Noob Questions: Norms proton pack plans

Equipment Proton Packs
1

Hi, I’m working on my first pack, and so far my goal is to just make it look respectable in time for Halloween. I have looked at all three plans on this site, and I’m going to do my best to use some from each to help create my pack.

My first question is this: In Norms plans on building the thrower, he starts by using a pattern to cut out the gun body with paper. paper? Serisously? how is that going to hold up? I am thinking about making it out of 1/4" plywood.

Has anyone used norms plans to create a pack? Pictures? So far, parts of those plans seem beyond cheese…

Thanks for the help guys.

2

Welcome fellow Metallica fan :wink: I believe it means on paper to trace onto something else. Such as wood.

Norm’s plans are great, especially close to the Halloween rush. Finding stuff that looks close to the parts. They are probably the easiest plans to understand as far as people who have never built something before.

There’s I believe Norm’s page with one of his packs. As you can see the results are very good!

Radar’s $64.71 proton pack & wand

Bradester’s Dollar Store Proton Pack!

Stuck Before Halloween? Quick pack ideas!

There’s some links that might help as well. Good luck!

3

I recommend for the thrower to go here:

print out the gunbox template.

I have built (if you count rebuilds) 8 packs, I used mostly Norm’s and venkman71’s plans. v71’s make a couple parts easier like the EDA for example.

Here’s my pack

image
image502×531 77.4 KB

-DS-

4

^^^ I agree about the gun. That’s what I did.

5

Fantastic, Thank you for the information.

My pack will probably be somewhere between Norms plans, and the famous dollar store pack. :slight_smile:

I’ll post an update and let you all know how it goes.

6

Norm’s plans are a great starting point, but I also highly recommend looking atvenkman’s plans at the same time.. in some cases, they are much clearer.

(I’ve been following norm’s plans the last week and a half.)

Also many parts will be unobtainable.. check in teh forums or ask, if there’s a part you can;t locate, or a cheap or easily accessible substitute.

Owning some power tools will also help a LOT… I’ve used my table saw, circular saw, drill, dremel, and orbital sander.. and probably wouldn’t have made as much advancement so quickly without them.

There’s also a great bumper tutorial as well in the tutorial section.. I changed it slightly, but followed it’s basic plan.

7

1/4" plywood? For the gun? Use 3/16 basswood from the craft store. It’ll be plenty strong enough. Or use 1/8" whatever if you must, but 1/4" is serious overkill and you may not be able to fit certain things in there if you do that and it might get in the way of the gun handles.

8

Thanks for the tip. Yeah, I realized this was a bit too thick for the gun. From the looks of it, most people do alot of construction with 1/8" bass board.

One thing I have learned already, a big part of this process is just research and planning. It takes plenty of both.