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Oh my what a wonderful shopping list that would make...

Basically, I've got no money at the moment for a fancy fibreglass or resin Proton Pack so I'm scratch building one out of foam mats, cardboard and scraps from the garage like Tipex bottles or waste water pipe. I've started the foam work already. The newspaper clippings denotes where the cardboard boxes and stuff will go. I'm using Stefans plans but not being super accurate and most of the measuring was approximated by eye so it looked about right.

For the wiring I've just got some coloured ribbon cable which I use for electronics and then some yellow, blue and red cat5 cable for the other bits. I have some corrugated plastic cable sheathing somewhere as well.



I've also made a fairly simple circuit with a basic timer program on an Arduino as a test (on a breadboard). I want to use some lower resistance resistors to brighten up the red LEDs a little but I'm happy with the blue ones and once they're behind some transparent coloured plastic it'll look great. Once I know its all ok I will transfer the blue leds to some stripboard to go into the powercell section and then put the red LEDs into the cyclotron once I've cut some holes into it.

I'm using an Arduino instead of programming a simpler timer chip because I am future proofing myself. If I want to upgrade to using neopixel strips or florettes it'll be easy to do, as will adding a "shield" for sound effects if I go down that route.

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A small update as I've been busy with work to do anything much of substance. I've made the power cell & injectors and added some blue film. I've started work on soldering the LEDs to a proper board instead of the breadboard but I need a longer ribbon cable to reach into the body of the cyclotron where the Arduino and battery pack will be.



I'd begun to paint the Tipex bottle (see previous picture) but I wasn't entirely happy with it so I've started making a new "Clippard" out of a pill bottle, some cardboard and the lid from some Volterol gel. I think it looks a lot better.



So not a huge amount done since my last post but I'm getting there and its certainly starting to look like a proton pack now. The real challenge is to finish it by Halloween... there's only a few weeks to go!

[ExterminatorOn12]

Looks great so far!

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There's been slow progress because my old glue gun exploded... literally. Went electrical pop and fizz with some lovely blue smoke and soot. Whoops. Construction had to pause until I got a new one.

I've abandoned the waste water pipe as it was a little too big in diameter, the same with the grenadine cordial. I've replaced it with a smaller cardboard tube.

My lighting works fantastic, I'm really pleased with it. And because it's been made by programming an Arduino instead of an off the shelf LED chaser circuit it's future-proofed if I decide to add sound effects or other bits and pieces.

The ion arm is almost done it just needs the topper which I might make out of some lightweight wood so I can securely glue in the rods. Only a few more bits to make out of foam core now and then I'll try filling some of the gaps and smoothing out with some pussy or filler. Then it's down to some praying for nice weather so I can spray paint it outside as its too big to do in my garage.

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I made the crank generator and gearbox last night. Not super accurate but close enough. I'm not sure what I'm going to use for the actual crank knob yet though. I'll have to have a think.

Next on the top do list:
Finish the booster tube and make the frame
Add the topper to the ion arm
Make the gun mount box
Make the bumper

I'm not sure how long this pack will last. It's quite fragile as its only make of foamcore and EVA foam. It'll do for Halloween ok and I'm hoping it might make a nice table display at a future local sci-fi fair but I'll need to start saving for a proper pack if I plan on wearing something out and about.

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Had to cut a few corners in order to get it finished in time. But here it is... my "scrap pack" made out of leftover EVA foam, foamcore, cardboard tubes, pill boxes, spray can kids, pringles cans, pencils, cat5 cables and a few other bits of scrap from the garage.

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Didn't have time to make a proper neutrino wand so I've taken apart a toy "spooky light sabre" by taking off the ghost and feeding the corrugated hose into the gap where it connected at the back and by shortening the plastic clear bit. It's not at all screen accurate but at least it'll give me something to hold and point at people tonight.

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I have more costume bits like leg hose etc but I was late home from work and kids were already arriving when I got home and it was a rush to get gear on in time for the hoards.