This summer my friend and I were doing a carnival for my little sister and her friends. We wanted to have a dunk tank, but my dad didn't want to be dunked over and over. So, we made a dunk tank for my sister's Ken doll. It is really fun to dunk Ken.
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Step 1: List of Materials
- 5 gallon bucket
- wire netting
- hot glue gun
- scrap wood, you can cut it to fit your bucket and arm.
- mechanical screwdriver
- Ken doll
- paper (optional)
- cardboard circle
- red sharpie
- wiffle ball
Step 2: Clean Your Bucket
If your bucket is dirty like mine was, you should clean it. Use the hose and fill it with water, then pour out the water, on grass. use the towel to scrub inside and outside, and on the bottom. Once it is clean enough for you, continue to the next step.
Step 3: Making the Net
On real dunk tanks there is a net, because without one if you missed the target you would hit the real person so I made one from wire mesh I found in my backyard. I cut it to about 15 in. by 11 in. and hot glued it on the buckets rim. If it does not stay up by itself take a skewer and glue it to the mesh and the bucket.
Step 4: The Bench
You have to have a bench for Ken to sit on, so take scrap wood, and cut it to about 14 in. by 4 in., and glue it on about 1 in.from the edge directly across from the wire mesh. That is because the Ken doll will be pushed in from the back by the arm.
Step 5: The Arm
For this you will take a block of wood about 19 in. tall and 4x4 in. wide and attach a piece of wood about 31 in. long, with a screw and some washers on the screw, so the arm dose not rub on the block of wood. and put it through the long piece and the block of wood. make sure the long piece swings easily. Then take your cardboard circle and color a target in red sharpie. Hot glue it to the end of the "arm". Push the target.to make sure the arm swings.
This is not really stable, so if the target falls over you have to just set it back up. You can also screw it into a bench to keep it up.
Step 6: The Test
Fill the bucket with water. Take your Ken doll, and sit him on the bench. Put a swimsuit on him if you want. Move the arm behind the tank so the end is right behind the doll. Then take a wiffle ball and throw it at the target. When you hit it, does the doll fall in the water. if he does HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! TAKE THAT BARBIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If not, try loosening the arm screw a little, or moving the doll so he is right in front of the end of the arm.