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I was afraid of the building part of the inside of this thing, because I had
no idea of what it was I should build, as the instructions for this were
entirely written text at that time with no illustrations and this is my very first foray into
making anything operate off of air power. So. This picture should be worth a
million
words. If its not, I'll add narration. ;~> The instructions written
by Carl Chetta and his haunting partner Larry Lund recommend using two-by-fours for the construction of the
armature of this. I offer the alternative of using 3/4" plywood. If
you have a table saw at your disposal, ply is much easier to work with. If not,
just use this as directions for your use of 2x4's and calculate the different
lengths needed between the thickness' of the two materials.
I did not have the foresight to add the piece of wood you see here
in the blueprint extending
beyond the sides toward the back of the can while initially building this, so
this piece was added later. You may as well add it now. The 3 5/8"
extension will be used for the throw limiter that will be screwed on. More on
that later. For now, simply build the structure seen in the
blueprint and slide
it down inside the 45 gallon can. If you have used the Rubbermaid can, this will
fit like a glove. Simply screw through the can into the sides at the top and
again toward the bottom of the can to secure the armature. Notice we use
L-brackets for the attachment of the floor on this instead of mounting through
the sides. This is so that the floor may at any time be removed or adjusted if
needed at a later time. A good example of this need arising would be ten years
from now the bike pump blows up and the only replacement pumps you can find are
all 1" longer than this one. I suggest using strictly screws and no nails
in this due to this very reason. I adjusted every part of this before I was
completely through with the project.
Here we see the guts of the monster
taking shape. First I have added the
heart assembly as shown in a previous photo to the floor of the armature.
I attached the bike pump with four mending plates that are 2" long by
laying the plate over each of the swiveling feet and placing screws through and
pinching the base down. This proved plenty secure. You will need to measure to
the center of the can for the attachment of this, since the trash can's lid will
need to be directly centered over the pump handle for
balance.
In this initial build I used an air
horn for the "voice" of the prop,
but later I retrofit it with a
screaming voice and the complete
update is included at the end of
this how-to. I purchased a pair of truck air horns that came supplied with their own 12V DC air
pump motor from Pep Boys for $25.00 and just used the larger of the two horns to
mount in my heart assembly (not
shown) as mentioned earlier. We attach this in-line
with the door closer which gets the
most air pressure. Using a 1" L-bracket, screw to the side. I'm glad I
thought to put a needle valve in-line before the horn, as this %^&@# is
louder than 5 year-old twins on new-years' morning and you will want to turn
it off while you are tweaking your
project! Remember though after all
is said and done, you will have to
readjust your settings to
accommodate the extra air use after
opening this valve up for actual
use. Note the power strip mounted
on the right to supply power to the
air valve and strobe light. You
will be able to use this switch
later to test the air cylinders.
At the top left of the photo you see the air cylinder for the monster's arm. We'll
talk about this later in the odyssey.
 Next let's add some illumination to our jumper's face. The strobe light above is the
perfect size to tuck in, in front of the mask of your monster when in the
disengaged position. This is a Radio Shack "Mini Strobe / Flasher"
Cat. No. 42-3048 that I picked up for about $29.00. At first I simply installed
 this on a straight brace rail between the two sides
of the armature, only to realize later that this wouldn't leave ANY room
for the monster's mask..... To mount this in a sturdy manner, I scribed in a brace
that would follow the contour of the can. After making sure this fits, simply
attach with L-brackets as shown ten inches below the top edge of the
frame.
 At the top left of this photo is the wood strut that your monster's arm
will pivot from. This is 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 15 3/4", and in this
case is solid oak. You can use a two-by-two just as well. Notice that it is
mounted on a slight angle to accentuate the "jumping up" effect as
well as jumping out at the victim. You will need to play with the positioning of
this, so be certain to use screws to attach this to the side of your choice. You
will be screwing the screen door air cylinder to the back of the strut later. First
let's attach the PVC pipe / arm.
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