RagingBantha Posted July 22, 2004 Share Posted July 22, 2004 TD257 you inspired me! This is my first pack and I think it came out ok. So here it is complete in all its weathered glory. let me know what y'all think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troopertk2427 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 looks great from what i can see! weathering looks great. love to see it against a more neutral background.. the detail would pop out. Ill post my new pack when i get it finished. ran into a snag. erik tk2427 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD257 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 Awesome!! I like the details on the upper and lower left boxes. What are they? I'm also curious as to how you attached your lower cansister. I have to re-attach mine with something other than hot glue...it didn't hold as well as I had hoped. The weathering looks good...don't be afraid to "muck up" the clean white canisters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RagingBantha Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 the two boxes on the left are the index card boxes. The details on the larger box are two 1/2 cup tupperware lids painted black. The lower canister was applied with hot glue on poth surfaces...then a liberal amount of glue was laid around the outside of the joint along the seam. Most of the places where I applied a lot of glue i intentionally added enough to dry in cobs outside the seam. These gobs were then painted in aluminum colored enamel. The finished result looks like a rough welding job. I went over some of the "exposed" parts with a rust color as well. What you dont see is on the opposite side of the top box are three led indictor lights wired to toggle switches and powered by 9 volts clipped to the inside of the box. I thought this gave the pack a more realistic mechanical feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RagingBantha Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 here is a close up of the switches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SethB6025 Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 On the subject of attaching canisters to plungers and plungers to hoses, on my pack a machine screw runs through the threaded part of the plunger reinforcing the bond between the hose and plunger. I ran a threaded rod down through the top of the plunger and out of the bottom of the lid of the canister i used. that way, in addition to being glued at the joints, the whole thing is "bolted" together. PM me if you would like some pics or anything. Seth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD257 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 It's probably too late to go the threaded rod approach unless I want to significantly take the pack apart...and I don't. I've cut and bent some ABS strips to fit against the canister's upper sides and the plunger's bottom edge. I'm going to drill some holes and use rivets. Hopefully some strategic placement and additional weathering will hide any unsightliness. If I screw it up...then I'll try the threaded rod. The lights are cool. I put a flashing red LED in a recessed area near where the top and bottom half of the pack join. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abntroop Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 ahh, the custom pack, truly a work of love and art LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RagingBantha Posted July 24, 2004 Author Share Posted July 24, 2004 dang...you guys are the best. I appreciate the comments fellas. I have since added a mini hydration pack inside the lower box with a velcro latched trapdoor for easy removal. The extended drinking hose runs up along the left shoulder strap where it clips right near the ammo pouch. Since its a mini hydration pack (roughly a litre) its not that heavy. I walked around myneighborhood with it and its still light enough to not cause any stress on both the other parts and most importantly...my back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abntroop Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 very cool. I've been planning on buying a smaller camelback to insert into my pack as well. talk about a lifesaver, especially for parade duty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD-1536 Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 Here's mine... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD257 Posted September 6, 2004 Share Posted September 6, 2004 Very nice!! Did you permanently latch the upper halves together? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD-1536 Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 Very nice!! Did you permanently latch the upper halves together? Yeah, in order to keep it rather solid and to prevent it from moving around, I latched it permanently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD257 Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 I'm looking for some sort of latching system where I can still open and close the two halves, but keep them from flapping around if I need to run/jog/move quickly. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RagingBantha Posted September 9, 2004 Author Share Posted September 9, 2004 on mine I used an actual hardware latch. I rivited it into place and it holds **** well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abntroop Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 LOL @ run, jog, move quickly. yeah right / nice weathering!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD257 Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 Notice how I didn't say sprint...I did manage to actually run for a short distance chasing some kid around last year. It was the old "you can't catch me" challenge. He was right... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abntroop Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 LOL. most I've ever done was through running late and being wayy too hungover a couple years back when they had the 1st dragon con parade. So I was runnin late, managed to get geared up, dehydrated as ****, jogged 6+ blocks in armor to the staging area only to stand there for a minute or so and walk all the way back. I kept burpin in my helmet and gaggin myself out. pretty foul, my fans crapped out, so no air circulation and I fogged over on top of it, and I had those awesome cold shivers runnin up and down my spine lettin me know I needed water fast LOL-kinda reminded me of my infantry days.. see, it all ties together!! aaaahhh those lovely Dcon memories. I love tryin to get the smell of beer outta my helmet for a month or so afterwards LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD257 Posted September 14, 2004 Share Posted September 14, 2004 Was it good beer at least? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD-1536 Posted September 14, 2004 Share Posted September 14, 2004 LOL. most I've ever done was through running late and being wayy too hungover a couple years back when they had the 1st dragon con parade. So I was runnin late, managed to get geared up, dehydrated as ****, jogged 6+ blocks in armor to the staging area only to stand there for a minute or so and walk all the way back. I kept burpin in my helmet and gaggin myself out. pretty foul, my fans crapped out, so no air circulation and I fogged over on top of it, and I had those awesome cold shivers runnin up and down my spine lettin me know I needed water fast LOL-kinda reminded me of my infantry days.. see, it all ties together!! aaaahhh those lovely Dcon memories. I love tryin to get the smell of beer outta my helmet for a month or so afterwards LOL! Haha...great story. That's the kind of stuff I like to hear about, not your latest toy find at WalMart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abntroop Posted September 14, 2004 Share Posted September 14, 2004 good beer? **** yeah it was. and the company wadnt bad neither. we were at the 501st carolina dinner the night before the parade, and the table I was at with pete mayhew was wayyy at the tail end of having dinner served. I guess there was some mix-up that left us hangin', so I was sittin next to pete and his wife chattin along, and we decide to cruise up to the bar to wait, so I'm there at the bar with pete and his wife, and turns out he loves guiness as much as I do, so we start drinkin, and I thought I could hold my own, but he drank me under the table. I did alright considering he's 7' somethin or another and I'm 5'6, so I figure he had more room to fill LOL. we musta drunk 7 or 8 pints in the first 12-15 minutes. the hangover was fowl, but that was one **** of a way to spend my 1st dragoncon. I'll never forget it. petes a nice guy, and even nicer to drink with! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD1149 Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 Not many people get to say that Chewbacca drank them under the table. Great story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abntroop Posted September 15, 2004 Share Posted September 15, 2004 right on! thanks! gotta love all the memories that folks have and all the neat stuff we've been able to do because of the armor, and because of the 501st. It's opened up so many venues in my life from helping kids to making friends that would never have been there otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD257 Posted September 18, 2004 Share Posted September 18, 2004 Roger that...someone should start up a "trooper stories" thread for stories like abn's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abntroop Posted September 18, 2004 Share Posted September 18, 2004 God, No S**T!! Lord knows we all have stories from one place or another! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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