Hello, everyone and welcome to my first pack build. After browsing around for a while I decided to go with the ol’ styrene method, mainly due to not having any real workspace or wood cutting tools. Also, as far as things go, I’m not trying to be 100% screen accurate with this first pack, just trying to get a feel for the whole process really. Anyway! Now to the fun stuff!
I decided to make the gearbox first, because I like the way it looks.
Also, it may be hard to tell- but I’m using a super thin sheet of styrene, and have to cut out everything twice to make it thick enough, and it sucks.
Adding the ribs takes so damn long. and after putting them on I realize the measurements are a bit off- Oh well!
Making the EDA:
This thing gave me absolute hell, I had to remeasure it a billion times to get it to fit to the rest of the EDA, luckily the PPD will be covering the gaping HOLE in it:
Tada!
and I don’t plan on making these things pretty until I’ve got it all cut out and assembled, mainly because I don’t feel like messing with bondo over and over again during this process.
Battery box!
Gunmount box! (other piece not pictured, but don’t worry, it’s done."
And all I have dun thus far, started making the spacer, but havent finished- hopefully by today!
Well, that’s all I got for now more progress to come! Thanks for tuning in.
Looks like you’re off to a great start! One thing I would suggest is to double-stack those EDA discs, they’re a little thin.
I’m sure this will clean up nice after you Bondo but if you want to avoid the mess you should look into geting some Ave’s Apoxy sculpt, it’s super easy to work with and there’s no mess or nasty smell like there would be with the Bondo method.
This is just a nitpick, but since the rest of it looks really good so far, you might wanna tackle it now instead of later… your powercell window is off-center a bit to the right. Personally, I wouldn’t care if it were my pack (there’s a lot on mine that I decided was ‘close enough’) but you might.
Thanks for all the comments, guys! I do appreciate the criticism.
I’ll def check into that Apoxy Sculpt, I used some stuff like it when I built a crappy syringe gun for my wife’s “Little Sister” costume last Halloween, and the funny thing about those EDA discs is that they already are double stacked. after I put those on I was looking at reference pics and realized they were a bit thin; something for me to look forward to when I give it the old once over.
I thought so too, but when I used Stefan’s plans and actually put in the correct measurements the window was less than 1/3 of an inch to the ribs, so I just said the hell with it and threw it in there. I do appreciate the input though, glad someone is looking out for me.
Aaand! Without further adieu (sp?).. here’s what I accomplished today! (not a lot.)
Added support for the spacer.. and cutting out 30 rectangles, glueing them together, then glueing them to the spacer.. well it was a bit tedious, and some are def not sitting at a 90 degree angle- Oh well! Better luck next time, when I’m not so damn lazy.
Aaand I managed to add 1 part of the side before my insatiable lust for tacos took over and I had to clean up the kitchen so I could cook.. saaadface
More to come, gents and gals! if those exist on the internet.
In the last few weeks I haven’t had as much progress as I’d wanted (school, work- I’m looking at you.), but slowly and steadily onward!
Finished the Ion Arm as much as I could, before I decide what to do about the rest of it. Metal? Wood? I’ll figure that out later.
And I forgot to take a finished pic. Go me!
I also finished the Cyclotron as much as I could without sanding or filling or any of that mess, and didn’t manage to take ANY pictures of that, just the finished product, (which looks pretty rough)
And finally, today I finished the majority of the bumper, which was so much easier than I thought it would be.
The inside..
The outside! With plate added.
I’ve also started measuring out the cosmetic plating, but dinner awaits! So maybe sometime this weekend I’ll actually get around to that and all the smaller detailed things.
Just a quick suggestion, seeing as you have to double stack your sheets maybe it would be easier to start with gluing two big sheets together first. Once thats done you only need to draw the shape once and cut it once and you already have it the right thickness. That’ll save you a heap of time to spend on other things such as eating tacos, like you mentioned.
Yeah, the thing I noticed with that is, since I’m not actually cutting through the styrene, just scoring it a few times and snapping it out, it only snaps out the top piece, leaving the bottom piece intact.
I have to say this looks really good, once I finish my 2 current packs I was considering using styrene for a 4th, what thickness is the material your using now?
Like 1/16th of an inch, I would’ve got at least an 8th, but this is all they had where I live. Though it is super easy to work with, and layering things can come in handy at times. And it was only like 30 bucks for a 4x8 ft piece.
I like the pack. I’m using the same material for my current build. I thought using a bandsaw would be the way to go until I started to score and snap, it makes a cleaner cut line.
I’m starting with the Proton Gun, but will refer to your build when I get to the pack, thanks!
Basically two, but only for things that I deem need to be that thick, for instance: the walls of the gearbox are all double layered, while the top is a single layer. Also the side of the spacer is only one layer, since it was easier to bend around.
If I could, I would’ve bought a 1/16th in. sheet and a 1/8th in. sheet, but alas.. not many people in east TN build proton packs.
Thanks for the support! But if you should refer to anyone’s build it should be bigi71’s, I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration/ideas from his. Oh, and the reference pics are king.
