By PssdffJay
#460252
Hey everyone, I decided to start a build thread on my Mark II uniform and accessories. It may not be as exciting as a proton pack or ecto 1 but maybe it will help someone some day.

Why a Mark II? My fist uniform came from an unmentionable person that has a triple costume website. This was last year, way before I knew about this site. Anyway, it arrived late after Halloween and the quality wasn't there how how much it cost. So I have been a little bummed about it, so I decided to upgrade.

This is a photo of the Mark I. Image
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Since finding this site I have ordered a bunch of parts to start replacing and I will update as they come in and it goes together.

Today my new Nomex CWU 27p came in that I found on evilbay. Unfortunately I didn't order a size up and although I fit, it was super tight across my chest. So I ordered 1 size up and will send the other one back. Unfortunately I don't get the shipping back on the first and now have to pay more to ship it back, but at least I'm not stuck with it. Hopefully the one size up will work, I don't wan to have to do this again. It's an extra 2" and I thought going an extra 4" will be too much. And if I need the 4" then it's time to get my proton pack on the tread mill.

I am planning on dyeing it when it comes in.

That's it for now. Ill update more as it progresses.
Matt Campbell liked this
By Matt Campbell
#460258
PssdffJay wrote:My fist uniform came from an unmentionable person that has a triple costume website. This was last year, way before I knew about this site. Anyway, it arrived late after Halloween and the quality wasn't there how how much it cost. So I have been a little bummed about it, so I decided to upgrade.
I feel your pain, I too ordered a costume from the same guy last year around July/August but from his ebay listing and not through his web site, I was quoted a delivery time between Oct 15-20 just in time for Halloween but it didn't arrive until Nov 15. When I got it the pistol belt didn't fit and despite giving him my measurements the flight suit is a tight fit and the elbow pads weren't very grey at all like he'd advertised. The difference between you and I is that I was a member of this site when I dealt with him, aside from my Hot Wheels Elite Ecto 1's before my costume/uniform I hadn't made any huge Ghostbusters related purchases and I wasn't aware of shady sellers out there and the importance of researching sellers until after I made my purchase so I didn't know any better. Although I still intend to I haven't replaced my khaki suit yet but I have picked up a charcoal grey one that fits nicely that I've done up GB 2 style.

That's enough rambling from me now, good luck with your uniform build, I know I found it to be fun putting my second uniform together and I often find myself asking "Why didn't I just do it this way to begin with?"
By Cory Levy
#460278
FYI, I don't believe a true Nomex suit will take dye. Don't quote me on it but I believe that's the one option where dying really isn't an option.

Though not sure you'd want to anyway as the shade of Khaki the Nomex suits are is great and identical to the original suits.
By PssdffJay
#460310
@Matt

I agree, I don't know why I didn't do this in the first place. To me now, this isn't a costume, this is a uniform. Does that make sense? Last year I just thought it looked cool, but having (most) of it put together besides all the new stuff I'm upgrading, I get this feeling come over me like, "Man! I really grew up to be a Ghostbuster!" Maybe that's just me.

@Cory

There is a thread here that talks about dyeing a nomex suit. How-to-Dye-a-Nomex-Flightsuit,-elbow-pads,-belt...
http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=5038

I'm still on the fence but still leaning towards dyeing. I'm not going to turn this into a "what colour is the suit supposed to be debate", I think there are enough of those, haha. I'm a photographer, I understand about white balance and different film and lighting and what it can do to colours. We all know what they looked like in real life, but what they look like on screen was different. It's only a group like us that will ever debate how many inches up a leg hose connector is supposed to be and colour of a flight suit. It could drive a guy insane trying to get 100% accurate.

You can see these in the thread and they are not my photos, but I like the look of the dyed suit.

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Original

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Dyed

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Dyed

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Extra dyed.

I don't know yet. I could still go either way. Unfortunately there is no "undo" button in real life unlike photoshop. It also brings up the "do I want to match everyone else if we were in a group" question. We will see. I have a little time before my bigger suit shows up.
By Cory Levy
#460317
So I stand corrected!

I personally find my own Nomex to be an acceptable shade of Khaki. Then again I err more on the side that would say the suits are only so dark in the first film because of exactly what you said, the lighting and film and such. So I don't mind if it's not close-enough-to-grey-to-spark-a-board-war but rather just a slightly darkened khaki.

I'd say it really is up for your choosing, I don't think either dyed or undyed Nomex looks bad at all.
By PssdffJay
#460862
A few updates as things have come in. Pre forum I found a leg hose connector on the evilbay and I thought in looked good and bought it. Post forum, I found out that this evilbay seller, who I won't say their name only their initials, neonprops, was making recasts. I have ordered 2 real ones from Crix but the "other one" arrived. This is what it looked like.

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After contacting the seller and telling her how bad it was and that I know she didn't sculpt the original (didn't accuse her of recasting) that I was very disappointed and would like a full refund including shipping.

She replied saying that she bought the moulds from someone a few years ago and has never had this kind of problem. She offered to replace it and send me a free leg hose, but I still asked for a refund. She agreed even though her ads say no refunds.

Now just waiting for my real ones to arrive.
By PssdffJay
#460865
My Evilbay MT500 arrived as well. It wasn't that expensive but again, I wish I'd know about the forum first. Image
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It was a sold as is sale and unfortunately the 2 bottom screws that hold the top half if the back cover would not tighten. I took it apart and found out the plastic part where the screws go through was broken. I didn't take a photo but I removed enough of the black foam inside that I could hot glue the pieces back in and now it works great. While I had it apart I pulled out some of the electronics that I could easily remove while I waited for the glue to cool. I don't think it lighted up that much.

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I had ordered some metal stickers for my Matty goggles and they also came with 2 MT 500 labels so I cut that out and put it on.

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Good to go. I'll eventually upgrade to one of those fancy ones that have the quotes and sounds.
User avatar
By Michael Scott
#461078
If you are looking to lighten the MT 500, take the battery out if you haven't already. It's almost weightless after that.

I have one like yours with the clip on the back, not all of them come that way. I just use the clip and never bought a holster for it.
PssdffJay liked this
By PssdffJay
#461214
It's like Christmas everyday! Just arrived!

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These are much better than that really bad one. Thanks Crix!!

Now I just need to decide on which one to sew on. Brown on the Gb1 suits right? Haven't decided. I'm aiming for 95% accuracy so I could go either way.

Still waiting in a few more things to come in and then final assembly can begin.
Glenn Frederick liked this
By PssdffJay
#461316
The gizmo kit that I ordered from Doug had come in a couple days ago and I started to assemble tonight. I did find out my soldering iron sucks, the handle gets really hot. Probably not a good thing. It's not perfect but for never doing anything like this before, I think it looks good. This item was how I found gbfans and inspired to make my suit better and to start a pack build.

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By PssdffJay
#461414
Made more progress on the gizmo today. The hardest part were the set of 9 pins and getting the black holders off the last 4 rows. Had to use my dremel and cutting wheel. At least they get covered. Should be finished up tomorrow.
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By PssdffJay
#461415
I also tried to dye my elbow pads. It didn't turn out well. They are the pads from the gbfans store and I picked up some dye.

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See how it's all white? It did something weird.

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Dyed them on the stove. Boiled the water, added the whole bottle of dye and the salt and then let them simmer for 2 hours on a low heat.

Then I pulled them out and the fabric did this weird thing.

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The edge and every other line was black and the rest was this weird grey colour. It looks very strange. I'm going to pick up some Dupli Colour charcoal paint tomorrow and see if I can save it. If not, I just ordered a bunch of stuff off the site and threw in an extra pair of pads just in case.
By PssdffJay
#462270
Haven't had a chance to work more on the gizmo, the Nixie tubes are attached and the LEDs work, but I still have a bit more to do to finish. I haven't taken any more photos of the progress yet.

I did try to die my suit when the new one arrived. In total after washing a few times with lots of fabric softening products, it spent a total of 4 hours or so in the dye bath over 3 tries. It didn't go as grey as I had hoped, but it grew on me. It's hard to photograph and see the difference, but I had cut off the pen flap on the arm before dyeing so I have a comparison. It does work for me though. I also sewed on the brown hose connector and my name patch and no ghost patch from katarra8. The patches are awesome, but what is frustrating is that she says the patches have the iron on backing, somehow I couldn't get it to iron on. To the point it wrinkled my no ghost patch a bit. Second time that happened to me. Last year on my first suit I had replaced the name patch and it didn't iron on either. I was going to sew it anyway but ironing does help with hand sewing. I'll get some daylight photos of the suit soon. Need to actually be home in the daytime to be able to do that.
By PssdffJay
#462272
I have finished 1 elbow pad now completely. After the failure of dyeing (I see a trend...) I decided its best to just spray. I should have done that from the start. As per the how to on the forum, I picked up some medium grey and charcoal grey fabric spray paint. After finishing now though I wish it was a bit lighter in colour, maybe on the next on.

I cut the elastic and then sprayed the whole thing with 3 coats of the medium grey. ImageImage

Then I sprayed the pad part only with the charcoal grey 3 coats. Image

And a shot of the front and the back. Image

I did get a black paint pen and did the details but I will need to get another couple of those to make it a bit darker and for the other one.

Don't know if you can see the black lines. Image

I decided I would use a black leather patch for the inside of the elbow. I couldn't find black elastic and I tried to dye white elastic black and it failed (there is that trend again...) but I like the look. I had to stretch out the elastic on the elbow pad as I hand sewed it and half way through my hand cramped up from holding that position. I did finish it off and I really like the look. I think it will look even better over time as the leather starts to weather and age.

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By PssdffJay
#463759
Updates!

Finished work on my Gizmo kit and it's awesome! I wasn't really sure how to mount it and the battery in the gizmo holder but it worked out enough for my liking.

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I was just down in Portland for business (I'm from Canada) and I stopped into an army surplus store an picked up some Corcoran boots. They didn't have the ones with the zipper on the side but they are flat on the bottom and were $50 less then here. I couldn't find my size at the stores at home. The only problem I have is with my calves, they are quite large and the standard laces are too short. I had to take 2 72" laces, cut them down to 48" each and tie them together to make an 84" lace.

Quick photo of me in the boots and suite in the sunlight. I haven't decided if I'll tuck or blouse the legs. I tried it here for the photo but I didn't do it very well and tucking was a little uncomfortable.

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By PssdffJay
#463927
Took some photos with all my gear on today. You can see how dark the elbow pads are. My MT500 holster is wrong but I did email Franchesky today to help me with that little detail.

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It's getting a little crowded on my belt on the side with the trap and gizmo and then the leg hose. Any tips on order placement or is that it? Good thing I'm a big boy! Don't know how you skinny guys have room on your belts haha!
By PssdffJay
#464660
I appreciate the help. I had already ordered Franchesky's Matty trap conversion plate so I knew he was making the radio holsters. I hadn't looked much further than that.
By PssdffJay
#465046
Spent the evening downtown and screamfest. The event was kind of a bummer. Should have got the speed pass... Very long lines, unless you had the speed pass.

What was cool was all the people commenting on my suit and gear. One girl jumped out of a line to get a photo taken. When I was leaving I ran into this Batman I kept seeing and asked him for a photo. He was with a couple of... Vampire ladies... I asked them to be in to photo too...

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It's not a good shot, there was some glare happening.

The only thing cooler would have been to have a real proton pack and or to have some other ghost heads with me. Where are you all Alberta Ghostbusters? You don't answer... :-(
By Matt Campbell
#465092
The uniform looks good man, nice job.
PssdffJay wrote: Where are you all Alberta Ghostbusters? You don't answer... :-(
I've been busy building my almost 4 year old son's 3/4 scale Real Ghostbusters Proton Pack (he'll have his before I have my own) for the last week or so and I live in Edmonton, otherwise I'd probably have been there.

As for the Ghostbusters of Alberta Canada I don't know as I've never been a member of the group, there hasn't been much if any activity on they're Facebook page in a while, my cousin who lives in Calgary went with her family to the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo this past spring and she told me that they were there, and at the Edmonton Expo last month my son Logan and I were there on the first day in uniform and didn't see any other Busters there but on the second day when I went by myself out of uniform I did see one other Buster there in uniform but he wasn't a very talkative fellow.
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