McFly's pack build thread - Finished!

mcfly · January 30, 2010, 2:00am

Started work on the pack today, using an |alkaline| shell, real Clippards and stuff when I can, and parts from MMM including his new gun kit. I’m still waiting on an ion arm and ion arm assembly, as well as a bumper and the PROTON PACK THE SILVER LARGE BUMPER STOP FINNED KNOB, and I haven’t gotten a frame and straps yet. The ultimate goal is a GB2 pack.

Today my friend and I mounted the mobo to the pack first (probably a really weird thing to do first), and mostly prepped and primed stuff and drilled holes into things. Anyway, here are a few pictures.

The parts assembled:

Parts in the shop at work. The grips have been prepped and primed in this shot.

Prepping the mobo for mounting - taking measurements and making marks.

Gunbox with Colin’s reference marks, plus some holes drilled for the slo-blow box.

L-brackets attached!

Painting the gun knobs - I used a chrome paint, which I think came out really nice looking. If anybody’s interested, I’ll find out the brand. It was just some paint we had in the shop.

Painting the banjos:

Priming some of Colin’s parts - holes drilled out for the HGA, which actually needs to be trimmed a little:

More painting… pretty much most of today was painting.

Oooooh:

Sanding the shell for… painting:

First quick coat or two:

My buddy Nate uses his dremel on steroids to smooth out the shell a little between the fins.

He also cut out the vent holes and the hole for the bar graph.

Here I am working on putting the holes in the bottom of the gun box for the cover plate.

That’s it for today - I’m hoping to work more on the gun tomorrow and see what I can do. Let me know what you guys think - I know I didn’t take too many detailed pictures, but I think by now you guys all know what you’re doing.

Shane

deekman · January 30, 2010, 2:18am

I think if my scratch build falls flat, then I might pick up an alkaline shell because that’s damn fine looking.

mcfly · January 30, 2010, 2:24am

Thanks! Most of the shell was very, very crisp. Only between the fins was it bumpy in some places, and John does a few fixes and things before he sends it out anyway. But remember that his n-filter has a hollow top. I actually filled mine in for more screen accuracy. (Shhh!)

Shane

Ant3869 · January 30, 2010, 3:24am

This is looking great, I’m going to be ordering a alkaline shell soon, so I’ll definitely be watching this. Did you have to bondo or spot fill any on the shell? And do you plan on putting in lights and sound? I can’t wait to see how you do it if you do.

mcfly · January 30, 2010, 9:17am

Thanks!

John recommends spot filling a little if there are some bad spots, but he does some for you to straighten out some edges and fill in bigger holes. I didn’t have so many problems with holes as much as I did with bumps, so I mostly had to sand down rather than fill in.

I do plan on doing lights and sound though!

Shane

kind2311 · January 30, 2010, 9:26am

hell yeah shane, nice to see you getting a pack together.

i better see you at more so cal events now

mcfly · January 30, 2010, 10:37am

Absolutely! As soon as I finish this thing! I’m really excited to see it come together. The stupid mobo and nycoil tubing has been sitting around for far too long. I got about 90% of the parts (ALL the resin except for the bumper and ion arm, as well as the ion arm assembly, shell, and shock mount) on Thursday and started as soon as I could.

Shane

irricanian · January 30, 2010, 10:41am

Great progress! Looks like you have a nice area to work in as well, gonna be a nice pack!

RedSpecial · January 30, 2010, 2:11pm

All that work in one day ? bloody hell lol

Its looking brilliant so far !

mcfly · January 30, 2010, 9:31pm

Anybody know how big the hole in the slo-blow box needs to be for the red LED? I’m planning on an Exoray kit.

Shane

ItalianNinja86 · January 30, 2010, 10:02pm

I can not wait to get my shell from |alkaline| now that i see how great it looks when its cleaned up and painted

great work so far mcfly

kind2311 · January 30, 2010, 10:05pm

go pick up one of these lights from radio shack: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062374

then drill accordingly. i believe it’s about 1/4"

mcfly · January 30, 2010, 10:18pm

Hmm… you mean just grab one so I can use it for the size, and then ditch it when Exoray’s lights come in? I’ve got a red cap for the light from MMM, so I don’t need a whole new light.

Shane

HoldinJohnson · January 31, 2010, 12:13am

Can’t wait to see you put on THE SILVER LARGE BUMPER STOP FINNED KNOB

mcfly · January 31, 2010, 1:11am

Just a small update today - I put the banjos on the trigger tip and the ear (using 2 part epoxy - like ya do!), painted some more stuff, added another coat of black to the shell, (found some spots to fill on one of the rings on the cyclotron - d’oh!) and mounted a pin into the top gun knob. I also drilled out the slo-blow box for hidden wiring and the red LED.

Here are a few shots!

Newest coat of paint

Wet paint!

Watching epoxy dry

And the slo-blow box…

So there’s the holes on top for the barb and LED. The hole for the LED is now sort of countersunk, so it’s big enough for the LED cover that Colin sent me to squeeze in, but then it gets narrower, and that’ll be where the wires go through. Then that leads into the bigger hole you see (just barely out of the way of that hole for the bolt that goes into the gunbox).

And that larger hole connects here:

Hoping tomorrow to do some more work on the gun. I’d keep going now but it’s cooling off and the paint takes forever to dry!

How are you guys running wires from the gun ear into the pack? Just through the ear and the handle? What size hole do I need for the LED that goes into the orange cap?

Shane

irricanian · January 31, 2010, 1:34am

For the wires on the gun ear you can either run it thru the gun tube (inside) or under the grip, just make a channel on the underside of the grip to fit the wires, you’ll likely have to do it that way if you’re using an Exoray kit as you’ll need the space in the gun tube for the barrel light, whatever you do plan it out and dry fit before committing to drilling.

The gun ear holes are 1/4" for the LED under the cap and 9/32" I believe for the push button switch

mcfly · January 31, 2010, 2:38am

Thanks Colin! I guess I’ll have to go pick up the push button switch. I don’t really want to go ahead without having the lighting kit either, but it’s just too cool to build this stuff.

And actually, I was just test fitting some of the pieces that are nearly dry now, and look what I have!

So cool! The paint isn’t quite done yet (could take another coat or two), and I’ve got to attach the pieces still, but it looks awesome! I guess I’ll have to make some tunnels in the ear with the light and switch on it for the wiring. I’ve never seen anybody use that push button though - does anybody use it??

Shane

MrSpider · January 31, 2010, 2:56am

I’m not sure what the theory is on that button, if I recall… I think its exorays lights, he uses it as a safety button, in that the wand does not work without the safety off, or something to that nature.

I always liked that theory

kind2311 · January 31, 2010, 4:39am

it is unknown what the red gun ear pushbutton did on the screen-used props, if it indeed did anything other than make the gun look more busy.

the button is included in both exoray and proptronix’ light kits.

exoray uses it to activate a small strobe burst effect from his barrel lights, different from when you push the black button on the triggerbox.

proptronix uses it to make the LED in the orange cap next to it light up

since the discovery of Rob at Replica Props and his sound chip, a popular thing to do is have the button activate a sound like the pack venting from the game, or music from the movie.

FeinDTacticS · January 31, 2010, 5:16am

Looks really good so far… pack build threads are the best thing to watch unfold.