I think the location of the woofer is fine. It’ll be against your back, anyway so it won’t be like it’ll be super visible. I know you’ve posted video samples of music being played through your rig, but have you posted any of just the straight up pack sounds? I bet those sounds absolutely beautiful.
I won’t tease you, here you go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSz-dFXEdPA
I haven’t messed with the audio files yet, the Adterlife startup is active by default, but I’ll change it to 84, and I also need to add my TVG overheat/restart sequence that I mixed a while back. I’ll go back to dancing in the mirror with my pack…
Also a few thoughts, while I am trying to be as accurate as possible to the 84 Spengler, the speakers in the MB are a glaring inconsistency to the screen used prop. However, I think this is fair given the movie props didn’t have any audio and sounds are mixed in later… I want this pack to have the sound and feel of what a proton pack would actually sound like in person, loud as hell. So, given that the pack will be worn or displayed without the MB readily visible I think it is fair to trade the audio capabilities for the lack of accuracy.
Today’s progress, disassembled everything from the MB and drilled the hole for the charging plate wires to pass into the pack. Also cleaned up all the holes and filed out the speaker “vent” a bit more and gave the tweeter hole an oblong shape. Then gave the MB a few paint passes on each side.
I will give the MB some slight weathering similar to all the other metal pieces and shell, then begin to attach the electronics and wire everything up neatly. I have been thinking of methods to mount the smoker, that is still in the works.
Man you’re making progress fast! Keep up the good work!
I was able to give the MB a few light passes with a steel wool to give it some “interest”. It is very slight weathering that gives it more of an aged look rather than beat up. Although it is black, the color will change depending on the light.
Once that was done I reassembled the MB and fit the shell back on to see how it looks, the light was just right so I took it outside for some pictures
I have been working with another maker to get a really cool cover for the subwoofer, it’s killing me to keep it a surprise. I should have a prototype to test fit soon. It has reached a point where I can start wiring everything up… perhaps this weekend.
That looks amazing. Well done on such a cool layout and design for the mobo.
The shell is also amazing
Thank you! I am merely the assembler and finisher… I try to put some thought into it first though 
I went down quite the rabbit hole last night looking at banjos and banjo bolts to see if what I have is indeed accurate to the Spengler. I have vintage Legris banjos but modern bolts, I acquired the banjos from a friend who had them without the bolts. That said, here is what I got from pictures on the reference library:
The reference library did not have a picture of the Zeddemore banjos and bolts that I could find. The super hero and the Stantz are outfitted with Nycoils and the Venkman and Spengler are outfitted with Legris. The Nycoils appear slightly longer along with having the red fitting. Note these pictures are post GB2, so possibly not accurate to what was in 84. Fortunately the banjos I have match the general size and shape of those on the ones on the Spengler
However note the modern bolts I have are not beveled like the ones on the Spengler. I reached out to a few people and NOBODY seems to have beveled bolts, my solution will be to grind the bolts I have to give them the beveled look.
Now the question is, were the ones in the library pictures that are post 89 present in 84? I suspect they indeed were from the post 84 production pictures of the Spengler that are available, this being one… although very fuzzy
All this said, I will be grinding my banjo bolts to give the the beveled look that is present in the library photos this weekend, hopefully I don’t ruin them. If I am stating anything in error please correct me!
Pretty sure Austin at Rust City Studio has done some Spengler style banjo bolts for a build recently, might be worth a chat with him about how he approached it.
Update on preliminary try to make Spengler style banjo bolts. This only took a few minutes using a dremel grinding wheel, I took a quick break at work but will do more later. Overall I think it looks pretty good and I’m happy with where this is going. Pics show before and after grinding a modern bolt.
Update- back at it after work. Not perfect, but here is is attached back into the banjo, I ground the edges on both bolt heads and am happy with how they look. This is such a tiny detail that really nobody, NOBODY would notice unless they’re looking for it (also my flashbulb wires are not blue and green).
Today was quite productive, I ended up spending the better part of 4 to 5 hours wiring all the electronics together on the MB. Also got the charging plate hooked up the the battery. The battery is a big boy, but this pack needs the power to pack the punch! I began with connecting all the electronics together and running speaker wire from the audio to the speakers, I ran these long and then cut to length once connected.
I had to disassemble the “server rack” of audio boards to connect terminals on the lower boards - I had to switch out the power plug from a female barrel to a male barrel, and also run wires for the vent relay. The boards on top had to come off to be able to use a screwdriver to screw the terminals in the lower boards.
Once everything was connected and the speaker wires cut to length it was time to tidy up the look. I used red loom I had on hand to manage loose wires between the audio boards, cyclotron, and power cell. The point of installing all the audio onto an acrylic base was to hide all the pigtail wiring under the plate. I had to solder the connectors for my smoker to the wires I ran down from the relay that is mounted on the audio board.
All in all it took a great deal of patience to get through this, but I am super OCD when it comes to electronics and wiring management. Here is the final result
The vent kit is just zip tied in for now, I will have to figure out a more permanent mounting solution. Everything works great and the shell fits over everything properly. The last bit of cable management will be the ribbon cable to the wand when that time comes. If you’re wondering about my color choices for the interior, it is supposed to be a homage to Slimer and the containment unit. That’s all for now!
After messing around with the setup, I had to rearrange the smoker to have the tube facing down to make sure it works properly. After many tries to getting it placed to fit under the shell, here we are. Here is a demo of the engine running under the hood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgNfuDqM-34
Another thing today was an attempt to address the blue tubing issue. Modern tubing is not the same color as the clippard tubing that was used on the original packs. I got my hands on some blue polyethylene tubing (plastic). It seems like that would paint fairly well given the use of a paint formulated for plastic. I had to do some sprinkler repair for my yard so I also picked up some blue paint when buying parts. Here is how it looks, not perfect, but it will do for now.
The paint cured well on the tubing, but will scuff if it is scratched hard. The red tubing in the picture is genuine vintage clippard tubing.
Also took a little time to do some track mixing, I would like this pack to have its own unique music tracks that highlight the audio system. Here is a sample of what I was working on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imes1xw-1KM
I will be happy to share any files I create with anyone that asks once my build is complete.
Holy crap that looks epic and awesome. It also looks like you’re going for the 84 weight with all the audio gear in there 
I have been working on things here and there over the last few days. The elephant in the room on the soundboard setup was that I never connected the ribbon cable that goes to the thrower - I had to take things apart (again) to get the ribbon cable to come in from behind the acrylic plate and tuck it behind the wires contained by the red split looms. I connected the ribbon cable to the wand board to test things out and everything works wonderfully.
Here is a quick video of how things look running with the shell. I had to mess with the relay for a little bit to get the timing on the smoke just where I wanted it. You’ll also notice the TVG style restart after the overheat. Having spent many hours playing the game, the post overheat restart is part of my headcanon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QPRuezc96o
Another outstanding item with the soundboards is volume control once the shell is on. My idea has been to manage volume with the crank knob like many others have done. A while back I ordered some pogo pin connectors and decided to make a pot cable setup that easily connects and disconnects between the shell and MB. Soldered everything together along with some shrink wrapping and screwed the pot back into the shell.
The connector is magnetic so it just pulls apart when the shell is lifted off and is easy to reconnect when putting the shell back on. You might notice that it is a 5-pin connector when I could have used a 3-pin. When I ordered the connectors I wasn’t sure if the smoker would have to be installed into the shell, so I thought I may need the extra 2 pins to connect to the smoke relay in the MB. When the shell is removed and the pot is disconnected, the sound system reverts to a default volume which is mid lower range.
I also added some decals here and there, bottom of the thrower, big red label on the back of the MB (my favorite) and a nice name tape on the frame. I know the real name tags were just masking tape and that they read first name last initial. Back when I was doing the goggle build and researching labels, Moby Sign Co was kind enough to send me some name tapes as a bonus, as one could not ask for a nicer name tape I applied one to this build. I also added the foam to the top of the MB and the green tubing to the thrower. I used the GBfans foam and cut the edges to give them a closer look to what is on screen in certain scenes (the rooftop scene does not show MB foam).
I chose to use clear cyclotron lenses (for now), however I did spray them with “glass frosting” that is meant to obscure clarity of glass, such as for a bathroom window. It really defuses the light nicely, as you can see in the side by side shot. I taped the lenses in for now, so it would be very easy to switch to red in the future. I like how the cyclotron appears dark when the pack is off and I do like to play with TVG colors every now and then as I am a huge fan of the game.
I still have to cut the mouse hole in the shell for the thrower loom and still waiting on my welded parts as well as a few other small details. I have white neck foam, but can’t seem to find my gaffers tape… that’s all for now, thanks for following along!
Are you not using a vintage Alice frame on this build? I’m surprised by that, especially as I’d think it’ll be pretty heavy once finished!
I am using the GBfans reproduction frame and straps that I picked up a few years ago…for now. The frame itself is rock solid, no give at all like the newer Rothcos etc. I have full confidence in the frame’s ability to solidly carry a traditional hero pack. If I come across a vintage frame and straps at a good price at some point I could switch it out.
I got my split loom yesterday and counted out the ridges for the vacuum line - here is what I came up with
So 87-89 ridges for the the vac line.
Since Freeky Geeky already went through the trouble to count the ridges to the thrower connection, I will use his number. More to follow soon…
Ah, I assumed as it has the ridge in the bottom half of the centre bar it was a Rothco/Fox etc. I’d not realised the gbfans replicas had that too.
I ended up getting the thrower and the pack (more like the MB) permanently connected. I really wish there was an easy way to disconnect the wand from the pack, but such is an 84. Thanks to the reference library one can see how the thrower is attached to the loom, the superhero is the only pack that has 2 holes in the top of the handle and the other heroes have one hole in the bottom of the handle where a zip tie passes through.
The hole on the Spengler thrower is precariously close to the edge and I moved mine a little more towards the grip to be a bit more conservative. I do have some steel cable from my Halloween yard setup, but I did not place it in the loom. I cannot spot it in the 84 pictures and suspect it may have been added later for 89, so to stay true to the 84 nature of this build I left it out (please correct me if I’m wrong). I also drilled two holes in the MB to fasten the loom in with a zip tie (or two as I did for now)
I used random zip ties that I already had in the garage, a friend of mine is sending me some legit ones, when those arrive I will replace all the zip ties in the loom.
Thanks to Freeky Geeky, I counted out exactly 271 ridges to be visible between the shell and the thrower, interestingly from his measurements the Spengler has the shortest loom, which I can totally see now when looking at the reference photos. I added electrical tape and tried to space it out, but ended up applying it at an even interval to keep the loom looking good.
At first I preferred the split less loom that is on my spirit build, but this one is growing one me, it has that weird wonky look that is fitting to the original props. I still have to add the vac line loom and cut the mouse hole in the shell… it’s coming along.
I started looking at vintage frames and I did not realize this feature was not present on the originals. I can swap it out eventually if I find a good deal, otherwise I am ok with leaving it as is.