Special Effects at PIP

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

If you don't score someone to help you with that, I have a guy that does pyrotechnics for movies and ACW events that may be willing to offer his widom somehow.

Bo

[Capt. Sterling]

So in regards to the secondary "hits" (meaning when shoot a cannon moments later you have a ball of dirt shoot in the air.) Does anyone have any experience with that? I could try to see if I have any contacts in the industry and see what they say. I'm sure we could come up with something.

As a matter of fact our Croaker has experience from WWII events... or at least he knows someone who does... I shall contact him and find out directly... if so, he can teach you in the trade if you like...

Thank you Bo... if he would be willing to teach what he knows as well, it would be greatly appreciated...

[Jack Roberts]

That would be great! Although the more research I do it seems I would need a pyro license in order to make anything that blows up. We might have to go a pneumatic route. I'd rather not go that way just because of trying to lug an air compressor out to the field and charge up the cannons but it would be safer.

[Commodore Swab]

How about simply burrying some mortars like crudbeard did?

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

I will talk to him and see what he might be willing to do. We are constructing and burning the town of Dayton, Missouri in March, and he is on the project. He was almost my Father in law... I dated his oldest daughter for a couple of years. If anyone has seen "Ride With The Devil", that is one of his bigger credits.

Bo

[Capt. Sterling]

I will talk to him and see what he might be willing to do. We are constructing and burning the town of Dayton, Missouri in March, and he is on the project. He was almost my Father in law... I dated his oldest daughter for a couple of years. If anyone has seen "Ride With The Devil", that is one of his bigger credits.

Bo

Love the flick! appreciate the help as always!

[willie wobble]

as far as secondary hits from morter shots i did bring down some ninja smoke ,wrap it in a plastic bag insert a fuse , light and throw . at last minute i joined the cannon crew with my cannon and take the time to make up some smoke packs, they are smoke and glitter in different color but no explosion. next year i'll try to be ahead of the game.

[Jack Roberts]

I would like to remote fire them. So maybe we can get some electric matches.

Fire them using that. Run some along the ground and such to a central location. Fire them from there. Question are they water proof? Then throw a couple in the moat to get the return fire.

[willie wobble]

I've been doing pyro for the ymca indian guides with my son for the last 4 years and still have all my fingers. have been lighting the big ceremony fire by remote lighting from deep cycle battery by running wire out to where you want the charge to go off through a junction switch box it can be done , electric matches are becoming harder to find nicrom wire is what i've been using

[Captain Jim]

For the sake of simplicity wouldn't a nail board be a better option? Also it would be cool if we could do a full rake of the pyrate's position on the last volley from the fort.

[Jack Roberts]

I would like to plan on something like that. Give us better options on timing and different positions.

[Harry]

I will ask my brother-in-law next week. I'm heading out to Arizona for the holidays. He's a retired Fed ATF man and has a passion of blowing up things . I'm sure he can come up with a doable solution that won't cost an arm or a couple of legs.

[Jack Roberts]

Or have thrown in jail as terrorists!

[Iron Jon]

I have some surplus M18 yellow smoke grenades that I use for training. I was going to bring them along this year but forgot them at the office. I'll donate them to whoever ends up being the pyro man.

[Misson]

I think I'm gonna take the easy way out on the gibbet. I found one for sale cheaper than I could probably make it (and with fewer shipping weight and no design time issues) on-line. For those interested:

http://www.eccentricgryphons.com/collapsible-cage.html

Then I plan to paint it with texture paint and add rust colors to give it that aged look. I can't quite figure what it's made of - I'm guessing it's some sort of polymer. (Anyone got any old period correct clothing they'd be willing to part with? It doesn't matter the condition - I plan to tear parts of it anyhow for optimal grisly viewing.)

[michaelsbagley]

I don't want to hijack this thread or take it off in a completely different direction...

But I have had this link sitting in my favourites for what seems forever... I thought I might have gotten this link from here, but on going back through the thread, I didn't see it (on a quick scan)...

Anyways, here's the link, it's kind of a cool and cheap effect, but it may be a little too graphic for a family oriented show... I leave this now in the hands of those who like and work with special effects, and those who have been to PiP already and know if something like this would be appreciated or not...

By the way, that is a really cool gibbet Misson!

[Misson]

I wonder what's too graphic for a family oriented show anymore... half the shows on TV seem to be about really graphic autopsies and murder recreations during prime time. (Well, that's what I've heard - I actually haven't watched prime time in several years.)

I wondered if the decrepit skeleton was too much, but I saw the following at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Nova Scotia when I was hunting for gibbet photos:

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/events/pirates.html

You can't see the guy in the gibbet real well in the photo, but I copied the pic and played around with it and, well...here he is:

Mine would be a little more bizarre, because I plan to give him eyes. He'd probably be something along these lines:

Although if that looks to be too much for PiP, someone please let me know. If I can't make him like that, I probably won't make him. (And I really, really don't want to spend all that money on the gibbet only to not be able to use it. Not to mention all the time it will take to do the skeleton up.)

[hurricane]

I have no problems with it. My son saw an episode of an autopsy on NCIS that was far more graphic than a gibbet. He didn't think twice about it. There is a difference between graphic portrayals to scare or shock and one that teaches history. This is history... we didn't make this up and I see no problem having it at PiP. I would add the educational portion like the photo show of what it was and how it was used.

We must be cautious not to sanitize history.

As George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

-- Hurricane

[Dutchman]

misson,

we have been using a gibbet for years and have only had one or two disgruntled parents. most of the time the kids are leading the charge to get their pictures taken next to it. If you recall, one was lifted from the festival saturday night- so make sure its well anchored.

[Misson]

Personally, I want to hang him over the moat (or whatever it is) surrounding the fort so that he can be seen on the path to the Archangel and Mercury camps. I don't know if they can do that or not, but that seems ideal to me. You'd be hard-pressed to steal him from there.

[Raphael Misson]

I think I'm gonna take the easy way out on the gibbet. I found one for sale cheaper than I could probably make it (and with fewer shipping weight and no design time issues) on-line. For those interested:

http://www.eccentricgryphons.com/collapsible-cage.html

Well, something happened to their website. Being intrepid, I googled them and found their phone number - (702) 871-4912. Turns out their web hosting company got bought out and their site got trashed. While the link info sounded forboding, I, still being intrepid, decided to risk it and ordered a gibbet over the phone, paying with PayPal at their suggestion. (Which made me a tad more comfortable.) I will report any further progress back. (Eccentric Griffens is a small company - also being involved in a small company I was sympathetic to the problems they're experiencing. I hope my trust is not misplaced. ) Heck, I'll probably put a page on my website about creating a Bucky in a gibbet if all goes well.

[Mission]

Well, the gibbet cage is done and now it is disassembled. However, I am undertaking the work on the skeleton's skin this weekend. However, since there probably won't be a pic of the finished setup (as I am not reassembling the cage because it has 5000 separate screws and nuts), I thought I'd post photos of the thing as we used it in Columbus in September:

Here are some close-ups of the paint work on the cage without the skeleton in it:

[Cpt Sophia M Eisley]

Wow. You should show that to door-to-door salesmen, if they happen to be a nuisance.

[Mission]

I could hang it on my porch, but it'd probably get stolen.

And all door-to-door salesmen are a nuisance. If I want to obtain something (including a voter's registration or a political candidate), I'll seek it out myself.

[blackjohn]

Brilliant!

I absolutely love it!

(The Pirate Brethren used to have one, and now that it is gone I really do miss it.)