#4879700
Naptime wrote:
Venkman's Swagger wrote:Man i love the "parts" shot
Thanks, brother! I'm excited to get started!
I'm excited for you to get started too :)
Naptime liked this
User avatar
By Naptime
#4879813
Here are some better photos of parts that came in last week. Can you tell I'm waiting for other parts to arrive?

Image
nstevic's excellent Deluxe Spengler plate with blue brick wiring & aux input. I upgraded to the nickel finish on the xlr cap.

Image
Nickatron's new hero bumper, booster frame, gun grips & resin crank knob. First resin parts I've ever ordered- pretty impressive!

Image
Finally received Crix's trap light kit.

Image
Some tools of the trade I'm going to need for my build.
User avatar
By Naptime
#4881228
Updates, updates, updates. So while I was waiting for my aluminum parts to arrive from Freeky Geeky, I tried to get a few little things done:

I tried to sand down & polish my mobo from this:

Image

To this:

Image

I also started drilling holes for the Clippard valve, Legris elbow, and Legris straights.

Special shoutout to Grimmy GB - his build thread has been an invaluable resource for me, especially since we're using the same pchrisbosh1 shell!

Marked centreline

ImageImage

Drilled a pilot hole, then a step bit to slowly open up the hole to prevent the gelcoat on the shell from cracking. To be honest, I did the whole drill in reverse at a low speed thing initially, but I found it insufferably slow going, so I started drilling (very slowly) in forward gear, backing off if I heard any hint of cracking. So far, I'm pretty happy with the holes I've drilled.

I added a notch in the centre hole to accommodate the Clippard peg.

Image

Drilled the side holes too:

Image

And voilà!

Image

Next I marked when the Legris elbow would go using Stefan's plans:

Image

Image

Pilot hole drilled:

Image

Ta dah!

Image

I had some trouble getting the elbow seated properly though. I ended up having to use my dremel to shave away some of the interior of the shell.

Image

Image

Much better:

Image
Jonobiwan, Grimmy GB liked this
By PssdffJay
#4881231
Nice looking holes! Mine were crap at first but then I did use my step bits in reverse. I didn't go slow after a while, the fear goes away and I had already screwed up my clippard hole anyway. Looks like it's nice and thick if you don't even have threads on the inside showing.
User avatar
By Naptime
#4881234
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

Then came the gong show trying to drill the holes for the Legris straights. I purchased my step bits online after seeing the extortion prices Home Depot & Canadian Tire and was feeling rather smug about my $15 (Canadian!) purchase through Amazon.ca. What I failed to take into consideration was that the bits did not have a hex base which made fitting them into any drill extension an impossibility. So stupid. Luckily Crappy Tire had a sale on for step bits with hex head bases so I picked up a set for $13 (ugh) and a 6" extension for another $10. So I marked out the points on my shell, counter punched where I wanted to start drilling, connected my extension and realized it was bent! The extension was bent enough that it created a serious wobble on the end where the step bit was seated. FUUUUUUUUU...

Luckily, for the top hole, there was just enough clearance for me to get my drill in. At least to start with.

Image

I ended up doing the rest by hand using my screwdriver! Perfect!

Image

Image

The second hole was done completely with my screwdriver:

Image

Image

The inside of the shell:

Image

Image
#4881236
Beautiful!
Naptime liked this
User avatar
By Naptime
#4881242
PssdffJay wrote:Nice looking holes! Mine were crap at first but then I did use my step bits in reverse. I didn't go slow after a while, the fear goes away and I had already screwed up my clippard hole anyway. Looks like it's nice and thick if you don't even have threads on the inside showing.
Thanks, Jay! This shell is thick! You'll see when I post pics of me trying to shave down the interior for the lense covers in the cyclotron! I think I'm pretty well over my fear of cracking the gel coat on my shell now. If I just take it nice and easy it's all good - and considerably faster! Now if only my parts would come in!!! USPS tracking says they're out for delivery now, which means I'll have to pick them up at the post office tomorrow!
User avatar
By Naptime
#4881244
bishopdonmiguel wrote:Beautiful!
Thanks! I've read over so many builds over the last few weeks it's nice to finally do it for real. Glad it looks right!
User avatar
By BillShark84
#4881251
Lookin good! Just picked up a tap wrench today so ready to get to my drilling and tapping! Glad to see you had good results!
Naptime liked this
#4881384
Clean is the word man! Nice drilling, I can imagine it's tricky drilling the fibre shells, you have it nailed though ;) Looking forward to more, this is shaping up to be really good ;)
Naptime liked this
User avatar
By Naptime
#4881422
Thanks for all the compliments, guys! I have to admit, I think I worked myself up a bit too much when it came to drilling the holes. I had read so many stories about people cracking the gelcoat on their shells I was afraid I was going to shatter mine like it was made of breakaway glass. Once I got going though, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, and my impatience at drilling slowly in reverse got the better of me so I just started drilling forward - it was still a slow process, just not as slow.
User avatar
By Naptime
#4881423
canpara wrote:What a great start! Wanna come to Edmonton and help me drill some holes in my shell? Lol. Seriously, you're killing it!
Haha! Thanks, Mario! But if I can do it, YOU can too!

Speaking of which, guess what came in the mail a couple of days ago???
Image

And inside:

Image

YES!!!! Thank you, Freeky Geeky!!!

Image
User avatar
By Naptime
#4881429
Venkman's Swagger wrote:Mmmmmmm shiny!!
And light!!! I was really surprised at how light these parts are! Debating on whether to polish them up or not. Opinions?
User avatar
By Naptime
#4881430
canpara wrote:Woo! Did you receive your thrower as well?
Not yet. RJ mentioned it should be ready soon. His parts are amazing! Only thing is, he forgot to send the mounting brackets! For whatever reason, I'm in a hurry to map out the electronics on my pack and I need to have the brackets in place to do that. Ok, I guess I could ballpark the locations, but I'm being anal about placement.

No worries though, I can mount and dry fit all these other parts in the meantime. (First world problems, eh?)
#4881435
Naptime wrote:
Venkman's Swagger wrote:Mmmmmmm shiny!!
And light!!! I was really surprised at how light these parts are! Debating on whether to polish them up or not. Opinions?
I was too when I received my parts from EJGunth.

RJ absolutely nailed your parts man. I like the idea of the polished parts. I'm too lazy to do it but if you have the patience (you deffo have the skills) then I say go for it dude!!
User avatar
By Naptime
#4881441
PssdffJay wrote:At least you have some you can do while you wait for the mounting brackets. I expect to see lots of photos!
Then you shall have them!

Here's how my shell looked after all the drilling of holes & dry fitting of straights, elbows & valves:

Image

The next step I took was to try and shave down the interior of this very thick shell around the cyclotron & power cell light holes. I started out by tracing the lenses I had ordered through the shop onto the shell:

Image

Image
User avatar
By Naptime
#4881949
StayPatMarshmallow wrote:Hi! I was wondering where you got the grey Raytheon crank knob? And also what you're using for the power cell lens? Appreciate any feedback!! Pack looks great so far!!
The grey crank knob is a resin casting from Nickatron props. I'm using lenses from the GBfans shop. Hope this helps!

It appears that some time today someone who […]

Correct, it grants several in fact the Melody's […]

Are they just newspaper clippings or something? […]

If you check the post below from reddit, one of […]