#4885162
My GB costume felt like there was missing something, and with only a couple weeks till Halloween, I needed something I could build quickly, so I decided to make some (GB1) Ecto Goggles!
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Shopping List-
From Ebay:
PVS5 Facemask
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1.25” Extended Sleeve+ T-Mount+ T2 Ring (right side eye piece)
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2x Barlow Lens for 1.25" Telescope Eyepiece (left side eye piece)
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Andoer T/T2 Telephoto Mirror Lens Mount (for attaching the Barlow Lens)
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From Amazon/Hardware Store:
Tamiya TS-28 Olive Drab Spray Lacquer
Moore D ring hangers, No. 143-DLS
3/4" Black Nylon Webbing + 3X Sliders
Heavy Duty Snaps - SZ 24 - 5/8 in
1/8" thick styrene
Assorted fasteners and knobs
E6000 Glue, Clear
Easy Off Oven Cleaner

From GB Fans:
GB Fans Stickers

Total cost ~$100

The frames arrived before the lenses, so the first thing I made was the straps.
Heat screwdriver, stick it through the webbing to create a hole:
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Two piece snap, and snap tools:
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Use the snap tool and a hammer to flare the little tube on the inside of the snap:
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It works!
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Complete strap
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Test fit of D ring:
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Next step was to scratch build a plate to cover the massive hole in the front of the goggle frames:
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Tapping threads into tabs for mounting the side knobs:
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Big holes have small beginnings:
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Unfortunately, the T-adapter comes completely anodized in black. Fortunately, the T-adapter can be disassembled, and anodizing can be removed. After a little research, I found that Easy-Off Oven Cleaner can be used to remove anodizing due to its lye content. Having disassembled the T-adapter, I sprayed oven cleaner on the smaller diameter portion. A few seconds later, the anodizing started to come off. I had to rinse the part and respray it a couple times, but with some light scrubbing with a brass brush, all the anodizing came off. Also, everyone keeps telling me that oven cleaner is really dangerous, so wear your PPEs! :love:
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Finished lens:
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I cut a disc of diffuser from an old LCD tv screen, and put it in the T-adapter (the T-adapter doesn't come with a lens). I also experimented with lighting the optics with some green LEDs, but decided to scrap that idea in favor of screen accuracy.
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I painted the goggles olive drab, and began the final assembly:
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The T2 rings are glued in place with clear E6000, and the optics screw into the T2 rings (M45 thread):
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The extra holes are plugged with counter sunk socket head cap screws. Weather striping is added to the back of the frames. Knobs are installed.
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Stickers are added, paint is lightly weathered, and voila! Ecto Goggles!
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Last edited by Conqueror_Worm on August 20th, 2017, 11:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Matt Campbell liked this
#4886326
Very nice, thanks for the large photos. I was toying around with throwing together one of these in late September for an early October appearance, but I ran out of time.

I really appreciate seeing how you did the straps and what you used for the D-ring on the top. I was looking for something like that at a fabric store, to no avail.

Where did you get the rivets?

Here's my story. Back in the late 80s my friend Bryan and I were wearing our packs (background here: http://marshall-arts.net/ProtonPacks/) at a convention in SoCal when we were approached by some other Ghostbusters. Their packs were pretty good given the lack of references at the time. They generously gave me some odds and ends like a few dinged up Clippards, a few other parts, and a vacuform of the goggle shell.

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Now, almost 30 years later, I decide it might be fun to have a set of goggles. I used the vacuformed piece (waxed and PVA'd) as a mold for a fiberglass shell and ended up with this:

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I didn't notice until I pulled it out, though, that the transition from the optical box part to the faceplate flange thing is much more rounded on the vacuform than the real prop. I could probably live with this, but it would make it difficult to mount the rivets and snaps square to those flanges.

I guess I need to decide whether to continue to pursue my fiberglass build (either keeping the larger radius transition or trying to sharpen it) or save a ton of time and energy and just shell out $40 or so for an existing blank frame.

Cheers.
#4886471
Impressive pack! Its rare to see such accurate props from the VHS days.
I bought the D ring, nylon webbing, and buckles from ACE hardware. The snaps came from Joann Fabrics.
I wasn't sure what you meant by rivets, until I noticed the text on your vacuum formed piece. Those aren't pop rivets, they are actually another type of snap, but the part that snaps is on the inside of the frames. You can see them in this image:
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They are used to attach the face cushion:
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The snaps on the inside of the frames are known as Prong Snaps, the ones on the outside are Ring Spring Snaps. They came pre-installed in my frames, so I didn't have to source them. If you want to track some down, they appear to be black 10.8mm prong snaps, made by DOT Snappers. Looks something like this:
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It seems a shame not to use the frames you've kept for 30 years, but buying the real frames is faster/easier/more screen accurate/probably comes with snaps installed...
Last edited by Conqueror_Worm on August 20th, 2017, 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
#4886474
Thanks so much for clarifying that those are small snaps, not pop rivets! I thought the DOT text on those looked familiar, but I guess I assumed these random dudes who gave us these things in 1988 knew what they were talking about.

As nice as it would be to build one of these entirely from scratch using my fiberglass version it's going to take a LOT of work to rework the transition between the hood and the faceplate, not to mention all the other defects I'd have to fix with Bondo and spot putty. I'm now leaning towards buying a blank for $38 off of eBay. Maybe build the lens elements from PVC pipe or similar and have someone 3D print the knobs and other nurnies, or buy resin ones. We used to have a place called Wacky Willy's here in Portland that had bins full of old knobs and stuff, but they went out of business 6-8 years ago. Bummer.

You've inspired me! Maybe. Still have to finish my Iona PKE meter I started over 20 years ago.

Cheers.

Shawn
#4892348
I don't know about editing threads. In the meantime would you be willing to zip up those photos and PM me to figure out a way to send them? I have a Dropbox account. Maybe I could create a folder and share it with you, allowing you to copy the files that way.

Also, did you get the PM I sent a few days ago? I can't tell whether my PMs are actually being sent.

Thanks.

Shawn

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