Things have been going well and my "finished" pack has held up nice! I began my pack build a little over a year ago and gave it all the bells and whistles I could afford. After joining a local franchise here in Massachusetts my pack has stood out and is known among our group as the one that needs to get dinged up. (HAHA)
As I approach 2016 I'm ready to do one last cosmetic upgrade to the "Assembly Line" pack: the ion arm. The ion arm was the first piece of the pack I worked on. This being my first build, ever, I bought most of my parts from eBay, GBFans and great sellers here on the forum. My current ion arm is made from a solid block of shaped resin and I'd like to upgrade to an aluminum one.
I've already researched a couple sellers and found some pieces at a great price. Like my pack build I'll document this upgrade. It will likely be a light build but hopefully it will help anyone switching out parts.
When I first built my pack a year ago I started with some low cost parts. My ion arm and attachment were made from a solid block of resin and other materials. I found then on eBay.
Over time I wanted more accurate parts and now with the build complete I feel I can go back and rework some areas.
So I went ahead and order a new ion arm attachment made from real aluminum. It's a GB1 style. My pack is more of a GB2 but I prefer the GB1 ion arm better.
After my new aluminum ion arm arrives I plan to replace the resin one with it.
From there I am going to rework the internal cyclotron setup. I've always liked the idea of just lifting off my shell to get to the intervals. Currently my cyclotron lenses are glued to the shell and the LEDS are hot glued to them. This has never really sat well with me and I'm going to take my rework from Phil & Grimmy.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: November 20th, 2015, 3:24 pm
by Demon Vice Commander
FYI, the "GB1 style" Ion Arm is still accurate for a GB2 pack, as both the Stantz and Spengler Hero packs had the square Clippard fitting on the cap in their GB2 configuration.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: November 21st, 2015, 11:30 am
by csullivan1980
This is my back in early February when the basic overall look was set.
One thing I've always enjoyed about the proton pack (in general) is the balance of certain colors.
After I had placed all the parts and got my pack put together I couldn't help but noticed the dominance of black. Looking at it today I want to take away some of the black in certain areas.
The two way I realized how easily I could do this was by:
1. Keeping the ion arm attachment aluminum. 2. Getting a grey crank knob*
* Since I can't find a crank knob I decided to paint my current one (by Wiz-0084) grey.
Right now it's simply primed so tomorrow I hope to find a lighter shade of grey other than satin grey.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: November 23rd, 2015, 9:11 am
by csullivan1980
Wiz-0084's crank knob takes to paint very well. It's a real shame he's retired.
Paint I used was Rust-O-leum 2x brand gray primer then satin gray since I couldn't find "stone gray"
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: December 1st, 2015, 10:30 am
by csullivan1980
New goodies arrived!
Thanks to CPU64 for the great lumpy ion arm!
This is my first aluminum replacement and I am just shocked how light this is.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: December 1st, 2015, 10:38 am
by csullivan1980
oh yeah!
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: December 16th, 2015, 11:43 am
by csullivan1980
Last night fitted the ion arm to my pack.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: December 17th, 2015, 1:06 pm
by csullivan1980
You can always make it better. Now that my GB group is on a bit of a break until after the new year it's a good time to work on my pack some more.
One of the to-do's is make some major improvements to the interior wiring. Last night I spent a few hours cleaning up the wiring on the inside I'm preparation for building a shelf for the cyclotron lenses.
I'm taking my inspiration from Grimmy and pyhanson.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: December 18th, 2015, 6:33 am
by csullivan1980
Yesterday I dry fitted all my parts to the ion arm and hit it with some satin canyon black paint. I'm not sure how many coats I want to give it but at least two.
It's suggested that when painting aluminum not to prime. Once dry for about 12 hours I fitting the parts back on to ensure everything was good. It was. Then I go back and touch up a few spots with a light coat.
One think I'm trying to figure out is how to get the aluminum part of the ion arm attachment to look weathered.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: December 26th, 2015, 9:33 am
by csullivan1980
The day after Christmas and I'm back at reworking the innards of my pack. After about a week of rest I realized I was over-thinking the process like I tend to do.
On my biggest struggles was figuring out how to out the cyclotron lenses. After a day of working a two-shelf system I noticed if I just remount the speaker in a diamond shape it would work better. After I desoldered the speaker wire I placed it on a 4.5" x 4.5" piece of styrene.
From there I marked the speaker mount holes.
Afterwards I mounted it to my mobo and leveled it.
I then placed one of my cyclotron lenses on the styrene and gently places the shell on top. There was enough room for me to move the lens around now that the clear acrylic windows were removed. I centered them as best as I could and marked the holes.
Using my old lenses I super-glued a nylon spacer to the bottom (not pictured) and will drill the four holes with a step drill. I tested this on a spare piece of styrene and it fits snug. This will allow me to have a completely leveled set of lenses.
After a long lazy Sunday with my pack the internals are completed.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: December 30th, 2015, 8:45 pm
by csullivan1980
Today I received my new aluminum HGA and Nfilter. They are awesome. I dry fitted the HGA and it fits perfectly replacing my old one.
My Nfilter will take a little time to put in. I had to remove the old Nfilter which wasn't easy but I got it off nice and clean.
I'm sure everyone is wondering why I didn't cut into the shell when I first build the pack. To be honest it was something I didn't feel comfortable doing at the time but now I have more experience. I'm following Grimmy's thread, especially the part about fitting the Nfilter to the shell. It's a little more messy and time consuming since the pchrisbosh1 shell we have is very durable.
I'm going to let my batteries charge, literally before I continue cutting into my shell.
Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: December 31st, 2015, 6:41 am
by csullivan1980
One of the major benefits living in the same town as where you work is you can wake up early, cut some fiberglass and still get to work on time.
This was a day I have feared for a long time: cutting into my pchrisbosh1 shell. I admit I got a little overzealous with some of the cuts but I'm not worried. I have some Apoxie Sculpt on the way and I can use it to hide the crimes.
Last night to took me over a hour to pry off my old n-filter. I don't recommend doing what I did. Wasn't very practical.
Doh! Oh well. I can fix that.
I'm going to sand the edge to the lower right cyclotron so I can avoid as much overhang of the n-Filter as possible.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 1st, 2016, 6:04 am
by csullivan1980
So the pack is stripped of all hoses, fittings and anything that would get the way.
I decided that since I'll be fitting the N-Filter next week might as well touch up the shell by filling ugly holes and touching up my paint job. I will say it's amazing how much of a rush job I felt it did when I started this project over a year ago.
After I wiped down my pack with a wash cloth and some warm water I'm gonna let it dry as pictures. I covered the aluminum labels by joeluna33 because I don't have any replacements and want to salvage them.
Discovered a bad crack after an event one day. So I filled it with JB steel stick and sanded it with 220 grit paper.
More ugly holes being filled and sanded.
Covered aluminum labels with painters tape.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 11th, 2016, 10:39 am
by csullivan1980
My apoxie sculpt has finally arrived. Note: when ordering order directly from Aves and not Amazon. Amazon will take some time getting to you since it comes from a 3rd party.
Tonight I plan to bond my aluminum filter to the shell and fix a few spots I over cut. Then after it cures I will repaint and touch up my shell. After that I just await my venting kit before the very last of the electronics come.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 11th, 2016, 6:44 pm
by csullivan1980
Update:
So tonight I attached the new N-Filter onto my shell. You'll notice I had to fill in the right side more due to my overzealous cuts. Builders take note of my error. Fortunately the Apoxie Sculpt is a great material. Hopefully it will not be too noticeable once it's repainted.
I ordered a complete venting kit from Jimfin and am very, very excited when it comes. This should be the very last of the electronics upgrades; at first I wasn't planning on having it vent this soon. But after seeing these things in action by other GB members I had to go all the way.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 12th, 2016, 10:36 am
by csullivan1980
Early this morning I cut the lip of the shell off and sanded it down with a Dremel.
This should make it easier to mount the venting unit.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 13th, 2016, 4:37 am
by csullivan1980
I got up early this morning and hit my shell/N-Filter with some Rustoleum 2X Satin Canyon Black paint. I like this color, it's a good black, slight gloss but not too much.
My pack has been out and about for a year now and have suffered a few scuffs and scratches. Of course no pack will ever be free of these, it helps make it look more worn. But for me there are areas I wanted to touch up before I weather the pack myself.
One of the things I'm looking forward to seeing is how my new N-Filter will look compared to my old N-Filter. There major difference being how it was mounted. My old N-Filter was a Nick-A-Tron cut to the shape of the shell and stuck on with plumbers epoxy putty. The edges always bugged me, I wasn't going for a fake weld look originally but I was in experienced at that point.
Old N-Filter:
New N-Filter:
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 21st, 2016, 6:25 pm
by csullivan1980
After a few days I let the paint dry and I couldn't be happier with the results. Especially how the Apoxie Sculpt came out. I personally feel that the N-Filter looks more accurate now that it did before.
One thing I wanted to modify when I redid my N-Filter was the red line. Instead of using a label this time opted to first hit the N-Filter with red paint, then masking it out. Here are the final results as I slowly pulled the paint away.
Dry Rub with a Nickel. Unfortunately, part of the dry rub came off before I could use it, but nothing I'll stress out about.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 21st, 2016, 9:02 pm
by csullivan1980
Before the day ends why not reassemble the pack.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 22nd, 2016, 1:54 am
by Venkman's Swagger
That NFilter came out great. Well done man. Looks packalicious
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 24th, 2016, 5:52 am
by csullivan1980
Here are two videos I made last night showing the results of the 3D shelf mounted to my pack and showing the internals.
1.
2.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 24th, 2016, 10:51 am
by Morfeusoneiros
Beautiful pack and nice job on the interrior. I just picked up some tips for my own build [THUMBS UP SIGN]
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 24th, 2016, 2:48 pm
by IDDQD
Beautiful work.. The internal work is just as impressive as the exterior, which in my opinion is just as important.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: January 24th, 2016, 4:57 pm
by csullivan1980
Morfeusoneiros wrote:Beautiful pack and nice job on the interrior. I just picked up some tips for my own build [THUMBS UP SIGN]
IDDQD wrote:Beautiful work.. The internal work is just as impressive as the exterior, which in my opinion is just as important.
Thanks guys. I've really enjoyed this project and with every modification my confidence just builds. I'm not sure exactly sure when but I hope to upgrade to an aluminum thrower at some point.
While my pack isn't exactly a GB1 or GB2 I like to think of it as a pack build of my favorite bits of each.
Re: Back again! Ready for cosmetic upgrades.
Posted: February 1st, 2016, 8:17 pm
by csullivan1980
Well she is done. I'll post photos tomorrow of the venting kit.
I was very surprised how easy it was to mount it to my pack. Some slight modification had to be made but I've every happy with the results.