First off, a confession: I’ve never been that into any of the steam punk Ghostbuster builds I’ve seen online. Nothing wrong with them, I just wasn’t that into them.
Maybe I’ve spent too much time freeze framing trying to build “exact” props. Maybe its because, as a hobby machinist, and a card carrying member of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, I just like real steam engines an clocks too much…
But, a few weekends ago my wife and I went to the Key City Steampunk Show. I’m glad I didn’t wear my pack… I would have been the only cross genre guy there… but it was just a real fun crowd to hang out in, and a lot of people there were leaning more into Victorian era fantasy and mysticism, and I got inspired…
I started sketching and collecting parts right away. And today I started making my first cuts…
I started by making the pentagram parts for my séance circle / cyclotron
(Take notes steampunks, THIS is the best machine ever.)
… This is going to be a real long haul project… I’m actually in the middle of relocating my wood shop right now, which is going to stop this project dead it its tracks real soon… but I’m still really excited about being a Victorian Ghostbuster…
I finished, burnt and clear coated the steel parts for my protection sigil/ cyclotron.
This will probably be the last post for a while. I’m currently neck deep in setting up a new shop. When it’s done I’ll be living every man’s dream: my bed, toilet, and work shop will all be within 100 paces of one another.
Since September I put up a new shop building, and built a workbench, outfeed table, chop station, Drill press table, router table, and an electric guitar.
Now is finally time to bring this tread back to life. I got started on the cyclotron casing this weekend.
I spent most of the weekend working on my Alice frame.
I decided to reinforce this joint. It’s going to have a lot of stress on it.
I built a new jig to make splines for miter joints.
Looks like it’s going to be very cool…heavy, but cool. I’m enjoying watching your progress. 
I’m shooting for 35 lbs (the same as my movie pack)
The cherry I’m using is relatively low density, so (figures crossed), it should be lighter than it looks.
This is looking really, really interesting. I like how you’re taking advantage of the artistry of some premade components and putting them into new context. Are those old serving trays in the cyclotron or a canopy/accent for a ceiling light?
Well spotted. It’s 2 serving trays (local thrift store find) and the base of hanging light fixture that came out of a friend’s scrap pile.
I spent the last two nights working on the bumper assembly.
Getting every thing to fit is slow delicate work.
This is why I normally build Craftsman furniture.
This molding takes a lot of sanding.
Over the last 3 days I’ve spent about 30 hours in the shop.
Can’t wait to see the final!
I’ve been working on a lot of small detail fitting… I think I’ve got all the hardware for the straps figured out.
I’m still going back and forth on what I want to do for the ion arm.
This is a great build and I have enjoyed reading through the posts. Have you given any thought to the “operational principle” of the pack? The movie packs are nuclear powered, however this could not be the case for the Victorian era pack. I could see this one being powered by a series of exothermic chemical reactions that would then generate electrical arcs at a certain phase that can be focused through the wand.
My thinking is that in the 20th century our popular fiction leans on nuclear pseudoscience and practical physics; in the 18th and 19 centuries it would have been more about the occult.
The pack is a machine that aids in the performance of a séance and siphons psychic energy off of spirits, without the use of a medium and a group of people. That’s why I replaced the cyclotron with a pentagram.
As far as the power source goes: You’re right, something electrical from the early days of Edison and Tesla makes sense. My old man suggested some kind of a crank that charges a magneto. I immediately starting thinking about a big crank generator that could be connected to the pack to charge it… but right now my focus is on getting the pack, wand and trap ready for our local steam punk convention in August.
I also have an old bottle that I was planning to use for a liquid element that takes the place of the power cells, so the pack would be powered by some kind of chemical /ectoplasm reaction, but I’m not sure if that’s going to make it on or not. weight is a factor, I do plan on wearing this thing to conventions.
That’s one of issues I’ve had with other more “steam punky” builds. They just don’t look like a person could carry them around.
I spent most of the weekend out in the shop, but don’t have pictures to show for it. Spend a lot of time just working out how the wand a trap will go together.
