- April 27th, 2026, 11:39 pm#5009048
Hello!
I’ve wanted to do a build thread for a while, and I figured it would be cool to start with a bit of an oddball prop.
As we all know, an essential part of a Ghostbusters costume is a ghost detection device. The Gasper’s Meter is an obscure example that is seen in the first movie, it is featured most prominently in the deleted Fort Detmerring scene. The real-world item that was used for the prop is an old blue Lamotte Conductivity Meter.
The second I noticed this prop, I knew that I wanted it as my ghost detector. I really loved the look of it, and I have an affinity for lesser-known and unique props. I also knew that it would be nigh-impossible to obtain the accurate model for a fair price.
That being said, I’ve always been more interested in the creative process of researching and building props rather than hunting rare (and expensive) collectibles. Looking around I managed to find some great reference photos from an old auction (which are currently on the ghostbusters reference library), and an owner’s manual that has the dimensions for the exact model (this can easily be found online, just look up Lamotte DA-1 owners manual).
With all of my gathered info, I began by sourcing some parts.
This is the panel meter that I found for this build. Not exact, but pretty dang close. Goes 0-100 and has the nice mirrored strip seen on the movie prop. This is a Modutec size 3S panel meter that I found on ebay. While the movie accurate meter is slightly different, I have noticed that some later models do use this brand of panel mater, which is why it fits the dimensions of the box.
Then came the knobs. These were an easy find, just some Alco knobs I got off of ebay. Mine were numbered instead of having the pointer, removed the numbers with some acetone and I will add the pointers later.
That was basically it for found parts, next comes the homebrewed parts!
I began by making some SolidWorks models and drawings, the dimensions from the owner’s manual seemed to be slightly off when it came to the depth of the meter, so I did my best to match it to the actual meter.
From there, I had to choose how I would make the main box. What I ended up doing was buying some aluminum parts with the appropriate dimensions in order to round out a sendcutsend order. Upon seeing more reference, the original meter looks like it was made of plastic, so aluminum will make it heavier, but it should work just fine.
Here is my progress on the box, the brass tubes will be tapped for the corner screws.
Something else I cooked up for this build is the decals for all of the text on the meter. I tried using multiple online font identifiers to recreate the text, I found a suitable font for the text on the panel meter but not for the text surrounding the knobs, so I replicated that in MS paint. I’m planning on having these made into dry-transfer labels.
That’s where I’m at for now! Pretty simple build for the most part, excited to finish it up!
Looking forward to seeing the progress of this site, and I hope to see more build threads like in the old days. I’ve gotten a lot of great information from all of the old build threads here, so I wanted to contribute some info about a bit of a lesser known prop. More to come!
-wirefauna
I’ve wanted to do a build thread for a while, and I figured it would be cool to start with a bit of an oddball prop.
As we all know, an essential part of a Ghostbusters costume is a ghost detection device. The Gasper’s Meter is an obscure example that is seen in the first movie, it is featured most prominently in the deleted Fort Detmerring scene. The real-world item that was used for the prop is an old blue Lamotte Conductivity Meter.
The second I noticed this prop, I knew that I wanted it as my ghost detector. I really loved the look of it, and I have an affinity for lesser-known and unique props. I also knew that it would be nigh-impossible to obtain the accurate model for a fair price.
That being said, I’ve always been more interested in the creative process of researching and building props rather than hunting rare (and expensive) collectibles. Looking around I managed to find some great reference photos from an old auction (which are currently on the ghostbusters reference library), and an owner’s manual that has the dimensions for the exact model (this can easily be found online, just look up Lamotte DA-1 owners manual).
With all of my gathered info, I began by sourcing some parts.
This is the panel meter that I found for this build. Not exact, but pretty dang close. Goes 0-100 and has the nice mirrored strip seen on the movie prop. This is a Modutec size 3S panel meter that I found on ebay. While the movie accurate meter is slightly different, I have noticed that some later models do use this brand of panel mater, which is why it fits the dimensions of the box.
Then came the knobs. These were an easy find, just some Alco knobs I got off of ebay. Mine were numbered instead of having the pointer, removed the numbers with some acetone and I will add the pointers later.
That was basically it for found parts, next comes the homebrewed parts!
I began by making some SolidWorks models and drawings, the dimensions from the owner’s manual seemed to be slightly off when it came to the depth of the meter, so I did my best to match it to the actual meter.
From there, I had to choose how I would make the main box. What I ended up doing was buying some aluminum parts with the appropriate dimensions in order to round out a sendcutsend order. Upon seeing more reference, the original meter looks like it was made of plastic, so aluminum will make it heavier, but it should work just fine.
Here is my progress on the box, the brass tubes will be tapped for the corner screws.
Something else I cooked up for this build is the decals for all of the text on the meter. I tried using multiple online font identifiers to recreate the text, I found a suitable font for the text on the panel meter but not for the text surrounding the knobs, so I replicated that in MS paint. I’m planning on having these made into dry-transfer labels.
That’s where I’m at for now! Pretty simple build for the most part, excited to finish it up!
Looking forward to seeing the progress of this site, and I hope to see more build threads like in the old days. I’ve gotten a lot of great information from all of the old build threads here, so I wanted to contribute some info about a bit of a lesser known prop. More to come!
-wirefauna
Last edited by Thatcrazysquidguy on April 28th, 2026, 1:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.
-wirefauna
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