Presto
You know Flynn… I think you are right. I think I’ll be better if I just go and get a new frame. I don’t want to end up paying a lot more getting a few parts alone (if I can find them) than getting a new frame. If I can’t find an LC-1, I can settle with an LC-2. I don’t mind if it’s not 100%. I just want something functional that looks good, and that it doesn’t have yellow! Hehehe.
I think I could sell that one on ebay and at least try to recover some of the investment 
BTW, you’ve got paypal for the wand kit!
Hehe, thanks!!! It has become addictive!!! At first I was a bit scared about the whole building process, I had no idea on how to get started, what to do next… but after some time, I got pretty confident. There are great people in this board always willing to lend a hand and share their knowledge. To all of you guys, a big thank you! When I am working, I have my laptop open with at least 15 different threads as reference!
Also, it’s a lot easier if you have a great quality kit to start with. There’s little to be done to put your kit together, so props to you for putting up such a great kit!!! Not to mention your outstanding customer service!
I agree with you on the instructions manual. There is no right or wrong way to do a build up. Well, don’t quote me on the “bad” way… hehehe. One can always mess something up, but everything can be fixed in some way or another. I’ve learned so much in these past weeks! I would never trade that for a manual!!!
Props to you guys for putting up such great kits and parts!!! You guys are definitely top notch!
Also, thanks a lot on the tip for the acrylic tube! I will definitely try that tomorrow!
Wohooooooo!!! Now, that makes me beyond happy!!! Thanks a lot Colin!!!
I will be using Exoray’s kit. I’ve heard many great things about his kit and read many threads where people speak so good about his kits. And not only that: the fact that there is no soldering involved, and everything is plug and play is a great plus for me, as I have zero knowledge on electronics. His kit works flawlessly with his light pack kit as well, which I plan to get in a near future.
You can send him a PM. He answers very quickly and can provide you a link with all the info and movies with the kit in action. I also got his fiberglass shell and I can’t be happier. Amazing quality and great guy to deal with!
Flynn sir, you rock!!! Thanks a lot!
That’ll become very, very handy tomorrow after I get home from work!!! Hehehe
Te felicito tremendo trabajo, visita nuestro foro cuando tengas chance.
http://ghostbusterspr.forums-free.com/
Hace par d meses q me tire ese mismo proyecto q estas trabajando. Es bieeeen cuesta arriba pero al final la satisfaccion no tiene precio…
exito!!
Muchas gracias!!!
Lookin damn sharp! Also I have the same work bench lol.
Thanks Astro Zombie!!!
I love that bench!!! Now that I look back, it would’ve been almost impossible to put everything together without it. I had no place to work at all! Except for a sawhorse and a piece of wood!
Here are more update shots!
I cut a piece of styrene to match Flynn’s bargraph size specs. I placed it and traced on the box for reference.
Mmm… Clippard! that’s a R-331 for the pack. Tomorrow I’ll be gettingTomorrow I’ll be getting the R-701 for the gun. I have one R-701 up for grabs if anyone’s interested
MMM’s motherboard ready to be traced and filed. It just needs a little trimming. Nothing much.
I did some filing, but it was late at night and didn’t want to wake up the nieghboors… hehehe. Maybe I’ll file a little bit more tonight. If not, I can live with that
Applied epoxy putty to hold the bars in place
Bars in place
Ready for some fake welds
As you may notice, I’ve never welded anything in my life!!! LOL!!! They didn’t come out as expected, but I hope they’ll look better once everything’s painted in black. 
Some greeblies I painted last night
A quick mock up on how everything’s coming out (I know… the gun is upside down 
). When I finished that setup it just hit me… I have a proton pack!!!
That’s it for now… until I get home from work. Hehe. Thanks for taking the time to check my progress, fellas! I really appreciate it!
Update 5-31
I got my hands on a set of Clippards. Aren’t they gorgeous?
The previous holes were a bit spread apart for the new valves, so I drilled a new hole for the center peg, filled the old holes and sanded. While the putty was drying, I placed the valve and marked the new spots on the putty as a drilling guide. I also removed the “key” part from the peg.
Now, to attach the clippard on the pack, I drilled a hole for the center peg and side knobs, but I decided to create threaded holes for the socket head screws. That way I can get a stronger hold on the pack. Once I was finished, I even lifted the pack in the air just by holding the clippard. Pretty strong attachment!
Clippard’s holding power!
Attaching the peg for the looming tube:
Exoray was kind enough to pre drill a lot of the holes in the pack. That made our job a lot easier! (Thanks Flynn!). Syco54645 also posted a GREAT suggestion on how to attach the cable to the pack in top of the cyclotron. He mentioned to bolt a peg on the pack, then glue a 2" PVC pipe along with the cable. Since my looming was splitless, I couldn’t glue the side of the peg to the PVC, or the cable wouldn’t fit. So I drilled a hole so I could fit a lag bolt. The bolt would come from the back of the pack. I epoxied a piece of dowel (which had a pilot hole on the back) on to the pack and held it in place for 24+ hours, with a heavy object on top so it wouldn’t go anywhere. Once dried, I bolted the peg from the back of the pack. It held great!!! I thought the peg would come of, but it stayed in place and it’s not going anywhere! Now that I see the pic… I forgot to ad a washer. Hmmm… oh well. I might take it out and add it later. Suggestions?
Attaching the other end of the tube:
Exoray showed us a pic on how the original tube was attached near the HGA. Drilling that part is very hard, so the other route would be like the originals: attaching a dowel and holding the tube in place with a cable. Since there was no way to bolt the dowel from the back, I bolted it from the front and added some Gorilla glue to the dowel to create a tight grip.
Both dowels attached. I also placed the PVC tube for position only and test the looming tube fit. There was plenty of space for the tube to fit. Once ready, I’ll add glue to the tube, dowel and PVC pipe.
HGA and Ion arm: I removed the orange tip from the elbows. I also applied primer and a clear coat to make them a bit darker in color. The HGA will also be held in place by a screw on the back and some glue. Once set, I’ll add another screw in the back, just in case the glue fails.
A bit update the wand: I applied primer and sanded. Then used some metallic paint as a first coat. After that, black matte paint will be used.
That’s it for now!
Wow thats really coming along nicely, Keep up the great work 
Hey I see my thread in the pic of your laptop screen.
As I said in the other thread, coming along nicely, keep up the great work!
Yes indeed, my friend!!! I’ve been using it as a great reference tool for my build!
Thanks for your feedback!
Update and some tips on attaching the motherboard:
I took Vinny’s awesome tutorial Attaching motherboard to pack shell w/pics - Tutorials & Guides - GBFans.com and used it as a guide to attach my motherboard. Along the way I found some tips that could be of some help. This might be a little “companion” to his outstanding tutorial.
The one I found more useful: hot glue gun. It’s great to create a temporary fix until you find the best place to place your brackets. If the position doesn’t work, pull it off, scrape the glue and add some more. I “typed” a letter “Z” on my bracket, to create an even glue area. Not only that, but it also creates a nice grip, along with clamps to help drill. The hot glue gun can go a long way! All my brackets held in place while drilling.
Brackets being held in place by hot glue. The hot glue sets in seconds, so before setting the bracket in place make sure to trace the area where you would like your bracket placed. Those old lines were from other brackets that I thought they might work but in the end, they didn’t. No harm done.
Another useful tip: a flashlight. Once the shell is in place while you are measuring, dim down your room lights and use a flashlight to look thru the available holes in your shell (blue bar area and cyclotron holes) and check the bracket placement.
Getting ready to use 3/16 pop rivets.
If you are going to use 3/16 pop rivets, you will need a 3/16 drill bit. Rivets look like a sword, one end looks like the blade, the other one looks like a sword’s handle. The handle is the part that goes thru the 3/16 hole, and it comes straight from the back of the pack.
I hot glued my brackets in place and used a clamp to help keep the bracket in place.
You’ll notice that the other end might have some debris. Now is a good time to use a file and get rid of that debris, so you’ll have a flat surface for the rivet to make good contact with the motherboard.
Very important: remember that the rivet “sword handle” goes at the back of the shell!!! This is how you will hold it in place. Then you will insert the rivet gun and in 3 or 4 tight grips, the rivet will be in place. If you hear a loud “clack” that means the rivet gun cut the excess peg, or sword blade (don’t throw it away, you will need it later).
And this is how your rivets will look from the outside. Those scratches were from filing the debris. They won’t be seen once the shell is primed and painted.
And this is how they’ll look from the inside of the motherboard
Remeber that piece that came out of the rivet gun? Now is the time to use it. It’ll be used as a guide to help measure the center of the bracket in relation to the place where you want to drill once the shell is in place. That way you will have a guideline to help you decide where you will be drilling. This will be most useful once you’ve drilled your first 2 holes, because it might be a good idea to drill a hole, tap it, put the bolt and move to the next are where you want to drill. If not, you might move the shell accidentally and mess your previous drilled hole. As you keep putting the screws in place, you won’t be able to keep lifting the shell and check your bracket position. This might sound a bit confusing now, but you’ll see what I mean as soon as you start adding the bolts to the pack.
One you are ready to start drilling lift your motherboard a bit and put the remaining piece of the rivet under the board, making sure is aligned to the center of the bracket.
Then put your shell in place. See what I mean? Now you have a great reference in place to help you find the best place to drill, either if you want it movie accurate or in a more convenient place. If your bracket is 2" wide, you’ll know you have 1 inch to both sides. It might sound silly, but you never know if you’ll receive a phone call, or drop something to the floor and forget where the bracket was.
Once you’ve drilled the hole thru the shell and bracket, use a 10/32 tapping tool to create a threaded hole.
Rinse and repeat!
On the other updates department: I applied 2-3 light coats of black to the wand. After 24 hours I’ll apply a few other light coats.
And painted chrome a few pack parts
That’s it for now!
Some updates!
The rain here has been awful. I got delayed and the painting process has taken more than expected.
I got my hands on an original LC-2 Alice pack. As you may know, these come in green, not in black, so a new paint job was in order. First I had to decide where to drill to rig the pack. Instead of going with a center bolt on the center like the originals, I decided to attach two bolts… just as a safety measure and some piece of mind. 
Done!
I applied primer to the frame and a 1st primer coat to the shell as well.
I’ve heard about the N-filter having some mesh. I decided to create a mock up to see how it looked. I think I’ll be using the mesh theory. After all, it’s a filter! I’ll later add some black wash to the white styrene pieces.
Since it has been raining, I decided to set up the wand with the pieces I have so far. I still need the electronics, finish the area of the graph bar, some metal knobs and the bottom part, but those are on the way
That’s it for now!
More updates, a few small and one huge one! I finally got everything I need to rig the pack to the ALICE frame! I finally got to wear my not-so-complete pack! Wow… that felt sooooooooo great!!!
Thanks to eltee’s brilliant Ion arm setup! I went the same way and cut a wood block to fit the arm. Once the glue fully dries, I’ll add some screws and mount the arm for position only with all the resistors. I’ll be doing that tonight I owe ya!!!
I also bit the bullet and got a vintage LC-2. I am glad I did! I put them next to each other and there is a very noticeable size difference between them! The Milspec is considerably smaller, or I should say shorter, so keep that in mind when you are looking for one.
There was also something bothering a little bit. I was first going for a flat black finish on all my parts. I sanded, applied chrome, wet sanded, applied a few coats of flat black and then sanded with a light steel wool, but it was looking kinda dull. Altough I will be weathering them, it’s better to have some parts with a bit of gloss, and some with out it, mostly in places where parts are more exposed to regular use. With just flat black, the pieces didn’t look very black. It was more like a grayish kind of black.
First, eltee’s inspired (actually copied hehe) Ion arm assmbley rig:
My unfinished pack rigged on the ALICE frame. I first drilled 2 hole on the horizontal bars, but then noticed that the bolts were in the way on the inside, so the pack wouldn’t close :ohwell. So I decided to go for the movie setup, placing one bolt on the middle bar. It worked pretty good. I think the extra holes will be filled with JB Weld, so they don’t affect the integrity of the frame. I’m afraid those extra holes might weaken the frame structure.
Here are the comparison shots between a Milspec ALICE frame and a vintage LC-2, where the shell is mounted. Notice the repro is considerably shorter.
Original ALICE LC-2
Comparison shots
Wand with semi-gloss coat on top of the flat black coat. I’m happier with the semi gloss look. With just flat black, the pieces didn’t look black. It was more like a grayish kind of black.
That’s it for now! Thanks for viewing! Your thoughts are very appreciated!
looking good man!
Thanks Frank!!! Man, your pack is coming along great, too!!! Great work!
I’ve been pretty busy with the pack, but had no access to our camera. I took some pics with my phone, and will try to explain what was going on as best as I could
I still need to clean some things up, like glue that expanded overnight, etc. But here are some due updates
Here’s the hole drilled for the loom tube.
Filler tubes were first attached inserting a wood dowel on the back and glued to the shell. Once dried they were bolted from the back. I filled/sanded the top for a smoother finish, but kinda screwed up a bit when I was putting the elbow Clippard elbow thingie. I fixed it with a Sharpie Since the pack will be weathered anyways, no harm done… In the pic you can see the L bracket used to give some strength to the injectors.
Attaching Injectors:
I first drilled the bottom hole and had them secured to the shell by placing a rod inside glued with Gorilla Glue. Once dried, they were glued to the shell and then secured with a bolt from the inside.
After some tought I decided to cut a piece of an aditional mouting L bracket to and JB welded the bracket relieve some stress from the pack, like the originals. I couldn’t add the socket head because the filler tubes were already glued and bolted in place. If I add a socket head, would be purely cosmetic, since the JB weld is holding them strong.
JB was also addded on top as a fake weld to give it some additional strength.
Booster tube and ladder
I attached it following Exoray’s suggestion: using bolts from the back. I added some JB weld on the bottom for additional support. Holes were drilled and tapped to hold the ladder in place
Attaching N-filter
I used some aluminum screen mesh on the inside and a piece of white styrene. To attach the N-filter, I glued a round disc on the inside and inserted a rod with Gorilla Glue. The rod will help to hold everything in place from the back, in case the glue fails.
Side holes:
I didn’t like the first drilled hole, so I drilled a new one and filled the other one with bondo. I made some scratches with the drill, so a bit more of bondo was used to fill and sand. It won’t be noticeable once sanded and painted.
Attaching the loom tube to the wand.
I received great tips here on this one. Since I’ll be running a light kit from the pack, I thought using a clear tube on the inside would not only help to cover and protect the cables, but would also give some “weight” to the loom. I then secured it by drilling thru the loom and tube and using a socket head screw to hold everything together.
Paint prep:
I was first going with flat black, but changed my mind and went with Semi-gloss. Once dried I wet sanded the pack and then used a very light steel wool to buff it.
Very first sticker placed:
I still need to add some loom boots, do some clean up, etc, but everything is taking shape now! Some thing were glued with hot glue to check how they look, that’s why you can see some in a few pics, but that’ll be cleaned later on.
This cable is set for position only, I’ll cut a new one a bit longer
Thanks for looking!
O_o
Beautiful work man, really.
Great work! Very clean!
Only thing I noticed is it looks like on your thrower you are using the mini switches… the switches needed are actually the micro switches!
The onlt reason that stuck out to me, is I also used the larger switches by accident.
Odds are you could still replace them if you wanted.
Thanks a lot zacharybroyles!
Gareee, I didn’t notice I was using the wrong switches! I had no idea! Thanks for the heads up! Do you know if I need to drill a bigger hole, or make them smaller to accept the correct size switches?
I ordered and Exoray light kit, and I believe his kit comes with switches pre-wired, that’s a good thing!
Guys, thanks a lot for your feedback!