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  • Creating cave scene.

    Have seen quite a few haunts with realistic cave sets and I was wondering what the best way to accomplish this is? Wood frame, chicken wire and then spray foam? I also heard some haunts built the set with wood and even stachtites and stagmites and then coated the whole thing with bed liner spray..... Any videos out there, or can anyone give any hints....?
    www.atheateroflostsouls.com Or if you need makeup or supplies www.abramagic.com


    "I am a frickin evil genius who deserves some frickin respect!"

  • #2
    The way I would do it is a wood frame built from 2x2's build it the way you want it to look... then put chicken wire all over it and SHAPE it with the chicken wire. From there glue foam onto the chicken wire big chunks of foam... then carve it.

    In the end you either can spray it with a gunite type of spray which would then make it feel like real stone or you can hard coat it... depending on what you want the final texture to be determines what you will or won't use. Clearly in the end you light and paint the tunnel. There are other ways to do it like make molds and pull them from resin or fiberglass or whatever but for us the simple haunt owners we have to do it the cheapest. I think the worst way would be vac form it won't look great but it would look okay.

    Larry
    Larry Kirchner
    President
    www.HalloweenProductions.com
    www.BlacklightAttractions.com
    www.HauntedHouseSupplies.com
    www.HauntedHouseMagazine.com

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    • #3
      Terror on the fox has an amazing cave.... They did it with chicken wire and spray foam... Tattoo is doing a seminar at national haunters convention showing how they did it!
      Tim Bunch
      House Of Horrors And Haunted Catacombs
      www.houseofhorrorsbuffalo.com

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      • #4
        So, Larry, where does one get a styrofoam sprayer, or can one hirea company?
        www.atheateroflostsouls.com Or if you need makeup or supplies www.abramagic.com


        "I am a frickin evil genius who deserves some frickin respect!"

        Comment


        • #5
          I used a local insulation company with the big spray trucks, (the ones that spray into attics etc.) It was just easier and faster for me..



          Kale

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          • #6
            I second the spray foam insulation truck. He made short work out of it and did a great job. We used wood framing and stretched spandex to it and stapled it in place. Then he came in and shot the insulation on it. It worked great for us and the spray foam guy was very reasonable.
            We did our waterfall and forest the same way. We took it out this year with plans on moving it and putting it back in and expanding it this summer.
            DONT FORGET TO DROP YOUR SPRINKLER HEADS DOWN INTO THE CAVE BEFORE HE SPRAYS IT!

            Greg
            Fearfest
            Last edited by N2SPOOKINU; 04-04-2010, 09:02 AM.
            Greg Allen
            scarygreg@andersonfarms.com
            www.andersonfarms.com

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            • #7
              Another relatively cheap way to do it, though heavier and may not be quite as durable if customers have the chance of running full bore into it, is building the frame out of wood, then screwing up old scraps of carpet and coating it all in monster mud (paint and plaster mixture, add in some sawdust for extra texture) You do the mud in your darker color, then dry brush it with a lighter color and can look pretty good, even more so with creative lighting.

              I did a giant stone cave entrance archway for a local play by doing this similar method with a wood and chicken wire frame, shaped the wire, then did monster mud with burlap almost like paper mache in technique. I opted for the burlap for the thinness as it had to be on wheels and moved on and off set. Once painted even in the bright stage lights it looked really good, and held up with no damage for an the entire 2 month run of the show.

              Also, if going the spray route...especially if you are a bigger haunt, or want the freedom to work at your own pace and change as you go, and want to DIY it more... Smooth On makes a really nice Spray system that works on cartridges and can spray foam, silicone, plastics, and foam coatings. I think the initial system is around $800 and just needs a decent compressor to run it.


              Mike "Pogo" Hach
              Last edited by jakprintsHAUNT; 04-03-2010, 08:35 PM.
              -Mike "Pogo" Hach

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              • #8
                Originally posted by xxxdirk View Post
                So, Larry, where does one get a styrofoam sprayer, or can one hirea company?
                I know the crew from the Branson Zoo/Branson Haunted Adventure do the spray installations. Their work is phenomenal.
                Katie Lane
                Partner/VP
                Raven's Wolf Art Productions (www.ravens-wolf.com)
                sigpic

                Bansheette Morningstar (www.bansheette.com)

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                • #9
                  Here is my cave. I used chicken wire and pulled it in different directions to create the shape and used weed control cloth as a backer then sprayed the foam.
                  Attached Files
                  Ken L.

                  http://www.thedreamsofdarkness.com

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                  • #10
                    Dreamreaper

                    So how durable is your cave. I think it looks great. We did one out of 2x2 and chicken wire (as Larry posted), but we took burlap over the chicken wire and then took a drywall mud and paint mixture to coat it. Then we airbrushed over it and it seemed to work fine. The only thing that scared us was that it had kind of a flex to it. And thanks to us being outdoors and the rainy season we had this year, it needs to be redone. Is the spray foam idea pretty weather resilient? Anyway I was just wondering how durable your set was.

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                    • #11
                      We were gonna build a cave this year using large styrofoam blocks.

                      I know a guy in the area that might be able to show us how to mix a hardcoat solution that we can FR.

                      Does anyone have any other recommendations on this? Use spray or other method?
                      Brad Bowen
                      Owner/Operator of the Ultimate Fear Haunted House in Shreveport, LA
                      www.ultimatefear.net

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                      • #12
                        Brad the spray foam insulation is fire retardant in itself but we coat it anyway for added security. For those of you with an outdoor attraction the spray foam has to be painted because the uv rays of the sun will deteriorate the foam. Once it was sprayed it set up and was very hard and solid. I think the spray foam is the way to go if you dont have access to a hard coat machine or hardeners.

                        Greg
                        Fearfest
                        Greg Allen
                        scarygreg@andersonfarms.com
                        www.andersonfarms.com

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                        • #13
                          Where r u getting the styrofoam blocks from?
                          www.atheateroflostsouls.com Or if you need makeup or supplies www.abramagic.com


                          "I am a frickin evil genius who deserves some frickin respect!"

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            There was a guy that did styrofoam work for all the movie companies filming in our area. He actually worked on some really big movie sets.

                            He sold his business, and dumped all his extra foam. We went dumpster diving for several days straight, and got a TON of foam!! More than we can deal with.
                            Brad Bowen
                            Owner/Operator of the Ultimate Fear Haunted House in Shreveport, LA
                            www.ultimatefear.net

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                            • #15
                              Lucky dog Brad!
                              www.atheateroflostsouls.com Or if you need makeup or supplies www.abramagic.com


                              "I am a frickin evil genius who deserves some frickin respect!"

                              Comment

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