Hi made a post over in the boxes section. Curious what you guys think about gimmick being noticed in videos when you do not have the blink factor from the noise of the balloon.
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......orum=8&0

I apparently don't think it's as bad as you think it is.

This is a cheaply made prop - I have one and I spent $79.00 for it. When I perform it, I use a balloon which is about 3 times larger in diameter than the one in the video. I also tape a thumb tack to the end of my finger, using a band-aide. This way if the gimmmick doesn't pop the balloon (which happens about half the time), I can pop it with my finger.

If you're going to video this, plan on doing a lot of takes.

Jim

I would not be making the video. I would be in the video which means much less control. The film company called with out much time to change to something better.

Jim I do like that you think it is not that bad but also wonder what makes this CHEAP? Cheap in that you have had to repaint, or nail it back together? That is cheap in that you paid little for it or cheap in that is is falling apart?

Why do you think that balloon is a 50/50 shot on popping and when that happens how does a tack help since isn't the gimmick exposed at that point?

Thanks

It's inexpensively made. It does what it's designed to do.

The 50/50 balloon pop is from experience. When I open the top, if I don't immediately hear the pop, I poke the end of the balloon with my finger.

Jim

I use this to produce my bearded dragon live lizard. I use a needle taped to the end of a magic wand when I lift the lid I pop the balloon. Works well and the big lizard looks great behind the bars. I have never had any ask about the balloons remnants.

Do you use the MM version?

Hmmm it seems not many trust the popper in this box if so.

Isn't it scary for the animal?

Jim

My lizard does not seem to be phased by it. I can tell when he is agitated and he does not seem to even flinch. It spooked my rabbit so I use a bunny box for his production at the end of the show. I do not trust the popper at all. If it works 90% of the time that is still 10% too little. With the wand it is 100% and works and if it works that's all I ask.

Agreed .. if the popper worked 90% of the time that would be a miracle. I like the idea of the needle on the end of the wand - this would be easier than sticking a band-aid on my finger before the trick.

Jim

But can the timing be easily worked out. Pop then LIFT the door or does it have to be POP>LIFT at the same time if using a wand. I coudl see a delay in the brain when first trying that out. I could see having a slow brain day and you pop and lift the door a little too late to solve the problem. But at least the wand is the focus at the front.

With the MM version, I found you need to sharpen the popping needles. There are three of them. Just get a small file and file them for about 30 seconds each, and they'll be much, much sharper and pop just fine! I didn't discover this until months of 50/50 balloon popping! In fact, I sharpened them over two years ago and I don't think I've sharpened them again.

As far as startling the animal, I don't know why it doesn't startle them more, but they don't really seem phased by it too much. I think it happens so fast, even for them, it's hard to process what happened!

Good luck,

- Kevin

I used to use a nice white water bomb balloon, as this is sort of round but smaller, no visible balloon was left.
Also as the flap action took place I waved my other hand in front of the box holding on to a magic wand. so if any movement was visible it looked like the wand passing infront of the box and not the flap coming down.

Jimbo

Thanks guys. I guess this was the CORRECT place to put this post.

Just to let you know I got this today and was not happy with it. OK I know I am not paying for furniture grade. And overall ALL things I see wrong can be fixed.
They were so close but far enough way.

1st. The popper. What they did was put felt over nails and lit the nails poke through. but this leaves 3 round bumps in the fabric since they do not push the fabric down to the bottom of the nail. This is not seen but still one of those little details.
The interior is common felt.
The side doors are just cut out. They made no effort to put a stop. The doors do seem to flop around but the sad part is that the thin brass hinges were loose out of the box and some crooked.
I guess this is one reason they are no longer making it.

I have seen it work with a rabbit on youtube or else I would doubt it would hold one. The load size is about 5" at the top tapered to 1" wide and then about 12" wide. This pushes the rabbit on its side with gravity pushing him down towards the 1" There aren't any air holes besides what leaks from the top and the load plate.
I would say TOPS a dwarf rabbit. I have a stuffed toy and I could feel the toy being compressed against the bottom and walls.

As I said there are some crooked hinges and some "pop" from not finishing properly.

HOWEVER I will admit, you can not see any defects from a few feet away. And I have to admit from only that same distance it was very hard to see the gimmick.

So as some of you know it will work.

However I think because they suggested a small balloon, which I could not pop ONE TIME with the supplied set up (toy is lighter weight does help) I like the supplied idea of starting with a large ballon holding up the gimmick and popping with a wand. Then it is hands free. The only negative is that is that some may just assume the balloon was blocking the rabbit even if clear...


The way this box is made, I would say one does need to have some cover with the other hand to made sure someone does not see the action. Kids probably will not and maybe some jumpy people. But I am not convinced there are not some that see "something" even if they are not sure what they saw.

However as I said, many problems could be addressed with a little rebuild. Some things I do not know why they chose to do it the way they did. They were so close to having a great product at lower price.
Look I care less about crooked hinges since I have done that before and it could be fixed. I know that if you could build this, even at the level it is, it would take hours and what is your time worth? You would charge MUCH more.

These shops overseas do not really know the magic they are building so might not care.

So while there are some cheap materials, I am not sure I can call it CHEAP. I mean I just have to tighten the hinges and they will work and I have other ideas on how to make other simple changes to make this work much better for under $20, maybe under $15.

And I guess if you have a small enough rabbit, you can use this as is.

I could have given it higher marks if the load size was larger . I might ave overlooked their lack of creativity on the nails.
I think that burns people more since it is a job to work them and they also mention that over time you might need to sharpen or use a pin wand.
When they know about the problem and then do not fix it, well that is just wrong.

Guess it only matters to those with this box. It is not even on their website any more.

I say it could be tweaked to be a very good prop for the money.

Water balloon. But isn't the water balloon still a little small? I think that the issue is timing. With a 260 the gimmick has to travel almost all the way before the distraction of the pop. It is the field of vision but since it is gravity driven there is not any reason for the eye and brain not to see 'something"

If the balloon is taller it should help.

At least now you understand where we were coming from.

Jim