Since the success of my first bash at Ecto Goggles, I have now started building my first pack that I intend to wear at my nightclub event on Halloween. Although I have studied other gbfans member’s pack with envy, marvelling at the detail and sheer craftsmanship that has been bestowed upon them, I have opted for a simpler setup as I am sure that a club full of Psy-trance loonies is not the best place to take a movie-accurate pack costing lots of money and even more man hours. I have gone for visual impact over accurate detail, and have taken a few liberties with the dressing up of the pack. The Psy-trance scene is heavily into visuals, lighting and UV effects, so with this in mind I have added as much light-up parts as I can. The intention is to have something that looks fantastic in the club, rather than in the cold light of day!
The pack is based on a Studio Creations vacuformed shell, which is perfect for my build as it is very light weight but strong enough to take knocks and bumps. The light weight is very important as there is a 7Ah sealed lead-acid battery inside to power all the goodies. The powercell lights are blue LEDs driven by a VU meter circuit so they are sound-reactive. The cyclotron lights will be red 10mm LEDs that are driven by a simple chaser circuit, but will be overridden by fast-flashing strobe tubes when the wand is fired. The N-filter holes have been drilled out and now have chasing red LEDs behind aluminium mesh. The wand will have orange rectangular LEDs stacked to create the bargraph, again driven by a simple chaser circuit but with 2 different sequence settings. There will also be two strobe tubes and strobing red and blue LEDs in the gun barrel to give a nice dramatic flashing effect when the pack is fired. To finish off the lighting, I will be threading 1.3mm white EL wire through all the coloured hoses so that they glow from the inside, these too will be sound reactive. I am also tinkering with a tiny 12volt smoke generator made from a PC fan and some wire from a toaster, to give a smoking effect to the N filter.
If that lot isn’t enough, I have also added the mother of all pack sound systems. A stereo 2.1 amplifier will be powering a pair of 4" 40watt drivers, along with a Wharfedale 5.25" subwoofer, and sounds will be thanks to a Replica Props sound chip. I intend for this pack to be both seen and heard!
All the dress-up parts (ion arm, clippards, bumper etc) came from nick-a-tron and Sevv, and hopefully will be finished off with some of Alexei’s decals if they are done in time. All pack parts were treated to three coats of primer, two coats of silver and finished with satin black topcoats. I cut the motherboard myself from 2mm aluminium sheet and fabricated simple brackets so the shell halves can easily be removed. The ALICE pack frame is from a surplus supplier in the US as I couldn’t find any here in the UK.
I’ll post some pics of the work in progress, and when I get the lights operating correctly I’ll stick a vid on YouTube.
Many thanks to all the gbfans members for all the invaluable help and advice, and for making my first pack build a ton of fun!
gbfans.com rocks!
Pack shell prior to priming
Pack shell after priming
Pack shell in satin black topcoat
Resin parts in various stages of prep
Resin parts now in paint
Shell with some parts test-fitted
Powercell lights and lens in place
Back of powercell light circuit location
Drilled N filter with aluminium mesh fitted
Inside of N filter showing circular LED chaser
Motherboard cut with L brackets attached
Test fit of ALICE pack frame
Working out the location of speakers and battery on motherboard
Thats all for now, the grand task of fixing all the resin pieces is next, and then the wiring of all the pack lights. I’m still eagerly awaiting my wand kit from MMM which I’m sure is going to result in a few late nights for me when it gets here, as you can see I really have my work cut out to be ready in less than three weeks!
Again, this is not intended to be movie-accurate and as such there are a few aspects that will have the purists going bananas! I’m saving the construction of a more accurate version until the new year, as I said this one is going into battle with a thousand ravers at my club night. Tackling Gozer, Vigo and Mr Stay-Puft is sod all when you are hosting a club full of nutters!
Will post updates as they happen.
