[Glow in the Dark]

Back in 1984 and 1989, what would they have done for the uniform? For example, for their patches, would they have gone to a seamstress to hand make them or did they have places back then where they could have handed a picture and the person could replicate it by machine? Where would they have gotten the parts to make a nuclear accelerator? Gotten the decals for Ecto-1? I assume a lot of uniform stuff they got at military surplus.

Totally forgot the reason I made this topic: how would they have gotten custom belt pouches for things like the PKE Meter and trap made? Is that something you can go to someone for?

[Coover5]

Patches would have been made then the same way they are today. Machines. You could make them by hand but it would have been easier to use machines.

I'm not sure how old you are but given that you are asking these kinds of question I assume rather young. Less than 20. The keyword here is catalogs.

Catalogs were a near complete listing of a company's inventory with a price, photo/illustration and small description for each item. A lot of what they used to build could have been found in catalogs. Since they had already started building some sort of Ghost tech at the college (like the PKE meter) they were probably also using the universities resources to acquire parts. There were also electronic shops everywhere back then. You didn't just buy complete electronics there. You could also buy the parts that made up those electronics. Wire, Casings, Resistors, batteries, battery cases, chips etc

Also, the prop department found a good deal of the bits and pieces of the packs at electronic parts surplus stores so the Ghostbusters would have found them there too.

And as for decals you they would have been made by the same people that make them today but it would have taken a little more work.

You used to be able to go to the mall and have a design airbrushed onto a shirt or you could bring photos and have them printed on shirts, mugs, pillows etc It was no great feat to find people who could make custom items for you even then.

[Coover5]

Check out these:

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catal ... ctory.html

These catalogs would have proven pretty useful for Ego and Ray. They even have ones for 1980-1989. The '83 clocks in at a whopping 184 pages

[Glow in the Dark]

Check out these:

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/catal ... ctory.html

These catalogs would have proven pretty useful for Ego and Ray. They even have ones for 1980-1989. The '83 clocks in at a whopping 184 pages

Sweet link! Totally forgot about Radio Shack already.

[signeddiamond]

The same way they did it for the film itself. Most tech props from the 80s were made from scavenging through aircraft graveyards. Catalogs would be used to get more of the same item but if you need an AC primary buss and a thermocouple breakaway valve then a graveyard is right for you (and cheap).

A seamstress with a embroidery hoop foot would be able to freehand any name tags requested and electronic embroiderers were quickly being introduced.

[Alex Newborn]

I think the novel for the first film suggests that some of Egon's earliest equipment, like the 'plasmatometer' (which he drops as they run away from the Library) were built into common devices, like the case of an electric razor.

Presumably, the novelist didn't know about the Iona shoe polisher for the PKE Meter-- which he sometimes calls an 'aurascope'-- at that time.

Alex

[HauntedTank]

It might be a joke lost to time, but I think the ghostbuster's equipment is a very subtle gag related to how little money they had starting out.

The alice backpack rack, shoes and jump suit were all easily found for cheap at an army surplus store at the time of the film.

This also plays into the rags to riches story that the film is a parody of. From 1950 to the 1980s, plenty of small businesses were started with equipment purchased for cheap from the US government. For example, you could buy a sherman tank from the US government for about $500. And some people did, turning them into farm dozers, logging equipment, and drilling equipment. Just google image search "Traxxon T-800H tank drill" Dan Aykroyd might have known about the sherman logging tanks as many went to Canada. The film also had some of the same guys that worked on 1941 and Stripes and they probably heard the surplus stories while on set.

I think the army surplus builds into the joke/conflict between Egon and Ray. Egon wanted the best and cheapest. Ray wanted to buy toys (like Ecto 1 and the firehouse). Egon probably agreed to the Army Surplus, while shaking his head at the firehouse.

Also, playing soldier plays to Ray's character as well.

The GB sign and patches could have been found in Manhattan or the surrounding area. If someone makes it in the US, you could find someone to do it in New York state in the 1980s.

A better question is what did Egon have to do to turn anything affordable into an containment unit or the proton packs.

[Mat]

Smoke detectors...lots and lots of smoke detectors!