View new posts | View your posts My Alkaline shell/first Proton Pack! MAJOR UPDATE 04/14

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Nick, you're going to love this. You see, when I got home there was great sun outside, so...



It's my favorite shot too. I had to recreate it in natural light!



The other side ain't too shabby either.



One without the thrower to show the details...



And something new: the 100 feet tall pack! I was mostly having fun at this point.



Both sides to make sure I capture everything.



One last shot for the road!

OK now: no more pictures of the pack until I get my pack lights and my GB1 cable! By then hopefully I'll have acquired a guitar stand, so that I can safely take pictures outside. Until then, cheers and thanks for the kind words everyone!

Oh my! The natural light really shows how smooth the paint is. And I love the "myspace" angles haha.

One of the best builds ive seen in a while. Can't wait to see it all lit up

LOVE the ants-eye-view shots!!

Me neither. The Exoray light kits are bought and paid for.

Me too. I had fun doing those. I reeeeeeeeally need a guitar stand, though.

Minor update (this one's for you, Kind) I bit the bullet and bought myself a LC-1 pack frame with matching straps. The LC-2 that's on my motherboard is fine and dandy, but sadly it's innaccurate for a GB1 pack. I'll let you know when I get it.

Small update: LC-1 frame is in the mail, the guitar stand too. In the meantime I started upgrading a part that was bugging me for a long, long time: the LGI.

What's the LGI, you ask? Well it's a little know part of the pack, one that isn't on all of them. It stand for Last Great Inaccuracy. What's his purpose? To glare at you accross the room when you're pretty much convinced that your pack is complete and accurate. And to wake you up at night, telling you that you could've done a better job.

The LGI on my pack is the recessed top of the N-Filter. It's been bugging me for months, and even though Alkaline's shell is a great shell, the recessed top isn't accurate. And every screenshot and every reference photo reminded me that my filter wasn't accurate. I was caught in a great dilemma; I didn't correct the problem before painting my shell and applying the decals. My out-of-print decals from Namebrand and Bobamatt, to be exact.

Earlier this week I secured another set of rub-down transfers from PeteVenkmanJedi (That's one problem solved. Thanks man!) and today, gathering every ounce of courage that I had, I carefully removed the Bobamatt decal from the recessed top. The decal is a little worse for wear, but I think I can salvage it. Then I filled the top to the brim with some Devcon Metal Patch & Fill that I had laying around.

That's where I'm at. Waiting for the Devcon to dry. Next I sand, prime, paint, and reapply the decals. Did I made a huge mistake attempting to correct a mistake that only fanatics would notice or care about? Stay tuned for the answer.

Don't worry, you will always find something else you need to change/fix at some point. Its never ending.

Oh man I know all about the LGI all too well! Mine right now are my oversized injector tubes.

Look forward seeing the updates

I can totally agree with what you mean about the N-Filter. I was wondering if you were going to fix that but then you painted it and applied the decals that I figured you weren't going to.

Here is what I did to my alkaline N-Filter:
**Hope you don't mind me posting this in your thread**

What did you use to fill the filter, SoCal? I ordered some Apoxie Sculpt almost two weeks ago, and it still hasn't arrived yet.

Yeah, I kinda figured. But there's nothing wrong being optimistic about HAVING a LGI!
There you go!
Not at all. As a matter of fact I'm pleased that you posted it, that's a great job you did there. Hope mine will be as pretty.
That's a great question. Speaking of which, the Devcon filler is a bust, it semi-dried and kinda cracked and peeled my paint, and that's all it did. I removed it by catching it with my nail and pulling on it. Stupid crap. So now I'm trying JB Weld straight on the unpainted fiberglass... I know, JB Weld isn't a filler, but I had some left, it's self-levelling before it dries, and it's indesctructible when it's cured. Stay tuned for pictures and updates.

looking good fernando, now if you want to take it to the next step, grind off that "weld" and make a more accurate looking one.

Fantastic! I've read a lot of people really like the stuff. Hopefully it shows up soon!

all ive ever used is epoxy putty to make a weld but Austin found a really gread method using devcon metal patch fill in a baggie with the corner of the baggie cut off, kinda like decorating a cake.

I'd just like to add that the Devcon method for fake welds is hard to pull off. Very, very hard. One second that stuff is runny as hell, the other it's got a rubbery skin with liquid stuff underneath. Then it's hard as rock. Jairus's signature about Austin being a prodigy never made more sense.

Anyway. It's time for another update!

That Damn N-Filter: Part One

So I begun working on my N-filter tonight, after letting the JB Weld dry for 24 hours. Here's a summary of my dubious progress.



The aforementioned JB Weld. Mmmm! Grey pudding!



The grey pudding (isn't that a D&D monster?) sanded flat. As expected, I have bubbles to fill. And, inspired by the words of Kind2311 the Wise, I dremelled the fake weld. Looks better that way.



Dupli-Color automotive putty to fill the bubbles and the imperfections. Let it dry, and...



...Sand the heck out of it. Now it's ready to be primed. The flat surface is slowly taking shape.



Not willing to take any chance, I covered the whole pack with plastic, and made a hole for the filter. At this point I also removed my red band, because I pretty much destroyed it while dremeling the weld, and I figured that I'd replace it with something better than red electric tape. Also, it'll hide the seam in the paint.



Voilà! All primered-ed (urm...) Good old Krylon all-purpose primer that I had around. Can't really use my Krylon Fusion on this, don't know how the auto filler would react. Also, I don't want to wait 7 days.

That's it for now! Waiting for the primer to dry. I'll probably throw a couple of coat of silver before painting it black, seeing that the N-filter on the original parts was aluminum. I want it to weather screen-accurately.

Good work, Mike! Starting to feel better? Are you going to make a new weld or leave the filter sanded flat? I kind of like it that way.....

My Apoxie Sculpt FINALLY arrived today, so it's time for me to get to work as well!

Thanks Mark! I AM feeling better, as a matter of fact. And I am NOT going to make a new weld, as I mentioned before I don't like fake welds, and the way it looks right now reminds me of welds that have been grinded off, ironically. It's kinda hard to see, but the bottom shape of the weld is still there (I left it there intentionally)

Minor update (AKA That Damn N-Filter: Part Two) after much sanding and re-priming, I managed to put on the silver base coat. I put two or three of those, to get a nice tough coat for the weathering that's sure to happen. Behold my shiny new N-filter!



Krylon BBQ Black goes on tomorrow. After that it's the decals, then I'm free! Free of that darn LGI, that is.

Update!!!

That Damn N-Filter: Part Three

OK when I got home from work I immediately spray painted the hell out of that N-filter. BBQ Black, here I come!



Shiiiiny. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. Of course, it wouldn't have been THAT much work if I did it when my shell was unpainted. Oh well!



Unmasked! As expected there was a big fat seam in the paint, but I covered it with the red band. I went with something different this time: 1/8" automotive pinstriping tape. Works really well and it's just the right size.

Next up: the silver label! Will the Bobamatt label survive the transfer? Will I apply it crooked, like last time? Stay tuned!

Well what do ya know. It worked.

Oh, I'm sorry: That Damn N-Filter: Part Four



The Bobamatt label went on without a hitch. Almost too well, in fact. You have to look at it from very, very close to see that it's been removed and reapplied. Amazing things, these Bobamatt labels.



And look! It's even on straight!

Well I would consider the operation Damn N-filter a success. All that's missing is the spare dry transfer that it's the mail. But that should be a breeze to apply. See you next time!

Looks fantastic! It's great when you take your time to make something exactly how you want isnt it? Even if it seems like alot of work for such a small alteration it's all worth it in the end

Every single modification, negligible as it seems, is incredibly satisfying because it's a step towards a 100% complete and accurate pack. Even if 100% can't be really be attained, there's nothing wrong with trying.

The only setback is that as soon as the latest LGI is corrected, a new one appears. There's going to be a LGI on my pack as long as it's not 100% accurate… Like Matt said, it's never ending. They don't call this a pastime for nothing!

You da man Filly! Have you weighed that sucker yet?

Thanks a lot man, you're too kind.

Well I didn't weight it (forgot about it when it was all assembled) and now it's in bits and pieces in anticipation for the light kits. I'll be sure to weight it when I reassemble it.

Mini update: tonight I bit the bullet and replaced the Sage Silicohm 50 with a Dale RH-50. After I updated the page on the Sage resistors in the Wiki, believing that the Sage was on all the GB1 packs and the Dale on the GB2s, I was informed (with supporting evidence) that the Dale WAS used on the GB1 Hero props, and that the Sage probably only showed up on publicity shots (like the Omni cover) So, since I'm not replicating the Omni cover pack (my ribbon cable will be twisted the other way) the Sage had to go.

Yes, I know, it was another LGI. I'm looking for another one as we speak.

One thing I've noticed lately is that most RH-50s offered in the community are actually not accurate entirely. Like most pneumatics they go through many design changes. The RH-50s on the hero GB2 upgrades have the logo on the very front of the resistor. I've bought a few RH-50s over the years that don't have the logo and the only person that I've got a correct one from is AJ in the shop. Heres a pic so you know what I'm talking about,

If you got one from AJ then you probably got lucky.

My RH-50 is from AJ indeed. You just made my day!

AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH! I KNEW I should have added that RH-50 to my last order from AJ. Now I'll have to wait until his shipping delay is over.

I've got a whole bunch of those resistors if anyone needs them.

Funny story: the Dale PH-25 that everyone buys isn't accurate either. The correct resistor doesn't have a ring on top of the fins. Check this out:

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=20351

Hum... Anybody have one of those for me?

Yah I was going to point this out to you to, but I didn't want to seem like a nag in your thread , but yah Dale changed there design on this as well and the ones without the circle are very hard to come by at this point I would just keep an eye on Ebay until someone starts offering the accurate ones again, but I don't even think to many people know these are the wrong designs.

Edit: Fernando the only packs I've confirmed the RH-50s with the logo on are the Sony packs, NY packs, and PH pack, but it's possible that some of the GB1 heros might have not had them with the logo, this is strictly a consensus based off reference photos.