Introduction: Toxic Drain

By

A year ago last Halloween, the Spirit Halloween Stores had a Toxic Waste Drain with real running "waste" (water) for a backdrop for their zombie props.  The person I help build and run a local haunted house wanted one.  Unfortunately there were a few problems:

(1) It was not a for sale item, only one per store.  It was sold after Halloween for over $200!
(2) It was made of printed cardboard, our haunt is outside and cardboard is NOT usuable in wet fall weather!
(3) It was a bit bigger than our haunt could use.

SO I built one!

First I started with a solid wood frame the size and shape needed.  We wanted the finished prop to be about three feet tall, two feet wide and eighteen inches deep.  I framed in where the PVC "drain" pipe would emerge and then using 1/8 inch masonite I "skinned" the prop.
I then cut a hole for the PVC and mounted the pipe.  Then like in Hollywood, the Carpentry Department (ME) handed the prop over to the Art Department (the other person) for foam and paint.
While that was being done, I made the "Water Guide" by cuting and heat bending to shape 1/8 and 1/4 clear plastic and gluing them together.  After dry I tested the guide for leaks.
By then the "Art Department" was finished with decorating the Drain by adding foam on and around the PVC, carving a grate from foam and making a Toxic Zombie head and hands to be placed to look as if it were climbing out of the sluge.
All construction that was left to do was to cut a hole in the masonite under the grate for the Water Guide to fit into, mount it inside the PVC, hook up a hose and pump and test.
Finally we used Expanding Spray Foam to "glue" everything together and, with a little paint, make it look VERY TOXIC! 
On Halloween night the fluid tank was filled with Tonic Water colored with green food coloring.  Because Tonix Water glows under UV light, I built two, twenty LED UV lights and put one behind the head shining up through the Water Guide and the other in front shining on the entire Drain.
As you can see with our other Toxic  Waste props it looks great!  Even Billy (that's him in front, the one with the horns) liked it!