Cost of proton pack?

Equipment Proton Packs
21

Well, the big thing is whether you build it yourself, or buy it. I’ve built everything on my pack from scratch, aside from detail greeblies, and here’s the rundown on prices.

Resin Greeblies (Legris, Nycoils, barbs, crank knob, gun knobs, and resistors I later upgraded) - $40

Ribbon Cable - $8

Real Dale Resistor Set - $10 (I think, can’t remember)

Real Hose Barbs - $12

Acrylic Pipe for the gun barrel - $12 (for 2, so more like $6)

Dixie Cup hook set from Exoray - $5 (great guy, and very fast shipping)

Washers to make an Ion Knob - $5

Polishing said washers - free, as a friend’s dad does that at his job

Wood, and other materials (PVC, hex bolts, screws, metal plates, etc.)- About $100

Glue, sandpaper, paint, dremel and Jigsaw parts - About $60

Alice Frame - $30

So, grand total, $320, give or take. Not too bad, I don’t think. But, as I said, I built everything on mine, rather than buying pre-fab parts. All in how you go about it.

I’m not typically a do-it-yourself’er, but when it comes to props, I’d rather try and build it myself first, before I go and buy it from someone else. If I can build it, then I can usually save a lot of money. :slight_smile:

As for accuracy, mine’s pretty accurate. I won’t go as far as to say it’s 100%, but it looks like a proton pack, so it’s at least in 95% range, I think.

For an extra 100, you could about get a flightsuit. I haven’t spent but around that on mine.

Patches - $20 - CaptainAmerica (very, very good quality)

Flightsuit - $30

Boots - $40

Belt - $10

That’s the basics right there, for about $100, on the nose. A trap will cut it close with the remaining budget from your cap, and what I’ve spent, but I think one could build a decent trap with about $80. You’d have to make sacrifices when it comes to getting certain parts, but you could do it.

If you’re wanting to add lights, though, you’d have to drop the trap. I think Exoray’s basic pack kit’s about $100 shipped (but don’t quote me on that), so you’d have to drop one for the other. If, however, you intended that $100 as an additional hundred, on top of the five, you could get your trap right back in there.

Chris

22

With a few exceptions, you won’t find too many people selling at or just above cost simply because it’s not worth it. The time and materials that goes into this stuff is insane, like it is with other props. I spent nearly a year researching, collecting parts, and building my pack. I didn’t spend a great deal on it and it doesn’t look really expensive but I wouldn’t part with it for less than $1,000 simply due to the time involved.

Namebrand over on Proptopia.com did a run of ion knobs a while back that was slightly above cost, but he could do that because he didn’t make the knobs himself. (He did the plans and measurements then hired someone else to make them on a CNC machine). I think he said he made about enough money to get his own ion knob for free, which was $17.

So yes, there are people that care enough about the hobby to go out of their way to make it cheap and accessible for other people sometimes, but this is the exception rather than the norm. Outright scalpers aren’t too common, either. When you’re buying a part or whole piece from someone, you’re usually getting a pretty fair deal in terms of the amount of work and expertise that went into it.