Hey guys...
Thought you'd like to see the build of my Proton Pack.
I began this pack in September 2008, and, after working on it on and off for about a year, finally completed it in October 2009.
The plan started out simple enough. After discovering a female friend was a huge Ghostbusters fan, I decided that for Halloween I would purchase a surplus flight suit, some boots, and build a proton pack out of foam and whatever parts were cheap and easily available. I figured I'd need to budget around $250 for the whole getup.
So, with that in mind, I hit up the local hardware, craft, and surplus stores, and gathered up any junk I had laying around that I thought might come in handy:
It wasn't long however before I decided that I could do better than some house insulation foam and cardboad covered in Mod-Podge, with random bits glued onto it. Surely it would be just as easy to cut five pieces of MDF and bolt them together to make the cyclotron and spacer... right?
So, that's what I did.
And after carefully transferring the measurements from the best available plans to the MDF, I began to cut out the first piece with a jigsaw... whereupon I discovered that the little cotton facemask I'd picked up at Walmart wasn't up to the task of keeping out all the dust the MDF was generating. So, I purchased a respirator:
From there the work went relatively smoothly, and after several days of cutting and sanding I'd finished the spacer and cyclotron:
I say relatively smoothly, because cutting holes in an aluminum cake pan with one of those cheap hole saws where you can select the size is a real pain in the ass. I ended up having to purchase a grinding bit to remove all the jagged metal left behind, and was dismayed when the aluminum quickly chewed through the bit until it there was nothing left. Thankfully, the grinding bit lasted just long enough to get the job done, and with a little super-glue and some washers, my cyclotron was complete.
[To be continued...]
Addendum:
You may have noticed in the last image that I primed everything before filling or sanding. I did this because at the time I didn't have a lot of experience painting and I wanted to see what parts I would need to sand and fill, and where the primer would take care of filling the gaps. Also, at this point I wasn't sure if I was going to use wood filler or bondo.
I did end up using wood filler though. I tried a lot of different brands from Home Depot and Lowes, but they were all of a paste like consistency, and didn't spread on as smoothly as I'd like. I then gave Bondo a try, but that had a number of drawbacks, including fumes, the need to mix small batches so you can spread it all in the five minute work time, the need to wear gloves, and the destruction of any tools like spatulas which you use to spread it.
I finally found what I was looking for though at True Value. I think they sell the stuff at Ace too. It's called Zar wood putty, and it's some kind of latex infused product that spreads on smooth like peanut butter, dries rapidly, and can then be sanded. I can't reccomend it highly enough.
Thought you'd like to see the build of my Proton Pack.
I began this pack in September 2008, and, after working on it on and off for about a year, finally completed it in October 2009.
The plan started out simple enough. After discovering a female friend was a huge Ghostbusters fan, I decided that for Halloween I would purchase a surplus flight suit, some boots, and build a proton pack out of foam and whatever parts were cheap and easily available. I figured I'd need to budget around $250 for the whole getup.
So, with that in mind, I hit up the local hardware, craft, and surplus stores, and gathered up any junk I had laying around that I thought might come in handy:
It wasn't long however before I decided that I could do better than some house insulation foam and cardboad covered in Mod-Podge, with random bits glued onto it. Surely it would be just as easy to cut five pieces of MDF and bolt them together to make the cyclotron and spacer... right?
So, that's what I did.
And after carefully transferring the measurements from the best available plans to the MDF, I began to cut out the first piece with a jigsaw... whereupon I discovered that the little cotton facemask I'd picked up at Walmart wasn't up to the task of keeping out all the dust the MDF was generating. So, I purchased a respirator:
From there the work went relatively smoothly, and after several days of cutting and sanding I'd finished the spacer and cyclotron:
I say relatively smoothly, because cutting holes in an aluminum cake pan with one of those cheap hole saws where you can select the size is a real pain in the ass. I ended up having to purchase a grinding bit to remove all the jagged metal left behind, and was dismayed when the aluminum quickly chewed through the bit until it there was nothing left. Thankfully, the grinding bit lasted just long enough to get the job done, and with a little super-glue and some washers, my cyclotron was complete.
[To be continued...]
Addendum:
You may have noticed in the last image that I primed everything before filling or sanding. I did this because at the time I didn't have a lot of experience painting and I wanted to see what parts I would need to sand and fill, and where the primer would take care of filling the gaps. Also, at this point I wasn't sure if I was going to use wood filler or bondo.
I did end up using wood filler though. I tried a lot of different brands from Home Depot and Lowes, but they were all of a paste like consistency, and didn't spread on as smoothly as I'd like. I then gave Bondo a try, but that had a number of drawbacks, including fumes, the need to mix small batches so you can spread it all in the five minute work time, the need to wear gloves, and the destruction of any tools like spatulas which you use to spread it.
I finally found what I was looking for though at True Value. I think they sell the stuff at Ace too. It's called Zar wood putty, and it's some kind of latex infused product that spreads on smooth like peanut butter, dries rapidly, and can then be sanded. I can't reccomend it highly enough.
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