveway!!! :lol:

 

It still needs to be wired for CCR's, fog hoses and the mesh will be filled in with foil insulation, but I am pleased with how it is all coming together. B)

cool

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had my 1300 hooked up to Big G and it worked really well. I just wished it had been dmx controlled so I could had fired it off at will.

You can still fire at will !    Take a 6 volt DC wall wart and connect it to a 5-6 volt relay coil (connect a reverse biased diode across relay coil).  Then connect relay contacts into manual fog control jack on back of fog machine. Next plug wall wart into LOR channel (AC controller).  Program LOR channel  at 100% for On...... etc. etc.  Works great!  Been doing this a few years now with no problems.

 

Bernie

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can still fire at will !    Take a 6 volt DC wall wart and connect it to a 5-6 volt relay coil (connect a reverse biased diode across relay coil).  Then connect relay contacts into manual fog control jack on back of fog machine. Next plug wall wart into LOR channel (AC controller).  Program LOR channel  at 100% for On...... etc. etc.  Works great!  Been doing this a few years now with no problems.

 

Bernie

It worked really good but I just love how I have all my dmx lights, lasers, and fog machines hooked up together. I have been moving away from the LOR controllers over the last couple of years and moving more into dmx mode.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am still a bit terrified of DMX, have gotten some sequences from folks that have DMX items in them and am still confused/baffled at the sequence aspect.  I know how I want it to behave but just getting it there.  Also I am still stuck in the animation window age.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am still a bit terrified of DMX, have gotten some sequences from folks that have DMX items in them and am still confused/baffled at the sequence aspect.  I know how I want it to behave but just getting it there.  Also I am still stuck in the animation window age.

I know what you mean.

 

Last year was my first year of going dmx on my lighting. I had a terrible time trying to figure it out and then "poof" I got it! I still wrestle with getting the LOR program to talk to the dmx stuff but it is getting easier and easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...