Thank you guys for the awesome support and comments. I think I’ve been inspired by each one of you one way or another, I greatly appreciate it.
I’ve been hitting this project hard and I finished up the powercell and crank gen box today. Here’s some pics of the powercell box in better detail. I like to prime my parts when they are nearly finished because it helps me to better see the details and imperfections so I know what to improve and or adjust.
As you could see I made sure the bottom rib was angled correctly so the injector tube plate will sit accurately like on the heros.
better pic of the angled powercell ribs
That’s pretty much it for the powercell, I’ll go back later and do the rest of the minor clean up when the shell is finished.
Now we have the crank gen box which was a great challenge for me. I think I’ve put about 20+ hours just on this one piece. I strongly feel this along with the powercell is one of the most standout pieces of the shell. Since my goal is to replicate the hero pack shells as close as possible these pieces are critical. I apologize ahead of time for the quantity of pics but I wanted you guys to see the detail from different angles. The hardest part with this piece is that no plans available accomdate the tapers, angles of the ribs, and height of the boxes correctly, so I had to study the reference photos tediously and make sure to check all angles.
Here’s the base of the box. I had to do the boxes in two seperate pieces because the top box is actually tapered inward to the front plate of the box and the bottom box is vertical.
getting the misc curves ready
adding the ribs. Yes I know my 4 is upside down 
now were getting there 
Here it is primed and nearly finished. Pay attention to the angle of the ribs and placements. I tried my absolute hardest to get the angles, curves of the box, etc as close as possible.
I made sure a accurate sized sticker will sit right on the box. I use the Minnesota pack for the reference of the sticker placement. I also accomdated the uneven size of ribs on the bottom strip. I used miniature files to acheive the grooves.
Here is the top of the crank gen box. I angled the ribs exactly like the hero packs.
Another detail I incorporated was the shorter bottom box. This box is about 1/8 of an inch shorter then the top box.
Exposed the bottom seam from the bottom rib strip
That’s it for now, I think i’m going to take a little break then start the gunmount in a couple days. I’ve putting as much heart as I can on this shell and give it my all. I’ll post more pics once I get the gunmount finished. I’ll be adding the texture, nail marks, and what not once the whole shell is finished.
