Heres my "good enough" pack. i havent the funds for a screen accurate one so i pretty much ziptied tupperware together and came out with this. im 5'9"ish so the cistern and mortar tube are little shorter to be proportionate to my suit. on the inside i have a storage area to hold items i get at comic-con etc. hopefully thisll inspire some other 'financially responsible' troopers you can pretty much make a good looking pack out of anything. the weathering appears a little on the heavy side due to flash. it looks more natural in real life.
the complete list of parts i used (mostly scraps and things i had already) :
2 rubbermaid shoe storage, as seed trays [available at walmart for like 2 bucks each]
1 hillshire farms container, as medpack or whatever [its the standard container the deli meat comes in]
1 wet ones container [with a drink/food dome top i got from a dessert cup]
1 small cardboard tube i got from aluminum foil/plastic wrap
1 walmart 'stackers' small storage, as radio [has tabs on top n bottom to remove, see pics for more info]
1 milk cap
1 bottom of a clear plastic solo cup
2 beer bottle caps
1 20w portable amp [like a bigger aker which speaker was big and it looked good]
1 bondo container plastic top [comes on the bondo containers]
1 pvc pipe and straight connector [scrap]
4 pvc tubes and elbows for frame, bent with heatgun
1 bondo fiberglass resin container top
1 plastic clear solo cup
1 paper towel roll
2 rolls of webbing for straps
2 backpack buckles
1 gladware container
1 small funnel
1 large walmart 'stackers' container for inner "trunk" shopping storage
piece of an old car air filter i had laying around [in the space near cistern for visual breakup]
2.75inch diameter cardboard tube
1 xbox/dvd case
a bunch of zipties and hot glue
some of the supplies prior to drilling holes and mounting
pretty much imagine a montage of clips of me drilling, ziptying, hot glue gunning, exacto-knifing played to the theme from Rocky, then i realized theres all this open space i could take advantage of. more cutting
then i put the trunk in
this is how little its viewable. painted black cant tell its there. the lid to the radio is secure to the bottom box.
with the lid on it still doesnt touch the back armor. a great use of space
the amp allows for microphone talk AND aux for a mp3 player to play the radio chatter loop at the same time, as well as being rechargeable. the volume dial is extended out so i can adjust as i need in/outdoors. genius!
the total weight is about 6 pounds and if i were to break something its easily replaceable and i wont feel bad