[Alex Newborn]

First step was to gather all of the parts...











Here are some of the photos I used as reference...







The above pic seems to indicate 8 concentric rings of holes, with six surrounding the very centermost hole.

This was the best skimmer ladle I could find with a similar pattern:



I actually tested the MIcronta one day when I dropped a socket head cap screw in the lawn and couldn't find it. I was afraid the lawnmower might sling it through a window, but the metal detector was non-functioning. (Luckily my wife found the SHCS.)



Since it didn't work, I had no qualms totally dismantling it.



I estimated the shaft length from the photos by measuring known areas of the Micronta and using that as my ruler. I took everything with me to the theatre where I'm directing Little Shop of Horrors and cut the metal pipe down to length.



I also had a go at the potato masher and skimmer ladle.





Looked pretty good at that point!



At home, I drilled the hole for the toggle switch.



Kinda tricky to install it from the inside, but I cut a hole through the circuit board and managed.



I used a hammer to flatten the curved cross-section of the potato masher handle.



I also rounded the edges down less jagged with my dremel.

My original plan was to rivet it to the outside of the Micronta case, but guess what? I couldn't drill through the thing!

New plan, cut a horizontal slit in the case and wedge the potato masher in, bending it down as I go.







It took a cinderblock, C-clamp, and a hammer to bend the handle of the skimmer ladle.



But then the test fit looked so promising!



I used epoxy putty to permanently affix the ladle to the metal detector shaft...





And then I was 'done'.

I still need to add a blinking red LED on the potato masher, but until I figure out what will cut a hole through that chrome, I'm calling this one complete.

Alex

[egie]

Very nice!

[jackdoud]

Nice work, we need some more KUD's around here.

[Alex Newborn]

Took my KUD Meter with me to HorrorCon in Nashville today, and had Ernie Hudson sign it on the inside of the battery cover.

Later, it occurred to me that with Ryan Kemp's Vigo right behind Ernie's table, I had a wonderful photo op staring me in the face...



I shot some video of this too, got to 'direct' Ernie Hudson in my own Ghostbusters home movie for a moment. My friend Jaime Hitchcock looked over and laughed, "Oh Alex, you WIN!"

AN

[egie]

Thats darn awesome!

[Alex Newborn]

More pics just emailed to me from Jaime!











Alex

[Josh Foote]

Very cool!

[Alex Newborn]

Found one more with the KUD in it, but mainly I am sharing it because I love the smile on Ernie's face.



Alex

[kapitolp]

awesome pics. It was nice meeting you too.

[Alex Newborn]

Yeah, it was great seeing so many Ghostbusters all in one place. That's the largest group I've ever gotten to hang out with at one time. By the time we went to dinner, we were *down* to fifteen, I don't know how many there were at maximum.

At IHOP, I made a joke when the poor waitress asked who had a particular drink: "He's the guy dressed as a Ghostbuster."

Alex

[MRblahface]

What an Awesome Build, Where did you Find that Skimmer?

[Alex Newborn]

I ordered it online somewhere, don't recall precisely where. Someone in one of the other KUD build threads specified that I wanted a *chrome* skimmer, and that was when I started having more luck than just Googling 'skimmer ladle'.

Looks like TrueValue.com carries the exact same one, but it says something about ordering in multiples of 6?

http://www.truevalue.com/catalog/produc ... #undefined

UPDATE: TrueValue's eBay store has it available singly. Go on eBay and do a search for "Good Cook Skimmer 842417" and you should find it.

Alex

[Alex Newborn]

UPDATE!

Hey, why work solely on finishing my proton pack and repairing my ecto-goggles, when I can also revisit another prop for improvement?



This blinking red LED arrived yesterday from Radio Shack. R2DEVO suggested that I splice my existing toggle switch into the wires.

I had Ernie sign inside the metal detector's battery compartment, so I don't want to risk messing up his signature. I will probably try to find space inside the shell to store this self-contained battery unit, although that will mean a hassle every time the batteries run down.

Alex

[Alex Newborn]

So today I finally got my KUD meter, the new blinking light, and some of the leftover Micronta pieces together for the first time; they were in three separate locations in my house.



I wasn't sure how I wanted to handle the battery situation. I had three options: wire the light up to two of the existing six battery slots in the Micronta case; install the blinking LED's attached battery holder inside the Micronta case; or use a 9v battery attachment left over from my R2DEVO proton pack/gun kits.



The pros and cons...

If I use the Micronta's battery compartment, I will need to modify things so that only two batteries are used. This means the easiest way to change the batteries later, but will require the most work (probably) and runs the risk of scraping paint off my Ernie Hudson autograph.

If I use the LED's battery box, no harm to the autograph, and probably less work. But I will have to unscrew a total of four screws and completely open the Micronta case every time the AA's need replacing.

And the 9volt was just a wild idea, because I had the clip and I knew it would be easier to put a single 9v inside the Micronta than the entire AA box from the LED. But as it turns out, it's three times the voltage I need (according to my electrician Dad) and will burn out the filament of the LED. He could of course easily compute what sort of resistor for me to put in, but even so, we're back to the con from the LED battery box: I will have to unscrew four screws and open the Micronta to change the batteries.

At this point, I am pretty well decided to modify the Micronta's six AA spaces down to just two. A big swaying factor was the design of the battery cover, which has two raised ridges that actually touch the batteries, and thankfully Ernie Hudson only signed in between those.

~~~

Next decision was the switch. I was certain that the best option would be to cut the LED's wires into the flatted toggle switch that was added purely for cosmetic reasons to match the prop. Why else would they have added that switch unless it was to power the added light?

But wait, which position did I need to use for 'on' and which for 'off'?

So I took a good look at the movie again (on DVD) and uh-oh...



It really looks like that flatted toggle is thrown forward both when the light is blinking... (above)



AND later when the light is not blinking! (right lower picture above)

Now, I know these screencaps are pretty subjective, and even if the switch IS in the same position for lights on AND lights off, that's still not definitive. The batteries could have simply run down between when one scene was shot and the other.

But it did raise an interesting question of where else to put the control for the lights, if not on the flatted toggle. I may look into using the Micronta's original 'volume knob', which has a satisfying click on its potentiomenter when you dial the thing on.

Either way, I'm going to have three dead switches and one functional one. (Unless I also figure out a way to get the Micronta's needle to occasionally peg, but that's another puzzler for the future.)

Still, there's something very tantalizing about making the obvious connection from new toggle to new lights. Undecided.

~~~

Regardless of all that, I need to cut a hole in the potato masher for the LED, right?

I tried to drill this hole back in October when I was assembling the thing, and couldn't make a dent in it. The chrome eluded both my dremel and my drill.

But I was taking some stuff over to my Dad's house for repairs today-- my son had broken a wire on toy-- so I grabbed the KUD to ask his advice on these various topics. While I was there, I asked him if he had a drill that would cut chrome. He said sure, but then proceeded to have the same trouble I'd had in getting the bit to bite.

I was actually relieved he didn't get it on the first try, which would have made me feel like a total incompetent.

Finally, he let out a rather profane diatribe, went to his tool shed (which is larger than the master bedroom of my own house) and came back with a hammer and an awl, and knocked a good pilot hole through the thing, then drilled it out the rest of the way.



So this is the very first part of my GB costume he's helped me with... I doubt it will be the last.

(I printed out my reference pics to take over to his house with me-- no clue why they're in black and white though!)

And here's what it looks like with the LED inside there for a test fit.



Stay tuned!

Alex

[ramcuda]

nice !!! i didnt know what the LED was for....

[Alex Newborn]

Very early this morning I cut the LED off of its battery pack and peeled off its adhesive foam circle and applied it to the underside of the potato masher.





Later in the day, I drilled this hole for the wires to insert when the potato masher goes back through the slit made for it last
October.



Then it was just a matter of snaking the wires in and wedging the potato masher into place without cutting them.





Next I needed to modify the battery compartment to hold only 2 AA batteries. I removed one of the soldered battery contacts from the far end.



And I needed to alter the housing at the other end to accept its solder tab.



I dremeled a hole for the metal tab to slide through...



... put the contact plate into its new location...



... and epoxy-puttied a low wall to hold it in place. Yes, that's my signature on the putty.



~~~

Then I took everything over to my Dad's house and he did the bulk of the wiring, butt-splicing, and soldering. He's a retired electrician and made it look ridiculously easy. I couldn't even operate the wire stripper, but I did at least do 25% of the butt-splices. Or one out of four.

Alas, I totally forgot to take my camera with me, so I missed the opportunity to take lots of in-action pics of exactly how he did all this.

~~~

In this later pic, you can see the inside portion of my epoxy-putty work, and all of my Dad's soldering and splicing.



I decided to have the switch pushed forward for 'on', which meant the toggle had to be rotated 180 degrees from its assembly last October. I undid the circuit board to accomplish this, which was when my Dad said if he was gonna do the soldering, to leave that board out of his way.



A closer shot of his soldering for the battery box, and my epoxy-putty 'sculpture'.



With the toggle rotated internally, I needed a slightly larger hole through the circuit board, so this was the last modification that I did before reassembly. Dremel-sawdust was everywhere.



Everything was screwed back into place, leaving only the dials to be slid back down onto their posts.



And here it is, new and improved!



Here's a quick video I posted to my FB page of the light blinking.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=38 ... =2&theater

Alex

[Alex Newborn]

Weird... last night I went searching for the very first set photos that I ever saw from GB2, in a December 1988 issue of People Magazine. I noticed that Ernie Hudson is carrying the prop on location in New York for the museum exteriors.



This surprised me, because I remember poring over those pics and studying every nuance, but would have sworn I'd never noticed the KUD Meter until finding this site a couple of years ago.

But there it was, in a magazine that I've owned since six months before the movie opened!

To see all the other pics from that article, check out page 8 of this thread...

http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtop ... &start=210

Alex

[CPU64]

The chrome wasn't your problem since there isn't any.. You were trying to drill through polished stainless. It takes a really good bit to get a hole going.
When I drill the v-hooks, I punch a center dimple, soak it with WD-40 and the thing still screams and smokes while cutting

[JA Slow]

That's a great build Alex. The Micronta 3001's dry up fast on eBay since Halloween is right around the bend. Soon as I get one I'll be using this thread as my tutorial.

[DefenderDarko]

Weird... last night I went searching for the very first set photos that I ever saw from GB2, in a December 1988 issue of People Magazine. I noticed that Ernie Hudson is carrying the prop on location in New York for the museum exteriors.



This surprised me, because I remember poring over those pics and studying every nuance, but would have sworn I'd never noticed the KUD Meter until finding this site a couple of years ago.

Alex

Basically the same photo, in color, no meter in Winston's hand..It's probably a few seconds before or after the other one. Dan looks funny in the color photo

[Alex Newborn]

Yep, I made a similar comparison of those pics back in June after scanning that People magazine, except I did it in another thread.

http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtop ... &start=210

Scroll down to June 9th.





But your version of the color pic seems to have more to it, especially around Winston's pack.



Alex

[PssdffJay]

Hey Alex, how did you get the knobs off the pots? Do they just pull?

[Alex Newborn]

Yes, just tug them upward and they will slide off.

I didn't expressly state how to get them off, but in the big post from April 8, 2013, I did mention that they simply slide back onto the shafts.

Everything was screwed back into place, leaving only the dials to be slid back down onto their posts.

Alex

[PssdffJay]

Thanks Alex, in the end I just drilled out grey board on the inside. I did try pulling but they're on there good and tight.