I found gbprops.com a few weeks ago and was amazed at all of your packs and other props. I deceided to take a shot at it. My first task was to pick up a A.L.I.C.E pack from a local Army surplus store near my house. Got it for only $10 (It’s good to be releated to the owner. )I stuck to Norm’s plans the best I could and bought only a few part from Home Dept and Loews. Most of the pack is from scratch. The Flow Control Valve is PVC, styrene, a washer and a knob. The Rainbow Cable is a printed screen shot from the web. I’m pretty happy with how it came out. I’d say the whole pack so far is about 90% accurate. I hope to get the gun finished up in the comming weeks, then add all the lights and start working on a trap, and goggles. I hope to keep posted with new photos. Your comments are welcome.
Yep. I’ve been working on it a few hours every night. If I don’t get projects done in a few weeks then I get bored of them and then they never get done :oops:
Thank you all for your comments. I really appreciate them.
I tried to get rid of the wood grain with sanding, but it wasn’t working very well. I got bored and gave up. I think I wasn’t using corse enough sand paper, or maybe the wrong kind of wood. (3/4" birtch plywood and 1/4 luan) I don’t think I’ll ever build another one. Unless I sell this one and put the money towards making a better one.
I was planning up weathering it a bit. I think it’s going to weather itself as I use it and bang it around on everything.
As soon as I get the gun finished I’ll start running wires for the lights.
Thanks again for everyone’s input and comments. You’ve all been very helpfull.
Should i just sand down the black paint a little exposing the grey primer? or should i hand paint “scratches” in grey or silver paint? what do you suggest?
If there is any weathering, it should mainly be silver weathering. You want to go for the painted aluminum look, so that it looks like you painted a piece of metal black rather than a piece of wood. And as far as the wood grain goes, sanding does take time. Another trick is to get something like bondo and spread some of that over the wood after sanding to mask the grain, and then just sanding the bondo down smooth with a fine-grain sandpaper. That and multiple coats of primer prior to the paint.
I’ve been chugging away at the gun for the past week or two. I have to say that the gun has been the hardest part of my pack. Trying to make it strong enough for some abuse yet look the way it should and be able to function and light up. Anyway, here are some new photos of the lighting progress. I’m using regular christmas lights cut from the string of lights and hooked to a 12v rechargeable battery (the kind you find in computer battery backups, about 3" X 2" X 4") I think they’re comming out pretty good even though they don’t blink or scroll up and down the way they should. I’m all ears for any suggestions and comments once again.
)I stuck to Norm’s plans the best I could and bought only a few part from Home Dept and Loews. Most of the pack is from scratch. The Flow Control Valve is PVC, styrene, a washer and a knob. The Rainbow Cable is a printed screen shot from the web. I’m pretty happy with how it came out. I’d say the whole pack so far is about 90% accurate. I hope to get the gun finished up in the comming weeks, then add all the lights and start working on a trap, and goggles. I hope to keep posted with new photos. Your comments are welcome.
