FCG Stand

The Flying Crank Ghost (FCG) is one of the most impressive effects you can build. It features an animated ghost, floating in the air, with graceful fluid movements. Originally designed by Doug Ferguson, numerous other folks have built variations, and sometimes offered them for sale.

In 2000, we wanted a Flying Crank Ghost, but were too rushed to build one, so we bought a commercial version, the "Phantom Flyer" from Iron Kingdom. Our mounting of the prop was as hurried as the acquisition.

The Need
Construction
Setup
Results

The Need

The Flying Crank Ghost (FCG) is well known in the haunt community. The FCG was originally the invention of Doug Ferguson. His web site has a lot of information on it (http://phantasmechanics.com). In this case I bought a commercial version, the "Phantom Flyer" from Iron Kingdom.

The ghost puppet of the FCG hangs below a motor assembly that must somehow be mounted "up above". If the ghost were made to appear in a window, we could hang the mechanism from the ceiling of the room behind the window. The Phantom Flyer even comes with three eye bolts pointing up, that are intended for mounting.

We wanted to display the ghost outdoors, towards the rear of the front yard, just in front of a wall. In 2000, we clamped a 2x4 to the wall, protruding over the wall, and hung the FCG mechanism to that.

In 2001, David built a quick and easy frame that allowed us to display the ghost higher up, without hooking it to the wall.

The stand takes the form of a tripod, made from EMT conduit. This is a rigid metal tubing that is used in construction to hide and protect electrical wiring. We got ours at Home Depot. The whole stand cost less than $5.

Construction

This is the FCG mechanism and the top of the stand.

The mechanism of the FCG has a metal frame with three mount points intended for suspension. We'll be pusing it up at these points instead of hanging it.

The stand is just a trio of metal legs. The thing that holds them together is the metal frame of the FCG itself.

The legs are not shown. They are simple pieces of metal conduit, with the ends pounded flat with a hammer and a hole drilled through them. Then they are bent to nearly a 90-degree angle.

[photo] Two of the mounting points on the Phantom Flyer are eye bolts screwed on the end of a simple rectangular metal tube. We just removed the nut from the eye bolt, put the leg on, and replaced the nut.

Note that there are two eye bolts. The one pointing up is intended for mounting. The one pointing down is used the guide the strings that control the ghost puppet. You don't want to mess with the latter.

[photo] One of the mounting points has two parallel pieces of metal tubing. Pick one, remove the nut, put on the leg, and replace the nut. Once again, avoid the eye bolt that is pointing down.

[photo] David sprays the FCG stand with a magic mixture that renders it completely invisible in the dark!

Note that the stand isn't very tall. That's because this is just the top section. Each leg has another piece of tubing, attached to it with couplers that are designed to join EMT tubing.

[photo] The EMT tubing couplers are easy to use: push a piece of tubing in each end, and tighten the screws. The result is plenty strong.

Each leg is one ten-foot stick of EMT cut in half for convenience in storage, transport, and assembly. If they were cut in thirds, they would fit into the original FCG box for storage.

The ten-foot conduit is probably just a bit taller than optimal in the niche where we had it, and shorting it by a foot would help hide the top by putting the neighbor's roof behind it instead of open sky.

Setup

When setting up, we placed the completed stand in the final position. We planned to drive three rebar stakes into the ground where the legs touched down, leaving about a foot sticking out of the ground, then lift the whole thing up and set it down on top of the stakes, so that the rebar would go up into the legs.

That was the plan, but when we set it up we decided that it didn't need the additional support of the rebar!

Results

Although the project is simple, fast, and inexpensive, it was also quite solid.

If you intend to leave the setup outdoors, you should protect the motor from moisture. David suggests:

I think a piece of black plastic film draped over the frame and tied there would be a good idea, to provide some small protection against unexpected rain, but also to disguise the outline of the mechanism if a viewer happens to get a glimpse of it silhouetted against the sky. As is, it screams "mechanical."

Thank you for visiting. Your comments are welcome.
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