[JWils23]

I know what you're thinking, seriously another GB1 build?? Well yes, seriously, another GB1 build! After modding out a spirit pack a few years ago and falling in love with prop building I set out to build a Hero pack. I've been collecting parts for over a year and a half and while I'm still constantly looking for the vintage parts, I've acquired enough vintage and reproduction pieces to get the ball rolling. I've definitely been lagging on getting this thread started between work and life in a pandemic but finally I've had some time to upload photos and get it going! A big thank you to many of the members on here who have let me pick their brain relentlessly, especially Dan (DanAKA) and Stuart (Redspecial) who have been more than gracious answering questions from part placement to light bracket construction and everything in between.

So that being said here are a few of the components on the pack. I'll add to this as the build goes on and other parts are added.
-Chris Bosh Shell
-Production lineage bumper and booster frame from Ron Diep
-All aluminum parts from RJ at Freeky Geeky, Eric Gunther (Ejungth87) and the ion arm/vac tube from GBFans
-Vintage Legris straights
-Raytheon crank knob
-GBfans bellow
-Legris elbows (unfortunately not 4mm but decent place holders for the time being)
-Vintage Dale resistors
-GBFans Bellow

**How did I get this far and not catch that autocorrect changed Bosh to Bosch in both my title and description?? Sorry Chris!**

[JWils23]

I was lucky enough to be working from home and browsing GBfans (definitely not while working...) a few months ago when Chris offered up some shells for sale and I jumped on it. I'd been hoping to one day come across one of his shells and be able to snag it so I was super excited to get in on the run and especially since I had already been acquiring parts be able to start as soon as it got here. Of course I was nervous when it was delivered and one corner was smashed in (thanks USPS) but Chris did such a great job packing the shell she arrived unharmed.




After some measurements and marking it was time to start working. Honestly Chris' shell is so beautiful I almost didnt want to drill into but it had to be done.


I opted to use the lineage bumper for this build and getting it mounted defnitely was a chore. Theres is for sure a little warp in the casting so getting it level took a lot of time and I thought that would be the hardest part to mount (booster tube proved me wrong). But eventually I got it on there and got it level.

[Lowberg]

Nice!!! Great shell! I did one GB1 Bosch build and it was so much fun. I have a 2nd shell I'm saving for either a GB2 build or Afterlife depending on how much it will need to be modified. Those things are TANKS!

[JWils23]

Nice!!! Great shell! I did one GB1 Bosch build and it was so much fun. I have a 2nd shell I'm saving for either a GB2 build or Afterlife depending on how much it will need to be modified. Those things are TANKS!

It really is a beast, Chris does a great job on them. I was nervous at first to work on it thinking it might be fragile or chip easily but it's super stout. I have a venky shell which I'm going to make into a GB2 build and I feel like it's much more fragile than this one.

On a side not, I've definitely checked out your builds and used some reference points too!

[JWils23]

Once I got the bumper mounted I moved onto installing the aluminum parts I had picked up along the way. I saw this in another build thread and I wish I could remember whos it was so I could give them credit but I photocopied the bottom of all the parts and then cut them out to use as templates for drilling. It really made things alot easier and I would recommend it for anyone who is nervous about trying to mount parts. Just remember to flip them! **I have to give credit to Lowberg for this idea, check out his build thread for some great ideas http://www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38579**



Also for anyone that doesn't have a drill press or struggles to drill holes straight I used this little hack. Take two blocks of wood that have square edges and make a right angle with them. Then you put the bit in the corner and it's a straight line everytime (I realize that my bit isn't exactly in the corner but that was just for the picture haha).

[JWils23]

I wanted the beam line to really fit into the elbow of the sync gen so I got the grinder out and rounded two corners on it, fits nice and snug now. Also installed the crank knob on a pot so it has that little bit of resistance when you spin it. I might run the volume control to this later on, but that's still up in the air.

[JWils23]

After I got the beam line and filler tube placed where I wanted it was time for the cyclotron elbow, ribbon cable clamp, and straights!


I really agonized over the placement of the straights, and they took me way longer than I would have liked to get done. I went back and forth looking at the Spengler pack, the Sony lobby pack, and the Minnesota pack trying to guesstimate the right placement and then marking and re-marking where I thought they looked best/right.




After that I used 1 1/4-20 socket cap screw to attach the PPD, I mounted mine straight rather than slightly turned like the Spengler pack. I also drilled out the bottom center of the PPD like the Venkman and Spengler packs.

[JWils23]

Got my end cap mounted on my ion arm and all the resistors affixed, the arm and end cap are both from the shop and they really are beautiful!



Here it is on the shell with the HGA and injector tubes also installed.

[Lowberg]

Looks so good dude. Those legris elbows look awesome, are they replicas?

[JWils23]

Looks so good dude. Those legris elbows look awesome, are they replicas?

Thanks bud! Nope, they’re actual Legris elbows but they’re 3/16 instead of 4mm. Just slightly bigger but still hold the 4mm tubing well. There’s a guy on eBay who sells them pretty regularly, in fact he just put up a bunch last night. I went through and found the ones that looked the best (minimal cracking/wear) and snagged them.

[Lowberg]

Sick, 300th of an inch difference for legit elbows sounds great to me!

[JWils23]

Sick, 300th of an inch difference for legit elbows sounds great to me!

That’s why I jumped on them, if anything they’re really good placeholders! Here’s a link to one of the listings, he’s got a bunch up right now.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/114335542261

[JWils23]

Got the V-hook installed, this one comes from Eric and it's very well done. Really stout with the 3 piece construction too. I had to modify the back plate inside the shell a little in order to fit because the thickness inside the shell didn't let the original holes line up. But easy fix, just flipped the plate and was able to use one hole as an anchor and then mark and drill a new hole. Just have to trim off the excess threads on the screws.

[JWils23]

Couple more updates while I have a little lull in work...

RJ at Freeky Geeky does the side cut N-Filters and I really can't say enough about his stuff, it's always top notch. Close up that shows the welded in mounting plates and quick test fit below.



There are slight gaps but as Dan pointed out to me, the filters on the screen used packs also had gaps so I think I'm going to leave them. We'll see how it looks once everything is painted.

After I got the placement where I wanted I traced the filter outline on the shell, then measured the width/length of the mounting plates and did a rough mock up to mark where I wanted to place my screws. I opted for 3 to get a nice tight fit and hopefully keep this thing from every getting knocked off. I also stuck with 10-32 socket cap screws over rivets should I ever need to remove it for any reason.




And there she is!

[kind2311]

bonerriffic!

[Lowberg]

Yessss the Freaky Geeky N Filter is amazing. I did the same. Thing is solid as a rock.

[JWils23]

Yessss the Freaky Geeky N Filter is amazing. I did the same. Thing is solid as a rock.

It really is amazing, his work is great. It's funny, I was browsing your thread yesterday and I realized two things. The first being it was your thread that I got the idea of photocopying the bottom of my parts to use as mounting templates. I'll update that post and give you some deserved credit! And second, I saw we mounted our N-filters practically the same way which was funny because I totally didn't realize we had the same.

[JWils23]

bonerriffic!

Thanks Kind! I'm really having a blast putting this together, I've got some more pictures to post today. It's really looking like a pack now.

[JWils23]

Now we get to a fun one, mounting the booster tube. Originally I thought mounting the bumper would be one of the most difficult things to get done, getting it in the right spot, getting it level and fighting some of the warp in the lineage cast but I was wrong. The booster tube definitely took me a lot of time to get it where I wanted it and to get it straight. Partly because I had a brain fart when mounting it. When I made my original marks on the shell for mounting points I missed that the upper mounting point was exactly where the the booster plug sits in the tube, so no way I was going to drill into that and try to tap it. Of course I realized this after I had drilled the inital holes in the shell, so I went back and marked new holes and then drilled and tapped the shell and tube. I definitely had to do some finess work on the shell holes to give me a little wiggle room for very minor tweaks to get the tube exactly where I wanted it but in the end I got it!


You can see the wrong holes and then the mounting holes just slightly off line, but live and learn because no one will ever see it (Unless the read this thread haha)

[kind2311]

How long did it take to get everything you needed from Freeky Geeky? Did you commission a thrower too? I just got my body from him and am now waiting on the rest and all pack parts.

[JWils23]

It took a few months, I got the PPD and BL/FT convo last year and that took a long time. But that’s also because I ordered right before he and his wife had their baby so totally understandable and I wasn’t in a rush. I ordered the N-Filter in April after I got the shell and I got it 2 weeks ago so about 3 months. His stuff takes time but it’s top notch.

How is the thrower body? Mine was done back in May but I opted for him to just hang onto it since I’m on all the other runs and he can just ship it all at once. I’m excited to get it all though which makes it tough to let it sit there haha!

[JWils23]

With the Booster tube set I drilled and tapped the holes for the booster frame. I also decided I was going to add one of the braces from booster tube to ion arm that are seen on several of the packs. I feel like a lot of builds incorporate the Venkman or Sony Lobby type with the small aluminum cylinder and ugly weld but I don't see too many with the little bar like on the Spengler pack so I set out to tackle that one. I guesstimated the size by looking at a lot of different pictures and I think I got pretty close.


Then mixed up a little epoxy putty to try and match this ugly looking little weld on the tube and ion arm. We'll see how it looks once painted but I like it!




I then did a little sanding on the booster frame to get it to sit more flush on the tube, need to do a little more smoothing on the bottom but the top came out clean.



Getting closer

[Lowberg]

How long did it take to get everything you needed from Freeky Geeky? Did you commission a thrower too? I just got my body from him and am now waiting on the rest and all pack parts.

Everything from him is well worth the wait, super top notch.

How is the thrower body? Mine was done back in May but I opted for him to just hang onto it since I’m on all the other runs and he can just ship it all at once. I’m excited to get it all though which makes it tough to let it sit there haha!

I got one of his "discounted 2nds" throwers for a future build that apparently has some minor imperfection and it's incredible, the dude has super high standards (I wouldn't even call it a 2nd myself).
I've waited way longer for parts that are less than awesome from other sellers.

[JWils23]

How long did it take to get everything you needed from Freeky Geeky? Did you commission a thrower too? I just got my body from him and am now waiting on the rest and all pack parts.

Everything from him is well worth the wait, super top notch.

How is the thrower body? Mine was done back in May but I opted for him to just hang onto it since I’m on all the other runs and he can just ship it all at once. I’m excited to get it all though which makes it tough to let it sit there haha!

I got one of his "discounted 2nds" throwers for a future build that apparently has some minor imperfection and it's incredible, the dude has super high standards (I wouldn't even call it a 2nd myself).
I've waited way longer for parts that are less than awesome from other sellers.

That’s great to hear, not that I’m at all surprised. Every piece I’ve ordered from him has been great. He really is meticulous and as you said has super high standards for what comes out of his shop.

[JWils23]

Lot of updates, weather finally cooled down enough in Southern California to be able to do some painting over the last few days. But first I tackled the last few things I needed to do on the shell, drill the mounting holes, mouse hole, striations and mark and rivet the injector tube bracket.

I took a look at all the packs that still have the mounting bracket on their injector tubes and based my positioning off that. Luckily I had two rivets left in my hardware box that were the perfect fit, the heads are a little larger than what they used on the screen used packs but I'm fine with it. I riveted the bracket to the tubes but went with two 10-32 socket cap screws and nuts to mount to the shell, just in case they ever need to be taken off this will make it much easier.


After that I moved onto the striations seen on the Murray and Spengler packs above the power cell. I guesstimated the spacing as best I could and then drilled my mounting holes to match the spengler pack including the empty hole. I used a blade (whcih jumped on me on the lowest one) and then a file to make the lines.


Then it was on to the rest of the mounting holes and mouse hole, I added the empty mounting holes seen on the pack here too. I used a step bit to start the mouse hole and then dremeled it until the fit was perfect.

[JWils23]

So with the weather finally chilling out (pun intended) I got to prepping and painting. All the parts and shell got a bath pre-paint to get all the dust and fingerprints off, then I grabbed an amazon box and poked a few holes in it so I could thread a screw through and attach all the parts to the box. This way they won't fall off and or move around and mess up the paint (learned that from experience unfortunately). I used Rustoleum paint and primer in Satin Black as I'm going for that brand new, unsuccessfully bench tested look. I then hit it with some of the crystal enamel to help keep the shine and protect the aluminum parts from scratches.


And with that the first coat was on!


Up next was the shell, I'll almost miss that primer color...



Drying in the sun and then all together in the garage to keep drying overnight.

[JWils23]

Spent yesterday putting things back together after letting everything dry for a few days. Started with cutting the ribbon cable to better fit the clamp and cyclotron curve, I need to get some longer screws as the ones that came with the clamp aren't quite long enough to get through the cable and the thickness of Chris' shell at that point. Once I get those I still have to figure out what kind of twist I'm going for!


Felt good to get everything back together after paint really looking like a pack now!




Finished things off by cutting some tubing and starting to apply some of the decals. Waiting on some short barbs to come in this week to finish off the injector tubes.

[Lowberg]

Looks so good man. I love the spengler booster tube weld you did. Paint looks amazing

[pchrisbosh1]

Looks amazing sir. I love the attention to detail, its going to be a nice looking pack.

[JWils23]

Looks so good man. I love the spengler booster tube weld you did. Paint looks amazing

Thanks man! I'm really happy with how it turned out, I was a little iffy on how the epoxy putty would look after paint but I really like it. My whole plan with this pack was just to take little details that I like from each pack and incorporate them, that was one that I was really excited to tackle!