Building full-size horse skeleton - advice needed.

[KnightAsylum]

I have a relative who puts a ton of work every year in creating a haunted house at a center for retired vets, she really goes above and beyond and spends the whole year prepping because people visit it from all over the area. While I don't live close enough to help, she sometimes sends me questions, and this one I can not sure what the best answer is.
She needs to build a full-size skeleton of a horse (just one) I am not sure the best way for someone with artistic talent and experience in creating fancy displays, but no specific mold making experience to do this.
My initial thought is that carving the bones out of some type of foam and then attaching them to a wire armature would be the easiest way, but I don't know how to make the foam look like bone. Since she pays for this all out of her pocket I am trying to stay as cheap as possible, but the build is beyond any experience I have.

Any suggestions from the fine folks here?

 

[takevin]

You might want to see if she has a local horse renderer near by to get a real horse carcass? Probably pretty cheap!

 

[Jayn]

Real would be the cheapest, but you'd still have to mount it..
We have a very nice horse "zombie" at our haunt made from one of these:

http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/se...tions][style][]=&sSearch=Keyword+or+Product+#

The bone features were carved out and the thing 'skinned' with cheescloth and batting.

Museum quality bone replicas can be quite pricey:
http://www.boneclones.com/sc-125.htm

Maybe she could also contact local art teachers and approach them about having students construct it as an art project? It could be done as a 'paper-mache on a metal frame' project at a lower cost, but would take a lot of hours to do.

Also, send her over to this forum to see if any other haunt owners have one that they would like to get rid of:

http://hauntworld.com/haunted_house_forums/

(That forum is one of the main hang-outs for haunt owners)

 

[RangerAndy]

Scott,

This is quite an ambitious project! As takevin mentioned you can check out that route but having worked in taxidermy a bit, getting, moving and cleaning such a big animal can be quite overwhelming and disgusting for a novice. Make sure to check out local laws and if you're not in a rural environment I wouldn't attempt it at all!

Making a horse skeleton that would stand up to display and handling is going to be tricky. I would suggest a strong wire armature first and then using some spray expanding foam ... just a thought. Use lots of reference and search for Halloween how-to projects. Here are a few pictures and links which might help:

http://www.teambac.com/web_hall/headless.html

http://www.dappercadaver.com/horse-skeleton-pi-1950.html

http://www.indymogul.com/post/5618/wesleys-weekly-how-to-fake-bones

Andy

 

[Mostly Fantasy]

You could buy some rigid foam blanks from the nearest Hobby Lobby/local equivalent that are close to the right size, and carve them down. A light coat of fiberglas or urethane would help strengthen the foam, but you'd have to do a compatability test first to make sure the foam doesn't melt from the resin.