I’m a prop maker in Los Angels and I’ve just finished a set of 4 Proton Packs, this forum was a huge help so thanks for all the pictures. I’ve noticed that most of the packs people have built don’t have the rotating and extending front wand. We came up with a cool trick to make that work. So, I’m posting to ask if anyone would be interested in purchasing a complete front wand setup… It would be all aluminum, 3 parts (rear ■■■■■■, wand tube and clear tube) with all the rigging needed to make it pop out. We made our clear tube out of solid acrostic and milled the front into a nozzle because of the lasers we used to light up the tip but I could do a hollow tube as well. The rear peace that joins onto the box would be flanged for a tight fit and I could do the two aluminum rings for the clear tube as well, I could even aluminum weld the hooked peace at the front and maybe the small trigger/light tab in front of the grip.
I was thinking $80 - $100, if there is enough interest I’ll make up another one and post a video so you can see it work…
Has it been confirmed? That the green lever triggered the extending tip? Because I was under the impression that it was the rotating handle that did it… After all, Dan Aykroyd himself told so at a recent signing when he held a fan’s thrower (I think it was kind2311’s)
The rotating barrel was only used once, and only on one barrel in the scene. That’s been discussed elsewhere on this forum, I do believe. It was part of a dirty joke, and nothing more. (“Got your stick?” “Holdin’ it!”…“Make 'em hard!” cue twist…Get it?)
The green lever, however, was used in that scene, as well as in the scene when they step off the elevator. Dan clearly extends the barrel with no handle rotation.
I’m not saying it’s a feature I wouldn’t want, just for giggles. But, I wouldn’t drop upwards of $100 on a barrel that extends the tip that way. Now, having a barrel that rotates, and a lever that extends the tip? That’d be win. lol
Don’t feel bad. I didn’t get that joke, either, until a few years ago. One of the jokes I never got as a kid, or even as a teenager, and only got when I was older. lol
I’d be interested to see the inner workings. You need to realize many people have different kits they use for there gun box and I would want to see how much space the mechanism is going to take up.
My guess is he doesn’t even remember how it extended. But, with the movie having that scene most prominent for it, he probably just assumed that’s how it worked.
I do want to say, I’m not trying to be a jerk. And it’s not a big deal, either way. It’s a cool effect to see on a prop, no matter how it’s done. Just comes down to how much you’d be willing to drop on something that doesn’t work as intended. And, for me, $100 is out of my price range for that.
I’m glad to see we’ve established you’ve never worked production.
There is absolutely no reason why Dan Aykroyd would remember a little detail like this, the proton packs where hand props. Nothing more, off set guys would choose which pack goes to which person and the actors would mess around with it and find all the neat things it could do and work with it.
Sure MAYBE an insignificant detail would be remembered but clearly it is not, at least not by Dan. I have a decent memory and remember most of the work that goes into shows I work on, but I didn’t design a lot of the stuff, I do get to play with it. How would I know how it is built?
