[Mercifull]

Hello everyone,

My name is Matt Sims and I am a 30-something amateur cosplayer from the Westcountry of England. I am just begun creating my Ghostbusters outfit and it'll be the first time I cosplayed as a Ghostbuster since the late 80s/early 90s with the blue and grey proton pack toys.

This is my first foray into the Ghostbusters franchise but I have experience with making replica stuff from other films and TV show. These other costumes include; Star-Lord (Guardians of the Galaxy), Marty Mcfly (BTTF Pt 2) and Galen Tyrol (Battlestar Galactica).

I often refer to myself as "Researcher, radio presenter and local busy-body" as well as an amateur cosplayer. I've been experimenting with audio and visual mediums for most of my life, recording my own radio shows on cassette as a child, presenting on college radio as a teenager, studying media arts and more recently volunteering on community radio projects. Other interests include obscure genre electronica, cancelled scifi television shows and local politics.

At the moment the plan is just to make the costume with a few props in time for Halloween. The building of a proton pack isn't going to commence until later this year because I'm too busy for time. I can't afford a screen accurate 1:1 fibreglass shell though so I'll be going down n the scratch built route. I am not part of a Ghostbusters "troop" so 100% accuracy isn't required.

I've managed to source some bits already:

• 40R CWU-27/P flight-suit in Tan
• "No ghost" embroidered patch sans black border
• "SIMS" name embroidered name badge in the correct font
• White pistol belt (which I gather needs to be dyed a very pale grey for greater accuracy)
• Elbow pads (I managed to find some kickboxing kneepads which look a good match. I'll need to dye them grey though as they are white at the moment)
• 3D printed leg hose connector

I'll be using my (not screen accurate) black military boots from my Battlestar Galactica costume for now unless I can find some paratrooper boots on the cheap.

Still to come:

• Yellow pvc hose
• Belt clips
• Belt gizmo (I have a bunch of nixie tubes to try to make one)

Then lastly it's a case of pulling together some props or resin replicas of things like the MT500, goggles and PKE Meter with some leather holsters to attach it all to the belt. I know that's easier said than done but I'm not bad at prop making and putting things together.

The (mirror shot) image below was me just testing stuff out for placement. I haven't yet taken off the USAF velcro patches or ranks from the shoulders. Lots of work to do but I'm confident it'll be done in time for Halloween.



My wife is also going to be a Ghostbuster but her costume may need tweaking and will be a little less accurate... a more creative version so to speak. Should still have the usual bits and pieces like leg hose, patches and belt etc but the flight suit is just a beige coverall and I might not have enough nixie tubes for a second gizmo.

[Fritz]

[Mercifull]

Just laying things out at the moment. Will iron on and then stitch the patches today.

(Cat not part of costume)

Next step is to dye the belt grey. I have the dye but I'm awaiting two more belts which I'll do at the same time to save money on multiple dyes.

[Fritz]

(Cat not part of costume)

I dunno...my cat seems to think everything is improved with a dusting of grey cat fur.

[GhostdogDutchobrien]

Hello an Wecome

[Mercifull]

No money at the moment for a fancy fibreglass or resin Proton Pack so scratch building out of foam, cardboard and scraps from the garage like Tipex bottles or waste 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.