Ghostbusters Costume (replica quality)

[Fairweather Pure]

I have embarked on a quest to build a replica quality Ghostbusters costume. It's a larger ordeal than one would think. First off, it is expensive. Secondly, it takes a lot of tinkering, trial and error, and leaps of faith.

The costume is simple enough and cost me about 150$. This includes a custom embroidered name tag with my name (LOONEY) instead of a cast member, 1 "No Ghost" patch for the right arm, a khaki flight suit (self tinted with a darker tone), elbow pads, black paratrooper boots, and a black canvas pistol belt. I went ahead and bought a black "No Ghost" Tshirt for an undershirt since the Ghostbusters all had black Ts underneath. Also included in this is an "L" shaped flashlight and black chemical gloves. This is the basics for the suit. Not too bad really. The jumpsuit also needs some yellow tubing applied, but that comes from leftovers from other projects.

Next up is the tools of the trade.

PKE Meter: You can make one yourself, but I have a Mattel prop replica made last year and sold for 60$. They're sold out now and one will cost you 150-200$ on Ebay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPcz8owUzYk

Ghost Trap: Once again, you can make your own, but Mattel has a prop replica available this year for 135$. Like the PKE Meter, they will be sold out day 1 so I'm going to preorder ASAP. It will be out in Oct of this year, no day announced yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a83xRP5u59A

Ecto Goggles: Easily fan made. Mine has LED lighting. It was my first attempt with LEDs and a confidence booster for when I get to my biggest project. It cost about 20$ to make. Here is a video of similar ones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9fYSVa8G04

Proton Pack: Here is the mother of all projects for me. A "Shell" will cost anywhere between 90-800$ depending on what it is made of. Materials range from vacumeformed plastic and fiberglass to DIY cardboard. Once you have the shell, you have to add all manner of tubing, fittings, and other things of that nature. Then you have to add a light and sound kit. These kits are around 100-300$ depending on how much work you are comfortable with doing yourself. It's worth noting that the gun is separate from the pack and requires it's own light kit, although sound is activated through the pack. Total cost on this is going to be around 500$ for me because I'll be doing almost everything myself. These sell around 1500-3000$ for a complete version. When you are done, you will have something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9ng0DUkrDQ

When it's not Halloween, I'll have this on display in my home in several different shadow boxes (one for the uniform and several others for the various props, and have the pack mounted on the wall).

Just thought I would share! It's pretty involved and I'm having great fun so far!

[Aslanna]

Fairweather.. Single handingly stimulating the economy one costume at a time!

[Canelek]

Let me know if you plan on adopting, Fair. I also cook and bring in steady cash. However, my basement rennovation is quite expensive and I can use some personal-economics stimulus.

[Fairweather Pure]

My parts are starting to bleed in via UPS. A belt, boots, alice pack, and tshirt have arrived. Nothing I can assemble yet though. The proton pack shell ships this week and that is easily my biggest project. I'm still awaiting a response from the guy I'm buying the sound board from. I have a lot of work to do so I hope everything ships in a timely manner. I can't wait!

[Fairweather Pure]

Just putting on the jumpsuit, boots, belt, and elbow pads is pretty amazing. I'm feeling confident enough of the finished product to enter my first Halloween costume contest.

http://www.firekeeperscasino.com/defaul ... e-contest/

Top prize of $1,000. What have I got to lose?

Lots and lots of little things adding up in a big way. I have my entire costume together, but I'm still waiting on some important parts for my pack to get here. Hopefully I can fully assemble and paint the pack next week while on vacation.

[Winnow]

Ghostbusters on a unicycle:

http://youtu.be/B-xzekTM8aA

I'm just sayin you've got some competition out there!

[Fairweather Pure]

The guy I ordered the light board from just shipped it. It will take 4-9 days to get here. That thing is the single most important part of my costume and I have been waiting on it for over a month. It's looking more and more like I'm working a costume for next Halloween. Well, the costume itself is done and I have the Matty PKE meter and ghost trap, but without that light board I cannot finish the pack in time for this year.

I'm pretty disappointed. On the brighter side, as Halloween was getting closer and closer I was starting to sweat having to throw everything together in a single weekend. I would rather take my time and do it right. There is too much money involved to fuck it up with a rush job. Also, by next year I can make one for my wife too!

[Fairweather Pure]

My costume didn't turn out too awful bad considering I didn't have the proton pack complete. I went to do a quick completion on the pack on Saturday, but not getting the light kit until so late ended up really screwing me. There were several last minute things I needed to do it right that I can only get online. On the plus side, my costume was a huge hit! I took the girls trick or treating and we were the center of attention everywhere we went. I have lots of incentive to polish off all 4 Ghostbuster outfits in time for next year!

[Fairweather Pure]

PS: I tried to get one of me on the unicycle for Winnow. Maybe next year!