WShawn is still active on the forum, though I’m not aware of him offering any PKE shells these days.
Ok thanks
I still might offer kits if there’s interest. I’m still working on my prototype. I hope I can finish it before the fall. The price of a kit would mainly depend on whether I’d have to personally solder everything together or whether I can pay a service to do that or what.
Ok how may I purchase a kit? Is there a way I can message you privately to give my address or information you need? Sorry I’m new to gbfans
I should have been clear that when I wrote I might offer kits if there’s interest I meant general interest from a group of people. It’s possible I’d offer kits to one or two people, but the price would be higher in that case.
As I wrote, I have to make sure my prototype is working properly before making copies to sell. I don’t want to sell a kit or finished prop that isn’t reliable.
I’d also note that I’m guessing the MINIMUM I’d charge for a kit would be $250. For that you’d have to solder all of the parts onto the printed circuit boards, and some of those parts (picoblade connectors) have a very fine pitch. I haven’t added up the cost of all of the components and materials.
Once my prototype is done I’ll post about it here and gauge interest as to whether people would want kits. If there’s enough interest I could look into having completed circuit boards fabricated to eliminate that soldering task. That approach wouldn’t be worth the cost or effort if I’m only making 3-5 of these.
Cheers.
Shawn
Ok thanks for the info
Hard to find high quality PKEs. I’d just mod the $20 Walmart pke meters while you wait for his kit
Yes, should I offer kits they would probably be the most accurate replica of a PKE you could get, so there’s no way I could compete with the toys on price. The electronics components alone will add up to around $140. That includes:
Teensy Arduino
Prop shield for sound
Two servos
Tenergy battery charger
Rechargeable NiMH batteries
2-3 custom PCBs
Various LEDs, transistors, resistors, connectors, regulators, switches, wire, etc.
On top of that there’s the labor/cost of fabricating the resin shells and wings.
Here’s a test of the breadboarded electronics:
Probably the hardest Ghostbusters prop to replicate. Even Mattys isn’t quite right. Hope you do the kits, be nice to have a quality option
Even before MattyCollector came along they were much rarer than Ecto Goggles and Proton Packs… And when Matty produced their effort, it kinda tanked the kit/builder’s market.
The best kit I’ve ever seen was from Ghost Guy around 2009 and I believe his kit coincided with the Mattel prop which absolutely tanked his run. As far as I’m aware I’m the only person in the world who has his PKE Electronics built into a PKE…This kit has promise and behaves and sounds very similar to his. I assume you’re using touch switches instead of buttons which means the wings/light stop as soon as you let go of the contact?
I’d be very keen to see this kit make it into production. PKE is one of my favourite props and it annoys me just how ittle of them are now due to the Mattel/Spirit versions which no offence intended are nowhere near as cool as an authentic prop
I think I’ve seen threads for the 2009 kit here and on the Arduino forums. If it’s the one I’m thinking of he was actually synthesizing sound effects real-time. My version will have just slow and fast sound effects which I found online somewhere. Mine has touch switches (my 1989 version had touch switches). Mechanical buttons would actually be much harder to install and fit into the shell.
ICYMI I have a build thread going which details the features we’ve built into the prop (the bulk of the Arduino code is courtesy GohstTarp who knows that sort of thing).
The last big piece of my puzzle is fabricating the wings. I made a pair out of styrene nearly 20 years ago which look fine, but it’s a labor-intensive process. I want to revisit casting the wings in resin (my attempts in the early 2000s tended to be warped). The idea would be to get wing-shaped PCBs fabricated, solder the LEDs and their little acrylic rods to that PCB, then cast the wing around those creating a solid part.
I’m also considering reworking my through-hole main PCB to make it surface-mount which would allow me to either pay a PCB assembly company to do a short run or reflow the solder myself using a hot plate or modified toaster oven. I’ve never worked with SMT components. It would depend on how many people would want a highly-accurate kit like this. The Matty prop is fine as a toy that looks convincing to a civilian, but it’s far from being screen-accurate.
Cheers.
Shawn
You’re spot on in regards to his sounds being synthesized in real time. No other kit can replicate the authentic of the sound in his kit. Yours however sounds very close, but obviously the real time production of his sounds generates more variety…but still, this kit has lots of promise. Even though I’m good with my PKE. I would be interested in seeing a kit made with your electronics…Be good to have a spare or a second build and more importantly to see people building these as props as opposed to the toys that have flooded the market.
I’d definately be interested in one of these kits if you end up offering them.
Shawn if you’re opening this project back up, count me in as well.
I would buy a kit.
Just a gentle reminder that as Shawn doesn’t have a supporting membership at the moment, that this thread shouldn’t be seen as an interest list.
Once he’s got one sorted and goes through with offering a new run of kits, then feel free to express your interest. 
Yeah, I got a supporting membership in 2018 and renewed it once but lost track of it this year. In 2019 I got multiple reminders in my email to renew; I’m not seeing any reminders this year.
It might still be a while before I’d officially try to offer kits. I want to make sure my prototypes are rock-solid before trying to sell anything to semi-strangers.
Cheers.
I assume it’s done by the forum software automatically, but I’ve no idea if the email reminders were discontinued at any point.
It doesn’t look like I got any private messages regarding renewing in 2020, either. I got plenty in 2019. Just FYI.