I Ain't 'Fraid of No Project: Proton Pack Build Part 2

Synchronicity

Dan Aykroyd is a weird guy. When it comes to Ghostbusters, this guy came up with a name for every part on every device. In fact, in a behind the scenes video featured on the disc for the Ghostbusters video game released a few years ago, Mr. Aykroyd goes so far as to let you know he's taken the liberty of pricing out a working prototype of the fictional equipment he designed. When I was a kid I had no idea the Proton Pack had a parts list. Thanks to the internet, I now know what it is I happen to be working on at any given step of this project. I suppose it is helpful to give these things names rather than say "the roundish doodad with the thing sticking out of it," but it definitely feels weird to describe a fictional part of a fictional device by a proper noun.

My latest progress with the Pack involves a part called the "Synchronous Generator." Neat. To make this, I once again followed the advice of Mr. Thomas Galvin, prop master. Using another foam board pattern, I cut out the basic shape of my new part from both luan and Styrofoam. I cut in a six inch hole in the center for running electronics later in the project.

Using more of the awesome wood glue, I sandwiched two layers of the styrofoam together and placed the luan layer on top. It is glued to the Motherboard in the same fashion and "clamped" using a pile of old encyclopedias I got off Craigslist for another project.

Synchronicity II

Post glue, pre-book clamp

The next day after the glue had cured, I took a palm stander to the edges and made it as smooth as possible. This is where things get stupid. I needed to cut a bunch of strips of painters masking paper in the measurements needed to do three to four layers to cover the exposed foam. Not many folks know this, but foam has a negative reaction to most spray paints: it has a tendency to melt. Seeing as I have to paint this thing later on in the build process, it is probably a good idea to seal in the foam somehow. But how do I attach the paper to the foam, you ask?

Mixing an entire bottle of Titebond II Wood Glue with the same amount of ounces of water, I get a killer papier-mâché mix. A word of advice: buy a workshop. This step was just plain awful to get through. I did this part on the floor of my garage. I had to have the door open and it happened to be breezy. Great. It isn't much fun wrangling strips of paper while you're elbow deep in liquid wood glue and trying to keep the application smooth. There are no pictures of this process due to obvious reasons.

The French can suck it.

After letting the whole thing dry for a day, I used an X-Acto knife to trim off the excess masking paper and hit everything with the sander once more. There were some problem areas that needed filling so I applied some spackle and sanded a couple of times.

Overall, I would say this is coming along nicely. At this point, most the really time consuming work is done. I'll continue to pick away at this a little here and there, but I have a bevy of other projects demanding my attention. With a due date of next June, I think I can take my time a little with this one.

Stay tuned for more updates on this and other inadequate workshop frustrations as they develop...