Hey guys! Just wanted to post a tutorial on how to make a cheap and easy Proton Pack! It’s not movie accurate but hey its a Proton Pack! I used plans from Bradster here on GBfans.com (link is here: My Dollar Store Proton Pack! - Repaint Page 3! - Proton Packs - GBFans.com
He used alot of random stuff mainly from a Dollar Store but I used basically random stuff around my house. I just looked at Bradsters forum’s pics and thought “ok, what do I have that looks like that?” and off I went!!! Here’s what it looked like when I gathered everything together:
And here’s what my finished Proton Pack looked like after I finished it:
So lets get started! (WARNING: I USED MY CELL PHONE TO TAKE ALL THE PICTURES SO SORRY FOR THE POOR LIGHTING IN THE PICTURES)
FAQ (cause I know some of you are gonna ask!!!)
First. I followed this picture that is Bradsters Proton Pack that he built:
The 4 Red Blinking Lights I went to Walmart during the Halloween season this year. They was $1.00 each. So I bought 4 of them. and bought these:
I just duct taped them inside the pie pan (with red filter that I cutout of a red store bag we got from buying something at the mall):
I cut holes out of the pie pan, and cutout 4 “rings” out of cardboard. This is what it looks like with the red “filters” and everything on:
The “Power Cell” is a sandwich lunch container that I used. I put duct tape on the inside of the box so that it would look like it was solid when painted. I also cut out (very carefully) a small rectangle in the middle. The lights is from a Bike Safety Light I got at Kmart. I have shopped EVERYWHERE to find BLUE CHASE LED’S and NO ONE has what I was looking for! So I did the next best thing and bought a Bike Light from Kmart. Bad thing is, its RED CHASE LED’s, not BLUE. But oh well, at least I have the LED’s “chasing” and it actually worked out for me in the end. (but they are RED). Yes I know you can go online and buy these “blue LED chase kits” for like $15 but I didn’t have time.
All in all, I spent $20 on the Proton Pack (this is after I gathered all my stuff together. You can add up everything in the parts list to see how much it would really come to if you wanted to.) The $20 was mainly the 4 blinky lights, the Bike Light and also the paint (which I found also at Kmart for like $1.50 a can! Good deal!)
I also spent only 2 1/2 weeks from start to finish making my Proton Pack. I’ve seen people online saying they’ve spent YEARS making their’s. This proves that you can make a Proton Pack in under a month and with basically no money.
So lets get this thing started:
PARTS LIST:
I used the following things (you can see them up top in the picture with all the stuff gathered)
***(This is just what I used. You can substitute anything!!! As long as it matches somewhat like in my and Bradsters pictures your good!)
Proton Pack Parts:
-Small Goldfish crackers Box
-Handle from a broken wooden spoon (pushed into the goldfish box)
-Ruler
-Pie Pan
-Big Tubberware Bowl (for the pie pan to sit on)
-4 - film canisters (that 35mm film would come in)
-Big empty bottle that vitamins come in
-2 small rectangle boxes (I used a box that my old bank checks came in and the box it was shipped in)
-Rectangle sandwich container
-Small block of wood (found one in my basement from the previous musta left)
-2 - wooden coins (I got mine from the game “Bottletops”
-Computer ribbon (got mine from an old computer that I had. Go ask a friend or a relative that might have one)
-Tall hand sanitizer bottle (cut in half. Also save the cap)
-Small bottle that aspirin would come in (Dollar store kind, also save the cap)
-2 wooden dowl rods (I got mine from Ace Hardware from $2.50 from a loooong stick of it)
-Box that NyQuil pills would come in
-Cap from a paint spray bottle
-Cap from a small can of spray hair dye bottle from Halloween
-Cap from a Starter Fluid can (for cars) (I didn’t add this part to my Pack until the day I painted everything. It is sitting to the left of the Goldfish cracker box, and above the “Power Cell” sandwich container)
-A box one of the 35mm film canisters came in
-Cap from a small AA battery operated flashlight (any small tip-like thing will do)
-Wires (blue, green, and 2 reds) (Got mine from an old car radio that I had for years)
-A small black plastic tube (I got mine from a car we was junkin’. It holds misc. wires in them. Just ripped the whole thing off cause it was slit down the middle of the plastic tube)
-A ■■■■■■■■■ plastic tube (to connect the Proton Gun to the Big Tubberware bowl)
-A Big piece of wood to glue everything on (got mine for free at my mom’s house)
-Small metal tin
-2 hooks from measuring tapes (ya know those hooks on the back of them)
-Peanut Butter jar lid
-Small square piece that a pair of headphone earbuds came in (you can barely tell they are on my Pack but they are next to my Goldfish cracker box on the left of the box)
-2 pieces of cardboard or plastic the same size as the Ruler
-I also used a square like thing that had a screw in it. It was used for a camcorder tripod to connect the camcorder to a tripod. I didn’t need that part anymore. The piece is the one that the film canister is sitting in on the “bumper”/Ruler. The screw that was in this, I used as a “tip” piece of the flm canister
-And paint (2 spray cans of flat black and 1 can of flat silver).
Now for the Gun:
-Axe shower gel bottle
-2 film canisters (just like the ones used above)
-Box my cell phone came in (any small box will do)
-Handle from a old ski pole (previous owners left a ski pole in the basement, ripped the handle off)
-Bottom of a Dixie cup
-Misc switches and stuff
-Small clear tube that mechnical pencil lead refills come in (for the "clear tube on the tip of the gun)
-Tip from the small clear tube
-Red and blue pieces of “filter”. I used stuff from misc. plastic blue and red bags we had
-Small rectangle piece of cardboard
-A small white piece of wire (I got mine from the same wires from the same car radio as mentioned above)
Ok. Go look at my photos above and go see what ya can find! Gather it all up and I’ll post more later!
Ok, now before I continue, here are some more pics from misc. sides of the pack as I was building it. Try to follow everything on the pictures. All I used was Fix It All Super Glue I bought at my local Dollar Tree. I bought 3 bottles of it.
Here’s the pics:
Right Sideview:
Left Sideview:
Top View:
Gun View:
Gun Side View:
Gun Tip View (I used duct tape on the clear tube tip for the “metal pieces”)
Gun Top View:
Gun (with custom light kit in it (will explain later):
Proton Pack (with everything on it) on wooden board that everything will be glued on:
Proton Pack another view:
Left view (good view to see everything on it):
Right view:
The wooden board before I cut it out with a jigsaw:
The wooden board after I cut it out with a jigsaw (just traced a line around everything when it was all on the wooden board:
The wooden board when cut out (this is what GBfans refer to as a “motherboard” for the Proton Pack:
Everything on the “motherboard”:
Right view with everything on the board:
Left view with everything on the board (notice the “white” inside the sandwich box. I covered the inside of the sandwich box with duct tape so when I paint it, it will look solid):
Regular view with everything on the board:
All the parts to the Proton Pack after I spray painted them (yes in my backyard sorry for the mess on the deck):
Closeup of the parts (Part 1) (Notice I glued strips of cardboard on the sides of the 2 rectangle boxes and also the sandwich container):
Closeup of the parts (Part 2) (I had to put them under the deck cause it was windy that day and was blowing everything around):
Closeup of the motherboard and other parts (the thing with the hole in it is the Big tubberware bowl that the pie pan sits on. I cut a hole in the motherboard so when the pie pan and Big tubberware bowl are glued together, and then glued on the motherboard, all I have to do is reach in the hole in the motherboard and turn the 4 lights on inside the pie pan (the 4 red blinky lights):
Closeup of all the parts that you need to paint silver (listed left to right):
(small aspirin bottle, big vitamin bottle, cap from flashlight (which is glued on the vitamin bottle), cap from 35mm film canister, cap from hand sanitizer (which is glued on the cap from the 35mm film canister), and cap from the small aspirin bottle mentioned above):
All the parts to the Proton Pack after I painted them (Part1):
All the parts to the Proton Pack after I painted them (Part 2):
The motherboard (I used rolled up pieces of from a pair of pant legs (2 of them). Duct taped the rolls underneath and screwed them into the board (one on top, one on bottom). Measure on your body with the board up to your back where the straps will go). I also screwed 2 screws into a old cloth belt I had into the board):
Sideview of the motherboard with straps and belt on:
Finished Proton Pack:
Finished Proton Pack (Part 2):
Left Side View:
Another view (the red and blue things on the goldfish cracker box is a red cap from a Sharpie marker and the blue cap is from a …you guessed it…pen cap):
Right Side View:
Pics of all my Ghostbusters Props that I built (Ghost Trap, PKE Meter, Ecto Goggles and Proton Pack) (I will post pics later of all of those other ones):
And now all the pics of me as a Ghostbuster for Halloween this year (2010):
I didn’t have a uniform (or money to buy one) so I used a pair of brown pants and a cool “uniform-like” shirt that I got at Hot Topic. Worked out really good! The belt gizmos I have is "Ecto Goggles (with one of those climbing hook key ring holders), a M&M’s Mini’s container (to hold my flashlight), a walkie talkie, and my Ghost Trap (which I used one of those cell phone holders for belts. It has a slip in slot on the clip so you put a knob on the back of the cell phone and slide it into the clip. All I did was screw a big screw into the bottom of the Ghost Trap so it would fit into the slots of the belt clip). The only thing I don’t have is my PKE Meter cause I didn’t have a “holder” for it anywhere.
Full Uniform Me:
Picture of the Proton Pack taken at Halloween Party I was at (the audio wires between the pack and the Ghost Trap is a custom sound effects system I built for the Pack. All it is, is a small pair of battery operated speakers connected to extending audio plugs that plug into my MP3 Player that has sounds for the pack (like the pack turning on, the gun firing and even the Ghostbusters Theme Song!). So I had the pack laying inside the hole of the motherboard where I reach in to turn the lights on inside the pie pan. Worked out good! (If anyone wants the sounds, let me know):
Picture of me posing, holding the Proton Gun:
Action shot of me “firing” the Proton Gun:
Action shot of me “firing” the Proton Gun with photoshoped Proton Streams:
Ok! So thats it! Just follow the pictures and you can make one too! If anyone has any questions feel free to ask! I will answer them as best as I can. I tryed to show every detail and every step so that everyone can get an idea of what to do!
So here’s pics of my homemade Ghost Trap, PKE Meter and Ecto Goggles.
Ghost Trap: (I used a shoebox, with black electrical tape layered all around the box. I cut out 2 rectangles and put duct tape on them for the “metal effect”. I also cut out 2 small square pieces and also put duct tape on them for the “metal effect”. I also cut 2 small pieces of cardboard, colored them RED. Also cut out a small piece of cardboard, colored that RED too. The small brown box is a inside of a matchbox. The “heatsink” is from a old CD car radio I had. The “radio resister” piece if from an old Ford radio I had that didn’t work. Just ripped it apart and found that piece. The Big knob is from the Ford radio. The knobs on the front are from that same radio. The handle is from an old broken broom we had. Lightbulb near handle is from a car dome light lightbulb set. The LED lights on the front is a piece of plastic from a Hot Wheels car package, with electrical tape wrapped around it. The LED lights inside don’t work but are from a computer server that my friend gave me. (I just used 4 of the lights. You will see the whole light set on the PKE Meter later) The Black and Yellow “doors” is a piece of cardboard with the black and yellow lines colored on them.
PKE Meter:
All I used was a box from lightbulb, parts from a cell phone car charger, legos, switch, Big screw, broken gray round piece (that made mist) from a Skull Halloween Decor, coat hanger for the antennas, LED lights from a computer server my friend gave me (which the switchs on here and on the Proton Pack I got from the computer server too) and a Battery Operated screwdriver (to make the antennas move)
Ecto Goggles:
I got a free pair of welding goggles from my mom and so I was in a hurry to make the Ecto Goggles so all I did was removed the black/green filer on the outside lid. I then got a paper towl roll, cut it in half, electrical taped the outside of them. I then got a Toilet Paper roll (cause its smaller and will fit inside the paper towl roll). I cut the Toilet Paper roll to size and duct taped the outside (to make it look metal-like).
And so thats it! I showed you guys my Proton Pack from start to finish. My PKE Meter! My Ghost Trap! And my Ecto Goggles! So this proves to everyone that you can use random junk around the house and recycle them into parts for different Ghostbusters Props! So if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!