User avatar
By denvergbfan
#4905275
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Preface: I have been cosplaying Ghostbusters since August of last year and this is my first time posting on gbfans.com.

So last year my good friend’s four-year-old son saw me dressed up as a Ghostbuster for Halloween. He then told his parents that he wanted to be a Ghostbuster on Halloween next year. I came up with the idea of building a kid’s sized Proton Pack pretty much from scratch. I then recruited the help of my very crafty father-in-law. The Proton Pack is designed to be somewhat movie accurate and the Proton Thrower is a movie and The Real Ghostbusters cartoon hybrid.

I thought that I would post some of the project details here in case anyone might be interested. I know that it is not perfect to scale and there are a few things that could be improved, but I thought that it came out pretty awesome for my first pack build! Let me know your thoughts too.

Materials
Plywood – Home Depot or Lowes
PVC piping of different sized – Home Depot or Lowes
Space Sword toy - WalMart
Lights – ebay
Rothco military backpack straps – gbfans.com
Red fiberglass Cyclotron covers – gbfans.com
Blue fiberglass Power Cell cover - gbfans.com
Large size dog collar – Dollar Store
Keychain clip for the key fob – Home Depot or Lowes
Ghostbusters stickers - etsy
Pressed steel – Home Depot or Lowes
Black and silver spray paint – Home Depot or Lowes
Buttons - ebay
Knobs – gbfans.com
White out tube for Clippard Mechanics Valve – Dollar Store
Small sized craft wood boxes – Hobby Lobby
Clear plastic tube – from a salt refill for salt shaker
Large black tubing – Amazon.com
Small black tubing – Amazon.com
Small red and blue tubing – gbfans.com
Brass tube connector pieces – gbfans.com
Metal V hook - eBay
Super glue - Dollar Store
Black foam pipe cover – Home Depot or Lowes
Plastic handle from a foam pirate sword toy – Dollar Store
Rainbow cord – gbfans.com
Thin metal dowel – from cooking whisk
White zip ties – Dollar Store
Screws and nails – Home Depot or Lowes
Clip for the rainbow cable - Home Depot or Lowes
Metal mesh for N-Filter - old coffee press set
Heat sink – gbfans.com
Wood dowels – Home Depot or Lowes
Tin metal container lid – Dollar Store
Plastic paint sample container – local paint store
Plastic caps - from items around the house
We ended up not using the metal washers for the Cyclotron covers, but did use some plastic frosted washers under the red fiberglass for the Cyclotron holes.

Image

Image

Red fiberglass and blue fiberglass were used for the Cyclotron lights and power cell light covers.

Image

Image

I bought some small red and blue light strands for the Cyclotron and Power Cell on Amazon.com for fairly cheap.

Image

The Alice Frame is made from half inch pvc pipe and the belt is a large size black dog collar. The battery packs for the small lights in the Cyclotron and Power Cell are connected to the back of the pack with the use of two copper strips and screws. Easily accessible to turn on or off and hidden when wearing the pack.

Image

We put the stickers on cut out pieces of thin pressed steel. They attached to the steel better than the painted wood and I think it gives more of a heavy duty equipment look.

Image

Image

The lights and sounds from the Proton Thrower are from a kids Space Sword toy from Walmart for about five dollars. They come with red, blue, or green lights. It lights up the whole room and the sound is pretty loud. It was somewhat difficult to take the toy apart without breaking it so we had to go slow and be careful.

Image

Image

We used a pvc pipe connector piece (on the left) for the clear tube to fit into for the end of the Proton Thrower and another pvc pipe connector piece (on the right) that is able to spin around. This was used for the black tubbing connecting the Proton Pack and thrower so the tubbing does not twist and tangle.

Image

Image

We designed the Proton Thrower to be a bit bigger so that he can grow into it and we can build a larger sized pack later while still using the same thrower. We were going to add a metal switch, but ran out of room. Plus, I think the big red button gives the Proton Thrower more personality.

Image

Image

Attempting to post a demo video of the pack lights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC6i7fwUUK4

Attempting to post a demo video of the thrower lights and sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NVYzo5LkfM

Size comparison with my Spirit Halloween pack.

Image

The finished product took several weekends to build and is 8 and a half pounds. It might be a bit heavy for him to wear so he might have to grow into it before next Halloween. We are giving it to him soon so we’ll see how it goes. We might have a new member of the Ghostbusters Team. Thanks!
twmedford23, Christof liked this
User avatar
By Etigo
#4905484
Wow, That's nice!!! :-D

    If you need any clarification at all, PM me or […]

    Proton Props UK

    Good decision to lift the ban! By the way: I think[…]

    I'd use some putty. Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm not […]

    Or if you bought the access pack you get them inst[…]