My son's 75% scale Ghostbuster pack (DONE)

[Deric]

My son (10) just recently got into Ghostbusters. When he told me he wanted to be a ghostbuster for Halloween I jumped at the bit to make him a pack. I went to GBFans looking for info and found KC's foam build and planned on making something better than the backpack with a cardboard box taped to it like I had when I was his age.

I took the plans and scaled them down to 75%. It's taken me a little longer than I expected but I'm having great fun. As of today this is where I'm at. I still need to glue several of the pieces in the pic and sand the edges of the layers flush. The black pieces are foam poster-board. I plan on using wood glue to harden the pack and use wood putty to smooth the edges (most things will eat the foam) and blend the layers before paint.

While going through old equipment that was being decommissioned at work I found this gem. It's the 40 pin version of the cable so it's just under the 75% scale but it was free and better than coloring a SCSI cable with paint pens which is what I planned on doing originally.

I'm going to light the pack with two of the following chaser kits.
LED CHASER KIT | AllElectronics.com

The red LEDs will be replaced with white ones and I plan on doubling 8 of the second kit for the cyclotron. The power cell lights won't be 100% accurate but some light is better than no light.

My son is super excited and I admit I had to scale the project back a bit due to time constraints but I plan to have the pack ready for paint this weekend followed by the gun build coming shortly there after. More to come.

 

[knightdriver2001]

Re: My son's 75% scale GB pack (WIP)

Looks like your off to a great start.

You just gotta love that pink foam. it's really useful
for just about anything.

Can't wait to see more.

 

[Deric]

Re: My son's 75% scale GB pack (WIP)

Well here is where I'm at now. I still have some more sanding and filling to do. The wood putty worked pretty well. I originally thought I would thin it down a bit with the glue but it was harder to sand once dry. I have all the pieces ready to go around the spacer just need to get them attached. The green foam was something I had lying around that I thought I would try. Tomorrow I cut the bumper and figure out what I'm going to do with the booster. I figure I have about 3 more days on the pack and hope to have most of the thrower complete by early next week. It will still be close though.

 

[pinder91]

Re: My son's 75% scale GB pack (WIP)

So cool! That thing has got to weigh nothing.

 

[Deric]

Re: My son's 75% scale GB pack (WIP)

Yeah it is pretty lite.

Well here is where I'm at today. I'm about a day behind where I want to be. Tomorrow should go quick though since I have all remaining parts ready to attach, If it comes down to the wire I will probably take a day off work to complete the thrower before Halloween. I already decided not to do the alice frame since I wasn't able to make one sturdy enough. Instead I'll attach replica LC1 straps to the motherboard.

Oh the paint is Testors spray paint for foam. It says it's not for the insulation foam but with the glue and putty it holds up just fine.

 

[Felgacarb]

Re: My son's 75% scale GB pack (updated 10-20)

Looking good so far- I'm excited to see how it come out.

 

[ZOMBIEREPELLENT]

Re: My son's 75% scale GB pack (updated 10-20)

thats actually looking better than a lot of full scale packs i've seen.

I'm sure you already know this but www.hprops.com has the labels youll be needing, for free.

 

[Deric]

Re: My son's 75% scale GB pack (updated 10-20)

Update. I figure I have one more evening to weather and put all the doo-dads on and then I get to finish up the thrower

 

[ZOMBIEREPELLENT]

Re: My son's 75% scale GB pack (updated 10-24)

Looks great man, One thing I'd add is the L bracket going from the pack to the injector tubes. Without it, they're incredibly fragile

 

[Deric]

Re: My son's 75% scale GB pack (updated 10-24)

Thanks for the tip. I'll add it when I finish detailing the pack. I'm taking a break from the pack to focus on the thrower but this is where I'm at now. I still have to get a few more parts and then I can finish. I even took off work on Thursday to get this completed.

Looks great man, One thing I'd add is the L bracket going from the pack to the injector tubes. Without it, they're incredibly fragile

 

[darthgordon]

Re: My son's 75% scale GB pack (See latest pic 10-27)

That's looking great!

 

[Deric]

Update:

Thanks goes out to KC on GBfans for his thread. Without it I wouldn't have ever thought I could have done something like this.

I finished the pack enough that my son could wear it. I added lights to the thrower so one toggle switch turns on the pack and the second turns on the gun. I have a small momentary switch that lights up the barrel. In all I'm very satisfied since this is my first build. It really gave me an idea of what is involved and how easy it is to underestimate this type of project. I still plan to complete the pack post halloween since I have most the parts to do so and my son wants to hang it up in his room.

 

[OldKen]

Hands down the coolest scaled down pack I've ever seen.

Change the handgrips add a few wires and greeblees and that is one AWESOME scaled replica!

What a lucky son you have!

thumbsup for a cool dad!

 

[Ghost Host]

great work. It's so much fun building stuff for the kids, isn't it? And usually satisfying.

 

[Egon Spengler]

Absolutely beautiful! Nice job!

 

[zsherman]

That's fantastic! What a great parent you are!

 

[Deric]

Thanks everyone. The costume was a great hit. Some of the kids didn't know what he was but parents sure did. He got compliments all night. We stopped by a store and one guy started singing the theme song.