View new posts | View your posts ABurns Pack Finished with Tons of Pics on Last Page

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Got my shell yesterday. Stupid usps mail. No signature confirmation and I had to show up in person. Wrote down it will be available before 5. Yeah, it was, but they close at 4:30. Luckily, I knew a mail man and he let me wait in the lobby till my new mail man (just re-routed) came in. I thought it was my exoray shell since it was insured. I don't get too many packages that are insured.


My shell. Couple of little area need sanded, but 98% of it is perfect on arrival. Amazing. A little heavy. Again, another Oh, My God what have I gotten myself into moment. Left quickly as I started playing with it.


Side view. I'll have to sand a little bit under where the arm attaches. It looks like the cutting tool kind of chipped a little 3" area a bit. Nothing a little sanding and primer can't fix. Not deep chips at all. Minor Minor.


Exoray's the man. Drilled out the cyclotron holes. Already recessed so I can easily add lenses and lights. Looks great.


Power cell area. Drilled out and recessed for easy lense install and lights.


Inner area. Nice and smooth and yet hard.


Look at the detail man. Amazing.


Amazing work again. This is the one area of the shell that has the most repair work. The top and bottom of the power cell is a little tiny bit rough. Got to sand that little blob of goo next to the powercell. Again, minor work that a file or sand paper can fix.


Front of power cell. Also kind of shows the water effect under the booster tube. Perfectly smooth.


Side of power cell.


My pack was not warped at all. Perfectly straight and ready to mount.

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Now for some work. I need to trim the motherboard since I bought a MMM board. It was not off by much. At the bottom, most of it was like a 1/8" and the biggest part was a 1/2" or a tiny bit less. Just was not fun to cut.


Matching up board to shell. This shows the overage on the top right corner.


Side view showing overage.


Bottom right view showing overage.


Middle bottom view showing overage


Bottom left view. Not really any overage here.


Left view no overage.


Power cell area. No overage.


Top left view. No overage.


This shows how much I need to cut on the top right. Not even a 1/4" off.


This shows the bottom that needs cut. The right side is minimal. The bottom part I will have to cut off some chunks.


This shows the size in relation to my finger. Not much at all. Maybe a 1/2" at best.


This is what I started off with, but it ate up the bit. I moved to the disk bit and it ate it up. I switched to the routing bit and it cut like butter, but since I was had carving it I had to go slow.


It has been cut. I will file it down a little bit more. It started to sprinkle. Maybe 20 minutes worth of filing. My hands are big enough I can hold two of the straight files. I was making quick work out of leveling off the cut sides. It may look uneven, but it is completely flat. The bit just barely chipped some off the top that will be hidden away. I'm hoping to file a fraction of inch to hide that. The shell and paint will hide that. I'm basically happy as is with the job.


Bottom picture after cutting.


Another bottom picture.


Top corner I still need to file to the line. I had to stop on the call of rain. Won't take long.


It fits perfectly. Only two areas I have nit picks on. One is the top right corner that needs sanded to the line. The other is the little area where the booster tube wires go into. I lost a 1/4" of board going behind that extending piece of shell where the wires attach to the shell. Minor.


Top corner. Once I finish filing it will be perfect. Very close as is.


Top of shell. Perfect.


Power cell area. Perfect.


Under power cell. Perfect. I know it looks like there is some, but really that is just the angle. It is flat with the shell.

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Tonight, I will finish filling down the board. Just some light clean up on the bottom. Even it out a smidge in one area or two. Then just file it down to the line. Last night I was at least 2/3 of the way to the line when the rain started.

I also plan to attach the board to the frame with the L brackets, rivets, and screws. If I have time, I may also attach the speaker to the board or start dry fitting the shell.

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I'll post some pictures of the resin pieces and pack lights when I get to work. I.T. man, got to love it. I meant to post that in this message, but I didn't add the photos to photobucket since at first glance it looked like my old booster tube photos. It was an hga picture.

When I fit the mobo on my v71markX shell I ended up dremeling my finger. Used a cut off wheel cut into the nail bed and through the nail. Damn was that painful. It took a while to grow out as well...

These are my exoray pack lights. Exoray was going to mail the gun lights yesterday, but I changed my mind and opted for the in-pack lights at the last minute. I should get them later this week or early next week. I posted this earlier, but I am going with the in-pack solution since I will have an extending barrel, exoray gun lights, and MMM gun box. There were too many variables there. I thought it might fit, but depending on the size of the extending barrel in the gun box and how low it is to the bottom of the gun box I thought the wiring and/or the height of the gun chip may not fit.


This is a close up of the pack light chip. This thing is idiot proof. It uses a lot of computer style connectors that are keyed. It is almost impossible to connect anything wrong. Could not resist. I fired them up. They are bright. I was looking at them from the side and was thinking. These are not blinding like some people say. Then I pointed them at me. Yeah, they are BLINDING! I was seeing spots.


Front of the bumper. Perfect work buddy.


Only little part I need to sand on the whole piece and it is barely there. I just need to file down the lip a smidge. Talking like 20 seconds worth of filing. It is paper thin on that little lip at the top.


Not sure why I took this photo, but this is the back of the bumper if anyone is interested in what it looks like.


Booster tube and boost plug. The plug has a tight fit. It could be attached without glue it is so tight. I'm planning on cutting a little recess in the shell for a dowel. I will glue it into place as a kind of column. Then I will glue the top of it and place the resin piece on top that way the plug cannot go further down the tube. I had to grab a ruler to push that thing through the tube. The tube rests on the shell level. Is the tube supposed to fit in the recessed area and still lay level? Mine lifted up a 1/3" off the shell when I did that. If I sit it on the shell it is level. If it is in the hole, the back part lifts up a fraction of an inch. If you are reading this place advise. I may not need to sand or I may need to sand to make it lay flat while recessed.


Top and right angle of the ion arm.


This is the back and side view of the ion arm. The wood plug is not standard. I paid extra for that, but worth every penny. Not sure if the photo shows it, but there is a slight crack on the side. It is probably from the mold or when it was being removed. It is not a crack that goes inside though. It comes out. I can sand the crack down and it will look fine. The crack is just an opening above the surface. It does not going into the piece so sanding will fix it.


Front left view of the ion arm. Looks great. A little smaller than I imagine, but looks great.


N-Filter. Looks great as well. I will have to drill through a couple of the holes since some paper thin resin is partially covering the back of the holes. Real easy fix. Looks great.


A better front view.


This is the bottom of the n-filter. It has some rough edges. Just need to sand it down a bit. Some of the edges make it it a little tough to fit into position on the shell. Very close though and a quick fix as well. This piece kind of has a seam crack as well, but again raised, so sanding it down will fix it. Not that you could not hide it fit you placed it that side facing towards the shell cavity.


This is the wooden dowel for the n-filter. It already has grooves so the glue can hold better. It does not go all the way in, so I will use a little piece of dowel to keep it level, maybe. I asked for this so I can put in a mesh and something white in there. Thinking about a piece of white fabric (a new sock might work) or some of that sheet styrofoam you get from new monitors. I already have the mesh. I am using some cigar filters and they look perfect.


HGA


Better view of the HGA and it is already raised a little for the sticker, so it is perfect.


This shows the pre-marked holes in his mold for where you attach the two elbows. It also shows the little piece of wood that is in the piece.

Well, that is my pieces for now. Just wanted to share in case you wanted some more in-depth pics. The little comments are just observations. It is perfect. It does not look like anything besides for a little bit of light sanding can correct. His work is amazing. I highly recommend Exoray if you are looking at a fiber glass shell.

Ouch. I faint at the sight of blood, so it would have been bad if I had done that. I was sweating the whole time. That dremel can cut like butter when you get the right bit on, so be careful people. The wheel sucks for that job. I was trying to cut the larger bottom pieces with the wheel and it kept trying to skip and roll to the other side of board. A jigsaw or something would do a lot better. I know the edges are a little rough, but I cut close to the line and filed down the rest. Almost a penny's depth. Barely anything. I plan on filing it down a little more tonight. I was like 15 minutes worth of filing before I would have been done. Stupid rain. The cuts looked bad at first, but after filing it looked great. Just take your time and be careful. If anyone is interested, the bit that worked the best is below.


Works great. This is my routing bit.


This bit works good. Just buy a bunch of cutting discs. I was only able to cut about 5-6 inches before the wheel was down to about and 1" - 1.5". It also likes to skip to the other side, so don't use this unless you have a steady hand, plenty of wheels, and plenty of patience.

I posted a picture twice above. This is the back of the ion arm and shows the scratch. I could not edit my post above after the fact.

Great start, a real nice collection of parts! Looking forward to seeing this come together.

That is precisely what had happened to me...

Made some progress. I keep hoping to get a lot done, but sadly I am luck to get one or two steps taking off my list.


The first thing I did was finish filing the board. I fixed up the top right corner and made it flush to the line and I did some very light sanding on the bottom to make sure it was smooth and straight. Here is a picture after sanding when I am matching up the shell to the board.


Top right corner. It is now flush.


I was following the sticky on connecting the board and I was drawing a dot where the screw should go on the shell. I also draw a small line on the board below the dot to indicate the center point for the brackets.


Dot and line on bottom left.


Dot and line on bottom right.


Dot and line on top right.


I measured the thickness of the shell. Roughly 1/4" for the top left, bottom left, and top right. The top right corner was about a 3/8" thick due to the little shafts there where the gun connects. I added 2/16ths or 1/8" of extra space for ease of putting on and taking off the shell later. So, on the motherboard, I draw a parrallel line at 3/8's for all but the top right area and the top right was at 1/2". I placed the L clamps on the board, matched the line to the back of the L clamp and drew around it.


Clamps resting.


I taped down the clamps with some electrical tape, so they don't scoot much.


Another picture of the taped clamps. I test out the clamps by putting the shell on to see how easy it is to put on to the board.


Time to drill. I believe the bits I am using are the 3/16 bit. Just use the size MMM (or whatever one you have) and double check before drilling the hole. The whole idea of the rivet is to expand in the hole, so you need the correct hole size.


Holes drilled. I used a clamp to help keep them from scooting. The tape helped a bit, but my hand was there to help as well. When you get to the board side, make sure to watch the clamp. It likes to scoot. You definitely have to watch when drilling the second hole since you want two even and perfect holes.


Image of the rivet gun. This is just a cheap $10 rivet gun.


My first rivet. My second hole scooted and the hole was placed too close to the other hole that the rivets would have to sit on top of each other. I had to drill a third hole. Boy that ticked me off. I am going to try to fill in the hole or cover with tape and then primer over the top of it so the hole will be invisible while wearing if possible.


Front of the rivet. Besides for the extra hole perfect. Luckily I learned my lesson on the rest.


Rivets reading to be put into place.


Done with the rivets. Bottom portion.


Done with the rivets. Top portion.


Image of the L clamps after riveted. Top portion.


Image of the L clamps after riveted. Bottom portion.


I used this #7 screw to screw in the mounting screws. That was fun. The fiber glass part was easy. The brackets gave me trouble 3/4th of the way in there. I had to take the shell off for every one and finish drilling through it. I came close. Several had a tiny indicator it was almost out.


This is my 1/4-20 tap. Top left and bottom left went fine. I had to tap the bottom right and top right twice. That was because when I tried to connect the screws on the right side, they would only go inside about 80-90%.


Top left attached.


Bottom left attached.


Bottom right attached. This may be before or after the second tap, but all the screws can now go all the way in.


Top right attached. Again the photo may be before the second tap. It now sits flush.


You will need this tool to attach. Do not use a screw driver bit. I tried that first and the bit got stuck and I had to find some tools to pull them apart.

That's it for last night. Basically just filed down the board and attached the shell. I know some do this later, but come on. My alice frame was done, my board was done, and my shell was mounted. Why do you think I did this first? To wear it baby!

Not sure if I am going to work on the pack tonight. My DVR is getting full. I pretty much have been working on the pack for 3 hours or so each night, so I was getting home, cooked, worked on pack, go to bed. If I do work on it, I will probably add the speaker and/or sand down exoray's pieces so I can begin dry fitting.

Use epoxy putty to fill the hole and then just sand it away. works like a charm.

I'll do that. I was thinking about putting something like than in there. Didn't think to put the putty in there since it hardens like concrete. I didn't think I could sand it down much once dried. The hole does not hurt it much, but when you are walking around that highest rivet is visible. At least it is fixable. I was trying to avoid any outer visible flaws. Good think putty is one of the first things I bought since I am using that for welds on the gun later. Thanks man.

The best way to apply it would be to back the motherboard with a credit card (or something similar) and duct tape it in place. Then put putty in the hole and use a putty knife to remove excess. Once that is done if pinholes or a dimple exists use some DAP DryDex. It goes on pink and dries white. I use that to fix pinholes in resin as well. Not the strongest stuff but will work for small surface blemishes.

Lovin' this! Keep the progress pics comin' Burnsey!! I'll be starting to put my pack together in about 2 weeks time and I'll be using yours and Libtechinit's threads for referencing!! Lookin' good btw!! How'd it feel to put it on when it was attached? (Like warm apple pie? lol)

Yeah, I am following libtechinit's instructions as well. I want mine to look identical to his for the most part. There will be some differences since I am using a semi gloss black paint, a MMM gun box, and a different L bracket at the injector tubes. Almost everything else is the same for the most part. I love the photos as well. It gets me pumped up for the following night. The photos I hope will be a great tool for anyone building since more often then not we got before and afters and not always in-between. I am also going to make a shopping list at the end of everything you need. I know lists exist, but more than anything it would have been outstanding to have a home depot shopping list of what tools, glue, paint, dowels, etc went into the pack. Going to home depot every other week sucks. At least I am being pro-active and not getting to a spot and having to stop what I am working on to grab something. I can't wait to finish dry fitting and actually start painting.

You have no idea how fun it was putting the pack on. I knew if I didn't I would start rushing through the steps. I think we are all dying for that first chance to wear a complete/semi complete pack. In my case, very semi-complete. I always thought that Bill was milking the shots where he had trouble putting on the pack. That was not acting. I just have the shell, board, and alice frame and it is already bulky and probably at 7-10 pounds already. Not bad, but doing the math, I am going to double if not triple the weight by the time it is done. Something to be said for a studio creations pack, but I wanted weight and visual accuracy (or closest I can get).

I can't decide if I want to wear the bare-bones pack shell right after I attach it to the mobo, or if I should wait until it is totally complete. I'm sure my patience will not win....

I got a lot done last night. Yet still watched some dvr episodes. That episode last night of Mythbusters was great. Looks like women can endure pain better than guys. They tests guys and gals and they beat us 100 to 84 seconds on the cold water pain test. I watched these after it was dark outside and stayed up a little later, so I was able to get my normal work time done on my pack.


I began by taking the shell off the board. No need getting the board scratched up while I am working on the shell. Here is my dreaded hole. Time to go away!


I covered up the back with some extra strength 33 electric tape. That way it does not squirt out any epoxy potty while I am working. I didn't come close to filling that hole all the way up. Again, the hole in addition to being too close to riveting had scooted on the board side and it was like 1/3 to a 1/2 closed up. Stupid clamp was having a hard time holding in that area when I was drilling.


Credit card, you got it. (quote from Home Alone 2) This is one of my numerous credit card letters I get trying to get me to sign up. It is one of those cardboard cards. Great to use as a putty knife.


This is my epoxy putty. One of the few items I had bought in my first home depot run. I picked the water one since it has the same strength as regular epoxy putty, but a tiny bit longer work time which I wanted for the welds on the gun.


Epoxy putty revealed.


Cut off a chunk. I only cut off enough to fill the hole. About the size of an eraser head on a pencil.


Kneading the dough.


Hole filled and level, but slightly raised for sanding.


Barely got dirty. Could have used a true credit card and would have been fine in this scenario.


Gave the pack a light sponge bath to remove mold release.


Time to get ready to sand. Before picture 1


Before picture 2. Another rough area. Where blue and red wires go into the shell.


Before picture 3. The dreaded blob on my shell. Time to go away.


Before picture 4. My nice and beautiful shell is about to get all scuffed up. Cracks fingers. Time to go to work.


Nice and sanded. The side has been perfectly sanded down and no rough spots. Anything with raised scuffs I used a file to help level it done as safely as I can without effecting the sides of it and then a fine sand sponge.


Rough spot where the wires go has been smoothed out.


The blob is gone. This is where I bleed for my pack. I had to take the sponge off of the handle and of course the teeth in the handle trimmed of the 1/2 the cuticle on my nail. Oh well, could be worse. The blob is dead.


These little raised areas you have to watch. Most of the little columns are perfect. However some have some raised areas. I used a square metal file and it fixed it in no time.


Another column that needed sanding and one that needed filed.


More sanding on the top.


It was not bad here, but under where the gun connects, but before where the hose connects above the cyclotron I had some edges in there. I was able to sand them away, but not an easy place to sand with big hands and a sand sponge.


Sanded this area. Really, no real problems. Just sanded for the primer to stick. I would say 96 percent of the pack was perfect. I only had about 7 areas where I needed to file down. There was only 2 areas that really was anything more than what would equate to a hair dipped in resin on the side or column.


I used my circular file to sand the n-filter area. I had a couple of rough edges that made it hard to insert the n-filter.


Lightly sanded the edge of the pack so it was not quite as rough. It was not bad before, but now it is smoothed down. I didn't sand hard since I have already attached the pack to the frame.


Second picture of the edge after sanding.


Booster plug before. It only had a slight rough edge to the thinner pipe on top. I did sand, but was extra gentle around the base since I want to keep the tight fit in the booster tube.


After. Booster plug looks great.


Upgraded my sand sponge to one with a little more sanding. I knew the ion arm was coming up and I needed to sand it down a bit.


Side view of ion arm before.


Still a before shot. Shows the seem/crack. I don't think it is a crack since it is raised.


Already level, but I will give it a light sand.


This is after. I know you still see the line, but it looks like it was a seem. Even libertech(ish) had a seem. Seem fixed.


Another view after from the side.


Before shot on the bumper.


Need to level this out on the left side of the bumper.


Need to level this out on the right side of the bumper. This has a little edge.


Used my straight file on the side of the bumper to level it. Made quick work out of it.


After sanding. No more seem across the middle.


HGA before. It is pretty much perfect. Just need a surface for the primer.


After. HGA looks better.


This is a little rough. Seems like it was molded out of wood, but not sanded down a ton before molding. No biggie. Time to sand down. Before shot.


After shot. Big difference in resin between exoray and MMM. MMM's sanded down a lot faster and a little more powdery. Still will be fine and very solid.


Top of n-filter before shot.


Side of n-filter. Before shot. Shows paper thin resin covering holes.


Using the drill to cut out the resin. Could have used a pencil after the fact. They just popped out.


Used a 3/8th's bit. Not a perfect fit, but close enough.


This is my round metal file. Perfect for sanding down the little edges in the n-filter.


Sanded down. After shot.


Sanded down. After shot 2. Shows the seem is now perfect, but still visible before primer. It is level, well, round technically, but you can't feel the seem.


This shows the bottom. I used a straight file to level it off and dry fitted it into the shell. It can now fit fine. Snug, but fine.


Epoxy putty is dry. Sanded it down.


Time for booster tube.


Using my semi round file again.


Having to sand around the edge so the tube can fit inside.


This is an after shot.


Omagle about to be cut.


Marker to size it up to 2".


Trusty hack saw.


Measuring tape. Has to be 2".


Marked the areas.


Pipe has been cut.


Hole area on shell needed sanded with the semi circular file.


After sanded to spec.


Pipe fitted. I sanded and filed the hell out of it to make it level.


Pipe fitted another angle. The pipe drives me nuts. I look at it 5 times and will look straight and perfect 4/5th's of the time and not the other. I may go and buy a pipe at home depot if they have the size. I was needing some gold paint as well for the elbows.

That's about it. I am hoping to dry fit today. Tomorrow, there will be no updates since one it is raining and two I am going to the casino for supper. All you can eat buffet with italian, chinese, bbq, pizza, home style, etc. Nothing is better than having lo-mein, bbq ribs, crab legs, and some crab ragoon for supper. And for desert a chocolate fountain or coconut creame pie.

You are amazing with your documentation. I am seeing things that I will use on pack 2 once that starts up. You are on the way to earning a crunch bar...

Great attention to detail....definitely going to be looking to this thread for picture help when I start my pack build.

Oh God my back. i spent about most of the day dry fitting and tweaking everything into place. I took a personal day, so 2/3 of the day was proton pack related. I'll be posting more information tomorrow and don't worry pictures were taken. Sun burnt, hungry, sore, and watching Vampire Diaries with a pizza on the way.

I got everything pretty much dryfitted. Well, except for two little things. One, the big circular resister on the outer side of the ion arm needs to be drilled in further. I have two drills. Mine and my dad's. My dads is old fashioned with the key and power cable, but can't hold the bit. My drill can hold the bit, but since I went cheap on it, it only gives me 15-20 minutes of drill time and it takes over half a day to recharge. You can recharge it for 2-3 hours and only end up with 15 seconds of power so I am having to come back today or tomorrow and finish cutting out that ion arm hole as well as the two straight connectors that go across from the clippard valve. I tried to be consistent on the photos, but I did take before and afters. I was expecting the dry fitting not to take long. Didn't quite work out that way. I thought I could easy dry fit in a few hours and then splash on a coat of primer.

Oh, before I begin. If anyone is looking at a jpa35 gun tip and have a MMM clear tube they won't fit. Well, technically jpa35 can probably adjust it to fit if you mailed a sample of the clear tube, but that is shipping back and forth and it is cheaper and jpa35's tube is better quality visually on the frosted technique. So, if you are going to buy a jpa35 gun tip, buy the jpa35 clear gun tube. Jpa's looks better. Also, you won't have to worry about fitting it to a MMM clear tube. MMM's clear tube was barely off by much, but it was so tight it was starting to scratch the tube and and I was having to put a ton of force on the part that fans out and I didn't want to break the gun tip.

Let's get it started. I just uploaded over 126 photos, but that also includes some of the reject photos due to bad lighting. That's why you see my hand all the time. It is a little sensitive on when to flash.


One of the biggest problems with making this proton pack is all the junk. I have to bring up like 7 home depot sacks, 3 boxes of parts, here is the stuff I think I will need just for today. Pile 1.


Pile 2


I removed the shell from the board. No paint attaching the board till the painting is done. Speaking of the board. Although my 1" carriage bolts work, I am spending a lot on this. I ended up going to home depot for some gold paint, some dremel cutting discs, and a 1" pvc, why not get a 2" carriage bolt. My 1" worked, just there was no excess bolt coming out the nut on the other side. I didn't even have room for a washer before the nut. This will make me feel better about it.


This is a 2" long 3/4 pvc coupling. Holds the hose well and has the same dimensions as the pvc I had before. The other one drove me nuts since it looked crooked at times. I knew I would regret it after I epoxy it in place.


The pvc fits the hole almost. I will need to sand it a tiny bit. Not much at all.


Libtechinit to the rescue. I was jumping between reference photos and his postings to mark out all areas where my drill needs to go. B is for bumper on the left side.


X marks the spot for the gun hose. The little H stands for hose.


Bumper on the right side.


That is where the elbow goes on the left of the cyclotron. Exoray's mold has a little indent where it is supposed to be.


That is where the straights need to go. Again, Exoray's mold has little indents for that.


This is the hga. Again indents thanks to Exoray's. E for Elbow and B for Brass Barb.


I dragged out my booster tubes and I traced them under the power cell. Make sure to move it back after the little lip there.


Bulls eye. That is the center for drilling.


Drawing bulls eyes for the drilling into the power cell.


This is where the cables from the booster tubes go into the shell. Used measurements off the plan section.


Marked out where the big plug goes on the outside of the ion arm. Used measurements off the plan section.


Just eyeballing the placement with the plug.


Looks good. I know it is twisted, but it is perfectly round. Not like I drilled it yet.


Used measurements here as well and used a little pen to mark the holes.


Places the ion knob on top of the ion arm. Used a pen to mark the holes, but I did draw some lines to keep it center. I used libtechinit's pictures to eye ball the placement.

More pictures later this morning. Ran out of time and only like 20 percent done. Removing a virus at work, so I will be at my desk for quite a while to finish this up this morning.

Lol, I'm excited just waiting for more and new pics!! I can't even fathom what it's going to be like when I start my own build!! Keep em' comin' Burnsey!! WOOO!!

Measured out and put a dot where the crank knob needs to go. Pretty much just dead center.


This is one of the smaller cylinders that goes below the ppd. I marked the center point. The B stands for barb.


This is where I need to use a 3/4" spade bit to route out a hole for the ribben cable. X marks the spot.


Mix and repeat. I marked the two smaller cyclinders with a center x for where they need to go.


Here I am marking where the rods need to go on the shell. I know The bottom one does not have a full circle. The big sharpie was having a hard time sneaking around there.


I bought this sharp looking L clamp. Problem is, when I was testing it out, it was too long. I am going to have to use just one screw and cut off about 1.5" to 2" off of it.


This shows where I need to cut on the booster tube side. If I don't, I will have the L clamp going higher than the booster tubes. Just cutting off like 1/4 to 1/3".


Here I am marking the holes again. Mix and repeat on both sides. I used measurements from plans on where to drill the holes.


Marked the top hole of the booster frame.


Marked the bottom hole of the booster frame.


This marks the bottom hole for the elbow. Went by references.


Here I am marking the center bottom point for the booster tube.


Here I am marking where the booster frame needs to go.


Same as the last step, but top portion. The line down the side shows how far I need the booster plug to go inside the tube. Useful information for planning out the screw placement.


Marking out the center point. The two lines on the side show where the pipe needs to be vertically to be centered. The line in the pipe shows the middle and you can't see it, but there is a line under the pipe to match up to the pipe's line.


X marks the spot for the shock mount hole.


This is one area I am not 100%. Not going to move it if it is a little wrong. From the photos it looks like it comes out a tad towards the front and is back about an inch. That's what I did. Here I marked where it goes and the drill holes.


Here is the clippard location. Drew the center hole and the horizontal line for the clippard.


My real clippard.


Marking out the drill holes and the key hole. Under the clippard this is a good 1/2" hole I will need to make for the big rod coming out the middle of the clippard.


Traced the ion arm and drew the drill holes.


Drew the center line and here I am marking where to drill. I am not drilling close to the top. My idea is to use really long bolts on the booster tube and to use that as a kind of stand for the booster plug.


Marked out the holes for the n-filter.


Sanded the pvc location a little bit to make my new 2" pvc fit better.


Seeing a little white from sanding made me nervous. I did not want to cause a hole there. I ended up lightly filing the bottom of the pvc and it fit perfectly.


Kind of messed up, but nothing minor. I did not check both sides of the pvc. One side has writing and I had that facing out. I used some sand sponge and the words are gone.


These are what I am using to mount everything. #8 wood screws, #8 nuts, #8 washers. I have two kinds of wood screws. One that is like an 1 1/4" and one that is 2 1/2".


Find a drill bit that works for you. Remember you want it close, but not to wide that a screw can't be attached without glue. Speaking of drill bits. Buy quality bits. My black and decker bits stink. Anything bigger than 1/4" was fine, but I destroyed two of the smaller bits because they are made with cheap materials.


Starting out the gate with what I feared the most. The booster tube. Drilled out the holes I marked.


What can I say. I was worried it would move. Not gonna move now are ya! Thumbs up for approval.


Drilled though the pvc and attached the screws at a slight angle. I may or may not add nuts later after painting. It is fairly sturdy. Depends on if I can get my fat hand in there.


Inner view.


Looks great and straight.


Drilled out the n-filter holes. I would drill the n-filter on, but I am waiting till after painting. The reason being that once I glue in the wood piece into the n-filter, I won't be able to easily fix anything that might happen to the mesh while painting.


Time to cut out this bad boy.


Used the cutting bit. Probably went through 5-6 cutting discs on this thing. Also made me bleed. That tiny screw is hard to get undone and of course the flat head I was using decided to skip to go under my finger nail.


L bracket cut. I filled it down a little bit more after the photo.


Ready to drill the booster tube one at a time.


First hole drilled.


Time to drill the tube. I am doing this one at a time since my luck they will be too close together or too far apart.


Learned on the first one. Don't use the electric screwdriver first. Use the hand screw driver and make a path before trying to attach it to the powercell. The first tube was a little loose at first, but got better when I tightened it. The L clamp will help as well.


Second tube drilled and screw tested.


Getting ready to attach.


Tubes attached. Nice and even and straight.


Side view of tubes. There is a tiny gap on the booster tube. I am going to make a fake welk with some hot glue.


Figuring out the best placement for the L clamp and marked the drill hole.


Hole drilled.


Attached at the bottom.


Attached to the tubes. I had to attach them at a bit of an angle. The holes were not dead center. This was a pre-made piece and not a piece of aluminum I built.


Here I drilled out the deeper blue and red wire holes.


Blue wire fits top hole.


Blue wire fits bottom hole. I know one is supposed to be red, but same size wire.


Here I drilled out a quasi deep hole for the tiny split loom covering.


Here I drilled out where the wires run into the pack. I kind of knicked the panel next to it, but not deep at all. Primer can probably hide it. Plus the wires will cover it up.


I cut out the hole for the split loom to go into the shell. I know you can cut it as a U, but I am still playing with the idea of some movement and I have in-pack gun lights, so I need to make sure it will fit. Use a semi circle file to sand down the inner hole.


Here, I cut out the ribben cable hole.


Here I drilled the hole.


Taped it down. Round piece on a round location. It's gonna spin.


Here it is after. I didn't like it after further inspection. It is supposed to be a little lower and the incline was a little to the left. I made a new drill hole a little to the right of my last one and that time it went easier.


Drilled the crank knob hole.


Here it is attached. I drilled the bottom of the crank knob. Not shown, but easy. I also used a tiny bit to drill the holes into the little markings on the side to make it more realistic. The plan is to paint this thing and then to use a pen or pencil's spring to insert into those holes so you have the metal that is supposed to be in there. I tried that cheap $20 real crank knob alternative. Way to big to fit. Also, the fiber glass is super thick here so I had to use the long screw. I had to be careful otherwise I might go through the crank knob. Solution: about 20 washers on the inside of the shell on that screw.


Here I attached the HGA. Forgot to take a pre-picture. I did have three drill holes, but I took out the front one since I was having difficulty keeping it straight and the shell makes it very difficult to attach a screw there. I used the longer screws so it is really on there.


Drilled the hole for the dowel in the pvc.


Dowel has been drilled through. Dowel is probably about an 1" or a tiny bit less. I had to actually cut it down. It was like an inch to and inch and a half. The longest screw could not make it all the way through.


Drilled the holes for the cap screws. I had to buy these at home depot. These are the smallest black cap screws they got. I also drilled out the center hole. I am using a black computer screw there with a flat head.


Here I drilled the dowel hose at the top. Had to cut it short as well. The shell is ubber thick here so no nut or anything on the other side. Just screwed it right into the shell.


Elbow hole drilled and elbow test fitted on hga. The drill chipped a little bit of the shell above it. I am going to see if primer can cover it up. If not, epoxy putty to the rescue.


Elbow hole drilled and elbow test fitted on cyc. Again, it chipped. Hoping primer will cover it up as well. Very light chip, so it should cover just fine.


Elbow hole on ion arm drilled.


Elbow test fitted on ion arm.


Brass barb drilled and test fitted on ion arm.


Brass barb drilled and test fitted on hga.


Brass barb added to tube and test fitted.


Tubes drilled and ready to go.


Tubes attached. I screwed up the bottom one. When I was using my electric screwdriver I was going in reverse. Luckily I didn't go all the way though. I got it somewhat attached, but wobbly. Then I drilled and added another screw.


Drilled out the ion arm holes and attached.


Ion arm attached alternate view. I did not make it perfectly level with the shell on purpose, but not by much. That way it looks welded on to the shell and not lightly on the corners. It is level and ready to go.


Booster frame drilled and test fitted to booster tube. Used my long bolts there. Good thing I bought some online. MMM only includes one bolt for the bottom hole where the ribben goes through. No point dry testing that. I know my bolts fit it, I tried it.


I don't have the tiny screws for the resisters. I have a box full of tiny computer screws in my office from thrown away computers and will pick out some tiny screws. I used almost a bit that was on the smaller side of computer screw standards so the screws will go in easily, but I can still paint it.


Ion Knob holls drilled.


Ion knob test fitted. Did not go super tight since it was squeking and will wait till I really attach it to go all the way down.


Bumper and shock mount added. Needed Dad's help. He just looks at me shaking his head he is glad I am the one doing this. He has no patience. I had drawn estimated lines of where the drill holes needed to be in relation to libtechinit's pictures. It was almost dead on accurate. Went on smoothly. My shock mount does not go into the cyclotron. The bolt just goes into the bumper. Kind of like that better.


It's attached. Side view.


Drilled the hole for the wire. My cordless drill had run out of juice. I think another little split loom goes there. If so, I will try to make it be a little more center with the bigger bit.


Holes drilled for clippard. My cordless drill out of juice so I can't screw the big hole.


Picture of pack. Thought I was done and was half way in the house and realized. I forgot the ribbon cable connector.


Ribbon cable connector attached. MMM's bolts are an odd size. I don't have a hex wrench that works on them and I have metric and standard? Got two kinds. Regardless, the drill bit was a little bigger and they went it loose. I will have to epoxy/hot glue the back of bolts when I finish it off.


Got out my cordless drill. Had a minute's worth of life. Finished off this hole. Snap off the copper pieces for an easier fit. You won't see them on this piece.


I was able to route out the key piece for 90% of the way. The wood spade did make it through in the middle. I used my true circle file to expand the hole and bingo it fits.

That's pretty much it. I just need for my cordless drill to recharge to drill two holes and improve the big hole on the ion arm for knob a picture above, the ppd, and maybe deepen the hga holes a smidge. 7 minutes of work. Weather permitting, I will start disconnecting everything and begin priming and painting it in the following order.

Primer
Silver Paint
Black Hammered Paint
Black Semi-Gloss

Also, while I am at it, I will paint the elbows gray and add copper paint to the orange part.

Looking good....red flag though, I now have to load up over 270 images just to view this thread page.

Just sayin....not sure what you can do about it. I'd love it if I had documented my pack build so thoroughly.

G

At least, photobucket is shrinking them in both file size and resolution. These pictures I am taking are on a 10 megapixel camera, so I can make posters out of them if I wanted. Really should have put 56k beware on the heading, lol. What can I say, just trying to help out others who are building. Bad thing is I am already pushing the bandwidth on photobucket, so I may have to become a member, but at least they have promotions where instead of buying a membership, you can buy a membership of a magazine and get twice the bang for your buck.

Nice pack work aburns, and super documentation. I should have done more of that myself.
Your assembly techiques highly resemble the ones I used on my alkaline shell.
Strong and replaceble components!

Thanks. It is coming a long nicely. I should be able to finish off the main pack this week. This weekend, I have got a lot done. I disassembled the pack. Part of me almost left it connected and then paint it, but I knew I would run into trouble doing it that way. So far, I've used primer, painted it will silver paint, and painted it with black hammered paint. All the parts are drying as we speak. It takes a while for hammered to dry so it will be tomorrow night when I paint my pack with the final coat of black paint. Boy that hammered paint is awesome looking, but it is very glossy. Really improves the look, texture, and removes light flaws. I am going semi-glossy.

I have worked on a couple of other things. I picked up some door screen material and painted it silver. I know metal would be best, but the guy at home depot when he found out what I was making and how much I needed hooked me up with a "Sample" of black mesh that will work and I painted it will my silver paint. You have to buy a whole screen door size at home depot for $6. Wish they sold it by the foot.

I also worked on my straights and elbows. I trimmed off some of the orange, the top, but leave the neck. I painted the orange part to a copper color that is a perfect match to the copper on them. Also, I used some model flat gray paint to paint the elbows. I almost didn't since the elbows MMM offers is a light gray, but it is a really light gray. The ones in the movie was true gray or a tiny bit dark gray. Everything is drying. The weather has looked slightly rainy off and on, so I have been painting in the garage with an open garage door, resperator, and a large plastic paint cover.

Just to save some of you guys who are following me some advice. Make sure to have two cans of primer and hammered paint. The silver barely used half a can, but I used about a can and 1/3 of primer and hammered paint. That does not include the gun. I ended up picking up a second black semi-gloss. I don't know if I will need the second semi-gloss, but I needed it on primer and black hammered paint and going twice to home depot this week is enough for me. Doesn't help that that alice frame uses up a ton of paint to coat it. I originally painted the alice frame with black grill paint, but days later it was rubbing off on my hand and was more dark gray than black. Plus in the movies the blacks were the same for the frame and board, so what the hell. Luckily, I talked me Dad into paying for my first home depot run and in return I am doing all the yard work this year. So, I didn't eat that first can of grill paint I tried.

HA, I just painted my MMM elbows today......Used Tamiya RLM gray.

Good idea trimming off those orange tops, I found they don't take paint very well anyway.

It's against the majority here, but I'm not using a silver undercoat at all, black primer and flat black topcoat only.
I plan on just "highlighting" my pack with silver and gray for a weathered effect.
We'll see how that works.

I was told the same on the paint. Someone said the primer was optional with hammered and not everyone paints the silver undercoat. I just did to play it safe. I want a brand new looking pack. I painted the silver in case I change my mind later or on the off chance I scuff it. I'll treat like a baby, but accidents happen. No kidding on the elbows. Big pain in the rear and paint does not stick well. I taped them up and painted the orange to a copper metallic and then gently painted on the gray. I actually punched the elbows and straights into a styrofoam plate while I painted them gray. Do not attempt with the metallic copper. The copper paint disolves styrofoam. Learned the hard way and a tiny bit of paint ended up on the floor when the straight fell through. Shh, no one saw and I cleaned it up fast.

Well, here are some pictures. Kind of pointless to show the tear done pictures since I was basically un-screwing everything.


Primed the small pieces.


Booster tube primed


Bumper primed


Alice frame primed. Yeah, it is in copper. Ran out of the good stuff and had some of the bronze primer left. This was last to be primed so it got the cheap stuff.


Booster frame primed


Shell primed. First angle.


Shell primed. Second angle. Kind of looks good in white.


Motherboard primed. Took the primer well. Primer takes about 4 hours to dry, but like 30 minutes to handle. Make sure to flip over you double sided parts and coat the bottom. I pretty much primed the back side of everything except the shell. Once dry. I sanded it down with some course sandpaper sponge.


Silver painted my bumper. Looks good!


Small pieces painted silver.


Shell is now silver. Angle 1.


Shell is silver. Angle 2.


While I was painting everything silver it was kind of pointless to paint the motherboard or alice frame silver. If I want a metallic looks I will just scuff these up since they are made out of metal. Decided I should try out my hammered paint. Boy does the motherboard and alice frame use up some paint. Side one of the alice frame paint job. Takes days to dry. Side 1.


Motherboard painted with black hammered paint.


Shell has been painted with black hammered paint. Roughly 2 hours after the silver paint. The silver paint dries like within 30 minutes, so it was dry.


Small pieces painted with black hammered paint.


Bumper and tube painted with hammered paint.


Elbows and staights painted. Had to trim off the discs off the orange piece, but leave the little neck. I taped up all of them and painted the orange part copper. Takes hours to dry, but 30 minutes or so to be able to touch it. Then I put them into the plate to hold them while I had paint (and dry) gray. You only paint the whitish part of the elbow gray. They are drying.

Technically, the hammered black paint was dry last night, but I am going to let it dry while I am at work. I have already second coated the hammer paint. I painted them all with hammered paint saturday around 2 pm and the second coat at around 3 pm on sunday. I will start painting the semi-gloss black tonight after supper. The paint is supposed to dry in 30 minutes. I may let it dry over night or I may begin to install the lenses and light tonight. Kind of depends on time and how dry the paint is.

wow....

Ran into some problems. In about four spots the black semi-gloss messed up. It made this spider web effect/cracking on the back of the alice frame, the front main part of the bumper, the clippard area on the pack, the bottom 3/4 loom pvc area on the pack, and a tiny 1" area below where the pack connects. Going to wait till it dries. Sand it down. Re-apply hammered and paint the semi-gloss again after the hammered dries. It was perfect till the semi-gloss.