Amazingly Realistic Skeleton Prop

[Cjmekeel] spent weeks getting his Halloween display ready this year. The centerpiece of his offering is this full-sized motorized skeleton. But there’s a few other gems that he worked on to compliment it. There’s an old-fashioned radio whose dial moves mysteriously and plays a news flash warning of an escaped mental patient. He also spent a couple of dollars to outfit a crow with some glowing red eyes and a servo motor.

But the creepiness of the skeleton means you might not even notice those other props. He started with a rather boring looking plain plastic head and did some real magic to build up the rotting flesh and gaping wounds. Those penetrating eyes don’t hurt either. The head moves on a few servo motors which use random values and sleep periods for disturbingly jerky movements. Check out the video after the break to get a glimpse at what kept kids away from his house on Halloween.

This is just a build log and unfortunately there’s no post yet showing the finished product. If we can get enough information together we’ll try to run a follow-up.

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHE44vVnX3s&w=470]

[Thanks Skater_j10]

5 thoughts on “Amazingly Realistic Skeleton Prop

  1. Love the idea of motion tracking.
    Some articulation of the rest of the body might be a good move. An arm that reaches out and points at you before dropping back limp. Maybe the odd scare of waiting until the onlookers are fairly close before moving (:
    (and yes unfortunate the jaw is a tad too noisy, still this is a hack at the end of the day, a work in progress no doubt)

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