Halloween Builds
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ELIGHT
alloween decorations are an
important aspect of the
celebrations. With a little electronics
though you can take their spookiness
to unprecedented levels. Erin St.
Blaine has taken a leaf out of
Shakespeare’s Macbeth to create a
‘real’ eye of newt (hsmag.cc/0YaIQG).
The project runs off the Teensy microcontroller,
which controls the OLED display breakout board. Erin
grabbed the images of the newt eyeball from the web- she then photoshopped to her preferences. She’s
shared them, along with the code for the project and
detailed assembly instructions. The project uses a
photocell to make the pupils dilate in low light, which is
a nice touch. Erin’s also created a fabric case for the
prop, which hides all the electronics and displays the
eye through a cabochon. Before you set out,
remember that the project might look easy but
involves a lot of soldering.
Sometimes projects come
about accidentally. It wasn’t
until after John Thurmond had
bought an animatronic
triceratops skull on impulse,
did it occur to him that it
wasn’t particularly interesting.
John, who is a founder
member of the Guild of
Makers, then did what any
maker would do; he turned it
into a talking skull that greets
people (hsmag.cc/OLGWBz).
John ripped open the skull
and replaced most of its
H
Not content with scaring only a room full of
people, Otto Dieffenbach instead terrorises the
whole neighbourhood with his remote-controlled
flying witch (hsmag.cc/eaUnW0).
The flying witch is mainly made of Depron
foam pieces, along with some plywood. Otto
has cleverly incorporated the essential elements
of flight (lift and steering) in the design of the
witch. For instance, the cape controls the lift,
while the broom does the steering. The build
uses an electric motor and a 10-inch propeller
for propulsion. As you can imagine, the build
is fairly complicated and involves a fair bit of
woodworking, but it is well worth the effort.
Make sure you follow the instructions to the
letter, or else you’ll end up throwing away its
centre of gravity. Otto has created more than one
flying witch, and besides detailed instructions, he
has also shared the changes and improvements he’s
made to the build process.FLYING WITCH
If you lack the
skills to build
your own,
Otto also sells
disassembled
ready-to-fly kits
for about £1500You can use the Eye
of Newt as a creepy
prop, or add it to your
Halloween costume to
raise the chills
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