#346151
Progress has been slow this week. I was out of town for a conference for work, had some friends visiting for ACL,
...and also this happened.(Warning, it's a little bloody.) Just an X-acto blade incident, and I'm OK! Worse than it looks, but it hurt A LOT. Almost back to normal now, minus a couple millimeters of fingertip.

ALSO: I need some help from you electronics guys! I have come into possession of a few LiPo batteries (I think that's what they are) that I would love to figure out how to integrate into my pack when it's time to add light+sound. Image
The two big boys are 7.4v, 21.2Ah and the smaller one is a 7.4v 3000mAh battery. Not sure how useful the smaller one will be, but I feel like the big ones will be helpful.

These were abandoned by a company that I used to share office space with that develops electric motors for scooters and electric bicycles. Do you think it would take much to be able to use these as a rechargeable power source for lights and sound, when the time comes?
#346179
Yeah, I was thinking the voltage might not cut it. I see a lot of packs with 12v for sound, 9v for lights. These have a ton of capacity- 21200 mAh x2 seems like they could power something under 7.4v for quite awhile. Maybe if I connected them together in series. I'm going to have to get out my electronics book and brush up. Don't wanna blow up my garage.

I'm dying to figure out something to use these for :)
#346264
Namssorg wrote:Progress has been slow this week. I was out of town for a conference for work, had some friends visiting for ACL,
...and also this happened.(Warning, it's a little bloody.) Just an X-acto blade incident, and I'm OK! Worse than it looks, but it hurt A LOT. Almost back to normal now, minus a couple millimeters of fingertip.
I buried the entire blade of a box cutter (to the hilt), in my thigh when I was working on my gearbox. Got four stitches from that mistake.
Lesson: my legs are not a work surface/ sawhorse.
#346885
Ouch, that had to hurt.

Alright- quick update. This week I re-sized the bottom cyclotron holes (now they all match), drilled a few more holes, mounted the bumper, and put a fresh coat a primer on so I could see how things are shaping up.

More process pictures soon- but in the meantime here is a crappy cellphone pic:
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#347186
Awesome!
!!!!!
!!!
!


Stay 3inches on the N-Filter, in spite of the overhang. From straight on, it looks more accurate, and the overhang can be seem only if someone is lying on the floor looking up at your ass, in which case the overhang is the least of your problems.
#348034
More wonkiness.

Continued work on the S(hell). I promised more pictures, and I could use some feedback since I'm at a pretty pivotal stage in the build. I mounted the bumper last week, and there are only a few things left to do before I finally start painting the shell. Maybe.

I started by finding the center of my cyclotron using this neat method.
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I'm using a small shaft collar as a spacer. The bolt is temporarily mounted backwards in these pictures, just to give the bumper something to pivot around.
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...And here's the bumper lined up, before I drilled into the sides:
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Now for the wonkiness!
Here's a shot of where I started, and where I am now with the shell:
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Taken with two different cameras, so there's bound to be some lens weirdness.

It's looking a lot better, but I'm still not completely happy with the cyclotron. The rings all have the same size holes now, but to me it looks like the top rings are too low. It's something I could fix, but that's going to involve sanding them down (again) filling the existing holes, placing new rings, and drilling new holes, all to move them up about 1/4" or so. Do you think the cyclotron could handle more epoxy putty, more new holes? Would love to get some thoughts on this before I start. I mean, it looks like a proton pack... but does it look like a Proton Pack? :vinzclortho:

Closeup:
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I'm pausing on the shell for awhile while I let that decision stew. In the meantime I've started working out lights and sound. What's left:
-Fix or leave the cyclotron rings
-Build a PPD
-Paint the shell
-Attach everything
-Mount speakers, electronics, lights
-Tubes!
-Hoses!
-Thrower!


Thanks for the comments so far, everyone!
#348049
It's tough to know. I may have 'willed' it a bit lower when I installed it because of those top rings.

These things are kind of hard to photograph. I'm finding that things that bother me about the pack in real life almost always look better in the 2D photos I post. Anyone else notice that? One more, just because:
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#350945
More Stuff To Look At

Here's an updated shot of (most) of the (mostly) completed pack parts, minus a few screws, elbows and tubes.
The peppers and okra are not going on the pack... they're from one of Mrs. Namssorg's projects:eyeroll:

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All plastic!
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I'm finally happy with the shell, so I have been sanding/filling and prepping it for paint. I'll probably give it an undercoat of Krylon Fusion Nickel, just like the other 'should be metal' parts. I know it's not screen accurate, but I like the hard under-shell this paint forms, especially in the weathering tests I've done.

I'd really like to do a hammered finish on the cyclotron before I do the final coat of BBQ black- I know the gearbox has some texture as well, but I'm still fuzzy on what is/isn't textured on the shell. I know the fins are smooth. What are most people doing?

And a big thanks to Phish4dinner for finding and selling me these Legris caps- they fit perfectly in AZSpidey's elbow casts. These will be a nice little touch of 'accuracy-ishness' when they're finished.
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...time to go build that PPD.
#352665
This weekend I finally made a PPD and finished up most of the other parts.

I also started painting the shell. Right now it's all bright and shiny:
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I have been talking to a lot of people about different texturing techniques, and am really glad pchrisbosh1posted this tutorial on how he achieved a nice looking finish using wall texture spray. I have been playing with that stuff on pieces of scrap, but haven't been able to dial it in. His looks like a pretty neat method for getting a nice, even, and not too grainy texture.

Also painted those AZSpidey elbow casts! They are darker in person than they look in this photo.
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We're in the home stretch, and the Paypal account is a-hurtin'. A box from D&A (R2Devo) might be showing up soon that will represent the last of the petty cash. At least until after the new year...
#360257
After a few weeks of deliberation and lots and lots of sample tests, I decided to throw a bit of texture on the pack. I wanted a very cast-metal look, not too extreme, and not too sandpapery. I decided not to go the wall texture route after I saw a really nice texture Filandrius had been experimenting with using a truck bed coating.

Unfortunately that brand of bed liner is no longer made, so I tried a few and think I found a decent equivalent.

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It looks much better/smoother in person- but here's a closeup after I pulled off some of the masking.

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The texture is looking pretty good- especially in areas I laid it on thick (it sort of congeals and smooths out a bit.) I love that it's fairly smooth, and not at all gritty like some bed-liner coatings I've seen. I'll probably throw down one additional layer of primer or silver on top of this- to even it out just a little more before the final coat of black.

... gettin' there!
#374032
Time for an update. At some point since I last posted, I finished painting, and realized, "Hey, I can finally assemble this thing!"

It's been assembled for awhile now- I wanted to put it together and have it get a little worn in and scratched up as I finish the details. So far this has been working great- Filandrius's Krylon Fusion base coat is like a shield compared to the BBQ black- any little nick or scratch and that silver shines through. Before the final coat- I covered a few spots I wanted to look extra worn with toothpaste to mask the black (VERY SPARINGLY!) Worked great.
Once you start screwing parts on, you want to pop in the lenses, maybe add the lights, figure out speakers.. So all of that has happened. I'm in another one of my 'collect more stuff' stages, and will be ready for the final push next month.

First- Here's how the final textured paint job came out:
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Then it was time to pop in the lenses. I went with reflectors inside- but didn't like that I could see the LEDs through them- some of the magic gets lost when you see too much- so I frosted them with some spray I for some reason already had?
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One coat of this gives a nice diffused frosted look.
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After the lights were in- I put everything together and started attaching hoses. I drilled two holes and stuck a couple of extra rivets into the small box on the synch-gen where the two tubes from the injectors plug in. The rivet 'tails' were just the right diameter to allow me to slide the hoses on and hold them in place without any glue.
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More in an hour or two!
#374079
Lannyjack - I used the Dupli-Color truck bed coating. It dries very hard, but slowly. It's rubbery until it fully cures- so if you mess up a spot (I did) just let it dry for a bit and then hit that spot again until it smooths out. I actually sprayed it on, let it dry for a week, and then did one final coat of Krylon Fusion Nickel on top before I put on my top coat of BBQ black.

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#374086
Looking sweet man!

Very nice work ~
#374091
To attach the loom hose to the crank generator, I harvested the pushbutton from an old microwave oven that was being thrown out. It just happened to be the perfect diameter to give the hose something to grab onto.
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For the opposite end going into the filler tube, I cut the plastic flanged end off of a liquor pourer, and screwed it into the recess in the filler tube. I would have used one at both ends if I'd thought of it earlier. These things work great for gripping onto that tube.
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A few progress shots I took tonight- Still waiting on a v-hook, ribbon cable, and a couple of other little bits.
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Couple of cruddy cell phone pics...
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Here is the "I have a proton pack." photo. When I took this one, I said, "...I am an adult." out loud.
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Speakers! These just barely fit. 4.5" Bose speakers out of someone's Cadillac :) They sound great!
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I used a template to drill the holes.. but the drill bit must have wandered a little. Might cover the holes up with a piece of fabric, but they won't be noticeable when the ALICE frame gets attached.
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Now to figure out where to cram the rest of this stuff...
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That's all for now!
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#374105
Why thankyou ;)

I'm about to rebirth my thread as I brought a bigi330 shell and all the bells and whistles. As far as the grips ... your welcome to have some soon. I brought some venky grips to use as reference to new ones i'm currently modeling in maya as the ones I had made just wern't accurate.

I'm not too far behind you so ill try and race you to the finish but i think you have beaten me anyway :/
We are probably going to have very similar interiors as I'm following Burkit and Bigi's and Chris's builds which is very similar to what you have done.

Good work sir!

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