Agreed.
I am always amazed when I see packs sell for many hundreds if not thousands of dollars on eBay. I mean sure they look incredible and I would love to have one, but I would be afraid to even point at the thing, much less actually wear it anywhere.
I have some great “museum piece” props from other sci-fi movies and stuff but I definitely want a proton pack I can get out in the field with.
Bill
Made a little bit of progress this weekend, got quite a bit done on the cyclotron and spacer. Still need to get a new benchtop disk sander to really finish it up right…
Not bad, coming along slowly but surely.
A bit about the scary house… A man died there back in the 70s and I think he still lurks around, he was not a happy soul in life and I think nothing has changed. The house has not been properly cleaned or maintained or painted in years so it literally looks like a haunted house from a movie - peeling paint, spiderwebs everywhere, weird antique furniture and pictures and stuff. My brother lives there, he is completely nuts, he has shared custody of his two young kids and they literally lock themselves in his room THE ENTIRE TIME THEY VISIT. They hoard food under the bed and stuff and have the windows boarded up so no light gets in. I NEVER see them when I visit although they are often there, I sometimes think they don’t come out even to use the bathroom, which is pretty scary. But the weirdest part is that one or the other of them wakes up screaming almost EVERY night, it’s really a bit frightening as it sounds like they are either in a great deal of pain or in complete horror or both. Seriously I am not making this stuff up. Regrettably, I fear the true cause of all the unrest is not ghosts, just good old fashioned mental illness…
Bill
or a meth lab
Ironically in my day job I wrote New York State’s omnibus anti-methamphetamine legislation. Go figure.
Bill
Have you considered writing to Child Protective Services?
Yeah, some stuff is going on along those lines, it’s just pretty messed up, especially when it’s family.
But hey how about that cyclotron???
Bill
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to go off topic. I just have a deep concern for children who need help, as they are unable to get it themselves. It’s especially harder when it’s family, but the right thing is hardly ever the easy thing to do.
The cyclotron is looking very good though.
speaking of the cyclotron, I served jury duty once and we put a meth dealer away for 7 years..that was 3 very crappy days. and did I donate the jury pay back to the city? hell no, i cashed that check baby!
I found the key to keeping your pack safe is having a solid bumper. My packs, although pretty solid materials to begin with, are real bruisers in a crowd. My bumper is a piece of aluminum (lightweight but strong) tooled to the right shape. It’s amazing the impacts it has taken without a scratch.
At the last event I attended, someone opened a large metal door right into my pack. Loud clang, but when I looked back I saw that the bumper had taken a chunk of paint off the door, however the pack was unscathed.
Heh, yeah, I’m gonna miss my old pack’s aluminum bumper… but hey, we gotta keep these resin part makers in business somehow 
My biggest advice for you is this (don’t worry, it’s kinda fun). Wear your entire costume around your house. No joke. Learn to navigate the doors and sorta learn to have a mental rear view mirror. The last thing you wanna do is snag someone’s costume (or… eye socket) on the ion arm
You also have the loops on the thrower to worry about as well as the main hose connecting the thrower to the gun (oye… sad story on my old pack, nearly ripped apart the gunbox >_<)
Also, you might want to practice squatting/sitting/kneeling with the pack on. No joke. I don’t know how much your pack will weigh, but if it’s heavy and you have bad knees, you might find yourself physically stuck in a kneeling position (happened to a friend of mine who has an odd knee wearing my old pack… absolutely hilarious, but… yeah, would’ve sucked if he was alone.)
OH! just remembered… either make your ion arm (might be getting my terms mixed up, but the part on the pack with the copper rod) very sturdy or have a few easy to replace spares in case it DOES get snagged… or some drunken ■■■■■■■ decided to “test” how sturdy the rod is on it.