Be a Ghostbuster for Halloween!

I thought this would be a great idea for Halloween (I love Halloween!) so in my usual over the top fashion I went, well -- over the top. A buddy of mine wanted to do it as well. We tried to get his roommate into it too so we could have a third Ghostbuster but he didn't think we'd be able to do it......... :D

I made two complete packs, suits, belts and goggles in just over two weeks working mostly nights and weekends. I also made a ghost trap and pedal- it clips onto the belt just like in the movie. The guns come off the packs and the packs light up, as does the trap. I made two lighting circuits for each pack using a simple homemade 555 timer circuit, a few LEDs and 9v batteries. The trap weighs around six or seven pounds and the packs weigh about twenty- five pounds.

The packs and trap are pretty movie accurate- they were made from plans that were drawn up from one of the original movie "hero" packs on display at Planet Hollywood. The A.L.I.C.E. pack frames are the same as the movie and were purchased from an Army surplus store. Most of the small parts on the pack are movie accurate and were located at a local electronics surplus store. Even our coveralls were from the original movie supplier. The "no ghost" patches were bought online.

I made the goggles from hardboard, Bondo and thin plywood. I turned the aluminum and glass lenses on a lathe. All the labels on the packs and goggles are accurate and were printed on my computer.

Like I said- over the top. But come Halloween it is oh sooo worth it. People go absolutely flippin' nuts when they see the whole getup. They absolutely cannot believe they were homemade.

This is a BIG project so I'll basically outline what I did to make it go a lot faster. Follow on...