User avatar
By Lowberg
#4819663
Well I was planning on holding off on this build until all parts were acquired and some other pack projects are finished, but with the GBfans shop closed for the month and some of my other parts on the way soon I couldn't help but get this thread started!

My goal here is to build a high quality GB1 Hero pack. I'm not trying to replicate a particular actor's pack, but rather using all the available hero pictures as an overall reference making my on unique pack.

As far as parts go I'm using a TON wonderful sellers on here for resources. AJ, Nickatron, Vincenzo, Eric Gunther, Chris Bosh, CPU64, Multimedia Mayhem, Franchesky, Spongeface and more I cant remember lol

The only downside I've found with combining parts from different sellers is that sometimes some adjustment is needed to make everything fit, but I really liked the idea of picking out my favorites for this build.


First off I chose Chris Bosh's shell for my build. This thing is incredible in detail/texturing and build quality, I cant wait to mount it up!
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It's going to look great with my scratch built PVC parts!

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Just kidding!!! (although I'm proud of those!)
Aluminium parts by Vincenzo and EJGunth87!
The Line/Filler Tubes from Vince didn't fit my shell in the corner of the cyclotron and I prefer the ground down look anyways so I'm using Eric's for those

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Here's the parts laid on for reference. I got a cast of the Volgus bumper but it's too wrecked to work with so I'm waiting for one of Nickatron's original bumpers. Going to use the GBfans bellows when they are available but I set a resin one on there now to see how it would look.

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One thing I am dreading besides mounting the shell is cutting that N-filter to fit, but we'll face that when we get to it!
Mounting the rest of the parts will be a complete breeze as most are already drilled and tapped.

I have started the thrower. It's a beautiful Aluminum CPU64 body and front handle assembly, MMM knurled Knobs, GBfans side knobs, heat sink and gun track. Oh and brown resin Nickatron grips that I'm working on sizing/shaping to fit!
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That's all for now until next week, hoping to get some work done on it over Thanksgiving break from school.
Last edited by Lowberg on October 19th, 2015, 8:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
alphabeta001, NickoRay, Polly and 3 others liked this
#4819670
Definitely gonna be watching this one. Already looking great!
#4819676
Yeah that screen used bumper is a mess. I managed to smooth out most of the problems on the hero build I did, but (and this is no reflection on Nick or the quality of his work.) even mounting it was a chore. Nothing is straight. Definitely a case of the community now makes nicer parts than what was screen used.

Great looking build so far. :grin:
User avatar
By Lowberg
#4819682
Yea Nickatrons resin pack parts are hands down the best in my opinion and if it weren't for the sake of authenticity' I'd be proud to use all his resin parts on my pack. My buddy has his original bumper and it's super nice.
Luckily I'm part of a pretty large local gb group so I can pick their brains on parts and for help with this project.
I'm also going to be using a ton of threads here for ideas and reference!


Things I've learned so far.
1. Pre-drilled/tapped aluminum parts are so easy to attach
2. Cpu64 is a mad scientist
3. Getting my hands inside the thrower is impossible.
5. I can't count
User avatar
By Lowberg
#4819886
had to file hole to fit the bezel from Spongeface perfectly. Was very tedious but I wanted to make sure it fit exactly. It's pretty snug but when it's time I'll probably dap some epoxy from the back side to hold it in well.

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That's it for progress for about a week, have to focus on school for a bit until break!
Cheers
NickoRay liked this
#4819895
I got Spongeface's bezel, but it didn't fit. I had my thrower fully built and painted before I got it, so I didn't get it installed. One of my bigger regrets on the build. I will probably remedy it some day. Again, this build is looking great!
#4819918
Enigmapc wrote:Looks great! I am going to be buying my parts once the store reopens. Look forward to referencing your build. How did you acquire parts fom other members?
The "For Sale" thread.
User avatar
By Lowberg
#4819958
Well with the western NY shitstorm of snow going on I doubt I'll see any reasonable painting weather anytime soon unfortunately.

Which reminds me , I need your help!
I've never painted aluminum before. I've read that light sanding and primer is a necessity?
For my replica, I want the aluminum parts to be weathered quite a bit like the hero packs are today.
#4819959
When I asked Vin about it, he suggested to just leave the primer off for the weathering.
At least you can look at it this way: if you don't like the way the paint turned out (without primer), it cleans up easy with thinner.
User avatar
By Lowberg
#4819992
Tried to get a little work in on it.

applied the water slide decal to the bezel lense. Kinda messed it up as most people do but oh well, seems like a very difficult thing to do right.
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Some shots for comparison, Kind of hard to capture the differences on camera because of the bright LEDs
This is what the GBfans bargraph light looks like naked
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and with the completed bezel assembly
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One thing i'm a bit concerned about is how close the bargraph circuit board is to the toggle switch holes. The toggle switch holes have to be drilled slightly larger too to accommodate the switches.
I tried to measure the space needed on the far side of the bezel hole to fit the red dry rub circles. I may have to get creative to make this work.

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Also I have no idea how you guys work on these things! I struggle so badly to get my hands / allen wrenches inside and turning lol
If I ever do another thrower build I'll probably just commission someone to assemble it, so much hassle haha
alphabeta001 liked this
User avatar
By Lowberg
#4820211
spark wrote:What had to do with my mighty bargraph is file it down to make more room for the switches. Just be careful. :grin:
Thanks man! I will try that!


Trying to do 1 small thing a day.

Tonight I shortened Nick's rear grip about .25" with a hacksaw and rounded the edges a bit to give it a nice look and feel
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#4822686
What is the latest on this? I am really excited to see more!

When you say the Volguus bumper is too wrecked to work with, what do you mean? I was thinking about grabbing one to swap out on my pack, just to be able to say I have one more "Screen Cast" piece on my pack. I'm kind of torn now because I don't want it to look bad, or be a detriment to my pack. I guess if I don't like it I can always just swap it back out, but then I'll have a useless bumper sitting around. I am just curious what you mean by "unworkable."
User avatar
By Lowberg
#4822761
It just required a good amount of cleanup and reworking to look nice, more work than I want to bother with. The original part was from a stunt pack, I think the bumper on those were vaccuformed and filled with foam. It was just a funky part to begin with, I'm, sure you could make it look nice.

I received one of Nickatron's original bumpers this past week that I'm going to use. I think it looks much nicer. Kudos to Nick's great work
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User avatar
By Lowberg
#4823053
Shell drilled and tapped for mounting bolts
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Did some test fitting with my ALICE stuff.
I bought a couple alice frames and straps cheap from my local army store.
It's not an LC1 frame but it's one of the real high quality american made LC2 frames with thick crossbars.

Used Nickatron's great rubber GB1 Spacers
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Grimmy GB saved the day by helping me pick the correct mounting bolts while I was at home depot haha.

I'm going to break the rules (f the police!) and use LC2 pads since they are much more comfortable and padded. I was disappointed to find that the securing strap for my 'best' kidney pad was missing :( I'll have to find something to use to attach it.

Look how nice this thing is! I hope it was worn in battle!
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For the meantime I'll use this extra junky kidney pad.
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You can see how much nicer and more padded the genuine one is...
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User avatar
By Lowberg
#4823066
Got the V hook on. Was a lot more involved then I thought as this shell is so thick on the face. The resin/gelcoat layer is at least 1/2" thick or more on the front areas of the shell so I had to basically dremel it thinner so I could attach the V hook in the right position.

I can tell already that this thing is going to be HEAVY.

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#4823129
Excellent progress! Everything looks great, and about the bar graph opening, it's kinda hard to follow the original measurements when the circuits made now are so different than what was used 30 years ago.
The bar graph would need to be made in line, instead of flat.
#4823170
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Started mounting some parts, had a little trouble with the booster tube and had to try a few diff mounting holes to get it to sit straight and flush on the EDA box. It seems a little to far to the right for my liking but I'm going to leave it for now and think about it.

Also ran into some difficulty drilling the mounting holes for the Ion arm. I tried the cardboard tracing out method but somehow the holes came out a 1/4" lower than they should be so it doesnt sit flush with the top of the shell >:( I'll definitely have to fill those holes and try again.

Best to take a break when things get frustrating :)

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