My Ghostbusters PKE Meter

[Mr. Nagata]

I finally finished this build-up after 4 years of it sitting in my closet. The main body is a Guntahkela kit with some minor modifications. The electronics are from Hyperdyne. This is probably the most challenging build I've ever done. Not for the faint of heart. To top it all off, when it was finally finished, my friend dropped it on the floor and one of the servos broke. Since I had sat on this kit for so long, it turns out the servos I used were discontinued. In order to replace the broken one, I had to track down a hobby store that still had a few in stock.

Here's a little movie of the piece in action:
http://star.walagata.com/w/rnags/Props/PKEmeter.mpg

Since I didn't know how to install galvanic skin sensors (as was used on the original prop), I just used regular push buttons and fabricated some button covers with mock skin sensors on top:

 

[Got Maul]

Beautiful ! The one GB prop I never got around to doing...beautiful !!

 

[Remo]

I still haven't put my kit from him together. It's still sitting with some other stuff that I need to finally get the nerve to play with.

Beautiful job on that. Do you have any pictures of the inside so I can see how mine should eventually look.

 

[GuntahKela]

Badass! I, also, still have my hyperdyne PKE circuit kit somewhere, waiting for the day it will be placed in one of my kits.

 

[silverskyes402]

Incredible build, really fantastic work!!!

 

[obiwan2]

I never get tired of seeing these. Great work!!

 

[Nicksdad]

That is awesome. I have the hyperdyne circuit and an Iona set of shells but need to get the detail parts set since I am too lazy to just sculpt it.

 

[Mr. Nagata]

Wow! I can't believe you haven't completed yours either. Well, I can confirm that his eletronics fit your kit just fine. Just make sure you pick small enough servos. The wall of your kit isn't quite as thin as a real Iona, so I very carefully had to dremel out enough space without making the wall too thin. The servos I had were a little too tall, so I snapped off the bottom cover and moved the controller board outside the casing. Pretty complicated stuff. If you happen to have Cirrus CS-201 servos, I'd suggest switching to some other model because they've been discontinued. I know Cirrus makes a model 101 which is slightly smaller and still in production, but I have no idea if it'll work or not. Ask Jim. You can buy them at Hobby People stores for RC airplanes.

Also, sealing the LED boards inside the wings is a real biatch!

Badass! I, also, still have my hyperdyne PKE circuit kit somewhere, waiting for the day it will be placed in one of my kits.

 

[Rhett J Martin]

Wow. That's just beuatiful!! I've never built one of these, but that movie makes me want to!!

 

[Dann]

Wow, so cool!

 

[hyperdyne]

Glad you finally got your PKE built up! It is a thing of beauty (as with all your other build ups).

Yes, the cirrus 201 servo have been discontinued. Not sure why! They now make a CS225 that is a tad bigger. But it may be difficult to fit in a shell. The CS101 mini servo is still being made and should fit fine, but it doesnt have the extra torque. So I am not sure if it will be able to lift heavier wings. That is the smallest servo I have found so far that would fit the bill.

 

[Mr. Nagata]

I wouldn't use anything larger than the 201 since I already had to modify that one to fit properly. You could, in theory, use a larger servo and modify the arms to sweep below the top surface of the servo. That might work.

Torque is another issue. It's so crowded in there and the ribbon cable that leads to the wings has to be so thick in order to light all the LEDs that you need quite a bit of torque to force the arms up with all those stiff wires anchored to it. I initially had some problems with this, because my arms would get locked in place and the servo would continue to run. As it turns out, the servo had plenty of torque. The gear was just slipping around inside the precut hole on my PKE arms. So I ended up gluing the arm right to the servo gear which solved the problem. Makes any future repairs/replacements much more difficult, but what can you do.

 

[blufive]

I wasn't going to click in this thread until I saw that playskool had started it. I HAD to see the build up.

Nice job, man!

:thumbsup

 

[howlingwind13]

AMAZING! One of if not the best I've seen...


One of my favorite props, built mine years ago with the hyperdyne kit...servos broke, (my fault) The wings were horrible looking and bound up...it's a real piece of expensive junk now...

Maybe someday I'll give it another shot.
mike

 

[jack black]

PKE Meter

hey man id like to buy one of your kits