Weideman's First Build (SC Shell)

[Weideman]

I figure I have been lurking on these boards long enough and it’s time to post my first build. I would like to start by thanking everyone on here as your posts have provided a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. I think I probably spent over a month looking through as many builds as possible, taking notes, printing plans, etc.

In August I ordered a SC Shell as my intention was to originally build a “good enough for Halloween” pack but as I started the build, I pushed myself (and the wife’s patience) to see how good I could get this thing.

The “unaltered shell” as it showed up in the mail (I had anticipated 2 pieces that would need to be put together but as I am sure most of you have seen, it now is 1 piece):

At this point, I took a silver Sharpie and started marking up the areas that needed work. I made some notes on there as well for later use:

I then glassed the interior of the shell for strength. I used 2 layers of fiberglass matte throughout the shell and 3 in the areas that I knew would require extra strength (i.e. gun mount area). I sanded the inside fairly well to ensure the resin/glass would stick to the shell. It wasn’t the prettiest glassing job I’ve ever done but it worked (no delamination issues):

Next it was on to sanding and correcting the body. I cut out the webbing where I could, dremeled where needed, and bondo’d (So much sanding):

I added the cosmetic plates at this point and you can see in the background the riser tower that I built (I wish that I had taken pictures of that but… oh well):

I couldn’t help but test-fitting some of the pieces that I had but cutting/building to see the progress:

Once all sanding was complete (and it felt never ending) I sprayed the shell with a few coats of primer. I could see that I still had area’s to continue sanding but I knew that I would be texturing the shell and that would hide the imperfections so I left them be at this point:

Somewhere along the way, I stopped by the store and found Ecto-Cooler for 99 cents a pack… I ended up buying four cases on the spot. (The kids love it and the wife and I make Sunday morning Ecto-Mimosas):

Some of the resin parts I ordered (Hole in the Ground Prod?) came in at this point along with the ribbon cable and I tried a test fit for the fun of it. I should also point out that somewhere around this time, I made the N-Filter using a section of 2 in PVC with a mason jar lid as the top. Holes were drilled out using the template in one of the posts (sorry don’t have the link in front of me but it made the spacing “mindless and easy” which was a nice change from the rest of the build):

I will note that I decided to make my shock mount (I didn’t get any pictures of the build but you can see it below), I used the washers glued together with a bolt to hold them together:

I stopped taking a lot of pictures as my Halloween deadline was approaching (I lost a week in Hawaii on vacation) but I did manage to get a few along the way. This was after I had secured most everything to the shell, mounted to the motherboard (MDF) and attached to an ALICE frame. I should also note that around this time, I attached resin copies of the crank ■■■ and dale resistors (From Heavy Props and I should add great quality too):

I then started painting. First was a coat of primer, then Rustoleum Aluminum, then masked off the non-textured areas and followed by a few coats of Rustoleum Hammered Aluminum. I sprayed the hammered paint rather sporadically, trying to build texture. I know that some have said the hammered paints don’t usually have enough texture but I was very happy with how it came out. I then attached everything, including all the fittings, wires, and cables to see how it turned out. I was pretty happy:

Next was spraying it down with Rustoleum Satin Black:

Then was reattaching everything and adding the red/blue lenses (ordered from the GB Fans Shop):

Then added the stickers (I ordered them off a seller from Etsy and cannot remember their name for the life of me. Great quality and the seller was as nice as could be. My only complaint is that the adhesion isn’t the greatest but a little bit of spray adhesive has them held on nicely). I installed the GB Fans light kit as well as some light weathering (Scratching some paint off to reveal the aluminum underneath, adding various black tones to make some areas seem dull/greasy, light dusting, etc.):

I then started working on a Nickatron thrower kit I ordered (I didn’t get many pictures of this as the thrower pretty much built it’s self in a couple of nights):

As I was attempting to finish the pack before Halloween, I took a break to carve pumkins with the kiddos. My son and I (pretty much all me as he is a little over 1) did the Zuul and my 7 year old daughter did the SPMM:

This was the finished pack in time for Halloween:

This was my 4 year old daughter and I during a Saturday night event that we attended (Probably my favorite picture of the night too):


I also ran into the AZ Ghostbusters there and took a few photos with the group:



Couple of things to note:

· I am still waiting on a clear acrylic tube for the thrower (the green tube pictured was the only thing I could find that fit for now. It came from a laser sword I found in the dollar section at Target.).

· I will eventually be adding the GB Fans Soundboard and battery pack as everything is currently wired to 9v batteries, works independently (wand and pack), and the batteries are visible at the moment (I really didn’t want to wire the battery inside of the wand and have to remove the bottom portion every time I needed to change the battery).

· Still need to make some adjustments to the wiring of the wand (Not everything has had an LED secured in the proper spot and I installed the switches upside down).

· I would eventually like to replace the Dixy cup bracket (It was totally free from the water guy at work and I tried keep the cost at a minimum so that my wife wouldn’t kill me) and the cap to my N-Filter (It was one of the first things I tried to create a fake weld on and I am not too fond of how it looks but it works for now).

· Lastly, I know that my pack isn’t screen accurate or perfect but she’s mine and I couldn’t be happier with how she turned out. I have been a little depressed as this build is now over and I don’t have another to jump into next ( Maybe some Ecto-Googles, Ghost Trap, or something else?)

Thank you to everyone here again!

[Venkmans_Swagger]

Nice build dude. Looks sweet

[evlares]

It’s beautiful, and you should be super proud of it!!!

[Weideman]

Thanks guys!

[Weideman]

Thanks guys!