DS Does Ghostbusters - "Who you gonna call?"

[Dark Silver]

So while I was at NOLA ComiCon back in February, I got to meet a group I never knew existed - the Louisiana Ghostbusters.

These are guys who built their own prop Ghostbusting gear, got the Uni's, and attend various events around the state all done in the name of Charity.

What's more, there are Ghostbuster Chapters in every State. All do the same thing and share a love of the franchise. This got me to talking to them (along with a friend of mine who is a huge Ghost Head and was going to the ComiCon to meet up with this group to talk to them about building his own replica Movie Pack) - and long story short, Allen wants to join.

As such, I've got to build myself some busting gear. And get a Flight Suit....and pads....and other fun stuff.

What's great about this group? They don't have to be movie accurate stuff, and while I have always been a big fan of the Movie, the Real Ghostbusters Cartoon gear always looked cooler to me.

So, this thread will be for Allen's Adventure in Ghostbusting - mostly me attempting to create a RGB Cartoon based Proton Pack and thrower, a RGB styled PKE Meter, and other assorted goodies.

This will be a lot more indepth and trying than the Doom Armor was - but in the end. . .

It's for a Good Cause.


Who you gonna call?

[Josh]

Sweet. Awaiting the pics.

[General Havoc]

I await and expect awesomeness.

[Dark Silver]

First step in making something cool?

Figure out how the hell it should look.

Just a reference so people dont ask me what the hell I'm talking about when I name pack names.

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While the Real Ghostbusters Cartoon (henceforth RGB) packs look cool - they are also nothing but a amalgamation of blocky parts. I wanted to make it look somewhat cooler, but still recognizable as a Proton Pack. This lead me into discussion with my friend Justin in getting ideas.

A Movie Pack (left) a Custom Proton Pack (middle) and a RGB Pack (right).

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We searched online , seeing pictures of various builds of both RGB and Movie style packs, and I decided on making a amalgamation of the two styles - a obvious basis in the RGB style of pack but incorporating some of the more interesting bits of the Movie packs - but which parts to alter? At this point I went back to watching episodes of RGB, and ended up finding my inspiration - a Episode of RGB Season 1 called "Killerwatt".

a whole bunch of screen grabs from the Killer-watt Episode of RGB showing the difference from the standard RGB packs.

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In this episode the design of the Proton Packs changed dramatically due to using a different animation sheet. The pack design in this cartoon added a Booster Tube from the Movie Packs (though shortened) and altered the Ion Arm and several other portions of the upper part (leaving the synch generator and cyclotron of the packs as normal).

I decided to take the Killerwatt pack design, and modify it even further. I did this so I could have, what is for all intents and purposes and unique but identifiable RGB Proton Pack. It took several iterations, but I finally came up with a design I liked enough to finalize on paper and title it.

As such, I give you the "RGB Proton Pack Mk III Model kW2"

RGB Proton Pack Mk III Type kW2

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Yes, I know I can't draw a circle. This shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me.


The next step of this is finding a way to create a 3d prototype of this pack for fit testing and making sure it all looks good in real life (not to mention can be coherent). This portion of the process calls for me to model this out in a 3D program since many of these parts either do not exist in pattern form online, or not in this arrangement so I can't just order a pre-made Shell online like whose doing Movie Style Proton Pack and Neutrona Wand can.

So the next little bit will be me learning to use a 3D modeling program (I use to use the free Google Sketchup) and see if I can put my 2D work into 3D.

I'll post in progress images of the 3D render as I get get them done.

[rhoenix]

Just don't cross the streams, man.

[General Havoc]

Just don't cross the streams, man.

Oh come on! There's definitely a very slim chance he'd survive!

[rhoenix]

Just don't cross the streams, man.

Oh come on! There's definitely a very slim chance he'd survive!

Man, we talked about this - let him get comfortable with the idea before encouraging suicidal behavior suggesting tactics.

[Dark Silver]

Rest assured, I only intend to experience total protonic reversal once in my life (twice if I really like it). I've read the handbook, Egon was very specific in it. He used 16pt Font, bolded and underlined it.

He was super cereal.



So I underwent the process of designing my Proton Pack last night in Google Sketchup. It took me nearly 12 hours to do while making sure the dimensions were accurate and were 1:1.

At this point, if I fed the pack into a CNC Router - it could pop out a "buck" of the pack design for me to make a Fiberglass Mold out of, or to attach parts and complete. There might be some alterations I need to do with it, but for the most part, it's complete.

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It takes cues from both the Movie and RGB packs, as well as taking some design cues of my own. It's missing the big tank thing that sits below the Generator Housing and above the Cyclotron - but that's mostly because I will be adding that when it goes physical.

The next part will be fun - geetting these made and test fitted - this part may take awhile mostly due to the cost associated with this step.

further pictures from other angles can be seen below.

[Josh]

I learned not to even wait for people to ask if I'm a god before informing them that, yes, I am.