Great job Doug. It looks very authentic.
Not so simple Halloween Prop
Trunk or Treat season is upon us again, and this year my wife decided that since my youngest thinks her car looks like "a hearse", we should capitalize on that.
The request was for a casket that would fit in the back of her car and that the candy could be inside. And I need it done in 5 days.
Measurements were taken to see what sort of room I had to play with, and then research was done to determine
a) what a casket should look like
b) what dimensions will make it look proportionally correct
c) what do I have on hand so I don't have to spend any money on this I don't have to
The envelope I had to play with was 34"w 72"l 32"h (at the door) 35"h in a couple of inches. I took the dimensions from a standard size casket and scaled it down so I could make the 32" high measurement with the lid open. I grabbed a sheet of $18 ply from Lowes and made the basic box. The lid is made from the remnants of the sheet, plus some pieces of ply, poplar, walnut and MDF from the scrap bin. The only joinery is glue and crown staples.
I had a piano hinge salvaged from another piece of furniture, and a ton of free mop handles I picked up off of Craigslist (from a ladder golf and cornhole board making phase a while back) and finished the assembly. The cheap ply looked really bad in spots, so I filled the voids with Bondo and sanded them out a little bit.
After a quick paint job, I ran over to goodwill and found a grey queen size sheet for $3, and used that and some 3/4" green foam insulation I had laying around to 'upholster' the inside. It is far from perfect, but I think it will work. I still have to scroll some Landau Bars to mount on the rear windows of the 'hearse' to give it a little more of an effect, but I haven't knocked that out yet.
In all, $18 for wood, $10 for paint, and $3 for the upholstery, I don't think it turned out too bad. Now... as long as it doesn't rain this weekend......
The request was for a casket that would fit in the back of her car and that the candy could be inside. And I need it done in 5 days.
Measurements were taken to see what sort of room I had to play with, and then research was done to determine
a) what a casket should look like
b) what dimensions will make it look proportionally correct
c) what do I have on hand so I don't have to spend any money on this I don't have to
The envelope I had to play with was 34"w 72"l 32"h (at the door) 35"h in a couple of inches. I took the dimensions from a standard size casket and scaled it down so I could make the 32" high measurement with the lid open. I grabbed a sheet of $18 ply from Lowes and made the basic box. The lid is made from the remnants of the sheet, plus some pieces of ply, poplar, walnut and MDF from the scrap bin. The only joinery is glue and crown staples.
I had a piano hinge salvaged from another piece of furniture, and a ton of free mop handles I picked up off of Craigslist (from a ladder golf and cornhole board making phase a while back) and finished the assembly. The cheap ply looked really bad in spots, so I filled the voids with Bondo and sanded them out a little bit.
After a quick paint job, I ran over to goodwill and found a grey queen size sheet for $3, and used that and some 3/4" green foam insulation I had laying around to 'upholster' the inside. It is far from perfect, but I think it will work. I still have to scroll some Landau Bars to mount on the rear windows of the 'hearse' to give it a little more of an effect, but I haven't knocked that out yet.
In all, $18 for wood, $10 for paint, and $3 for the upholstery, I don't think it turned out too bad. Now... as long as it doesn't rain this weekend......
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The Landau Bars were cut out of MDF and just double stick taped on the windows. My first iteration was cut out of green foam on the scroll saw, but they were too small for the window size. I ran this set off on the CNC scaling the pattern up considerably. They had a little trouble staying on because of the curvature of the glass, so I had to add extra tape under the upper end. The paint had barely dried when I got them mounted.
I think the effect worked just fine, it definitely looked like a hearse. A step stool was needed for the littlest ones to reach inside for the candy, but it was all good.
Even though there were no surprises, nobody was convinced that something bad wasn't going to happen when they reached into the casket.
The funniest thing is the evening ended so late that there was no time to take the casket out of the car. My wife has to take the car (with casket) to work tomorrow... hopefully nobody stumbles upon it in the parking lot.
I think the effect worked just fine, it definitely looked like a hearse. A step stool was needed for the littlest ones to reach inside for the candy, but it was all good.
Even though there were no surprises, nobody was convinced that something bad wasn't going to happen when they reached into the casket.
The funniest thing is the evening ended so late that there was no time to take the casket out of the car. My wife has to take the car (with casket) to work tomorrow... hopefully nobody stumbles upon it in the parking lot.
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... And that would be bad how??? JS *rofl* I didn't get to collect my candy tax from the grandson this year; "He wasn't 'feeling it'" I was told... no candy for Nana this year. (And in my defense, I've always walked with him; it was my payment >
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