Hi all
This is my first post here, very interested to see what people have to say.
So my son was about to turn 4 in June and he has become a huge Ghostbusters fan. My wife and I both grew up loving Ghostbusters so we thought this was fantastic and it was decided that his birthday party would be GB themed.
Running up to it I either volunteered/was volunteered (I can’t remember at this stage) to make a proton pack for his party.
I had a quick look around here and other sites and though I have never done anything like this before I figured I would give it a go. I have to say I am amazed at what some people have achieved here and they have set the bar incredibly high.
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There were a few rules that I set for myself going in -**
• It had to be light enough for him to carry
• It would be as authentic looking as possible but there would be limits given that it wouldn’t be full scale.
• I was never going to do an Alice frame as I had no idea how I would go about making it but I was also worried about adding more bulk for him.
• There would be no custom/from scratch electronic work as I am not skilled in that but I would have some lights for some wow factor for him.
After ordering some small bits and pieces online I started the build properly in the beginning of June with the party being on the 22nd (if I knew then what I know now…)
The biggest problem was trying to find materials that were easy to work with, durable and lightweight and after fooling around with various things I ended up using a combination of 3mm birch plywood, foam floor mats, PVC pipes, PVC foam core board and 1mm plastic sheets from a model shop. Luckily I was able to cut all these with a constructon knife and a small saw so there was no need to invest in a lot of extra tools. I used Steffan Ottos plans as a reference but you will see I strayed in places.
Here are the very basic parts that I used for the base.
As the party got closer and closer it became obvious I wasn’t going to get it all done. I was up until 5:30am the day of the party trying to get as much done as possible and I got this far.
Overall I think it came out pretty good but there were obviously parts that were missing or had been rushed. I made a very basic thrower (really just a black box with a pipe) just for him to run around with but he was happy on the day. The LED kits I got from Ebay worked a treat and I think they brought it up a level for him.
Other problems became evident later such as using tubing that was too stiff, it was so tense in places it was actually pulling the fittings loose. I did nothing for a week after the party as I needed a break, but I learned from past mistakes and came back to finish it properly, correct some problems and work on the thrower.
The more I looked at the pack the more the wooden texture started to annoy me so I decided to make the entire thrower from pvc pipe and pvc foam core. The foam core is much tougher to cut but had I invested in better blades at the beginning I might have been more encouraged at the start.
So I consider this the finished pack after 7(ish) weeks. (Excuse the cat hair on the thrower!)
Are there things I wish I did differently or better? Sure there are but for my first build and working out the scaling I am pretty proud of what I achieved and despite underestimating the time required and the many frustrations that I am sure you have all experienced making proton packs I really enjoyed the process of working it out and putting it together. I will more than likely make a full size one in the future.
I would happily continue to mod this one though, the bumper is something I would like to get closer to the real thing, so if any of you can share any ideas on what to do I’d be happy to hear it.
Thanks.
Tom.
The little guy seems pretty chuffed with your final result.