Dude Dad and Stranger Things

Art & Sculpture Costumes, Cosplay, and Props
Mind Flayer - Dude Dad

I am a huge fan of Stranger Things. So when one of my favorite YouTubers, Fort Collins, CO-based Dude Dad, built a 14-foot Mind Flayer and a life-sized Demogorgon 20 miles away from me, I knew I had to go check it out!

Taylor Calmus, creator of Dude Dad and Super Dad, is not new to building. Growing up in rural South Dakota he learned how to build from a young age:

By the time he was a senior in high school, he had built an enormous 60-foot skate park with his brother. Throughout high school and college, he worked for local carpenters, framing houses and other stuff. He also worked in a bicycle shop for five years learning bicycle and general mechanics.

Taylor is a down-to-earth, friendly, funny guy. He is exactly the guy you see in his videos. Taylor describes himself as “a husband, a father, and an entertainer of many sorts.”

“I make content, whether it be sketch comedy or building things. I’m a bit of a ‘Jack of all trades’”. When asked who inspires him he said he gets inspiration from all different kinds of people. From his wife to his mailman, he finds inspiration all around him.


As we are sitting on his back deck talking, I couldn’t help but look around and admire everything around him. From the beautiful deck we were sitting on, to the enormous play house for his kids, to the backyard landscaping, Taylor has customized almost every single inch of his home.

In addition to the pinewood derby loop-de-loop, he also built a giant snow luge for the community kids last winter. When asked what his favorite build was, he told me “Probably the DeLorean that I built for the kids. That project took a really long time, and the video we made to go with it. It was just so much fun seeing the kids play their parts. It took a long time but I think it was worth it.” His next projects include an outdoor kitchen for his new deck, decorations for Christmas (of course), and a remote control baby stroller. “We have plans for making a remote control baby stroller that also has a babysitter mode where it’ll just drive in a little circle.” Taylor said he’d like to do more with robotics. “If I could take a class, I’d take a class at robotics and I would pay attention so that I could learn more of that stuff. That kind of stuff, I always have to get help with or just watch YouTube so I can do it. I can watch a YouTube video and copy it and get the thing done, but if I have to replicate it, yeah I don’t know if I could.” When I asked him what is the biggest thing he’s built, he immediately joked and said “My fan base”.  He then continued on:

Stranger Things Build

We spoke about the Stranger Things build and what inspired him to build it.

The Mind Flayer was not designed on fancy software, he made some basic drawings on a board in his office and just jumped right in. 

"Design" of Mind Flayer

He credits his improvisational design approach to birth order, noting some key differences in the approaches he takes on builds compared to his brother.

After building out the frame, Taylor then wrapped it in chicken wire to hide the joints and give it a feeling of legs without any sharp points. Originally he was going to use paper mache, but after he wrapped the chicken wire with saran wrap, he decided to just try painting that and see how it looked. It turned out amazing looking, I honestly couldn’t tell he painted it and thought he had used black landscaping plastic to wrap it. He told me that it had been rained on and had his sprinklers blown out underneath it and it has held up really well. Did I mention the head also moves!!

When I asked him if he was going to do it again, and would he do anything differently, he promptly replied:

Mind Flayer

I had a great time talking with Taylor and seeing the things he’s built. Thank you, Taylor, for taking the time to talk to me and letting me geek out a little bit. I’d like to close this with Taylor’s advice for anyone reading this article:

Demogorgon
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Alicia is the Software Engineering Manager at Make:. You may have seen Alicia walking around Maker Faire with her Bat Girl cape. Do not be afraid, she is devoted to saving the world, one website at a time. Her magical powers include turning coffee into code and fixing 404 not found errors.

Alicia has been coding since before coding was cool (OK, we aren’t talking way back to punch cards, but there were green screens involved). In her ‘down time’ she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, puzzles, and is a huge advocate for Autism.

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