Ghostbusters Toy Turned Into Realistic Prop

While toys and movie props have some of the same characteristics, at the end of the day there are necessary tradeoffs in order to mass produce an item versus a specialty one-off for a movie. However, Ben Eadie, who worked on props and special effects in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, shows how he converted a toy PKE (Psycho Kinetic Energy) meter into something that wouldn’t look too out of place on a movie set.

Electronics-wise, the modified device is fairly simple, using an Adafruit dev board (possibly an ItsyBitsy nRF52840 Express?) for control, along with APA102 LEDs to augment the device’s normal function. Originally, the meter's swing-out arm assemblies had opaque tips where the actual lights should have been. Eadie cut the pips off and replaced them with little 3D-printe light pipes in order to give it a blinkie-glowing effect. There’s also a little meter on top of the device that was LED-modded as well. This creates a nice linear blinking effect that would presumably relate to ghost status.

Besides electronics, much of the video deals with Eadie’s general prop making techniques. These include paint and finishing tips that could be especially helpful when making a weathered looking device. He also notes how impressed he is with Hasbro’s toy design, which uses springs to let the pop-out arms flex without breakage. It's something you may want to consider when designing something that will potentially experience significant stress!