Introduction: 8 Foot Inflatable Portable Parade Float

You will see a common thread with most of my Instructables, and that is there all "segway" related.
This is one of the challenges I give myself in creating that years parade float / Idea.
But you can easily adapt any of them to a Dolly mount, or get even more creative!

This Is Vampire Mickey, Originally I intended to be Inside the Inflatable, but I ran into safety issues
that I couldn't overcome and decided to tether and walk with him instead.


Step 1: The Build

The concept here was to have a REALLY BIG costume, something that would really stand out from the crowd, (but still be on my segway) So I bought a 8' inflatable vampire mickey from ebay ($80)
and cut the back Seam, and glued velcro strips onto the open seam, to act as a quick exit
and keep the air in (duh) - I used the Blower that came with the inflatable and made a air pump
station mounted on the side, along with a 12V car battery, and a Power converter
(that gave me 6 hrs of operation)

Step 2: The Air-station

I Built everything to sit on the side and be hidden by the inflatable (and black contact paper)


Step 3: The Battery

You can see the Battery and the Power converter mounted

Step 4: High Tech Viewer

Because I was behind Mickey, I built a 0 lux camera into the front, and a Viewscreen behind him,
so I could steer him. everything was powered with the same 12v battery

Step 5: Traveling

This is Mickey in travel mode, I was able to take the Subway to the parade


Step 6: The Finished Product

Mickey was a real crowd pleaser, at the parade.
you can see just HOW big he is with this set of pictures.