nuclear reactor

Bluefey

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We are doing zombie prom - I was trying to come up with a really cool way to have a nuclear reactor "explosion" when Jonny dies - I don't really want to use fog - I was hoping to have some kind of glowing green ooze spilling out of it - but my original plan was to paint the reactor on a flat - or maybe cut it out of foam.

halp! ;)
 
A relatively easy way to make a glowing liquid (that is also fairly non-toxic) is to use regular highlighters. Most are water based, so the pigment will dissolve nicely in water and glow under a blacklight. Making it thicker than water would require some creativity, and I haven't played with that before. Maybe add some gelatin? Cornstarch? Obviously you want something that's still going to be somewhat easy to clean up.
Using the blacklights and other fluorescent pigments will also give you the opportunity to have other set pieces or costumes change their appearance when the reactor blows.
 
Okay, I never thought this would come up here though I was introduced to this product by a CB-member--but one way to make a liquid more viscous or "slimy" is to use the veterinarian obstetrical product: American Livestock Supply Inc. - J-Lube Powder.

Google J-Lube for the FAQ for other uses and further instructions.:oops:
 
Yea, I think UV would be the way to go for the glowing factor. Might you use foam? (Thinking more of the Mr. Bubble than the styro variety here) and use highlighters in the same way? It might be easier to clean up, but still move and creep down flat in a similar way. And you could construct manually operated 'cannons' that could propel it through space in ways that something more viscous might not. Depending on how explosive you want your explosion of course . . .
 
I'm skeptical about highlighter liquid glowing. Do a quick test before you count on that idea. Wildfire Water Dye is the product that a big time production would use. It's $28 for a pint which tints 275 gallons of water. Check out this picture from their site of glowing "water curtains"
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Secondly there is the problem of getting enough UV light on stage for the stuff to glow. If you can black out the whole set and just fire up the black lights then you won't have a problem but as soon as you start using other lights it gets REALLY tricky. You can't just use the cheap black light lamps at the Halloween store. You need some serious firepower to really make stuff glow. Which probably means renting. This trick is going to get expensive quick.

I do like the idea of a thickener... but being horrified by Dereks' product, I would go for a food grade thickening agent. There are lots of older people out there who choke on liquids. They use a thickening agent that turns a glass of water into clear pudding. You should be able to find several options at your local drug store.

A cheaper and probably just as effective approach would be colored lights sealed under glass with a thick oozy clear liquid on top. The clear thick oozy liquid would pick up the color and look great (be careful about having good ventilation for the heat of the light).

Cheapest/easiest option would be thickening agent, some green food coloring, and forget trying to make it glow from below.
 
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The 4' fluorescent blacklight tubes available from places like Menards and Home Depot work surprisingly well, and output a fairly high UV to visible light ratio. I've used four of them in two fixtures to effectively cover a 15'x30' stage with no other light sources. As Gaff mentioned, adding more visible light will decrease their effectiveness.
The Wildfire product looks pretty great. I'll definitely be adding that to my mental inventory of neat tricks.
 
You could look into chemical luminescence, basically the stuff in glowsticks. If you only need to do it once or twice you could just break up some glowsticks but if you need to do it more than that check this out and get in contact with your chemistry department for the ingredients.
 
If you just want to add it to water in tubes here are some additives you can use

For blue use tonic water with quinine


Vitamin A and the B vitamins thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin are all very flourescant if you crush a vitamin b 12 cablet in vinegar it will glow yellow

if you take spinach and grind it up and put it in alcohol and then filter it the remaining "mash" will glow a bright blood red

antifreeze also will glow

there are commercial dies that will glow under uv but the above are home grown


Sharyn
 
Thanks Sharyn,
That's an awesome home brew effect collection!
 
do a search on the Internet, you can find a recipe on the famous nickelodeon slime. That will definitely glow and it is very thick. I forget the recipe, but i was doing a thing last summer with a church and they mixed up about 100 gallons of it. It was not much to make, and i think one of the base materials was flower.
 
Your welcome, the joys of being in Alaska, ;-)))
Sharyn



Ah- now that makes sense!

A number of friends from church and I spend two weeks outside Soldotna at Solid Rock Bible Camp each June fixing up the cabins and other maintenance-type tasks. Beautiful country and a hardy people, to say the very least!

Where-abouts are you located?
 
...there is the problem of getting enough UV light on stage for the stuff to glow. If you can black out the whole set and just fire up the black lights then you won't have a problem but as soon as you start using other lights it gets REALLY tricky. You can't just use the cheap black light lamps at the Halloween store. You need some serious firepower to really make stuff glow. Which probably means renting. This trick is going to get expensive quick.

I forget who makes them, but when we do UV we use several instruments that look like fresnels and have 500W lamps (and, no, they weren't cheap).
 
I forget who makes them, but when we do UV we use several instruments that look like fresnels and have 500W lamps (and, no, they weren't cheap).

Phil, we use Wildfire Long Throw 400 watts, and Wildfire Effects Master, Standard 4'. We have 12 of the Long Throws and 6 of the Effects Masters.
 
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Phil, we use Wildfire Long throw 400 watts, and Wildfire Effects Master, Standard 4'. We have 12 of the Long Throws and 6 of the Effects Masters.


Thanks for setting me straight. ;)
 
I don't have my gel book in front of me, but there are a few rosco gels that will slightly react toward the UV spectrum (IE make stuff glow). we used it in my undergrad to make UV makeup glow on stage with out having a strong black light look. Unfortunately i wasn't directly involved with that part so the details in my memory are sketchy but i know it can be done. check with a gel book and a flash light and you'll find the right ones.
 

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