I’ve been putting together some extras for my costume in preparation for Gencon. For the longest time I didn’t want to touch my cherished childhood toy, but I figured it’s better that I paint over it and use it rather than have it sitting in a box of Ghostbusters toys in the basement.
So here are some pics of my converted trap.
A view of one side. I haven’t pasted on a warning label yet, but that will go over the front silver area eventually.
A view from the front. Ghostheads familiar with this toy will note that I just painted over the gauge in the front. I thought about finding a working gauge of some sort and installing it, but it would have been a big headache.
A view from the other side. I used spraypaint for the first few coats and then went in and touched it up with a brush. If I had it to do again I’d probably just spraypaint the entire thing (minus the top) black and then do the smaller areas with a brush.
A view from the top with the trap closed. I decided to go ahead and paint over the glow in the dark lines. It was just a cheesy toy gimmick anyways, and I think the yellow looks much better.
A view from the back. The little red doodad is the only part of the original toy that I didn’t paint over. The pedal isn’t attached at the moment. I’m still waiting for it to dry, and might not even use it on my costume. Most people just notice the trap, and I have a feeling that the rolled up cord and pedal will just get in the way.
I put this red LED on the front partly as a nod to RGB and partly to have something other than a faded sticker in that area. It just stays on constantly, no blinking. I was originally going to cut out the square, put in the LED, and then put some plexiglass over it, but the parts inside the trap there coupled with laziness (it’s much easier to just drill a hole and stick in the light) led me to take the easy road. I think it looks nifty sitting there on the front, and since I’m converting an RGB toy already I’m not too worried about movie accuracy.
Here’s the green LED that I installed in the traditional spot on the trap. This one blinks.
Here’s a pic with the trap open. It’s pretty crowded in there. To get the lights working I drilled a hole for the lights on the outside of the trap, then drilled holes in the front and back of the inside compartment and ran the wiring through.
The green blinking LED is attached to a 2AA battery box, and the bigger red LED is just attached to a good 'ol 9V. I know some people had trouble with burning out their smaller LEDs when they attached’em to a 9V, so I went with the AA.
Finally, here’s a shot with the lights on. I may only turn them on when going out at night, I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to see how well they really show up indoors at the convention. If not then this’ll strictly be an “outside in Indy at night” lighting scheme.
So there you have it. Thoughts or comments appreciated.
