#4888945
55. THROWER: LABELS

There aren't very many labels to put on a proton thrower, but what labels I have are pretty small and somewhat difficult to work with.

My technique was the same as before: the one metallic label was peel-and-stick, and the remaining laminated labels I applied with spray adhesive. In order to take the reflective shine off the laminated labels, I rubbed them all (except the bar graph) with some 800-grit sandpaper.

First, the left side. The one metallic "Danger" label goes above the side discs (upside down or right side up are legit). The little wiring diagram goes to the left of the side discs.

Note: For labels that have a black background (such as the wiring diagram, I used a Sharpie on the white edges of the card stock. It's hard to tell, but this helped them blend in much better.

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The remainder of the labels go on the gun body, trigger box, and instrument bar, all facing toward the back. These are all laminated, so I used the Sharpie on the edges of most of them.

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The bar graph (or power indicator) is usually behind a piece of clear plastic, and has a thin black bezel all around it. I opted not to use clear plastic, instead leaving the laminated plastic shiny.

For the bezel, I carefully measured and cut one out of leftover sign plastic with an extra-sharp x-acto blade (I went through three blades just to make sure I was cutting with precision). The technique here is to cut lightly, many times, and not cut too deep at a time.

Once I cut it out, I flipped it over, so that no cuts past the window could be seen. Then I painted it black to match the rest of the thrower.

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Once the paint was dry, I used spray adhesive on the back of the bezel and stuck it directly onto my laminated label sheet. Then, I cut around it very carefully with a fresh x-acto blade.

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Finally, more spray adhesive on the back of the whole thing, and it stuck nice and securely to the gun body. Note that I put the "pie charts" label on first, and used that as a guide to help locate the bar graph correctly.

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I do see that maybe I should have installed my toggle switches a little more to the left, creating more space between them and the bar graph, but I'm still happy with it. :)

That's it for labels. Next post, I will finally take on the clear plastic barrel tip.

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

-- NO MONEY SPENT --

TOTAL: $401.30
#4888998
Hey guys:

Just in case it matters and you're on a phone or tablet, I just ran all my images through an image compressor, cutting load time per image and per page to about half of what it was before.

If you've been following all this time, first thing: bless you, bless you, and secondly, clear cache and you'll get the faster loading images.

All of the images in this thread are hosted by myself directly, so nothing is happening to them in the future, EVER, unless something happens to me. :-D



Enjoy!
#4889095
56. THROWER: BARREL TIP

The barrel tip is a piece of clear plastic tubing that extends from the end of the barrel. There's an aluminum "trigger" shaped collar around it, which, I imagine, was intended to enable the user to retract the tip after extending it.

My barrel tip won't be extendable, but I do want it to protrude a little bit farther than if it were fully retracted. Being somewhere in the middle, I'm hoping I can get away with it looking decent enough in hand AND on the pack.

There have been lots of clever scratch solutions for making this barrel piece, from test tubes to clay rollers. I hit the trusty old eBay, and found that I could get a pretty affordable piece of clear PVC for five bucks. PVC!! Can you believe it? The extra benefit here is that it conforms to PVC sizing standards, which means it will fit my barrel perfectly, since the end of my barrel happens to be a half-inch PVC coupling. :)

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After cutting the six-inch piece to 3-1/2" long, I sanded a bevel into one end using this technique I was playing around with. I decided not to take my bevel all the way to the inside diameter, but quit while I was ahead, opting to stick with a half-beveled end.

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I then used some buffing compound I had lying around for aquariums (they make the same stuff for car headlights) in order to polish the beveled end and give the whole piece a bit more clarity.

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To get that "frosted" or sanded effect on part of the barrel tip, I masked off the area to be sanded with electrical tape (not masking tape, that tears off from the sandpaper!). The sanding was done with 800-grit sandpaper, which leaves minimal streaks from the sanding, but takes a bit more work.

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I decided to allow the frosted area to extend forward all the way to the front edge of where the collar will be placed, so that it will help obscure the fact that I am leaving the inside of the collar unpainted.

Next, I put a little epoxy on the base of the tube and jammed it into the barrel until it extended about two inches or so, which felt about right. I could see at this point that I was maybe a little too excessive with frosting the tip, but it'll be fine.

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Now to the collar and its trigger-shaped hook. The collar is another 1/2" PVC coupling, cut down to 3/8" long. The trigger shape is made from two pieces of leftover 1/4" MDF, superglued together.

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Sanding off the outside curve of the trigger was easy, using a combination of sanding blocks and emery boards. The inside curve just happens to almost perfectly match the diameter of a sanding drum attachment for my drill! It was quite easy to sand, and only took a few minutes.

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After some cleanup with fine-grit sandpaper, my trigger piece was complete.

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Next, I superglued the trigger piece to the PVC collar. Noticing that the real thing uses welds to help hold it together, I decided to try epoxy for my fake welds this time, adding stability to the whole part.

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After the epoxy cured (a full 24 hours this time), I coated the wood and the epoxy with two light coats of wood glue. So far, so good.

Then came a light coat of primer, so I could see if there were any seams that needed filling. Sure enough, there were, so I used a little Bondo spot putty and some sanding to take care of it. Then I primed again, painted metallic silver, and weathered with a wipe-off coat of black acrylic.

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I attached the collar to the tip by applying a thin bead of epoxy directly to the leading edge of the frosted part with a toothpick, and then sliding the collar over the tube. I held it level while the epoxy cured by stacking some books up to the right height under the hook.

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And with that, I'm calling this step complete! Next post, I will add the last of the fittings and tubing.

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

$4.95 - 1/2" I.D. x 6" long clear PVC tube (eBay)
$0.32 - 1/2" PVC coupling (Home Depot)

$401.30 - previous total
$5.27 - this stuff

TOTAL: $406.57
#4889137
Ah, well, piece of advice: don't go with balsa for the base like I did. The screws want to compress it when you tighten them. Given a chance to start over, I would have sandwiched MDF between the sign plastic, not balsa. More sanding, but more solid.

Don't use balsa. :)
#4889138
I'd probably use the EVA foam that all my packs are built from now. My goal has become to be able to build great looking packs for very little. I have contemplating getting a 3D printer but seeing some of your techniques has made me rethink that. I see it like this. Complete andtotal accuracy is cool and there are some amazing builds that strive for that but if you build to wear and to show, Joe Q public isn't going to know that you don't have real clippard values or brass pieces. They see a badass looking pack and you saved money and increased you build skills in the process.
Spenglers liked this
#4889139
Ok, cool. I totally agree, accuracy is good, to a point, and EVA foam is a great way to go. Did you make a styro slicer?

For what it's worth, I have finished my pack 100% now (still posting the rest of the build over the next few days), and using the parts I have used, the total weight is only 12-1/4 lbs! It's super comfortable, and fairly sturdy.

In the case that you will use a soft base for the Clippards, make sure the screw holes in their bases are wide enough not to engage the screw threads. That way, you can screw into the material underneath without the screws trying to squeeze your foam.

But you probably already knew that. :-D
#4889140
Can't wait to see it. My last build was a Videogame pack. I used alot of fabrication since I didnt have alot of time or money to throw at it. (We had to replace out slimeblower)
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Astyanax, Noremon, Spenglers liked this
#4889142
Wow, magnificent. I love the video game pack, in all its incarnations, and I love how it tweaks the main pack just a little.

Beautiful build. You're getting me thinking about my next one.

I'm also thinking about a foam core kids' size that's semi-authentic. I have two young boys that are drooling over my pack right now. :)
#4889203
57. THROWER: FITTINGS & TUBING

Coming down the home stretch!

Okay, the thrower has a piece of green poly tubing attached to the rear, similar to the kinds of tubing on the pack itself. I started by drilling 1/8" holes at the mounting points for the tube's fittings. The lower hole I drilled deep enough to get a quarter inch or so into the large dowel inside the rear cylinder.

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For the fittings themselves, I simply used a couple leftover brass standoffs that I had previously used to make brass elbows for the pack. I didn't have a dowel thin enough to insert into the ends of the standoffs, so I epoxied a bamboo skewer into each instead.

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I then trimmed each skewer, such that the bamboo would come into contact with the inside wall of the opposite end when I inserted it into the 1/8" holes. I epoxied ends of the cut-off bamboo and the underside of the "nut" part of the standoffs, and this affixed the standoffs pretty solidly into the rear cylinder and instrument bar.

(Sorry, no pic for this part.)

For the tube, I cut a length of green poly tubing I had previously bought, and heated it up with my heat gun (a hair dryer would suffice as well). Then I coiled it tightly and let it cool in this position.

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I then applied a large dab of epoxy to the inside of each end of the tube, and placed each end onto the threaded "screw" ends of the mounted standoffs, and held them there for the five minutes it took the epoxy to cure.

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After deciding the green tubing was too bright and colorful (it's hard to see in the pictures), I darkened it by sanding it lightly with 800-grit, and painting it with black acrylic paint and wiping it off. Now it looks more oily and used. Back end is done.

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The front end has a piece of the extra-thin red tubing between two banjo fittings at the end of the barrel. If you've been following along, you know I made the banjos back when I was putting together the fittings all at once. I ended up removing the nuts and bolts I had used, and digging up a couple of leftover #6 x 3/4" screws from earlier in this build.

I weathered the fittings and the screws using the same black-wipe-off technique as before. I also widened the holes in the banjo fittings, so that my screw threads would not engage.

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I realized I was going to have to really solidly secure these fittings to their appropriate joints, so I very carefully drilled the barrel ear and the hook-collar with 7/64" pilot holes in the right spots. It was really scary, because I expected the wood to split at any second. But my luck held out. :)

I then epoxied AND screwed the banjo fittings into those holes as tightly as I could get away with.

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For the tubing, I cut a piece of leftover red 5/32" poly tubing, gave it a light 800-grit sanding, and darkened it with the black-wipe-off technique.

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After this, I put a large dab of epoxy into the holes of each of the banjo fittings, and inserted the red tubing as deep as it would go. It was a snug fit, considering the origin of those red caps. :)

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That's it, the front end is done, and this thrower is pretty much complete!

In the next post, there only remains one task left to do: attach it to the pack with corrugated hose and V-hook!

Thanks for reading,

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

-- NO MONEY SPENT --

TOTAL: $406.57
#4889342
58. ATTACHING THROWER TO THE PACK

Woo hoo! The last step!

The first thing I did was mount the female side of the V-hook I had built previously. My intention was not only to screw the piece on, but also to glue it, so I widened the mounting holes with a drill, so that the threads of the mounting screws will not engage with the bracket and try to lift it off the gun.

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Then I epoxied it onto the gun track of the thrower. Before it cured it fully, I marked and drilled pilot holes through the holes of the bracket and screwed in the bracket using leftover #8 screws. This helped hold the bracket on more tightly as the epoxy cured.

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On to the hose...

I know that many builders have invested lots of effort into really giving that corrugated "split loom" tubing some extra support and body, using things like silicone tubing cores, and screws and brackets on each end. But I purchased "splitless" loom on eBay earlier in this build, and it is far more robust than the split kind. After some testing, I decided just my splitless loom and epoxy will be sufficient.

First things first. I drilled a one-inch hole in the lower side of my packing, completely botching the technique and chewing up my pack as best I could...

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::ahem::

Let's clean that up. I used my flack black spray, masking off everything in the vicinity.

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Now it just looks like wear and tear. I can live with that.

Turns out that the tubing I had ordered previously, purporting to be 2.3m long, came in two pieces, each about four feet long. This worked out fine for me, because I didn't want a hose that was too long anyway.

To get the tube into the hole, ironically, it was necessary to cut a "split" in one end. This allowed me to jam it in extra tightly.

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After spreading huge globs of epoxy into the hole and onto that inside surface of the motherboard, I jammed the tubing in pretty deeply, and coiled the rest of it upward above the pack, holding it down with a book. This had the effect of pressing the end of the tube inside the pack down onto the motherboard while the epoxy cured.

Once cured, this tube felt quite solidly secured.

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For the other end, I first cut the hose to a length that seemed right according to pictures, and slathered tons of epoxy into the handle pipe of the thrower. I put more epoxy on the hose for good measure and jammed it in, down the length of the entire handle.

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Well folks, this build is done! I can't believe it, after six months, this project is complete!

But I have one more post to offer before I consider this thread finished: some last photos of the whole pack, trying it on, and some final observations about the project as a whole.

Thanks for reading!

Bill

RUNNING PARTS COST:

-- NO MONEY SPENT --

TOTAL: $406.57
Spenglers liked this
#4889445
This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

59. FINAL PHOTOS & OBSERVATIONS

Ahh, feels good to be done. I need a break. :-D

FINAL COST:
$406.57
(plus minor incidentals: sandpaper, more paint, vodka, etc.)

TOTAL WEIGHT:
12 lbs., 4 oz.


Here are some views of the fully finished and assembled pack:

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And the requisite looks at myself trying it on:

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It feels surprisingly comfortable and lightweight! Turns out the entire thing weights only 12-1/4 lbs! I expected it to be heavier, but it's quite nice.

The pack needs to be a little higher on my back. After I took these photos, I pulled the straps up to the shoulder pads in order to achieve this, and that raised it almost another inch on my back. Much better.

The V-hook works pretty well, but I have to take the pack off one shoulder to reach it with the thrower. I can live with that, since it means I don't need to have someone help re-mount the thrower.

I have to get that suit finished!


RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS BUILD

1. I learned so many new techniques. That's the real value of a build like this. The scratch build definitely forced me to come up with lots of clever ideas, something I might have missed out on if I had started with a shell.

2. A seemingly insurmountable project is doable if broken into lots of sub-projects! Each piece of this pack is so different from all the other parts. That helped keep it from getting boring or tedious. Treating each part like its own project really helped me feel like I was accomplishing something every step of the way.

3. Getting in a rush is deadly. Every time I got in a hurry, something went wrong. I had really thought, starting in July, I could make it by Halloween. Once I made my peace with the fact that it wasn't going to happen, the 6-month build became much more fun and the quality of my work improved.

4. Sanding is tedious. It sucks. I hate it. It's worth buying sanding tools to make it go faster. :)

5. Some additional tools did help. Drum sander bits for a drill is super crucial. Having the miter saw (aka chop saw) really made the wood and PVC cutting go so much smoother. It was a worthwhile investment. I feel like I use it almost every day, because the idea of a quick chop simplifies so much of the thought process. Finally, I think a belt sander would have really sped things along. Other tools, like a jigsaw or a drill press were not so important.

6. It cost a lot more than I thought. I had thought total cost would be more in the $200 range, but I don't feel I fully grasped how many individual pieces there were. It amounted to daily trips to Home Depot or the dollar store. Although $400+ seems like a big investment, paying for it a few bucks at a time made the cost very easy to absorb. Making lunches at home for a few months instead of eating out pretty much covered the entire cost. And it's impossible to tell it's a scratch build unless you look closely. :)

7. I'm still happy mixing my movies. Some features are GB1 and some are GB2. I just picked and chose what I liked best from each.

8. This is soooooo not a Paranorman build anymore. Although it's got his motherboard dimensions, I'd say very few of the parts are made as he instructed. That said, his wonderful plans were what I needed to kickstart my build, help me understand the parts, and get the creative juices flowing! It really is the ideal starting please for a scratch build.


WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY

1. Cut the motherboard to Stefan's specs, not Paranorman's. It just looks better, more authentic, now that we have exact measurements.

2. Better sealing of the wood parts. I didn't learn until pretty far along that almost all of the wood on this build needed to be coated in glue. This helped hide the grain and stop the paint from being absorbed. Small parts, like my V-hook and banjo elbows, would have looked better as a result.

3. More careful measuring of the gun body. It still irks me that it's too short by over half an inch.

4. Angled the V-hook more. Although I angled it some, I didn't have the guts to go the full 20-degrees, like it shows in Stefan's plans. I should have gone all the way.

5. A different cake pan for the cyclotron. Although my Wal-Mart cake pan was less than a dollar, I wish I had invested the eight bucks to buy this Wilton 10-inch cake pan that DarkSpectre had found. They are just about the perfect shape and size.


WHAT I AM MOST PROUD OF

The bumper. Hands down. :-D


Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. Thanks again for following along on my build and cheering me along, and I'll do my best to answer any follow-up questions. Thank you to everyone who contributed ideas and suggestions along the way; you helped it become a better build!

I'm off to think about my next GB project. Thanks for reading!

Bill
Last edited by Astyanax on January 30th, 2017, 12:24 pm, edited 4 times in total.
#4889447
Bill, this thread is what made this site what it was. When I joined back in 2005 this was the bread and butter of the site. Your methods are exceptional and the end result flawless. As a seasoned builder, I'm not ashamed to try some of your techniques in my future builds. This post needs to be stickied and used a s reference for new builders. The most common complaint new folks have is that they don't have any build skills. Well none us did when we started either. You get better as you go.

Once again, amazing work, Bill.
#4889449
Thanks man, really, thank you for the support thru this build, and the compliments. I really knew nothing, and Paranorman's plans showed me it was possible.

I have asked Kingpin for sticky status as well; I hope he concurs. :)

Bill
#4889884
Hey guys:

Moderator Fritz was kind enough to add this thread to the MDF area of the Proton Pack Section Index. Yay!

But more importantly, he allowed an edit to my first post, so now it has a Table of Contents, directing readers to any single component of this build. Wonder if I can make a PDF of this whole thing, and how big it would be...it's over 600 photos.

Thanks Fritz!

Bill
Ecto-1 fan liked this
#4889889
Astyanax wrote:Hey guys:

Moderator Fritz was kind enough to add this thread to the MDF area of the Proton Pack Section Index. Yay!

But more importantly, he allowed an edit to my first post, so now it has a Table of Contents, directing readers to any single component of this build. Wonder if I can make a PDF of this whole thing, and how big it would be...it's over 600 photos.

Thanks Fritz!

Bill
No problem. :)
Ecto-1 fan liked this
#4889927
Wow, what kind words, thank you so much. :)

I think I'll be taking on some cheap-but-good ecto goggles next, in the same spirit as this pack. As soon as I start, I'll add a link to it in my signature.

Lots of plans for the future, so if you liked my approach, I will do more stuff. :)

Thank you again!
#4889930
Full suit first, so I can at least look decent at a con, join my local franchise, and take my kids trick-or-treating in it.

But yeah, a trap too. I made a quick one out of cardboard a couple months ago, so a nicer one will definitely be in the future. :)
#4893442
:blush: Astyanax, thanks for giving me credit! There are so many folks out there that have borrowed my ideas, plans, terms, and made YouTube videos using my material without any references. Heck they also made a fan movie titled "Ghostheads" without actually researching on who came up with this term. Anyway, your workmanship and skills are really good!
xoff00 liked this
#4893445
Wow, thanks Norm! Your docs were what convinced me it was really doable. In a world where there are expensive vacu-formed shells, or otherwise serious carpentry necessary, your guide really showed me I didn't have to go that far (or to that level of cost) to make a pack that looked authentic. And once I gained some skills and confidence following the guides to the letter at the beginning, it gave me the inspiration and confidence to push the limits.

So thank YOU for being a driving force for so many of us!

Bill

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