I looked at the listings on the Mack’s Factory website and they list the screw sizes. I swapped out some screws based on that, which ones I don’t exactly remember anymore. But swapping out screws is an easier route than drilling.
Ah, okay! Based on your pictures, I suspected that’s what you did. Thanks for the info!
It has been a while since I have posted any updates so here we go. The booster tube and ion arm box sat in my car for a while until I finally had time to mail it. They are still with the welder, and I will also be switching out the current HGA with a Spengler specific HGA.
As most of us know, the Mack’s Factory thrower front assembly and pop mech dropped so I have spent some time painting, finishing, and assembling those pieces into the wand. Overall, Aaron did an amazing job with the front assembly and pop mech. My grips fit the front barrel perfectly.
Assembling the front end was very easy and the included directions were very clear. I went ahead and installed the enhanced wand tip from Spongeface for the GBfans wand kit while I was at it. I may revisit this and bundle the wires with heat shrink, if so it is very easy to disassemble.
Assembling the pop mech release was also very easy and the directions were very clear. I then had to attach the rear grip, had to use some eyeballing as the drill points were not provided. I chose to use countersunk hex bolts instead of rivets to be able to remove the grip should I ever choose to do so. The bolts look very much like rivets at a quick glance anyway.
Once the holes were drilled in the rear grip, I placed it onto the rear wand handle and marked the hole points with a pencil, hit the marked points with a center punch to guide the drill bit, and drilled the holes with a step bit. I then tapped the holes using my tap and dye kit.
Last step was bolting the grip in, I’m pretty happy with how it came out given I eyeballed it from the reference library pictures. A few updated pictures of the wand as it stands. I will have to reposition the top hat light to the body interior once I get to the electronics.
That is where things stand for now, I will likely begin work on the interior and mounting the electronics in the near future.
No flash bulb? 
I actually have a flashbulb from a certain someone!! It’s out on my desk right now and I am looking at the pictures to make sure I put it in correctly!
I swear this project has become a curse, the more I look at the reference pictures of the Spengler the more I find. The wand I have has a straight emitter tip, whereas the reference library show an angled emitter tip, I was lucky enough just now to pick up an angled emitter tip from Freeky Geeky to replace the one I have now. Picture from the reference library vs the currently installed tip shown below for context.
Going for a specific pack has led to acquiring quite the surplus of parts.
The devil is in the details!
I was able to get to installing the flashbulb and remainder of the front end electronics this weekend. The first step was to drill the banjos to accommodate the wires from the flashbulb through the tube and into the grip. I eyeballed a spot on each banjo while it was still installed and marked the drill point. After removing the banjos from the wand I used a center punch to provide a guide hole and drilled the holes using a step bit. Overall, a pretty easy task!
At first I used my fingers to hold the banjo while drilling but then moved to using a wrench which worked much better. Next was getting the flashbulb into the clear tube and running the wires through the first banjo and through the red tube. Running the wires through the tube was not easy, but it is possible. Then it was time for dinner, my wife made some lovely ramen soup.
I then also installed the GBfans ear button and LED, I had to remove the bottom of the lamp socket to accommodate the LED, it just pops out with a little bit of effort. Then removed the front grip to be able to run the wires back to the gun box.
A detail about the picture above, the original 84 wand did not have the holes that the Mack’s front end has to run the flash bulb wires through, this is a feature of the Phoebe wand. The wires were taped down on the original 84 wand. I however, made use of the holes since they are there… I decided it was an acceptable deviation that maintained the spirit of screen accuracy.
One last item of business was clipping off the jst connector for the GBfans wires so they could fit through the hole in the front of the wand body. At this point I also ran a piece of black heat shrink to bundle the wires that came out from behind the grip and into the wand body. Once the wires were pulled through the hole I resoldered the pieces that I had snipped off.
Them it was time to test, works great!
Once that was wrapped up I took the time to modify the GBfans wand kit to accommodate a brighter vent light. I snipped off the stock vent light LED and soldered on a separate super bright LED array. Not screen accurate, but it is incredibly bright and provides the vent effect that I want.
That is it for now, but I am pretty happy with the progress made. I need to get back onto the pack and start mounting the electronics.
For future reference, you don’t need to snip off JST connectors, you can use a needle or a pin to lift the “latch” on the plastic connector, and the wires with the little barbed metal connector doodads on them will slide out. Feed the wires through the hole, then just push them back into the JST connector once they’re through (making note before you remove them of the order they go in!). Definitely quicker and easier than re-soldering and heatshrinking them!
Does Tom still make these grips? If so how would one go about aquiring a set? Thank you.
I contacted Tom via etsy and he indicated to me that he’s sorting out a new workshop. And said he might have some grips up for sale before xmas.
Emitter exchange complete! I received the angled one today, guess I’m saving the straight one for a future build. Here is a side by side photo, the straight (top) emitter is accurate to some of the other packs, but from the reference photos the Spengler has the angled (bottom) version.
A little further information on the emitter tips. From studying the reference library images, the Spengler and Venkman packs have the angled emitter tips and the Superhero and Stantz have the 90 degree tips. I have not been able to tell yet on the Zeddemore. (Please correct me if I am mistaken)
It’s a very small detail, but nonetheless it’s nice to be able to address it. The Spengler has one more quirk that I think the others don’t have but I am not fully certain yet. It seems to differ between the screen shots and the promo shots.
Looks like the Spengler trigger tip has a bevel on the curved edge, like the one you had on first
While I do not disagree, it is difficult to tell from the reference pictures even when messing with the contrast settings etc. The bottom picture has the best potential for showing the beveled edge. I would need to go through some of the books I have to see if they have any better shots of this feature.
That said, this could likely be addressed by grinding the edges down a little. The library images of the Superhero clearly show this feature whereas the Spengs seems questionable (for now). Also if I had to pick and choose features to included without modifying what I have, it would have to be the angled emitter as the feature is more prominent (to me) than the beveled edge.
Pretty sure the Spengler had the beveled edges, but it also looks like they were pretty worn down and not nearly as sharp as the other packs. Personally, I’d probably just get my rotary tool and give it a slight touch, and then round the hard edges out with a bit of finer grit sandpaper.
I was able to install more of the wand electronics last night. The bezel kit that I have from Spongeface doesn’t fit so I will have to revisit to add in the bar graph when I have a bezel that fits. I ordered one from Freeky Geeky and should have it in a few weeks since he was kind enough to also take an order for another custom part and ship them together. I used heat shrink to bundle all the associated wires together and a zip ties and mounts to keep things in place. I added some electronic standoffs to the wand board, I was going to epoxy the standoffs to the interior but held off for now as the board is held firmly in place by the push of the folded wires.
I had already installed mounts for the vent LED board a few days ago using JB Weld to attach the mounts into the wand body, the LED array can be removed if needed.
Here is a shot of the vent light in action
I have to get to working on the actual pack as I pretty much have everything to get it together… and I have been picking up vintage parts here and there as I come across them… so more spare parts for a future pack! Building the wand before the pack seems to be reverse order of operations, but I am feeling very inspired to work on it right now so I’ll fly with the feeling.
Well you guys twisted my arm. I held my breath and created a beveled edge on the angled emitter. Here it is! Thanks for the pointers! Also shown with the original from Mack’s for reference.
Looks really good. Following your build here and Spengler’s Workbench. Gonna upgrade my wand body at some point, and thinking about the Mack’s. Looks like there’s plenty more room in there than what I’m currently working with.
I was able to get a little done today, I added the decals to the wand trying to emulate the type and placement of the Spengler, really looking forward to getting the bar graph and bezel in there. I may choose to revisit the activate dry rub at some point.
I also removed the beam line to drill a hole in the bottom of the PPD and also attached my new vintage brass T fitting. Library foto included on the bottom for reference.
When reattaching the the bumper I accidentally chipped the shell where one of the the bolts go in, it is not visible with the bumper attached, but it was a clean break so I can epoxy the piece on tomorrow. Looking forward to getting more done this week.
It’s been a while, but I’m back in the saddle with this build. Between the holidays, work, and other projects this took a back seat. However during this break I was able to acquire two vintage R-701’s as well as some vintage brass banjos. I will have to pull out the wires for the flashbulb to install the new vintage banjos, the ones currently installed are from GBfans. Below are some shots of my vintage clippards.
Below you can see there are slight differences between the replica and vintage banjos - which I still have to drill and attach. I am not looking forward to pulling out the flashbulb wires, but I will add a JST connector behind the front grip to avoid pulling all the way to the inside of the wand body.
The replica banjos are still really nice, I will save them for a future build.
Today I finally got around to making a little bit of progress, I mounted the pack lights to the MB. I bought the mounts from TacoBelli a few years ago and they are very nicely done. It took some trial and error to place them properly. I taped them down and put the shell back multiple times to get it just right. Then center punched and drilled, then mounted.
I will have to remove these later to paint the MB, but they fit well. I will also drill a third hole behind the power cell mount to add a third bolt between the two, to provide more accuracy to what is seen on screen.
I will likely drill and tap a hole for a very short screw just for aesthetics.
That’s all I have for now, but I feel like I made some progress!