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I think I spend too much time on Instagram these days haha .. I can't stop re reading and looking at the details in such high quality images man It such a pleasure looking at your build

Thanks, Brad!
I'm really looking forward to following your build after seeing all those amazing parts on your insta feed.
You tease [emoji23]


I couldn't help it, it just popped on there!

I added one of my favourite parts of the GB1 pack today, the ribbon cable.
I've based the twist loosely on the one seen on the Ramis hero pack as I've always preferred the look of that particular version.

The next step will be to strip down and modify the smc elbows and make the top rod for the ion arm.
Then it's on to the thrower.

I've been looking for a suitable transport case to carry a proton pack for years and I've finally found the perfect one.

My storage space is at a premium so it had to be as small as possible but just big enough on the inside to securely hold the pack and thrower.
This ticks all of the boxes and the design of the lid makes it very easy to load the pack into the case or remove it.

I'll just need to add foam padding, some fixed lashing straps for extra security and a platform dolly in order to wheel it around.

For anyone looking for these cases it's the Boschma 4-11-8u-he.
I know, catchy name.

Really liking that case set up! Nice.

hooker wrote: ↑May 15th, 2020, 8:31 pm Really liking that case set up! Nice.

You could store a lot of Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips in a case like that!

Not much to report right now, I've been having a little break before I start to tackle the thrower.

I mentioned couple of times that I would do a full breakdown of the texture and what I was going for with it.
Well, I did that but I made it into a separate topic in the tutorial section and completely forgot to mention it here [emoji28]

So, here it is.
Better late than never!

http://www.gbfans.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46475

I've been on a bit of a hiatus, project wise lately.
Needed a wee break but I did install the newly discovered milspec zip ties on my ribbon cable

I received the milky white lenses today and they're amazing.

A wee bit of aluminium tape to replicate the heat shield and they're a dead ringer for the vintage examples.

Here's one next to what's left of a very aged and damaged vintage lens that I've had for years, and a pic of a screen used lens on the Ramis hero thrower.

How you get tape inside?

I just cut a 3mm strip, coiled it up and put it in place with tweezers.
I left the backing on though.

I finally got up the nerve to start making some thrower parts today.
After investing in a new toy to ensure that I can work a bit more accurately.

No more having to rely on a hand drill for everything

Such a beautiful build. Mad props for producing the metal bits yourself. I wish you could see the heart eyes I'm making through the screen, haha

Thanks for the kind words, Austin

I'm back at it after a much needed extended break.
Going forward, I'm going to just set a small goal for each day instead of trying to cram in as much as possible.
Hopefully that'll help me to avoid such severe burnout in future.

At this point the main body of the pack is pretty much complete, aside for some minor cosmetic parts which will be machined later so its on to building the aluminium thrower.

Today's task was to build an instrument bar.
Complete with a vintage hose barb and red Arcolectric indicator lens.
Next up will be the trigger box.

I have a couple of finishing touches left to do but here's a tease of the Hero style trigger box/Instrument bar assembly.
It should be finished tomorrow.



After well over four months I finally managed to get a hold of my prefered satin black paint, so now I can finish spraying the bumper and paint the thrower as soon as the build is complete



I also received the amazing GBfans grey crank knobs and tear drop trap knobs today and theyre a thing of beauty!



Heres a factory fresh version next to one which I've dulled using some fine grit wet and dry for comparison.



And I added a small but neat little detail to the alice frame today.
The masking tape name tag.

And here's the finished Hero style assembly.






I had to make a slight compromise with this which I'm less than happy about.
I mentioned before that brazing is frustrating as you kind of have to go with what it gives you and is nowhere near as controllable as mig or tig welding.

This is especially true when you want to create any sort of relatively large bead as the braze really just wants to flow between the parts and join them, with sections like the corner between the instrument bar and edge of the trigger box where you have to fill a hole wanting to just level out rather than form a rounded bead.

So although I had brazed these together and got as close as it would allow to the look of the Hero's, I just wasnt happy with it and when I ground back the braze to blend the seams on the end caps and the join around the top of the trigger box, I was left with a bit of a pitted finish which is another unfortunate feature of brazing.
if it was a weld I could have just gone back over it but if I were to heat the parts back up to redo them the previous braze would have just melted away and the parts would separate.

Which left me with one option since I don't yet have the working knowledge of or funds for a proper welding setup.
fill in the pitting and bulk up the beads using JB Weld.
Far from ideal but it won't be noticeable once its painted.
I may have to to the same on some other parts of the thrower if this is any indication.

Today I started working on the front plate of the thrower body.
Getting there, slowly but surely.

I added the barrel collar and finished the front plate today, then made a start on the rear plate.

Today I made the right hand side plate of the thrower body, dry fit the heatsink, side knob and the retainer for the extention lever rod.

No prizes for guessing what I'll be making next.

Now we're cooking with gas.
I've got some minor fettling to do, then I can start to assemble the pieces before I move on to sculpting the grips and machining some small detail pieces.

The front and left hand side/top of the thrower body are now attached.
Two more pieces to go then lots of fettling, smoothing and rounding of edges, then I can move on to finishing/attaching the handles and sculpting some wonky grips.

You're doing an amazing job on your own with that thrower.

Thanks for the kind words, Matt!
It's a real challenge, that's for sure but it's been fun when I'm not screwing it up

I made some fairly significant progress today.
All of the thrower body sections are now attached with most of the fettling done and the edges shaped.
There's still a couple of small areas to address before I can move on to the next step but I couldn't resist throwing some greeblies on there to see how it all looked.
I also added an often overlooked detail.
The transition on the leading edge at the top of the front plate which goes from a chamfer to a sharp edge as the side starts to round off, as seen on the screen used Hero throwers.

It's far from perfect with plenty of quirks.
Nowhere near the level of the beautiful high end, professionally built throwers made by the likes of RJ or CPU64 but it'll do the job after some more work

Looks great

Thanks, man

The rear handle is now attached.
The front handle assembly is almost complete and rotates, although I've still to finish the guide slot on the second piece for the innermost tube to travel along once its attached to the frosted acrylic tube.
There's also some tweaks to make here and there but the next steps will be drilling and tapping holes for the baseplate to attach to the body, drilling the hole for the stem that the adjustment dial attaches to on top of the thrower body and then it'll be on to building the pop mech and machining the bits and pieces that are needed for the flash bulb assembly, palm rest etc.






Speaking of the pop mech, I've made a start on that by throwing the lever together using some brass rod and a wee bit of vintage clippard dark green tubing.

Thrower is looking beautiful! Better watch out, people are going to start placing orders soon!

Thanks for the kind comments.

They can try.
There's no bloody chance I'm doing this again any time soon with my current setup

This build is awesome!!! Thank you for helping me and answering my questions!!!!!!!