Yeah, it’s another one of these. XD I figure there really aren’t enough around yet and I really like the smaller design and convenience of the arm-mounting, so I decided to build one. This one is actually take two, as the first one didn’t turn out as well as I’d have liked. This one is actually a lot better, even though it isn’t anything like perfect. It works for me, at least. This one’s sort of a collaboration between me and Ketchum, with me doing most of the work and him helping out with some parts, advice and loads of reference photos to help me with certain bits. For this build, I used some things either he or I already had, along with one ot two found items, some bits from the dollar store, and a number of knobs, switches and other bits from an online electronics parts store.
I started with the thrower for the pack, since I don’t actually like the thrower on the comic pack. The pack itself is great, but the thrower…not so much (IMO, of course). I decided that since the Mk.IIZ is a smaller version of the original, the thrower I wanted was going to be exactly the same thing, a smaller version of the original. I looked at schematics and photos and figured out exactly what I could eliminate or move around on the gun without significantly affecting the look or removing too many bits and then started construction.
My base materials were a cardboard doll box (don’t ask) and a cookie tin for the cyclotron. It’s actually a touch on the small side for the TL pack, but it seems like it’ll work well anyway, I think.
The first thing I did in actually constructing the thrower was to get the parts sketched out and then cut, and the thrower body mocked up. It’s constructed in nine pieces, since the cardboard I’m using is fairly stiff and I can’t really bend it without breaking it. Once I got it all taped together, I marked out the approximate locations of various knobs and switches and other bits to be placed.
Once I got that done, I could start putting it together properly. I got all my switches and knobs in, as well as an LED kit to put in place of the bar graph on the thrower. (The LED kit didn’t end up working out, as I can’t find my soldering iron at the moment and the wire glue I got doesn’t work for shit.) I got it put together and got most of the knobs, switches and other bits installed relatively quickly after that, but ended up having to install some parts I originally forgot to order after it was mostly together.
PIle of assorted knobs and switches for use on the thrower and cyclotron:
This is what I’m using for the Clippard valve on the thrower. I’ve got another one for the pack. They’re old fluorescent starters with the prongs cut off and nuts glued on, then given a coat of silver paint.
Switches and knobs that I shrank down/shifted around. also, that red panel is the same red plastic that I used on the cyclotron lights. I had to stick something there after the failure of the LED kit since I already had the hole cut:
The activation switch/intensify button, which I shifted to the side of the thrower. Also, the barrel of the thrower:
After I got the thrower mostly assembled (at this point it still needed a couple of parts added, but I had to wait until I got those in, as I’d forgotten to order them along with the other parts I’d already bought), I decided to address the problem of the handle/trigger mechanism. As I said, I wanted somethig very like the comic book trigger mech, which meant a long arm with a handgrip and the trigger button on the end. For this, I went with the plastic tube that had been inside the “Sound Tube”/groan tube (one of those deeply annoying tubes that makes a sort of whining/groaning sound when you flip it over), as it was the perfect circumference to fit the button I’d gotten for the trigger and there was more than enough of it for my purpose. I got it measured out to the right length for the grip/trigger part and cut it off, then melted the longer bit I had left to the grip part, cut off the excess and used that to add a shorter length to the end, which is the part that actually went into the body of the thrower. I covered over the open ends that were left and then gave it a bit of hot glue welding and a coat of black spray paint.
(This is what it looked like right after attaching the tube to the grip. I forgot to take a photo of the finished handle before I painted it. facepalm)
This is the handle after it was painted and attached to the body of the thrower:
I now have it almost finished, but do not yet have photos of it in the state it’s now in. I’ve added a few bits since these photos were taken, so I’ll try to get some shots of the nearly-finished (just in need of labels) thrower in the next few days.
Next up: The pack itself. This is actually proving less hassle than the thrower for me.
