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Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 6th, 2019, 11:17 am
by RedSpecial
Thank you for the kind words, McCrea :)
This build has been a long time in the making, Ive been itching to put together a hero style pack for nearly a decade now so its a real passion project.

Whatever direction you choose to go in, you've come to the right place!
Theres an invaluable amount of information and reference here for you to dive into for your build.
I'll Look forward to following your progress :)


I didn't have any time to dedicate to the pack today but I did get a great parcel in the mail this afternoon.
Recently, I was lucky enough to be able to purchase a stash of parts, decals, foils and transfers from Nickatron.
A lot of these things are bits that I would have had to source from over sees if I could find them at all so when I noticed the listing, I leapt at the chance.

Its sad to see Nick bowing out , especially after so many years of amazing prop builds and supplying the community with some of the best parts and services available.
I hope whatever he does next is just as if not more successful than his prop building career!

I'll really need to make sure these are put to good use on the Hero pack and my planned hero trap build ;)

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Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 6th, 2019, 11:35 am
by McCrea
Thanks for the welcome. I have some manual skills as I repair dental equipment for a living and I'm a jeweler by trade. I also have 2 3d printers, one fdm and one resin. I think I'll be able to do something good.

But first I need to get my flight suit, patches and all that, and then I'll build from the ground up :)

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 6th, 2019, 11:36 am
by RedSpecial
Oh nice!
It's sounds like you're well prepared for a cracking build.

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 12th, 2019, 2:35 pm
by RedSpecial
As I mentioned in the trap peddle thread, I was extremely lucky to be able to purchase a job lot of vintage clippard parts recently.

Most of the parts had nothing to do with the pack or trap.
There is quite a lot of vintage clippard square fittings but only three are accurate to the parts on the ion arm cap.
The vast majority have a hole going straight through them.

But I was absolutely ecstatic to discover that there was a set of three original GB style Banjo fittings, complete with slotted hex bolts as you can still see on the Murray and Ramis hero packs today.
Cant wait to put them to use on the thrower :)

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Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 12th, 2019, 4:14 pm
by JWils23
Talk about a nice surprise, that’s awesome!

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 12th, 2019, 4:23 pm
by RedSpecial
Yeah, today wasn't a bad day at all :)

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 12th, 2019, 4:42 pm
by McCrea
Damn you lucky!

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 12th, 2019, 4:55 pm
by Glenn Frederick
Fantastic find.

That is how I found my Legris Banjo's with those same screws a couple of years back and some vintage Legris Elbows. You might end up having a big box of pneumatic fittings you would never use but usually those Lots of Misc fittings end up having some real gems.

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 12th, 2019, 5:02 pm
by RedSpecial
Thanks, Glenn.
I'm already a serial collector of random bits that I'm sure I'll find a use for some day so the non GB bits will probably find their way into that collection.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for similar finds but I doubt I'll ever be that lucky again.
Especially in the UK where you rarely see any parts by clippard or legris.
It's taken me about 13 years just to find these ones [emoji14]

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 12th, 2019, 8:40 pm
by McCrea
I you have any overstock...let....me....know.....

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 12th, 2019, 8:46 pm
by RedSpecial
I'll keep that in mind if I ever find more but it's a long shot.

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 15th, 2019, 1:59 pm
by Brothertutbar
This is coming along beautifully mate, this is going to be amazing when it's done

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 15th, 2019, 2:35 pm
by RedSpecial
Thanks Brothertutbar :)

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 16th, 2019, 10:15 am
by RedSpecial
Today's task was to make the charging plate.
I wasn't trying to replicate any one in particular, just following the basic layout.

Thanks goes to Nstevic01 for the great blue brick wiring harness.
That saved me a chunk of time trying to source the correct parts.

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Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 16th, 2019, 11:36 am
by Venkman's Swagger
Nice mate!! You’re killing this build

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 16th, 2019, 12:32 pm
by RedSpecial
Thanks, man :)

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 24th, 2019, 8:39 am
by RedSpecial
Making some end caps today.

Rough cut with an angle grinder, then filed down to the final shape.

These will be welded on once I have all of the caps and base plates finished.
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Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 24th, 2019, 12:04 pm
by GohstTarp
The thickness of the aluminum you used for the charging plate is perfect... the whole thing looks great.

Best of luck with your endcap and plate welding!

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 24th, 2019, 1:14 pm
by RedSpecial
Thanks, GohstTarp.
The charging plate was made from a peice of 2mm alu sheet that I had left over from making parts for the thrower.

I'm not looking forward to the welding to be honest, I haven't done much of it but hopefully I won't mess up too much :P

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 27th, 2019, 7:44 am
by RedSpecial
Dry fitting the bellows.
These are Gbfans bellows which I've had for quite a few years.
They've developed a nice patina over time.Image

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: September 27th, 2019, 7:49 am
by RedSpecial
More filing end caps for the aluminium parts today so not much to show right now.

I dug out these vintage relampable lenses again to take some measurements so that I can create a replica of the milky white lens for my thrower build.
Hopefully I'll be able to get fairly close with some machining and resin casting trickery.

The milky white lens here will most likely still be used as the recessed lens on top of the body of the thrower. Image


Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: October 23rd, 2019, 10:52 am
by RedSpecial
I recently finished making the end caps and base plates, so today I began welding parts together.

Starting with the beam line.

Seeing as I've never welded anything before this project it's been a bit of a steep learning curve so things are far from perfect but I'm just going to live with the quirks.

It's just as well I'm going for a warts and all hero look then I guess.

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Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: October 31st, 2019, 11:50 am
by RedSpecial
Today's task was to make the injector tubes.
Based loosely on the Ramis hero injectors.
I had planned to document the process but I had a bit of a time with it and was so focused on finishing the things that I just plain forgot.

I've still to make the bracket to reinforce them and further connect them to the shell.
That'll probably be the next task. Image

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: November 1st, 2019, 6:56 pm
by CPU64
Everything you're doing is good, just vanted you to no dat..
Only criticism I can give is that you didn't make the cut line on the bottom of the PPD in the same direction as the reference, lol
Good job

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: November 1st, 2019, 7:09 pm
by RedSpecial
Damn it, somebody noticed haha.
Thanks , man :)

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: November 2nd, 2019, 4:12 am
by Adub794
Great work! Subscribing for future updates.

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: November 2nd, 2019, 5:18 am
by RedSpecial
Thanks!
I'll try not to screw the rest of it up too much :P

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: November 2nd, 2019, 11:03 am
by RedSpecial
Today I made and attached the bracket for the injector tubes.
These things are solid as a rock now.

Seeing as I want everything to be removable I've just bolted the bracket onto the pack using some socket head cap screws for now but I'll be adding a feux compressed rivet look to the head of them.

I know they'll never be seen once the ribbon cable is on there but I'll know they're there and it'll bug me if it doesn't look right.

I also tried out the coloured tubing and loom covers in the injectors just for gits and shiggles. ImageImage

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: November 2nd, 2019, 8:39 pm
by Adub794
I knew there would be a good reason to subscribe to your build. I never would have thought of a bracket for the injector tubes. The added bonus is that it’ll be covered up by the ribbon cable. Excellent!

Re: GB hero pack ( GBfans Shell)

Posted: November 3rd, 2019, 1:30 am
by nick-a-tron
Fantastic build! Your metal work is especially impressive.