Concept Art Proton Packs - Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Wii)

TVsRobLowe

Active Member
After various updates to two of my previous foamcore-based Proton Packs, I only had packs for myself and another. My wife agreed to play dressup with me at Halloween and maybe a few other times, so I had a choice: Either update my third foamcore-pack, or start something from scratch. After discussing with my buddy in my costuming group, he was also looking to make a pack for his girlfriend. Seeing the chance to knock out two new packs assembly-line styled, I offered to make him one and he agreed. As with all of my builds, I do my best to make the best looking, durable prop I can while still being budget conscious. Budget for these is ~$100 for both and I’m roughly in that ballpark so far.

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The design I decided on was based on the concept art proton packs for the Wii version of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. I’ve always loved this design, I see so many people come up with their own concept of a “modern” proton pack, but I think this design satisfies that idea. It’s refined, clean, and has little of the jumbled together industrial look of the originals. I also think being being refined, it has somewhat of a feminine quality, and since these are going on female Ghostbusters, I have some wiggle to room to be different. I know that sounds kind of sexist (“Oh, girls can’t be like the real Ghostbusters?”), but there’s something cute about this design, my wife likes it, my friend’s girl likes it, so that’s good enough for me. Sexist would be asking them to wear short-shorts or a dress instead of a flight-suit.
During the making of these, I used all of the skills I gained from making the first packs, and avoided every mistake I made with them. So far, making these have been a breeze compared to my first. I would make them the same way – foamcore cut with 90-degree angles and held together with hot glue.

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My first step was to find a cake pan to use for the cyclotron. I found these pie pans at Dollar Tree. They’re undersized compared to the 9” ones on the standard pack, but I really like the bevel on them. I created some template in Illustrator scaled to the pan, printed them out on card stock, and made a full size template. From top to bottom, they’re about 4 inches shorter than a standard pack, but will be a little taller in the end once things get added on. Working on the templates, a few things had to be changed to work in the real world – proportions and perspective on the concept art just aren’t true to life, and what is in the art doesn’t really work in real life. A good example of this is the lower box just below the cyclotron – built like the art, I wouldn’t have the room for three tubes to insert and still be strong made out of foamcore. On the build, I made the box taller and gave it room for the tubes to fit.

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After making the template, I traced on to foamcore, and added some height. For the curved portioned, I used EVA foam (6mm foamies sheets). Foamies were used in a few places for details.

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When it came to the details on the control box, I considered scratch building everything. I came across these aluminum canisters at Dollar Tree and they ended up being a perfect fit for my already-built box. I make the top bars out of PVC and nested couplers. At this stage it really looks like a junk pack. Aluminum reducers/washers were also added to the cyclotron at this point. Used foamcore + foamies to finish up the rest of the pack details.

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Next I made the base for the bumpers using some Hot Wheels track. Not a new idea, but it works well. These raised lenses were considered but I decided against them to go with a more traditional style flat lense. PVC pipes were used for the injector tubes.

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EVA Foam floor tiles were used to make the top “bumper” portion. Sanded down the sides with a sanding screen to give them a curved edge. I also heat-formed some styrene to make the front of the curved section between the cyclotron and control box.

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The lower box made, along with various connection points for the hoses.

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Finished bodywork on the pack. Center pieces on the cyclotron bumpers were made with styrene.
Time for paint! I covered the EVA Foam with Mod-Podge to prep it. To seal my foamcore, I sprayed down 4 coats of Plasti Dip spray. This waterproofs the foamcore and make the whole thing more durable. After the plasti dip, a coat of Rustoleum Textured, and another thin coat of Plasti Dip. The whole thing looks cast-iron at this point, but I started to get an orange peel effect on a lot of the smoother sections. I think lighter coats of Plasti Dip would have prevented this, but I went ahead with it. The Gun-Metal color used is Rustoleum Metallic. I don’t know the actual color, but it’s the medium-brightness silver.

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After painting the packs, I set in the reflectors and painted up the bumpers. Shock mounts were made with washers and loom tubing and bolted on through the bumper to the back side of the pie pan.

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Labels that I picked up at Skycraft in Orlando were affixed to the packs at this point. Split loom was added as well.

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Taking a break from the packs, I started work on the throwers. My initial idea was to nest multiple PVC tubes and cut down to get the layering effect, but further inspecting the art of the thrower, I think the thrower box is more square with rounded edges. For the tip I’m also deviating from the concept art – I need something more durable so I’m going to use clear acrylic with some PVC fittings. For the base thrower box I used a project box from Radio Shack and screwed on a few PVC couplers with conduit nuts.

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For the outer shell, I considered using foamies but they just weren’t going to be durable enough. I decided to try heat-forming some styrene. I hadn’t done it much before, but with these I said I would take my time. I made a template, cut out the styrene, and started work with my heat gun. The end result was a lot better than I was expecting.

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Styrene was used to make the details on the top faceplate, and LED holders and holes for switches were cut. A test tube plug was used for the raised LED holder near the plug. PVC pipes and various couplers were used for the rest of the body.

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After base shapes on the throwers were made, they received a coat of the same gunmetal Rustoleum, along with some silver to differentiate along the front couple.

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Unseen are the motherboards I cut out of MDF. Nothing special, they were just cut from the same base template and mounted to the shell via wood blocks mounted in the shell. Grips were then installed. Rear grips were some I picked up at Skycraft, front grips are retro-style bike grips. The clear portion of the tip are from some clear hollow acrylic I also picked up at Skycraft. The wire and connectors at the tip are Rainbird sprinkler hoses and bits.

For the backpack frames, ALICE frames were desired, but they’ve been going up in price on ebay. Back in 1999 I think I bought 4 for less than $60, now I can’t find one for less than thirty. I decided that I would go ahead and make my own frame out of PVC, and add on ALICE Straps and make an alternative to the kidney pad using an elastic band. Horizontal support will come from the motherboard itself.

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This brings me to my current state – yesterday I added mounting blocks and slide-mounts to the pack and throwers. Mounts are on the left and right, even though the concept art is a left-handed pack. The front of the thrower actually rotates so the pack is truly ambidextrous.

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Thanks for checking these out. My next update will probably be the finished packs with lighting. My goal is to have them finished by July 4th.
 
God that's awesome! And it's foam and PVC? That would make it pretty light, especially if you and your wife plan on wearing these at a Halloween party or even at a convention. Great job and excellent use of foam. :)
 
pretty sweet stuff, you gonna add a sound pack to that?
No plan for sound at the moment, but if I added any it would just be a simple sound board for greeting cards that can be picked up cheap from China.

God that's awesome! And it's foam and PVC? That would make it pretty light, especially if you and your wife plan on wearing these at a Halloween party or even at a convention. Great job and excellent use of foam. :)

The pack shell itself is all foamcore except the few aluminum pieces, and the PVC for the few parts and the frame. It's super light - under 5 pounds right now. Most of the weight itself comes from the MDF used for the motherboards. I have my own foamcore pack for myself, but it's considerably heavier than these, but still about 1/4th the weight of a fiberglass pack. I've worn them to massive street parties for years and they've held up great.
 
I've had this concept picture myself for years, and have always wanted to build this particular pack.

Great job. Inspiring to see someone else tackle it.
 
Love. This. I've never seen this pack design You really brought it to life! Nice job.
 
Finished these two up a few weeks ago. Most lights are static, except the Power Cell has a scrolling pattern (repurposed 12v turn signal LEDs) and the Cyclotron lights (alternating pattern). I also added a simple lit trap of my own design to hang on the unused mount, either left or right side depending on the user. The PVC backpack frames came out great and overall these two packs are more comfortable than my pack and I'm a little jealous of how cleaned and contained it looks.

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My remaining pack was placed up on my shelf next to my remaining two foamcore packs. This gives a sense of scale between traditional and this design:

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Thanks for looking!
- Rob
 
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your stuff looks great and has inspired me to give this pack a try for my girlfriend.

any advice would be greatly appreciated. also if you know the sizes of the washers and PCV pipes or measurements of just about anything really that would be soo helpful.

I read through your post and even went to the dollar tree and got some stuff today like the pie pan and hotwheels track later from Walmart.
i couldn't find retro style bike grips or the correct reflectors.

where do you get your styrene and foamcore from?
 
your stuff looks great and has inspired me to give this pack a try for my girlfriend.

any advice would be greatly appreciated. also if you know the sizes of the washers and PCV pipes or measurements of just about anything really that would be soo helpful.

I read through your post and even went to the dollar tree and got some stuff today like the pie pan and hotwheels track later from Walmart.
i couldn't find retro style bike grips or the correct reflectors.

where do you get your styrene and foamcore from?

The PVC pipes I used were probably 0.5" on the throwers, and 3/4" on the rest of the pack, but to be honest I'm not positive since I play with pipes like Legos. The washers used were reducing washers for conduit, I picked those up in the electrical section of Home Depot. I believe they're 1.5" with a 1" cutout. The reflectors were picked up at Home Depot as well, they come in a six pack with different colored lenses, but each pack contains two red.

My styrene and foamcore was picked up off of Amazon, which was about half price compared to local craft and Hobby shops. Bike grips were also from Amazon, off of a 3rd party vendor.
 
ran into another snag you hopefully can help me out with. how did you connect the injectors to the pack? also having trouble finding the latches for the thrower mount. do you know what they're called and also where you got them?
 
I can't help with the injectors, but the mount he used, I used to mount my Matty Collector Neutrino Wand to my wall.

The mounts he used were Flush Mount Picture Hangers. I got mine at Home Depot.

Chris
 
ran into another snag you hopefully can help me out with. how did you connect the injectors to the pack? also having trouble finding the latches for the thrower mount. do you know what they're called and also where you got them?

Can you clarify what you mean by injectors? Are you talking about the various tubes that run in to the pack? They slip over PVC fittings.

Chris was correct about the mounts, they're Flush Mount Hangers. A set of 2 will run you $3 at Home Depot.

Edit: Oh, do you mean injector tubes under the Power Cell? They're PVC and fittings. Sorry I can't be more descriptive than that, but they're probably 1".
 
i was referring to how all the pvc was attached to the pack itself. you mentioned in your original post that there were blocks of wood in the pack. i assume it was for mounting the MDF board and perhaps drilling holes in the wood for the pvc pipes to fit in? otherwise i don't see how the pipes would be anywhere near sturdy

i went and found the mount hangers after class today super easy now that i knew what they were called. i appreciate the help with that.

i think the last problems i'll have with the pack is getting it wired up for lights since i have no experience with that and also figuring out what the almost funnel looking piece you used under your reflectors for those lights.
 
i was referring to how all the pvc was attached to the pack itself. you mentioned in your original post that there were blocks of wood in the pack. i assume it was for mounting the MDF board and perhaps drilling holes in the wood for the pvc pipes to fit in? otherwise i don't see how the pipes would be anywhere near sturdy

i went and found the mount hangers after class today super easy now that i knew what they were called. i appreciate the help with that.

i think the last problems i'll have with the pack is getting it wired up for lights since i have no experience with that and also figuring out what the almost funnel looking piece you used under your reflectors for those lights.

Where PVC attaches - like the little lower box where the tubes run and the gun hose connects, the PVC couplers have a small (1" or so) piece of PVC that runs in to a hole the same size. Kind of like a peg and hole system. The other end of the coupler has another piece that comes out that the hoses attach to. In the case of the injector tubes, I believed I used a threaded coupler and put that piece in to the pack I used e3000 glue on the pegs, placed them in the pack and braced them, and let it dry overnight. On the inside where the connectors push through the shell, I sprayed some Great Stuff expanding foam. The results is very sturdy and actually have a little bit of flex to the connecting points due to the foam. In street parties and conventions, it will flex before it breaks.

The funnel looking piece that you're seeing under the reflectors isn't actually a funnel piece at all. It's scorch marks from a hole cutter failing to cut through the aluminum. The result is still fairly flat.
 
Love the pack, especially with the Trap attaching likr the cartoon.

Great costumes, the other half and I were going to do this after she saw my GB costume which I keep saying I am going to improve (but each year I forget)
 
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