Well, here we go. I decided to jump in and build myself a pack.
I was considering going the ultra-cheap route (pink foam insulation, cardboard, foamcore, etc) but Mark from the SoCal Ghostbusters sent me some links to a fairly inexpensive shell from studiocreations. However, a few days ago Vincent from SoCal GB said he had a “reject” proton pack that would take some work, but would give it to me at a pretty hefty discount… so that’s the route I went. Some of the damage is fairly severe, but I still think it would be a better route than a vacuum molded plastic shell, for not much more money.
Also, browsing around gbfans, I came across a thread by ThrowingChicken selling some “reject” thrower shells. Two of them were gone, but the third one was still available. It had some minor damage, but honestly much less damaged than the pack shell I bought. Likely won’t even be noticeable once its all done.
So, rather than going the ultra-cheap route with my pack, I’m going the “exceptional quality, but slightly damaged” route. I still think it could turn out very well.
Attached are photos of the stuff I bought, apologies for being photo hevy!
PACK SHELL:
THROWER:
Thanks again to Vincent and ThrowingChicken for the amazing deals, as well as Mark for his very helpful insights!
(Vincent and Mark, I don’t know what your handles are on here, say hello if you read this!)
Put a little time and effort in the shell and it’ll be fine. The thrower doesn’t seem to have anything major. Probably wont even be noticeable when done.
I just wanted to show you these before you came to pick the shell up. It’s all trimmed now and I had a little time so I figured I’d get you a head start on some of the body repairs.
So… this will likely be the slowest pack build in history. Being on the road 6 days a week doesn’t leave much time to work on this thing… not to mention living in a condo with nowhere to really do anything messy like sanding or painting… sigh. Maybe I should have just bought a pack already made
Sigh… the frustration of doing this for the first time. I’ve ordered some styrene and some other materials, and will hit home depot tonight or tomorrow.
My only real problem so far is that the gun bottom cover doesnt sit flush. I need to make some adjustments to the gun body I think.
I’m still deciding what to use for the “green arm”. I was just thinking an allan key with green tubing over it, since I dont intend for it to be functional anyway.
dont let it get you down! ive spent a year in a half full of frustration but keep your head up! Im nearly done and thank God I didnt quite. There are lots of members here that will help. I started with ZERO expierence with anything and by slowing down and thinking things through, asking questions and staying focused you will be able to accomplish your task.
Definitely. Probably the best shell and proton gun kit out there, as far as I can tell. I’ve been doing a ton of reading and searching on here lately, looking at other peoples builds, trying to get some ideas. Why reinvent the wheel?
Your decals are just going to be the icing on the cake
Just got home from Frys. They had the DPDT switches in stock, but none of the push buttons. Also grabbed a 4" 8ohm speaker. They had a kit for a 7w amplifier in the kids projects section for $15 that I kinda wished I had grabbed. It’s been a long time since I even touched a soldering iron, so that may have been good practice (and necessary for my pack).
I was also thinking of having one of the knobs on my gun be a volume control. Has anyone seen that done before?
