First, let me just say what an incredible wealth of information this site has. My head is still swimming trying to process it all (the stickies in the equipment sections are fantastic!). My goal is to build a functional pack/wand (light/sound) as accurately as possible with about $1,000 to spend, perhaps a bit more. I don’t need every exact piece and I’m capable at improvising/re-purposing most things but the lights/sounds and a quality wand are a must.
What I’m worried about, however, is parts availability so close to Halloween. It seems like there are lots of options for some things but others are out of stock multiple places or are one-offs being produced in batches. So what I’m wondering is if I’m being unrealistic in expecting that I can get this done by October 31st, especially given the demand/shortages (GBFans awesome soundboard, for example).
Admittedly, I’m a tad impatient when it comes to my projects. I like to dive in head-first and I don’t start another until the initial one is completed. So I’d really hate to be stuck in my garage waiting on parts for weeks or months. Mainly, I’d rather not deal with electronics from scratch (kits are fine) and I don’t weld but everything else I can handle, especially with good tools and plenty of free time on my hands. So what do you guys think? Am I crazy for attempting this?
Any input is appreciated and I’ll certainly be documenting the process if/when I choose to start it. Thanks in advance!
Yeah, my timing is bad since it seems like much of GBFans store is out of stock and the For Sale section has a lot of unknown delivery times for custom stuff (understandably). Does the store re-stock fairly often or should I just find other sources right off the bat, considering the Halloween rush?
I’m hoping I can at least get the major pieces going (Alice frame, shell/mobo, lights/soundboard) so I can start working on it. Seems the soundboard and a few other things are going to be tough to find so I’m not super comfortable getting started until I cross those hurdles. Maybe I just need to suck it up and buy the shell because once I drop $300 on this project, I’m “all in” 8)
Get what you can get. Just dont slap down a lot of cash and rush the build. I’ve seen plenty of people have top of the line parts and shells and they end up making a mess. Ya know what I mean.
It’s possible, with a $1000 preliminary budget and free time on your hands, you’ve got 2 months and can get there if you are wise with said time and money.
My advice:
Know your sellers. Before you buy anything on this site, ebay, or elsewhere, look the seller up in the feedback section of this site. Some people are not worth buying from due to dishonesty, low quality products, or other reasons. Some people are great sellers, but take a long time to produce things, and sometimes that is information you can also gather by looking at the feedback threads.
Check the for sale forum every day. Sometimes multiple times a day. I can’t tell you the number of times someone has put something I needed for sale here and I missed it just because I was a day, or even a few hours late in seeing the sale thread. You can get anything from rare parts to completed packs there and everything in between, you just gotta look.
Keep your PayPal account stocked and ready to dish out when those items do pop up for sale.
Allow yourself to build a “good enough” pack now and upgrade after your Halloween deadline. Chances are you won’t spend this much money now and never use it again, so you’ll constantly be seeing things you want to upgrade. It’s ok to use PVC pipes, resin parts, hand cut street sign motherboards, and the like now with the intention of going with aluminum or other products down the line.
Make a build thread and keep it up to date. You’ll run into unexpected snags or questions that others have already dealt with and will save time, effort, and grief by documenting your own progress and reading build threads of veteran builders here.
Don’t get your feelings hurt if someone corrects you. Plenty of people here like to give opinions on packs, but some don’t always do it in the nicest tone. Thick skin.
I could say plenty more but I’d probably ramble too much and lose your attention. It’s a fun hobby but can be frustrating, especially with a deadline. Enjoy the build, it’s as much fun as showing off the end results.
Solid advice. Come to think of it, I want this for much more than just a costume so I’m not going to get hung up on the Halloween thing. Thankfully my last project was a costume (Reaper: Custom Budget Grim Reaper Costume - Album on Imgur) so I don’t have to stress on the pack. My friends are probably sick me carrying a scythe around but next year will blow their minds…
Anyway, I guess the next step is getting my parts list together and ordering what I can, especially the low stock stuff. So far I’ve got:
Alice LC-1 frame - local surplus/Amazon (GBfans out of stock)
Shell/Motherboard - GBF
Power/Cyclotron lights - GBF
GB1 cable - GBF
Wand shell - no idea (prefer a kit)
Wand lights - GBF? (I heard these are near release?)
Yep, first thing I did was go in there. Sure enough, one of the Ebay pages I had bookmarked on earlier research was on that list. Definitely not using him!
Awesome idea, added to my browser start page. I do it when searching for things on craigslist, guess I can do it here too.
I hadn’t thought about that. I loathe Paypal’s practices and avoid it when I can but with all the custom/small store stuff I’m sure you’re right I’ll need it.
That’s more or less my plan. I found some resin sellers in the FS section to fill gaps where necessary. I still don’t plan to rush for Halloween at this point (above post) but I’m sure I’ll have some out of stock and/or custom stuff to wait on. If I can do it cheap and still use it, why not.
I definitely intend to. I’ve been reading/bookmarking other build threads all day. Once I get out of the brainstorming phase I’ll make it!
No worries, I expect as much on any forum (I’ve moderated a few). Thanks for the heads up and other great advice!
Some parts are a bit scarce at the moment, but as we approach Halloween you’ll likely find more coming into stock the closer we get to the big day Morydees. You may not be able to get everything you want in time, but it would still be worth noting which of the rarer pieces you want to eventually purchase so that after October 31st you can purchase them.
Good luck with your build, and definitely post your progress.
Supposedly Sept/October according to AJ’s post in the GBF Soundboard thread in For Sale. I’m hoping to get in on those so I can use all three pieces together.
I have a bit of advice. If you want you could try to make some of the parts on your own, the simpler parts like the booster frame for example. They don’t need to be 100% accurate, just good enough for now until you can get the proper parts after Halloween.
Yeah, thankfully it seems Nickatron has resin Booster Frame’s in stock but I’ll probably have to do this for a few other parts here and there. I love repurposing things…
Well…looks like I’m closing in on that $1,000 really fast on just the GBFans shop ($650). As others have warned me, I’m probably going to go over it pretty quick but that’s okay. I’m so excited doing all this research/shopping that I’m in for the long haul…
Non-GBF parts:
Frame ($30)
Thrower kit ($150 Nickatron resin)
Light/Sound/Wand ($185 Crix kit)
Pack Aluminum parts ($150-$200? Vincenzo/Ejgunth87 depending on availability)
Misc: other Clippard, knobs, etc (~$150)
I think that’s the majority of it…does it seem like I’m on the right track?
If you get the nickatron thrower kit, you won’t have to get the metal guntrack or clippard R701 right this minute since they come in the kit already along with the green tubing. Also the hatlight socket bases are optional, I don’t have them for my thower. Thats up to you though since it is your build, but it is a way to save some money on those parts or use that to get different parts for your pack. You can always upgrade to the metal/real parts later on especially if you are trying to stay in budget
Good catch, I hadn’t noticed it came with a resin Clippard! That said, I’ve decided to sell some old stuff and not worry about the cost too much. In fact, if I could get an aluminum thrower in less than a month I’d get one but I don’t think that’s possible. Thanks for the tip.
That picture of your shopping cart really shows how far we’ve come. Where once you had to wait for a once a year part run or make your own doo-dad, you can now go to GBFans.com and buy everything you need.
