[Alan Hawkins]

Holy crap! My first Crunch Bar!

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[Alan Hawkins]

I wanna say that nine pounds is kinda light.

Ok, cool. It's sturdy as all get out! It just seemed heavy. Of course, my last pack was Styrofoam. So it's not like I'm the best judge on weight.

Kenny, good suggestion. I'll get some fine steel wool. Thank you!


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[Alan Hawkins]

Before you repaint. You can use some #000 steel wool to take the shine down. Walmart

The most stable method for the ion arm seems to be a wood plug and some large bolts that drop down and though the shell.

http://www.gbfans.com/community/viewtop ... =2&t=27016

^-- Like that

Took some steel wool to Lucille this morning (No, I was not kidding about naming this pack Lucille...) I like it a LOT better now, I may still try some of the PlastiKote paint that a friend suggested but at least for now I can look at the dang thing. I'm not a fan of glossy things.



NEXT UP: Ion Arm!



This is one of the parts I "Rondoed" which is Bondo and Resin mixed together and then slushed inside the paper form. Inside it looks like this -



The darned this rings like a bell when you knock on it! Today I plan on sanding it, sliding a thin coat of bondo and then sanding it again. I need to get some epoxy putty for my weld. Then I will go with the wood block method of securing it.

[MRblahface]

Oatey 6 or so at home depot

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[Mudflaps]

Looks sturdy. Let us know how it stands a few hours of wear.

[gEkX]

Holy crap! My first Crunch Bar!

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You.. You've earned it

Looks sturdy. Let us know how it stands a few hours of wear.

Should hold up just like any other fiberglass pack. ProtonCharger can attest to this I'm sure.

[ProtonCharger]

Works just like any other fiberglass shell. Also like any other shell I wouldn't stand on it, but that's common sense.

[Alan Hawkins]

It's strong! It's got two thick layers of chop matt all through it. The top half I Rondoed the face first then put two layers of chop matt on after that.

I'm not worried about strength, I just thought it felt heavy...


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[loly2kn2]

Great work, Alan.

Really nice job you've done!

[Alan Hawkins]

Great work, Alan.

Really nice job you've done!

Thank you! Your Cyclotron is a wonderful addition! Thank you again it was a great time saver and saved me from using a cake pan.

[Alan Hawkins]

Works just like any other fiberglass shell. Also like any other shell I wouldn't stand on it, but that's common sense.

Dood. Why don't I ever see your posts??? So weird...

[ProtonCharger]

perpetual post approval man.

[Alan Hawkins]

So I am going to give myself a new rule. One update a day... So here you go!

After Bondo, sanding and spot putty I got started on my weld line using Vincenzo330's method of Plumbers Epoxy Putty.



Meh, I think I should have practiced a few times but over all it looks OK.



Also made my mounting box. I was going to use a wood block but I didn't really have any good scrap wood laying around. Instead I layered six pieces of Styrene and then boxed that in and mounted it to the shell like so -



Nice and sturdy base for my Ion Arm. Tonight I will dress the arm out.

Next up is my N-Filter. I made a little kit for myself that I can place a bolt on the bottom of. Overall I am happy, I just need to shave about 8mm off to be close to Spefan's plans.







Getting there...

[wm6929]

Alan

for the paint, try a satin clearcoat over the black. That may help with the shine. For the weld lines, I rolled little pieces of epoxy (about the size of a small booger) and lined the entire edge, flattened and smoothed it down with a wet finger.

I figured a weld line is supposted to look like a roll of dimes and I got a decent facsimile with this method. I also used Apoxy Sulpt, it has a longer working time than Plumber's putty.

Will

[Alan Hawkins]

Great suggestions! I tried to find the apoxy sculpt but couldn't locally. I may just get it from the interwebs. LOVE the clear idea! I will spray some on a test piece of styrene tonight to make sure there are no reactions (I've learned the hard way about spray paint incompatibility...)

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[Alan Hawkins]

perpetual post approval man.

Gross... I don't care what you post here. I'm a big boy.

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[wm6929]

Great suggestions! I tried to find the apoxy sculpt but couldn't locally. I may just get it from the interwebs. LOVE the clear idea! I will spray some on a test piece of styrene tonight to make sure there are no reactions (I've learned the hard way about spray paint incompatibility...)

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I couldnt find it locally either. Try Amazon. Look for Milliput or Apoxy Scuplt. I like them both.

What about a clear Lacquer?

[Alan Hawkins]

I couldnt find it locally either. Try Amazon. Look for Milliput or Apoxy Scuplt. I like them both.

What about a clear Lacquer?

I didn't get a chance to try it tonight, had to clean up my work area since I was afraid a homeless person had taken squatters rights under my work table. I made a boo-boo when I bought paint. I LOVE Krylon satin black and have used it on almost every car and motorcycle I have ever owned. So when I was in Toledo (You can't buy spray paint in Chicago...) I saw Krylon Satin Black and got myself four cans... When I got home I saw that they all said FUSION on them. Well, the Fusion is not satin. It Glossy. I have acrylic satin clear and think your idea will work. I just want to be sure before I spray it and get a reaction.

Lacquer would work also I think... just the same problem that I have to head to the suburbs to get any. I had the same problem when I lived in LA. I had to get paint when I went to visit family in Fresno.

I think I am going to end up making a new Ion Arm later on down the road. I built some for our styrofoam packs out of styrene (Using PC's pep files as templates like you did) and they came out great. For now Lucille will have to live with the rondo one with the HUGE welds.

[ProtonCharger]

I didn't get a chance to try it tonight, had to clean up my work area since I was afraid a homeless person had taken squatters rights under my work table.

Don't sweat it. My work space looks like a meth lab.

[Alan Hawkins]

Well, my Ion Arm is done. but I got my clippard elbow too low... Last one I made I had it too high and I over compensated this time. Even after spending most of my free time referencing the Minnesota pack I still get it wrong. Whateva... I decided to make a new one later on down the road out of Styrene.



For now, this works.

N-Filter! Booster Tube! Mounted!





Smoothed out the N-Filter and ran a bolt though it and the shell so it is nice and secure. I tell you, after gluing everything to our styrofoam packs and spending an entire Con worried that something will get knocked off and I would not be able to fix it.. It sure feels good to BOLT something on! Next up I map out my 9 holes and drill those. Paint the body, add in my wire mesh and backing (Kenny, that striped strip you provided in your mounting kit. That goes behind the wire correct?) Then seal up the top, add my weld and paint that.

Got all my stuff from MMM! Man! Lucille will have all the bells and whistles here! Might not have my next update until Monday since it's a busy weekend...

[Mudflaps]

Looks great so far! Keep it up!!!

[Alan Hawkins]

Looks great so far! Keep it up!!!

THANKS! (I have no choice, got too much work in Lucille to quit now )

N-Filter! So in doing my research on the site I found a few threads that said the N-Filter holes are .5" on a 2.75 and 3" sized N-Filter. Mine is 2.75 and with that info I opened up Photoshop, made a creative that is 8.625 x .5 and made nine .5 circles. these I spaced out then distributed the centers so that they were all equal length apart. Print that and here is what you get -



Tape that to your N-Filter -



Drill pilot holes with a small drill bit and then with a 1/2" spade drill bit until you get this -



Monday night I am getting two cans of PlastiKote T8 from a friend so my next deal is to get the HGA ready for paint and all the MMM parts. Then I will do a once over with some fine sandpaper (actually a sanding sponge) and try to resist the urge to do more body work. I will also fix up some of the problems with my Ion Arm and Booster tube. Seems like every time I think I have one thing straight the other looks crooked. Sigh... Always something. Luckily I plan on keeping Lucille FOREVER. So I can upgrade as time goes on.

[Alan Hawkins]

Just did the math, I have 6 1/2 weeks to finish this pack, a spare parts pack (to give to my friend), two pairs of Ecto Goggles and a Mini-Giga Meter all for Wizards World... Yeesh!

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[ProtonCharger]

ive been debating building a regular pack from my files, but id rather just have you do it for me.

[Alan Hawkins]

Build update for today.

Filler tubes and PPD Cylinder mounted -

Small detail that only I would notice





Booster Plug -





Getting there. I'm proud of my Pep pack, but I'm finding lines that are crooked or whole boxes that shifted during the resin process. For instance the whole top right section of Lucille is skewed upward. There is nothing that can be done about it and I can't think of what I could have done differently.

[ProtonCharger]

I'm proud of my Pep pack, but I'm finding lines that are crooked or whole boxes that shifted during the resin process. For instance the whole top right section of Lucille is skewed upward. There is nothing that can be done about it and I can't think of what I could have done differently.

with mine i used the heat gun from the inside to bend it around a little. you could give that a shot.

[gEkX]

Month and a half is still alot of time to get it finished.

Its hard to tell anything shifted from the pics.
Could to take a close up shot of said areas so I know what to look for?

[Alan Hawkins]

Sure it might be later tonight or in the morning. I can't see anything BUT the lines. I guess I look at it the most.

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[gEkX]

We are our own worst critics.. So its along the seams from one part to the next?

Also, What are you using for the HGA?

I'm working on my goggles as well if you want to kick around a couple ideas.

[Alan Hawkins]

Here, check these and see what you think.







And mind you, I'm not complaining. It started life as a ream of card stock and is now a Shell! But I am going to have to get creative on mounting some of these parts.