Capital Ghostbusters
Ryan & Renel
Two Ottawa builders talking through the gear, the choices, and the franchise work behind the suit.
Next episode / August 19, 2026
Capital
Ghostbusters
bring Ottawa builds to the bench.
Charlie sits down with Ryan, AKA McFonz, and Renel of the Capital Ghostbusters out of Ottawa, Ontario for a builder-heavy conversation about franchise life, practical fabrication, flight suits, electronics, pack work, and the kind of community energy that keeps the gear moving.
Upcoming episode / August 19
Ottawa franchise energy, real builds, and bench-tested details.
Ryan “McFonz” and Renel join Bench Tested for a Capital Ghostbusters conversation rooted in the stuff builders actually care about: how gear gets assembled, how suits get personalized, how power and electronics stay clean, and how a local Ghostbusters franchise turns craft into community presence.
Capital Ghostbusters
Ottawa, Ontario
Flight suits
Pack builds
Electronics
Community events
Ottawa, ON
Franchise identity
A local crew with a strong visual mark, practical gear, and a community-first reason to suit up.
Build table
Panels, power, and practical decisions
Clean wiring, labeled boxes, caution-tape staging, and the behind-the-scenes work that makes a prop feel alive.
Builds discussed in the episode
From flight suits to pack guts.
A look at the Capital Ghostbusters gear and works-in-progress behind the August 19 conversation: suit weathering, franchise patches, power controls, Ecto goggle details, pack shells, and community appearances.
Community presence
Capital Ghostbusters out in the wild, bringing the franchise beyond the workbench.
Flight suit lineup
Multiple suit colors, patches, and character identities in one rack.
Patch details
The kind of close-up franchise identity that makes a suit read instantly.
Ryan “McFonz”
A clean portrait with the suit, patch, and personality all doing the talking.
Suited and packed
The finished-kit energy that starts with a lot of bench work.
Shop work
Practical drilling, mounting, measuring, and the unglamorous steps that make the cool stuff possible.
Power boxes
Labeled inputs and outputs keep the build understandable when the wiring gets real.
Containment-room flavor
A red wall panel that brings that firehouse utility mood into the room.
Ecto goggle front
Weathered lenses, scuffs, and a lived-in finish.
Ecto goggle side
Side profile with grime, labels, and shape doing the heavy lifting.
Ecto goggle back
The padded side of the build, because comfort is part of the prop too.
Ecto goggle detail
A final angle on the worn-in hardware and strap work.
Black base coat
Pack shell work before all the personality lands on top.
Primer stage
A cleaner look at shape, depth, and surface before paint and wear.
Shell on the bench
The midpoint where the pack starts becoming an object with weight.
Cyclotron work
Fine-fit pieces and texture around one of the pack’s most recognizable zones.
Pack overhead
Wires, labels, surfaces, and that satisfying organized chaos.
Finished pack energy
A weathered pack with wand, loom, bumper, warning labels, and display presence.
Still streaming / Archer preview
Keep Archer in the rotation.
Archer’s world sits right where Bench Tested likes to live: build choices, prop obsession, Ghostbusters community energy, and the fun of pushing past “close enough” into something that feels personal.
Current episode / Now streaming
Archer from Nerd Affiliated is still on the feed.
While the Capital Ghostbusters episode gets ready to drop, keep the Archer conversation rolling. The episode digs into flight suits, weathering, proton packs, electronics, HasLab upgrades, Ghostbusters: Night Shift, and the line between screen accuracy and personal creativity.
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From the Bench Tested archive
Builders who moved the conversation forward.
Past episodes are a working record of the makers, designers, and film craftspeople shaping the gear and the community around it.
Fabrication / Design
C&A Prop Design
Purpose-built props, design thinking, and the practical craft behind turning reference into something real.
Maker / Problem solver
Nomake Wan
Creative fabrication, fearless iteration, and the builder mindset that keeps the fandom evolving.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Ben Eadie
A film-maker’s perspective on design, fabrication, and bringing Ghostbusters hardware back to the screen.
Why Bench Tested hits different
Fandom meets actual craft.
This is where builders compare notes, screen-used details get examined, and the small decisions behind great gear get the time they deserve.
01 / BREAKDOWNS
Prop-first episodes
Packs, traps, wands, electronics, and the details most people miss.
02 / SHOP TALK
Builder interviews
Honest conversations about process, tradeoffs, failures, and breakthroughs.
03 / PRODUCTION
Screen-informed
Design thinking and behind-the-scenes perspective from people who know the work.
04 / COMMUNITY
No filler
Fan-savvy discussion for listeners who care about substance over empty hype.
Built with the community
Good work travels further together.
Bench Tested is powered by the makers, shops, and organizations who build with care and show up for something bigger than themselves.
Workshop supporters
Back the people behind the work.
Independent makers keep this side of the fandom inventive, useful, and wonderfully hands-on.
Community causes
Fandom that shows up.
Celebrating organizations that turn shared enthusiasm into real-world good.
Ghostbusters Give Back
Charity and outreach efforts from across the Ghostbusters community.
Starlight Children’s Foundation
Bringing joy, comfort, and support to hospitalized kids and their families.
Nominate a future guest
Know who belongs at the bench?
Send us a builder, collector, restorer, designer, fabricator, or Ghostbusters community contributor whose work deserves a deeper conversation. Self-nominations are welcome too.
Follow Bench Tested
Keep the feed in your kit.
New conversations, practical build insight, and more time with the people pushing Ghostbusters craft forward.