Author Archives: William

Yosemite Axe Throwing

I had a great time at my first league night at Yosemite Axe Throwing in Oakhurst. I hadn’t thrown an axe much at all before this day and I was a little intimidated at first, but it was fun to start my adventure with many helpful throwers, including our own former national champion axe thrower and lumber jack.

I have a lot of learning to do and I can see there is a lot of competition out there, but I’m looking forward to some fun times ahead.

Check out our local stats on the World Throwing League website:

-> Winter league 2021 Winter Tuesday

Fun , ,

Wow, this thing is a beast!

With the help of my daughter, this Lego Ghostbusters Ecto-1 from the new “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” movie took me about 8+ hours to build, spread out over a few days. Lot’s of tedious little pieces to assemble, but it all comes together nicely.

Lots of really cool features like a very detailed engine compartment.

Storage for remote trap with deploy action.

Gunner seat that can be spun around and popped out.

Steering, moving sniffer, and rotating antenna all work as the tires roll.

This is truly an incredible build. I was on the fence for days trying to decide whether I wanted to drop so much on a “toy”, but I’m sure glad I did.

This kit will be prominently displayed in my collection and I’m so thankful I decided to pick it up.

Who ya gonna call?

Toys , , ,

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!

So, after thinking I was done with any more major mods to the Ghostbusters pack, I changed my mind and decided to do the wand and sound upgrades.

It wasn’t like I didn’t have any extra time on my hands since everything is still closed. 😉

The sound upgrade wasn’t much of an effort and I had no issues with the install, but the wand upgrade required a lot of cutting and drilling to fit all the lights and electronics. I took my time and made all my cuts with care which resulted in a job well done.

I added a few extra buttons to disable the continuous hum, and also switch between single pack and dual pack (slime) mode which were currently only accessible via a jumper on the sound and wand circuit boards.

I replaced all the stock stickers with weathered versions I found on Etsy. It’s amazing to me how much support there is out on the world wide web for these things.

I added a large frosted LED for the shutdown affect, which flashes through the holes where speaker used to sit. Since I upgraded to the new sound board, I didn’t need that tiny little speak any longer. 🙂

Believe it or not, I still have a few other things I’m going to add before I can call this one complete.

Fun, Toys , , ,

We got one!!!!

Wow, this thing is huge!!

I just couldn’t resist(and believe me I tried) this massive Lego 2352 piece “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” inspired Ecto-1 measuring 8 high, 18 long and 6 wide(last picture for box scale).

This thing features working steering wheel, trapdoor, ghost trap, an extending gunner seat, and more awesome details from the converted 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance used in the new movie.

Can’t wait to dig in over the long weekend and get this thing built.

Toys , , ,

A few final mods to accommodate the new Spengler wand

More work on the Ghostbusters pack. I wanted to be able to swap out the Rubies wand I use for display, and the Spengler wand I’ll be using for my costume.

I first swapped out the 3D printed v-hook setup I was using with a standard Dixie® Cup bracket that would accommodate both wands. The new v-hook setup strengthen the mount on the inside of the pack, as the Spengler wand is much heaver than the Rubies version.

I added a small four pin quick release connector at the bottom of the pack which allows the four wires needed for the Rubies wand to remain functional when connected. The connector I chose fits prefect in the stock hole, so no additional drilling or modifications was needed.

I didn’t like the way the electrical tape looked on the end of the extra afterlife cable, so I removed the tape and cleaned up the faux plug a bit to make it more presentable. 🙂

The Spengler wand hooks in using the same type of plug, but I didn’t wire anything up as the wand itself handles all the sound. I know a lot of people have opened up the Spengler wand, tied into its speaker and routed it to the pack, but I’m just not ready to do that yet. At this point, I’m happy with the sound emanating from the wand.

I was planning on doing the whole wand light and pack sound kits, but I think I’m happy with the way everything turned out. I’m going to switch my focus towards a full sized pack. Although I love my little Rubies setup, a full size pack with all the bells and whistles is where true Ghostbuster happiness is found. 🙂

Who ya gonna call?

Toys , , ,

In other news…

Just finished the fiber install at our mountain home, switching from copper wire to fiber for our internet.

Just in case you are curious, the following two pictures are of the actual fiber. The first is the line with the blue protective coating, and the second is the actual fiber that has been stripped of the coating.

It’s truly amazing that this tiny fiber line can fulfill the needs of a single family home, all the way up to a large corporate building.

Finally, the world is my oyster!

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