#4900299
Mounting the ribbon cable

My ribbon cable from Fincher Technologies arrived this week and it is a beauty!

To start, I adopted Pssdffjay’s idea of tracing an arc on one end of the cable and cutting it to match the clamp.

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I adopted GohstTarp’s method of securing one end in the vice of a drill press, twisting the cable, then securing the opposite end in another vice. I used a number of zip ties and hose fasteners to hold a tight twist.

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I left the cable like this for most of the day before mounting it to the shell, like so:

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You will notice that I only kept two zip ties to maintain a more screen accurate look.

When I pushed through the desired cable length through the hole in the shell, I used my Dremel to cut the unnecessary portion on the inside of the shell. I fastened a zip tie to keep the cable from slipping out of the hole. Then I wrapped a few layers of electrical tape around the tip of the cable.

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Enlarging the holes for the hat lights lenses and the “clip” lenses in the wand

I enlarged the hole for the white/orange sunken hat light with a 7/8” drill bit. I used a 5/16” drill bit for the white hat light. For the two small lights with clip lenses (or covers), I used a 1/4” drill bit.

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Creating a holder for the white strobe light and flashbulb using an clear acrylic tube

Freeky Geeky provides me with a clear acrylic tube that fits well within my clear wand tube. I have referred to this “holder” tube earlier in my build thread.

Since the inner diameter of the holder was very close (if not smaller) than the outer diameter of the flash bulb, I needed to find a way to enlarge that inner diameter and create some sort of ridge that the flashbulb could sit on (when inserted).

My solution was to use a sanding Dremel attachment in a drill press. By holding the acrylic tube with my figures, I manually (and slowly) sanded down a certain portion of the inner diameter in order to fit the flashbulb. Luckily, my dad was helping me. The extra hand was invaluable.

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This is how the holder and flashbulb look within the clear wand tube, even though they need to be cleaned. As you can see, the holder is held in place by a tiny set screw, which will be covered and hidden by the trigger tip set screw.

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Mounting the wand lights board and four toggle switches to the wand

Unfortunately, I could not finish my wand before the Halloween events start tomorrow. However, I have progressed enough to be able to use my pack in a limited capacity. Therefore, I chose to mount the wand lights board in the wand along with four toggle switches.

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Using my trusty LePage Ultra Gel Control super glue, I glued the bottom two nylon spacers of the wand lights board to the inside of the gun body (leaving the top two screwed onto the board, but not glued to the gun body) before feeding and connecting the grey ribbon cable and the four toggle switches. I had to shorten the two cap screws that go through the closest holes, since the screws had the potential of interfering with the glued nylon spacers.

I chose not to mount any lights or to set the pop mechanism for the time being.

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Applying the last remaining labels to the shell

The only remaining labels to apply were 1) the grey danger label and 2) the red schematic diagram that belong on the N-Filter. The former is a vinyl label, while the latter is a dry-rub.

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I am as ready as I can be right now for the Ghostbusters movie screening tomorrow at the Garneau Cinema. I have to say, this thing is starting to look great in my apartment!
twmedford23, robandliv, GiantRebel and 1 others liked this
#4900323
First outing with my pack

I could not help but post a few pictures of my first outing with my pack.

The old Garneau Theatre in Edmonton showed GB1 this afternoon.

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Naturally, some more Alberta Ghostbusters were there to represent!

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Lots of pictures with moviegoers. It was great to see so many kids loving the movie. There was even a birthday!

After the movie, I went next door to Transcend Coffee for a cup of green jello mould. I feel so funky!

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Christof, Matt Campbell liked this
#4900369
LtPinkerton wrote:Your pack is stunning! Somehow, knowing that it’s internals are that clean is one of the most impressive parts lol.
LtPinkerton, I really appreciate you taking the time to write this compliment. It really made my day!
#4903958
canpara wrote:Creating spacers with hockey pucks

I came across this idea while reading PssdffJay's Proton Pack Build Thread at viewtopic.php?f=2&t=34784, which he took from Julz's Ye Olde Half Moon GB1 Spacer thread at viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30726. The dimensions I used are probably not screen accurate, but since these are spacers made from hockey pucks, I decided to use measurements that were convenient. Here is a photo of my templates with the dimensions written upon them (in both millimeters and US inches):

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Rather than using a hacksaw and a mitre box to cut the rubber from the hockey pucks, I used a grinder while I was at my friend's shop (the welder that I mentioned earlier). This created a lot of smoke, so it was important that the garage doors were opened and the fan was running.

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The results are good, but the edges of the cuts are not totally clean. I will have to retouch one bottom spacer in particular, since it ended up being slightly taller than the other. I'm not too worried about it for the time being, though. I will edit this post with another photo once I have touched it up.
Wow I didn't think about that...
Well, thanks to PssdffJay and YOU for this Idea... :-D

And about your Pack, it's a great one. I like the NON-Painted Gun!!! It looks GREAT!!! :-D
canpara liked this
#4903967
Etigo wrote:
canpara wrote:Wow I didn't think about that...
Well, thanks to PssdffJay and YOU for this Idea... :-D

And about your Pack, it's a great one. I like the NON-Painted Gun!!! It looks GREAT!!! :-D
Most of the credit for the hockey puck spacers goes to Julz, so let's not forget him!

Thanks Venkman69 and Etigo for all of the compliments about the build thread. I am so happy that it has been useful to you both. Frankly, hearing feedback like this puts a huge smile on my face. It makes it all worth it!

As for the unpainted wand, I agree that it looks pretty badass! To be clear, it has remained unpainted because I have been distracted by some other projects, mainly the publication of a book. I still plan to paint it black (cue the Rolling Stones). My plan is to fully finish the wand before the Calgary Expo in April.
#4903970
canpara wrote:Most of the credit for the hockey puck spacers goes to Julz, so let's not forget him!
Then, A HUGE THANKS TO JULZ TOO!!! :-P
canpara liked this
#4905581
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Back to the Wand

Unfortunately, I did not have access to my friend's heated garage over the winter, so I needed to wait until now to start painting my wand. This is how I spent my weekend:

Gluing the nylon spacers for the vent light and the wand lights board

First things first: I needed to glue the nylon spacers that will hold ovwthrillseekr's Super Bright Proton Gun Vent Light inside the gun body.

The first challenge was trying to line-up the vent light with the three slits in the gun body. My method was to take one nylon screw, cut the tip, screw it into a nylon spacer and sharpen the end. My intent was to use this sharpened tip as an anchor when aligning the vent light.

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After carefully deciding where I wanted to place my anchor inside the gun body, I marked this spot with a fine sharpie. I then used my drill to lightly press a pilot hole for the anchor (I was very careful not to go too far).

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To glue the spacers to the inside of the gun body, 1) I made sure all four spacers were screwed onto the vent light, 2) I placed globs of glue on the larger surface (each of the four corresponding spacer locations inside the gun body), then I placed the anchor into the pilot hole and visually aligned the vent light to the vent grate. Once the vent light was aligned, I pressed on the vent light and held it into position for probably 15 minutes.

Although the glue I used dries quickly, it was important to me to allow for an abundance of time before unscrewing the four nylon vent light screws from the spacers. Doing so too early can cause a spacer to snap off of the aluminum. After letting the glue dry for a few hours (certainly more time than is required), the spacers held with a solid bond.

Here is a picture with both the vent light and the GBFans Wand Lights Board pegged inside the gun body:

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Here is a picture of the vent light view through the vent grates from the outside of the gun body:

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I would like to share a note about the glue that I chose to use. On other threads, I have seen some builders use hot glue to secure the spacers so that they can easily remove them if required. However, I have heard some complaints that it is tricky to obtain a strong bond. Others use a more permanent solution like epoxy. This solution is very strong, but it can be very difficult. I chose to use a solution that is somewhat in the middle: LePage Super Glue Ultra Gel Control (the same as I had done for the spacers that hold my Wand Lights board). I find this glue creates a bond that is strong enough for the spacers to withstand repeated screwing/unscrewing, but it is also fairly simple to remove the spacers by pushing on their sides with one's finger with sufficient force. To me, this was the best of both worlds. Furthermore, the container has a fairly long nozzle that makes the glue easy to apply.

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As you know, I had already glued the spacers for the GBFans Wand Lights Board last October. Originally, I set the wand lights board right up against the bottom of the gun body (no gap). In hindsight, this was a poor decision because some of the socket head bolts that hold the larger rectangular plate (the plate that holds the gun track) can interfere with the spacers that hold the wand light board. I encountered this problem last fall and my solution was to shorten the length of the bolt with my Dremel.

Time has passed and I decided to revisit this decision. I snapped off my spacers and I re-glued them a little bit higher on the gun body. This time, it was not to solve the problem with the bolts, but rather to use this gap for cable management. My idea is to organize wires behind the wand lights board, have them curl up through the gap and then connect them to their respective ports on the bottom row of the wand lights board. More on this when I put it into action.

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You will probably notice that I did not glue the spacers that will hold the bar graph. Since my fingers are too big to try to screw/unscrew the bargraph from the inside of the gun body, I decided to glue those ones during the final assembly. It is always a good idea to do a test assembly before painting all of the parts, so I doubt this is a wise decision. Nonetheless, I am willing to take the risk in this case.

Holding the LED wand lights into the hat light lenses and cliplites

I purchased some white "fun foam" sheets from Amazon.ca last year that are 1/16" thick and come in 9" by 12" sheets. Each pack comes with 12 sheets.
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This stuff is great! It is easy to cut to your desired dimensions. Simply wrap the foam tightly around the base of your LED light and stick it into the hat light lenses or cliplites. The foam expands and the LEDs are held very solidly!

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Painting the wand components

Now that the temperature is close to 30 degrees Celius with lows of around 10 degrees, the time has come for me to start painting my wand.

As you could tell from my earlier photos, I removed all of the electronics and disassembled the wand. I made sure to label all of the bolts in their own bags for future reference.

I sanded my Nick-a-tron grips with various grits of sandpaper. I was very concerned with the Bondo repair I had performed to front grip (if you recall, I had mistakenly drilled a hole for a black socket head cap screw). Sanding here was very important so that I can try to disguise this repair to the best of my ability.

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I placed strips of masking tape inside the gun body to avoid painting the inside.

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I sanded all of the aluminum parts with steel wool. Then I washed all of the components and let them dry for a few hours. Then I scrubbed all of the aluminum parts with rubbing alcohol before starting to paint.

Inside the garage, I suspended most of the components using steel wire like so:

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I forgot to paint one aluminum tube (the one with the blue plastic glove covering the majority of the tube), so I painted it the next day:

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I also painted some of the parts on a table:

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Hopefully I can start final assembly next weekend!
#4905593
GohstTarp wrote: May 14th, 2018, 4:51 pm Everything looks great, Canpana! Can't wait to see your assembled thrower.
Honestly, I'll be happy if it's anything like yours! I love your cable management. I hope my work can be as clean as yours.
GohstTarp liked this
#4905650
Painting the wand

I am really happy with my paint job on the wand parts. It is such a good feeling after the problems I had painting the shell. Granted, it seems like aluminum is much easier to pain. I also made sure the weather was favourable this time.

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Here is a picture with a close-up on the Bondo repair. It is barely noticeable unless you are really looking for it. Thank goodness!

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Vent light

I replaced the warm LED light with ovrthrillseekr’s super bright LED light board. It is quite bright indeed!

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More (significant) updates coming tomorrow.

#4905653
I'm a big FAN!!! :-D
canpara liked this
#4905705
Now that my wand parts are painted and ready for assembly, I couldn’t help but lay them out for a photo:

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Assembling the flashbulb LED

I glued the clear flashbulb into my clear acrylic “ring” or cylinder—the one that fits inside the acrylic clear tube and is held in place with a tiny set screw. I then inserted my flashbulb LED into the clear flashbulb using some fun foam to hold it tightly into place.

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I inserted the two blue LED wires through the appropriate hole in the clear acrylic tube (from the inside). I then inserted the clear cylinder/ring holding the flashbulb and LED into the clear acrylic tube and set it to its proper place. I made sure some extra wire length was left hanging inside the clear acrylic tube.

I slid the metal trigger tip overtop of the clear acrylic tube, placing it directly over top of the set screw that is holding the clear cylinder/ring.

Once the trigger tip was in place, I inserted the two blue wires through the hole that I drilled in my Legris Banjo fitting, then screwed the banjo into the trigger tip.

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Placing the red button, orange hat light lens and heat shrink on the front right ear

I fit the red push button into its proper place on the ear and tightened the nut to hold it firmly in place. I placed the attached LED light bulb into the adjacent hole in the right front handle ear.

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I used a hole punch to cut two circular holes into some 1” black heat shrink. I placed the heat shrink overtop of the right front handle ear, making sure that the heat shrink covered the nut of the red push button. I shrunk the heat shrink with my heat gun. Since the wire for the LED light bulb was rather short, I did not wrap fun foam around the base of the bulb to have it hold firmly into my orange hat light lens cover (as I tend to do). However, the wire is fairly stiff and it held well on its own in the orange hat lens. I trimmed the excess heat shrink on the extremity of the ear with a knife. I used a toothpick to prod into the heat shrink along the longer sides of the ear to locate the socket head cap screw holes (the holes for the bolt that goes through from the right ear and into the front grip). Once located, I enlarged the holes with a knife.

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In the picture above, you can see how the large glazed portion of the acrylic tube surpasses the end of the inner master tube by about a 1/4”. I did this on purpose. As you will see later, I placed a foam stopper on the inside of the gun body that will refrain the pop mech tube from extending about the same distance. In the end, the glazed portion will align with the end of the inner master tube.

Assembling the front handle

I put together the sliding pop tube by positioning the inner acrylic clear tube on the tip. I then slid both pieces into the inner master tube. I inserted the socket head cap screw through the longest slit of the inner master master tube (the slit that allows the pop tube to move in and out of the inner master tube). The cap screw then descends through the corresponding hole of the sliding pop tube and ultimately through the corresponding holes in the inner support of the clear acrylic tube.

Once the clear acrylic tube and the sliding pop tube were securely held within the inner master tube, I sprayed some DuPont Non-Stick Dry Film Lubricant onto the pop tube through the long slit of the inner master tube. This lubricant works very well and the pop tube slid through the master tube effortlessly.

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I placed the wand lights tip expansion LEDs tightly against the base of the inner clear tube. I held the LEDs into place by wrapping some fun foam around the base/wires of the LEDS and letting the funfoam expand against the walls of the pop tube. I fed the wand lights expansion LEDs ribbon cable through the welded front handle cylinder, sprayed some dry film lubricant on the inner master tube, then slid the inner master tube into the front handle cylinder. I placed the socket head cap screw through the hole in the front handle and into the short slit of the inner master tube (the slit that allows one to rotate the handle from left to right). I wish I had taken a pictures these steps to better illustrate what I mean, but I forgot to do so.

At this point, I cut 8 ¾” of banjo red hose (the same length as GohstTarp in his build thread). I went back to the two blue flashbulb LED wires coming out the bottom of the trigger tip’s Legris banjo fitting and fed them through the banjo red hose, then through the second Legris banjo and finally through the small pre-drilled canal on the left front handle ear. I inserted the red hose into both banjos and screwed the second banjo fitting into the left front handle ear.

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Next, I took a picture of the end of the ear tip cable to help me remember the order of the yellow, black and red wires that are within the white end cap/socket (I do not know the proper name for this piece). I then removed the wires from the cap/socket, which I did on each wire by pressing down on a slanted piece of metal (similar to a door stop) with a small screwdriver and sliding the wire out. As you will soon find out, this picture came in handy when I needed to reinsert the wires into the cap/socket at a later time.

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With the three wires removed from the white cap/socket, I laid the wires straight and flat. I placed the two blue wires of the LED flashbulb along with them. I shrunk some 3/16” heat shrink along the length of the wires before fitting this bundle of wires into the interior canal of the front resin grip (the canal that I had previously drilled with my Dremel tool). I aligned the front grip along the welded front handle, squeezed the grip into place between the ear and the grip lock, then secured it with the socket head cap screws at either end.

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MasterOod liked this
#4905713
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Assembling the gun body

Caution: this is a lengthy post.

Now that I assembled the whole front handle, it was time for me to start putting together the main gun body with the electronics in mind. I knew this would be a challenge, considering the complexity of fitting so many electronic components and wires into a confined space with the sliding pop mechanism. I even had trouble fitting my fingers in there to do the simplest things like tightening a screw. Yet I have had a lot of time to prepare myself by reading other build threads and thinking about my approach.

I started by testing all of my electronics once more before beginning the assembly. This test was to determine if all of the parts still functioned correctly, but it also served to determine the proper orientation of some of the parts, notably the bar graph bezel.

My next step was to assemble various components to the gun body from a more-or-less "bottom-up" approach (from the perspective of the gun body being upside-down). The idea was to avoid attaching parts that could interfere with any future steps in the assembly.

From the outside of the gun body, I installed the following:
  1. Heat synch with the four socket had cap screws inserted from the interior of the gun body.
  2. Stream adjuster knob (with the bolt nut on the inside of the gun body).
  3. Side discs.
  4. Small socket head cap screw located between the side discs.
  5. Big side knob.
Before proceeding any further, I decided to plug the flat flex cable into the bar graph bezel, place the bar graph bezel through the interior slit of the gun body, then glue the two corresponding spacers to the inside gun body. Since the flex cable has a preferred way to be connected to the sockets, I made sure that the blue stiffener on the flex cable was facing the outside of the circuit board (away from the display). Once the glue from the spacers had sufficiently dried and bonded, I stuck a lit flashlight inside the gun body to see if any light was leaking around the bar graph from the outside. Indeed, there was tiny bit of light that came out above and below the bar graph. As you can see in the picture below, I promptly patched these holes with a tiny bit of Bondo.

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Using the flashlight, I made sure there was no more leaking light, as you can see below:

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With the bar graph installed, I began installing the wand lights inside the gun body.

In the movie, the super thrower used an orange hat light lens near the vent relay, while most hero throwers used a milky white hat light lens. It took me a long time to choose what colour I preferred for my wand. Ultimately, my white hat light lenses purchased from GBFans are a solid (rather than milky) white colour, while my orange hat light lens looks pretty similar to the ones in the reference pictures. I chose to use the orange hat light lens for this reason, but the fact that Naptime chose the orange hat lens (and PssdOffJay is leaning this way) influenced my decision as well. So, I wrapped fun foam around the base of the corresponding 3 mm warm white LED and pushed it into the orange hat light lens. I then applied some glue around the corresponding hole on this inside of the gun box and pushed the orange hat light lens through hole for that "buried" look.

I started installing the wand lights in the following order:
  1. 3 mm warm light LED in buried orange or white hat lens
  2. 3 mm warm light LED in clear cliplite cover.
  3. ovwthrillseekr's super bright LED vent light (screwed into the spacers that I had glued previously).
  4. 3 mm warm white LED in white hat lens.
I noticed that the metal cylinder of the white hat lens cover (the one that is placed near the front knob) was interfering with the wand lights circuit board. This is certainly due to my decision of placing the wand lights board about 1/4" higher on the gun body wall. So, I removed about half of the metal base (for about 1/8" high) with my Dremel. Not only did this allow the corner of the wand lights board to enter this space unobstructed, but this is allowed me to sufficiently hold the 3 mm warm light LED into the white hat lens with fun foam.

Since I did not yet install the trigger box to the gun body, I did not install the SLO-BLO 3 mm red LED in the red cliplite cover at this point.

Then I grabbed one of my 3M iSaddles (I purchased them on Amazon) to start organizing the wand lights wires. These are great because these are self-adhesive clamps that you can snap to close, but you can also re-open them. The link to the iSaddles is https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B017BU ... UTF8&psc=1.

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One can see the picture below that I placed an iSaddle on the gun body wall to the right of the vent light. I clamped nearly all of the wand lights cables through it to better manage their location and their length.

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After the wand lights, I installed the following parts:
  1. Vent light toggle switch on the gun body.
  2. Power up toggle switch on the gun body.
  3. Black fire pushbutton switch on the trigger box.
  4. Song toggle switch on the trigger box.
  5. R-701 Clippard Valve.
  6. Front knob.
  7. Front cylinder.
  8. Extension lever with the pop mech catch on the interior of the gun body and the small side disc on the exterior.
  9. The trigger box to the gun body (without the two panel doors).
  10. SLO-BLO 3 mm red LED in red cliplite cover.
  11. Rear cylinder.
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Before I could adjust the height and position of the pop mech catch, I needed to attach the whole front handle to the main gun body. This consisted of five main steps:
  1. Threading the wand tip expansion ribbon cable into the main gun body.
  2. Threading the ear and flashbulb LED wires through the gun body hole, then reinserting the ear wires back into their white cap/socket in the proper order.
  3. Inserting the inner master tube into the main gun body and securing it with two socket head cap screws with brass spacers (long one on top and short one on the side).
  4. Attaching one end of a spring to the long socket head cap screw (securing the inner master tube within the gun body).
  5. Inserting a cap screw through the end of the pop tube, attaching the other end of the spring to the same screw, then securing the spring to the screw with a nut.
Once this was completed, I adjusted the position of the pop mechanism catch as well as the metal arm that determines the lowest height of the clamp. Setting this height is crucial for allowing the catch to clamp onto the pop tube bolt. I also tested the pop mechanism to make sure it worked correctly. For more information on how to setup and adjust the pop mech, I highly recommend consulting Freeky Geeky's guide at http://www.freekygeeky.net/Ghostbusters ... allv2.html

In the previous update, I mentioned how I installed a foam stopper on the inside of the gun body that would refrain the pop mechanism tube from extending about 1/4". Well, this is the time that I glued and folded some fun foam onto itself, then glued the fun foam inside the gun body. Although I loved the "thud" sound of the pop tube bolt hitting the aluminim gun body, I wanted to glue the foam stopper to minimize the impact. A number of people have done this in their build threads and I thought it was a good idea.

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Now it is time for some more cable management. Once again inspired by GohstTarp's build, I purchased some 13 mm by 13 mm self-adhesive tie bases. One can fit a zip tie through these tie bases and glue the tie base anywhere within the gun body. I purchased my tie bases through Amazon at https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01M16 ... UTF8&psc=1.

I used zip ties and tie bases to manage the extra length and position of the want tip expansion ribbon cable onto the interior wall of the gun body holding the heat synch, like so:

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I also stuffed stuff as much wire length from the song toggle switch, the fire push button switch and the slo-blo red light as I could into the trigger box itself.

Next, I threaded the grey ribbon cable coming from the amplified sound board (within the pack) into the gun body before mounting the wand lights circuit board. Before connecting all of the wires to the wand lights board, I made sure that the board sat on top of the wires, with the wires for the toggle switches, the ear, the wand tip expansion ribbon cable and the flashbulb LED curling upwards though a gap to connect into the board.

I connected the wires in the following order:
  1. Bar graph flat flex cable with the blue stifferner facing towads the inside of the board.
  2. Wand lights connection.
  3. Toggle switches.
  4. Ear connection.
  5. Wand tip connection.
  6. Auxiliary (flashbulb LED) connection.
  7. Pack soundboard control and power cable.
Once I plugged all of the connections and I tested all of the lights and toggle switches, I screwed the wand lights board into the spacers (the ones that I had glued previously) to hide the wires and to secure the board to the wall of gun body that holds the side discs. This concluded the cable management.

Here are some photos of the results:

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You may have noticed in the pictures above that I mounted another iSaddle inside the gun box to hold a black elastic band. The elastic is inconspicuous in the photos, but if you look closely, it is there. I wrapped this elastic band around the pop mechanism catch, which ensures that the pop mechanism catch will always return to its lowest position (ready to be cocked). Although I could have used a metal spring, I prefered to use an elastic band because it provides sufficient tension on the catch, but with much less force. The spring seemed like overkill to me.

My work inside the gun body was complete at this point, so I bolted the rear resin grip to the rear handle.

Then I assembled the gun track by placing a 1/4" nut and a circular piece called an "Egon Disc" to support the v-hook. I also placed the white "5 A" sticker on the gun truck before screwing in the S-hook (the S-hook is placed slightly overtop of the sticker).

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The 1/4" nut is not visible in any angle under the widest end of the v-hook, but the Egon Disc certainly is visible under the narrowest end.

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Although the pictures do not show it, I chose to use both gun track stickers (the white 10 A and 5 A stickers).

After this, I screwed the gun track into the gun body plate, then closed the gun body by screwing in the plate.

I placed the small red "danger" sticker to the front-right of the trigger box before screwing in the two panel doors into the trigger box. Again, the front panel door sits overtop of a portion of the red sticker. Then I stretched my green nylon tubing over the Clippard hose barbs by warming up the tube in hot water for a while, then using my heat gun as needed.

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Unfortunately, I choked the green tubing while stretching it over the hose barb on the trigger box. I also think the colour should be more turquoise than bright green. I may choose the replace the green tubing at a later time.

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MasterOod, darthbuster liked this
#4905993
Applying dry rub decals to the wand

Today I applied the excellent GBFans dry rub decals to my wand. The application of these decals can be difficult, but do they ever look great!

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Unfortunately, when I applied the "ACTIVATE" decal to the trigger box, the weld on the right-hand side interfered with the final letter "E." The letter therefore looks slightly slanted, which drives me slightly crazy. I do not think there was much that I can do to prevent this from happening. At the very least, this blemish is not too apparent to people at first glance.

As one can see, I prefer to use scotch tape over masking tape when applying the decals. Since scotch tape is clear, it makes it much easier to tell if the decal is applied to the wand or not (the lighter red portions are applied, while the darker portions are not).

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I had success applying pressure to the decals with my hobby knife's plastic cap. The circuit diagram next to the side discs turned out really well.

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That concludes the work on my wand!

Cyclotron lights in the video game modes

Previously, I demonstrated how I painted the cyclotron reflectors red and how I installed clear cyclotron lenses to the pack shell. A number of builders use this trick to cycle through the colours of the four video game modes. Here are some pictures of how they turned out:

Blast stream/boson darts (red)

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Slime blower/tether (green)

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Stasis stream/shock blast (blue)

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Overload pulse/meson collider (orange)

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Next task

My next task is to install the black/grey motherboard foam above the large red "danger" sticker. twmedford23 graciously cut me a piece of foam a few months ago that fits perfectly. I am looking forward to mounting it (finally)!
poohsan liked this
#4905998
That's what I call a really clean Pack!!! :-D
canpara liked this
#4906012
Placing the motherboard foam

In my last post, I mentioned how twmedford23 cut me a beautiful piece of motherboard foam for my pack.

Normally, it’s simply a matter of glueing or taping the foam to your motherboard. However, there are three socket head cap screws on my motherboard that interfere with the foam.

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Although this makes the installation of the foam a tad more complicated, it’s a blessing in disguise because the foam will hide the three cap screws from view.

My solution was to place the foam into its desired location and press it against the cap screws. The three cap screws marked an impression on the foam. Then I placed the foam on my work table and secured it with a vice. I took out my Dremel to mill three corresponding holes on the foam. To ensure that I do not accidentally drill the hole to deep, I marked the desired depth on my sanding bit using a piece of green masking tape.

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This worked out very well. There was almost no resistance when milling the holes.

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Thanks to the three holes, the foam now sits flush against the aluminum motherboard.

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In these pictures, I used masking tape to temporarily stick the foam to the motherboard. Some people like to use two-sided mounting tape, but I will likely use a little bit of super glue on the edges of the foam.

I am currently experiencing an issue with my battery charging extension cable (the one that connects to the battery and ends on the Spengler plate), which I will need to replace. I will glue the foam to the motherboard once I have replaced that charging cable.

Thanks again twmedford23 for the foam! I have finally put it on my motherboard!
twmedford23 liked this
#4906014
The final touch

While I was building my pack, I made a deal with some family and friends who helped me with my build. Should they assist me with their expertise or lend me their tools or workspace, I would ask them to sign the inside of my pack in recognition.

It was a special feeling for me to collect those signatures today.

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In addition to those above, I would like to humbly thank everyone who supplied parts, who provided their advice and who lent their support and friendship. I am sincerely grateful to this wonderful community.

Here she is!

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Kingpin, twmedford23, GohstTarp and 1 others liked this
#4906019
That pack is a beauty. It was a pleasure watching this build. Your love for your pack showed in every step. I will tell you from experience that you will fondly cherish the memories of your pack building adventure.

WELL DONE!

No go bust some ghosts.
canpara, poohsan liked this
#4906044
bishopdonmiguel wrote: June 4th, 2018, 4:46 am That pack is a beauty. It was a pleasure watching this build. Your love for your pack showed in every step. I will tell you from experience that you will fondly cherish the memories of your pack building adventure.

WELL DONE!

No go bust some ghosts.
Thanks so much, Bishop. The pack will look good on Ghostbusters Day this Friday!

As a side note, I was wearing my pack at the Calgary Comic Expo at the end of April (the wand was bare metal and obviously unfinished at that time). One of the Alberta Ghostbusters noticed my grey crank knob and--speaking to another member--made a comment as to how difficult it was for me to source an authentic one for my pack. I had to correct him to say that my crank knob was a Bionic Moon Labs replica! I'm telling you, that crank knob fools everyone.
#4907205
I cannot stop myself from sharing a picture of me on my first event with my fully finished pack. Here I am (on the left) holding my completed wand:

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In Edmonton, our summer fair is called K-Days. Every year, K-Days holds something called “Monday Morning Magic” where the park is only open exclusively to special needs children and their families. A number of professional athletes and first responders attend the event to make it even more special for the kids. This year, the organizers invited the Alberta Ghostbusters to take care of their supernatural elimination needs. The picture above was tweeted by a participant and retweeted by K-Days.
#4910528
Love the pics!
canpara, poohsan liked this
#4911326
I lied. Here are couple more pics showcasing my pack. The photos were taken during the 2018 Edmonton Expo. The members of my group, Alberta Ghostbusters, like to wear our dark grey GB2 uniforms on the Sundays of a convention.

I'm wearing my pack on the bottom right of the following picture:

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The picture below was taken in collaboration with the Rutherford Manor television series:

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Special thanks to the photographer Cassandra Leigh Elliott.
#4917221
canpara wrote: October 10th, 2016, 6:57 pm
Holes for the Injectors, Beam Line and Filler Plug

Most of these holes are for 3/16" x 3" self-drilling roof screws with a rubber washer (two for the injectors, one for the beam line and one for the filler plug), so I drilled holes for them using a 7/32” drill bit.
Thank you so much for sharing! Your photos and instructions are so helpful and your pack turned out amazing! I am very impressed particularly with the interior.
After some packs "from scratch" I started a Ben of Kent build.
One question so far: How did you fit in the screw for the filler plug? I have too little space between the shell and the mainboard for the head of that screw. Did you dremel the shell thinner to fit the head of the self-drilling screw that holds the filler plug?
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