[GBfan4life88]

Well its been about 3 years of collecting parts, and many of you hearing me bitch and complain about a good amount of it, but it is finally time to start assembling what I have gotten.

Although at the time of this writing I am still missing some major parts (like a shell and bumper) I figure, I should start putting together what I have, and get the rest of the parts I need as I go at this point.
some of the photos are just to show what parts I have, and some show the progress of them.

The first thing I am doing is assembling my ThrowingChicken thrower kit. As it stands right now, it is painted, and ready to get the internal lighting kit, along with a home made barrel extender. Thanks to ThrowingChicken for the thrower kit, the GBFans shop for the Clippard, sound and light kits, acrylic tube, and most of the aluminum parts, Spongeface for the extra parts for the light kit, and the bezel for the light bar, and freekygeeky.biz for the v hook, trigger guard, lever, s-hook, and a few other small parts. Once I get the pack together, I will give thanks to those who helped it all come together.


all pieces fitted together
another angle
Removing the resin heatsink
no more resin
aluminum!
phenoseal "weld" line to allow for small flexing
basecoat of aluminum spray
first coat of black
final coat of semigloss!

other parts that I have, that will be going together soon:






Parts I'm working on making:




Let me know what you think, as I continue to work on this I'll be posting more pics.

[YHSCraig]

Looking good! You're well on your way. Which shell are you going to use?

[Wharin]

damn dude, good to see you start actually building!

[bejdann]

I like the weld line, It looks great! I've never been a huge fan of the epoxy putty welds.

[venkman30]

Looks like your off to a great start. Looking forward to seeing more.

[GBfan4life88]

Thanks guys. I'm really hoping my first pack comes out better than I'm expecting. I'm planning on getting a Gbfans shell simply because my mobo is a Gbfans one. The phenoseal "weld" came because the rear handle is a piece of PVC held in by one screw, so it moves a little bit. I figured if I used something that fires hard, it would eventually crack, where this one will flex a little and all I'll have to do is touch up the paint once in a while.

[GBfan4life88]

My Vac line and PPD. The red stuff coming out of it is called Red Hand. It's basically marine grade bondo.
As you can see my welds leave much to be desired
The PPD after the excess Red Hand has been removed, still need a thin coat over it to make it look better when it gets painted, plus adding the hole...
The start of my ion arm. Needs to be leveled out, and welded up, not to mention the side that is missing...

[GBfan4life88]

Phase 1 of my shock mount
Phase 2
Phase 3 Complete!
More crappy welds.....

[Martin McFly Sr.]

Well I like the ion shock mount. Looks spot on.

[GBfan4life88]

Almost forgot to post this beauty. My Booster Tube

[pyhasanon]

I have to admit, I like the rusty gritty look of your welds and aluminum, very unique...

[GBfan4life88]

Just ordered the shell Saturday night! Now for a few more pieces, and I'll have everything I need!

[GBfan4life88]

IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cadger]

This is going to be very nice. You are doing some good work!

[halliwax]

IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!

looks good, i like how u are fabing everything from stock! i also love the foot in the pic, it seems every shell pic gets a foot or 2! lol

good job buddy! i look forward to more pics!

[stantz]

Will be keeping an eye on this one, looking very nice so far

[GBfan4life88]

Thank you everyone for the kind words and the encouragement. It means a lot to me. Once I have more to post, it will be up. Waiting on two more things to arrive, and I'll have all the parts I need. Next step is to start cleaning everything up, and fitting it to the pack, so it can be painted and assembled.

[GBfan4life88]

Sorry I haven't updated this recently. I unfortunately have been pretty busy. It isn't finished, but I have made some good progress, and I'll have some new pics up soon.

[GBfan4life88]

Finally got some time to update this page

Fixed the kidney strap on the ALICE pack


Drilled out the parts I needed to



Tapped out one or two pieces


Had a snafu or two


But eventually it started coming together






Sizing up the booster


And fitting it


assembling the ion arm


And what I have at this point


Hopefully soon I'll have more time to work on this, but unfortunately at the moment I have none to finish this. I'm really hoping that 2015 is my year to finish this project and fulfill a childhood dream to have a movie style proton pack.

[pyhasanon]

And what I have at this point

I have to admit, I almost don't want to see this painted, the rusty gritty look is pretty cool looking... LOL!

[Grimmy GB]

And what I have at this point

I have to admit, I almost don't want to see this painted, the rusty gritty look is pretty cool looking... LOL!

THIS! I agree. This build is looking pretty amazing

[Doctor Disney]

Soooooo any progress over the past two years?

[GBfan4life88]

To be honest I was going to put an update in a few days. When I put up my last post in November of 2014, lots of things had changed in my life. I had moved into a new house that needed some work, and my work schedule became more hectic thanI anticipated, along with a full remodel of a large area of my house (had it down to the studs) and a few months ago being blessed with our second child. Needless to say all of that has chewed up my time to the point that my pack has sat in its box up until recently. As a few close friends know, I have been able to resume work on it, but only for little bits at a time. I will eventually be able to post some pics, but I was able to finish fitting almost all of the parts to the shell, along with pop riveting the l brackets to the mobo, and getting the shell fitted to that, and I was able to wear it around for the first time. Steel is heavy.

[Doctor Disney]

Yes life certainly had a way of throwing a few curve balls at us! Congrats on your second child!
I'm just starting a pack build so posts like yours are very well appreciated!

[GBfan4life88]

Thank you, and good luck on your pack build, as I have learned from mine, the community here is excellent in bouncing ideas across and getting very helpful tips and tricks on how to do things you may not have thought of, along with some helpful and constructive criticism of your ideas. Joe, Jonny, Kolten, I appreciate everything you've helped me with, and for putting up with my bs while doing this, as I know I can be irritating at times.
Just do what you feel is right, ask questions if your not sure, and have fun. Don't do what I did going into this thinking your pack is going to look just like the one in the movies. No two packs are alike, and each one has its own unique features and parts, and it is uniquely your own, and if there is one major piece of advice I can give you above all else that I have learned through this, is that steel is heavy.

[GBfan4life88]

OK, with Halloween coming and my son who is 6 wanting to be a ghostbuster this year, its kicking my ass into high gear to get this done. when I took everything out of the boxes, and looked at what is left, it almost looks like I'm in the home stretch. For the most part I need to paint the pack, although I know a few of you have expressed that you don't want to see it painted, I have an interesting feeling on how the combination of the oxidation that has occurred on the steel, and the pain that will be going on soon will make it very interesting, as the oxidation will eat away at the paint from underneath, so it will have an interesting weathering look shortly after painting. after painting, it looks like all I have to do is mount the electronics, and all of the accessory parts. Unfortunately, I seem to be missing one part, my cast of a screen used booster ladder that I got from GB Fans years ago, and my acrylic tube seems to have cracked, and I somehow lost the blue lens for my power cell. Thankfully these aren't major hurdles, as I know that the ladder is in my attic somewhere, and I'm reordering the lens and tube as we speak. Since I'm going to be finishing this in my spare time at work, all I can really predict is that I will have it finished before the 26th. I'll post pics of progress when I can, and hopefully it won't be a long wait for them.