UFO Invasion at Area 51- 2.0

If you are looking for something out of this world, you've come to the right place. These are the step-by-step instructions for building your own version of a full scale UFO Invasion at Area 51. It is a complete ground up redesign, rebuild and reboot of a Halloween display I had constructed a few years ago.

As always, the goal is to create a project that is highly realistic in a reasonable amount of time within a limited budget. My hope is that the results are reminiscent of a mini Universal Studios theme park attraction. I also want it to be durable, reusable, portable, able to set up by one person, and to take up a small amount of storage space. Since I have limited carpentry skills and only own basic tools, it shows that anyone can tackle this kind of build with a few weeks of spare time. Let me know if you have any questions.

Step 1 Features

The new and improved display includes a huge 13' wide by 9' tall lander with lighted cockpit dome, working engine exhaust, sound activated lasers and an emerging alien invasion force. There is a second 9' wide flying saucer which is 2/3 the scale of the mother craft (which hopefully makes it appear higher in the sky). It hovers, then lowers almost 7 feet before rising up again in sync with sounds effects. There are also two 30' lengths of landing lights blinking in a chase pattern bordering the runway. Finally, the scene is dressed with a custom Area 51 projected sign, yellow emergency beacon and green uplighting.

It's a giant leap forward compared to my static original display and it was really gratifying to do the overhaul to finally realize it's full potential.

 

Comments

[2010Area51]

Absolutely awesome results! Way to go!

[ThawedHead]

Another winner, Jerjod! Glad to see that you were able to improve upon an already cool set up!