Mickey Light Post Question ... Taking a Different Route

[LarryJ]

O.K. I'm posting this in a new thread since I've final got off my duff and am making the MLP and have a question. When I'm done I will post in the monster MLP thread. Basically I'm making a portable one and a top for our lamp post in front of our house. I liked the idea of Shan-man to get lights into both the face and the ears. I took it one step further and have designed and am making the head where all three globes which used Candelabra sockets and the light from each ear is confined to that ear so internally nothing can bleed light to another globe. Also, the ears are removable with three screws as is the complete head.

Now that I have probably confused every one here is the question. I thought it would be nice to like for Halloween to have the head orange and maybe the ears a different color. Normally they will be white using CFL mini bulbs and with the Candelabra sockets I can use colored X-mas bulbs like the C-9. With our upcoming trip over X-mas this year what colors should the head and ears be. I'm thinking combos of Red, Blue, Green in either two or a three color combination. If you could have this option for X-mas what would you like to see ... A blue Head and two Green Ears or a Blue Head and one Green and one Blue ear or some other combination.

Thanks and look for my most unusual MLP if you are at FW around the full hookup sites between 16 Dec 2009 and 1 Feb 2010.

TIA,

Larry

 

[liv luvs disney]

Being the simple and traditional person that I am, my vote would be a red head with both ears being green. A white head with red ears might not be bad either. I don't like the idea of two different colored ears, but that's just me. As much as I love blue, red and green are still my favorite colors for Christmas.

 

[Tnbob]

I made mine with removable ears also, I used screws tapped thru the ears lip to tighten against the inside of the radius of the large globe. It pulled the ears down tight and then I just sealed them so water can't get in but can be removed if sometime I need to. I was going to light each ear by itself and had the candleabra bases to do it but for this one I just used the main CFL in the middle and put it high in the middle because I was afraid the wiring would show a shadow in the big globe. I am going to try it on the next one, let us know how yours works out and if it shows.

 

[des1954]

I think a white bulb in the head and red in the ears might look nice. Did you make a collapsable light post?

 

[LarryJ]

I think a white bulb in the head and red in the ears might look nice. Did you make a collapsable light post?

The actual post is a regular Aluminum light post with the cross bar. I saw a white one on sale at Lowes down from around $28 or so to just under $18 and bought it. Unfortunately I cut off about 4 inches to use to try and find top fittings so I was stuck with it. I say that because as things evolved the wife wanted it black ($4.59 for the paint) and I wanted an electric eye with a plug powered by it for things like lighted garland etc. The electric eye was around $8 and I will have to have my additional power plug just hanging out. For around $32 I could have purchased a black post like mine with an electric eye and water resistant electric outlet already on it so I messed up because of all the extra work I'm having to do to get what I eventually decided I wanted.

I'm currently trying to decide if I should make the head completely removable which is easy with my set up and would only require a plug to assemble since the head will be mounted to an aluminum fitting that installs real snug about 4" into the top of the post and I could easily install a thumb screw if needed since the fitting is aluminum and can be tapped for a machine screw. I think that is what I will do and with the X-mas tree stand for a base it can be transported in three sections .. the base, the post, and the head.

I'm leaning toward seeing how the white head and red ears would look and when I'm done I will make up an album with everything in it along with some pics of the various colors I have tried.

Larry

 

[LarryJ]

I'm still waiting on my 12" globes for Mickey's head, but have made an album and posted some pics and descriptions along with costs in the captions. Everything is done, but making the head so I thought I would post here so if there are any specific questions I could answer them in this thread and then post in the main thread with a link to this one.

MICKEY LAMP POST.

I'm really pleased with how this is turning out and figure final cost to me will be just over $100, but I did have some stuff on hand already like cords, base, vinyl boards, etc.

Larry

 

[LarryJ]

My two 12" heads came yesterday and today I completed my portable post and am pleased with the way it all came out. Below is a pic of Mickey ready for this Xmas at FW. I had to change the candalabra sockets in the ears to regular ones since I could only get the red CFL locally with regular sockets and is not really a problem.

This is the MLP broken down into sections for travel ...

For the one at home I will be using regular sockets and will post a pic of Holloween Mickey when it's done.

Here is our second Mickey head now in front of our house for Halloween ...

Larry

 

[Twingle]

Very cool - thank you so much for sharing!