DEMON DEVIL DOG
DEMON DEVIL DOGAir Cylinder: Look to the projects page for the construction of the Air Cylinder. One thing to keep in mind is, how far out of the dog house do you want the dog to come out. This will determine how long to make the air cylinder. This cylinder will be in the vertical position, so a spring assist will be needed to collapse the cylinder. This will be discussed in the assembly portion below.
Doghouse: For storage reasons, I made the dog house out of cardboard, so that any goofy ideas that might pop into your mind, will not embarrass your dog after Halloween. But if you do decide to use a wooden doghouse, you will need to keep in mind that the size of the air cylinder depends on the size of the house.
Dog: I looked at many stuffed animals for this project and even considered an ET. I could not find anything that would give me the desired effect: "Gruesome", "Scary", "Menacing", "I dare you to pet me" type of dog. So I made one. Directions in the assembly portion below.
Step 1. As mentioned above, the air cylinder will need to be modified for the horizontal position. To collapse the cylinder after activation, a spring will be needed. To do this I purchased an everyday screen door spring at the local home improvements center. At the top of the 3/4 inch pvc pipe, I drilled a hole through the cap and pipe from side to side. This hole was drilled to host a 4 inch bolt that will secure one end of the spring and the bolt will also be used to mount the dog. When the bolt has been inserted and secured with a nut, to ensure an air tight seal around the bolt head and the attaching nut, I put JB Weld around both. (JB Weld is a putty compound that reacts like bondo for auto body repair it comes in two tubes and can be found at Wal-Mart.)
Once this is dry, I slipped one end of the spring over the bolt and secured it with a nut. With one end of the spring attached the 3/4 inch pipe, the other loose end will be connected to the 1 3/4 inch pipe. To do this, I used a hose clamp and tightened it down over the end of the spring leaving about 1 inch extended on the other side. For safety purposes, I made a hook that would hold the spring and hose clamp together in case the spring should come loose from underneath of the clamp. After doing this I used the old reliable "Duck Tape" to wrap the hose clamp and the end of the spring. I used enough tape to make myself feel confident that the spring was not going to fly loose.
To keep the air cylinder from distracting from the dog, I painted the pipe a flat black so as not to be seen at night. I then mounted the air cylinder to a piece of 2X6 to give it some weight. I put screws into the 2X6 on either side of the pipe and ran wire from one to the other to hold down the pipe. This was done in two locations behind the spring mount on the cylinder.
Step 2. The Dog house, I took a regular cardboard box the right size and cut the top flaps off. I turned it upside down and cut an entrance on one end. I then measured from center out to about 4 inches past the box to see how much cardboard I would need for the roof. (note: the higher the pitch the more cardboard is used.) With another box, I opened the top and bottom flaps and cut along one of the corner seams and laid the box out flat. Then I measured and cut out one complete piece for the roof.
To attach the roof to the house, I used the old reliable "Duck Tape". To fill in the gable ends I used the flaps cut off earlier, and taped them in place. In the entrance, I hung black plastic and cut it into strips. This keeps the munchkins from seeing the dog until it's too late...
Step 3. The Dog, This being the main attraction, it has to be special. I said above, that I could not find any ready made fierce stuffed animals, so I decided to makes my own. Using the same concept as the skeletal hands from the projects page. Using coat hangers and wide masking tape, I created a backbone with a set of ribs. Starting at the front with a large set and adding gradually smaller ones to create the desired effect. Leaving enough room to attach the head on the front and enough wire on the back to attach it to the air cylinder. To create the head, I found a Styrofoam skeletons head about 4 inches round at our local drug store. Then at Wal-Mart, I found a wolves mask for $2.99. I cut the mask up the side just in front of the ears and over the top to the same point on the other side in front of the ears. With the front half, I trimmed from one side going inward under the eye socket up over the nose piece to the other eye socket. This should give you the nose and mouth portion of the mask only. I stuffed this piece and mounted it to the skeletons head using staples and glue. With the back half of the rubber mask, I trimmed about 1 1/2 inch from the front of the head portion making sure I didn't mess with the ears. I then mounted this back half to the skull leaving a bare skull exposed from the eyes sockets back about 2-3 inches, again using staples and glue. To mount the head I just stuck the Styrofoam head onto the wire and glued in place. (Note: When the dog comes out of the house, you will want him to be looking up, so mount the head accordingly).
Step 4. To mount this monstrosity to the air cylinder, I made a loop at the end of the wire used for the backbone. Then slid the loop over the bolt on the air cylinder an secured it with a nut and washer. For more stability, from the nut up about 3 inches I wrapped the wire to the bolt with duck tape. This will stabilize the dog but still give it enough motion to make it not look mechanical. All that is left now is to place the master piece in the dog house and run the airline out the back and add air and the scare is on....
