[lannyjack]

Wow, looks great! Now start chipping away at that paint man!! ^_^

Make sure you clean the paint from inside the front stem. Even a light coat of paint is enough to get the handle tube stuck in the gun body. Also, make sure there is nothing (dirt, aluminum shavings) in either ends when installing the front handle as it could bind it near permanently.
Yeah, aluminum is temperamental like that :3

THIS.

I painted the entire front handle. Not fun to get it unstuck and fix it lol.

Your gun looks great, I hope mine turns out as good.

[Lundo12]

Wow, this build has been invaulable to me as far as war gaming my plan of attack and then actually trying out some of your techniques to put everything together!

[KagaSakai]

Thanks! I'm flattered that people still find this thread useful!

[KagaSakai]

So after the warmup that was the Alkaline, which has gone on to live another day, I've decided to take a stab at pack number two. This will be my final and only pack, so I'm really striving for as close to a hero pack as possible. The base of this pack will be the ever so amazing shell made by fellow member pchrisbosh1. I was fortunate enough to be one of the few to get his hands on one of these shells, which is about as close to the real thing as you're going to get! I won't be doing a step by step format like I did with the Alkaline, so this will be more of an "update" type thread going forward. I hope you all enjoy seeing the progress as I move along (which is already going pretty quick!).

This pack will be mainly modeled after the Bill Murray Minnesota pack with a few variations for personal preference.

Some highlights for this pack include:
-All aluminum parts, with the obvious exceptions of the bumper and booster frame, which were resin on the screen packs
-Authentic Legris 4mm elbows
-Authentic GB1 Bellow
-Authentic Resistors and Clippard Valves, including a vintage beveled 701 for the thrower
-Venky Bumper molded from the Sony Lobby pack
-Full Aluminum Thrower
-And maybe a surprise or two along the way

Let's dive in with what I've got so far!



Shell mounted to the motherboard:



Since this new pack is based on the Minnesota, I needed to have a pretty noticeable overhang at the top. So I mounted low and found the sweet spot.



I have since painted the pack with the tried and true Rustoleum satin black and the results are awesome!











Plenty more to come! Thanks for looking!

[THEbryon]

It's a beauty! Looks like it's shaping up to be an awesome build!

[nick-a-tron]

Wow that looks great! Love that texture.

[KagaSakai]

I've added a few more parts to the pack! I attached the GB1 three-piece v-hook, bumper, bellow and injectors, complete with a scratch made bracket. Everything is coming together nicely!













Comments, as always, are welcome!

[ProtonCharger]

Comments, as always, are welcome!

What is the od of your injector tubes?

[Letmebleed75]

I second nick, that texture is pristine. I really wanted to do mine but couldn't work up the courage. Who makes the vhook? I want that vhook and my pack so bad! It looks fantastic, as well as the rest of your build. Well done sir!

[ChapterMasterTu'Shan]

This content received too many dislikes. Click SHOW to view

Did you add in 1/4" in the gunmount block?

[julz]

Meh

Looks ok I guess Mark

Nice Vhook by the way






ps..Looksgreatbtwgoodworkimbasiclydoingthesamethingwhenigetaroundtoputtingupmybuildlookforwardtoseeingmoreupdatesokbyefornow

[KagaSakai]

Quite the compliment there, Julz! Thank you!

[Letmebleed75]

I seriously can't wait till this is finished. This one will be epic.

[KagaSakai]

Small update to share tonight. I attached the beam line and filler tubes using the hero pack method of gluing them down first and then fastening them from inside the shell with a rivet for the filler tube and a hex bolt and washer for the beam line. I also glued in the straights as well as the PH-25. I came up with a simple method of making the Loctite epoxy glue I'm using look a crummy brown/yellow color and I'm very happy with the results!

[irricanian]

That's looking great Mark! Love the little details you do.

[Letmebleed75]

I'm so bummed I didn't do the glue

[abaka]

How did you make the glue come out with that browny/yellowy colour if you you don't mind me asking.

[KagaSakai]

How did you make the glue come out with that browny/yellowy colour if you you don't mind me asking.

I tried mixing the epoxy with some various types of yellow and white paint, but didn't have much luck getting a color or consistency that I liked, until it hit me to try and mix the epoxy with some plain old fuller's earth. It worked like a charm! You don't need a lot of fuller's, just enough to change the pigment of the epoxy. The final color may not be totally screen accurate, but since all I was shooting for was an "old" looking color, I was very satisfied with the results!

[Letmebleed75]

im so jealous of the glue look. it turned out phenomenal

[KagaSakai]

So I can't let Julz have all the pchrisbosh1 shell fun around here, so I figured that it was time for an update as my progress continues. Lots of pics so here we go!

I wanted to first outline the electrical side of the pack. Since we know that the screen shells "floated" on the mobo, I used a bread board for the cyclo lights and scratch made a bracket to hold the power cell lights. This way, nothing is attached to the shell itself and it can be removed without having to worry about ripping out wires and the like. I used 1/4" x 4" carriage bolts and nuts to make a riser for the bread board. This way I could adjust the nuts on the fly to match the height that I needed to fit the shell. Worked like a charm.





I also wanted to match the interior of the screen shells as closely as possible. I used large flange rivets to hold all the parts except for beam line tube which is held in place with a hex bolt and washer to match the screen pack. Using a "one and done" method to attach the parts was a little unnerving because it meant that if something got jacked up or looked wrong, it would be a pain in the ass to fix. But in the spirit of building an accurate pack and trying to match the methods that the prop builders used (quick and sloppy), it was worth the risk.



Authentic ALICE LC-1 frame and straps and you can also see the foam padding at the top of the mobo. The foam is 1/2" thick to match what a few of us feel is the correct size.



And my take on the half-moon spacer. Everything is held in place with accurate 1/4" Phillips screws.





I happened upon some beefier 1/4" steel washers at ACE that I think are a much better look to the plain-jane 1/4" stainless washers I had before. These really look the part IMO.



When I last updated, I was still missing several key components. Everything is attached and in place, minus the filter, which I hope to have soon so I can finish this thing up. Here is how the pack currently looks.







Booster tube, frame, ribbon cable and accurate 1 1/8" UMPCO MS21919 DG-18 clamp.



I also replicated the glue holding the gear loom in place at the top and the bottom. The loom at the top is also held in place with a small piece of wooden dowel.





PPD with visible underside glue to match the Minnesota.



Sticking with the glue theme, I glued the injector boots in place as well. I was able to source a few pieces of accurate red Clippard 1/4" 3814-1 tubing. I'm simply thrilled to have this on my pack! It's the little details that make all the difference!







I've added a few upgrades to the thrower as well. This is the same thrower that I had during the back-end days of the Alkaline, but it has undergone a few changes. No IB door to match the GB1 hero throwers for one. Accurate Clippard 3814-1 as well, but I've had that for a long time already.



I also upgraded my 701 to an "new old stock" 701 with the accurate beveled cap. Again, it's all in the details!



Stainless female v-hook.



Accurate vintage Legris real-deal banjos with stainless screws.



I also added a AG-1B flash bulb for some detail. Unlike a few others out there, this doesn't actually flash, but it's a must have detail.



A few more glamor shots.





And last but not least, the biggest upgrade of them all. Very few packs have this feature, and in my opinion this is what makes or breaks a truly accurate pack, so it was worth the hassle. And that is a spring loaded front barrel.



Here's a quick video showing it in action.

http://s26.photobucket.com/user/Mark513 ... 0.mp4.html

Thanks for looking! Comments always welcome!

[julz]

Why Mark, nice to see your progress

ahem cough cough missing ugly weld cough

It all looks great! Nice to see a twin sister pack across the ditch.

Once small detail you might have missed but I could easily be wrong... is the powercell mount has 2 holes in it, in most gb1 packs I've seen they seem to have the actual bolt in the second hole closest to the booster frame side and the second hole closest to the mobo was left un-bolted...

[KagaSakai]

ahem cough cough missing ugly weld cough

Good looking out! I forgot to mention that there was still some detail work to be done, weld and extra mounting hole included!

[nick-a-tron]

Beautiful work Mark!

[910dohead]

How did I not see the update on your build? Anyways, your pack looks fantastic! You did an excellent job. I am still very envious of those real elbows. I also noticed that you got the pop mechanism to work. Did you have to do anything different from what I did?

[Lewis Tully]

This is an absolutely fantastic pack! I absolutely love it! Do you have a pic of your spring loaded tip mechanism? I literally keep myself up at night figuring out how I am going to do this, and I am open to any and all ideas/ methods!

[KagaSakai]

Well, I can finally see my yard again, the birds are chirping and it's getting warmer(ish) outside so that can only mean one thing! Proton pack time! After a snowy hibernation, it's time to haul out the old girl and finish her up once and for all. It's very close now and a lot of the work is minor detailing and a little bit of surgery, so let's get to it!

The biggest change was swapping out the Venky bumper with a Volguus bumper. Since the Volguus has direct lineage to the Minnesota bumper, it was a no-brainer. Looks the business.







Added the "second hole" in the EDA side mount. This is a little off accuracy wise, due to the fact that the outside hole was used in GB1 and the inside hole was used in GB2. Given the way that my pack is mounted and the length of my brackets, I'll have to have it the opposite way for my GB1 hero. BUT considering BOTH ways are technically screen accurate, I'm not going to sweat it.



Outside of that, we have some ALICE and motherboard upgrades.

The big one was the addition of an "XLR" plate and greebles, complete with the crooked Minnesota bottom plate. The devil is in the details, right?



Other changes include dumping the washer from the vertical ALICE bar and the new spacers made from scrap wood that I found in my dad's garage. I like the wooden spacers more simply because they make the overall feel much sturdier.





And finally I trimmed up some foam for the mobo to match the Minnesota. Fairly straightforward. Also, note the accurately placed "DANGER" label. I pulled it up and stuck it back to give it a little more of a worn look.



So there you have it! I really hope to have this thing wrapped up in the next month or so because it's driving me crazy not having it done. That said, I'm sure you've all noticed one glaring omission: Remember the scene in "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" when he rescues the animals from the burning pet shop and while running in and out he keeps pausing at the snakes with hesitation knowing that he will, at some point, have to rescue them and eventually does? No clue of what I'm talking about? Well, go watch the movie! If you do remember that scene, then you have an idea of how I feel about this:



I've been dreading the idea of cutting this thing to fit the cyclotron and installing it for ages now, but, just like Pee-Wee finally rescuing the snakes, it has to be done. Hopefully I won't faint like Pee-Wee. Stay tuned!

[julz]

Looking Good mark!

did you make a decision on going for a weld on the booster tube?

Good luck with the nfilter! it's all looking very legit

[KagaSakai]

I knew you were going to ask about the weld! It's actually there; I forgot to mention it and you just can't see it very well in the first picture. This is one of the few things that I had to compromise on as it's fake, but it looks the part well enough.

[nick-a-tron]

Everyone should be using this build as reference, it's amazing!

[Michael Clifton]

Gotta say love your build! It is just so accurate! Amazing all the great work you have done and all the improvements!