Leaderboard

I've been making a lot of progress on the pack, but haven't taken the time to update this thread, so here comes a bunch of updates!! First up, I finally bought a Brexton from Ross, super fast, affordable, and looks awesome. It was also more durable than I was expecting which is great! I also finally found a 2.5" plastic pipe for my mortar tube, which actually ended up being from a dust collection system. (This was way harder to find in person than I thought it would be) I also got my pack straps off of a $1 backpack from Walmart that I made some modifications to Canteen/Bee Stinger I broke apart my Lionstar and proceeded to accidentally cut off the wrong part... Which I then had to superglue back on. Slapped a little matte black and Rustoleum Battleship Grey on there. (The stinger is just a dowel that I hollowed out at the tip) Frame Put a hefty bend in the PVC frame using a heat gun. Maybe a little too hefty... To replicate the aluminum of the frame, I first coated the whole frame in a coat of metallic silver - Then using some liquid latex I dabbed the corners and edges that should show wear and chipping (you can use masking fluid or even toothpaste) . Then I hit the whole thing with a coat of matte black. Once dried, I was able to rub off the liquid latex and reveal silver underneath in certain areas - https://i.imgur.com/8xU5usT.mp4 Brackets I really loved @knopi's solution for inner aluminum brackets to bear the weight of each piece and transfer the burden to the frame. So I created some cardboard templates and then cut and bent my aluminum strips. Siphon I added in a crossbar to my siphon with a threaded insert to accomodate the bottle being screwed on. I also needed to do some bondo-ing and sanding to clean it up and hide the seams. (Bondo all purpose putty and spot filler. Sorry I don't have any pics of that process) I also added a crossbar to my bottle, as well as some foam to keep it from getting squished. For the 3d printed mushroom caps, I slathered them with Bondo, and sanded, and then did that 3 or 4 more times until I was satisfied with the smoothness - And here is the bondo-ed siphon and assembly Radio The radio face and knobs are not the most accurate or precise, but they were part of a larger kit that had lots of components, so I can't be too picky. The radio knobs were pretty rough resin casts from a low-res 3d print, and the strap mounts came very thick and needed lots of sanding down - Whaddya do though. Onward! The radio box I constructed out of PVC Foam board (my new favorite material), a little E6000 and magnets In the future I plan to add a speaker system to the radio, so the magnetic radio face will help facilitate that. For the switches, I scratch built some static ones using bolts, forex, and some black paint I then measured and cut some cardboard to give the pleather edging some rigidity I sewed and attached the pleather casing. (I should have positioned the bottom seam better to be hidden in the future by the metal radio feet, and I also didn't have black pleather on hand so I spraypainted the brown...) The parts pile was growing! Exhaust The exhaust was 3d printed by @henselmonster, and all I did was clean up the print lines and add a hose clamp! Bottle The top bottle is a shampoo bottle with some insert nuts added so it can be easily attached Shells/Capacitors The shells and capacitors on my pack were originally going to be lip balm tubes, but I actually rad across some plastic vials that were the perfect size and also fit a wooden dowel I had on the inside. So I opted for that since it would allow me to screw them into a baseplate easier too. The "Fuse" or wire sticking out are actually just finishing nails that I cut the ends off!