My friend’s son wants to be RGB Venkman for Halloween, so I’m designing and 3D printing him a proton pack in his size (he’s 4). Any suggestions on grips in the right material, size, and color? I’ve researched lots of other builds but rarely do they have a BOM. I know the most obvious solution is to wrap insulation sheet and pipe clamp it, but that also means having to build a large stock and right now the base of the thrower is .375 inch copper pipe, which would take a lot of wraps. Not unfeasible, I suppose, but not the cleanest looking.
It would be nice to get a small ID large OD foam cylinder in either tan or white so I can paint it tan. Does anyone know if it exists? I’ve tried McMaster Carr to no avail so far, they only really have black. And red, for some reason.
I made my kids some RGB packs when they were three. If I can find pics, I’ll post, but here is what I did:
I took normal 1/2” pipe insulation and used some off-cuts of brown “fake suede” that the lady at JoAnns just gave me as it was no longer a SKU in the system.
I placed the insulation over 1/2” PVC conduit, and trimmed the upper and lower edges with a rasp, so it was vaguely blimp shaped. I wrapped the suede material over the sculpted foam and used black nylon zip-ties to secure it.
For the forward grip, I spiraled some grey 2 conductor lamp cord to simulate the armored cable from the show under more black nylon zip-ties.
The nylon zip ties were key, as when they’re properly trimmed they’re soft on skin. My taller than average three year olds could get a good grip - and it looked passable enough for me to call it “finished.”
If 3D printing had been as mainstream as it is now, they would have had much different packs.
Good advice. I’m currently designing the mounting system for the proton thrower. There seems to be no standard on this. Some people use the same brackets as the movie packs, others use the rare images of the bracket from the cartoon. I’m thinking of just using magnets to make it easier for his limited dexterity.