Ecto's Proton Pack Mark III

[Ecto_1]

Here it goes, the beginning of my new build. I call this one the Mark III as Im also a huge Iron Man fan, and like the various armours each pack I have built has progressed from the mistakes and lessons learned from the previous. This time I wanted a GB1 pack and as some of you out there know, Ive been collecting parts for a long ass time to do this. One could go into a certain level of insanity picking over every detail in the packs and really create a showcase pack. For myself, I don’t need every scratch, dent and bang replicated that was on the screen used packs, for me its about the essence of what I’m out to create and the fun of learning new skills.

So before we start this adventure, Ill provide you guys with a trip down memory lane to look at the Mark I and Mark II.

MARK I

This sucker is one I put together to win a Halloween Costume Contest my first year of University. It was a late start to the game, but damn was I proud of it. I lost to some slutty costume, but damn did I look cool!

This pack I built using Venkman71’s plans and just pure trial and error watching the films. For a pack made exclusively from cardboard in 3 days with no budget, I have to say it wasn’t bad.

MARK II

This one was created after Mark I gave me the building bug and I immersed myself in the culture of GBFans.com

The shell is scratch built using MDF to steams plans and holy shit was it heavy as hell, 30 lbs with frame or thrower. Mercilessly Irricanian saved me with the thrower on this and lots of great resin parts. It was decked out in a full Exoray light kit I also got from Colin at a great price as well. I used a cheap LC2 knockoff frame and replica straps I got off of an army surplus store’s website… bad choice for the weight! The bumper I got from KCGhostbuster and this pack had lots of other little parts that came from the GBFans store.

I loved the ■■■■ out of this pack but the Light kit started to act up and by that time, Exoray had vanished so there wasn’t much help in that field that I could find. I was also never a huge fan of the horrible weathering I did on it, to be honest I think I cranked it to 11 and not in a good way on that.

This pack eventually got sold and resides in the home of another Ontario Ghostbuster who i hope loves it and has tweaked it to his liking.

The gap it left in selling this pack needed to be filled, so I funnelled all those funds for the next 3 years into collecting parts, knowing I wanted this next pack to be even better than before, and then a miracle happened…

The MARK III

Vincenzo had a reject Bigi shell for sale at a really good price, and I pounced on it fast, and so begins the current build…

[Ecto_1]

The first thing I would like to point out is that when Vinny says “reject” its a light term he uses to describe, less than “god-like” and I can’t recommend more highly in dealing with the guy as he’s fantastic and his parts speak for his love of the hobby. And if you see the word “reject” come up in his post don’t delay and just buy it, the minimal work that it will require to fix is well worth the savings he passes on.

[thebigone2087]

That ‘reject’ looks great! I do love when new builds start up

[Ecto_1]

Ok, onwards on the build, now to show off some of the inventory I have amassed over the past couple years that will be going into this pack.

First off, the frame and straps, I originally bought a set of LC1’s from another member on the site here at a good price, but once I got them, I realized they didn’t quite match up as well as I would have liked, and the writing on the one strap ■■■■■■ me off more than i thought it would, lol. Good old impulse buys…

Here they are in all their glory:

One is a Novelty product Co remake it looks, while the other is an Eastern canvas. From the reading I have done, Eastern Canvas LC1 straps are the ones you want to get.

After waiting some time to locate another set, I finally got some through a team up with Gexx and Protoncharger if I remember right, both of the new straps were eastern canvas, so a matching set although each had been weathered to a different degree, I was cool with this as the straps in the movie rarely matched 100% if at all. The waist strap and kidney belt were new old stock, and being that look far newer than the straps. Im thinking of leaving them out in the sun to bleach them out a lil, but looking for suggestions if anyone has ideas.

The frame is a stamped and military used US frame, but in olive, so i hit it with some flat black Tremclad, and rubbed that thing down so that it didn’t look so “new car” new. I love the way it turned out and I will try to get some better photos to illustrate the patina that this process created, giving it a natural weathered look.

[Ecto_1]

Ok, so I started putting some of the pack together. This has been a fun affair, and my first time really using fibreglass as well as using a tap set. All I could hope for was a little luck and no screw ups. It definitely helped I was using Vincenzo’s beautiful aluminum parts that were custom built for this shell, everything fit like a glove with minimal work needed at all.

Its a bad picture, and I need to find something better than my iPad to take my photos. I installed clipart barbs into the injector tubes and the shell to hold the hoses as I want it to be secure, and I will more than likely add glue afterwards only cosmetically to give it the screen used look. You’ll notice, although blurry that I found a set of real Gen1 legris elbows, just sucks they are the 1/8 version rather than the accurate 4mm, oh well… sacrifices, lol.

I still need to attach the ion tower and booster tube, I have to drill and tap the ion tower first for all the parts, I appears Vinny’s Ion Tower was built with installing rivets in mind, if that doesn’t sound right, let me know, but with 6 small holes, it seems logical. I also need to cut off the N-Filter to repave it with Vinny’s beautiful metal one, which is for my aesthetic preference, plus this is where most of the damage was on my shell, which was why is was a miscast. This part scares the shit out of me, lol.

Im still toying with the idea of eating my words and recreating some scratch marks on the pack, I keep on looking at beautiful pack builds and they inspire me… damn you Julz, lol

[venkman30]

Looking good.