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By JWils23
#4946641
Nuclearjungle wrote: March 7th, 2021, 10:29 pm What are your rivets made of? Seems like stainless ones like to have that problem with the shanks, at least if you aren't using them on equally hard metal.
I’m not sure, they’re the rivets that came with Eric’s bracket kit. On my other mobo I used the brackets from GBfans and had no issue with those rivets.
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By JWils23
#4946642
tobycj wrote: March 8th, 2021, 3:38 am Ah man :( it really wasn't your day!
It really was not! But I can’t complain too much, this was really the first day working on it that I’ve hit major speed bumps.
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By Nuclearjungle
#4946645
If it doesn't come out to your liking after drilling the shanks, I'd try buying new rivets the same size that are aluminum, which are most likely to work correctly against aluminum. If you drill them out carefully, the holes will still be snug enough to offer enough resistance for the rivet to mushroom; but if not, you can use small washers on the inside, where nobody will see them.

I had this happen to me when I accidently bought stainless rivets to attach my grips awhile back, so that might be the problem.
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By JWils23
#4946646
Awesome, thanks for the tip! I just ordered some aluminum rivets since my local place only has 1/8 and nothing in 3/16. I’m just going to drill out the 6 rivets that had the shank snap and replace them. I drilled the shank on one of them out yesterday to see if I’d be okay with that but it still didn’t look good to me. Luckily my center punch does a really good job of pushing rivet shanks back out so that should help with the removal process.
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By JWils23
#4946666
Back in action with a positive day! I took NuclearJungles advice and grabbed a box of 3/16 aluminum rivets to replace the stainless ones that didn't cooperate. I very carefully and slowly drilled out the other rivets as I didnt want to accidentally warp or alter my original holes. I did leave the two stainless rivets that actually pulled correctly and replaced the 6 others, came out nicely and I'm glad I replaced them, it would have driven me nuts!
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After that I finished tapping the L brackets above the power cell and at the v-hook with my new tap. Made me realize how dulled out my other one had become as this one cut like a hot knife through butter. And just like that, finally the shell was mounted to the mobo.
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Since I had already done everything to attach the Alice frame on Sunday I put that together because dammit I wanted to put this thing on my back! Here are some shots of the GB1 spacers I got from Joe Luna, I believe he is using Nickatrons old moulds.
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And finally, after starting work on this shell just shy of a year ago I got to throw her on my back! I also learned it's a lot tougher than I thought to get a picture of something on your back if you're by yourself haha! Please enjoy my wifes bathroom signs...
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This weekend I'll starting working on mounting electronics and fine tuning the brackets I made. Things should go quicker now since I have all my components ready to go, stay tuned!
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By JWils23
#4946677
It was definitely an exciting moment! Well worth the wait for sure. Now onto the next milestone, flipping the power switch for the first time and watching it come to life!

Speaking of electronics, does anyone know where to find some speaker grille template for 5.25” speakers? I’m mounting two, taking some inspiration from gohsttarp’s build (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38111&sid=f127d442c ... &start=300), but I’m having trouble finding a template.
By tobycj
#4946694
I messaged BishopDonMiguel through his etsy and he very kindly sent me his speaker template, so you could try that. It took me about five hours to do, so it's quite an undertaking! If you don't fancy that particular template just Google speaker grille templates and there are a few that come up.
Last edited by tobycj on March 11th, 2021, 2:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By JWils23
#4946698
Thanks Toby, I'll reach out to him and ask. I actually have his loom clamp I'll be installing soon too! Do you remember what size bits you used for it? Just want to make sure I have all the right sizes, this will be quite the undertaking drilling two!
By tobycj
#4946717
His template only calls for three different sized drill bits, but because I'm a glutton for punishment I did each set of holes a different size. I think I went 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 3.2mm, 3.5mm, 4mm, 4.5mm, 5mm, 5.5mm, 6mm & 6.5mm, and this was for a 6.5" speaker, so you might not want to go so large for a smaller speaker. Some of the spacings were a little off from doing different sizes than the template calls for, but not really that noticeable. I then did a slight countersink on them all (only from the outside) as per his recommend. Makes it look that bit nicer and no sharp edges at all. I will say clamp the mobo down properly, particularly when you get to the larger holes. Some of mine ended up a bit wonky until I realised this, and just me pinning it down wasn't enough to stop vibration/the drill bit wandering!
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By JWils23
#4946750
Started working on placement for the electronics yesterday. I wanted to test the bracket I made for the power cell lights to make sure I did all the math on the measurements right, that way I can epoxy in the blue acryllic. Very happy to report that I can still do math and it fit exactly as planned! Does anyone know what size rivets they used on the hero packs for the light bracket? I would think it's some size of 3/16 just not with the large flange like the L bracket rivets.
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Then I moved on to placing my speakers, I was able to scoop up a pair of 5.25" Rockford Fosgates for failry cheap so I'm running those. I reached out to Bishop and he was generous enough to send me his speaker templates so I'll be using those. I started mocking things up and just scratching some guide lines with a pencil but then I realized that the bottom of the speakers would be right on top of the alice frame spacers so I need to wipe it clean and move the speakers up an inch or so. And clearly my bottom line was not straight, good thing I wasn't punching off that! Hopefully I'll get to punching and starting to drill this weekend.
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By JWils23
#4946771
Appreciate the feedback guys! Of course I have a ton of 1/8 and 3/16 rivets of all sizes but no 5/32. I might just eyeball those and see what looks the closest and go from there since 5/32 is sandwiched between 1/8 and 3/16. Don’t really want to buy a box of 5/32 rivets to only use 3.
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By JWils23
#4946819
Got a little work done this morning on mounting speakers and starting the shelf for the cyclotron lights. Started with the mounting templates and getting my lines straight this time then punching and drilling out the 4 mounting holes.
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Once those were drilled I mounted the speakers, I found some rubber grommets that seat perfectly into the mounting channels on the speakers. They lift the speaker about 3/8" ish off the mobo giving it a little space but being rubber should help absorb some of the vibration. Taking the idea of a shelf from GhostTarp's build I also added the threaded spacers to the bolts coming from behind the mobo and then threaded screws through the perf board to meet in the middle. This way I can tweak the spacers to raise and lower the perf board to the perfect height for the lights. I was originally going to add flashlight cones to the lights but seeing the originals didn't have those I might just leave them exposed.
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I still have nylon spacers at the base to add and nuts to fasten everything but I wanted to make sure everything fit as I envisioned and I didn't miss anything. Of course the perf board I had is about 1" to short at the bottom of the cyclotron so there's a gap in the window. However since I'm using Doug LED incandescant kit I think once I mount the lights with their square bases you won't even notice, especially since the color of the board is very similar.
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Next will be putting down Bishops beautiful templates and starting that adventure, along with finally epoxying in all of the cyclotron lenses and power cell lens!
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By JWils23
#4946901
Had a short window in between meetings today to do a little work on the cyclotron lighting. I marked off center of the rings on the perf board and drilled out spots for the LED's to slot through along with holes for the standoffs. The board is tweaked a bit off center in this picture but that's just because I didn't have everything tightened up when I snapped it.
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In my other post I noted that I was annoyed my perf board was a little short on the bottom cyclotron rings, only going about half way down. I was contemplating buying another piece of perf board that was a little bigger and re-doing it. Then as I was researching cyclotron lighting on the reference threads I saw these on the pack in DC. We'll just say I did it this way accidentally on purpose :lol:...
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By RedSpecial
#4946903
That's looking brilliant.
The boards are all pretty short behind those lenses :)
Check out the famous pic inside the super hero, they had to make a little standoff beyond the perf board for one of the bulbs to be in the right position.
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By JWils23
#4946919
I’m actually using the same peg board you used on your build. I was going through your thread yesterday and totally forgot I grabbed what you used. Some of the parts have been sitting in my closet for so long I’ve forgotten where and when I got them! I flipped mine over specifically to try and replicate that yellow color that the original packs used.

Sometimes I need to step back and remember that the original packs were not perfectly built. They all have their share of misaligned holes, epoxy oozing, and paint overspray. Imperfection is part of the perfection!
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By RedSpecial
#4946924
Absolutely!
Perfection from imperfection has become one of my catchphrases these day with replica props.
It can be really difficult to get in the mindset of letting things be a little wonky or rough around the edges but it really adds to the character and makes them feel that much closer to the screen used props when you have those imperfections.
Most of my favorite pack builds that I've seen on here are the ones that really embrace that.
Not that a clean, idealised pack can't be great too but a lot of the iconic look seems to come from how roughly thrown together these things were.
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By JWils23
#4946967
The big task ahead of me was starting to drill out the speaker templates that Bishop so generously sent me. I first got them centered on the mounting holes and then glued them down to the other template from Rockford Fosgate. Then it was on to center punching all of the circles, it was at this point I really understood the gravity of what I was undertaking...
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With the holes center punched the only thing left to do was start drilling, I was off to the races.
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I don't know if my drill will ever forgive me after this is all done but wow does it look pretty! Still have cleanup to do to and I need to doublce check my center punches on the second. I had a few holes that were just slightly off and they come very close to running together so I'd like to avoid that on the second.
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I space it out over 2 days, it probably took between 3.5 to 4 hours total to drill it out. It's the little holes in the middle that get you, feels like they never end! I did take a break yesterday to get my red and blue acryllic epoxied now that I know all the light brackets fit and are correct. With that I think the shell is done now, barring I find anymore vintage parts to sawp out :lol:
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By bishopdonmiguel
#4946970
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By JWils23
#4946987
tobycj wrote: March 18th, 2021, 5:02 am Looking great dude! It was bad enough doing one speaker grille on mine, let alone two, you crazy man :)
Thanks man, I'm really stoked with how it came out! Haha that's how I felt when I finished center punching the first and realized I had to do it all over again. What have I gotten myself into??
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By JWils23
#4947067
Spent the weekend working on drilling the second speaker grille, spaced it out over two days again but this one didn't take as long as the first. I was really concious of double checking my punches on this and re-adjusting as necessary and I believe the second came out much better than the first. I didn't have any holes run up next to each other like the few I had on the first. But for a first time ever attempting something like this I knew there would be imperfections, especially with the intricacies of Bishops templates. I jumped right into the big leagues on this one! I left the template on for as long as I could while I drilled, this helped me double check my centering and keep track of what size hole I was on.
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Once you get into the smaller holes it starts to become a mess with aluminum shavings getting underneath the paper so that slows things down as you try to clean them out. On both templates I was able to get to this point before I took it off and just finished based off the center punches.
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But with that it was done, and my drill will get a much needed break! I still have cleanup to do on the grilles but that can wait for another day. I had planned to hook things up once I finished drilling so that I could fire it up for the first time, but once I was done I needed to put it away for the day haha.
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It was a lot of work but I'm so glad I challenged myself to do it, it really adds a beautiful look to the mobo and it's a detail I'll be very proud of. Thanks again to Bishop for helping me make it happen and allowing me to join the club of people insane enough to drill his template twice! :lol:
Last edited by JWils23 on March 22nd, 2021, 11:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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By bishopdonmiguel
#4947068
Really nice job you did there. I used spray adhesive to attach the template to the motherboard. This helped keep the paper in place and not get those nasty shavings under the paper. Seeing that you kept everything in place by just using tape, I’m impressed.
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By JWils23
#4947070
bishopdonmiguel wrote: March 22nd, 2021, 10:35 am Really nice job you did there. I used spray adhesive to attach the template to the motherboard. This helped keep the paper in place and not get those nasty shavings under the paper. Seeing that you kept everything in place by just using tape, I’m impressed.
Thanks Bishop! I wish I could take credit for doing it with only the tape holding them on but I glued them down too. The tape was from when I initially glued them down just to keep things set in place while the glue dried.
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By JWils23
#4947330
Had some nice weather this weekend which means it was time to do some painting! First I finished drilling the last few holes I had to take care, my loom clamp and charging plate. While wanting to maintain screen accuracy I did not mount my loom clamp in the mouse hole, rather I pushed back a little bit. This kept me from having to deal with the main issue most people run into, overlapping the L bracket. This is one I picked up from Bishop a few years ago and it's awesome, works perfectly for anchoring the loom and looks professional. I also had played with my countersink on the inside for the speaker holes, but in the end I opted not to do all of them. Because my first attempt had a few holes that ran up on each other I feared if I ran the countersink on them that they'd start to look like one big hole and ruin the effect. I opted to sand it down and smooth it out as best I could, though admittedly I'm a little bummed I couldn't have that little extra detail.
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Next was my charging plate, and here I hit my first major mess up on the pack (or atleast what I'd consider a mess up). I initially did my measurements and markings on the outside of the mobo, then flipped it over and copied the measurements to the inside. Because my L brackets and power cell bracket are already mounted it's easier to drill from the inside for a flat surface. Well in my haste I didn't invert my measurements for the mounting holes. This resulted in my plate being slightly off centered which wasn't going to do. I then flipped the mobo back over and found away to get it flat to drill from the outside. Some how my second hole ended up being about 1/8" off, I have no idea how it happened or what I did but I was INSANELY frustrated at this point. I decided to fill the holes and put the mobo away for a few days and hit it again fresh. I made a template of the bottom of the plate like I did with my other aluminum parts and wouldn't you know it, perfect on the first try. Should have done that from the get go, doh!
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After that I got to work on masking off the inside of the mobo, I've seen them done where just the outline is black or the whole inside is painted black. I liked the two tone appearance so I started outlining the edges. I didn't really worry to much about spacing as I was taping since this will be covered almost all the time, but I did go a little wider on the left side as there is slightly more overhang on that side. You can also see my charging plate mess up and fill, at least from the outside you'll never see it once the plate is riveted.
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Here is the end result, I'll let it dry for a few days before messing with it again. And of course as soon as I finished painting I realized I missed drilling the hole for the wiring to run in from the charging plate. At least that's a quick fix, but I left the tape over the speaker grilles just to keep any excess paint getting through when I drill and touch up.
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Finally since I had the paint out I figured I'd take care of my neck foam roll, hit the ends in black and then taped it on. Wish I could have kept the centers a little more white, I may try to go back and fix that. I tried to mimic the foam on the Venkman pack with big white square where the straps are, while also keeping the foam up off the frame like we see on almost all the packs.
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