seriously been thinking about weathering my pack, i originally painted it with silver then black but i never did do any weathering to it..
iv saw some pics of packs and the weathering looks really good and others just look stupid, i dont want to go and mess it up at this stage with a ■■■■ weathering job… i wonder if a model shop or hobbyinst would do a weathering job on it?
whats the best way to do good weathering
Just checked out your pack and vid. Awesome job mate.
I think the decision is split on whether to weather or whether to not weather (ha!) 
Personally I like the weathered look. As you said originally you could let it weather itself or go round the edges that the pack would come into contact with hard surfaces and chip the paint with a screwdriver or housebrick (!) or something. I wouldn’t trust it to a hobbyshop, they’d probably overdo it. (unless what you’re after is a really heavy weathered look).
At the risk of naming and shaming people, I’d be interested to know which weathering jobs you feel look the best and post some examples here.
(Love the 2p heat sink btw!)
Honest advice…Dont add any paint chips/scratches to the pack or thrower. the screen used packs were never metal so whenever I see a pack with large overdone silver chips it just looks wrong to me.
Best way to weather a pack IMO..
Dull down the labels and hoses with some black boot polish (only need a TINY amount on a rag and it helps to sand the hoses 1st with some fine sandpaper).
Use brown ink wash (vallejo flesh wash is ideal) on the ribbon cable to make it look old.
Use fullers earth over the pack. Bung some in an old sock and use like a powder puff over the pack then using dry paintbrushes dust away the excess until youre happy with the look.
Exactely my opinon too 
One more thing besides the things Nick mentioned is weathering all the parts like the brass fittings, knobs, clippards and all that stuff. If the pack is weathered it would be good if the things on the pack are weathered too, i mean it doesnt make sense to have brand new looking fittings on an old looking pack. If i remember correctely ive read somewhere that you can make the brass look old with vinegar, but i still have to try it so i cant tell much about that. For things like the clippards you can scratch the knobs on them a little with some sandpaper, smear some paint on them too (only very very very sublte). You can also make the black allen head screws looking rusted with some paint or pastel chalks or rust powder…or you heat them up a bit and spray salt water on them (of course this only works if theyre not painted black).
For weathering the end piece of the ion arm you can scratch off some paint with a fingernail (which is what i did on my old pack) or use masking fluid before you paint it. Just dont use sandpaper to weather it, i think that looks really odd ^.^
Oh…about the ribbon cable wash: i did a wash with thinned brown on it too (on my old pack) but now i think i wouldnt do it again. I mostly did it because the cable on my old one was glossy and the colors were very bright, but for the new one i have a different spectra strip with a matte finish and im most likely gonna leave it like that.
It depends on your personal preference aswell. wether you want it to look screen used or like a real world pack would if it was made of metal.
I added some scrapes and dings with silver paint when i was weathering, its not screen accurate but it does make it look used.
If i were to do it again i would probably just do what Nick has mentioned above though.
The fullers earth in particular makes a HUGE difference so you could always try just using that first to see how you like it ?
Also for weathering the brass components as bigi71 mentioned a glass of Cola will do a good job if you leave them in over night
The packs might have been made of wood for the movie, but if one is to imagine they are “real” then it’s hard to expect wood to be containing a particle accelerator. And they doubtfully have the ability to make it out of sturdy composites, not to mention carbon fiber is out of the question. Chances are most likely if they were real they would be metal. After all… there are weld marks on parts of it. Can’t weld plastic or wood.
That said, I do agree with Nick that large chips don’t look natural. That’s what happens to a bad paintjob, paint chips off in large chunks. That’s not weathering. Scratches and gouges happen in weathering. Fading colors happen in weathering. Rust and corrosion happens in weathering. Walking around with 80 pounds of Positron Colliding goodness as a backpack you are bound to bump into stuff. Doorways, elevators, fat people, desks, lamps, other Ghostbusters, the list goes on. So think about what areas while wearing your PP on your back that you’d hit. The bumper, the plates, the tubes, the boxes. Areas that if you turn in a narrow hallway they’ll get scratched.
Ah and here we have the classic prop builders dilemma, real world replica Vs the films “universe”. Yes I understand that the packs were most likley made to be perceived as metal but in reality were made from fiberglass (not wood btw).
When it comes to building my props I always follow this rule of thumb…try and replicate the props as if you uncovered them in real life. This is why I wouldnt paint a pulse rifle green or add silver chips to a pack shell (I have in the past before I knew they werent metal).
Of course this is all personal choice and what looks best to MY eye. Its your pack and if you want it to look metal then weather away. There is no right or wrong.
I totally agree that large chips look horrible but I’m all for some “silver paint” showing through, whether that’s an upper or over layer. There’s a certain pack that was sold recently that had huge ‘chips’ taken out of it and it really spoiled what was an otherwise fantastic pack.
Gotta ask though Nick. Do you “chip” your motherboards?
well I normally use MDF for my mobos so if I do weather them ill paint on the silver chips but I normally opt just keeping them “chip” free.
Oh yeah, der. You’re right, I’m wrong there. I had the image in my mind of the guy w/ the jigsaw cutting out the pack mold template from wood and totally brainfarted.
And agreed again on how the work one does is based on the outlook you chose to have. Some might want to replicate the prop on a movie set, others might want to replicate as if the item were in fact real. Just personal preference, really. Can’t go wrong either way.
thanks guys some good tips there…
i think the wethering in this pic is pretty good not too weatherd but has the used look
if i could get mine looking similar id be happy its just subtle weathering… seems like the corners on most parts have been sanded slightly
I’ve currently weathering my pack with some fuller’s earth, and I am blown away with the results! I was wondering if there is a way to make the tubing look weathered without destroying it. The fullers doesn’t adhere to them very well, and it looks a little odd with the bright red/blue tubing on a dusty pack.
any pics of your pack?
A couple of great threads here.
Shiney Tubes - GBFans.com
Weathering Brass - GBFans.com
I love the look of the picture ‘slime me please’ posted. Forgive the noob in me but is that a screen used pack?
I think the weathering is a really personal choice. It depends what you want to reproduce. The weathering of the film or natural weathering. If you think that the real proton pack (in history) is metal. Of course if the proton pack really existed there would have bursts of peeling paint that would show the metal underneath.
So the question is: do you want to repeat the mistakes of the movie or go further in trying to replicate what would be a true proton pack.
The 2 results are interesting and worth their effort.
personally I think put some paint chips and wear, which shows that the pack is metal underneath.
Not yet. It looks really good in person, but the flash on my camera kind of kills it. Once I can take some new pictures in more natural light, I will post them in my thread.
Great! Thanks Nick!
I think weathering looks good. But im a “brand new” kind of guy and i love the clean brand new look of a pack. Im just gonna let nature takes its course on my pack…dust, paint chips, spider webs…give it a more realistic weathering. Main components of my pack are going to be aluminum and the paint job is bound to fade or peel over the course of time and to me that more realistic than anything else.
EDIT: another thought i had…movie world or real world, the packs had to look new at some point, right? ya know when they were first built. I believe its even noticeable in the movie that the packs were in good condition at the beginning of the film and by the end looked very much “used” not weathered. Like i said before im taking a more nature course on my pack. Either way its all preference, right!
The Omni pack looked pretty new to me.
Actually depending on the type of plastic you can weld it.