Broke down two weeks ago and bought one off of ebay. Figured get one this year, and then I’d have one to base my self built one off of. Got it today and was immediately let down. Not only did it fall apart during shipping, but sections of the pack seemed to be held together with nothing more than elmers glue and paint. Even the bumper was cracked. I’ll include some pics as soon as I can borrow a camera. Thanks for any advice
Wow man,I’m sorry.
It’s a shame that you got a crappy built pack.Have you sent the seller an email about it?I know I would.
I do hope that you can get it fixed and usable for Halloween.
email sent, just got to hope we work something out.
Still taking and uploading, but here are a few pics
prob the biggest prob is that the gun and parts of the body are cracking in various places. I have my work cut out. I figure sand the entire thing and start from scratch
Good heavens, that looks terrible! :shock:
Man, I was thinking about buying one off ebay myself. And now I’m worried, grrrr. What was the sellers name?
how much did you pay ?
Hey. I am a positive guy, so when I look at your pack I see the sparkling prop it could be with a little patience and some work. Obviously it sucks if you thought you were getting a finished product. Can you post the pictures of the pack on the ebay auction page? or just provide a link? I think you’d do us a service by telling us who was responsible, how much you paid, and how it was advertised to make sure it doesn’t happen again to one of us.
In the meantime, you are in a lot better shape than most of us who built our packs from scratch! In fact, I see no problem some Bondo, hot glue, a litle TLC, and a repaint job can’t fix. I see a lot of bumps and grooves in the body of the pack. If you Bondo and sand, you can repaint it with the color of your choice and it will look great. At the very least, you can just reglue the pieces with a heavy duty glue like a 24 hour epoxy (nasty stuff which fuses like steel, but I hate the 24 hour dry time) or hot glue which really works just the same; in that case I would paint it ultra flat (as I have suggested in other posts) so light does not refect enough to make unsightly bumps visible.
I am also not sure what all those white spots are on the pack which is why I suggested repainting it. It does look mighty weathered, like it has been used alot which some guys here appreciate.
I also noticed you are missing a mount (the whole back of the pack, and the straps (ALICE pack) to actually wear the darn thing. That is the crux of a “working” pack and for that reason alone I would complain if the advertisement made no mention of these facts. The gun is also missing a handle (no big deal, cut a dowel to the measurements Stephan offers and glue it in, You could make a grip using Norm’s suggestions) (you may have a handle that merely needs to be glued)
Lastly, just be as optimistic as you can. You have nearly all the most difficult parts to find and build, just a little sanding/gluing/painting. I would not have minded to be in your position as the start of my project; I bet many guys here agree. I can’t rush to judgment on the seller because I don’t know how honest he was on the sale page. Did he mention parts were missing? etc. If you feel taken advantage of, ebay has a lot of ways to provide some measure of justice eventually.
Once again, please let us know its price, the seller, how it appeared in photos on the ebay page, and how it was advertised. If you need any additional help with specific questions, just post them here or PM us specifically. These guys are probably the nicest in the world.
:crunch: for the Star Trek encyclopedia on the ground!
Joe
I did manage to get a hold of the guy and he is willing to work something out. I do have the Motherboard and A-frame, I had unscrewed them from the pack to inspect the inside. I do agree that this is far from fubar. I do plan on sanding it and repainting it. Gonna have to order a few resin parts too to fix a few parts. Also plan on replacing the tube connector(currently heater hose) with something else as it is WAY to thick and doesn’t off much movement.
good luck to you on the tlc that thing needs. but as stated above, it shouldnt be too hard. actually, it will be more time consuming that it will be hard. also, i think you should just scrap that gun all together. it looks like crap and is inaccurate as hell.
i want to make a comment about what joe said too:
first, stay away from hot glue. you could use it to make weld lines, but i would use it for anything else. also, joe, you may have not of know about this stuff but, walmart has a epoxy especially for plastic and starts setting with in a few minutes and that stuff is rock solid. i’ll have to see if i can find the name if it. also, loctite makes a super glue gel that works nice too.
Thanks John, I stand corrected! :walterpeck:
I did know about what is usually sold as “5 minute Epoxy.” I think what it was was that the guy in Home Depot explained the longer drying time, the stronger the hold. I value your opinion more, and as far as I am concerned your correct. Please ignore me about glue Reaper and I apologise.
If you get a chance though, please provide us with that info I mentioned. I understand if you don’t want to disclose the seller’s information, but please at least tell us how much you paid and how it was advertised. I think we all win if we keep an eye out for each other.
Joe
I used the 15 minute Epoxy stuff for my goggles. Smells horrible, definitely need ventilation, but it does dry pretty well in a 15 to 30 minute time frame. And then it gets to be really solid in about an hour. They do tell you, the longer you allow it to cure… the better. After a good twenty four hours, my goggles are solid as a rock. The stuff is easy to work through, just make sure you have like a wet rag or something; because if it spills over or you mess up it can be wiped up for up to like five minutes after you messed up.
It goes through drying stages. First it’s a gel, then a stretchy jelly, then solid. So I would definitely recommend it, it’s easy to work with, and dries fairly quickly for the impatient people out there.
I’ll have to pick some of this up before I start working.
After talking back and forth, the guy has refunded over half of what I payed(which put it well below the starting bid even). DOn’t think anyone here has to worry bout buying from him as it was his pack that he had built up and apparently only used for display to impress a few friends. The ebay blip was misleading as to that fact, but part of it is my fault for not asking more questions. He did answer any questions I did put forth, from how the pack was mounted to the mobo, to the light kit used(exoray).
* “This proton pack is a prop replica from the movie ghostbusters. It’s based off of a vacuformed shell and contains all resin parts. The pack contains lights which are powered by a 9 volt battery; however there are no lights or sound in the gun. This is the perfect accessory for any ghosthead this HALLOWEEN!”*
Wasn’t going to buyt since wasn’t much there bout it, but communication with him resulted in enough trust to do it.
The photos he used were too small to show much detail, but figured it wouldn’t be that bad.
Once our transaction is complete and I know that he isn’t wanting any further info, my first step is to disassemble the entire pack and start sanding. I’ll post pics again once I get to that point
i used the loctite glue for my goggles and it works great, i’ve also some Amazing Goop: for crafts, it works pretty good but it can get messy if ur not careful
Good for you man, keep us posted.
It looks like this thrower is ALL wrong.
I’s suggest cannibalizing the parts and building your own.
ok, sorry it took so long but here is the stuff i was talking about. its made by devcon and its called plastic welder. i get mine at walmart. its with the rest of the adhesives.
That was the pack that I made from a kit. The condition that I shipped it in and the condition that he recieved it in were drastically different. The pack was put together with EPOXY, and JB weld, not elmers glue. I put ALOT of time into that pack, and I was very dissapointed that it ended up that way. I spoke with reaper and made the transaction right by him (as he mentioned). I’m not someone to go and try to take advantage of another fellow ghosthead (or ANYONE, for that matter).
Haven’t had time to do much on the pack, but did take it apart completely. Plan on sanding and epoxying this weekend to see if that fixes some of the cracks without a need to get new parts. I’ll put new pics up after the weekend
Good luck man. That thing was worked during the shipping trip. Looks like it went to hell and back. I can’t wait to see pics of it when it’s completely rebuilt.