I was wondering if the third hole on the vertical bar of the ALICE requires a spacer. After drilling out the hole and making a test fit, I noticed that with the spacer the motherboard sits off of the horizontal middle bar (it’s a little hard to see the in the picture). But if I take the spacer out, the motherboard rests almost perfectly in the horizontal bar. Just wondering which was the correct way.
Looks correct to me. I think you have it in the right place for sure.
http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtopic.php?p=228851#p228851
Funny, you post right after that one… :whatever:
Now that I have that little mess with the spacers sorted out, I figured I’d begin to document my build. I am still waiting on my Alkaline shell and a few parts from MMM so I started working on a few other things in the meantime.
I have an LC-2 frame that needed to be painted black so I cleaned it up real well, gave it a light sand and a good coat of flat black paint.
However, I made a STUPID mistake by using a cotton shirt to paint the frame on and some fibers became embedded in the paint, so I had to sand a few areas down and paint again. Live and learn I guess. In the end though, it tuned out better than I expected.
Next, I started work on the injector tubes using PVC and wooden dowels.
I won’t bore you with details, but I was surprised by how painless this was. Before I set the epoxy, I realized that I would need to use bondo or something like it on the bottom of the pipe so I cut a small section off of the dowels.
Just a few measurements and epoxy and I was good to go. I have injector tubes!
Daylight was fading fast at this point, so I called it a night. Now that I have “officially” started work, I couldn’t be happier!
My Alkaline shell arrived today!
Digging out more packing peanuts
And together with my MMM motherboard
After taking the pack outside to get a better look, I noticed my first major hurdle with this project - Several of the shell edges (especially along the top and bottom) don’t sit flush with the motherboard. The top corner above the gun mount is the worst spot.
Bottom of cyclotron
Now this is not a knock on John’s work at all and as he has already told me that some epoxy putty should work to fill in the edges (I have zero experience or working knowledge with fiberglass), so hopefully that will do the trick.
So now that almost all my parts are here, still waiting on an Exoray bumper and a shock mount from Jason, I should get to sanding in the next few days! Very excited!
the slight warping looks like it can just be pulled into place using some well placed mounting brackets, nuts and bolts
I thought about that as well, but would that be too much pressure on the fiberglass, perhaps leading the more warping or even breakage?
Awesome! Dude, I am itching for my to come in, so I can start on mine.
I want your alice frame
Your L brackets should bring those gaps down to next to nothing, just make sure when you mount them you press the shell as flat as you can when you drill and tap the holes and secure each bolt as you go so you don’t lose your alignment, the gaps will be minimal. Just take your time and think it through.
nice looking shell!
Wow! My first compliment on GBFans! Thanks! Honestly though, it was a $20 frame I bought from ebay and with a little TLC, viola!
Thanks for the tip Colin! I’ll admit that it scares me half to death, though. Wouldn’t all that pressure hurt or crack the shell? And just for fun, here is a pic I just took with some of your goodies!
My shell had this same issue but like Irricanian said I mounted his brackets and clamped the shell down into place and drill and tapped the shell and bracket and it was fine. I threaded in the bolt afterwards and moved onto the next spot for drilling and tapping. The gap on my pack is so minimal I don’t want to fill it with putty or bondo. Some black silicone right near the edge on the inside of the mobo would close any extra gap that might be visible but that isn’t even needed in my shell. John did an awesome job on the shell.
You could also “sand” down the edge of the shell on a flat concrete surface. It will help flatten out the shell.
Heh, no problem. The last few days I’ve been scouring Alice Frame material. Accurate straps…padding for gb2 custom shoulder straps. I bought a new kidney pad and an LC2 screen accurate waist strap and also a LC1 GB1 style strap
Plus I dread paiting mine!!
I thought painting the frame was kind of fun. Kind2311 gave me some good tips: Give the frame a light sanding (I think I used 320 grit), clean the whole thing with a solvent such as mineral spirits and paint with flat black. Just don’t use a cotton shirt like I did. :sigh:
Could you please elaborate?
He means dragging the shell around on concrete! I don’t think I would be game… 
But it’s a good idea. 
Yeah, good point. You should wait till AFTER you’re finished to do that. 8)
+1
I had to do this with my exoray shell
Don’t do this, your shell is already trimmed and you would be removing material that’s supposed to be there. Theres 2 reasons why it might’ve warped. It was shipped still “green” (not fully cured) or it was heated up to a point where it was soft enough to warp. My advice would be to mount all your L brackets on your motherboard and leave your shell in your car so it gets really nice and warm, I’d even leave it there for a couple of days. THEN hold it down and screw it to your motherboard while it’s still warm, let it cool thoroughly for a couple days (maybe in a basement? )so it retains some “memory” and should stay flat after that.
this pack looks like its on the road to awesomeness already! great start on the alice frame and mobo, and your shell is top notch..
congrats on the great start! keep us updated!