GrantOfKings' In-over-my-head Packs

Equipment Proton Packs
1

Hi guys,

So…I’ve been a lurker on the forums here, and honestly kind of afraid to post. Halloween 2011 I came across a guy while in Baltimore that had a full pack built. It was right after the Matty PKE’s came out, and I honestly didn’t even have the frame of reference that there was a (huge) community of GB prop building. From there, I joke with my brother for awhile about building packs, and last summer we started.

So not knowing how/where to buy parts, we ended up on eBay. And of course, the prominent seller there is BPS. (And hence why I’ve been hesitant to post, since I expect that I’ll never live down building/owning a BPS pack). So since about last August, my brother and I have been doing our best to build a pack each, and shortly after I started a third for my wife. There have been problems with some part casting, and of course customer service has been what everyone here would probably expect. We’ve made due having to modify a few pieces and have been replacing items where the casts either looked cheap or didn’t function(real Clippards, resistors, hat/clip lights, clear tubes, etc.).

Coming to GB fans for mostly reference, I also missed out on the drama surround the Mighty Microcontroller kickstarter. From what I could see, it was an impressive kit, and I have sets for two of the pack builds. I have not had the negative experience I’ve read many had with Shawn, but I think we ended up with some of the final kits, and there are not replacements available for a few parts that are having issues. It’s a great kit, but unfortunately only one of them completely works.

Right now we’re kind of at a stand still due to headaches due to the electronics. I’d love matching kits across all three packs, but I don’t know if junking the working kit is worth it, and then I’m kind of back to square one. I had purchased equipment to rewire the Mighty kit so all the boards could be in the pack, making room for a barrel extension mechanism in the gun box (the BPS box does not appear as spacious as Throwing Chickens or the aluminum ones, so keeping as little in the box as possible is a must).

I can post a bunch of pics later, but one question that has been nagging me since noticing and coming into the forums months ago is, Will I/we always be ostracized for our packs being sourced from someone so hated in the community?

-Grant

2

The answer to your question is that you wouldn’t deserve to be ostracised from the community.

You might be deserving of a cold shoulder if you’d known the truth about Bob and decided to buy his products regardless, but it’s different when you bought his gear thinking his was respectable and reputable… only to learn the truth at a later date.

As things stand, we’ve had a few other folks here who’ve bought Bob’s Pack kits without knowing the truth about his actions… and despite the poorer quality of the pieces they’ve managed to transform them into reasonable efforts, there’s a good crowd of talented folks here and I’m sure there’ll be those who would be willing to help you out. :slight_smile:

It’s unfortunate to learn that your electronics are the Mighty kit… but hopefully there’ll be assistance with those as well.

3

Without ‘being in the know’ you wouldn’t know about Bob’s stuff, I don’t think anyone here is going to be purposely disrespectful toward you just because you bought stuff from him, we’re all here to help each other out at the end of the day that’s what this community is all about. Sure as Kingpin said you may get the cold shoulder but you’ve explained your situation and we respect that. This place has a vast resource of genius builders that I’m sure will help you resolve issues you may have with parts etc… My advice is stick to the sellers here at GBFans or get stuff imported from the UK (some awesome guy’s making stuff there) - If you’re not sure about something just ask :slight_smile:

4

Everything stantz and Kingpin said are 100% correct, but this cannot be stressed enough ^^^

I have had PM conversations, thread conversations, and who knows how many other types of conversations with people making sure I got everything right. I too, was tempted by BPS, but luckily, I found this community before buying what he had. I did not, however, heed the warnings for the Mighty Microcontroller as a friend of mine bought it and really liked it. After having used it in my first pack, when it works it is a great kit, it is just so involved compared to the GBFans kits that it is incredibly annoying.

We are all here to help each other out. Check the For Sale section as there are amazing sellers on there selling pretty much everything you could possible need. The GBFans store, Nick-a-Tron, Crix, EJGunth87, CPU64, and momeraths24 and countless others have amazing reputations here on the site and make quality stuff for the packs.

Good luck to you. Hope everything turns out well :cool:

5

Thanks for the responses and the words of encouragement. Had I stumbled on the site before I started buying parts, I’m sure I would have gone a different route. But with all the money already in the three packs and the two electronic kits, starting over is entirely unrealistic.