I ain’t afraid of no ghost

I spent some time today fixing Halloween decorations that required repair and printing out some parts for my proton pack.

The dropping mechanism we got a few years ago fell off the wall and stopped working, so I took it apart. I found that a wire had been cut in the drop, so I soldered it back into place and voila, good as new.

It feels good to be able to repair most things.

I bought a Ghostbusters proton pack from Spirit Halloween and I’ve decided to modify it so it suits my needs. I want to make it more like a prop and less like a toy.

Now you can buy an unlicensed nuclear accelerator off the internet and have it delivered straight to your house! ***WARNING*** A proton pack is not a toy!

The first modification I’m making is the neutrino wand holder. Right now, there’s a plastic cylinder that goes into a hole on the side of the pack. I’ve printed out some bits that once attached will allow the wand to slide on and off the side of the pack without fumbling to get the cylinder in the hole. This will also mimic the way the wands were stowed in the movies.

Old and new bits. I’ll paint the new bits silver so the look like they’re made from metal before I attach them.

That should get me through Halloween tomorrow. After that, I’m going to build a better neutrona wand, and upgrade the electronics (lights & sounds), motherboard, and frame. I’ll probably redo the paint, adding some textured paint to toughen it up some, and add some weathering and new stickers so it looks like it’s been well used.

I also have a ghost trap and a PKE (psycho kinetic energy) meter that I’m going to upgrade. I want to metalize them, add more functional knobs, switches, and lights. Then, I’ll weather them and I’m want to add a smoke effect to the trap so it looks like it’s got something in it. Finally, I’ll need to build a foot pedal for the trap.

Ghost trap

PKE meter

This should be enough for some of the cons I want to go to next year. There’s one in Ocean City I’m planning on attending and there may be a few more I’d like to go to.

I’ll likely keep making some mods here and there as I go. I’m sure I’ll meet other ghost heads who cosplay and I’d like to see what they do with their packs.

At some point, I’d like to build an entire pack from scratch. It shouldn’t be too hard with the 3D printer, but I’d really like to try my hand at building bunks and vaccu-forming a shell, then reinforcing it with fiberglass. I think the most exciting part will be the electronics. It will likely be the most difficult too.

I’ll keep you posted as things progress.