Hello all,
Alex 'Doc' Newborn here.
I've been a Ghostbusters fan since 1984, even did some very fanciful 'interpretation' Hallowe'en costumes beginning in about 1986.
But after my wife bought me the Mattel PKE Meter 1:1-scale prop replica, which I received in January 2011 as a birthday present, I began to really want an 'accurate' Ghostbusters uniform.
And lo and behold, I found out that there were amazing online resources that had studied, researched, and occasionally even sourced every single tiny item on the flightsuit and equipment.
I still dithered over whether or not to indulge myself in this obsession, but one day in Sept. 2011, having seen an auction for some pieces which would mean no turning back, my wife and I had been discussing my crossroads for twenty minutes when by sheer chance we passed an Ectomobile in traffic on the way to pick up our youngest son from school.
"It's a sign!" I said.
Within weeks I had ordered a flightsuit, patches, belt, kneepads for the elbow pads, even a real set of military goggle frames to which I attached a down-and-dirty 'hardware store' faceplate and lens tubes.
And by Hallowe'en night 2011, I was semi-adequately ready to hang out with Brandon (on the right) and his Ecto.
I also began accumulating a lot of other real-world items that had been used in the films. For instance, I have the same model of videocameras carried by Dan Aykroyd in the library scene of the first film and the museum sweep scene of the second film.
Then in May of this year, I took the plunge and bought a proton pack shell from the same guy who had sourced the military frames. On GBFans.com's forums he's Vincenzo330.
My goal was to construct mine from the same materials used on the movie props, wherever possible. If it was fiberglass on the hero prop, I wanted fiberglass on mine. Aluminum where it should be. Real Clippard valves, etc.
But if a nice time-saver or freebie was offered to me, I wasn't too proud to take a shortcut. A friend in New Zealand offered me a resin gun kit for the price of shipping, and he threw in several other trim pieces that I needed.
This project would mean acquiring some new skills, like riveting and working with epoxy putty, and I was excited about challenging myself... although eventually I outsourced the welding to the shop teacher at the high school.
Also in May, I got to meet Robin Shelby, the actress who played Slimer in GB2. My youngest son went with me to this event. Coincidentally, this photo was taken on her birthday.
I took my *second* more accurate khaki jumpsuit, but without a proton pack, I decided to do an obscure reference to the GB2 electronic presskit, and dress as a behind-the-scenes Bill Murray.
I decided to make another film prop, the one fans call the KUD Meter carried by Winston in the museum sweep in GB2.
I got busy directing a local play (Little Shop of Horrors) so when I had the chance to meet Ernie Hudson in person at HorrorCon in Nashville on October 6th of this year, I hurried to assemble the KUD so I could have him sign this Winston-centric prop.
It still lacks a blinking red LED, but it looked good enough to unveil to some of the AL, KY, and TN Ghostbusters in attendance, and proved quite popular.
I had Ernie sign it on the inside of the battery cover.
"Alex - Keep Busting! Ernie Hudson (Winston)"
He even very gamely posed using the prop to scan a nearby Vigo portrait that one of the KY Ghostbusters brought.
My friend Jaime Hitchcock of the TN GB saw me videotaping Ernie Hudson scanning Vigo in my own home movie and commented, "Oh Alex. You win!"
Here's me, my son, Ernie (holding my KUD) and Jaime.
My proton pack made a lot of progress between then and Hallowe'en, even though it's still not 100% complete.
Here's a pic from October 31st. Stay tuned for updates!
Thanks for looking!
Alex
