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For this section of our project you
will need one blow-mold skeleton. I
choose the slightly higher quality
ones sold by stores such as Target
rather than the infamous ones sold
at Big Lots. While they do look
alike, the Target skellies' plastic
is thicker and makes a better
quality finished product that will
hold up better in the rough
environment I usually put mine in.
Beside
the skeleton you will need 1/2" PVC
pipe cut to these lengths;
2) 3 1/4"
hips
2) 5" feet
3) 15"
shoulder / upper leg
2) 16"
lower leg
2) 18" arms
1) 23
1/2" spine / neck
You
will need also 1/2" PVC pipe
fittings;
5) 45 degree
bend shoulders / knee / ankles
3) 90 degree bend hips / knee
1)
T pelvis
This year I was fortunate enough to
run across a website by Merlin at
hauntershangout.com/home/smokeyjoe.asp
that showed a bright technique of
making a blow mold skeleton much
more poseable by fitting one with
an interior frame of PVC. We will
be using his great idea here. First
you will cut the arm ends out of
the torso large enough to send a
1/2" x 13" pipe through. You can
see here in the photo one of
 my
favorite tools. A die grinder. It
is air driven and spins at very
high speed a very thin grinding
wheel so you can use this like a
hack saw to cut metal or sharpen
steel or smooth out rough edges on
almost anything. Here we will use
it to cut a 3" wide swath out of
the middle of our wall creeper's
back. I also used it to chop his
neck off so we will be able to add
a lot of length and a bend to the
neck. Now we break out the heat gun
and put a bend in the middle of our
shoulder bone. This is to allow the
spine to travel up past it and come
out the neck area.
For the arms of our crawler we will
remove the ends of each arm bone so
we can send the 1/2" PVC pipe up
through. This slightly bulks out
the arm for less need of bulk later
besides giving us a flat area to
attach our bulking to so it won't
just spin around the bone.
The spine / neck will then be
heated with a heat gun and bent at
a pretty sharp angle, as our guy
will be looking down on the
victims. I would say about 45
degrees. You could also use a 45
degree joint here instead. The
total distance of the neck to end
is about 5 to 6 inches. Attach the
shoulder bone to the spine with a
single 1 1/4" #8 pan head screw. On
the ends of the shoulder bones
attach your 45 degree fittings with
one screw each, #8 x 3/4".
You can see the pelvic bone area
has been chopped off and a hole
drilled out of the center of it for
the spine to pass through. The T
fitting goes on with a single #8 x
3/4" pan head screw into the spine.
Slip your 3 1/4" pieces into each
end and fasten with one screw per
joint. If you cut your holes
perfectly aligned (easier said than
done, I know) you don't even need
to fasten the pelvic assembly to
the pipe fittings at all. Not shown
here are the 90 degree fittings
attached to each outside end of the
pelvic bones for the legs.
One leg of our crawler is lower and
more stretched out than the other.
Here is the right leg that we use a
45 degree fitting for the knee and
then using the heat gun, bend the
lower section of leg back about 15
degrees. The top length of leg is
15" and the shin bone is 16". For
the left knee just out of the
picture you will use a 90 degree
fitting and leave the shin
straight. Once again cut the ends
off of the leg bones and heat the
bone enough to pass the pipe
through. Be sure to get your bends
in the pipe correct before sliding
on the bone.
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