Although I built this set a while ago, I’ve been saving this for Halloween. 😉
Ghostbusters is one of my favorite Halloween comedies, has been for years — although I clearly remember being afraid of the ghosts when the movie came out, I was 7 after all. So when this set came out it was a must have! Back to the Future just didn’t do it for me, still haven’t picked up that set, but this one, yes, I needed it. Okay, needed is rather strong. Really, really wanted is more like it.
The box art is awesome
I love the back especially, I just wish the set came with proton packs that actually glowed. 😀
The instruction booklet is really nice with a cool pic from the movie so you can see the real life versions,
and their LEGO counterparts.
The parts are pretty decent
Especially the set exclusives
Okay technically the dark red 1×1 round with hole is also in Emmet’s Construction Mech as part of Angry Uni-Kitty, but its still rather rare as a part. And all the printed elements are set exclusive as are the printed torsos for the Ghostbusters.
The figs have happy faces — sorry for the dark lighting, it doesn’t capture Winston too well
As well as scared faces when they come upon something really scary
The build is a nice one too with some really cool techniques like the white and red trim on the back.
The finished model really captures the look of the movie car
Fun Ghostbusters related fact —
LEGOLAND California used to have a Ghostbusters scene that they put out every Halloween
One of my first assignments was to rebuild the hearse that was in the New Orleans Miniland area after the original one (that was tan — why tan, I have no idea) was stolen. As I didn’t have the original one the only way I could build it was to reverse engineer the hearse from the Ecto 1 model.
Then, several years later, right before I left LEGOLAND California I built a Halloween version of the Hearse that is still used every year for Brick or Treat.
Happy Halloween every one and may the Holidays commence!
Tags: 2014 LEGO Sets, Ecto 1, Flickr, Ghostbusters, Halloween, Halloween Hearse, LEGO, LEGO bricks, LEGOLAND, Mariann Asanuma, Master Model Builder, Miniland, Model Building Tips, Model Shop
Modelbuildingsecrets's Weblog 
November 1, 2014 at 5:18 am |
Ironically, I just watched this last night (Halloween) at the Redford Theater, with a decent replica of the car parked out front. Part of the problem with making full-size replicas of this car is that Cadillac didn’t actually make the ambulance that was used for the film. They made the base car, but it was another company that heavily modified it into an ambulance (yup, ambulance, not hearse). Because of this, there are very few of this specific model of car in existence, and most people have to settle for something that looks close but never looks quite right. For instance, the car that was on-site last night didn’t have the torpedo taillights on the red fins, and the headlights were vertically stacked rather than side-by-side. In fact, it is so hard to get the correct base car that the photos of Ecto-1 that are included in this instruction book are not actually Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters! You can tell its wrong, again, by looking at those pesky headlights. The instructions photos show three pairs of blue lights mounted in the bumper, but there should only be two pairs. I’m not sure if this is a photo of Ecto-2 (they used a different car for GB2), a replica of Ecto-1, or even a painting, but it’s not the original car.
November 1, 2014 at 6:04 am |
Dave, I knew that the movie car was an ambulance, but the LEGOLAND Ecto 1 version was definitely based off the original tan hearse from Miniland New Orleans — we don’t design more than we have too so when something is close enough we modify it to fit our needs, which is why I was able to reverse engineer the model back into a hearse by changing colors and eliminating all the greebling on the top of the model.
November 1, 2014 at 6:09 am
Just making sure your readers know. We think of ambulances as vans, not station wagons where there’s no headroom, and when Ray drives up for the first time it’s painted black with a few dark grey patches, so most people immediately think “hearse” when they see it.
November 1, 2014 at 6:11 am
Right, totally understand. I don’t even remember why I know it was an ambulance, just one of the multitude of facts stored in my head. 😀