By cyberfez
#4931176
Hi GBfans,

I am planning to model the PKE from the movie properly as I cant seem to find a good screen accurate print files anywhere. (anyone have a link I just cant find?). Am I just being an idiot and missing it?

So in light of not finding any files people are sharing that are really accurate, I guess I am modelling my own which leads to my next question, has anyone been able to take any detailed reference photos of the hero props? Can you point me at them if they exist? Also does anyone know the exact length and width of the hero prop?

Thanks friends,

Cyberfez.
User avatar
By Kingpin
#4931182
Reference material for the P.K.E. Meter prop/s has been pretty scarce for years, for a good chunk of their existence they were in the hands of Modern Props, the prop house that owned (and likely built) the devices, and although they've shown up in a couple of movies outside of Ghostbusters, it was never in a particularly great capacity that would allow us to boost our reference galleries.

And then there's the fact they just existed in a time long before photographic technology had become so widespread.

But with that said, some intrepid folks have managed to snag some rare photographs of one of the props (there's indications there may have been two):

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Credit to WShawn for uploading these:
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There's some more shots, and even a bit of video that I think I have somewhere in my files, I'll try see if I can find them.

Beyond that, something that might be worth your while is looking to track down an Iona Polisher, that would give you a great head-start in terms of measurement accuracy.
User avatar
By d_osborn
#4931192
Thanks for posting those images, KP! I haven't seen some of these. Did WShawn mention where he sourced the material? Are these the same shots that Cyland posted many years ago?
User avatar
By Kingpin
#4931194
d_osborn wrote: February 18th, 2020, 10:31 amDid WShawn mention where he sourced the material? Are these the same shots that Cyland posted many years ago?
He mentioned a friend of his got to visit Modern Props back in the day, and got to grab some quick photographs of it. My understanding is they're different from Cyland's ones, which I should have in my archive.
By WShawn
#4931259
Kingpin wrote: February 17th, 2020, 11:51 am Reference material for the P.K.E. Meter prop/s has been pretty scarce for years, for a good chunk of their existence they were in the hands of Modern Props, the prop house that owned (and likely built) the devices, and although they've shown up in a couple of movies outside of Ghostbusters, it was never in a particularly great capacity that would allow us to boost our reference galleries.

And then there's the fact they just existed in a time long before photographic technology had become so widespread.

But with that said, some intrepid folks have managed to snag some rare photographs of one of the props (there's indications there may have been two):

Image


There's some more shots, and even a bit of video that I think I have somewhere in my files, I'll try see if I can find them.

Beyond that, something that might be worth your while is looking to track down an Iona Polisher, that would give you a great head-start in terms of measurement accuracy.
That's a nice squared-up shot of the PKE I don't think I've seen before. I'm going to rebuild the wings on my scratch-built PKE with more flexible wires, and I can use this to double-check the shapes.

It's nice seeing that the touch switch contacts aren't all the exact, perfect lengths.

As I wrote on the thread on which I posted those photos, my friend Bryan Ambacher, with whom I built our packs in 1984, had a brief stint working in the art department for a few film productions, and during the course of those duties he found himself at Modern Props with a camera and the PKE sitting on a workbench. Those photos were taken in the early 1990s.

When I get a chance I can snap a few photos of my build with a ruler next to it to help with the dimensions for 3D modeling. It wouldn't be the most super-complex shape to model.

Cheers.
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By WShawn
#4931649
Here are a few quick shots with a ruler and graph paper (inches divided into fifths):

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I'm on deadline and don't have time for other shots.

Later this year I'll probably offer resin versions of these shells for sale.
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