By Dan AKA
#4934309
This thread is from several miniature essays I posted on my facebook page, Harsh Hobbies, Inc. I thought maybe some folk here might enjoy this.

I wanted to speak on some research findings. Please see exhibits:

A. Photo of Bill Murray wearing the super hero pack during filming of the roof top scene.

B. A shot of the Super Hero Pack in the Sony Lobby from gbfans.com.

C. Shot of the inside of the Super Hero proton pack from user, "Venky," also pulled from gbfans.com.

Exhibit A:
Image
Exhibit B.
Image

Exhibit C.
Image removed by moderator.

In photo A notice the highlighted parts in red and green. The red shows a bolt or rivet driven through the ALICE frame and into the mother board, as supported the the corresponding holes pictures and highlighted the same in photo B. This aligns with the top of the third cosmetic rib on the powercell.

The green highlighted portion shows the original mounting position of the L-Bracket, aligned center of the second cosmetic rib. What's curious is that the L-bracket is not on the pack when this shot was taken, even more interesting is that neither is the powercell light bracket. (We'll get to that again soon). Highlighted in blue on photo B is the repositioned L-bracket, which was done after filming of Ghostbusters and sometime before Ghostbusters II.

So where is the powercell light bracket? I turn your attention to Photo C., by Venky and the curious shank of aluminum held on by bolts near the powercell. It is my sound conclusion that the shank is what's left of the original powercell bracket used in Ghostbusters, a close examination shows a ridged and entirely rough cut along the outward facing edge of the shank (likely performed with a hacksaw or dremel cutting wheel).

What does this tell us?

At some point the super hero not only sat directly on the motherboard, without spacers, but that the ALICE frame was also entirely or partially riveted to the mobo. These rivets would be drilled out so that the pack could be refurbished for Ghostbusters II, at which point the power cell bracket was cut apart, and then refashioned onto a bracket that we know today (held by two smaller rivets - blue highlight, photo B.)

It tells us that it is likely the power cell light bracket was fixed to the shell, not the mobo, as most other elements of the pack's electrical system.

Photo A also shows us that the masking tape was present on the pack in 1983, likely masking a light leak on the powercell, much like Dan Aykroyd's pack during the Sedgwick elevator sequence. This tape may have been masking tape, painted or black masking tape. I don't believe it was gaffers spot tape due to the texture and thinness (height wise, not width).

Does the seperation of the shell and mobo in picture A have any kind of angle deviance? No. Not enough to alter my findings.

Also notice the downward facing P-clamp on the booster frame, absense of tube padding on the top of the ALICE frame, and the lack of a PH-25 resistor on the Ion Arm, which was removed or knocked off during filming (as other photos show the resistor present and accounted for).

Finally you can see the bottom of the XLR plate sitting just below the bottom of the ALICE frame.

We nust remember that the Super Hero was built before the others, it was the pack in which they worked out all the kinks and perfected the construction of the other packs from.

Lastly I must give credit to Mikhail, who assisted greatly in this brainstorm at 2:00 AM on a Thursday morning.
Last edited by Ron Daniels on May 4th, 2020, 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Glenn Frederick, mburkit, RedSpecial and 4 others liked this
By Dan AKA
#4934310
The wild adventures of the spinning cyclotron bumper. As follows, my exhibits:

A. Screen shot from Ghostbusters, Bill Murray firing down on the Staypuft Marshmallow Man.
Image

B. Photo of Super Hero Proton Pack (unknown date) from user, "Venky," taken from gbfans.com.
Image removed by moderator.

C. Photo of Super Hero Proton pack from Sony Lobby, taken from gbfans.com.
Image

As with so many things on the super hero, not everything is as it seems. Take photo A. A high resolution screen shot taken from Ghostbusters and zoomed in until the photo was no longer high resolution. This is the only full on back angle of the Super Hero proton pack that I am aware of, and due to the dramatic lighting is incredibly obscured.

I've spent so much time looking at this photo I've gone cross eyed. One of the things that struck me was that the area in which the blue bumper label is didn't seem flat like it should. On the contrary, it looked set in.

I posed my inquiry to the people at Spengler's 1984 Workbench and the conclusion seemed resolute, my eyes were not playing tricks. AJ Quick provided a photo (exhibit B) posted by Venky on his forums of the super hero proton pack, with the orientation of the bumper now correct, but the blue label now upside down!

We then go to Photo C, which we can plainly see that at some point the label was then removed, and oriented right side up, but still on the wrong side, this is how I inderstand the pack to remain today.

What we can learn from this?

When originally assembled the super hero's bumper was affixed backwards from the other proton packs, but to maintain visual continuity the blue label was placed on the correct side in the bumper's rails.

At some point after 1983 but before 1988 the bumper was removed (likely during the refurbishment the pack went under for Ghostbusters II) and reoriented, but the label was not transferred to the correct side.

Then at a later time the label was removed and replaced to be right side up.

Additionally Photo A is the only wide angle shot we have of the ribbon cable, and also backs up the notion that the p-clamp is upside down from other packs. We can see that the ribbon has a tight bind reminiscent of the OMNI Magazine Cover Proton Pack.

We can also see that there is a red label on the PPD, which at some time fell off, and was never replaced.

Finally we can sre thay the blue hose running from the PPD to the Ion Arm runs over the ribbon cable, and not behind it.

Just more details that make the Super Hero Proton Pack unique, and frankly, odd.
By Dan AKA
#4934311
Research dump, day three - The Super Hero Wand

Exhibit A. Screen shot from Behind the Scenes Documentary - Captured by gbfans.com dba Ghostbusters Prop Archive
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Exhibit B. Rooftop sequence, "Heat 'em Up." - Captured by ghostbusters.net
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Exhibit C. Super Hero wand, wide study from Sony Lobby from gbfans.com
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Exhibit D. Super hero wand, V-Hook detail from Sony Lobby from gbfans.com
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Exhibit E. Super Hero wand, acrylic tip detail from Sony Lobby from gbfans.com
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Absolutely what initially drew me to the super hero was its unique wand during Ghostbusters. What sets this far from the other hero wands was the entirely unique appearence in 1983, compared to the other wands which featured additional detailed graphics and exposed aluminum greeblies - which translated better on screen for a more visually interesting prop.

The largest difference in this wand are the blacked out knobs, the top knob, stream adjustment knob, large side knob and green lever retention knob are all black. It should be noted that the green lever retention knob is also black on some of the other hero wands.

This detail is easily seen throughout Ghostbusters, and in a "making of documentary," see exhibit A and B.

Additionally an orange hat light sits embedded in the top of the wand, rather than a translucent white hat light seen on every other wand (including the semi hero wands made for Ghostbusters II).

Notice the absense of the red "moon graph" next to the bargraph display, which again per exhibit B was never applied to the wand, backed up by how the wand sits now, exhibit C. The wand also totes the absense of the "sloblow" decal below the red acrolytic light that sits on the instrument bar and finally has a varient "envelope" decal under the upper right hand toggle.

Additional frames from exhibit B confirms the absense of the "slowblow" decal as breifly the red acrolytic light can be seen, and we would have seen most of the left side of the decal if it was applied.

Finally there is sufficiant evidence that the silver "danger" label was at some point on the left side of the wand, but was either removed or fell off, source not pictured.

In that the top of the gun rail is still exposed aluminum I believe that the v-hook was once also entirely painted black as evidenced by the remaining black paint present, exhibit D, additional angles reveal more paint remnants, these photos are available on gbfans.com.

I also believe the nycoil straights were utilized, Exhibit E. As the trouble to route wires through the wide inner diameter hose is a chore and would pose a waste of time to production staff, this is different from the other hero wands which utilized legris straights on their wand tips. It was common to see the nycoil straights used on the semi hero wands during Ghostbusters II. It should be noted that the super hero wand utilizes a black push switch on the gun ears, rather than a red one seen on hero and semi hero packs (not pictured).

Another enigma of the super hero wand is the exposed aluminum rear cylinder, exhibit C. It was always my belief that this cylinder was removed for filming the close up of the wand, exhibit B, and that removal of the cylinder and green clippard hose would allow for that shot. Later study shows when Ernie Hudson wears the super hero, drawing the wand during the "heat em up" scene there is a distinct flash of green and the total absense of silver that would indicate the exposed aluminum rear cylinder. As no photo exists showing this part of the wand unobscured it's virtually impossible to confirm the configuration in 1983, this same dilemma applies to the nycoil straights on the wand tip.

I hope one day a new photographic angle will reveal the solution to this issue, as I understand it the rear cylinder played a part in the acrylic tip extension mechanism, but I am unsure as to how, or why a painted cylinder would be removed and then replaced with an unpainted one.

I finally draw your attention to an interesting detail on exhibit C, on the trigger box. It looks as if the right top side of the trigger box was never painted, which may have assisted in making sure the green extension lever met no friction when pulled - but could have also been from multiple pulls of the lever having worn the paint off. Unfortunately the dramatic lighting of exhibit B and different angle of exhibit A dont reveal any information on this curious detail.
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By julz
#4934312
Who is Dan AKA?
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By Kingpin
#4934341
julz wrote: May 2nd, 2020, 10:18 pmWho is Dan AKA?
A god among men.

Man, I've see that thrower countless times and didn't notice some of those observations. I'd better hand in my Junior Ghostbuster membership badge.
By Dan AKA
#4934348
Kingpin wrote: May 4th, 2020, 6:37 am Man, I've see that thrower countless times and didn't notice some of those observations. I'd better hand in my Junior Ghostbuster membership badge.
You make me blush. Do you think we can get a sticky on this so we don't lose it?
#4934353
Image

Another oddity with this pack is the missing bottom two HGA bolts; while present in GB2 and on the pack today, they may or may not have been on there during the entirety of the rooftop sequence. Like the PH-25 that's missing in the promotional shot of Bill, the bolts may have somehow fallen out, but given that they're used to bolt the HGA to the shell, this is unlikely...
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By Ron Daniels
#4934354
Dan AKA wrote: May 4th, 2020, 1:33 pm
Kingpin wrote: May 4th, 2020, 6:37 am Man, I've see that thrower countless times and didn't notice some of those observations. I'd better hand in my Junior Ghostbuster membership badge.
You make me blush. Do you think we can get a sticky on this so we don't lose it?
Done my job for the calendar year.
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By Coover5
#4934356
Kingpin wrote: May 4th, 2020, 6:37 am
julz wrote: May 2nd, 2020, 10:18 pmWho is Dan AKA?
A god among men.

Man, I've see that thrower countless times and didn't notice some of those observations. I'd better hand in my Junior Ghostbuster membership badge.
Dan AKA, Are you a God?

And what an incredible read. It took me a few readings to really process everything being said.
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By Dan AKA
#4934375
Ben, they're black. I'm very confident that they're black, if you take these images and up the light and contrast those details become apparent. I painted the washers black on my build to match this detail, additionally Matt Burkit and I spoke at length last night, he provided good evidence that my assumption on the wand straights are wrong - at least that one of the hero packs (either stantz or venkman's definitely has Legris straights and was converted to nycoil straights for Ghostbusters II)! This is a great detail, and leaves me with a bit of a choice on my pack, additionally we're pretty confident that the rear cylinder WAS painted black, but was missing the green hose per the scene in which Winston draws his wand on the roof top. I'll try and do a better write up on my Hobby page and of course post the information here.
By Dan AKA
#4934382
I did, I was hoping for evidence that at another point it may have been unpainted - It was a detail that I really wanted on my pack, but it doesn't look like that will be the case. :walterpeck:
By Dan AKA
#4934388
d_osborn wrote: May 5th, 2020, 9:28 am I might have better scans of the archival shots above.

I'm not sure if this helps, but here's a good look at the charging plate from the first few days of production of GB1.
Looks like that is the Venkman hero rather than the Super Hero proton pack. Judging by the bolts and rivet placement for the L-Brackets. The super hero 's cyclotron mounting points are on the cosmetic panels right of the injector tube termination point on the cyclo and the panel to the right of the bottom bumper.

Thank you for sharing tho, that is a wonderful shot!
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By Kingpin
#4934399
Kingpin wrote: May 5th, 2020, 7:29 amImage
Uggh, I'm going to have to eat my own words here. The coil of hose is there, it's just silhouetted. You can see it leaving the rear cylinder, and I think I can see it coiling clockwise in front of Venkman's gloved right hand.
By Coover5
#4934416
Dan AKA wrote: May 5th, 2020, 7:06 am Ben, they're black. I'm very confident that they're black,
Any idea why they were painted black? Was it to make the bumper, synchronous generator and cyclotron appear as one piece?
By Dan AKA
#4934427
Coover5 wrote: May 5th, 2020, 11:29 pm Any idea why they were painted black? Was it to make the bumper, synchronous generator and cyclotron appear as one piece?
No idea, it looks like a lot of parts on this pack were just painted at the same time.
User avatar
By RedSpecial
#4934433
Is it possible the packs were repainted just before shooting started?

The reason I ask is the Omni pack looks far too glossy on the magazine cover to be a fresh satin finish.
If they started off with a gloss finish but were then repainted in satin while some components were left in situ instead of being detached to be painted separately, that could account for the washers etc being black.
There's also some evidence of overspray such as here on the tubing in the PPD on the Ramis hero that could suggest a hasty repaint at some stage.
Although that could just be from a touch up prior to GB2

I may be way off base mind you but it could explain some of the eccentricities we're seeing.

Image
User avatar
By Kingpin
#4934438
RedSpecial wrote: May 6th, 2020, 8:21 am Is it possible the packs were repainted just before shooting started?
That might also explain what looks like black paint on part of the base of the large side knob on the thrower:

Image

-Maybe the absence of green in the tube on the thrower (though this might be the result of a bad colour balance).
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By Dan AKA
#4934450
There's evidence of overspray all over the place on each proton pack. Off the top of my head I know that the super hero has overspray on the top orange hat light and on the white decals on the gun track. So it's entirely possible.

I would say it's also possible that the OMNI is satin with super bright lighting making it look a lot shinier than it really is, but it's damn near impossible to confirm or deny that aspect.

One thing is for sure, none of the packs were painted flat except maybe the stunt packs.
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#4934465
Dan AKA wrote: May 6th, 2020, 1:01 pm I would say it's also possible that the OMNI is satin with super bright lighting making it look a lot shinier than it really is, but it's damn near impossible to confirm or deny that aspect.
Satin paint has a bit more sheen as soon as it's applied and usually needs a couple days for it to wear off. Given the six week schedule that they had to design, build, and ship everything to New York, I wouldn't be surprised if the paint was still wet when they photographed the Omni. :)
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By Kingpin
#4934557
It is with great reluctance and regret that I've had to remove some of the reference photos from this thread.

Unfortunately it has become apparent that Neil (Venky for those not in the know) has misrepresented the nature of the photographs he'd provided of the Super Hero pack, despite plastering them with his watermark, they would appear to be the digital property of Aaron Mack. Aaron has explained that Neil never had his permission to share these photographs, and because of that, I have little choice but to remove them.
User avatar
By abritinthebay
#4935425
Is there any chance someone could illustrate the findings above with less... controversial images? Even some basic pictographic sources would be helpful as the text really strongly refers to the images and it's hard to understand the points raised.
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By Kingpin
#4935453
abritinthebay wrote: June 3rd, 2020, 11:47 pm Is there any chance someone could illustrate the findings above with less... controversial images? Even some basic pictographic sources would be helpful as the text really strongly refers to the images and it's hard to understand the points raised.
I'll have a look and see if I can find anything. Unfortunately some of the photos were of the Pack with the shell removed, and only a few people from the community have ever had the privilege to see that, so alternate photos are like gold dust... If not hen's teeth.
User avatar
By RedSpecial
#4940540
I've been meaning to add this to the discussion for a while.
I believe the HGA on the Super Hero was also longer than on the other four hero packs.

Heres a quick comparison I threw together to illustrate the point.

The photos at the top are both from the Super Hero, the bottom left is the Ramis hero and the bottom right is the Murray hero.

Image

From the topdown view.
Once again the Top photo is the Super Hero, followed by the Aykroyd hero and the Ramis hero.

Image


I also believe that the bumper on the Super hero was longer, making it protrude further out from the face of the cyclotron.
Admittedly though, it's very difficult to find precisely matching angles so I'll let you be the judge.

Left to right: Super hero, Murray hero, Aykroyd hero.

Image

Super hero followed by the Murray hero.

Image
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By mburkit
#4940543
I would agree that the HGA is shorter on the other packs; as the top of the Allen Head bolts sit flush with the gun box. I believe they did that so the gun would sit better on the pack without getting snagged on the HGA.
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