Small update on my pack project.
The pack is attached to the Alice frame and is heavy as hell. I need to do squats for a week before I can wear this out in public I think.
I attached a 1/2 inch pipe insulator to the top bar of the Alice pack and trimmed spots for the straps and center bar. I think wrapped this with a bigger pipe insulator and used zip ties to hold it in place. I clipped the ties and then used black duck tape to give it a finished look.
Missing finished picture of taped pad.
Wand Work -
I finished up the decal and wand bezel. This was an interesting process. I chose to stick the lenticular piece directly to the window tint first and trimmed it a day later to let it dry. This worked out great instead of attempting to trim it first. I did try to trim it first but was unable to keep any dust/lint from getting inbetween the lenticular piece and the tint.
I then wet the decal and plexiglass and slid the decal onto the plexi.
This was very simple to do if you keep both the decal and plexiglass wet. I was able to gently slide the decal in place. Blotted the water away and let it sit for a day.
On the left, I have the lenticular piece/window tint in the bezel and a trimmed decal/plexiglass on the right. You can see little scratches on the decal before I applied a coat of decal film.
I was able to touch this up with a sharpie and then sealed it with the film.
This the bezel after it was all put together. All pieces were snug enough that I didn't have to use any glue to hold it all together, but just to make sure that it did while I was installing it to the wand, I went ahead and used a small zip tie and applied glue to its end. Then wiping the tip in the corners to apply the glue.
I routed all wires into their positions and back into the wand box. Quite tight in there since it's resin.
There is some space at the top of the wand bezel but I'm not getting any light escaping the box. I may have to fill it in with paint of some kind as my bondo skills are laking.
Here is a nice shot of the dry rubs that I was using on the wand.
I had a little mistake with the decal under the top switch on the body of the wand. The scotch tape I was used wasn't really sticking well to the paint. It would slide if I wasn't careful while rubbing the decal. So the tap slipped which pulled the protective cover of the decal and the tape touched the decal. Pulled the corner off the switch decal.
Here is the bottom of the rail with decals in place.
Here she is minus the red hose in the banjos yet minus weathering:
This shot was to show that I do not have red lenses in but frosted ones but you can still see the red of the reflector cups:
My focus next will be to work on soldering the gizmo up for my belt. I've had a blast so far with this build as I'm both happy that it's almost over but sad at the same time. I do hope to add a venting kit in the future as well so that is also on the work sheet.
For those that have used vinal stickers on their pack, have you had any issues with the curling off at all? If so, what would you suggest on how to prevent them from doing this?
"I feel so funky..."
Hero Pack GB1/2 Build and repair Upcoming Trap build
Upcoming Goggle build
Upcoming Addition of Smoke Kit