In 1999, Sidney Okamoto was perusing the (dial-up) Internet, when he came across instructions on how to build a proton pack, one of the high-tech backpacks used by the heroes of the movie Ghostbusters to help capture ghosts. The schematics suggested using a repurposed cake pan to double as the pack’s backboard, wooden spools for bumper knobs, and an oval film camera case for pneumatic valves. Bicycle reflectors became the blinking lights of a miniature particle accelerator. Instead of a long exhaust filter, the instructions recommended a long tube of Pringles potato chips.

“Looking back now, those original packs were pretty ... off,” Okamoto muses. “But at the time, it actually wasn’t easy to figure out what all the parts were.” Today, anyone can watch YouTube tutorials on how to build costumes from movies or google high-resolution stills from remastered versions of cult films, such as Blade Runner or Mystery Men, for clear images of specific props or set pieces. In the 1990s, resources for movie buffs were limited.

Of course, that didn’t stop Okamoto. A third-generation Japanese kid growing up in Pauoa, Okamoto first fell in love with movies at a young age, when his grandmother used to take him on the bus to watch Disney films at the old King Theater in Chinatown. As he got older, Okamoto become a model hobbyist, visiting Pete’s Modelcraft at Ala Moana Center to buy kits of race cars and C-3PO and R2-D2 from Star Wars (although he was often frustrated that his cheaply looking finished models didn’t at all resemble the professionally made show- pieces in the display window at Pete’s). While working at ABC Stores in the ’80s, he attended Star Trek conventions at the Princess Ka‘iulani Hotel wearing a Starfleet uniform, complete with a homemade phaser.

So when Okamoto discovered instructions for the proton pack, he convinced a friend of his — Reuben Young, who owned the former Hawai‘i Collector’s Gallery in Kaimuki — that they could build it. For Halloween that year, Okamoto, Young, and two other friends walked down Kalakaua Avenue as the Ghostbusters. People went wild. “We had the full-on jumpsuits, and each of us had proton packs. People treated us like we were the real Ghostbusters,” Okamoto says. “That sealed the deal for me.”

Okamoto became hooked. Not only on Ghostbusters gear — to date, Okamoto has built three proton packs to replace his 1999 version; one inspired by the first Ghostbusters movie, another based on Ghostbusters II, and a pink pack in honor of Okamoto’s wife beating breast cancer (which he wears while walking at Susan G. Komen events) — but also just acquiring movie props, in general. Unfortunately, finding and buying actual items used on-screen is wildly expensive. Until relatively recently, many movie production companies simply dumped props, painted backgrounds, and other set pieces after a movie was finished. So instead, Okamoto continued to build his own screen-accurate props. He constructed a sci-fi motion tracker from Aliens by combining a Kango rotary hammer drill, a Hama slide viewer (used to view 35 mm film), a camera shutter release, remote control radio parts, and the buttons on a calculator. He hollowed out a Homelite chainsaw and replaced the blade with plastic teeth to create a convention-friendly chainsaw hand worn by Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) in the Evil Dead film series.

Okamoto’s currently in the middle of his biggest project to date: Converting three working Jeeps into “official” Jurassic Park vehicles. “When they were filming Jurassic World in Hawai‘i a few years ago, I thought it would be funny to build one of the Jeeps from the original movie and see how far I could possibly get on set without anyone stopping me,” he says. Principal photography ultimately wrapped before Okamoto could sneak into a scene, but he was able to finish the car: a custom 1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara.

The replica looked so realistic that one of the producers from the news entertainment show Extra asked if they could film an interview in Okamoto’s Jeep three years later to promote the Jurassic World sequel, Fallen Kingdom. “Chris Pratt drove the Jeep, and Bryce Dallas Howard rode in the back, while the Extra interviewer asked questions up front,” he says Okamoto was also offered a superfan’s dream gig: Help drive the Fallen Kingdom cast, including actors Jeff Goldblum, Daniela Pineda and Justice Smith, to their various media events across O‘ahu. (“Basically, would I want to hobnob with actors and drive them around for an afternoon? Hell yes,” Okamoto says.)

It wasn’t long before Kualoa Ranch itself, the 4,000-acre historic nature reserve that served as the backdrop for dozens of films, including Jurassic Park, hired Okamoto as their store manager. At the time, there was only one Jurassic Park-related T-shirt available for sale. Today, Okamoto has helped fill the store with plenty of dinosaur goodies — as well as several displays filled with his Jurassic Park replicas on permanent loan. “My wife always tells me to take more things to Kualoa and get them out of our house,” Okamoto laughs.

“This is a dream job. But I can’t turn the store into a dinosaur store. For every dinosaur T-shirt or novelty pin I order for the store, I have to order a kalo T-shirt or a horseback riding pin. You have to balance things out, you know.”