The Hangman

This was a challenging project! I got the plans for this guy from the Monster List last year but wasn't feeling up to the challenge. This year I hunkered down, printed them out and enlisted my dad to help me out. These ingenious plans come from the good folks at the Iron Kingdom, and you can check them out here. At the heart of this guy is a Saturn windshield wiper motor, a relatively small but strong motor that runs on 12V. His torso is actually a 5 gallon bucket, which houses the motor and a counterweight. When running, the offset balance of the counter weight causes the bucket to sway back and forth. Attach some 2 X 2 hinged legs along with some bungee cords and he appears to be kicking. Very simple premise, and an ingenious prop design, but I would say it is a slightly more advanced prop, thus the challenge. I might reproduce the plans here with some notes and suggestions that I learned along the way, so keep your eyes peeled for that. I'll also be posting some pictures of the inner workings and frame at some point. For now, check out the .avi videos below.