Back on GBFans after a few years.

[csullivan1980]

Hello GBFans it’s been a few years. Sorry to have ghosted you but lots have happened since my noobie days on the forum.

Anyway, I’m starting a second full pack build, Benofkent, for someone the next state over from me. No idea what generation pack it is but my question isn’t so much how to build it.

I want to know, as I’ve been away for a while, how much harder it is to find genuine or accurate looking parts for full-pack, non-Spirit, builds.

To give an example: small brass washers for thrower front handle and individual aluminum makers outside of GBFans.

I’m one of those accuracy builders who tries to avoid 3D printed parts for externals as they are not my cup of tea. :walterpeck:

[csullivan1980]

To give a little background about this build from what the owner told me:

It’s an early kit of Benofkent that’s been in an outdoor shed for about three years. Project was started by the owner but they do not have time to complete it. I met the owner almost five years ago and reconnected about a month ago after he heard I’ve build a pack of my own (which I call “Betty”).

Upon arrival of the pictured items most obviously there was noticeable warpage of the shell likely due to being out in the elements of hot and cold changing. So, the first thing I’m attempting to do it correct the warpage. I was under the impression I was working with a fiberglass shell but a friend pointed out to me, who works exclusively with BenofKent and BenofKent kits, that the shell is all resin. We both had the idea to gradually warm up the shell with a hair dryer and mount it back into place onto the motherboard.

It wasn’t as challenging as I expected but it wasn’t easy either. As of today the shell has been bolted for about two weeks at room temperature. This weekend I plan to unbolt the shell and keeping my fingers crossed.

From the pictures you can see the warping is mostly on the lower half of the shell.

While I do not expect to run into any major issues while building this pack I almost forgot how much fun it is to be on this journey again. One thing I do like since my last build is that I now have more knowledge than I did before, a proper workspace and all the tools that I didn’t have before.

[tobycj]

I’ve had a couple of friends who’ve straightened out a BoK shell using the same method, so you should be fine.

There’s a bit of a dearth of makers of aluminium parts these days unfortunately. Freekygeeky seems to be on a break, but you can try contact him through his website. Forum user CPU64 (Chris Bryan) makes them, but it might be a bit of a wait. Heavy Props does too, and sells fully aluminium part kits on eBay. I think he’s who supplies the GBFans webstore. Other than that, I’m not sure there is anyone else doing them at the moment.

Couple of things to note on the BoK kit, his n-filter and booster tube are too small, and his PPD is too large. His supplied resin parts all fit his shell, but if you’re going to replace them with aluminium, you’ll have some work to do to the shell. If you look up my build thread, I covered all the changes required, plus a few other cosmetic changes to improve the accuracy of the shell.

[csullivan1980]

Thanks! Also thanks for confirming what I feared about former suppliers of things leaving or going on break. At times I wasn’t sure when I first started on here I was at the peak of the fandom. A lot of people I’ve been meeting in my local area are opting for Spirit packs which isn’t bad but it’s a little bit sad as I love the art of prop building and feel it’s a huge learning tool. Plus there is nothing like building your own full size Proton Pack.

[csullivan1980]

Today I was planning on starting on dry fitting more parts on the shell but instead I decided to start putting together the wand.

I feel I made a lot of progress in a few hours considering two of them I had to run a non-related errand.

My experience with wands has mostly been with resin body kits. What I mostly remember it that unlike metal resin has a pull when drilling. Sometimes it still surprises me but in the end everything turns out good. However with BOK gun body kit it does come with some challenges and more work than others I’ve used.

THIS kit comes with no pre-drilled holes or indentations on where holes should go. The building pretty much had to do it all by sight. It’s not terribly difficult but trying to keep things straight is not easy. I managed to get off and back on some of the heavily glued pieces to opt for real screws. For example like in the heat sink.

A little time with a heat gun and it popped off with hardly and issue. Some sanding later and I drilled four holes then tapped them into the gun body for a more secure fit. While some will argue that glue works, I have seen first hand more than once glue on resin kits come undone.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon it was spent lining up parts, drilling and tapping holes for screws. While the screws in the picture are there they are not the final ones I plan to use for the build. These are merely to just hold the parts in place until I can get an assortment of the right size and length at my local hardware store.

Creating and cleaning up holes can be a pain. One of the biggest issues I have with BOK’s trigger and gun box as I did with TC kit was that the trigger box needs to be screwed on. Get ready for a lot of turning of a hex screw. I still have PTSD from the last time I was doing the final install after painting.

Mounting the trigger box, etc, to the actually gun box wasn’t hard but trying to keep things in line can be tricky. After I got mine on it was hard to tell if it’s a little crooked on if it’s the box itself that was molded off.

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Overall not too bad, I still got a ways to go.

Next big challenge is dremeling the inside of the gun box. As you can see currently the aluminum tubing is very, VERY off.

Compared to a 3D printed gun box of my friends I can see where I need to get it.

Tomorrow I hope to do some more clean up and get the aluminum tubing straight. Biggest issue I have with BOK is there doesn’t seem to be a way to make it more secure to the gun box. TC’s kit has an added molded piece where you can add a hex screw. With BOK I am not sure I want to secure it with epoxy alone.

[tobycj]

My handle is epoxied in, and then a load of car body filler over it too to help hold it in place, and it seems pretty rock solid to date. If I dropped it from height I might have problems, but it’s survived over a year of regular use so far.

Be aware you’ll need to do a lot of dremel work to fit the switches and bargraph, as the body walls are really thick. I did a bit of dremel work to under the vent on top, so it doesn’t look so thick from the outside too.

[csullivan1980]

Okay, so I’m very big believer in screws/bolts over glue. I’ve never been comfortable gluing anything to a pack especially knowing that they can take a beating in real life situations And I’ve seen first hand, more than once, parts literally fall off or get dinged with little effort. So today was going to be my nuts and bolts day where I make a trip to my local hardware store to buy a supply of the regular bolts I use in my build. However, a large supply of bolts I use were not around or out of stock. I don’t know if this is due to the pandemic or the stock was just bad at my local store(s).

I commonly use #6-23 NC for items like the Heat Sink, front knob, side knob, top knob, grips and underside base plate. I prefer to use the anodized socket heads in black as they look more accurate. But my local Ace Hardware who usually has a great HILLMAN section and Lowe’s came up with #6-23 NC in Phillips. I will say that it is cheaper to get them at Lowe’s as they do sell some bolts in 4 packs for under a buck.

First task of the day was to fix the aluminum tubing as it was just a bit too long and crooked. This took a bit of time as I needed to dremel out a lot of the extra resin on the inside of the gun body.

I really wanted to reinforce the rear handle as outside of epoxy there really isn’t any way to make it more secure. So taking inspiration from my Throwing Chicken build I drilled and tapped a #6-23 NC hole so it would come up on the underside of the aluminum handle. Then from the inside going upwards I screwed in a bolt and before I paint the wand I will add some Loctite clear epoxy.

For the rest of the build it was most or less lining pieces up for drilling holes. I highly recommend making a template of the bottom of the gun as I do not know if BOK pre-drills his holes. I also suggest putting some kind of metal insert into the resin as if you opt for just resin over time it will likely strip the more you go into your gun body. Lining up pieces is not incredibly too difficult but also double and triple check and if you are in doubt get a level.

Adding the S-Hook to the gun track as simple but I did not want to use the lock nuts supplied by BOK. I swapped them out for flat nuts as the lock nuts **do not **securely keep the s-hook still or in place. In addition I had to gradually sand down the metal disc as it did not fit in the gun track. Just took some fine grit sand paper and turned my hand drill on high and slowly but surely got it to fit without having to dremel the gun track.

I will say when I made my first pack to took me days to a couple weeks to get to where I got to today as far as progress goes. I cannot say I fixed every problem I’ve run into with BOK kits but I definitely made good progress today.

[csullivan1980]

Nearly completed the dry fit of the wand after finally finding a local hardware that has stock of the bolts that I use for my builds.

I commonly use #6-23 NC for the front/ rear grips, heat sink, front and side knobs, fuse box, trigger box, top knob (depending) and bottom aluminum plate (highly recommend using brass or wood inserts for a more secure fit).

Anyway, the last hurdle I have is finding a way to install the front aluminum tube into the gun box securely without relying on glue or epoxy alone. :walterpeck: I’m not confident that I’ll be able to get the tube straight without some internal support. I’m thinking of 3D printing something I can mount in the inside to keep the tube stable. Something like a vacuum tube shape where I can screw the tube…it will take some thought.

I am told this is an earlier BOK and I’m hoping current buyers are getting a better designed gun box. This one really needs a lot of modifications to make it easier to put together. A lot if grinding and reshaping was needed. :angryvigo: If only some kind of front tube was molded into the front of the gun box like Throwing Chicken’s kit it would make the job easier and look more screen accurate.

[kevinj319]

Welcome back! Great progress, keep it up.

[csullivan1980]

Progress is moving along very nicely; however I feel the hold up is going to be the front grip ears as they are a pretty funky design. Biggest challenge is figure out how to keep the aluminum tube of BOK straight, level and secure. This kit in no way seem to have thought that out. Any tips are welcome.

I will have access to a 3D printer soon so I’m thinking of designing some kind of stable support.

[WShawn]

As you might have seen in my build thread, I measured the various distances and then just built up a stack of supports and shims to make sure the handles were properly parallel and square to the body. The cutting mat with the grid also helped me eyeball things from the top.

I used epoxy to glue in the handles, then augmented those with L-brackets bolted to the aluminum tubes (and epoxied to the resin box walls).

[Josh_Foote]

Welcome back! Love to see the progress of the pack.

[csullivan1980]

What did you use for a collar for the front grip to the gun body?

Looks 3D printed, I had the same idea.

How old is your kit?

I’ll be doing a second commission build soon and want to know if BOK has improved the design of his gun body.

[WShawn]

@csullivan1980 post_id=4977491 time=1674265422 user_id=27122

What did you use for a collar for the front grip to the gun body?

Looks 3D printed, I had the same idea.

How old is your kit?

I’ll be doing a second commission build soon and want to know if BOK has improved the design of his gun body.

I assume you’re asking me about the gun collar thing?

As shown in my build thread, I cut that off of an old plumbing part, an ABS tailpipe for a sink:

Building a Benofkent Props Proton Pack for fellow 'Buster

Not perfect but sufficient for this low-budget build.

As I note at the start of the thread, the guy for whom I built this bought his BoK kit around 2015.

Good luck!

[csullivan1980]

Thank you @WShawn

Okay so when it comes to electronics kits I personally love Spongeface. I’ve had a very good experience with him and all his parts are plug n play that play nice with one other. However it appears not all his parts are available and unknown if they’ll be available again.

I’ve heard of ninjatunes, heavy props and rabid prototypes but never used them. What are some full kits people like to work with?

[csullivan1980]

It’s been a while since I’ve posted but I recently got over my first bout of COVID. And was doing so good avoiding not getting for almost 3 years. Stay safe my friends.

BOK FRONT ALUMINUM TUBING (WITHOUT A GUN BOX COLLAR).

When I started this build one noticeable thing missing from the gun body was the front mounting collar. I knew this was going to be a challenge but not impossible to solve. To help me with this I worked on a few of my own 3D print designs where a piece of custom tubing could be printed that would fit on the inside the gun box and protrude out.

(I couldn’t be happier with the results as the front aluminum tube fits snug inside the custom collar.)

To help secure the 3D printed collar in place I used Loctite 5 minute Epoxy. I like this mixture because it’s simple, easy and cleans up nice with a bit of rubbing alcohol. Once I add the two 6-32 NC bolts it will really look great!

BOK REAR ALUMINUM TUBING.

For the rear aluminum tubing I secured the tube in place first a 6-32 NC bolt then a clean application of epoxy on both the inside and outside edge of the tubing. The epoxy sets in 5 minutes but will fully cure in 24 hours.

BOK wand front and rear cylinders.

When I received this kit it was partially build but two parts that came as they were delivered to the owner were the wand’s front and rear cylinder. They were 3D printed but oddly, covered with some kind of clear, glossy coating. Sadly I did not get pictures of it before I removed it by hand.

IDK why the rear cylinder was designed like this. It would have been a lot easier to make it an all solid piece for the clippard barb. But for some reason we get this?

Next I’ll be focusing on the part I had the most…the front left and right ears. Oy! I hate these things no matter what the kit. But BOK’s it’s tricky and I’ll show you why in the next post.

[csullivan1980]

Finally got the front grip assembled. I will say that keeping each piece straight as possible is not easy with a BOK kit. For the left ear there really is no way to bolt it on; So, I had to opt for what I fear the most…glue. But I’m more confident that it will be a strong hold has the layer to put it in place was Gorilla super glue, then a layer of Loctite Epoxy for the edge and I’ll soon be adding a fake weld look with Aves Apoxie Sculpt.

Only issue I have with the front grip is that the acrylic tip, trigger time and what holds it in place is not strong. The weight of the front straight banjo weight the acrylic tip down.

[csullivan1980]

Before last night ended I managed to add on the fake weld. I can admit my fake weld skills might still need some work but I love working with Aves Apoxy Sculpt as the working time is 1-3 hours and cures in 24 hours. Best part is that with a little bit of water it can be shaped and reshaped like clay.

Pretty much all that is left is to work on the right ear drilling the holes then wiring it up when my electronics kits are ready. I decided to go with Ninjatunes as he’s the only person that seems to be producing full kits. The owner of this commission requested a GB TVG electronics kits which is like my Spongface/Ghostlabs42 version.

[csullivan1980]

Early this morning I started up the 3D printer to print some back plates for the trigger box and BOK’s kits did not include them. Overall it was a slight modification of my Fuse Box plate but getting the screw hole lined up only took a small adjustment.

I plan to finish them with Bondo Level 2 Glazing Putty, sanding them down and hitting them with Rustoleum Grey Primer and Paint.

My personal go-to paint is Rustoleum 2x Satin Canyon Black. I like the shade as it’s a bit matte but not too glossy.

[csullivan1980]

Today was a really good day for progress. I can feel the finish line quickly approaching.

Hard to believe I’m already at the painting stages for the remaining parts. Using a method I saw from an older video of Adam Savage’s Tested I equally spaced out wire coat hangers on a couple spare boards of 2x4 I had laying around. And hung the bumper from a spare wire to air dry its first gentle coat of black paint.

I had to head out for part of the early afternoon and drove to a local hobby shop that specialized in models, modeling supplies and other goodies. I went out to buy some paints as I want to hand paint the “metal” knobs included in BOK’s kit. While I was looking for supplies I found something I was pretty excited about:

If it’s not the Hat Lights I’m obsessed with it’s the small brass washers found on the front barrel of gun box that connects the front grip to the body. Now, I know, these are not brass but for $2.99 it was worth experimenting to see if this 1/4" x .049" tubing with an ID of .0152" fits the mounting screws I use: 6-23 NC. And they came out soooo nice! with an average measurement of 2.45mm they look quite accurate. Unfortunately K&S does not make these in brass so I had to order the same measurements in brass from online metals dot com.

Once I got over my excitement I moved onto priming all remaining parts before the pack gets fully reassembled again.

These are pictures of the shell after I repaired all the misaligned holes and “fixed” the warped shell issue to the best of my ability.

The pack looks great after a pass of primer paint!

Now that the Apoxy Sculpt fake welds have dried it was time to hit the thrower with some primer too.

Lastly I had to strip some of the pre-painted knobs as they were painted the wrong color. First thing was to give them all a quick bath in some Pure Acetone from Sally’s Beauty Supplies. This stuff is powerful and within a few seconds in a soak you can see the paint ripple which comes off easily with a hard toothbrush. Once cleaned of paint I dropped them in a cold soapy water mixture before leaving them out to dry. Tomorrow the goal is to repaint them carefully.