Ecto Goggles • Re: Ed’s 84 Goggle Build

I am glad I have been holding off on the installation of the “power knob”! What I thought was the correct knob was totally mistaken and was not even the correct knob for the AN/PVS-5 goggles that were contemporary to the film! Big thank you to another builder for pointing this out as well as the discussion on Spengler’s 1984 Work Bench! The film used the frames from the original production AN/PVS-5 that had a different power knob than the subsequently produced AN/PVS-5A and AN/PVS-5B that we are more familiar with (that you will find for sale on eBay). A comparison of the knobs is shown below. Original production that would have been contemporary to the film for the frame used on set (left) vs the subsequent A and B versions of the frame that post date shooting of the movie. Also note the knob on the left is positioned more closely to the hole seen in the LA shooting.


An additional view of the original knob:


Pictured below is the rotary switch and knob that I had originally sourced for this build, which turns out is NOT correct. It is for the AN/PVS-5A and AN/PVS-5B goggles that post date the movie. I will put this aside for a future project (maybe Afterlife?)


Below are all the shots I could find that offer a somewhat ok view of the “knob” which is likely some thumbscrew or other fitting. All the shots are pretty crappy, but it can be made out that the skirt on the knob I thought was “correct” is not present. Another aside: this “knob” is only present in the NYC shooting of the film (we only get brief montage shots of the goggles) and not the LA shooting - the “knob” is missing from the hotel shots, there is an empty hole and crack.


All that said - the original knob on the AN/PVS-5 frame used in the movie was removed and replaced with something else. I want this build to be an NYC version of the goggles, therefore the knob - or something else- should be present and there should be no crack where it was broken off sometime before the LA shoot.

Now with all that covered, I chose to use a thumbscrew at this spot. Here you can see the thumbscrew compared to the switch that was used on the AN/PVS-5A and AN/PVS-5B:


I took care to install the screw at the location of the switch shown on the AN/PVS-5, it is slightly more forward than on the AN/PVS-5A and AN/PVS-5B as shown in the pictures above. Here is the final result:


I have made some progress on the strap design, more to follow, thanks for stopping by!

Statistics: Posted by edspengler — June 8th, 2024, 1:03 pm

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