Ghostbusters 1 & 2 Smoking Ghost Trap Prop.

[BrandtFX]

So Ive been doing some research for a school project and was looking at this screen grab. Years ago when I was trying to document all of the traps built for the films I had seen this image and noticed that there was a huge chunk missing from the corner of this trap in the foreground. I believe that this trap was originally a smoker. It had canvas strips on the top of its "fins" and had a two part chemical applied to it to make it smoke.
I had a hard time convincing people that there was actually a missing piece and that it wasnt a trick of the light.

Flash forward to today when I came across an image of a stunt trap that went up for auction and you can clearly see a repair had been made to this very corner. Theres a few other details that are specific to this prop that match really well.

Just thought Id share.

 

[bighowboy]

I’m just seeing this post but I actually am that props owner and had no clue about matching it up. Very excited to take a much closer look having a lead on a screen match! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Regards, Troika

 

[Hylanos]

Troika, how do you feel about owning a prop that was apparently screen accurate before repair, then was restored to become accurate to other props?

I think I'd feel bad about having something repaired that made my prop uniquely identifiable, but id like to hear your thoughts

 

[bighowboy]

I felt great when I bought the piece and feel even better now being able to place this piece on camera. I own an original Ghostbusters 2 ghost trap that can be screen-matched! I was even lucky enough to have the amazing team at Propstore get the electronics working again. The repair work to the corner of the “fin” is minimal, very well done, and certainly doesn’t stop the piece from being uniquely identifiable, as evidenced by this thread. It’s not like this a situation of massive restoration, re-painting, etc. And honestly, if a future owner wanted to remove the rebuilt corner and return the piece to how it appeared in the court room scene, they could. Finally, it would be incorrect to just assume the repair work happened post-production. Props are mended and repaired all the time on set and it’s entirely possible this happened with this piece and the trap saw continued production use. So yes, to answer your question… I feel extraordinarily grateful and lucky to own such an amazing piece from the early films that I love so much.

 

[Hylanos]

I felt great when I bought the piece and feel even better now being able to place this piece on camera. I own an original Ghostbusters 2 ghost trap that can be screen-matched! I was even lucky enough to have the amazing team at Propstore get the electronics working again. The repair work to the corner of the “fin” is minimal, very well done, and certainly doesn’t stop the piece from being uniquely identifiable, as evidenced by this thread. It’s not like this a situation of massive restoration, re-painting, etc. And honestly, if a future owner wanted to remove the rebuilt corner and return the piece to how it appeared in the court room scene, they could. Finally, it would be incorrect to just assume the repair work happened post-production. Props are mended and repaired all the time on set and it’s entirely possible this happened with this piece and the trap saw continued production use. So yes, to answer your question… I feel extraordinarily grateful and lucky to own such an amazing piece from the early films that I love so much.

Thank you for the response and the enlightenment. It hadn't even crossed my mind that the production crew may have had further use out of this prop that required the repair.