#4946242
As I mentioned in my introductory post, my very first prop replica was a proton pack! When I was a kid, I assembled a proton pack from a cardboard box, round cookie tin for a cyclotron and a karate belt for shoulder straps. The neutrino wand was a wooden dowel, foam and electrical tape for the grips and another cardboard box for the main unit. Although I've been making prop replicas ever since, I've never gotten around to making a proper proton pack... until now.

So far, I've got a good shell, ALICE frame, a resin booster and one Dale PH-25. I've got the Afterlife wand, which I might mod to a classic wand at some point. But... that's all I've got so far.

I've also just picked up a bunch of Clippard pieces locally for cheap. They're not the right models, but I'd rather have some real-world parts (and I love the challenge of doing everything on a budget or by trading with other fans) than resin castings. So, at the moment, I've got:

Two R-305 valves:

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Three R-431 valves:

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And one R-731:

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If anyone would like to trade for some parts, or donate to the cause, drop me a line!

Once I get my shell, I'll start posting some photos of the build.

Kind regards,
Indy
Last edited by Indy Magnoli on October 17th, 2021, 7:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Peet, cristovalc liked this
#4946994
A friend of mine sent me some parts from Canada back in November... and it JUST arrived! Talk about Covid delays!! So, here's what I've got so far:

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Not pictured here is my Afterlife Wand (which I'll probably try and mod back to a standard wand) and the ALICE frame.

So, if you see something missing (there's plenty!) and you've got a spare, drop me a line. This includes any sound and light kits you may have. I love horse trading, so shoot me a pm or e-mail so we can talk.

Once all my ducks are in a row, I'll start assembling and post progress pics.

Thanks,
Indy
#4953308
Well, I finally got around to fiberglassing my shell:

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It's actually the first time I've done fiberglassing, so happy enough with the results. It's definitely a lot tougher than it was when I started.

My pack shell is missing some detail at the bottom, so I've cut some thin ply to spruce it up a bit:

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I've masked the parts I want to keep with the original smooth finish, then sprayed several coats of hammered metal texture:

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I've got the following pieces for the ion arm:

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After a bit of paint and assembly... just need some tubes:

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Drilled the cyclotron holes, added a crank knob, a few stickers as well as the extra blocks on the base:

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I know it'll never be in the realm of accuracy of many of your packs, but I'm having a great time putting this together... and what an upgrade from my cardboard box pack from when I was a kid!
Glenn Frederick, ccv66, tobycj and 3 others liked this
#4953389
Looking good so far, keep up the good work.

I have a few resin pieces left over from my old eBay store days. Shoot me a PM with what you need and I'll see if I have anything I can send you (they may not be in great shape).
#4953558
The weld lines were in the casting already, though I'm probably going to add some to the base of my booster once I add it to the pack using epoxy putty.

I added some more to the base of my pack, using a couple of screws (and some hot glue) to mount the loom hose:

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The bumper I got was a bit rough and too big for my pack, so I trimmed it, reshaped it a bit with some files, dremel and sandpaper... I had to putty the holes up (since they no longer matched up to my pack) and drill new ones:

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After a repaint and adding a decal, I got to do a little test fit (so exciting!):

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tobycj, twmedford23 liked this
#4954017
On to the clippard valve... So, I started with the incorrect R-431:

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Unscrewing the top to remove the bulb thing was no problem:

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For the top piece, I thought I could 3d print an accurate knob, but I like having metal pieces when possible, so first I thought to dig through my greeblie collection:

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See that thing in the bottom center of the picture... once I popped the cylinder off the arm holding it, I found a brass piece inside:

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These two piece sat perfectly on top of the Clippard lid and the proportions were close enough for me:

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A nut, bolt and couple of washers put it all together easily:

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Sure, there's no knurling, but it looks the part and matches the original lid so nicely:

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Once I get some cap screws I'll add this to my pack! :)
mike_waclo liked this
User avatar
By Indy Magnoli
#4955165
Just got a package from a fellow fan with a couple of cleaned up pieces:


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Those injector tubes are solid resin, so heavy! I decided to try and lighten them a bit:

https://i.imgur.com/HELCG56.mp4

The used Plastic Weld to sculpt the welds on the edges (and used a hole puncher to add some ridging):


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I had some plastic weld left over, so added some to my booster tube:


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Some black spray paint and a little silver Rub n' Buff and they're starting to look the part:


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I added a couple of screws to the injector tubes so I could hot glue the loom tube to them. Here are the new pieces on the pack:


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Thanks again to all those helping with this build!
tobycj, ccv66 liked this
By Mat
#4955461
There is an easier way to mount the tubing into the shell and injector tubes. Keep the tubing long and drill a hole the same diameter as the OD of the pneumatic tubing. Shove them into the drilled holes on the shell and injectors and voila! :)
User avatar
By Indy Magnoli
#4956147
Time for the motherboard: I was debating what to use for the material... I ruled out MDF early on as many said it was too heavy. I thought of using ACM (basically an aluminum/plastic ply) but discovered it wasn't much lighter, nor much cheaper than aluminum itself... so I ended up just getting a piece of 3mm aluminum and tracing an outline of my pack:

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I cut it out using a regular jigsaw and it came out pretty good (just needed a bit of cleanup with a file and some sandpaper):

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Next was to cut some tubing (kindly provided by @Blaxmyth ) for the pack spacing:

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Test mounting to my ALICE frame:

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For the brackets, I found some L pieces I had laying around and JB Welded some nuts onto them (3 our of the 4 in the wrong place!):

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I pop-riveted the brackets onto the motherboard (here you can see I moved the nuts to the lower holes):

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Some spray paint...

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The best part... the pack fits onto the brackets!!! So I put it all together and popped it on my back for the first time:

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I was surprised how light it felt on my back and was giddy to have a proton pack on my back for the first time since I was a kid wearing my homemade cardboard box nuclear accelerator! :)
tobycj, ccv66 liked this
#4956538
As I'm still waiting on a box of parts, I decided to make the mounting plate for my neutrino wand using scraps from the aluminum from my motherboard:

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These are 3mm thick pieces, so I glued two together and clamped:

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I then shaped the block with a hacksaw and belt sander:

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I got another piece of scrap and cut it into a square for the backing piece:

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Even though this piece is thicker than 3mm on the original, I left it as a single layer since it set my wand far enough from the body to do the job.

I drilled two holes and counter sunk them to fit the bolts I had. I also used a block of wood as extra backing since my fiberglassing is relatively thin:

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Here's what the mess looks like inside the back:

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Drilled and countersunk the main plate:

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Mounted to the pack:

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Here it is with my Afterlife wand (which I'm planning on modding to the original version):

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You can see I've also added the bumper as well as the ribbon cable.

I think this about all I can do until my package arrives...
#4957029
I finally mounted the ion arm to my pack. I added a block of wood into the base of the resin piece, to give me something to attach firmly to the pack. I drilled two holes into the pack:

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Then screwed the ion arm into place:

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Added a couple of tubes:

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...and just got a package with a bunch of bits and pieces!

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...now it's time to get to business!!

Screwed the vacuum tube into place:

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The booster was the very first piece I collected for this build SO many years ago... and I'm excited to finally get the frame and cable clamp added to this:

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Drilled some holes out for the booster:

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Because the booster I've got is fairly "closed" I ended up using pop rivets to secure it to the pack:

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WARNING: Purists... look away! I didn't have any Legris straights on hand, so I had a couple of spare hose attachments that I decided to cut down:

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They're quite a bit smaller than the original straights, but with a couple of wires (pop rivet posts) to hold the hoses in place, they work for me:

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And here we have my pack so far:

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I keep saying it... but each step of the way is so exciting seeing this become closer and closer to a finished proton pack! And a BIG thanks to all of you who have been helping me out with this project!
mike_waclo, tobycj, ccv66 liked this
#4957356
On to the N-filter. I was sent a nice aluminum piece. Unfortunately the fit wasn't quite right with my shell, so I had to do a bit of dremel work and heat-gunning to get it to fit the hole:

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Earlier I said that the booster tube was the piece I've had the longest but when looking for the mesh to put in the N-filter, I discovered a roll of wire mesh that was left behind by the previous owners of our house (which we bought over 20 years ago)... so I guess this wire mesh is the first piece I was saving (unbeknownst to me):

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Added some stickers and distressing (the red pinstripe I added later, but forgot to photograph):

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I drilled a couple of holes to my shell, marked out the spots on my n-filter and drilled holes into it so I could pop-rivet them together (seemed to be to be the most secure option):

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Unfortunately the n-filter I've got is a bit oversized for my pack so there is a little overhang:

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I'm not too worried about it... just need to figure out if I want to add anything in the gap.

Here's the pack so far:

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ccv66 liked this
#4957423
Thanks guys!

Finally added the beamline tube... though the base was a bigger than the space my pack allowed, so needed to dremel some extra room:

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I ran out of clippard pieces, so I removed the one from the ion arm and replaced it with a 3d printed one (since I figure it's less visible than this one on the beamline tube:

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Next was to add the beamline loom tube... but the tube I've got is a bit wider than the original:

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No problem! I trimmed out a bit of the split loom:

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A little heat gunning will soften the plastic:

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But do this sparingly... it doesn't take much to melt this stuff:

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I'm not sure how the originals are attached, but it seemed weird to have a split loom tube attached to a pneumatic barb, so I decided to add a blue tube to the barbs (via my pop-rivet off-cut method):

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You can see I also added a nice metal plate to the HGA. I LOVE all these little details!

Oh... and here's a shot of the metallic red piping I added to the N-filter:

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Still waiting on the 3/4" loom tube. In the meantime... I'll start working on the wand!
EnderWeggen liked this
By tobycj
#4957436
Indy Magnoli wrote: October 14th, 2021, 9:34 pm I'm not sure how the originals are attached, but it seemed weird to have a split loom tube attached to a pneumatic barb, so I decided to add a blue tube to the barbs (via my pop-rivet off-cut method):
It was 1/4" pneumatic tubing over the barbs, with split loom over the top of that :)
#4957562
When Hasbro released the Afterlife wand, I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it... mod to a classic "legacy" version! I already had a few parts from trades including grips, aluminum disks, some hose and a Clippard valve. As you can see... the new parts are happy to start:

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First thing to do is cut off the rubber "tape" grip with a dremel wheel:

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Once you cut through, it peels off pretty easily:

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The faux grip is held on by a couple of screws which are easily removable but most of the screw holes on the bottom of this piece have been filled in will little plastic plugs. These are pretty simply to remove by using a slow turning drill bit (I think I used a 3.5mm bit) to drill just a little bit into the plug, then they should just pop out:

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I saw some guys on YouTube completely drilling out the plugs which can be messy and also risks scratching the screws underneath, which could make their removal challenging.

Anyway... once I removed that faux grip, I set to dremel cut the back end of the grip:

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The three screws that held the original faux grip on actually drilled into this piece that is inside the battery housing. So, instead of grinding these down, I incorporated them into my new grip by drilling recessed holes for them to sit into:

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Unfortunately, the pipe has that step at the end and the plastic looks too thing to grind down to match the thickness of the rest of the pipe, so I decided to just leave it. I used the heights of the plugs to keep the new grip parallel with the original pipe.

After spray painting the grip, I drilled a couple of holes and added some pop rivets. Painted those black and then scratched some of the paint off:

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I repainted the pipe as well since the silver painted "scratches" looked a bit cheesy to me... also added a new, thicker green tubing:

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More to come...
ccv66, darthbuster liked this

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