I know this must happen every year right before halloween, people looking for packs cheap as hell and shipped in one day!
I figured maybe we could all post our successes with the cheap and dirty pack? I know some of you guys and gals out there have thrown together the weekend pack for halloween. Maybe it was your first prop attempt or maybe you were 10 years old. Anyway, I just thought maybe a thread in the name of the ramshakle pack might be a good thing for all these newb’s that ask the impossible?
I actually think I might try for the cheapest looking thing I can in the next two days. It might be just the break I need from working on my real pack you know?!
I’m just in the middle of making a junk pack. Actually, trying to make the lights work. I’ve got the cyclotron going okay, but no joy with the power bar.
The pack itself is styrofoam, hardboard and various bits of plastic I found. It’s vaguely shaped like a movie pack, in that it’s round at the bottom and more square at the top.
For a gun, I’ve picked up a Super Soaker Helix - it sprays two twisted jets of water - I figured it was ideal.
Anyhow, the overheated chips should have cooled by now - back to my soldering…
When i was little Under 10 I made a pack for halloween and i didn’t even spray painted i just wrapped it all in black electrical tape if it wasn’t taped together or taped on then it wasn’t on my pack but it looked really good to me at that stage in life then i also made one out of blocks of wood that were close to what the pack looked like and that was maybe 6 years ago as a last minute thing and it looked ok infact i still have the most of the parts of that pack down in my work shop and that only took me a few days to make and i was a newbie at tools and building these things to be accurate and it still looked pretty good not perfect but if fools the un-ghostbusters-educated eye. So i like this post and say to all newbies out there give it a shot no matter what the first one looks like its never crap… its just a start… soon you’ll be making some good looking packs and having some fun in the process.
Thanks jester… I’m hoping this thread might give some hope! I’m still toying with the idea of making a pack in about two days for about 10 dollars or so… they sell spray paint at the dollar tree right?!
You could always buy a cheap or generic brand of black primer at an auto store (the kind that costs like 2 or 3 bucks). The cheap brand I’ve seen is called Brite Touch.
NOOOOO flat and gloss black paint at walmart costs under a buck! lol Thats what i used on my flat black packs and they look pretty good for the price of the paint lol And if you use mainly items that are already black thats less paint to layer on. Thats a neat idea tho and pack for around 10 bucks…
Need a realy quick pack. Cardboard cardboard CARDBOARD!!! You can even use some of the instructions they have out there. Its the ultimate cheap thing you can do. Thats all I gotta say about that!
Well, my first attempt at a pack is sitting in a workshop up in New Hampshire somewhere. My second attempt, which is essentially a junk pack made of foamboard, is sitting in the garage. just got done cutting out the mobo, and am in the process of finishing off the cyclotron. Gonna try to get this sucker done for Saturday night. (Gonna hand out candy and maybe walk around a bit) So far, I’ve spent about 22$ on this pack. That includes the foamboard, paint, and foam insulation. Rest of the stuff I had lying around (tape, glue, etc. The lights are probably going to be the most expensive which is going to be a homebrew deal.
Here’s my old junk pack I used for 3 years. I made it two days before Halloween back in 2003 when I was working at a electrical contracting company. I used the drawer from a tool box and screwed all these junk electrical boxes on it and used a couple of bicycle flashers for lights. At the time I was doing engraving work as well and made a warning sign for the wand that read “WARNING: DO NOT CROSS THE STREAMS, IT COULD BE BAD”. People liked it cause it had alot of moving switches. I won one costume contest with it so I guess it wasn’t that bad, but I’m alot happier with my new more accurate pack thanks to the efforts of my best buds back home. This pack is now in the attic back home.
jetta - very nice pack! See, this is what I’m talking about. It doesn’t have to look JUST like the movie if you’re just going out on Halloween. Most people can’t tell the difference between that pack and a completely screen accurate one.
They see the thing on your back and your flightsuit and go… OOOH Ghostbuster!
So everybody have fun… accuracy isn’t always everything.
