Got this baby mostly together so I can show it off when the family comes over for the holiday tomorrow...
Just have to mount the Alice frame on the MB, and get the battery all nestled up inside... and get the missing side knob Anovos still owes me.
I've put all the decals on that I'm going to, for the moment... I'm holding out hope the metallic labels come back in stock at the store here. Haven't done much in the way of weathering... I think I'm going to wait until I have some actual dings/scratches to cover up and just enjoy the "fresh from the factory look" for a bit. I hollowed out the crank knob so I could drill/tap insert a set screw and mount it to a potentiometer to control the volume. Still on my to-do list, the mother board will include an aux jack, external charging port and an illuminated master power switch. Should be able to knock those out in an afternoon.
Things I upgraded;
Hat Lights/clip lights
Clippard Valves and brass fittings
Elbow fittings
GBfans lights/sounds
Aluminium trigger ring
PH-25 Resistor
Booster Ladder
Spongeface's Bar Graph bezel kit
Some of the body tubes were replaced with 1/8 tubing I had left over from my trap build.
I might upgrade the bellows at some point... they included a nice one but I don't trust myself to weather it.
Total investment; just shy of $1100. Not cheap, but still cheaper than buying a pre-built one, and I got to have all the fun of building it myself.
I documented everything pretty thoroughly, and I plan on doing a build thread/video at some point when I make sense of all the chaos. I just wanted to thank everyone on this forum for being so helpful- it was really inspiring to see what people had done with their packs, and to be able to cherry pick from so many great ideas to take my own pack to the next level.