I thought I was l being clever with the launch of Q2&A this month. Until I realised the three posts I’d written up mean that in the quarterly blog, unless I wasn’t to go into statistics of the year so far and indulge in some rather dull pie charts and graphs. Which would send half the fleet into a state of deep, deep sleep.
So I’ve decided to do something I’ve been putting off for a long, long time and document a pet project that started off as a one off purchase, and turned into years of tinkering and learning. Something that isn’t Discvovery as we’ve got loads of that on the way toweards the finale, and something that involes offering a lot of public credit for the help I’d gained stepping outside the Trek fandom to another.
And it all started with finding a Ghostbusters Neutrona Wand on Amazon…
As a kid one of the first costumes my mum made me was a Ghostbusters Jumpsuit. About five of them, really. I did get her to try a Next Gen uniform, but I was a bit nit-picky even back then so that project was abandoned! Instead I had a handfull of jumpsuits, a cardboard proton pack (upgraded to a classic Kenner pack and trap!) and a huge amount of Ghostbusters toys.
I’m not sure what triggered it, but for some reason I just figured… I have the wand. Why not the full pack! With that whim of an idea, I found kits being made by Ben Of Kent Props and a few weeks and a large delivery later, the somewhat insane idea began.
Researching a pack shell was overwhelming. There’s loads more options than you’d imagine and as always with any supplier, reviews are never 100% perfect. Some are overblown. I ended up choosing Ben of Kent (BoK) as I’d seen a couple of the packs, the list of included items were brilliant (so no need to source as much as other suppliers) and he’s UK based which didn’t have me worrying about a ridiculously oversized import fee. All a perfect combination and I couldn’t have been happier. He’s an in-demand guy and ships home made resin shells with some advance work before they’re even packed away. There’s holes to drill and bits to piece together, but the main shell comes with the big holes cut out AND it was primed before shipping!
As a bonus, included in the metal parts was a V-Hook to fit the Spengler wand to easily attach the pre-bought item to a custom built pack (available as a solo purchase). Which is still one of my favourite pieces! Ben was also good for a chat while things were moving and gave some good tips on what extra tools needed to be in my workshop – and t make life better, there’s a Facebook group with experienced builders to share their tips!
I’d tried making props before: A custom designed tricorder using an old tablet and some vinyl as well as a resin cast phaser that ended up so awful that the paint took ten years to dry. I ended up finding I had more skill in sewing and ignored props of any sort until the idea of building a proton pack popped into my head. So this was a bit of a challenge to go right into the deep end.
For someone who was hesitant to change a plug and once hired someone to put up a shelf, figuring out how to wire things up was a bit of a learning curve. Sanding, painting, assembly. That was seemingly the easy part with the right tools and bolts (thankfully Ben is overly generous with the supplies and any questions you might have!). Though the big problem was electronics.
Any sane person with zero skill would go an easier route. There are loads of kits available from the popular GBFans to the awesomely made Rabid Prototyes. Even home made offerings such as MikeS11’s Arduino codes. I wanted to try and learn myself after grabbing some basic code from 3D printing experts Ghosbusters Gear. And I won’t lie: I cheated. A lot. And failed a lot.
There was some evolution of the set up as I couldn’t quite get everything to behave itself. At one point I almost set the office on fire not realising Ardiono’s may have a DC input, but they really don’t like them….
The final form is a bit more complex than it needs to be. It has a TalentCell battery pack mounted to the outside of the motherboard for easy replacement and splits off to power two sides: A USB to power the 5v lighting and background noise (small speakers hidden in the cyclotron and N Filter) and a 12v input to power a separate sound system. The Neopixel Ring and sound board are both wired up tot he Arduino, while the PowerCell lights – which is a multi-purpose light runner from supplied by Hobby Kit Shop – just feeds off its power supply.
The USB input serves two purposes: One, obviously power, but can also be used to reprogram or add additional functions to the PCB. Which makes life a bit easier than taking the shell off to make adjustments to speed or sound.
On the lower rear are a few switches so they’re in easy reach while wearing the pack. One switch controls power to everything. The second lets you switch off the background noise if needed or desired. The third is a push down switch that’s part of a two-way system. With both the red crank switch (seen in close ups bellow) and the alternative switch are on, it activates a separate set of loudspeakers connected to an MP3 decoder. That way you can control what switch activates the “Party Mode”.
Better yet – it has a USB switch attached to the lower side of the motherboard so you can feed a USB cable to it and have different USB modes: Either Ghostbusters mode, or just a really, really loud Cyclotron sound. The MP3 decoder can also be fed by other inputs and connects to my phones bluetooth with the touch of a button.
For ease at the time, and fitting in with the home made aesthetic, there’s a DC line from the shell to the motherboard to feed the powercell lights as I basically just duct taped them in place. And yeah, the powercell is set to Warp Core Mode instead of being screen accurate because, Starfleet….
Before I got started there was a running joke I’d seen of a pack never being complete. It didn’t take long to know what that meant! Over the two years of work, loads of parts have been replaced and upgraded. Originally I had a speaker port to connect the pack to the Hasbro wand tubing. That ended up getting replaced with a car charging port I found on Amazon and the tubing was cut in half to add something close to the modern version of the pack.
While BoK supplied a load of cabling and metal parts – including athe lovely V-Hook, ion arm and shock mount – I went with Charlesworth Dynamics for extra brass fittings while adding some generic bicycle and air compressor parts for my own added details including a secondary tube connecting to my idea for a smaller version of the Video Game slime tank.
A few other elements were partly inspired by the Afterlife look, and partly inspired by boredom including taking a couple of small chunks out as damage to looking at a tube during a very dull phone call and deciding to slice it up and mash random wiring in it’s place. The wiring rack was a nice addition from Mutations & Creations who made a very nice print of the Frozen Empire element thats shortened to fit into a traditional style layout. I may end up grabbing a few more prints from them down the line…
The red switch under the crank generator was from Punk Rocket Props, which works very nicely, while the hasbro and grip was modified by cutting off the stock rubber and using a replacement filler piece from NerdyNotionZ layered in purple tape. I’d also replaced a few of the stickers from BoK with metallic ones courtesy of EctoLabs (though I did weather them a bit too much!).
I know the whole thing pales in comparison to some of the work I’ve seen from members of Q2 all over and that this patch job of a machine is largely down to the amazing work of other creators with me just putting parts together and getting it to look the way I want it to. I’m a big fan of creating something unique over staying screen accurate with certain things, and this project really let me dive in to the “home made and patched up with whatever I find” style. Mostly as it was patched up with whatever I found. the split-open tube is pretty much just stuffed with Cat5E cabling I’d already swapped out with Cat6 and was just laying around.
While I wish I had even a fraction of the skill and talent I’ve seen both in the Q2 and the world, with this being a constantly evolving project that I was able to tinker around with and learn new things, I’m oddly proud of the end result.
Of course, Ghosbuster fans around the world have done far better and I’ve seen some utterly mad customisations for those like me who want to create “their” pack and not a direct replica. But I’ve learned a huge amount and hopefully doing some basic Trek props down the line will be far easier!
Credits & Parts List:
- Ben of Kent: Base Proton Pack Kit with metal parts, Trap and Pedal Kit, Alice Frame
- Charlesworth Dynamics: Brass Fittings, Trap Upgrade Parts
- ElettricZan: Trap Electronics Kit
- Punk Rocket Pops: Breaker Switch
- Nerdy NotionZ: Wand Grip Gap Filler
- Mutations & Creations: Wire Rack
- Ghostbusters Gear: Cyclotron Code
- EctoLabs: Metallic Labels
- Carl Smith & Pack Man: Trap Metal Part Upgrades
- HobbyKitShop: Powercell Lights
- KSG Kreations: Belt Gizmo
About the author
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