deamon3's Jurassic Park explorer build thread

[deamon3]

Thought this was funny. The sensor on the front is the top to a battery box for a boat.

 

[scoodidabop]

Glad to see you're keeping up with it! Besides, without an engine you'll officially be "Totally non-polluting, top of the line!"

Interested to see how your bubble roof comes out. I got a few quotes from airplane canopy companies and they run around $500. Still waiting on a quote from a skylight company.

How do you intend to fabricate the custom dash board? No idea where to begin on that one.... The wood parts are easy but getting the drivers side to match the passenger side... psssshhH!

 

[deamon3]

What even more of a headache , the passenger side isn't stock either , the ENTIRE dash , both sides , is custom.

I'm gonna just have to make it out of wood/plaster/bondo/fiberglass or something. have a plug under the dash so the gauges/climate control can be connected.

 

[scoodidabop]

Thought this was funny. The sensor on the front is the top to a battery box for a boat.

YESSS!!!! You read my mind! I was about to start hunting this piece down. Bravo!

Boom! Here's one on ebay now! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Battery-Box..._Accessories_Gear&hash=item3a7d60726a&vxp=mtr

Looks screen accurate too. Nice find there deamon.


Where are you going to put your gauges? Are you also going to fab the center console out of wood?

 

[deamon3]

I'm most likely going to make the center console out of high density particle board (like what speaker boxes are made from) and have them painted like wood.

As for the gauges they will most likely be completely separate from the car and have a large plug that connects under the dash for when the vehicle needs to be moved.

My current plan is to worry about the mechanics of the vehicle 0% while only working on the visuals. I'll then someday have a shop get the mechanics working.

 

[deamon3]

I also bought these yesterday for the interior

Now before you say "why didn't you just buy lcd's". Because I didn't want to do that. I WANT them to be old crt monitors so it looks like an old system.

BTW. These are 9" color production crt's circa 1994. Same thing they would have used in the movie. I'm also going to make a retro computer to run the tour program on these.

 

[scoodidabop]

Nice! Whered you score those? I've been looking for a pair but I mostly see them sold individually. I was thinking the ones they used in the movie were Panasonic like all the other Explorer components (road cameras, laser disc drive etc) but those look like a better match than any Panasonic I've encountered.

I was hoping Cyrix would continue his graphics recreating streak and make the JP tour program that's seen in the Explorer but there are only really 2 different screens that are ever shown in the film so it would be purely speculative/new. If it ever got recreated there are companies that make touch screen glass you could put over the front of the CRT to make it interactive. I was thinking of doing this in mine and finding a way to display all the pertinent gauges on the screen (speed, rpm, fuel, temp etc)... Actually now that I think about it, climate control would have to be built in to the system too... hmm... That sounds like a pain but it might be worth the effort.

What kind of plastic are you going to use for the bubble roof? I'm thinking that the maroon dome behind the bubble roof can be made of thin plywood over a frame of sorts then fiber-glassed.

 

[SwaintaN]

so subscribing this is the ****e... another one!!

 

[deamon3]

Nice! Whered you score those? I've been looking for a pair but I mostly see them sold individually.

What kind of plastic are you going to use for the bubble roof? I'm thinking that the maroon dome behind the bubble roof can be made of thin plywood over a frame of sorts then fiber-glassed.

I got the monitors on ebay. 130$ for both shipped.

I'm working on the tour program for them. I'm just making a generic loop and recreating the graphics seen in the movie with a lot of guess work as to how it may have worked. Also using the tour program audio that is available. It's about 13 minutes long. It'll be running on an old mac and be made to look like older tech.

I'll most likely use plexiglass melted with a heat gun. As for the rear I'll most likely fab it up with sheet metal and cover in bondo.

 

[deamon3]

I test drove a 94 today that was absolutely crap , but it had the saw blade rims on it and the owner wouldn't mind trading them. So hopefully gonna go back and trade them for my useless 97 rims.

 

[deamon3]

I got the tv system in today and did some early testing of the tour program.

 

[deamon3]

 

[scoodidabop]

DUDE!!!!!!!!! Nice work man!! What OS are you running this on and how'd you connect the TV's? Any chance you might be willing to share the build?

 

[deamon3]

It's just a video made in cs5. I used a vga to composite adapter to out to the screens

 

[scoodidabop]

It's just a video made in cs5. I used a vga to composite adapter to out to the screens

Ah I see. Well for being such a simple approach it's quite nice and very convincing! I would love a copy of the vid for my tour vehicle if you feel like sharing the finished product.

The things that have turned out of the JP fanbase blow me away. Keep it up!

 

[scoodidabop]

It's just a video made in cs5. I used a vga to composite adapter to out to the screens

Are those BNC inputs on the JVC monitors? Did you have to use one of those really expensive conversion boxes?

 

[deamon3]

They are bnc. Bnc to composite adapters along with vga to composite converter boxes are pretty cheap.

 

[deamon3]

just sold my 1997 explorer for 1500$. Hopefully this summer I'm thinking i'll save up enough and just take the jp explorer to the dealer and get everything fixed.

I'm, thinking about 5000$ should be enough to fix most of it's issues.

 

[ghostbuster88]

Ive always wanted to do a JP Explorer build but since i cant i figure i can help u do one. Here is the movie accurate battery cover used for the sensors on ebay for $22. Hurry, hurry lol

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370593204058

And on amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Cable-Adjustable-Group-Battery/dp/B005GR15II

Its a Group 27/31 battery box

 

[Big_Stig352]

daemon, have you checked the ECC? that went on mine and ruined the whole truck.