Okay, here goes....

[Tralan]

Well, I finally started my pack. It’s looking really good. It’s a bit on the heavy side, but that’s okay. I actually took a lead from Bradester’s Dollar Store pack. Mine is a Home Depot pack, and cost a little bit more, but the concept is the same. I wandered HD for about 3 hours looking for stuff.

It isn’t finished. I just had enough funds to complete the major portions of it. When viewing these pictures, keep a few things in mind: 1) I’m not a prop builder. I don’t know all the fancy techniques. 2) This was really hard for me. I appreciate constructive critcism, but please be kind. Again, I’m not a prop builder. 3) It is not Screen Accurate. I’m not that good, so I am going more for a Close enough/ Recognizable" version. We’re Ghostbusters: Elko, so that’s why our equipment is slightly different.

It’s made form 3/4 inche particle board. That does make it slightly heavy. No worries, though. All the attachments are hollow plastic, so the primary weight of the motherboard isn’t increased too much.

My funding ran out. So I will post updates in about a month when I get more cash lol. So far it’s run me just under $100, so I think it’s not too bad.

Motherboard with wood filler:

unpainted parts layed out for visual reference:

Sanded with primer:

1 final sanding, and rattle canned flat black:

Major parts spray painted and gorilla glued on:

More unpainted parts layed out for a visual reverence:

On the pack, you’ll notice two cylinders. One is the blue electrical box part that you saw in the unpainted layout. I needed a second cylinder and couldn’t find anything. By pure chance, when I took the spray paint can outside to paint the parts to my Ecto Goggles, I set the lid on the pack and the rest is history lol.

I’m going to keep it flat black. I hate spray paint and want to do it as little as possible. It won’t be lit up in any way. Sorry. I just want the prop. Don’t care about lighting. Plus, it’s my pack and I’ll do with it as I please lol

As I said before, it is far from finished, and I have lots to add to it. But I can’t until I get paid again (got hit pretty hard with bills this month ). So, I’ll update as often as I can.

[Tralan]

I’ll start cnstructing the thrower tomorrow. It’s going to resemble the RGB thrower in that it’s going to be a lot thinner and streamlined. This will A) require a lot less work B) add far less weight, and C) not require me to get special equipment so I can cut wood at different angles. Gotta work with what you got. The cable is Television Coax cable lol. It’s blue and has a criss-cross texture on it. I may paint it, or just leave it blue.

[Harry_Bardwell]

Are you attaching it to a alice frame? If not it looks like a pain in the backside, so to speak

[UltimateGBfan]

Its looking good man.

[Tralan]

@Harry Bardwell

Are you attaching it to a alice frame? If not it looks like a pain in the backside, so to speak

Oh yeah. It’ll be attached to an ALICE frame just as soon as my broke ass can buy one lol. I’ll be putting together the whole uniform over the next month or so. I have a few things already, such as boots and you can see the trap in the backgroung that I’m going to repaint. I also have a set of Ecto Goggles made. They cost me around $12 total, not including spray paint or glue.

Boyo, that Gorilla Glue bonds to anything! All the parts are glued on.

@UltimateGBfan

Its looking good man.

Thanks I think it’s going to turn out well. Being my first major project like this, I am very proud of it.

[Governor]

Great work, good imagination. I bet you make a really nice looking pack out of that.

[GhostGuy]

I like how you made use of those electrical boxes. I might steal that idea!

I’m working on a pack myself. I haven’t started constructing it yet though. I’ve been teetering back and forth between making a fully authentic one, and making one of whatever I can find that fits, because I’m running out of time, and the suit, the boots, the alice frame, and all the other little bits I’ve bought so far for the costume and pack have run me about $500.

[Tralan]

@Governor

Great work, good imagination. I bet you make a really nice looking pack out of that.

Thank you. I have some more parts added and I am currently constructing the wand. All I really need now is some wires, a few knobs and whatnot, and an ALICE frame and this bad boy will be finished,

@GhostGuy

I like how you made use of those electrical boxes. I might steal that idea!

I’m working on a pack myself. I haven’t started constructing it yet though. I’ve been teetering back and forth between making a fully authentic one, and making one of whatever I can find that fits, because I’m running out of time, and the suit, the boots, the alice frame, and all the other little bits I’ve bought so far for the costume and pack have run me about $500.

The electrical boxes are great. They’re lightweight, the glue holds them amazingly and they’re strong. I had to get a Sawz-All and cut off some of the extra bits they have on the sides.

Also… glue, paint and plastic caps from soda bottles make amazing knobs and doodads for things. Very cheap and lightweight.

[Tralan]

More pics. Getting close to cmplete now.

additional parts glued on and spray painted:

Neutrona Wand construction:

The wire I’m going to use to connect the wand to the pack:

Added some silver paint to the Ecto Goggles:

[GhostGuy]

Also… glue, paint and plastic caps from soda bottles make amazing knobs and doodads for things. Very cheap and lightweight.

Yeah, soda bottle caps would make good knobs, but when I started out I was planning to make it as realistic as possible with parts I could find, and the local electronics surplus store had two whole bins full of miscellaneous knobs for cheap.

Incidentally, I’m also using a bunch of black and silver knob bits I got there that were more like tubes than knobs, to make my goggle eyepeices. Gluing several of them together gave them a more interesting shape than a simple length of PVC would have.

[Tralan]

yeah, actual knobs and such would be better for an accurate pack. Like I said, I’m going more for recognizable than accuracy. Mainly because my “talents” wouldn’t even let me come near to making an accurate pack.

[Tralan]

More Pics

The finished Neutrona wand. The tip is made of copper pipe fittings. It’s closer to the Cartoon style than the movie (which was an open tube)

The near complete pack itself. All I need is 3 things: an ALICE frame, which are cheap on eBay. Some ribbon cable to add the evtra “electronic” element, and a V-Hook to hang the wand from. I had some issues painting. I was spray painting the inside of the 4 washers on the bottom part. To do so, I taped off that area with painter’s tape. it said “safe on fresh paint.” Well, when I peeled it off, it took a lot of the paint with it. That’s okay, though. I fixed it. All I have left to do is paint them again, this time with standard red acrylic paint and paintbrush. I forgot to mention the stickers. there are label stickers that go on it as well. I’ll order them on the 7th as well.

[GhostGuy]

Where’d you get washers that big? They don’t carry them at Home Depot. Least, the guy in the bolts department didn’t know of any. I need something for my cyclotron lights.

[Tralan]

I got them at Home Depot. Also the ones glued together into a cylindar on the crossbar thingie… Ion Knob or some such.

They weren’t in baggies, but sold individually and loose in a pull out drawer on the bottom of the aisle. your home depot may be set up differently, but the concept is there: the loose ones in the pull out drawer. I bought 4 of the super big ones for the cake pan lights and 20 for the crossbar cylindar thingie.

[Bradester]

Keep going! It’s going to be great when it’s done!

[Zack]

Looking great man. Hopefully some Halloweenies will take notice of it and get to building soon instead of wanting something for nothing. Hell I dunno why but I get more excited about something cool like this being done with innovation rather than looking at another “cookie cutter” shell pack. I mean they’re great don’t get me wrong, the way to go for complete accuracy awesomeness but I love stuff like this.

[LadyGhost]

I love the thrill of the hunt! Walking down the hardware store aisle and coming across the perfect piece for your pack is so rewarding. It’s very satisfying to hunt the parts down and put them together to create an awesome replica, even if it’s just “close enough” rather than “100% screen accurate”.

[Tralan]

Thanks for the positive input, guys :D:D:D:D

I’m having an absolute blast building this thing. It’s going to be bitter-sweet when it’s finished because I want to build more.

I wanted the cookie-cutter one. I really did, but money did not allow. However, now that I have this, I think I prefere it to a screen accurate one. Simply because, while obviously a Proton Pack, it is my own. I made it and designed it all by myself. That makes it the best ever.

Edit: I forgot to mention. I had some parts in there where I was explaining things 9like the stickers or the bits on the wand)… that’s not for you guys. I cut and pasted this from another forum I frequent lol.

[GhostGuy]

Hm, I checked those drawers at Home Depot. I guess I’ll have to check again tomorrow when I get the MDF for my motherboard and look for a cheaper alternative to the SMC elbows.

[Gareee]

LOVE the idea of those electrical boxes.. while not as film accurate, they just LOOK good, and odds are, if made today, pack plans would have been improved upon anyway.

That red cap on the top of yours gives me an idea.. wonder if spencer’s has a battery powered spinning police type light? That would be killer for the top of the pack, could be velcrod on for removal since it’s not canon, but would add a great impact when you go into parties for halloween!