By GBDRE760
#4904526
GohstTarp wrote: March 24th, 2018, 2:50 pm After moving twice and various other life adventures, I've finished setting up my new workspace in California...

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I'm really looking forward to finishing this pack up. More updates coming soon!
I'm in Cali. What part did you move to? And very nice work by the way. That thing is AMAZING!
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By GohstTarp
#4904586
canpara wrote: March 25th, 2018, 9:08 am Woo! What a workspace! I'm looking forward to the updates. :)
thebigone2087 wrote: March 25th, 2018, 9:42 am YESSS!!!!!!
GBDRE760 wrote: March 26th, 2018, 2:46 pm
I'm in Cali. What part did you move to? And very nice work by the way. That thing is AMAZING!

Thanks for the comments and support, guys! I'm in the Northern California bay area... How about yourself, GBDRE760?

In the meantime, I've removed everything from the shell and can start sanding and cleanup...
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Last edited by GohstTarp on April 12th, 2018, 5:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By GBDRE760
#4904870
GohstTarp wrote: March 28th, 2018, 2:55 pm
canpara wrote: March 25th, 2018, 9:08 am Woo! What a workspace! I'm looking forward to the updates. :)
thebigone2087 wrote: March 25th, 2018, 9:42 am YESSS!!!!!!
GBDRE760 wrote: March 26th, 2018, 2:46 pm

I'm in Cali. What part did you move to? And very nice work by the way. That thing is AMAZING!

Thanks for the comments and support, guys! I'm in the Northern California bay area... How about yourself, GBDRE760?

In the meantime, I've removed everything from the shell and can start sanding and cleanup...
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I'm in Southern Cali. Down in Victorville a few hours away from Los Angeles.
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By GohstTarp
#4905075
Thanks to the venerable WShawn letting me know that my pictures were broken (AGAIN!!!). Anyway, just got those fixed this weekend and did some more work cleaning up the shell. I keep finding little air bubbles to fix in the gel coat using some milliput... nothing major, just things that I want to fix up while I'm able to. Also sanded my pack parts. Here is another boring update photo where nothing has noticeably changed, but it helps me feel like I'm moving this forward... LOL.

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After the milliput work and a cleanup with soapy water, my plan is to use Bish's texturing technique using Krylon's "Make It Stone" obsidian...
http://www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 0#p4809366
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#4905095
GohstTarp wrote:
GBDRE760 wrote: April 7th, 2018, 1:04 pm I'm in Southern Cali. Down in Victorville a few hours away from Los Angeles.
Very cool! I'll never stop being amazed at how big California is.
Venkman's Swagger wrote: April 5th, 2018, 12:21 pm Whoop Whoop!!
Yes! Glad to see that you are still around, VSImage
Thanks man!! Not as active but still lurking, following how my fave Ghostheads are doing man. Hope you're well
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By Etigo
#4905101
Wow, that's a lot of work!!! Good job!!! :-D
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By GohstTarp
#4906087
Thanks for the comments, Eitgo and gbrob!

Now for an overdue update...

As mentioned before, I used Bishop's Krylon's "Make it Stone - Obsidian" (now called "Stone Coarse Texture Obsidian") technique to add texture to my shell...
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My first step was to mask off the areas I didn't want textured...
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I wanted to go for a bit more of a subtle texture than Bish's, so I applied a little less of the spray than him and ended up with this..
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A close up of the cyclotron texture...
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After letting it cure for a week, I knocked down the texture with some sanding...
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At this point, Bish used an air compressor to clean off the dust and whatnot, making note that he didn't clean it with soap and water. Just to confirm I sprayed a test piece with the texture, let it cure and sanded it. When I washed to piece with soap and water, all the texture just washed away! Since I didn't have an air compressor, I used some canned air/dusters and then gave it a single coat of primer...
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Here is a closeup of the cyclotron again showing the texture...
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I think it looks OK, but feel I can make it look great, so my plan is try sanding the texture down a bit more and adding a second coat of primer. Hoping this will make it more subtle :whatever:

In the meantime, I've also been painting my aluminum pack parts. Here, I followed Lowberg's advice and went with Rust-oelum Painter's Touch 2x Ultra Cover Paint + Primer...
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...just don't do what I did and order a 6-pack from HomeDepot. They sent me an old batch that wouldn't cure properly. I had used a test piece to avoid stuff like this, but didn't pay close enough attention to it and started painting some parts before I realized what had happened. The good news is that I reported the issue to Rust-oelum and they sent me out a fresh 6-pack without any hassle. After stripping the parts and properly testing the new paint, I got the Ion Cap, HGA, Injector Tubes, Beam line, Filler tube and Vacuum tube painted today (Ion cap not pictured)...
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Hoping to get the shell and rest of the parts painted and ready for reassembly for the next update. Thanks for reading!
#4906099
Great work as always.

The tricky issue with the stone stuff is to take down the roughness without completely eliminating the texture. I was going for a soft bumpy look like a cast iron skillet so I probably applied heavier and sanded more.

Keep in mind that the paint you apply will fill in the low spots a bit and also smooth out the bumps. Every paint is different but you can get a rough test by spraying a piece of sandpaper with the number of coats you plan to apply.

Looking forward to the next update.
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By GohstTarp
#4906116
bishopdonmiguel wrote: June 7th, 2018, 4:01 am Great work as always.

The tricky issue with the stone stuff is to take down the roughness without completely eliminating the texture. I was going for a soft bumpy look like a cast iron skillet so I probably applied heavier and sanded more.

Keep in mind that the paint you apply will fill in the low spots a bit and also smooth out the bumps. Every paint is different but you can get a rough test by spraying a piece of sandpaper with the number of coats you plan to apply.
Thanks, Bishop. I think you are absolutely correct about applying heavier and sanding more. Your iron skillet look turned out perfectly. Also, spraying the sandpaper is a great idea!
Venkman's Swagger wrote: June 7th, 2018, 4:47 am Another update homerun dude. Keep it up!!
Thanks, VS!

Lately, I've been trying to tackle too much at once, when I should be focusing on one task at a time. With the 4 year mark for this project coming up, I guess I convinced myself that I need to wrap this thing up, which isn't really the case. Back to slow and steady from here on out. I think I'm going to finish painting the pack parts first, then figure out my best way forward with the shell. Right now, I'm leaning toward sanding away the current "texture" and trying again, but I can figure that out later :)
canpara liked this
#4906117
Wow the 4 years have flown so fast. It's crazy to think it's been that long. I bow down to your superior patience [emoji16]. Whatever you decide will turn to gold mate
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By Stantz 718
#4915178
GohstTarp wrote: August 22nd, 2015, 1:22 pm Time for more updates! Been busy working on my pack when I can find the time. Here is what I've done...

Installed a 3/4" steel spacer between the Bumper and Cyclotron. I needed to file it down slightly to get a perfect fit...
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Drilled the Cyclotron Ring dimples...
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Implemented bishopdonmiguel's excellent MagSafe Vacuum Line Gearbox Connector system...
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It worked out really well and it's great to be able to bend the loom and have the it stay in place. Thanks for the great idea, Bish!

Next up will be mounting the V-hook.





I know I am late to the party, but what size drill bit did you use to create the cyclotron ring "dimples?"....I been a silent reader on this site for years, and am in the midst of a 4 year old GB1 build myself, this is one of my favorite builds to constantly review.
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By GohstTarp
#4915798
I know I am late to the party, but what size drill bit did you use to create the cyclotron ring "dimples?"....I been a silent reader on this site for years, and am in the midst of a 4 year old GB1 build myself, this is one of my favorite builds to constantly review.

Thanks, Stantz718. I used a 3/32" drill bit for my cyclotron ring "dimples." If I were to do it again, I would use a 5/64", though. Good luck with your build!
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By GohstTarp
#4922339
I'm very happy to say that this project is still alive! During my absence, I switched from using satin black paint to flat black after consulting with CPU64. I also tried painting my GBfans shell, but was not happy with the results. Basically, I didn't pay my "sanding dues" and things ended up too rough and uneven. I thought about it for a bit and determined that it just didn't live up to the quality of the rest of my pack work, so a do-over was in order!

Switching to Flat Black
After consulting with CPU64 and reviewing Bishop's painting techniques, I changed my aluminum parts painting process to this...
- Light sanding with a 220 grit sanding sponge
- Wipe down part with lacquer thinner just before painting
- Apply two to three light coats of flat black spray paint in one session
- Let dry for 24 hours and rub/buff with a clean cotton rag to bring out the shine

I basically did the same thing with my resin parts, minus the lacquer thinner wipe-down. After a bit of painting, I had all the pack parts done...
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A shot of the flat black I used (Rust-Oleum Professional High Performance Enamel) based on Bishop's recommendations...
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Removing Old Paint and Priming
Once I decided to redo my paint job, I sanded it down using some 200 grit sand paper. This was the most tedious part, but I broke it down to multiple session over a few weeks to make it more tolerable. After that was complete, I really wanted to jump into priming, but I sanded it again using 400 grit to really smooth out the surfaces. NOW I was ready to prime. And prime I did! To keep the prime "fuzzies" down, I applied the Rust-Oleum Gray Primer when the temps were in the high 60's and kept the nozzle around 8 inches from the surface (as best I could with irregular shape of the shell). In the end, it turned out SO much better than before...
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Just to be safe, I lightly sanded the shell again using 400 grit and ended up finding some air bubbles...
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...but a little black MilliPut and sanding made for an easy fix.

Here's the shell after a good smoothing sand...
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Texturing (Second Attempt)
After putting in all the sanding work, I figured I might as well give texturing another try. This time I used pchrisbosh1's HOW TO TEXTURE YOUR PACK SHELL (TUTORIAL) tutorial a shot. I wanted this get this right, so I bought some cake pans and tried the technique a couple of times for practice. The only thing that I ended up changing in the process was to not apply the second coat of primer after the lacquer. There didn't seem to be a good way of sanding down the primer in the textured areas, so I skipped that step without issue.

First, I got the shell masked (pic taken half-way through, see posts above from my first attempt for complete masking)...
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After applying the texture, I got some pics from all angles...
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After applying the lacquer...
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I did a light sanding of the non-textured areas, applied a number of light coats of flat black in a single session, waited 24 hours and wiped/buffed the shell just like I did with the aluminum parts. Here is the result...
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It's completely dry, but I'm going to let it cure a few weeks before attaching any parts. In the meantime, I'll get the motherboard painted before moving onto painting the thrower. That's it for now!
Last edited by GohstTarp on August 15th, 2019, 8:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By starburst
#4922340
That looks amazing, interesting in terms of the paint choice as in the past I have seen most people say satin is the way to go but recently there’s been more than a few people using Matt black to great results!

Looking forward to seeing more!
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By bishopdonmiguel
#4922352
More amazing work. Love it.
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By GohstTarp
#4922712
starburst wrote: August 11th, 2019, 3:48 pm That looks amazing, interesting in terms of the paint choice as in the past I have seen most people say satin is the way to go but recently there’s been more than a few people using Matt black to great results!

Looking forward to seeing more!
Thanks, starburst. I think the satin/flat black comes down to personal choice. Painting the aluminum, resin and fiberglass shell has been the most challenging part of this build by far. While trying to figuring all the details out, WShawn provided a lot of help and support, including a wise suggestion to skip the second coat of primer during the texturing process. Thank you for the help and patience, Shawn.
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By GohstTarp
#4922720
On Saturday, I was able to get all the electronics and brackets removed from the motherboard and cleaned it up a bit...
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I also marked the location of the bar graph bracket and vent mech power connector plate for easy installation laster...
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Today, I took more inspiration from bishopdonmigue and masked the inside of the motherboard to give the edges a clean look...
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Unfortunately, it's been too windy to paint this weekend, so I'll have to wait until later this week or next weekend to finish up the motherboard.
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By bishopdonmiguel
#4922721
Those speaker grills are wicked! Can’t believe you took the time to do those. Awesome.
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By bishopdonmiguel
#4922723
GohstTarp wrote:Thanks, Bishop. I hope your ECTO-H20 is doing well!
Getting ready to strip the carpet and seats. Replace over winter. Next season will be ready to bust ghosts on the lake.
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By GohstTarp
#4924777
bishopdonmiguel wrote: August 18th, 2019, 3:59 pm Those speaker grills are wicked! Can’t believe you took the time to do those. Awesome.
Thank YOU for sharing the template. Couldn't have done it without you, man!
bishopdonmiguel wrote: August 18th, 2019, 5:04 pm Getting ready to strip the carpet and seats. Replace over winter. Next season will be ready to bust ghosts on the lake.
That should keep you busy this winter. Be cautious with those water ghosts... they can be real nasty! ;)
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By GohstTarp
#4924785
I was able to get the motherboard painted a few weeks ago and started re-attaching everything...
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For the final install, I routed the cable bundle more down the center of motherboard to avoid any conflicts with the GB1 ribbon cable nub that tucks into the shell. Also, I didn't include the thrower ribbon cable here in the cable bundle so that I can just easily plug the whole thrower assembly in later (if that makes any sense). Finally, I used 1/4-20 nylon lock nuts (instead of wing nuts) to secure the ALICE frame bolts...
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ALICE frame and DANGER sticker installed after a lot of fussing looking at references...
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I didn't want to rivet the Spengler plate, but I did want to get close to the look, so I installed some silver #5 socket cap bolts to mimic the backs of the rivets...
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Secured inside the shell with some #5 nylon lock nuts...
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With the pack electronics basically squared away, I wanted to move quickly to disassembly of the thrower so that I can get in some painting before the weather turns. Here is the current state of taking it all apart...
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That's it for now. Will post another update after I've got the thrower painted. Thanks for looking.
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