[Alan Hawkins]

First layer of glass laid down today and it looks great. I did learn a few things about myself today though.

1. I'm not NEARLY organized enough to lay down fiberglass. Hopefully tomorrow I will have all my ducks in a row. I really wish I had made a check list.
2. If after you finish your fiberglass layer and pull off your mask to sneeze make sure that there is not a great big wad of resin on the back of your gloved hand. You never really appreciate your sinuses until they feel like the have been coated in gel like acid.

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[ProtonCharger]

but resin/resin dust/bondo dust make the best boogers.

[Alan Hawkins]

OK! Update time!

Second layer of fiberglass is on and curing! I was surprised at how solid one layer was but went ahead with a second layer.



If you're wondering why I did the pack in two different parts, here is why. I want to be able to get into the nooks and crannies when I smooth out the walls of the pack. After that I will rivet the parts together and add the plates and ribs.

I also decided to buy one of the fiberglass Cyclotrons from loly2kn2 found here -

http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtop ... 31&t=29294

My Cyclotron was going to need too much work and I was considering a cake pan (something I really did not want to do) and after looking at the amount of work on either I decided to go this route. May not be for everyone, but in the end I am building this pack for myself and I want it to be as nice as it can be.

Another cool thing is my motherboard got cut today. It has a pretty neat history already. My father in law had a scrap piece of aluminum from an old plant that used to make all the windows for mid-70's GM cars. This piece is 90 thousands (just shy of 1/8" and the same thickness of old GM side windows) but it is T6 billet! So it is light and strong.



After laying out the pattern and double checking it with my pack we were ready to cut it out. So part two of how cool this piece is! My father in law has a band saw from an old saw mill that was made after WWII





Cutting the shape -



AND DONE!



We left a bit of extra around the edges so that if I needed to make some adjustments I would have the wiggle room. Overall a VERY productive day!

[gEkX]

That band saw is something else!

Looks like everything turned out nicely so far. Smart thinking on the cyclotron. I'm not looking forward to using the router on that part...

[Alan Hawkins]

Thanks! I feel like I'm cheating. But I'm over it.

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[Alan Hawkins]

Laid the separate parts together. We go home to Chicago in the morning then I can start doing the body work.

[gEkX]

Nice.
The only thing I notice is the ppd box needs some love.
Other than that looking good man!

I have issues with that part on my pack as well.
Mainly because it was a real pain in the keyster to get all the edges alligned.

Is the Ion arm attached?

[Alan Hawkins]

Nothing is attached yet. Yes, I'm going to have to smooth out a few areas. My next plan of attack it to sand every surface and start figuring out my low points. Then lay in bondo on those. Once everything is as nice as I can get it I will rivit the pieces together and start on the ribs.

At least that's the plan...

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[Alan Hawkins]

Small update.

Over the weekend I cleaned off our back sun porch (which has become a dump-all of the stuff we can no longer find room for since the baby arrived.) now I have a work area that I can sand / grind / work to my little black hearts content.



I also ordered Crix's full sound and light kit including his new thrower lights. VERY excited about that and now MMM is having a sale this Friday so I will hopefully clear out the last of my parts list for this build.

[FossilizedArt]

Alan! This is a FANTASTIC build! I swear, it's really making me wanna try pepakura packmaking, ESPECIALLY when I see the price of all the supplies!

Rock ON!

[Alan Hawkins]

Thanks man! It is a TON of fun. It just takes a lot of time and patience.

[Alan Hawkins]

Been working on and off this week (I can only do stuff during the week when my 1 yr old is sleeping.) I had one "UH-OH!" moment while sanding on the PPD box and the paper started separating from the Rondo. But after peeling it off I actually ended up with something close to a cast part. Shrugged my shoulders and moved on with my life.



As you can see I got my Cyclotron from loly2kn2. Really happy with this choice as I just don't think I could have done as nice a job on this part as he did.





Once I am done sanding and bondoing the shell I will trim up my motherboard to fit nice and flush. I am looking at other peoples packs and I have a question - How much should the motherboard stick out from the shell?

[Mr.Spider]

it should be flush

[Alan Hawkins]

it should be flush

That helps. After I put on all the ribs and plates I can trim down the motherboard. Thanks!

[ProtonCharger]

flush isnt always the case though. some places it sticks out and not all of them are cut the same.

i made mine flush because it made the mdf cleaner looking.

[Alan Hawkins]

flush isnt always the case though. some places it sticks out and not all of them are cut the same.

i made mine flush because it made the mdf cleaner looking.

I guess that means more looking at pack pictures. I need to get all the sanding and smoothing done first before I trim up the motherboard. Thanks man!

[gEkX]

1/8" around. Some areas I made it flush.. the spacer in particular on mine... but waiting until you have all the cosmetic plates and ribs on will help get an idea of where you need to trim it back.



See that by the powercell



and there



and there as well.

These next areas are pretty much flush



Kinda hard to tell from that angle.



That being said much like the packs no two motherboards were the exact same.

[Alan Hawkins]

You ROCK my world Kenny! (PS - I finally got around to opening the screw set. SWEET man! Really excited about the N-Filter mesh. Thank you!)

[ProtonCharger]

Yeah I didn't trim my mobo until my ribs were attached, because it looks like that's how it was done with the packs.

[Alan Hawkins]

Just ordered all my pack parts from Irricanian. My last pack I made most of the parts or substituted found parts. Now that I have to get this (and another spare parts pack) done by Wizards World in August I just don't have it in me to sit and craft something out of PVC and styrene like a PPD when I can buy a cast one on sale for $3.

I started building packs last July. By the time I get these next two done I will have built five total and I am feeling pretty burned out on the whole "LET'S BUILD PROTON PACKS!" deal. My hope is that the Pep pack will be my last and that over time I can upgrade and improve it. We'll see.

More sanding and bondo work today...

[Alan Hawkins]

Yeah I didn't trim my mobo until my ribs were attached, because it looks like that's how it was done with the packs.

I think I was getting ahead of myself looking for tasks that I can do while I wait for bondo to harden. I'll wait until the shell is done.

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[gEkX]

One more thing. Make sure you leave about 1/8" on that middle bottom pack rest plate.

This will help take the stress off that part of the shell when you set it down.

This pic kinda shows what I'm talking about:

[Alan Hawkins]

One more thing. Make sure you leave about 1/8" on that middle bottom pack rest plate.

Yeah, I only get one shot at this since my father-in-law has only one piece that is this thickness. The rest of his scrap aluminum is really thick stuff.

[gEkX]

You could use a Sharpie to draw where you going to cut and make sure its all going to work for you.
I would wait until your ready to get it mounted up and all the plates and whatnot on.. good news is you should have everything you need for mounting

[Alan Hawkins]

Bondo work is done on the bottom half of the pack. Cut the hole for the Cyclotron (The black circular part) and attached that. Now messing with spot putty. My goal today is to get everything smoothed out and join the two half's. I doubt I will get that far but it's good to have goals.

UPDATE!



The bottom half is DONE! (well, I have a few more spots to work on... But overall I am finished with this.)

[gEkX]

NICE!

Looks like the link for the second pic is broken..

[Alan Hawkins]

Better?

[Ecto_1]

Looking good so far, its hard to tell it has humble roots in some folded paper

[Alan Hawkins]

Looking good so far, its hard to tell it has humble roots in some folded paper

Crazy right??? I think this is just about the coolest project I have ever done.

OK, Today I had to be a bit more laid back. My wife had to work so that left me with the baby. Since I could not do all the bondo and sanding I wanted to I started on the cosmetic plating for the spacer. This is the point where you discover just how GREAT of a job Proton Charger did with these files. All the templates you need to make this pack accurate are all included and that means the guess work is next to nil.





I only have two months to get this and a spare parts pack done for Wizards World. So you will most likely see updates on this build daily for a while.

[gEkX]

Those plates really set it off! You are on a roll with this one.. keep it up!