3D Printed Ghostbusters Movie Props

Hi everyone, my name is Chris Tomlinson, I’m the writer/director of Ghostbusters: Station 6, an entirely fan-made web series that follows the continuity of the original Ghostbusters movies, and video game, comics, and even the Fan Film Canon Universe!

What does Ghostbusters have to do with 3D printing you say?  Well, Ghostbusters has always had some of the most iconic movie props of all time.  When I set out the make the continuing story of characters from this series, I had to find a way to replicate the way the costumes and equipment looked. 

When I looked online, there were some fantastic looking proton packs, but they were upwards of $3,000.  That was basically more than my budget - for one proton pack.  It was then I started to read up on 3D printing.  When all was said and done, I had four proton packs, 3 ghost traps, a ton of miscellaneous uniform elements AND a brand new 3D printer - all for less money than one of those online packs.

I am not a prop designer by trade, nor have I ever completed a model car or plane kit that ever required more than snapping piecing together.  With the amount of detail provided by the Ghostbusters fan community in the designs, and the help of MatterHackers (which coincidentally is right down the street from our headquarters set) I was able to not only make screen accurate Ghostbusters props, I did it for substantially less money than the usual methods of getting this equipment.  

One proton pack and gun was about 5 rolls of MH Build Series filament ($105), and the electronics inside cost more than that (around $200 online).  With miscellaneous other tubes and ribbon cables (that couldn’t be printed) and some spray paint each pack was under $400.  The other advantage granted is certain individual parts of the pack when sourced by themselves are 40-100 dollars, I can print them for a couple of cents.  Same with some of the uniform elements, an MT-500 radio that all four Ghostbusters wore go for 100+ dollars now, and Lifegard from Ghostbusters 2 I’ve seen also go for over $80.  None of these things are brand new because the companies no longer make them.  I can print them for about $10 or $20 each.

Now, the film set is a perilous place.  Not only did these props hold up to some catastrophic hits to their integrity, if I wasn’t able to quickly repair them with glue or quick paint touch-ups - because 3D printing is so affordable - I was able to replace entire pieces when they got knocked around on set.  No one even noticed. 

When talking with Ghostbusters cosplayers about this problem they all had the same issues on the ComicCon convention floor, but if they suffered some of the hits I talked about they would have to spend a lot of money to repair it, or their pack would be out of commission for a long time.  I even walked a convention floor and I watched in horror as someone accidentally got their arm caught in the hose of the proton gun and ripped it right of my friend wearing the proton pack.  When I brought it home I only needed to re-print two parts for about 50 cents.  If this had been a pack I had spent 3000 dollars on I would have wept bitterly, but instead, I got to feel like Dr. Egon Spengler again and repair my own proton pack quickly, and for pennies.

I have loved Ghostbusters since I was 3, and 3D printing gave me the ability to fulfill a dream of mine and make a Ghostbusters flick.  The 2016 one was made for upwards 140 million, mine was under 4,000 dollars including all of the props- and I guarantee you I had more fun than them on set.  All of this is because of just how easy it is for a novice like me to enter into this wonderful, new world of open possibility.

Check out Ghostbusters: Station 6, Episode 1 to see all the 3D printed props in action!