RGB LED DMX Followspot / Spotlight Recommend

RonHebbard said:

@TimMc Are you complaining, reminiscing, or bragging about the depth of your memories???
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

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I confess to a certain nostalgic fondness. The memories may, or may not, be real... but we're all about imaginary things, eh?

The side view is upside down. This is a follow spot i built for WICKED when it sat down in San Francisco for 2 years. Position was a side follow spot FOH just on the house side of the curtain line. Almost like a truss spot. This has a 50 degree but WICKED used a 10 degree with a board controlled color changer. Theres a handle on the left that controls a powerstat mounted under the barrel and the right handle controls the iris. There is 2 clear tubes at the rear that have a small bulb that travels up and down when you turn the handles to indicate iris size and dimmer intensity. You can set the bulbs at predetermined marks you make with a tab of tape and can snap it on with the BO switch or bring the spot on by rotating the dimmer handle. The handles need 180 degrees of rotation to operate the iris and powerstat full range, 0 to 100 percent on the powerstat an a dot to full open on the iris. It takes about 30 mins to put on a S4 leko. You need to remove the shutters and there is no other modifications or holes to drill or anything else to the leko. It will operate with any size barrel and can be perfectly balanced. I call it the SNIPER SPOT. There is only 1 completed at this time. It has been in use at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco since it was used on WICKED years ago. The controls have a great feel to them. You can use the City Theatrical color changer or go with a dmx color scroller. I was going to make a 10 button scroller controller to mount on it, but never took it that far. Every operator who has used it loves it. While I was prototyping it I had 2 or 3 operators give me feedback and incorperated their input. Fun to build, more fun to operate. Compact, nimble, and with a telrad deadly accurate.

ijvpjr said:

The side view is upside down. This is a follow spot i built for WICKED when it sat down in San Francisco for 2 years. Position was a side follow spot FOH just on the house side of the curtain line. Almost like a truss spot. This has a 50 degree but WICKED used a 10 degree with a board controlled color changer. Theres a handle on the left that controls a powerstat mounted under the barrel and the right handle controls the iris. There is 2 clear tubes at the rear that have a small bulb that travels up and down when you turn the handles to indicate iris size and dimmer intensity. You can set the bulbs at predetermined marks you make with a tab of tape and can snap it on with the BO switch or bring the spot on by rotating the dimmer handle. The handles need 180 degrees of rotation to operate the iris and powerstat full range, 0 to 100 percent on the powerstat an a dot to full open on the iris. It takes about 30 mins to put on a S4 leko. You need to remove the shutters and there is no other modifications or holes to drill or anything else to the leko. It will operate with any size barrel and can be perfectly balanced. I call it the SNIPER SPOT. There is only 1 completed at this time. It has been in use at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco since it was used on WICKED years ago. The controls have a great feel to them. You can use the City Theatrical color changer or go with a dmx color scroller. I was going to make a 10 button scroller controller to mount on it, but never took it that far. Every operator who has used it loves it. While I was prototyping it I had 2 or 3 operators give me feedback and incorperated their input. Fun to build, more fun to operate. Compact, nimble, and with a telrad deadly accurate.

Click to expand...

FWIW, the first 2 national tours of WICKED! eventually referred to the DS tower spots as "snipers." Your name stuck!

The side view is upside down. This is a follow spot i built for WICKED when it sat down in San Francisco for 2 years. Position was a side follow spot FOH just on the house side of the curtain line. Almost like a truss spot. This has a 50 degree but WICKED used a 10 degree with a board controlled color changer. Theres a handle on the left that controls a powerstat mounted under the barrel and the right handle controls the iris. There is 2 clear tubes at the rear that have a small bulb that travels up and down when you turn the handles to indicate iris size and dimmer intensity. You can set the bulbs at predetermined marks you make with a tab of tape and can snap it on with the BO switch or bring the spot on by rotating the dimmer handle. The handles need 180 degrees of rotation to operate the iris and powerstat full range, 0 to 100 percent on the powerstat an a dot to full open on the iris. It takes about 30 mins to put on a S4 leko. You need to remove the shutters and there is no other modifications or holes to drill or anything else to the leko. It will operate with any size barrel and can be perfectly balanced. I call it the SNIPER SPOT. There is only 1 completed at this time. It has been in use at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco since it was used on WICKED years ago. The controls have a great feel to them. You can use the City Theatrical color changer or go with a dmx color scroller. I was going to make a 10 button scroller controller to mount on it, but never took it that far. Every operator who has used it loves it. While I was prototyping it I had 2 or 3 operators give me feedback and incorperated their input. Fun to build, more fun to operate. Compact, nimble, and with a telrad deadly accurate

TimMc said:

FWIW, the first 2 national tours of WICKED! eventually referred to the DS tower spots as "snipers." Your name stuck!

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No kidding! I haven't done WICKED again since then. I was a member of the electrics crew at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco under Jim Wright. Unfortunately we had "creative differences" at some point. I left and have returned to working as a foreman for a special effects coordinator I came up in the bussiness with back in the seventies. Hey if you are the guy that started this conversation, have you tried a 10 or 5 degree lense barrel on your S4 Follow Spot? It kinda goes against reason, but they did/do use a 10 degree on WICKED which was only shooting about 100 to 150 feet. It might punch up the light output a bit. Plus the variac or powerstat can punch up the voltage to 130% at the expense of the bulbs life of course. Hotter but risky. I was even considering trying a JOKER LIGHT conversion kit for a S4. But because of the light source you would have to use a douser instead of a dimmer. But the punch outa the S4 is significant! Also dont know how long your color would last. Thats pretty cool about them useing the sniper reference. FYI Gary at CITY THEATRICAL did an interview with me about the Sniper Spot when I had just finished it for his monthly news letter. He heard about form a Head Electrician from another show who I was friends with back in the day. His name escapes me now. Word of mouth extends coast to coast. Part of me misses working as local crew on the touring shows. And honest to God, I'd gladly do another 600 and something preformances of WICKED. I never got sick of that show! I tell people if you see only one b-way show in your life, see WICKED!