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"The painting process is where I'm afraid I'll totally screw up my shell (Alkaline), but I feel better after reading this. Good stuff. Was there a specific type of Rustoleum you were using? It seems that everyone has a different opinion."

I was using 4 kinds of paint when I first started and used Rustoleum. Gray Automotive Primer (great smooth surface), aluminum paint, hammered black paint, and black semi-gloss. I did not see any issues till I applied the semi-gloss. I would sand it down to re-coat and it would spider web. I would sand it down and apply primer again and it would still crack. If I had to guess it has something to do with one of the two specialty paints. Either the aluminum colored paint or the hammered.

"Sticking to one brand of paint is generally the best policy. If you prime with Rustoleum, top coat and clear coat (if you wish) with Rustoleum. Mixing brands is recipe for disaster."

Didn't mix paints. The first round was all Rustoleum. After I gave up on it, I went with Krylon and had amazing results. I know some may have better results with rustoleum, but it ate into the top of my shell when it reacted. It didn't go deep at all, but it did eat into the shell. Thank God the cyclotron area was fine, but areas around the crank knob and under where the straights was burned into the shell.

"How many layers would you recommend? Could you get away with, say, a primer and a flat black? Or would it be better to have a third layer in there as well? "

After the whole rustoleum problem, I went into chat to ask that very thing. I was told I should not have done the layers and that people that used hammered and the semi gloss got the cracking effect. Who would have thought it would be a problem layering it like that for later possible weathering, adding my favorite texture, and adding my favorite color of black. I was told I should have done that exact thing. Primer and a black. If your surface is not pristine, go with hammered as it covers up some minor flaws. I love the look of hammered regardless. The only downside is it is not "black" It is like 92 percent black and has more of a dark gray look. I know a few fans here recommend a third layer (counting primer) with clear coat. If you learn anything from my mistake, don't have too many layers and although Rustoleum may be safe for others, I highly recommend krylon from Walmart. Home Depot only has Rustoleum in my local store.

Hi,

I didn't fall off a cliff. I was having some issues. For weeks it felt like I would take 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. Everything from more paint cracking, dips on the shell and sanding it down, elbows cracking the resin I was screwing it into, scuffs on the shell while working on it, etc. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to just kick the shell. I pulled through. However, my picture taking kind of went out the window. I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures when every third or fifth step I would tear something up. You can't even tell now. Good luck seeing anything in pictures. Cables, bumper, and eventual stickers kind of covered up most little flaws. Made a big deal out of nothing in some areas. I am still waiting on parts, exoray gun lights, exoray's new sound, unibarwar's handles, uni's new barrel mechanism, and a n-filter sticker. I finished the shell. Only missing a few tiny item. Mainly the gun mount, but I am getting an authentic gb 2 style mount from uni which will be a quick install. I also have to add stickers. The pack lights are installed. Pretty much I only have the entire gun to build and mount the electronics on the aluminum motherboard.

Be gentle on the photo. My side of the garage is a mess. The ion arm is a little off. It is the rod. The ion arm aluminum box and the actual ion arm are straight.

I'm back. Been waiting on parts and life's been keeping me away from my baby. I haven't been taking pictures since my time is limited. One of my co-workers is retiring in a month and I only have like three three day weeks left to finish this correctly.

So far, I've done the following.

Dry fitted all attachments to the gun box.
Trimmed the rear handle so it does not block the vent.
Epoxy puttied the rear handle.
Epoxy puttied the front handle connector (3 parts on umori's front set)
Waiting on aluminum base plate since mine is all jacked up from dremel. Melted it a bit and even with a file would be off.
Dry fitted most of the electronics so the switches and led caps are ready for installation.
Tapped the instrument bar's barb for the green hose.
Aluminum board measure and drilled for speaker mounting.
Aluminum board holes drilled for speaker sound. Sound will be facing the board and my back.
Aluminum board holes drilled for speaker activation switch, behind the clipard valve pretty much.
Aluminum board holes drilled for gb theme song switch, behind the ribbon cable. (That way when I have the gun out I can easily turn on the music with my left hand)
Scrap wood cut to little cubes to lift speaker off of the aluminum board 1".
Supply run for speaker screws, v-hook screws, pvc material for split loom attachment, and some cord as a safety precaution so it doesn't yank on my wires "if" I dropped the gun.
Repainted the aluminum board and alice frame since they were scuffed up a tiny bit in storage. (Fell behind freezer)
Primed the gun pieces.
Painted gun pieces.
Painted side 2 of gun pieces.
Trimmed off paint residue.
Painted the main area for final coat. (FAILURE!!!)
Paint wrinkled on 8% of it. Let dry for 30 minutes and sanded off. Left it alone for 24 hours and repainted.

I'm on a diet plan and I've lost 75 pounds. Bought new uniform. Removed old patches. New uniform purchased 2 sizes smaller. Waiting for visit to Grandma's to finish up the uniform.

Pretty much after I have my gun painted and get caught up with the base plate that needs drilled, sanded, primed, and painted, I only have like 9 hours of stuff left.

Reattach all the gun parts. Use some epoxy, super glue, and hot glue for a few holes I drilled a hair too bit or just needs the support like the switches on the gun box. Add electronics. Glue down electronics. Heat shrink wiring going from gun ear to gun box. Attach rubber grips. Add speaker to aluminum board. Hot glue electronics to board with spacer. Add pvc as hose barbs for split loom. Attach split loom. Reconnect proton pack to board. Apply stickers. Wear my baby and turn on.

Dude, that's awesome! I'm also trying to drop some pounds, I wear a 2XL, would be really nice to slip into a L by next year.

Good luck on the rest of your pack journey!!

Minor progress.

I repaired the paint wrinkles. Wrinkling inside that gun track was a pain in the you no where. Right now about half the parts are painted and ready to go. Just have the gun body, gun track, and front handle left. Granted the paint went on perfectly and dried perfectly the gun body and front handle will be done tonight. I'm going to have to check and see if the bottom of the gun box is ok. Paint is sticking to the bottom of it. Not a big issue with the gun plate, but I have the heat sync attached. Long story short I have a bent screw in one of the corners and I can't risk taking it off. With any luck the primer chips from the tarp won't be on the bottom of the heat sync. Still waiting on two parts. The base plate. I ordered a custom cut aluminum base plate that I need to size, drill, and paint. The other part is minor. Just some shrink tubing for the wires you run up to the gun ear. Have to hide that in one little black cable under the grip and front handle. Not a huge problem being late on the base plate. I'll have the rest of the parts done and I can start working on electronics and labels. Feels good being mostly in the home stretch.

My proton pack shell has been on the freezer in the garage for about a year. It is mostly fine, but there's some dust and dirt particles on there. Nothing bad, but some it is not coming off when I try dusting it off with my hand. I haven't used any force, but some of the parts are perm. mounted with glue and I don't want to risk repainting it at all. Are there any safe ways to clean a shell with spray paint on it? Just water and a rag? Wood polish? Windex? Baby wipes? I don't want any kind of chemical reactions, paint removal, or anything that will scratch it. Going to use a feather duster to try and get the bulk of it off, but wanted to ask before I start going to town on Friday when I'm off.

Pretty much done. Just needs base plate, clean up, stickers, and reattach foam to alice frame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL7290IoWOc

I'm so close to being finished.

Removed the zip ties off the hose and switched to some quality electical tape. It no longer bunches as bad. Still pretty stiff, but that's two ribbon cables and a phone wire in there. I have the wiring zip tied under neath the split loom. I just have the split loom over the top and taped up about every 6 inches. I added the labels to the pack only. Went pretty good. Had to make my own silver n-filter label since the ones I bought two years ago were too small. I added the foam sleeve and zip tied it to the alice frame. I already had it, just had to put it back on. I've been repairing some minor scratches with some permanent marker and then rubbing it in so it the color doesn't look off. Eventually as the scratches get deeper I will start weathering it, but for now I want a new looking pack. I made a few tweaks to the gun box so the wiring works better. I have exoray's deluxe gun lights and the vibration motor wasn't working. It was just right up against the gun box and the motor couldn't spin. I moved it to a new location so the wiring won't get stuck in there, but it is sandwiched in place. I have all the wiring connections taped up with electrical tape so it won't work itself lose. I don't want to open the gun box again. I added a little more slack to the wiring that goes under the front handle. That way the front grip can rotate the full amount that umori setup. I ordered a custom cut piece of 1/8" aluminum for the base plate, but the seller disappeared. I went out to home depot and finally found some sheet metal. I'm using 16 guage stainless steel. Last night I cut it to size with quite a few dremel cutting discs and filed it down with a metal file. Then I triple checked the measurements and drilled the mounting screws and the two holes for the v-hook. For added security I have the screws going into the base plate. Test fitted and everything was more or less fine. Had to adjust one of the screw holes since the drill shifted slightly. The bolt head is fairly big so it will hid it well. Primed both sides of the base plate last night. One coat I let dry for two hours. Then I flipped it and set it on a spray can cap. I primed the other side. No worries if it is messed up slightly. The side I let dry on the cap will be facing inside the gun box. You won't see it. In general I am painting that side so the edges show black. I left a slight 1/8" lip on the edge facing the instrument panel. The cylinder next to the instrument panel gave me a problem. I ordered the two screw mounted version and when it came to mounting it that area was blocked off with a combination of metal side gun knob and the bolt insert for the base plate. I can only screw in one side of that cylinder. I tighted the screw real tight, but with a little force you can begin to rotate it. That lip will keep it in check. Again, only like 1/8th inch so nothing real distracting or super in accurate. I've been going over my pack for accuracy. I know my hose whole in the pack itself is wrong. It is supposed to be a u shape and up against the aluminum board. Oh, well. I secured it with a little pvc hose barb there and that would only work by having it raised up about a 1/2" off the board. Still secure. I didn't add the weld blob on the right of the ion arm. I think it looks a little tacky and kind of hard to add it now. That gap is fairly wide there, so if I added it the back would remain unpainted. I'm going to skip that little detail. I have like four 6" wood screws securing that ion arm and a similar type screw on the pvc pipe next to it. They're not going anywhere. I removed the little metal ion arm attachment and painted it black like in gb2. Didn't even mess with the primer on it. It is supposed to show a little weathering and I kind of liked the silver better anyway. Now if it chips off a bit it will make it better and more accurate. This morning I painted the side facing inside the gun box. Let it dry for an hour while I got cleaned up and ate breakfast. Flipped it over so it will dry in the middle on the spray paint cap (it was pretty dry to be honest) and added paint to the exposed side. I'm working a 9 hour day and that doesn't count lunch and travel so it should be fairly dry by tonight. Going to add that bad boy to my gun and make sure it can be fully attached and secure on the pack. I've resisted putting it on and it's been basically done for about a week. Since I might rub off the label print I'm going to attach the gun labels after the gun base has been installed. Pretty much all I have left is to reattach the ion arm, add the v-hook and gun track to the base plate, apply some electrical tape to the inside of the gun base plate so I don't short anything out. All the exposed wires are already taped, but better safe than sorry, mount the base plate, test it is secure on v-hook, add label, put on, and go to town.

Although tonight's steps are quick and easy I won't have any updates tonight. Since I am working in the garage the car has been outside and the birds have gone to town on it and I'm due for lawn mowing. I'm working a half day tomorrow, so the plan is to take some pictures, record a final video, and clean up the garage so my car can keep clean.

Very nice! One quick suggestion would be to trim down the green Clippard tubing on your thrower. 6.5" should be good.

Will do. I had mildly tried to change it before. Bought the green tube from MMM and didn't realize he included a little extra tubing. Not a lot. Maybe like 3-4" extra. I noticed it right away. However, it wouldn't come off easy. Tried to pull it and those barbs really hold the wire. I was getting into enough force I could damage that instrument bar and stopped. When I tried to remove the barb it started to tangle the green cord and the barb was starting to scrape away the paint. It's not super bad at the moment, but I admit it is a tiny bit too long for a film accurate pack. Going to cut the hose above the barb, remove the barb, yank off the hose with pliers or cut it off down the middle, and then reapply with the correct length. 8 minute fix. Thanks for the second pair of eyes. Going to re-do that video. Going to take out some of those comments on sellers. Like electronics now rock. At the time exoray was the best two years ago, but there was other good electronics as well, but I wanted bells and whistles and ease of installation. As for MMM his stuff was great, just the perfectionist in me saw the umori potential and aluminum parts. In the end only like half of MMM's stuff was used. Not that his stuff was bad or anything (you can make a great gun), but I changed my mind on accuracy and easy of installation. I didn't want to paint something silver when I could have an aluminum part. All in all I love the rest of his parts and his gun box rocks. Had to trim it quite a bit, but not everyone makes their parts based on his gun box. It is one sturdy little part. Plus he made my life a lot easier by selling me props and parts for my pack in addition to his gun kit. Went on ebay and picked up a tape measure holster for my pke. I have the costume ready to go. Grandma sowed on my patches. Can't wait to get suited up. Trunk or treat is going to be awesome this year. The whole family is going as Ghostbusters. They are wearing the inflatable costumes, but still. With any luck Matty will release their prop before halloween. Would love a combo prop with the ecto goggles and belt accessories. Would be great to have the radio with voices, ecto goggles, and a clone of the belt gizmo. I have close replicas, but they are not the same.This could be the last prop from Matty unless they come out with GB 3 so I hope whatever they come out with is great or better yet used with a costume.

Well, I finished the pack yesterday. It was great. However, I underestimated the weight. I thought Bill Murray was a wimp in the movie when he was putting it on. Nope, it kind of knocks you over (if you have a fiberglass shell). Mine weights in at about 32 pounds. Not exactly light. Just hard to get on, take off, and worst yet put the gun back on while wearing it. Going to take some practice. I had mostly figured out hose. I tweaked it just a bit today. Added a ton of electrical tape to the gun side of the hose so it is nice and tight in that pipe. No worries there. Don't want to yank out the electronics. As for the shell, that is harder. I miscalculated on it. I measured out the split loom hole and made that. However, I didn't account for wires in the loom as well. Kind of a tight fit. I used some zip ties to secure to a combination of a pvc pipe and pvc barb. I used a mix of epoxy and hot glue to kind of secure the split loom. Don't worry, the wires won't come out. However, I was starting to see the edge of the split loom peaking out of the bottom of the pack. Just trying to secure the loom edges to the shell.

Playing catch up right now. Mowing, cleaning the car and the massive amount of bird droppings, and I began to clean the garage. The garage is half done. Just got rid of the trash and organized the rest into a tool pile and ghostbusters spare parts. Looking at adding the radio electronics to my mt500. I also picked up a pke meter belt attachment.

I'm uploading a new youtube video. I will post the link, but it probably won't be ready for about 20 minutes after I post it. Should be in hd (I think). Used a real camera. I may get my dslr out for more pictures, but these pictures below should cover it for the most part. Just looks a little dark. I was taking it with a simple point and shoot.

<object width="640" height="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mVFDa28QaMI?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mVFDa28QaMI?version=3&amp;hl=en_US&amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640" height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

Alternate link for video.
http://youtu.be/mVFDa28QaMI

Parts
Exoray - Pack Lights, Gun Lights, Sound Kit, Fiberglass Shell, and Resin Pack Parts
AJ Quick - Hat Lights
JPA35 - Heat Sink, Gun Knobs, Trigger, Shock Mount
Momerath24's - Ion Arm
Umori - Front Handle, Instrument Bar, Rear Handle, Acrylic Tube, Palm Rest, Rubber Grips, and Front Cylinder (Missed out on pop out mechanism)
Masteryoda - Clippards
MMM - Gun box, Gun kit pieces like the wiring, barbs, and banjos. MMM aluminum board, split loom, wiring, ppd, pvc w/resin filled cylinder pieces. He also provided uniform pieces and parts. Nothing was wrong with his gun kit, just the aluminum pieces got to me. Just having a rotating handle.

Primer with Satin Black Paint
Home Depot misc supplies
Had to buy just about every tool except for hammer and screw drivers, but I'm stocked up now.

Tons of images
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79905031@N08/

Fixed the hose. Inside the split loom I had the wiring tied up with really thin zip ties. It made it kinky. I was real careful and cut the zip ties and then re-applied the electrical tape. 2x better. My hose is a little on the short side, but fine when I have it out. With the way I have it wired and the electronics positioned I can't really have the hose any longer. Not that I could, I already cut it to size and epoxied stuff. Still, looks a lot better on the hose front. I know my front handle looks a little crooked. That is the wire underneath. It lifts it up just a hair. When I push the wire towards the middle of the gun it lets it look like normal. I'd push the wiring back in, but then I can't turn the handle all the way. It doesn't pull out very easy so I have to gentle with the wire. Let me know what you think. Stupid camera made the pack look way dustier and gray than in person. The video does a better job of showing how it looks. Got to be careful, I keep forgetting about that red hose on the gun and eventually I'm going to bend the wire or pop out that tube.

Lots of images. These are after some minor corrections. Using my new camera. I know there are similar pictures, but that's kind of more for those building a pack. Like wire length, where things go, sticker placement, electric wiring placement (within reason), and playing around with the f-stop to highlight parts while having a blurry background. The rest just show my pack flaws and all. All things considered I'm happy with her. Click on images for full size. Please let me know what you think. I know my clippards are just a tiny bit off. The gun one was squeking really bad and I'm gonna strip the holes if I re-mount or tweak it much. The angles make it look worse than it is. Same with on the pack. The drill scooted less than a 1/8" but it looks worse with some of the angles. It is really just slightly to the right but still for the most part centered. Also the injectors tilt in a hair due to the L clamp under the ribbon cable, but it is just 1/4" in and from most angles you can barely tell. Also, my ion arm is a hair off center at the bottom, but it is the arm itsellf that was a hair tilted. I'd have to tilt the ion arm and that would be much more noticable and less secure since I'd have to putty the resin arm to re-drill and mount. All minor and not really worth using some putty to re-drill and re-mount. Adds character like how I used some hot glue on the split loom under the hga since I liked the look of the loom in that slot. Not a whole lot of recent changes and most have been done for a few weeks. Like I fixed up the hose so theres no longer any thick zip ties holding exoray's light wiring in there. I used some electrical tape on the upper part of the alice frame for added comfort. I opened the shell up to amp up the volume since the blast sounded need a little umpf. I replaced that n-filter sticker with a metallic sticker that's the right size.Basically done with her. She has tiny flaws but I kind of view it as it being my rookie pack. A hand me down or refurbished pack. It may have flaws, but boy does it looks great. Stops me in my tracks if I see it in the right light. Do you guys ever walk past your pack and go "I can't believe I built that!". In a good way, looks so freaking real! Pretty happy. About the only thing I'd add now is weathering with silver if I start to scratch and wear it down. That and maybe a sound kit exchange, but given how much fun that gun was and how much I invested, I'd only change the sound if someone created a mini-exoray adapter to someone else's kit. The distortion is really minor on mine, think it's because of my speaker and how secure it's mounted, but I'd swap if it was a 2 minute sound kit swap with no distortion.

Looks good, not hit it with some fullers earth!

Had the same thoughts when I got mine yesterday. I thought I was dumb and ordered the wrong one.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Ghostbusters Fans on Android

Yeah, the size is a little deceiving. It's correct, but when you look at a shell or the alice frame you kind of scratch your head and go that doesn't look quite right. The movie makes it look like 1/5 to 1/4 bigger than it really is. Don't forget on the alice frame you have a good 4-6" above and below the frame when you attach it to the motherboard. Although I don't regret going authentic, if you can get some lighter weight pieces go for it. 31 pounds doesn't sound like much, but it almost knocks you over trying to put the beast on. Doubt I will ever build another pack unless it is rgb, someone pays me like 1.6 times what it cost (only selling if I can build better and a little bit of future labor costs), or something happened to it, but if I did I would go lighter or at the very least try to use some aluminum pieces on it to shave some weight. Don't think I'd go to a plastic kind of shell, but next time adding more aluminium and I'd find a electronics kit that can run off one or two rechargable batteries since 12 c batteries adds some heft.