Build Kit: Haunted Mansion Exit Sign

Do You Have All The Parts?

The first thing you’ll need to do is to ensure you have all of the parts needed. The parts should have been left and tape in the original sheet they were laser cut in, which makes it easier for you to notice if anything is missing. If there are missing or broken pieces, please contact me at once. If not, please remove them from that laser cut sheet and place them aside, but in the order in which they were cut.. this will help you when gluing.

Remove Masking Tape

Next, remove all of the masking tape from the front and back of the letters, skull and other white parts. This is a tedious task but it must be done. But please do not remove the masking tape from the black base just yet, we’ll leave it on for now so glue and finger prints do not get on it. You will probably need a thin, flat putty knife… they make smaller versions of working with clay, I would suggest checking out Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. You should also be able to get decent CA (Super) Glue and maybe some hardening accelerator (not required but is worth getting as you wont need to hold the parts while the glue dies).

On the base, there is one little section of masking tape I would suggest lifting up on.. just a small triangle section on the inside of the bottom border corner. For example, just below (southwest corner) of the “to” in the bottom line “to the Living World.” Don’t remove it complete or tear it off, just sorta pry it back and fold it over so it’s easier to get to. This will make sense later.

Is It Clean?

Once you have the masking tape removed from the white parts, it would be a good idea to clean the base with Isopropyl Alcohol where the laser engraved. Please remember that the masking tape should still be on at this time. Do NOT use that much alcohol, a little is just fine. Use a strong paper towel or a microfiber cloth.. something that will not leave debris.

Time To Get Started

You can now start gluing. Depending on what handed you are, you may want to start at one end or the other. I don’t want to put my hand where I just glued, and I’m left handed, so I usually start on the right side and glue the letters down making my way to the left. Though, I will always start with the upper skull and triangle pieces first and leave the border for the very last.

In my case, with the letters at least, I’ll be starting off with the exclamation point. Characters like that or letters like “i” that have a dot, I will usually glue the dot down first. Sometimes you may need to turn it to fit it in right. You don’t need to get glue all over the whole part, a little goes a long way, so only a drop here and there is all it should need. If you’re having issues trying to fit any part down, its best to try to remove it before it dries, if you have already applied the glue. If not, do a test fit first. If you’re part didn’t get glued in place correctly, use that putty knife tool and slowly try to pry it off.

If you happen to get any glue on the masking tape on the base or in another area where it shouldn’t be, wipe it off quickly using anything you can, even your finger if you have to. Glue in areas where it shouldn’t be may lead to seeing that glue even after removing the masking tape at the end or it may glue the masking tape on to the base. When gluing, I suggest using a bottle/brand of glue that comes with a small opening or one that has an extra needle like topper which makes for a very small opening. NOTE: if you used your fingers to wipe off the glue, don’t touch anything else, especially your eyes.. or another finger for that matter, you’ll glue your fingers together or worse. Go wash your hands (see glue bottle for best removal advice) but I find those files used for the bottom of feet works well to removed paint and glue.. just use lightly.

CA glue should fry fairly quickly, but will differ in time depending on which brand. Hold each piece in place for a while, maybe 10 seconds. Then check to see if it lifts up. If so, hold it down for another 10 seconds.. until its dry and wont lift up. Unless you also have the accelerator, then apply the glue on the base and spray the accelerator on the piece. Once it the piece touches the base it should start to dry within seconds.

Gluing The Border

This can be tricky, so I thought it deserved its own section. Because of the size of the border, trying to glue it down all at once would not work out too well. Glue would start to try before you reached the other end. I find it best to glue it down in 4 or 5 sections. Starting with a button corner, glue and set in place to dry. Then move on towards the middle curved part. Glue and let dry. Keep in mind that the border is flexible and that will help move it into place when gluing, but its also fragile, so do NOT bend it much. Then the top curve and so no. I leave the other bottom corner and line that leads to the other corner you glued down first for last. Again, due to the border being flexible, you may have to slightly bend the straight piece at the bottom between the 2 corners in order to get glue under it. Its okay if you weren’t able to get glue on every single part of it, a drop every inch or so is fine.

While you’re holding it down to dry, I find it useful to get a heavy book and lay it on top so I don’t have to hold it with my hands. Just be careful it doesn’t move out of place when laying the book down on it.

Removing the Remaining Masking Tape

Once its all glued down and dried, you can now remove the remaining masking tape from the front of the sign sign base. I would start with the back and then the front after. I may have included a green sticker which says “made by Interactive Realm” and it you’d like you can place that on the back (if I didn’t already do that for you). Also may have provided some 3M Command strips for hanging, which you could affix now on the back as well.

Now on to the front side. Remember that little corner I told you to pry back? Well now you’ll see why. With the border in place, it would have been much harder to pry up a section of the masking tape without probably scratching the base. But now you have that corner to start prying it up. Go slow and try to get every piece between the letters. Use that putty knife or maybe a cotton swab to help lift in areas. There may be some adhesive residue stringing up, but if you go slow you should be able to get it all. It might be a good idea to use rubber gloves as well to help prevent finger prints. But again, you can use a microfiber cloth to wipe it down.

That’s it!

You should have a completed sign! Enjoy!

Suggested Glue & Tools

It’s highly suggest getting CA glue, glue accelerator, and sanding sticks. But the other tools are very useful as well.

Related Topics

Please check out these topics below for more help. However, if you have any further questions, feel free to contact me.

Masking Tape

Epoxy Resin or CA Glue

Burn Marks

Warped Signs or Pieces