[mburkit]

Greetings everyone!

As we all sit in quarantine and get increasingly excited for the new film coming out next year, I have decided to refurbish/rebuild some of my gear that has become beaten up over years of use at conventions. There is a builders group I belong to on Facebook and some individuals have recently provided some new insights to the GB1 trap pedal. I do not want to steal their thunder, so I won't really go into what they have postulated. But what I will do is share some publicly available reference and my build. I plan to build 2 new pedals, but since they will be the same, I will probably just show the one here.

First, let's get some reference out of the way.

First up is the best screen cap I have of the pedal in GB1.


This pedal also went up for auction with a trap a while ago, and we have a shot from that auction:


And now it is on display in Seattle:








And that's pretty much all the reference I have to go off of. There are some traits of the GB2 trap pedals that I will also be using; specifically the metal work around the wooden base plate and the same faucet washers for "feet" on the bottom of my pedal. The following photos will be of a GB2 pedal.









So what can we gleam from all of these photos!? Welp, there are some things that are the same and other things that are different between pedals.

Similarities:
Both pedal bases are made from wood with a metal base and both appear to have 1/2" strip of metal wrapped around the front half of the pedal. This can be seen better on the GB2 pedal. They both appear to use the same style Hammond boxes, but the GB1 pedal has a blue version of the larger box. They both have the bullet latch in the back of the pedal, behind the hinge for the vector plate.

Differences:
The GB1 pedal appears to be wider, and we can see that the larger Hammond project box was originally blue. The Relay appears to have been glued directly to the blue hammond box. The GB1 pedal has different furniture, including a knurled Legris straight fitting; a 26 pin header with 26 pin ribbon cable leading to a black d-sub connector, instead of the black header with ribbon cable connecting to a grey d-sub connector on the GB2 pedal. On the GB1 pedal, there is a resistor under the vector plate where the yellow and red hosing connect to as well. The shape of the base appears to be different, specifically on the "wings" of the base, as the right side extends beyond the large box, while on the GB1 pedal, it sits flush. Lastly, the GB1 pedal appears to have a neoprene bellow while the GB2 has a more rubber bellow.

Now with that quick discussion regarding the reference I am using, now I will get into my build in the next post.

[mburkit]

Now I will share my build so far. I am still waiting on parts to arrive, but I did get started on the construction of my base plate and began to attach the Hammond boxes.

It appears the pedal base plate was a combination of several pieces of wood on a metal plate with 1/2" strip of metal wrapping around the front of the pedal. It's been postulated by others that after the pedal was built, they had to add a spacer between the thinner Hammond box and the base plate to make the pedal wider. Theoretically, this was done so the pedal could fit on top of the trap on the belt.





And underneath:




How my pedal looks now as I wait for more parts.




And lastly, here are some comparison shots of my old pedal I built back in 2010 verses the one I am building now. I think these photos highlight how different the dimensions are. Also note that I pulled some parts off of the old pedal to go on the new one.





That's it for now. I will be uploading more as I go. Thanks!

[Austin]

Lookin' real good so far! Excited to see it all come together

[Kingpin]

Exciting stuff.

[mburkit]

PSA FOR EVERYONE:

Please make sure you trim the edges off of your vector plate before you base all of your pedal base measurements off of it. Luckily I gauged the gap in the back of the pedal by counting ribs on the vector plate from the center out. If I had counted from the outer edge in, then I would have had to remake the whole base.



Needless to say, all fixed now. And now I know better for when I move over to the second pedal.

[jimbo7]

Looking great, Matt!

[mburkit]

Little Update:

I think I sourced the correct bellow material for the GB1 pedal. This may or may not show up in the GBFans shop at some point. . .

Screen cap:


My stuff:


This stuff is much more "fabric-y" than the rubber stuff found on the GB2 pedals. That's it for now, until I get my hardware shipment from McMaster Carr.

[hooker]

Excellent thread Matt! The pedal is turning out fantastic.

[Nuclearjungle]

Looking nice. What's that brass thing in the groove at the front end of the pedal?

Edit: Nevermind, I see it's a bullet latch.

[mburkit]

Looking nice. What's that brass thing in the groove at the front end of the pedal?

Edit: Nevermind, I see it's a bullet latch.

Yeah, you are correct, it is a bullet latch. Its been identified as the the part they had on the original pedals.

[Nuclearjungle]

I noticed it wasn't an acorn nut at SDCC, but I could never find where the part was identified. Has anyone figured out what purpose it serves? Seems an odd choice for something purely decorative.

[mburkit]

I noticed it wasn't an acorn nut at SDCC, but I could never find where the part was identified. Has anyone figured out what purpose it serves? Seems an odd choice for something purely decorative.

The theory is that they wanted the pedal to lock onto the top of the trap that hung from Ray's belt. This is that thing I mentioned in the first post and didn't want to steal people's thunder. Both Doug Solo and John Anderson raised this hypothesis in a Facebook builders group I belong to.

If you look at these images, you can see on the belt trap that there's a bare part that has been ground out for the bullet latch to fit into on the handle. That hunk of metal on the front of the trap was also added to try to keep it all sitting correct together.





The idea was to do this:



Please note that my display trap is based off the rolling trap from GB1 and is a little longer than the belt hanger. But these images highlight the idea. I hope that makes sense.

With all of that said, I did a little more work on my pedal. I am waiting on the black d-sub connector I ordered from Mouser. Once I have that piece and get it mounted, I will be ready to take it all apart and paint everything.

[Nuclearjungle]

Interesting, sounds like a great FB group. I had only previously heard theories that the silver hook on that trap was for the hose. That looks like the same 1/8" knurled connector I just got for my own pedal. No idea where to get 5/32, unfortunately.

[Kingpin]

A few rare glimpses of the pedal in-situ:

[mburkit]

Here are some photos from the production of GB1 as well as the GB1 foam stunt trap that I photographed during my first visit to the Sony Prop Archives.

Here is probably the only shot of the pedal hanging the way it's supposed to.


After that, they gave up and hung it this way for much of the upper floors of the Sedgwick scenes.




And the most definitive piece of information I feel is how the foam stunt trap was cast.


I am subscribing to this theory that it was originally designed to latch onto the trap. Now, the part that sucks about the build of this particular pedal is I messed up the rear notch. I have it shaped like the GB2 pedals, while the GB1 pedal actually had both "nubs" symmetrical, verses the asymmetrical ones on the GB2 pedals. For me to fix that on this pedal, I would have to construct a brand new pedal base, which I don't feel like doing. As I am already building 2 new pedals, this one will be my belt hanger and the more accurate one will be for display purposes at home.

[Nuclearjungle]

Wow, excellent info. A guy from a local GB group had told me the groove on the pedal was supposed to fit on the trap, but I was skeptical after seeing the pedal hanging by the ribbon cable in the film. FINALLY it all makes sense.

[910dohead]

You also just solved a mystery with our ECU build by posting this photo. It's the exact same sticker that's on the Containment Unit under the microamperes meter. I have never seen this picture before and this version lines up with what's on the unit, so thank you! I think the sticker was originally bigger but then was cut into sections and used on the various props.

[mburkit]

Welp, looks like I finished this pedal up. I am happy with it so far. There's a few things that are not 100% accurate but this will be my belt hanger.

The rear nubs are supposed to be symmetrical but I didn't realize that until I finished the base and I didn't want to rebuild it.

Because this will be a belt hanger, I decided to add the picture wire between the base and the vector plate to make it more sturdy.

Lastly, the thing that I do want to replace is the label on the large box. I do not have the correct label on there now but I have not seen anyone make the one for the gb1 pedal. It sounds like this label was also on the ECU, so maybe at some point someone will sell a vinyl version of this? That would be awesome.











I plan on building a second pedal then that will fix many of these things. That pedal will be for display purposes with my display trap.

[Austin]

Absolutely stunning! Fantastic work, as always

[Kingpin]

This is the quality content I love seeing on this forum.

DO you have a photo of the underside of the vector plate with the hinge assembly? That was one of the things I had trouble with when I was building my pedal replica back in... Holy shit... 2011.

I think you've even inspired me to build a purely GB1 style pedal, now that so much new info's come out.

[mburkit]

This is the quality content I love seeing on this forum.

DO you have a photo of the underside of the vector plate with the hinge assembly? That was one of the things I had trouble with when I was building my pedal replica back in... Holy shit... 2011.

I think you've even inspired me to build a purely GB1 style pedal, now that so much new info's come out.

Later on tonight, I can undo the crimp joint holding the picture wire in place and take some photos. Either that, you if you can wait; I plan on building a second pedal then for my display trap now that I worked out all the kinks with this pedal build.

[910dohead]

I do not have the correct label on there now but I have not seen anyone make the one for the gb1 pedal. It sounds like this label was also on the ECU, so maybe at some point someone will sell a vinyl version of this? That would be awesome.

Already working on it

[mburkit]

DO you have a photo of the underside of the vector plate with the hinge assembly? That was one of the things I had trouble with when I was building my pedal replica back in... Holy shit... 2011.

As per request:

[mburkit]

Got bored tonight and decided to take a "glamour shot" of my new pedal with my Ewokus GB1 hero trap.

[Kingpin]

As per request:

Thanks, Matt!

[mburkit]

Now that my belt hanger pedal is done, I got up the nerve to start the second pedal that will be for display purposes. I have had a few people ask me about my dimension of the pedal base. I figured I'd share what dimensions I used for this new pedal.



And I could have probably finished this new pedal in a day, but sadly I have other things to do. Luckily I got pretty far in just a 2.5 hour period.



There won't be as many construction photos of this new pedal as it will be structurally pretty much the same as the first one. Once I have more time, I will finish this sucker up.

[mburkit]

These things are totally a one day build if you have all the parts available. I need to grab a Relay from my buddy tomorrow but I could definitely have this painted and do final assembly within an afternoon at this point.

[Kingpin]

Going back to this screenshot:



-Are we entirely sure the GB1 pedal didn't have the corresponding socket for the relay? It looks like the silver portion of it is visible in-situ, and it appears to be sitting higher than the socket-less relay on your build, Matt. I suspect they glued a socket to the project box (and possibly cut it down a little so it'd sit lower on the pedal), rather than the relay itself.

[mburkit]

-Are we entirely sure the GB1 pedal didn't have the corresponding socket for the relay? It looks like the silver portion of it is visible in-situ, and it appears to be sitting higher than the socket-less relay on your build, Matt. I suspect they glued a socket to the project box (and possibly cut it down a little so it'd sit lower on the pedal), rather than the relay itself.

Ben, that is something I have been debating as well. If they did use a socket, then they glued that on as well because there are no holes for the mounting screws on either side of where that socket would go, like on the gb2 pedals. I also feel that gluing the relay directly to the box gives it a little more connection to the box as the peg of the relay can be fully inserted into the box for stability. But then again, maybe that's why the relay is missing on this prop now, because it got easily knocked off. I don't really have a good answer for what they did there. Luckily mine is just glued on so I can always break it loose and install a socket if I want.

[namebrand]

The relay was epoxied on directly. The grey seen on screen is the epoxy that’s still visible on the pedal now. If you compare the height of the ITT off the Hammond there’s no room for a socket to fit.