Ok so getting a head start on all of this.
Ordered my BOK kit (I know there is gonna be a wait)
Have my alice frame.
Ordered and received my Ninja tunes kit
Looking for help in
1 what type of speaker to get for the Ninja tunes kit
2 those that have built the BOK kit, can smoke be easily added to the N filter or does that part need replaced?
With whatever wait I have to go through for the BOK pack, I would like to be prepared when it shows to move on it.
Thanks again in advance
You can add a smoke kit fine, but you’ll need to cut a hole in the shell underneath the n-filter. I’d recommend Cory at CS Prop Shop, who does a great kit that works with ninjatunes.
Just recently found their facebook page and have been scoping it out. Thanks for the recommendation!!
After a bit of a wait, I finally received my BOK kit!
Great KIT and I am glad I waited on it. Ben never failed to answer me the whole time when I asked him a question.
After unpacking it and sorting the wand from the pack and the trap parts, I took stock of what I would like to buy yet before I actually get started building.
I had bought a Ninja tunes electronics kit shortly after I ordered my kit so I dusted that off and brought it out to my build area. I had also received a CS prop shop smoke kit and flash that I also gathered up.
Looking at the resin pieces, while good quality, I decided to order a real clippard 701 and 331. I also ordered 1 Dale ph25, 1 Pacific 15w, and 1 Dale Rh50 with the oval logo.
I ordered a couple more aluminum pieces as I just think they will look better on the pack/wand. The shock mount, heat sink and gun ring.
I have a 64 gig flash drive about 1/4 of the way filled to print reference files and pictures at work (nice quality laser printers)
Still need to decide on a speaker, was recommended the fli but hard to come by here in the states (any recommendations in America?) and I would like to purchase Tacos mounts for the Ninja tunes kit yet.
Have to get some A4 paper to print out the Graeme Peter parts templates for the BOK kit.
Only other thing I have to figure out is the mounting of the motherboard to the Alice frame, I know Ive seen some threads here with the spacers so I have to find them again and hopefully the sizes as I dont think the ones I found before had any sizes of the hardware.
I also bought the Homex texture shortly after I ordered so I think I have to go get a new can which is not a bad thing as I noticed when I was pulling it out that I had bought oil based instead of water based.
Finally, if any central PA ghost busters are on here and read this and you dont mind a local picking your brain as I build, please pm me here.
I am SO HAPPY to be able to move forward with this, I once waited 3 years for a Vader helmet from a maker and it killed any drive for me to complete my Vader costume. This wait was no where near that long.
Was it a full year from ordering to get your pack from BoK?! How long from when it was shipped out till you received it?
The Ghostbusters Reference Library will be useful for you if you want reference pictures.
Are you doing a GB1 or GB2 build? If it’s GB1 then search “half moon” and that should bring up the thread that discussed the GB1 spacer dimensions.
I spent last night and today on here printing pics and builds and guides. I have a 5 inch binder almost full of shots.
Took all kinds of info from Canpara’s semi-hero thread. Actually copied alot of it to a word doc to put in my binder so I didnt have to have the pc with me while working.
I have both ribbons but think I like the look of the gb1 more so “hockey pucks” it is for me lol.
This place is an AWESOME resource for those just starting to delve into pack building.
This thread and this earlier thread have a ton of great info on the GB1 spacers.
Without wanting to assume, but are you aware there are other differences between a GB1 and GB2 pack? Some of the stuff BoK supplies (hardware, v-hook, ribbon cable p-clamp) are more of a GB2 set up, so if accuracy is something you’re bothered about you’ll want to swap some of those.
More research for me lol
I knew of some of the differences, the cable, the crank knob, the alice frame, the padding, the elbow on the ion arm, the clamp but yikes!!! Looks like there is a ton of other differences, not only between movies but between pack types and users… Not sure how to decide on a single pack to go with for my first one.
Guess I am gonna go for a hybrid for my first pack.
While Ive dealt with accuracy to the 501st degree in star wars costuming, much like my FX storm trooper, my beginnings here will be for me.
Off the top of my head the major changes on the hero packs are:
Ribbon cable p-clamp
Screw through the bellows, and spacer between bumper and cyclotron
Alice frame neck padding
Alice frame shoulder straps (custom padded LC1 straps)
Alice frame kidney pad & belt (LC2)
V-hook (Venkman hero only)
Clippard elbow on ion arm (Venkman hero only)
Collar on front of wands didn’t have brass spacers
Couple of stickers/labels different
Bumper screws were phillips not socket cap
Shell to mobo bracket screws were phillips not socket cap
Mobo spacers changed
There’ll be some more that I’ve missed I’m sure!
Regarding the bits you know about, the alice frame was still an LC1 on the hero packs, the GB2 semi heroes used an LC2 frame and straps though, which is the common confusion. The clippard elbow on the ion arm was a hex fitting on the GB2 semi heroes and GB2 Venkman hero, but remained a square fitting on the other heroes (apart from the super hero that I *think *was always a hex fitting?). The v-hook only changed on the semi heroes, and the Venkman hero, the others retained their GB1 v-hooks.
If I think of anything else I’ll add to this list though. The GB Reference Library is a fantastic resource though, and if you’re on Facebook then the Spengler’s 1984 Work Bench group is a fantastic group for accuracy-minded folk, and a ton of great research and discussion goes on there.
That’s an awesome list thank you!!
Yeah, I am in both the spengler work bench group and the reference library. When you posted about the differences, I immediately headed to the reference library and opened all the different pack albums lol.
When I started out researching about a year before I bought my pack I was dead set on a GB1 Venkman, pulled alot of info i had at the time from an RPF thread (before I found this site) then I started to lean toward to the omni. Then I ordered my pack and figured I would decide for sure when I got it. …
Think the only thing I have to be solid on before I start work is the position of the elbow on the ion arm as I noticed on at least one that the elbow was set back on the ion arm
The Alice pack I bought was a LC1 and bought a strap set off of here. Have both ribbons, have multiple p-clamps, bought so many different sticker sets that I can outfit a football team with warning stickers, plan on buying a “better” crank handle than came with the BOK kit so have some options when I get to the point that I have to decide.
So much floating through my head lol really happy that the kit finally came, will make a great distraction from real life right now.
One thing I am getting ahead of myself on and it has consumed most of my morning today, is hooking the CS prop shop smoke kit to my Ninjatunes kit. Been looking all morning and seen the diagrams that have positive from the battery to the board and from the board to the smoke kit and the negative directly to the smoke kit or vise versa but not understanding if I need a secondary 12v battery or if I make it work off my talentcell somehow lol. Any direction there lol.
If you’re going for a GB1 hero the clippard elbow was a square one on all the packs apart from the super hero, so that’s easy.
There are a few things with the BoK shell you might want to change a bit to improve the accuracy, if you have a look for my build thread on here I covered all the changes I made, so that might be helpful.
Not too sure about the CS smoke kit with Ninjatunes, I’m running it with a gbfans kit, but message Cory on Facebook and I’m sure he can help. You definitely don’t need two batteries though.
connecting the frame to the MB for GB1 is it correct with the rectangle bottom spacers like in this thread https://www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38111&hilit=GohstTarp's+Proton+Pack+Build&start=30 or with round metal spacers?
Seems to be the rubber/block spacers but looking a tthe pack pics in the ref library can see round metal spacers on the ones Ive looked at.
GB1 is the rectangular blocks. The hero packs were all converted for GB2 so their current set up is with the metal spacers.
Are here welds around the n-filter where it meets the main pack? Hard to tell in the reference pics. some look like there is something there and others nothing at all.
Nope. The n-filter was cut to fit round the cyclotron, with a plate tack welded to the bottom of the cut section, and then riveted to the pack. If you look at the photos of the Spengler hero pack when it went up for auction you can see the n-filter has broken off but left that plate behind.
How about the booster tube? looks like there is no opening like is in Ben’s packs and the tube just sits on the pack. I have a massive gap so I may add a “weld” even if there isn’t one to close the gap.
Ok so all my old photo sharing sites where for my 501st stuff so took me a while to create another on for this but here is some pics of my pack to this point. I know yall have seen tons of build threads and all the pictures are similar but it will make it easier for my to remember in my old age…
Thanks to Tobycj for the info thus far and cant tell you how much I have relied on Canpara’s semi-hero thread for information and hints on my build thus far.
I ordered my BOK a good bit ago and continued to communicate with Ben on almost a weekly basis until the day finally came and i got oneee!!!
After unpacking everything and laying it out, I thought about things I might want to replace or change. I scoured the reference library, build threads, and watched the movies to see what I liked about the packs and which one I wanted to build… I did not know all the variations in the packs not only from movie to movie but from shot to shot in the same movie. In the end I decided I wanted a GB1 pack but not a particular one so this build is not specific to one single pack. My first pack will be a Hybrid tk1495 pack lol. I had already ordered a gb1 ribbon and had that in hand as well. Tobycj pointed out more of the differences between the packs and I set about ordering some needed items.
I had already ordered a Ninjatunes electronics kit and had that in hand for most of my wait. I also printed and made a set of Ecto googles during my wait. After posting them, I was asked about them by a really cool person in the GB community and printed 2 more sets and sent them to him and his partner for all they do for the community. Of course he has changed them so much since I sent them to him that they are his own now. For me doing this CS prop shop sent me a flash bulb and smoke kit for my pack. Was an awesome and cool thing for them to do, I was just trying to thank them from a new member of the community.
So I had my thoughts on what I wanted out of this pack and my electronics, smoke and pack now in hand, time to start…
Figured attaching the motherboard to the Alice frame was as best a place as any to start. I had printed out all of Stefan Otto’s plans out and put them in a binder so opened it to the correct page and yikes!!! that is a lot of numbers.
It is hard trying to find a straight edge anywhere on the MB to get measurements off of. Figured the closest I would get was the bottom rectangle and the top so I figured out the middle there and drew a line from the top to the bottom. I measured out from there one both sides to where the holes should be and drew 2 more lines.
Then I realized drilling on the same side as the mounts would be a pain so I flipped the pack and did it again
I then did my best to measure how high from the bottom the holes should be and drew a line there. I lined up my frame on the motherboard and traced it out to make sure everything was where I wanted it and used my punch to mark where to drill.
With the Motherboard figured out (little did I know how much more I have to do with this lol) I ordered some replacement resistors and actual clippards as well as some metal parts to add to the pack and gun, wand, blaster (what is it actually called)
Most of these items showed up very quickly and I could continue my build.
the Next thing I decided I needed to do is to Drill out all the wholes and tap for the screws so thats what I did, test fitting as I went.
I grabbed Graeme Peter’s templates off of facebook and again I went to the forums and copied Canpara’s semi-hero thread into a word doc and eliminated everything but his build posts and printed it out and put it in my binder so I could follow it really easy with out having my pc up and running. Every drill and tap size I have taken from his thread.
I as I was drilling I got to the Beam line and filler tube and placing them I could not get them to look right so sought out and answer.
In Ben’s kit one is longer than the other so no matter how you place them they look off. I guess I could just use my saw and cut them both to the same size but decided int he end to order replacement aluminum ones from the shop here. Was sure surprised how quick they showed up. Ordered them at the beginning of the week and had them in hand on Saturday. No pictures of them yet as I forgot to take any.
