Hasbro 1984 Proton Pack BIG Overhaul and Customisation

[gbrich]

Thanks @nomake-wan yes I emailed Michael on your customer support email and he said you’re going to ship one out to me this week, so once I get that I should just be able to plug it in and replace the broken one and happy days!

Also, have you guys thought about creating an app to control the kit? I managed to connect mine to the web interface and it works really well, but having to connect to the pack’s wifi and then access the web ui by browser is a bit of a faff. An app would be a very cool way to do this

[nomake-wan]

Not at this time, no. The app would still need a way to connect and would still need to use the existing API, which at the moment still means needing to connect to the WiFi network. As far as I know, no phones support having an app connect to one WiFi network while the rest of the phone connects to another. Most apps would rely on a Bluetooth connection, which our boards do not currently use.

I’m not going to say it’s impossible, because that’s silly and quitter talk. But I will say that as of this moment there are no plans to switch to bluetooth communications nor create a dedicated interface app.

[gbrich]

No worries @nomake-wan just a thought. I’m loving the kit anyway!

Not too much more progress over the last week though as I’ve been doing some work on my garage, but here are the first batch of 3D printed bits after having the Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black applied, they look really good:

For the switch plate, I’ll be masking and painting the embossed panel sections the Jenolite Chrome hopefully later this week. I also ordered the extra GPStar inner cyclotron light kit from Frutto Tech, which just got delivered today, so I’ll probably have a go at installing that next weekend.

Here are the next batch of parts, ready to be primed after having a light sand:

I made the mistake of leaving the first cyclotron cake top out in the sun, which warped it slightly, so I had to reprint that part.

Also, I’ve been looking into making a stand for the pack. I was going to just buy another guitar stand, which is what I did for my Spirit pack, but I thought as I’ve now got a 3D printer, I might as well make my own!

I bought these two:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/ghostbusters-proton-pack-stand-haslab-replica?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Ghostbusters proton pack stand | 3D Print Model

The first is a replica of the one that comes with the original Haslab pack. I was originally drawn to that one, but then the second one kind of grew on me so I’ve decided to go with that one. I’ve made a start on the prints:

But because it’s more structural and needs to support the pack, I’m having to print them with stronger walls and infill etc, which means they take a lot longer to print!

So I’ll keep you posted on how that goes, but I’m thinking of Jenolite Gun Metal Grey for most of the stand body, but with the Chrome for the mesh parts as an accent.

[gbrich]

The next batch of parts after having five coats of filler primer (the little grill is for my Tamiya Blackfoot, so not actually for the proton pack!):

Also, an FYI for anyone looking to install the newer GPStar 2 kits in their packs, GPStar actually released an install guide on their YouTube channel last week:

GPStar Technologies Hasbro 1984 Pack Lite Kit Install & Demo Video

Typically, they released this a few days after I installed my kit, but I wish I’d watched this beforehand as it would have saved me some time. Unless I was looking in the wrong place, it seems the installation PDFs on the GPStar website still reference the older GPStar 1 kits which are slightly different. I was scratching my head a few times when I was installing my kit, so this video certainly would have helped and it seems to be more accurate to the newer kits.

[gbrich]

Okay some more progress over the last few days. The last batch of parts have now been painted, just waiting for them to fully cure before I can finish the inner cyclotron with the new light kit I bought:

The pack electronics and wiring are now pretty much done, barring finalising the inner cyclotron kit, so here’s an updated shot with all the wires tidied etc:

So I’m kind of at a pause with the pack until the motherboard and other parts I’ve ordered from Redman arrive, so I decided to move onto installing the GPStar electronics into the wand - I’ve been dreading this part, but it actually wasn’t too bad.

In fact, I have more general plans for the wand:

1. Disassemble it as much as possible (I just find it easier to work on stuff when it’s taken apart).
2. ‘De-weather’ it - remove all the factory silver paint, decals and dry transfers (I’ve got new decals and dry transfers).
3. Install the GPStar electronics.
4. Install the new parts - aluminium knobs, barrel tube, emitter, banjos etc.
5. Respray the handles - I’m happy with the matte body plastic, but I’m not a fan of the shiny plastic used for these, or the brown wood effect paint.

Here’s the ‘before’. I was lucky to pick up a brand new 1984 wand a couple of years ago for around £150, before they skyrocketed in price. Just hope I don’t mess it up!

Didn’t take long to get the bottom off to reveal the factory electronics:

After a couple of hours I managed to have it disassembled as much as possible:

I really wanted to be as non-destructive as possible and to not have to cut or break the main support piece, but I needed access to the top of the main housing for the new electronics, and Hasbro have made it pretty much impossible to do it any other way.

It wasn’t too hard to take it apart, but the handles were a bit of a pain. They weren’t just secured by screws but also glued around the ring pieces on the ends, so I had to apply some heat and ease those off.

All the main body parts after disassembly. The handle parts on the left will get resprayed and the body parts on the right will be de-weathered:

Onto the de-weathering. You may be wondering why I’m doing this, but it’s just because I want the pack and the wand to be consistent. I’ll be adding my own subtle weathering to both later, but first I needed to get rid of the existing weathering. If you want to do this too, you’ll need the following:

1. Some rubbing or isopropyl alcohol.
2. Some white ‘magic eraser’ sponges.
3. At least two, but ideally three or four microfibre cloths.

All of this can be bought from Amazon etc.

Here’s how I did it:

1. Break the magic eraser sponges into smaller pieces. The rough tear edges will help get into all the nooks and crannies, like the weld lines.
2. Apply some alcohol to the sponge. If you’ve stripped the wand like me and there are no electronics inside, then you can go fairly liberally, but if you still have electronics, I’d be a bit more cautious to not get any liquid on them.
3. Light rub (not too hard) back and forth repeatedly on the area where you want to remove the weathering. You should start to see it fade away.
4. Keep doing this for all the weathering, stickers or dry transfers that you want to remove. The stickers just peel off and then the alcohol will remove any residue.
5. You’ll notice a whitish haze or ghosting start to cover the areas you’ve worked on. This is just all the broken down paint you’re removing so nothing to worry about.
6. When you’ve removed all the weathering, take one of your microfibre clothes, apply some alcohol, and give everything a good wipe over.
7. This will start to remove that hazing, but you will have also just transferred the old paint onto the first microfibre, so you’ll need to take your second microfibre cloth and repeat the process.
8. You may need to repeat this with the third and fourth microfibre to really get rid of all the hazing, but you should be left with the nice matte black factory plastic finish.

Just be careful not to rub too hard. Magic erasers are pretty soft, but you’re still rubbing another surface against the plastic.

As an optional extra, if you do have some areas where the plastic looks a bit faded, or if you just want it to match the more satin finish of the 84 pack, you can use something like automotive black plastic trim reviver. I have some Autoglym Vinyl & Rubber Care which I’ll be applying to mine, just be sure to do this after you’ve applied any new stickers or dry transfers, otherwise they won’t stick.

Also, as I mentioned above, I have new decals and dry transfers that I’ll be applying, so I intentionally wanted to remove the originals, but the alcohol will take them off too, so if you don’t want to remove yours, you’ll just need to be careful to avoid them.

Here’s the de-weathered wand body. It looks so much better!

A blank canvas ready for new stickers and weathering. Then here are the handle pieces after being primed (I decided to remove the side knobs too):

And after being painted with satin black (I had to print a new switch panel as the inner cyclotron lights PCB didn’t fit in my original):

And here’s how the main body is looking after most of the electronics have been installed:

I also started to install the aluminium side knobs. The larger ones are easy, but that small one was an absolute pain. I had to basically break it off and then drill/fix the new one.

[mcspain]

Hi @gbrich

first let me thank you for this thread. I am starting to do the same thing. I never did much modding or painting or handy work for that matter. Except for modding my 84 Wand two years ago (I posted pictures of the final result on reddit back then).

Your tips are very helpful and I also stole a lot of ideas from your project I would not have thought about before. I am currently almost finished with painting and adjusting all of the inner cyclotron parts (except the cake). I have already order almost everything I want to add. With exception of the cake and vhook. Also I am still waiting for my Mobo and just recently a lot of 3d printed parts arrived I had made based on paid and freeware 3d models. GPStar Kit is also planned but man I already am so much over budget I will have to wait a little bit.

I hope it’s okay if I use your thread to post some of my updates. Since a lot is inspired by your thread I would focus on parts were I went into other directions.

When I had ordered the wires to be added later to the cake I started to wonder why I should bother painting the fake wires on the cyclotron. I already disliked painting the red ones on the copper side things. So I simply removed them with my dremel, made some holes, laid down the wires and used hot glue so that they stay in place. Actually the dents of those squares on the undeside is where i glued the wires in place.

I also added those lines or ridges between the square thingies by molding black epoxy into short lines and adding them. I also tried to create a ridge on the upper end of the metal/shiny part of the ring. And I went for a brass look instead of silver.

I want to add a little weathering to the shiny parts but I am a little afraid to ruin the paint job that took me quite a while.

Here you can see it before i added the wires. I am currently painting those 3d-printed plating parts that are awesome and match the outer structure of the pack. On the left next to the n-filter is the base for the plasma gate. I will go a little non-canon here but i really like the idea and the design.

The files for the shielding infills i bought from etsy and the plasma gate is based on files from thingiverse by BrittanyMonreal I also printed the improved CRT tubes from there. I still need to get fitting acrylic glass tubes to match the rest. (sorry had to remove some links because i am a new user)

[gbrich]

Hey @mcspain great work! Your pack is looking great and I love what you’re doing with it!

Yes the costs certainly do add up don’t they. I like that you’ve removed the wires. I did think about doing that too, but I think I’d be afraid of slipping with my Dremel and permanently marking something! Too many memories from my Spirit pack a couple of years ago. I think my painted wires are probably one of the weakest areas of my pack, but I think I can live with it as they will be covered up with the cake most of the time.

Everything you’ve done looks great though. Your real wires look so much better than my painted versions. I love the gold, and your copper kidney pieces look spot on!

I’ve seen some of BrittanyMonreal’s work on Facebook, you’ve given me some ideas for some extras I might do now too!

[gbrich]

Okay so some more progress over the last few days, and I feel like the pack and wand are really starting to come together.

First up, I finally managed to finish the inner cyclotron switch plate, after a few failed attempts at the 3D print for various reasons. As you probably know, the 1984 pack doesn’t come with a switch plate like the original Haslab Afterlife pack did; instead there’s just a blank plate moulded into the main inner cyclotron housing, shown in the top-left corner here:

So I needed to cut that out, but fortunately this was really easy and only took around ten minutes. I just repeatedly scored indented edges on the outside:

Thanks to RSquad911 for his YouTube video on how to do this. He’s actually done a load of videos on how to mod the 1984 pack, so I’m indebted to him and many others in the community for figuring this stuff out!

Here’s the finalised switch plate after being primed, painted Jenolite Satin Black and then masked and the embossed parts painted Jenolite Chrome:

Then with the cliplites and PCB fitted and installed and everything reassembled in the pack. It looks amazing! A small but very worthwhile detail:

In terms of the inner cyclotron cake itself, I messed up the main body so I’m just waiting for the paint to cure on a reprint of that, but I’ve located the LED ring on the base:

I measured the inner diameter of the LED ring and the outer diameter of the central column of the base, and then 3D printed a low res O-ring to help me centre the LED exactly in the middle.

Then for the cake top, I ordered an A4 sheet of 3mm frosted acrylic from Amazon, 3D printed the window file that came with the TacoBelli files to use as a template, and then cut out the window out of the frosted acrylic, including drilling all the screw holes. I then fixed this to the top using various length M2.5 black button head hex screws:

I think it looks really good, and it will make the inner lights glow really nicely when its all installed.

But the main work over the last few days has been on the wand. First, I finished getting all the GPStar electronics installed. Not an easy job! But I got there in the end, and it’s all working really well:

Something else I added were these Wago connectors to allow me to separate the wand from the pack:

The GPStar Base kit that I bought didn’t come with any kind of quick release like a Neutrik, but I also didn’t want that. The 1984 packs were all hard-wired, plus I’ll hardly ever need to disconnect the wand from the pack, but I also realised that, on the rare occasions when I’d need to disconnect it, I’d have to disassemble the pack or the wand and remove the JSTs from the board to do this, which would be a pain, so this will be a good solution and they’ll just tuck into the loom.

Then the fun part, adding the new decals from Mack’s Factory and dry transfers from Charlesworth Dynamics, both excellent products by the way:

I added them to the pack too while I was at it:

And now I’ve made a start on the weathering. In fact, I stumbled across a very useful reference in my garage, a pedal from my mountain bike:

The reason I like this as a reference is because it shows how something made of metal and painted black would actually weather if it was scuffed or impacted. The revealed metal is quite reflective, and there’s more of a defined, sharper definition between the black paint and the revealed metal.

This is the kind of weathering that I want to achieve, but in a much more subtle way.

So, I used the Molotow Liquid Chrome pen just for the light scuffs on the corners and edges. It’s very subtle, which is exactly what I want, and you may struggle to notice it. Then, I masked and dry brushed the high points on the handles with Tamiya X-9 Brown. I’m really pleased with how they turned out. Probably not exactly screen accurate, but they give just the right amount of subtle wear that I wanted:

The heat sink in this photo ins’t final; it’s a rough 3D print and I’m just in the process of finishing the proper one.

I’ve also started adding the same subtle edge weathering with the chrome pen to the main pack, so I’ll share photos when that’s all done.

My order for the motherboard and other parts from Redman Studios has also been dispatched and the tracking is saying that should be here by the end of the week, so hopefully I can move onto that and finishing the inner cyclotron cake very soon.

[nomake-wan]

I legitimately had no idea the rear handle of the Spengler/84 came off like that. That’s absolutely wild to see. Great work so far, it’s really coming together!

[gbrich]

Yeah it wasn’t easy to get off! Had to heat up the end ring with a hairdryer to soften the glue holding it in place. I didn’t actually realise but the end ring piece is actually separate and held in place by two screws, blocked by more plugs:

So if I had drilled this out I probably could have removed the handle part without needing to remove this end ring as well, but hey ■■.

[spooky]

Not surprising. The thrower seems way over engineered, lots of hidden screws, glued on nuts, and more glue. As mod friendly as the pack is, the thrower is pretty much the opposite.

[gbrich]

To be honest, having nearly finished modding both the pack and the wand, I’d say there are things on both that could have been easier.

I remember watching the video with Adam Savage and the guy from Hasbro when they were first reviewing the original Haslab Afterlife pack prototype, and the guy saying how they’d listened to the fans and understood that people would want to customise them, but it feels like being able to add an Alice frame to the stock mobo was perhaps about as far as that went.

I know it’s a factory-produced item, and Hasbro have done a brilliant job IMHO (a lot less work than my Spirit pack two years ago), but there have still been plenty of times when I’ve found myself asking why they did things a certain way when they could have made it easier.

Only little things, but still important. Like needing to cut and drill the plastic just to swap the elbows and legris to more accurate pieces. Or the fact that the mounting holes for the stock Clippard valves don’t quite line up with the holes for an actual replica 331/701. Or needing to break the cyclotron lid apart just to change the lenses. Or, like you say, combining screws with glue so that, even after you’ve undone all the screws, you’re going mad wondering why you still can’t get something apart. Even the mission I had just to get that smaller side knob off the wand to replace it with an aluminium version, when the other three larger knobs are really easy.

I’m certainly not complaining, none of it is insurmountable and like I said, I think Hasbro have done a brilliant job, especially for the price, but it would just be nice to be able to do all this stuff without having to watch a ton of YouTube videos or having to ask ChatGPT every five minutes!

[spooky]

Agreed on all accounts. I’ve never understood the logic behind some of the connectors being holes & nubs and others being posts. If they just made all those rubber parts have a nub that went into a hole, you could pop them all out and screw in the accurate parts. Only ONE spot allows that, the Beamline tube, you can pull out the rubber part and drop in the brass elbow without any modification. Even the straights which also have a hole, require slightly widening those holes with drill.

At least these are fairly manageable, the thrower is silly from start to finish. Like why is the push button the hat light next to where an actual push button is? What even was that decision?

[gbrich]

Ha ha yeah I’ve only noticed that since installing the proper switch and hat light from the GPStar kit!

Or the fact that same Beamline tube and one other are held in place by the motherboard itself, meaning if you want to remove the motherboard, those tubes just fall off with nothing to hold them in place. You either need to find some wide washers with a really small centre hole, or do what I did and 3D print some.

One other thing that kind of bugs be about the pack is that, I can understand why they needed to add the lip to the stock motherboard that kind of wraps around the base of the pack shell, to keep it in place, but I don’t see why they also needed to make the corresponding lower 1cm of the pack shell flat, which isn’t screen accurate. Hard to explain what I mean, but it means that, if you upgrade to a flat aluminium motherboard, the pack shell still has that 1cm flat area which doesn’t look quite right.

I kind of think that if they needed some vertical support to add strength and keep the motherboard from moving around when it’s been worn, they could have done it by going inside the pack shell, not around the outside.

[nomake-wan]

Consider those Adam Savage comments in context, though; the Spengler Wand was released first, in September 2020. Adam Savage’s first interaction with the HasLab Spengler pack was over a year later in November 2021. So with over a year since the wand, I think it is perfectly fair to say that the pack was a ton more mod-friendly than the wand had been.

Thankfully the ghost trap continued that tradition and is fairly straightforward to mod as well.

[cantignie]

@gbrich dude this is looking awesome! Great inspiration as I work on my own. Couple questions for you…

I’ve been wracking my head trying to find the smaller side knob for the thrower. Where did you find yours? It’s driving me crazy.

I also ordered the GPStar II Core Kit back in July, but haven’t seen any updates on shipping. When did you order yours, if you don’t mind me asking? Same with the Redman MOBO, no sign of anything. Hoping it comes soon, because I’m at a bit of a stopping point waiting on each.

Thanks, and keep the updates coming, pack is looking amazing!

[gbrich]

Hey @cantignie thank you! I really appreciate the positive feedback

For the small thrower knob, do you mean where to get the actual product, or how to remove it?

I bought mine from WorkshopProps on Etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1557174305/knobs-proton-gun-metal-aluminum-set?ref=user_profile

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4447731493/aluminum-side-knobs-haslab-spengler-wand?ref=user_profile

He’s a really nice guy, think his name is Simone and he’s based in Milan, Italy. If you message him and tell him what you want, he should be able to help you. I’ve now replaced all the side knobs with aluminium versions and they look soooo much better!

In terms of removing that small knob though, I had to cut the thing off! Wasn’t the easiest job, but I pretty much did what RSquad911 did in his video:

DIY Gun Knob Install Onto Hasbro Ghostbusters Neutrona Wand!Using BOK Metal Parts!

Sorry to hear about your GPStar and Redman orders.

For the GPStar, I ordered mine in July and it was delivered late August, but I do remember Michael saying that they were struggling to get a certain cable from their supplier which was holding up orders and meant they had quite a backlog.

For Redman, I ordered at the beginning of June, just before his run #9 closed, and it just got delivered yesterday. I think (but don’t quote me) that he prioritises orders in this order:

1. Raw boards only (no paint, cutouts or accessories)
2. Boards with paint/cutouts (no accessories)
3. As above but with accessories

I was the latter as I ordered a painted board with cutout and a few other accessories, but even then, if there’s a hold up with one of the accessories, that can hold the order up further. Here’s everything I ordered:

So if your order has accessories, if you can get those accessories from somewhere else, it could be worth going back to Danny and asking him if removing them from the order would speed it up.

I was in regular contact with both of them in terms of asking when the orders would be shipped, so if you can work with them to overcome any obstacles, it might help your order get sent out sooner.

I think what’s basically happened is that since the 84’ pack was released in June, there’s been a big demand from people like us modding them, so the third party sellers have seen a surge in orders and so some of them are struggling to keep up.

But I’m sure yours will arrive soon.