2015 Season is Here!

Hey everyone!

It's August and although this is my first post we've been working on the Hollow for a couple of weeks now!

So, what have we been doing?

We're building a new mausoleum.  Why you ask?  Cause the old one is old, and falling apart and basically weights a ton and it's getting harder and harder to move and set up as I get older and older.

I built that first mausoleum out of 2x2's, 1/2 inch plywood with a 2x6 base.  Even though it broke down into separate components each component still weighs quite a bit.  The advantage is that we never had to worry about it blowing over, but that was the only advantage.

The new mausoleum is built out of 1x2's, glued and screwed, with a foam exterior.  To give credit where it is due, we used TK421's Haunted Hollow Mausoleum Build's design, with a few modifications.  I used 2 rails across the top peak and added extra rails to the roof sections.  I glue and screw all of my builds for better adhesion to include when attaching the foam.  I've found that screwing the foam after gluing helps ensure all of the surface area of the foam glues properly to the rails.

Really? Why didn't I move the mausoleum a foot to the right before taking this picture? That post totally blocks the view! 

See? I can move it to the right to avoid the post!

Fancy! This mausoleum will have a chandelier. 

Now, this is where we stop following TK421's design.  We're gonna decorate the exterior our own way.  Not because we don't like TK421's design.  We love it!  It's absolutely brilliant but we don't' want to blatantly rip him off.  That would be rude!  Not completely sure what we're gonna do to finish it off, but we'll think of something and, of course, will post pictures.

So, what else do we have planned for this year?

We're gonna upgrade our pneumatic props to include sound in their design as apposed to trying to sync the sound using MP3 players.  We're also going to amplify the sound so you can hear it better.

Of course, we're adding a new pneumatic prop this year and it will be added to the new mausoleum.  What are we doing?  More on that later.  :)

We also will be continuing our tombstone build with the idea being to replace all store bought tombstones with homemade tombstones that bear family names.

We will be building decayed sarcophagi to hide our fog machines.  In the past, we've hidden the fog machines around the perimeter and although this was fine it always took a while for the fog to proliferate throughout the cemetery.  Hopefully, putting the fog machines in the middle of the cemetery and hiding them will speed this process along.  Also, the fog bleeding through the sarcophagi should look pretty cool!

This is all just off the top of my head.  We still have to sit down and write up a list of everything we want to do.  I'll show you that later as we still have yet to do it.

That said, I hope it's obvious we have huge plans for this year.

I'm so glad the haunting season has officially started.  More to come so check back every now and then.

This year should be a lot of fun.

Later!