- March 2nd, 2020, 4:05 pm#4931955
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Hey all, since completing my belt gizmo I've stepped up my game and moved on to the ghost trap! I figured this one would be a bit easier as it's mostly screwing together prefab materials I also have a bit of experience with painting metal products for the industrial industry, so I know what a banged up and janky piece of tech should look like. However, I was not prepared for the patience it takes in priming and sanding over 20 intricate 3D printed parts to make em look all smooth and proper. I got blistahs on me fingahs, as I believe The Monkeys once said.
I'm using countspatula's excellent kit that he was kind enough to print out for me (finding a place that would do this for me around here resulted in a very expensive order). The real bits are also from his delux trap kit on his Etsy store.
Teardrop knob was purchased from Nationwide Radio & Eq. Sales LLC along with the 1 1/8" knob for its skirt, which I lobbed off, painted black matte and glued on to the other.
I began by giving everything a healthy dose of Rustoleum Primer/Filler, as recommended by mike_waclo. Once dry I worked my way up from 180, 250, 350, 450, 600 and 1200 grit sandpaper to the pieces nice and fresh. I only hit the pieces I knew would be outward facing to save some time and sanity. There were some areas I left with 3D print blemishes poking through that gave it kind of a nice, scrap-y look.
Since I was planing on doing some realistic paint chipping on this (I don't really like the look of hitting stuff with the silver Sharpie) I then coated everything with Rustoleum aluminum primer. Thanks to the thorough sanding job it gave everything a nice sheen. Time to cover that all up with a final matt black finish though!
After it was all dry I started to build it all together. I should have pre-threaded the screws at the beginning as recommended, but I just wanted to get right in to it! Really had to do some hard core twisting to get the screws all the way through the 3D material.
Really proud with how smooth the knobs turned out. I'm going to print another set and utilize the giant tube of Plastidip I bought for the Belt Gizmo and see how they look with a little bit of rubber coating.
During the matte black paint phase I tested out a side panel utilizing Punished Props toothpaste method for paint chipping. I had planed to hit every piece like this but ultimately thought the results were a bit too extreme. I sanded it all down again and repeated the paint layering.
What I ended up doing was using some extra bits of 3D printed material from the kit I wasn't utilizing and just rubbing and chipping away at the top layer of paint in the areas I wanted effected. This ended up giving a much more realistic effect that I was pleased with.
I used some Tamiya Weather Master colours (SAND, LIGHT SAND, ORANGE DUST) for scuffing.
Somehow during the sanding/painting phase the top lid for the rear box became warped and no longer sat flush. This bugged me for quite a while until I figured I would embrace it and make it look as if that part of the trap took a good hit during some point of its life. This ended up giving the trap much more character and I started roughing it up a bit more in placed to age it up a bit.
For the door detailing I went a bit off script and grabbed some 3M yellow micro prismatic reflective tape. Sean's instructions called for 1" thick tape but I think in reality the trap has 3/4" strips. I should have measured what was there on the template first but in the end I didn't mind the chunkier weight. The reflective texture gives it a much more interesting look imo as compared to a flat electrical style, movie accuracy be damned. Black Gorilla tape was used for the spacing, which had another nice texture to it I enjoyed.
I noticed that some screen-used traps had a length of green wire running underneath the left side panel, probably for internal electronics and such, that didn't seem to be included on many other reproductions so I decided to put it in. I was going to originally run it up into the bashed up rear panel box, Kylo Ren style, but I didn't end up liking the look and kept it canon.
Another problem I ran into, which I'm not sure was a result of me not pre-threading the holes or just the 3D ABS material not holding up, was when screwing the 1/8" screws into the back of the doors it ended up splitting the material apart with a very concerning cracking noise. I superglued the cracks together and put a couple globs of hot glue into the holes and re-threaded it using the smaller 5/8" socket head screws used for holding the side panels to the middle frame uprights (I didn't really need all of these since I wasn't filling the trap up with heavy electronics).
I bought the bar graph from Jupiter Electronics because I wanted a nice cheap n easy option that looked great, and while it is indeed all of those things, it's also a bit too small to fully fit into the GB2 style window. I kept going between whether I wanted to continue on with this set of LED's or just transfer the electronics over from my Spirit halloween trap which would require even less fuss, but ended up siding with Jupiter. I hadn't seen anyone else here retrofit the electronics from Spirit Halloween into a custom trap build, so I was hoping to be the first, but the cooler bar graph look ultimately won out over Spirits simple 3-LED solution. ALAS.
To fill the gap I simply cut up some spare plastic bits I had and glued them tight against the bar graph LED.
To wire it to the flip switch at the back of the trap I simply extended the 9V battery cables to reach and secured the battery itself in back of electronics box with velcro to be easily accessible via the magnetic cover.
EDIT: Photo
Jupiter Electronics bar graph also snaps quite snuggly into the inside lip of the LED window too, which I appreciated! It should also be noted however that the graph cannot sit in the centre of the window as it's small mobo hits up against the top of bezel of the box, even with some thorough chipping away with a dremel (as much as I was comfortable with anyway). Oh well, doesn't bother me too much.
Jupiter unfortunately doesn't include the small yellow LED that sits right of the bargraph unless you opt for the more expensive kit, but I made a simple LED circuit with switch. I probably could have figured out a way to wire it into the existing electronics but I ain't too smart when it comes to that stuff.
I hot glued the switch under the right trap door and it fits nicely on the underside of the door bezel. Good 'n janky like a real Holywood prop!
The last issue I brought upon myself was with the metal vector plate. I used the included 3D print vector plate as a template by placing them back-to-back and drilling through the pre-cut holes without realizing this ended up mirroring the holes for where the resistor should sit! Don't try to build anything past 1 AM people! I filled the holes with bondo and sculpted the sides and structure back up as best I could, then sanded it down and hit the entire thing with aluminum spray. Good as new!
And that's the trap done! Just have to finish some weather detail on the handle and other bits and add the stickers. The pedal is up next!
Shout out to my partner in building RHansen for letting me use his workshop for all this! I would be but huffing paint fumes in my small family basement without his aide.
Hey all, since completing my belt gizmo I've stepped up my game and moved on to the ghost trap! I figured this one would be a bit easier as it's mostly screwing together prefab materials I also have a bit of experience with painting metal products for the industrial industry, so I know what a banged up and janky piece of tech should look like. However, I was not prepared for the patience it takes in priming and sanding over 20 intricate 3D printed parts to make em look all smooth and proper. I got blistahs on me fingahs, as I believe The Monkeys once said.
I'm using countspatula's excellent kit that he was kind enough to print out for me (finding a place that would do this for me around here resulted in a very expensive order). The real bits are also from his delux trap kit on his Etsy store.
Teardrop knob was purchased from Nationwide Radio & Eq. Sales LLC along with the 1 1/8" knob for its skirt, which I lobbed off, painted black matte and glued on to the other.
I began by giving everything a healthy dose of Rustoleum Primer/Filler, as recommended by mike_waclo. Once dry I worked my way up from 180, 250, 350, 450, 600 and 1200 grit sandpaper to the pieces nice and fresh. I only hit the pieces I knew would be outward facing to save some time and sanity. There were some areas I left with 3D print blemishes poking through that gave it kind of a nice, scrap-y look.
Since I was planing on doing some realistic paint chipping on this (I don't really like the look of hitting stuff with the silver Sharpie) I then coated everything with Rustoleum aluminum primer. Thanks to the thorough sanding job it gave everything a nice sheen. Time to cover that all up with a final matt black finish though!
After it was all dry I started to build it all together. I should have pre-threaded the screws at the beginning as recommended, but I just wanted to get right in to it! Really had to do some hard core twisting to get the screws all the way through the 3D material.
Really proud with how smooth the knobs turned out. I'm going to print another set and utilize the giant tube of Plastidip I bought for the Belt Gizmo and see how they look with a little bit of rubber coating.
During the matte black paint phase I tested out a side panel utilizing Punished Props toothpaste method for paint chipping. I had planed to hit every piece like this but ultimately thought the results were a bit too extreme. I sanded it all down again and repeated the paint layering.
What I ended up doing was using some extra bits of 3D printed material from the kit I wasn't utilizing and just rubbing and chipping away at the top layer of paint in the areas I wanted effected. This ended up giving a much more realistic effect that I was pleased with.
I used some Tamiya Weather Master colours (SAND, LIGHT SAND, ORANGE DUST) for scuffing.
Somehow during the sanding/painting phase the top lid for the rear box became warped and no longer sat flush. This bugged me for quite a while until I figured I would embrace it and make it look as if that part of the trap took a good hit during some point of its life. This ended up giving the trap much more character and I started roughing it up a bit more in placed to age it up a bit.
For the door detailing I went a bit off script and grabbed some 3M yellow micro prismatic reflective tape. Sean's instructions called for 1" thick tape but I think in reality the trap has 3/4" strips. I should have measured what was there on the template first but in the end I didn't mind the chunkier weight. The reflective texture gives it a much more interesting look imo as compared to a flat electrical style, movie accuracy be damned. Black Gorilla tape was used for the spacing, which had another nice texture to it I enjoyed.
I noticed that some screen-used traps had a length of green wire running underneath the left side panel, probably for internal electronics and such, that didn't seem to be included on many other reproductions so I decided to put it in. I was going to originally run it up into the bashed up rear panel box, Kylo Ren style, but I didn't end up liking the look and kept it canon.
Another problem I ran into, which I'm not sure was a result of me not pre-threading the holes or just the 3D ABS material not holding up, was when screwing the 1/8" screws into the back of the doors it ended up splitting the material apart with a very concerning cracking noise. I superglued the cracks together and put a couple globs of hot glue into the holes and re-threaded it using the smaller 5/8" socket head screws used for holding the side panels to the middle frame uprights (I didn't really need all of these since I wasn't filling the trap up with heavy electronics).
I bought the bar graph from Jupiter Electronics because I wanted a nice cheap n easy option that looked great, and while it is indeed all of those things, it's also a bit too small to fully fit into the GB2 style window. I kept going between whether I wanted to continue on with this set of LED's or just transfer the electronics over from my Spirit halloween trap which would require even less fuss, but ended up siding with Jupiter. I hadn't seen anyone else here retrofit the electronics from Spirit Halloween into a custom trap build, so I was hoping to be the first, but the cooler bar graph look ultimately won out over Spirits simple 3-LED solution. ALAS.
To fill the gap I simply cut up some spare plastic bits I had and glued them tight against the bar graph LED.
To wire it to the flip switch at the back of the trap I simply extended the 9V battery cables to reach and secured the battery itself in back of electronics box with velcro to be easily accessible via the magnetic cover.
EDIT: Photo
Jupiter Electronics bar graph also snaps quite snuggly into the inside lip of the LED window too, which I appreciated! It should also be noted however that the graph cannot sit in the centre of the window as it's small mobo hits up against the top of bezel of the box, even with some thorough chipping away with a dremel (as much as I was comfortable with anyway). Oh well, doesn't bother me too much.
Jupiter unfortunately doesn't include the small yellow LED that sits right of the bargraph unless you opt for the more expensive kit, but I made a simple LED circuit with switch. I probably could have figured out a way to wire it into the existing electronics but I ain't too smart when it comes to that stuff.
I hot glued the switch under the right trap door and it fits nicely on the underside of the door bezel. Good 'n janky like a real Holywood prop!
The last issue I brought upon myself was with the metal vector plate. I used the included 3D print vector plate as a template by placing them back-to-back and drilling through the pre-cut holes without realizing this ended up mirroring the holes for where the resistor should sit! Don't try to build anything past 1 AM people! I filled the holes with bondo and sculpted the sides and structure back up as best I could, then sanded it down and hit the entire thing with aluminum spray. Good as new!
And that's the trap done! Just have to finish some weather detail on the handle and other bits and add the stickers. The pedal is up next!
Shout out to my partner in building RHansen for letting me use his workshop for all this! I would be but huffing paint fumes in my small family basement without his aide.
Last edited by cristovalc on March 3rd, 2020, 9:50 am, edited 3 times in total.
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