I, like most of you absolutely LOVE my FCG.  (Flying Crank Ghost)

It was very disappointing when Dayton discontinued their 6rpm gear motor.  I do think though that a 7rpm motor, or something close to it will be ok, and actually invite it. 

I would like to talk about some experiences I've had and hope that it helps a couple of you.

Firstly, I did.............run TWO FCG's from one rig.  It took me all day.  I counterweighted the driving ghost and used eye bolts on the ceiling, rigged it to the other ghost and flew them together.  One went up, one went down.  Basically, one ghost was the driver for the other one.

Don't do it.  I did it to prove to myself that I could because people said I couldn't.  Trust me, if you have this idea, there is only ONE way to do it and I'll try to post it at some point.  Running it with a typical rig won't cut it.  It will work, but it just won't look right.

AGE EFFECTS:  If you overspray your styro head with UV paint, it will damage the styro.  This is good, but don't over do it.  You can create craters that are too large. As the paint eats the styro, you can get the effect you want if you take your time and spray what you think you need and see what the effect is.  My ghost has a very aged look.  I have the pic in my gallery.  The cute little FCG I did isn't used, I just have it in the basement.
You can make your ghost look very weathered if you age the stryro head with spray paint. 

PAINT OR DETERGENT UV EFFECT: Detergent effects have to do with taking the cheesecloth and drowing it in detergent such as ERA or liquid TIDE.  After you get it all soapy you can ring it out and place it DIRECTLY in the dryer.  Once it's dry you can take it out and pull it all apart gently.  It will glow like mad!

I don't like it though.  It glowed a little too much for me and seemed that it was only good for DISTANCE viewpoints.  If I had a Haunted House where there was a lot of fog, a distance to view the ghost I would use this method.  For close ups I would use blue UV spray paint.  You can pick it up or order it from your local paint supply company.  It glows very nicely, not too much, not too little. 

Remember, if you use the detergent method it's VERY BRIGHT........  My one ghost lights up the entire room under a blacklight.  I would only use it when there was a ton of fog, or viewing distance.

WOOD RIG vs ALUMINUM RIG:  Doesn't matter, all work well.

LINES FROM THE PULLY TO THE GHOST:  I used a small but heavy twine.  Reason being, I thought that fishing line might bulk up.  I spray painted the lines and the rig itself JET BLACK.  It's durable and it seems to ride well within the pully mechs.

LUBRICATING THE SPINDLE:  This has to do with the spindle you created at the end of the crank.  Believe it or not, I found that using CHAINSAW oil.  I figured that the oil was heavy duty enough to withstand heavy friction.  It's something I've used ever since.  I'm sure that everything else works too, but this seemed to work for me. 

HOW BIG SHOULD THE BLACKLIGHT BE:  This depends on the ghost and it's distance from the blacklight.  I have mine mounted in front of and way above the ghost, but close enough to light it up just right.  If I had to throw UV from a distance, I would use a larger one.

WHAT CAN INTERFERE WITH THE EFFECT:  Anything in the room that will glow.  My first year, I had everything ready and hit the ghost with the blacklight.  EVERYTHING in the room glowed.  I had to even take the curtains down.  Covering up the windows with black garbage bags or plastic is a good idea.  You don't want anyone to see how you constructed your ghost.  I don't allow flashlights in the farmhouse at my parties either.  Always some knucklehead showing everyone else the mech. 

Hope this helps some of you, these tips aren't etched in stone, there are hundreds of ways to do this project, but I found that these methods worked for me and my application.

Thanks for the pointers.  A FCG is on my do do list and any improvments/pointers are VERY much appreciated.  Interesting notes about paint/detergent - I'll being taking that little gem of info into account when the time comes.

Great post Pete!

I've found it much easier to wash and dry the cheesecloth when I put it in lingerie bags.  Yup, that's what they're called, little mesh bags with a zipper.

They will keep the cheesecloth from getting all tangled in the washing machine innards.  If your washing several 'sets' of cheesecloth clothes, you can use several bags to keep everything from getting tangled together.

They're cheap, too! ;-)

In the past I've skipped drying the cheesecloth in the dryer, since that would make it that much more tangled.  I might try it this year.  Might be easier.

I used gun oil for lubrication of the spindle and pulleys.  Worked like a charm.

CS

Well, I figured that with the constant up and down movement, combined with a very light ghost might not travel right in the pullys.  By using something thicker, it would add some weight to the unit and cause me to be confident that the ghost would rise and fall without kind of hanging up because of the lack of weight.

I guess you could add weight to the ghost but I like the way it moves when it's built without any additional weight.

The only way I would counterweight a ghost at this point is if the ghost itself was very heavy.

I'm not saying that using fishing line 20lb test is wrong.  Most people use it I believe.  I just went with the really thick string.  It was also easy for me to tie and untie when it was time to take the ghost down.  Once you tie the fishing line, it pretty much needs to be cut.

I don't understand this ''counter weight'' that people use..i'm not sure how it is attached..is there any site that has a good picture of this because i havn't found anything to really see how to add it..

On my FCG, I used the newest Dayton replacement motor and it works great.  For the lines running from the rig to the ghost, I used Spiderwire and added black snap swivels to the ends of the line.  Made for easy hookup to the rig, and were easy to hide on the ghost.