Pnuematic Coffin
---------------------------------------------------------------This is the first pnuematic prop I ever built. I have a bit of a sentimental attachment to it. I don't have any pics of the build and only a few of the refurbishing process.
I need to set this up a little. I built this prop over 8 years ago. I moved out of state and was unable to bring it with me so I gave it to a friend. After about 5 years being out of state I moved back. After being back in Florida for around 6 months I decided to look up my friend just to say hi, I had actually forgotten about the coffin. He brought it up in conversation and asked if I wanted it back! My heart sunk when I saw the condition it was in, so I had no choice but to refurbish it.
The pics you see above are of course the before shots. The coffin had 6 skulls there where only 2 left, the fabric covering the front and sides was gone, the cylinders needed to be rebuilt, There wasn't much of a paint job left, and the ghoul was missing from the inside. I had my work cut out for me.
The coffin is made from a piece of plywood, 1x4's and 1x2's. Broom handles pushed through the bones and skulls to make the coffin handles. The base is made out of 2x4's. I have no measurements, I based the size of the coffin off of the 5ft blucky skeleton I had in it.
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Refurbishing
I started with the base. I took 2 sheets of the pink insulation foam, I cut out a staggered brick pattern, glued and tacked it on the front and sides. Then I cut some trim for the top and bottom, glued that on.
Here the front is covered.
Here the base is finished. Once the walls were up, I covered the base with a good coat of Monster Mud. I did this because spray paint melts foam. I used about 5 cans of textured spray paint once the MM was dry. Thats about it for the base.
The coffin was still in a sturdy condition, so I removed the handles, webs and skulls, gave it a light sanding and gave it a coat of gloss black. After doing that I noticed some dents, dings and gouges on the coffin so I sanded again and filled them in with some wood filler. Then gave it another coat of black.
All I could find at the time where these smaller skulls. I cut through the sides to fit the broom handles through and painted them silver. I reused the plastic bones that were originally on there. I just sanded them a bit and painted them silver also. I did the same with the plastic webs I had on the coffin. They are not on the pictures below but I did get a hold of some blucky skulls and put one on each side. If you watch the video's you might see them in there.
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Here it is all finished. This will always be my favorite prop. I must sadly report however that I have retired it until I can find the proper air cylinders for it. The cylinders where homemade, I read a story online about the damage this type of cylinder can do, whether or not the story was real I don't know but it struck me in a way that made me stop and think about what could happen. I will nolonger use PVC cylinders.
I have some short videos if you want to see it in action the links are below.
Day Video
Night Video
Ghoul Inside
Props Main Menu