Ok, my 1st pack build!

[coasterg]

Decided to do a GB 2 pack with an Alkaline shell as the base and started acquiring the other parts:

Bumper, crank knob, booster frame, ion arm, HGA, PPD - Nick-a-tron

Proton gun kit, Motherboard, motherboard mounts, ribbon cable kit - irricanian

Ion Knob aka shock mount - JRH

Ion rod, deluxe tube assembly (minus the PPD), booster tube - Anhcon

Dale and Sage resistors - RH-50, PH-25, Sage - JRH and Skycraft Surplus (local)

SMC elbow and fitting - Allied

Clippard valves, fittings, etc - Clippard

Alice frame and straps (black LC-1 frame and drab green straps) - local Army surplus

zombie_electronics Pack light kit - going to give this a try and see how it is, if it doesn’t work out I’ll eventually swap in a better one.

All of these are on the way or are here already.

Still need to acquire:

Gun light kit - thinking of the new Jupiter electronics one

Sound - waiting on the new Replicaprops one, if it doesn’t come out by the mid-end of February I’ll look at other available options

Hoses and Loom - Skycraft and JayStantz

various bolts and such - Ace hardware down the street

Am I missing anything?

[jackdoud]

Labels, acrylic lenses, various bits for the thrower that don’t come with the kit, V-hook,

[coasterg]

@jackdoud

Labels, acrylic lenses, various bits for the thrower that don’t come with the kit, V-hook,

Whoops - forgot those.

I have lenses from Crix, the label pdf and the paper for it and I think the thrower comes with a v-hook according to the description, need to check it though.

[coasterg]

Received my Proton gun kit, mounting brackets ribbon cable kit from Multimediamayhem today - my first real parts! Need to get a few masks because there is resin sanding to be done! The kit itself is a great cast - no issues or bubbles, just needs to be smoothed out. I was thinking of starting wet sanding with 400 grit then going 600 or 800 grit then priming with automotive filler primer. Should I follow with Krylon BBQ or the plastic specific black?

Came with the V-hook and labels too.

Funny thing is the box full of parts came quickly, the motherboard still making its way here.

[jackdoud]

@coasterg

Should I follow with Krylon BBQ or the plastic specific black?

The thing with the Fusion paints is that for propper use they’re designed to be sprayed directly onto clean, dry plastic. It’ll dry like normal paint on anything else (more or less) but there’s no advantage to using in on resin or on anything that you’re primed.

[coasterg]

Started on making my Injector tubes this morning. Bought some delrin rods, which look like they’ll work well. About $12 for 2’.

Need to drill them out on both ends, one for the mounting bolts, the other for the fitting for the tubes. Then do some light sanding so the paint will stick, "welding’ with hot glue and once that dries some paint.

[coasterg]

And now for some progress:

Test fitting the shell - I sanded then primed it with automotive primer to get it smooth. Then I test fitted the various parts I received from Nick (all the resin ones) and Anhcon (aluminum)

Built power cell, made from black plastic rod and scrap aluminum baseplate:

The Ion Arm using Nick’s resin box and Anhcon’s arm with the Dale resistors scavenged at Skycraft in Orlando (awesome place!):

Bare shell with all of the holes drilled. Well, except for the mounting board and the top loom:

Aluminum pieces being primed with satin Black:

Shell primed with satin Black:

More sanding and painting today and motherboard/frame work today.

[Ecto-Wes]

Looking good!

[coasterg]

Did 2 coats of Satin Black on the pack then hit it with a Matte finish - I like the look:

Bumper installed, other pieces installed:

Getting there - just need to get the crank, power cells, run tubing and wiring and install labels. Motherboard is already setup and ready. Working on the frame and then the Thrower.

[KagaSakai]

Coming along nicely! Just a heads up on the SMC elbows - you’ll want to cut off the orange tips and then paint the elbows with a gray primer, as this will make them look a lot more accurate. You may also want to consider trimming down the length of wire/loom from the HGA to the beam line, and the cyclotron to the EDA.

[Phish4dinner]

Nice work so far!!! How do you like your Anchon parts? They look great. I’m dyin to get my order so i can get things rolling with my Alky shell lol

[janderson0719]

I have a real black crank knob I could sell you if you like

[KagaSakai]

Cyclotron to the Attenuator, not EDA. D’oh!

[coasterg]

@Phish4dinner

Nice work so far!!! How do you like your Anchon parts? They look great. I’m dyin to get my order so i can get things rolling with my Alky shell lol

The Anhcon parts are excellent. Everything was pretapped and ready to go - just needed to tap the proper hole in the shell.

I have a crank knob, freshly painted - going on tomorrow.

Found some of my hobby paints so once I get time I’ll do the valves gray. Trying to get this done for Megacon in about a week and a half and I still need to built my Thrower.

Cyclotron is to the Attenuator actually, same as the photo:

[KagaSakai]

@KagaSakai

Cyclotron to the Attenuator, not EDA. D’oh!

No worries, you installed it properly. I was just trying to correct myself from my previous post. Got the part names mixed up. Sorry, it’s been a long day!

[coasterg]

And some more done this evening:

Wired and tubed up:

Close up of the Ion arm and top area:

All that’s left is to get the decals on, some paint on the elbows, lenses and lighting in and connect the frame to the motherboard and then put it all together. Thrower construction starts Friday night…

[coasterg]

Got the lenses in and test fitted the lighting. Forgot to get a photo of it lit up, but it works well.

Started on the Thrower - cleaned the resin, got things epoxied together and started applying coats of paint.

Getting down to the end - finish the Thrower tomorrow, get the electronics installed on Tuesday or Wednesday and hook up the Thrower to the Pack. And apply decals - holding off to see if the ones from Carpeteria show up by Thursday else I’ll use the ones I printed.

[sbonse]

pack is coming together really nice. looking good