Proton Pack Build

I built a proton pack a few years ago for Halloween, and in honor of Ghostbusters getting re-released to theaters this weekend, and since it's National Ghostbusters Day, I thought it would be a good time to revisit this project.

Here's the box of various parts and tools I started out with. There's PVC piping, vinyl tubes, LED lights, some masks for spray painting, and a Dremel tool among other knick-knacks.

Not to be completely wasteful, I used the box to form the base of the proton pack and spray painted it black.

A circular take-out container, some rubber washers, and a translucent red binder became the cyclotron.

An old backpack is inside the base of the cardboard box.

How the base and cyclotron look together. I also plotted out how the rest of the pack would look using foam blocks and some plumbing fittings.

Built the power cell and the wires. Also used an LED belt buckle for the streaming lights.

Building the proton gun/neutrino wand with foam board, foam blocks, and PVC piping.

I also built a Sansa Clip+ mp3 player into the gun to play various sound effects and Ghostbusters theme music. Since I'm not knowledgeable in any form of electrical wiring, this workaround is probably my favorite part of the proton pack.

Added the booster frame and crank generator to the pack on my very messy work-space.

Adding wires and cables really makes the proton pack take shape. You may not be able to notice but in the picture on the right, the LED's are on and the ones in the cyclotron are jack-o-lanterns. I had to scrap the original LED's as they weren't working out.

 Finishing off the proton gun with the Clippard piece, wire, and various knobs.

Attached the bumper on the cyclotron and the hose, which is a cable management tube, and my proton pack is complete! This was a labor of nerd-love, and I keep telling myself I'm going to build another, more screen-accurate one, and maybe someday I will. But for my first shot, I think this is pretty nice. I'm completely satisfied with how this turned out. Big thanks to www.gbfans.com for their proton pack equipment plans!