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The Hanging Tree

Every haunt needs a spooky looking tree. I needed one to hang some bluckies from but also wanted it animated. In the movie Nightmare Before Christmas there is one that has just what I wanted. The multi talented wiper motor came to the rescue once again. Since this is a rather large prop (8' x 7'), storage was a consideration in it's design.

Starting with some 1" square steel tubing I welded a "trunk" together. The "limbs" needed to fold down so hinging the mounts was necessary. Here's a pic all folded up for storage.

The crank arm of the wiper motor can be seen here.

Limbs in place and link rods attached to crank. Rotation of the crank produces a back and forth movement.

Link arms are attached to the bell cranks which Bluckies are mounted on. End result is that the Bluckies "swing" back and forth.

Assembly before the tree facade and Bluckies are hung.

The tree facade also needed to be in smaller sections for storage. Trunk and limbs are separate pieces reinforced with 1x2 and mounted to frame with wood screws from behind.

The tree was first painted with a primer coat of flat grey latex. The face was airbrushed on, then brown and green shades of fluorescent paints were used to similate the texture. I don't have a picture of it under blacklight but trust me, it "pops". Future plans call for an animated mouth on the tree and different skeletons with animated mouths so they can all sing. Just never been happy with the bluckies.