Author Archives: William

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?

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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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Well, first the bad news…

The ol’ 55″ TV took a dump, and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, they don’t make 3D TVs anymore, and I have well over a hundred 3D movies on bluray. I was never happy with the old TV’s 4K HDR processing and still prefer 3D over 4K all day, every day.

And now the good news… the higher end OLED TV’s have really come down in price. I was able to go where no man (well, me anyways) has gone before, taking it up a notch to purchase features that were previously out of my price range.

Enter the Sony 65″ Class A8H Series OLED 4K UHD Smart Android TV

This thing is simply beautiful and the OLED technology gives me a picture I have only dreamed of. Android TV built in which is better and faster than ever. This thing communicates flawlessly with all my other Sony components and even has a Netflix calibration mode for streaming in 4K.

Even though I use an external surround sound system, I think it’s pretty cool that this beast utilizes a technology Sony calls “Acoustic Surface Audio” which actually uses the glass to distribute the sound in a surround type environment, putting the sound at the correct sources on the screen.

To be perfectly honest, I may have shed a tear or two when losing the ability to watch 3D and I hope and pray for a 3D revival at sometime in the future, but this 4K thing is starting to grow on me.

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Hasbro Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler’s Neutrona Wand

Okay, I know I said I would be taking a break from all the Ghostbuster stuff but OMG I just picked up one of the most incredible toys, in the history of incredible toys!

Check out this Hasbro Ghostbusters Plasma Series Spengler’s Neutrona Wand, a replica of the wand used in the upcoming “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” movie.

Sure it looks great, but the lights, sounds and motorized feedback really make this thing shine. It comes with four stream modes including the classic Proton Stream, Slime Blower, Stasis Stream, and Meson Collider. It will also perform an overheat/shutdown sequence when the thrower has been operated too long.

I love how the end of the wand pulses when idle and also shuts down automatically if left on. The switches must be engaged in the correct(movie accurate) sequence for the wand to function properly, and the power knob actually works as it will adjust the power with sound, vibration and visible LEDs.

I’ve been waiting so long for this thing and OMG Hasbro has hit this one right out of the park. Sure, there may be a few things the true Ghostbuster purest might find fault with, but for the price of this mass produce “toy”, you can’t deny that they have set the bar high with the launch of this awesome product.

I’m looking forward to see what Hasbro has in store for the rest of their Ghostbusters line, but for now I am extremely please and impressed with this true piece of art.

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Okay, last Ghostbusters post for a while… I promise

Well, my quest to create my own motherboard for the Rubies/Spirit Pack was a little harder than I thought. Living in a rural area I couldn’t obtain the MDF I needed to use for my pack. I had seen a pre-cut MDF motherboard on eBay but it was very expensive… but thanks to an eBay coupon that popped up I was able to get it down to a price I could live with.

I was going to go with a larger cut, more like the movie boards that stick out a bit wider than the pack shell, but for this 80% pack I actually like the way this board fits inside the shell. I utilize Doug’s (ghostlab42) A.L.I.C.E. frame mounting hardware so I had to measure and cut out a little rectangle for the middle mount, but after that I threw on a few coats of paint and it was done.

So much better than that flimsy cardboard/cloth motherboard the thing came with. I was finally able to put the “Danger” sticker on the back which I feel really finishes it off.

For now, I think I’m done. I’m pretty happy with the way it looks and I think I will wrangle my efforts into creating a true full size replica.

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I’m so done with all this

Movie theaters closed… okay. Restaurants closed… fine. Gyms closed… ENOUGH!!!!!

Now, I don’t want to get off on a rant here, but… for the love all that is healthy, please open up the gyms! I was in much better health six months ago before the ridiculous lock down started.

I wish one of these gyms would suck it up and open despite the unacceptable restrictions by our inept governor. Imposing requirements we will never meet, keeping everything closed and keeping mental health and fitness at an all time low.

Our rural area which is the largest in the county, has the lowest case count, but we are treated the same for the entire county. Does that sound fair?

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Another quick mod to my Ghostbuster trap

I swapped out the on/off button on both my Rubies and Spirit Ghostbusters traps. It was nice to get rid of the “try me” mode on the Rubies trap, and now it’s so much easier to switch the trap on/off with one hand while holding the handle.

This mod is super easy. You just need to un-solder the existing wires and solder them to the new switch. The Rubies trap with the remote pedal actually has four wires going to the stock switch (two extra used for the “demo” mode), so you’ll only need to re-solder the green and yellow wires to the new switch.

The nice thing about these switches is they fit in the current switch spot without cutting off the stock mounts. You do need to enlarge the stock switch slot a bit, but not much. I simply used a flat head screwdriver and twisted a slightly larger hole.

The last image shows the connections for the Rubies Trap (w/pedal), the Spirit trap will only have a black and grey wire connected to the switch.

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