Anyway, yeah, I’m an absolutely complete building dummy. In High School, I was better in Home Ec. than Shop class. Thing is, that’s not going to kill my dream of having my own proton pack. I could come up with three dozen questions right now, ranging from where I should start for supplies, what plans I should follow, how to paint, so on and so forth, however, I suppose I should ask a pretty fundamental one right now:
If I have no experience and no knowledge of how to build anything more complicated than a smores sandwich, should I bother diving into the world of proton pack production? I really, really would love to make my own pack but I fear it could turn out looking like a giant mess of shapes and wires. My father has agreed to give me a hand, but I have no idea where I’d start.
So, honestly, should I bother trying this project out or should I just be happy with a uniform by itself? I’ve looked at a few of the topics here and you guys seem like geniuses. I have no idea if I’d be able to make a decent looking pack.
All it takes is cutting and folding paper, and following the instructions in the thread (ALL of the instructions!). It’s a little tedious but pepakura is used to create some cool stuff, go on - google it! Any other parts that you’re missing or having trouble with, you can probably buy them from several members in the For Sale section located on the bottom of the forum.
Try to avoid ebay as there are a LOT of scam artists on there, check the Feedback/Blacklisted Sellers threads to see who’s good, who’s great, and who’s awesome.
I have seen Bradester’s Dollar Store pack and that’s one of the more amazing pack’s I’ve seen. That must have taken a really bright mind to do that.
It’s not that I’m against putting in the effort, because I will if I decide to do it, it’s just that I’m afraid I don’t have the know how and necessary skills to make a remotely nice pack. I’ve already decided that I don’t want to go the ebay route if I do make my own pack, since it seems like it’d be more costly as well as more risky. I figured buying a shell would make for a good first attempt, but it seems like a cheap way out and wouldn’t be as rewarding.
If I was going to make my own pack, I figure I’d either follow a set of plans exactly - either Norm’s or Sean’s - or I’d just spend a long time out shopping for parts and just see what I can throw together while trying to follow Stefan’s measurements.
Alright, I’ve decided that I will indeed jump in and take a stab at it. I have the literal confidence of a peanut, but hopefully it turns out semi - decent. <_<
My plan of attack is to basically do this, but instead of vacuum forming, I’ll just paint it black at that point.
I was wondering if I could get any tips as to what kind of material I should be using. I watched a video with someone using foam earlier, but that seems slightly too fragile to me. I wouldn’t mind it being a little weight-y and I would prefer one with at least some weight over weightlessness. So what are some good materials?
I suppose that once I finally start this, I’ll post some pictures along the way so I could possibly get some feedback and advice. In the meantime, I might take my day off tomorrow to go grab some Nerf gun from Wal-Mart and create my own standalone proton gun. Just to get me more amped for the project.
Well, what you could do is use dense sculpting foam for the pieces that are less likely to get banged up (maybe with an outer shell of thin styrene so the paint doesn’t melt it or something), and wood for the rest of it.
I’ve found myself using blocks of wood for pieces of my in-progress pack simply out of necessity. It’s the only thing I have access to that I can actually cut to the right shape and thickness.
As a new builder myself I would have to recommend styrene (polystyrene), I had never done any kind of prop-building before I started on my proton pack, and styrene is so incredibly easy to work with. Also, generally for a giant 8 ftx 4ft sheet it only costs about 30 bucks. As long as you have some styrene, a carpenters square, a plastic cutter, and some good styrene glue (http://www.ridoutplastics.com/weldon1802pint.html) you should be just fine.