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Pack #3 "look sir droids" build


mikelbrierly
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Hey everybody! I've been out of the saddle for the last couple years and am missing it BAD. So I figured I should get it together and actually build my backpack! Being a packless sandy has plagued me for too long.

In the long run I'm aiming for SWAT with the "look sir droids" trooper, so I'd like my pack to compliment that. 

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^ This guy. You may know Mr. No-Stripes and Mr. No-Brow, but what about Mr. No-Shins? He's the real MVP. :dancing-trooper:

From what I've read, it looks like I'll need the "Pristine" Pack #3 (before it got beat up from filming and taped together).

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First up I want to to say thank you to the folks who have provided info and goods -

@Hausi has a wonderful pack #3 writeup that is absolutely bananas. It has so much detail and is a huge gift to everyone here on the forums. I'll be referencing this a ton.

Thank you @henselmonster for the 3d files on Thingiverse (exhaust, mushroom caps, )

@m4vrick is the Canteen master. Got my Lionstar (GioStyle alternative) from him

Thanks to @bigwam for always answering questions on threads, I got a lot of questions answered this way

Thanks to @Cricket for providing clarity on BOTH top and bottom bottle diameters. (I stumbled into her pack build while looking for bottle info and it was fortuitous and inspiring!)

Thanks @ross8008 cutting a real Shires siphon in half so we can benefit from your vac-formed replicas!

@Chrelle  Has great details laying out the use of threaded inserts and wood blocks to attach everything to the frame. (and thanks for the idea of using chapstick tubes for the shotgun shells!)

here's my layout so far:

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(Seed trays, radar dish, radio, and thermal detonator panel are from a TrooperBay sandtrooper backpack kit.) The big pieces I'm still missing my Brexton box, mortar tube, and shotgun shells. 

I have some questions about size and scale for a couple items I wanted to get clarity on before progressing too much.

The TrooperBay kit came with mushroom caps, but seemed to lack some details, so I found henselmonsters files to 3D print them. My first cap printed at about the same size as the TB vac formed one.

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But doing a dry fit of the 3D printed cap with an 8.2 cm diameter bottle on top, the cap looks too small... What do you guys think?

Before shortening bottle - 

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I've read on the forums that the mortar tube should be 2" or 2.5". I had some extra thermal detonator TK end caps laying around, and those seem like they'd accommodate a 2.5" mortar tube, but the caps I got in the TB kit would accommodate a 2" one. Thanks in advance for the help!

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Hey Mikel, looks like you're off to a good start already. :duim:

I see that you are from the US (and that you are also into Skateboarding, cool mate! :peace:) so that means that some of the parts might be just as hard to find as they are here in Germany where I'm from. 

The mortartube for example is a rain water drain pipe with a diameter which is easy to source in the UK. I have always ordered one from Ross when getting new parts for a pack build, you should have also ordered his vacformed Brexton Box replica. However, you might be lucky and find the genuine thing on ebay. 

I am not at home right now so can't provide the measurements of the endcaps but it seems to me that the ones you got from Trooper Bay are too small. 

I'm going to check when I'm at home again. 

The 3D printed plunger caps look about right (keep in mind that the lower bottle is larger in diameter than the upper bottle). 

Have fun building, looking forward to seeing your progress. 

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You guys are the bomb! Thank you!! And maybe I’ll hit up Ross and see if he’s still selling his Brextons!

I’m going to go get a PVC pipe for the mortar this afternoon. I assume the only real disadvantage of that to the drain pipe is weight?


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  • 2 months later...

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... :6:

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Which I then had to superglue back on.

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Slapped a little matte black and Rustoleum Battleship Grey on there. (The stinger is just a dowel that I hollowed out at the tip)

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Frame

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Put a hefty bend in the PVC frame using a heat gun. Maybe a little too hefty...

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To replicate the aluminum of the frame, I first coated the whole frame in a coat of metallic silver -

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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) .

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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.

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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)

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I also added a crossbar to my bottle, as well as some foam to keep it from getting squished. 

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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 -

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And here is the bondo-ed siphon and assembly

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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 -

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Whaddya do though. Onward!

The radio box I constructed out of PVC Foam board (my new favorite material), a little E6000 and magnets

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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

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I then measured and cut some cardboard to give the pleather edging some rigidity

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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...)

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The parts pile was growing!

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Exhaust

The exhaust was 3d printed by @henselmonster, and all I did was clean up the print lines and add a hose clamp!

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Bottle

The top bottle is a shampoo bottle with some insert nuts added so it can be easily attached

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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!

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:td:

 

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You are making great progress Mikel, nice to see a new pack come together.:duim:

It looks really good and I like your approach on building the shells. 

Are you planning to use this pack to be approved as a police officer? I am asking as the radio faceplate is vacformed and although you have done a terrific job in building it, it's still not approvable for PO. 

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Thank you Hausi! I actually didn’t know about the vac formed rule, but I’m not really surprised about the radio. It’s the part of the pack I’m probably most disappointed in quality and scale wise. I think I’ll troop a few with it as-is and upgrade to a better kit later. I know I’ll be wanting that PO status soon!

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Mortar Tube

The tube I ended up using was a clear Rockler 2.5" dust collection pipe.

The end caps are from a regular TK thermal detonator, and the panel is from a TrooperBay backpack kit. 

The radar dish was also from the TB kit, and the radardish mount was 3d printed.

 

The original file for the dish mount was a little too "rectangular" at the point where it attached to the tube for my liking, so I took a drum sander and sanded it down to try and match the screen used "sanding disc backing plate"

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I then filled the voids with Bondo and sanded it fairly smooth

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And here is how that looks now attached to the Mortar tube -

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Straps

For the red straps, I cut some pieces of canvas and folded and sewed the edges, then added some small aluminum bars on each end. Finally I drilled 2 holes through the straps and the aluminum to accommodate a white shoelace that ties the whole thing together. I also sprayed a very light coat of black spraypaint over the straps. 

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Test Fitting

At this point I was ready to tape it all together for a test fit!

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I was pretty happy with how it was all coming together, so I moved on to figure out where I needed to drill all the holes for attachment to the frame and aluminum brackets.

Basically what I did was to add threaded inserts to most of the individual components wherever the most weight would be distributed. Some items like the mortar tube were directly screwed in and/or ziptied in place. I then arranged the aluminum bracket to line up with the most threaded inserts to distribute the weight as much as possible.

The only pieces on the pack that aren't supported by the aluminum brackets or the frame are the shells and exhaust because they are so small and lightweight. 

 

I recorded the whole process of assembly, and I am working on putting together the video. I'll post it in the next few days.

I'm hoping that might come in handy to anyone looking for assembly references, as that seemed to be the part I had to dig the deepest for info on.

 

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Haha thanks Charlie!!

I am definitely interested!! The only thing that sucks is I’ll have to rebuild the whole radio again because the scale is off. I compared my vac-formed faceplate to the dimensions that Sonixworld has of the real one and I was bummed that it was like an inch too small on all sides. So once I muster up the motivation to start on it again I will give you a ring!!


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I've started putting together some footage from my build and definitely got sucked into adding more content to it.

 

I'm planning on doing 3 videos:

 

One for the parts, sources, tools, and materials,

One for the assembly and attachment of everything, 

And one for the weathering.

 

I've finished the first one and wanted to share it here! I hope that it can be helpful to all our future troopers looking for resources.

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

Hey all! It's been a while since I posted in this thread, but I finally finished the videos for part 2 and 3 (assembly and weathering). I wanted to share here in this thread for the sake of being complete!

 

 

 

I was thinking about creating a second post that contains just the three videos if it might be easier for folks building/referencing to find on the forums.

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