Hi guys,
This is my first attempt at a proton pack build. Mainly built from wood, foam board and bits that have been stolen, found or forraged!! Oh yeah, also parts from Nick-o-tron and MMM
I hope the pictures come out ok, not sure how to do it really! 
Let me know what you think. I’m going to do another one after this project but what (in your opinions) are the best or easiest to use materials? Wood is heavy and a hassle!
Pretty good for a first pack, a little more work and you’ll be good to go. Wood is a heavy option, many guys have used foamcore or styrene with amazing results and very lightweight, then there’s always fiberglass
My first pack was MDF, weight wise it wasn’t too bad. With the ALICE frame you don’t feel it, they haul alot more around in the military packs than any proton pack would weigh.
the packs are all heavy (except for cardboard/foamcore/vacuformed styrene) but some stuff is heavier than others. You are off to a good start, maybe sand the words off the lid you have on top of the syncotron (the big “lowercase letter d”)
Looks like a good start!
Everyone is offering good advise.
I built half my pack from insulation foam.. the trick to a lighter is to make everything as light weight but durable as possible.
For instance, you are using real wireing for deco wireing.. you don’t need to! Just buy some thin clear cheap tube from Lowe’s, spray it the right color, and you have a lightweight alternative. (To make the cheap spray paint less tacky, just run the hose through your hand with some baby powder in it.)
Our packs are under 12 pound with the gun and alice frames. Light enough so you can even run or dance in them.
Just keep looking at what others have done, and look at original pack pics here, and see how you can improve upon your build.
Thanks for all the kind words guys, I’m thinking insulation foam would be the way to go for the next one, is that stuff already rigid or would it need some sort of coating? I’m not going to attempt to do the wand this time round, I’m taking this one as a learning experience so I have a better idea of what to do and what not to do next time round. I’ve searched everywhere on the pack for the big lowercase d that should be sanded down and I just can’t see it, maybe it’s somesort of magic eye trick!? Oh no, brainwave… You mean the actual cyclotron spacer itself! Oh I see it now lol yeah it is a little on the large side, followed paranormans plans though, it is too bit, I agree! At least I know for next time
Insulation foam is firm, but you can easily give it a plastic “skin” using inexpensive latex water washup house paint. Once sealed, you could even use bondo or fiberglass, but for this purpose, the house paint skin will more then suffice.
I detail some of this in my wip thread. (Gareee’s Budget Packs)
We made out guns from insulation foam, cheap pvc pipe, some electrical switches n such, and they came out great. I just updated my wip bilud with some new repairs and enhancements in a the past week.
Hmm I was just looking at the studio creations molds, they look a bit um odd but on the finished pack they look ok, man I so want a decent pack, have done since I was 10!
Just Do It!
Seriously! its a challenge, fun as hell, keeps ya outta bars and off the streets, and you become an instant hero once in uniform.
Oh no, the missus is gonna go mad!! Have you ever used one of the studio creations shells before? The guys from there just e-mailed me back all the details and I am so so tempted I’m biting my nails in excitement!!!
Are they the same guys who sell the full packs on ebay if they are some of there full packs ive seen are not very good at all they look really fragile but i could be mistaken
Elwood
I’m not really sure who they are but this is a shot of their finished pack
Doesn’t look to bad, not entirely accurate though… What do you think?
The detail looks VERY soft to me. Hard to tell accuracy by one image.
Much depends on cost. If its cheap enough, it’d be worth it, but if its expensive, I’ve get Exorays instead myself.
(But personally I prefer custom builds.)
I agree about the detail, the shells would cost around £60 with p&p to the UK. I’ve been trying to find exorays shells but no luck yet, could you put up a link to his stuff? Cheers 
Oh yeah, and how many posts do I have to make before I am considered as something besides a ‘newbie’ man I hate seeing that every time 
If you look to the left of the ribbon cable there are 2 9v batteries clearly visible they put these there for the pack lights ive seen one of these packs sell for £800 and the pics on ebay even showed show the shell dont fit on the mother board properly. Also the gun is absolutly terrible. I have to agree with others its worth trying to build your own. But again bouth mine from some one and finished it myself i enjoyed doing it too.
But those shells i would steer clear of..
Elwood
Honestly, I think those studio creations shells are good for one thing: Halloween packs. Most people start building a pack for Halloween but then realize they just sunk a grand into something and can’t wear it to the bars. These shells would make a good “stunt” pack, something that looks the part to the public’s eye and is inexpensive enough that you don’t cry yourself to sleep if it gets messed up during a rough Halloween bar crawl.
For a hundred bucks, you could get a huge 96" x 96" sheet of .125" styrene, a carpenter’s square, a razor blade and make something more accurate if you are looking to make more of a display piece.
Here’s my styrene pack:
It’s pretty light, only up to about 25 lbs now.
Foam core is another easy material to work with, I’ve seen some great packs made out of the the stuff as well.
Wow man that look great! I was thinking foam would be a good way to go? I was so tempted to buy one of those shells but after all the comments about them anymore, shame though, I was looking for a cheap and easy solution and a quick pack but I really would like something more accurate
I wouldn’t worry about it, stantz! I recently started my pack (sorry, there’s no WIP thread or pics yet, broken camera) and I am using a composite of several plans here including mburkit’s and Gareee’s. It won’t be super accurate, but I plan on upgrading parts to be more accurate over time. That way my initial pack is “close enough”, cheap, and upgradeable.
When we built our packs for halloween, I spent about $350 for two complete uniforms, goggles, packs and guns. Obviously one pack would be much cheaper.
We used electrical boxes for our various “square” componants, sine they were quicker and easy to use (Time was a big factor), but you could easily make those from insulation foam, foam core, or wood.
If you decide to build a pcak, look in the auduino thread ongoing here.. Sys is working on a system for about $100 that also gives you working switches on the gun that activate not only all the lights, but also complete sound effects as well! Just amazing.
Odds are, like most others here, once you have a pack.. ANY pack, you’ll want to improve upon it, and make it the best possible.
Another thing I wish I’d done, is make all my main parts with lighting removable.. for easier upgrading. I never thought I’d see a solution like the arduino thing come about at all, and removing our sync generators and cyclotrons for retrofitting the new light and sound scheme will be a chore.
