Wanted to know if anyone with WAM production experience might know about these On the old UK game shows when gunge was dropped from the ceiling, you could occasionally catch a glimpse of the long cylindrical tanks with rails on the sides and red domes on the ends that were mounted to the lighting rack - I've attached a couple of blurry examples from Pump It Up and Get Your Own Back. It looks like they could be popped open remotely somehow?

Does anyone know what these are called (or where I might be able to get one? ) Were they specifically invented as gunge pods or do they have a wider use in TV/film effects?

Planning on writing one into a story?

I suspect you'll get your best answers from actual TV techs, who would instantly recognise the things if they have a wider purpose (or if they worked on those shows), rather than enthusiasts.

As far as my own baseless speculation goes, I think they're purpose-built drop tubes, rather than being repurposed bits of lighting rig, and may also have been used for things like confetti.

If the red caps really are balloons, that would explain why they've spontaneously failed (by which I mean, dropped gunge on a contestant who was not supposed to be, although I suppose from our perspective that's really more of a success) at least once...

Steve, would you ever get back into making those or consider making the plans available? I'm sure there are many (myself included) who would be keen on having one!

I 2nd that, I think I was on the list 1st time round and missed out.

@Houghten - I've mentioned them in my stories before because I saw them being used so much on actual television, but was never sure quite what they were

Thanks for everyone's comments - the "dome" being a balloon makes so much sense! I never guessed that's what they were, I assumed they were some sort of rigid cap - but that would work great, only needing a very small actuator with a pin to annihilate the "valve" instantly and cause an instant downpour with no opening delay It's odd to think that these mysterious devices I grew up seeing were really very ramshackle things.

And the Gootube looks great - I'd be really happy if this thread sparked another round of them (and if you can make it worth it for yourself as well).

i would also love a gootube if there ever made again

I have one of these Gootubes (Thanks Steve!).

I won't disclose how much I paid for mine, but don't expect that this is going to be cheap. The level of detail and engineering put into it would easily price it out of the market for most people on here. I completely understand why there might be little appetite into making more because of the limited audience and overall costs of production.

I've seen them reasonably close having been a contestant on a gungey 90's game show

It's a hollow cylinder and then the cap on the end is a hollow plastic sphere with 1 end connected to a chain that goes up through the cylinder, and on the opposite side there was a circle of triangular teeth. Obviously when the chain is tight there's a seal formed so the cylinder can be filled with gunge, and then to release it there's only a small amount of slack needed. The gunge flows roughly evenly around the now-suspended sphere and is then forced in a uniform direction by the teeth. It's how they're able to get a couple of seconds of controlled, flowing gunge rather than an instant (and potentially painful/dangerous) thwomp like the tank release from the clips of Kenny Everett's star quiz or the Crush A Grape ITV tanks

Have you considered a valve (spherical/butterfly valve) which could allow for multiple deliveries within the same tank of gunge? It might be better for triggering and control, by dumping one load then queuing up the next one once closed, instead of releasing the entire contents all at once.

Also, PM me know when you're close to having everything sorted and I'll be happy to invest. I know the level of detail you put into the projects you undertake.

You were excuse me what - that's incredible What show were you on - you seem to have had a very close look, did they show you the mechanics of it afterwards?

Thanks for the fantastic information - that's a very interesting piece of engineering (gungeneering?), someone clearly thought about how best to deliver slime downwards suddenly but safely And very different from the balloon idea, where the valve is totally destroyed - with nothing to stop it, maybe dropping gunge from the height of a studio ceiling would be more painful than fun...

I've had a hand in designing a couple of homemade gunge devices myself as experiments, but was just feeling my way without knowing how the BBC ones were made. The latest one uses a high speed actuator and a slide valve that's designed for a caravan's plumbing system, which allows it to open and close at will, and it can be wired up to a computer to play a game with it - this page has some details on both the physical and computer-side aspects! http://ironworks.me/gt/

Only disadvantage is that the high-speed actuator is still sort of slow, but you'd never really notice - it takes maybe a second to go from closed to open. I thought about a spherical/butterly valve, but the ones that are big enough are really expensive.

Hah, I didn't get a detailed technical explanation but I saw a couple backstage and pieced together how it must work. And it was Run The Risk. I've still got the t-shirt somewhere...

The Gootube certainly does need a beefy structure to mount to. I still have people think that they would just screw it into some ceiling drywall to suspend overhead.

Our kink is awesome, but it's bloody hard work!

Omg that must have been amazing!!! Have you got the recording?

I'll remember that the next time we meet - having to be ingenious in re-purposing items at the last minute to salvage a session planned for months...

Let's not make that mistake again.