I’m throwing together 4 packs for a charity event on Halloween. I’m coming out of pocket for these packs and as much as I’d like to, I cant spend $320 on v-hook and bumpers.
So I’m looking for some alternatives, if people have some. I tried the search, but that wasnt too effective.
Please, let me know if you have anything that works.
Also, in the normal world, are these V-hooks called something else? Even google is failing me.
Dixie hooks, and scratch building bumpers are your best bet.
www.multimediamayhem.net has the dixie hooks. for your bumpers, I’d recommend going to a sign shop and asking for some scrap sintra.
DIXIE HOOKS!
FFS, thank you. I spent at least an hour canvassing the damn internet.
sintra - hows it hold up as an actual “bumper”? this pack is going to be active for an entire weekend
If it doesn’t last a weekend, you don’t deserve to wear a pack haha
2 of them are going to be video-game pack mods, so they need to stand up to horrible things. Like doorways.
Honestly, if you’re that worried about them, it would be your best bet to buy a couple from the GBFans shop. It would cost a lot to make one, mold it, and then cast it. You could scratch build one, and fiberglass over it, then do all your bondo and gap filling. You could use styrene instead of sintra, it’s just more expensive and a little harder to work with.
Sintra is pretty awesome.
UsPlastic has 24x48 sheets of 3mm sintra for less than $20 shipped. One sheet should work. Just make a pattern for the bumper, trace it onto the sintra and cut it out. Cut out maybe 3 copies of the bumper for each pack so you can stack them on top of each other for support.
Sintra is heat reactive so just a little bit of heat from a heat gun will make it pliable. You may be able to make a thick cardboard "master’ or something to press the warm sintra against in order to produce a uniform shape.
JB Weld the ■■■■ out of them. Trim with a saw or dremel as needed then paint.
You may be able to reinforce it with fiberglass but I don’t know how well if hold onto the sintra.
Fiberglass takes to it just fine, especially if you sand it first. I prefer boiling water over a heat gun, but that may just be because I don’t have a heat gun. You want to heat it and bend it in a well ventilated area. Sintra gives off a gas that makes you feel like you’re coming down with a really bad cold.
Here’s my bumper after about an hours worth of work.
I then used bondo to fill in the gaps and build up the edges to come up with this.
You guys have been pretty awesome. Going to order the dixie hooks from MMM, and use this method for the bumper, and strengthen it.
Ive done packs in the past, using metal siding, or cutrain rods. While they were ok for an improvise, it looked far from professional.
