1/6th Scale Proton Packs - Piscean Works

The 1984 Ghostbusters

The year is 2024, close to 40 years after the first Ghostbusters movie came out. A kid like me at that time could not appreciate much about that since most of the Jokes really flew over my head. However, there are a few things which lingered around my head, namely that scary Librarian, the irritating Slimer, the Stay Puft Marshmellow but more importantly, the Ghost Trap and the Proton Packs. At that time, to me, it was just another of those 80’s weird and wild movies which I never thought much about it.

Watching them two decades later, was quite difficult because I kept rewinding the parts about the Proton Pack and the Ghost Traps. There was an idea where I would like to build a Dustbin which looked like the Trap, and activated via the foot switch. During the time of prop Forums such as TheRPF and ASAP, etc. I realised that there was a lot of effort to build these things which are called replica props. And they cost a lot too. But now, 4 decades later, not only do we have a commercialised Proton Pack and Traps, with the advent of 3D printers, we can have scaled version too.

1/6 Scale versions is now possible

So, 1/6th scale is quite a good size for the Proton Packs and enough space to insert lighting into them. Some companies such as Mattel and Blitzway has already produced these beautiful Proton Packs but it has a catch: You’d either need to purchase the 1/6th Figures or the Ecto-1 car. A few weeks ago, I got hold of this when Adam Savage announced that he has printed a Proton Pack on his YouTube video. And from the notes in his video, I found the links to the files for the Proton Pack (remixed version for electronics), with the ALICE Frame and the Neutrona Wand.

This project will be in two parts; electronics and 3D printing.

DESIGNING THE ELECTRONICS

Looking back at the Proton Pack Prop, there are at least about 19 points of lights with fifteen going to the Power Cells and four for the Cyclotron. After measuring the hollow part of the pack using a software called FreeCAD, I designed the circuit board for it. It is not easy since I do not have a physical object for reference. Instead, I used the old school method of guessing by overlaying the graphics over the PCB software.

Again, I am not so well versed with 3D software outside of SketchUp but if using this FreeCAD method of measuring is right, the diameter of the insides of the Cyclotron is less than 30mm with a depth of about 16.5mm deep.

The ‘L-shaped’ trench has different dimensions so I am taking the minimal, which is about 44mm wide and 0.8mm deep. Treading nine wires through would be a challenge in itself. There is a much better and more expensive solution available though.

I am going to use another microcontroller for this Project. Previously, for the Spirit Pack, it was slightly bigger due to the numerous ports needed to light up about 19 LEDs and to read 4 input switches. This time, instead of 23 ports, I’ll only need 16. Still, for a nearly 3cm disc, cramming all the electronics in would be a challenge since the four LEDs are locked into their respective positions.

3D Printing

Normally, for 3D printing, my goto would be JLC3DP. However, they have encountered some issues with the file, asking me to fix it. After going to and fro, I could not do what they requested and therefore, cancelled their service. A friend of mine then referred me to another source who is now repairing the files and modifying them for reliable printing. As this is a 1/6th scale, I am not too bothered about scale accuracy.