Talk about the your favorite Ghostbusters Collectibles from Mattel, Kenner, and more.
By sisko8198
#4904476
So I recently purchased a RGB ghost trap for my sons upcoming 4th birthday. the pump itself seems to work. When I squeeze it there appear to be no leaks by the pump connector and there is full force coming out of the opposite end. However when I have the hose connected to the trap itself all I hear is the air go in and the doors wont open. Any help would be appreciated!
By Alex Newborn
#4904480
The hose on the Kenner trap is supposed to be attached at all times.

You'll have to disassemble the body of the trap itself (which is tricky due to stickers that go over the seams) and permanently re-affix the yellow hose to the 'hydraulic plunger' chamber that has an air-driven piston, which is what opens the doors.

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Chances are, the hose has simply torn, just inside the body. Whoever sold it might have trimmed the end so it was nice and neat.

If that's the case, you're in luck. All you'll have to do is trim the remnant off of the 'hose barb' of the piston housing, and slip the free end of the yellow hose over that.

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These pic links will die, so here's a video showing what the plunger looks like, removed from the trap.



Even if the hose barb has broken off inside, don't despair. On one of mine, I drilled a hole into the chamber, inserted the entire diameter of the yellow hose, and then Gooped it in place so it was airtight.

This older video from 2011 may be of interest as well.



It was about customizing a broken trap, but has some pics of what the mechanism looks like inside the trap body. Jump to about the 1 minute 54 second mark for that, and then at about the 4:14 mark you can see the broken post repair.

Alex
Last edited by Alex Newborn on March 25th, 2018, 10:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
By sisko8198
#4904490
Alex, just finished drilling out the broken connector and re-fitting the hose. It worked perfectly so I glued it in place and now I just need to wait for it to dry and then reassemble. I only lost about an inch off the total length of the hose too. Thanks again for your help!
Alex Newborn liked this
By Alex Newborn
#4904491
Glad to hear that it worked!

Broken post, eh? A worst-case scenario, but sounds like you overcame it.

Hope your son has a great birthday when he gets it.

I had mine for less than a day when the handle broke back in the 80s. My Dad put a wooden handle on it, cut from a broomstick. I bought another one to keep mint in box, and repainted the customized one black for my fledgling cosplay back in the day.

I revisited it in 2011 and made some upgrades for my youngest son. It was always one of his favorite props to tote at events. I'd occasionally tweak it, like when I wound up with a spare CAL-R 25 resistor with its solder lugs cut off, so I put it on his Kenner trap in 2013.

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Eventually the rubber stomp pedal cracked from age and use, and the doors wouldn't open anymore. So last year I bought a 'beater' off eBay which had some broken doors and the broken yellow hose seen above, but was perfect for my needs. I even replaced the entire hydraulic piston assembly.

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[Note the 3-D printed wheels in this shot. The blue Kenner wheels never would keep paint on them, so I re-created them in Tinkercad and had them printed in black at my local library.]

Zak was very happy to have a 'fully functional' trap again. We didn't even bother painting the new blue stomp pedal black to match the rest of the trap. (I suspected the coats of paint might have been a contributing factor to it splitting.)

I've wound up with so many leftover pieces from buying beaters for repairs, I chucklingly picture a scenario where I one day realize I have enough parts to make a cherry vintage one again.

By the way, since you do have to damage the stickers to separate the body of the trap, there are folks who sell reproduction labels on eBay for relatively inexpensive. I've never bought any, since I went the custom paint job route, but thought I'd mention it as an option.

Alex

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