[edspengler]

So after about 2 years of collecting parts I’m finally ready to start bolting things together. But wait! First step will be to think everything through first to try and avoid any regrets. Instead of subjecting you to my various tribulations of analysis paralysis I will share my major parts list.

Shell, mobo, bumper, and spacers - Tom Morris
All aluminum pack parts - GBfans
Alice frame and straps - GBfans reproduction
Wand - various including Mack’s, GBfans, and Freeky Geeky (and likely a few more to come)
Electronics- GBfans
Smoke kit (custom color) - C&A Prop Design

My goal is to bring this build as close as possible to an 84 Spengler, however this may need to turn into an idealized 84 depending on my abilities to reproduce certain details.

Side note on the shell: Tom’s work is absolutely stunning and I could not be more pleased with it. Highly recommend if you can get a hold of one of his shells. This one will even hold a magnet!




My process will begin with drilling all the required holes in the shell and then finishing and mounting all the aluminum parts. More updates to follow!

[alphabeta001]

Ooooh, well I'm subscribed because that all looks pretty as hell.

[pchrisbosh1]

Nice! Looks like it's going to be a mighty fine build.

[CaptainAssholay]

RIP to your spine with the weight of that pack but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want the same setup!

[OnEdge]

I'm super excited to see where this is headed!

[edspengler]

Big step complete today, got most of the major aluminum test fitted. I was particularly cautious with this step because I didn’t want to mess up this amazing shell and I wanted things to line up just right. I placed blue painters tape on the bottom of each aluminum piece and then carefully cut it out :


Repeated the process for each piece.


Then took each blue tape template and placed it where I wanted it to be on the shell. This took several tries of placing and removing the tape to get it just right. One important thing to note is the GBfans ion arm stencil base cannot be mirrored and had to be placed on the shell sticky side up.


The booster tube was a bit tricky as it did not come with pre drilled holes. I used some marker and more tape to determine the center point of the tube that rests against the shell, marked the points with a center punch, then drilled holes 2.5 inches apart starting from the bottom of the booster using a step bit, and tapped them for some M5 bolts that I already had. Then placed blue tape over the booster, cut the holes out, and placed the tape on the shell.


Then came the moment of truth to drill. The tape method worked beautifully and everything lined up perfectly, only drilled holes ONCE for each item.


Corners line up perfectly:

That’s all I’ve got for now, but this was a major piece that had to get done right! I have to trim the base plate of the injector tubes to more closely match the images of the Spengler pack from the library pictures. Putting this aside for now to get ready for the work week.

[edspengler]

So I had just enough time for a quick task after getting laundry done and folded, kids and dogs fed , etc…. used a straight edge to mark the center point on the bumper:


Got the bellows installed and out of the parts box

Now it is all ready for the next time I get to work on it. I’ll remove all the aluminum parts and paint them, then maybe apply some decals and adhesive aluminum plates from GBfans

Now I have something pretty to look at all week!

[alphabeta001]

Absolutely stunning work.

[oidoglr]

I can’t wait to see this build progress. Thanks for sharing it here!

[edspengler]

One detail I forgot to share in the earlier post, but still a very important one. When mounting the booster tube I made sure to preserve the signature block inside the shell.

[edspengler]

I was able to paint and remount the booster tube and ion arm today, used a light coat of flat black enamel and I am very pleased with how it matches the shell. I know the screen used packs used satin, but flat just looks so damn good in person. While paying homage to the screen used packs in other details, I also want this to be an “interest piece” that can be appreciated close up. I also let some of the metal show through tastefully to appreciate the underlying aluminum. I will repeat the same process with the remaining aluminum pieces. More to follow!

[edspengler]

I painted and remounted a few more aluminum pieces as well as drilled the middle bar of the ALICE frame to mount it to the MB. I have to say the GBfans reproduction Alice frame is absolutely rock solid, no flex whatsoever. Also added the aluminum plate label to the bumper and a few fittings. First time trying it on!


It is definitely more awkward to walk around with than my original scaled spirit pack (the one that started it all for me).
I ended up getting stuck on the basketball hoop that is on my office door and had to carefully remove the hoop from the door while it was still stuck to the top of the ion arm.

Some pics of it standing on its own:

[edspengler]

By now you might be wondering where the injector tubes are and why I haven’t put them on yet. I noticed during the dry fit process that the base plate for the injector tubes fit a bit awkwardly under the power cell with one side a little longer than the other. I ended up trimming the plate today to more closely resemble the injector baseplate on the Spengler hero pack. Here are some photos of the end product and process compared to a library photo of the Spengler pack.


Here it is with a finish similar to the other aluminum pieces:

A few glamor shots

[alphabeta001]

Very very nice work there

[edspengler]

Time for an aside from the pack, I received the Mack’s Factory/Gbfans wand body this week and I am incredibly impressed. I had to dig out all the pieces I have collected to dry fit as much as possible. It will still need the trigger box and the front assembly, hopefully I can obtain those in the somewhat near future - but really, so much of this build has been a waiting game for parts, what’s waiting a little more at this point? While screwing things together I had forgotten what an absolute pain it is to assemble a wand. The last time I put one together it was a scaled one with full sized electronics. Here are some pictures of what I have screwed together so far. Parts are a combination of Mack’s, GBfans, and Freeky Geeky.



Hopefully I get some time to continue on the pack this weekend, things have been busy with the family and my day job. I am hoping to get a few more items mounted on the shell and then start mounting all the innards to the MB. Thanks for stopping by!

[Mac1701]

WOW!

[mburkit]

You're doing a great job. It is nice to see someone building a traditional pack instead of modifying a collectable.

[edspengler]

You're doing a great job. It is nice to see someone building a traditional pack instead of modifying a collectable.

Thanks! I started off with the scaled spirit pack a few years ago and then got the confidence move up to bigger things! (no pun intended)

[Stroudy]

Very nice build so far dude! Well done!

[edspengler]

Back on the wagon! Other projects (such as my goggle build) have taken precedence as well as life events. I spent most of the day repairing the garbage disposal unit in the kitchen sink, but after replacing the gfci outlet and cleaning the unit it works again and I’m glad it doesn’t have to be replaced. I hate working under sinks.

Today’s major task on the pack as drilling and tapping the holes for the brass straight fittings and adding a few decals. My shell doesn’t have these points marked so I had to determine the drill points myself. From reviewing images on the reference library of the Spengler pack, the straight fittings are confined within the diameter of the circular points.


The first step was to measure the diameter of the circle as well as the diameter of the threaded portion of the straight fitting. I then determined the center of the brass fitting and offset it from the diameter of the circles.


I transfered the measurements on to a piece of painters tape using my straight edge to make sure the holes are in line and square. Then drilled and tapped the holes, and installed the brass fittings.


Another task was modifying the SMC elbows to look more like the Legris elbows on the 84 packs. I used appliance enamel and brass pipe:


After all that was said and done I added some decals referencing the photos available on the reference library


That is all for now, more to follow soon!

[edspengler]

I was debating with myself on how to treat the ion arm end cap. I really like the raw metal finish, but none of the actual movie packs have it, especially not the Spengs, which is what I plan on making mine over time with swapping out some parts. So I took a little time today to finish the piece off and I’m happy with how it came out.

I used a combination of flat enamel, buffing, graphite, and more enamel to reach this finish which resembles the finish of the shell. It will change color depending on the light, which actually bow provides more interest than the raw piece.

[CaptainAssholay]

I am copying every assembly technique you're using for when I put mine together next year. You have knocked this thing out of the park so far!

Can't wait to see the eventual speaker setup.

[edspengler]

I began painting my wand parts today, I will work on the finishing tomorrow.


Meanwhile, I have decided to add some details to make this the real deal Spengs… or as close to it as possible. I will get the ion arm and booster tube welded together with the Spengler weld… this will take some time but it’s in the works. I am replacing my GBfans HGA with a custom HGA to more closely match the Spengler, again this will also take time. I am replacing the rear cylinder on the wand with the “oddball” model from Freeky Geeky to match the Spengler wand.

Here are some pictures from the reference library that show some of the details I want to replicate that are unique to the Spengler pack.

Custom rear cylinder, offset HGA holes, welds ground off the bottom of the injectors tubes, a bolt in the shell under the hole for the ribbon cable, and weld between the ion arm and booster tube.

Now I have more multiples of pieces… I guess they will be set aside for a future build. The schedule for this project continues to get pushed out, I thought I had everything covered but when I started gathering parts I did not think of trying to replicate a specific pack and I continue to learn something new every day.

[edspengler]

I made some progress on the finish of the wand body and various parts. I also just got billed for the trigger box from GBfans, so I’m really looking forward to getting that. Here is where things are at



I achieved this finish using a flat black enamel and using steel wool with small circles and medium pressure as recommended by Tom Morris. It is a learning curve, the first try didn’t come out very well and I repainted and tried again. Here are some shots with the pack


That is where things stand for now… back to the day job tomorrow.

[mburkit]

Man, this pack is really coming along nicely.

[edspengler]

Man, this pack is really coming along nicely.

Thank you!

[edspengler]

I received the GBfans trigger box in the mail this week and got a chance to work on the painting and finishing yesterday and today. It is a slow iterative process, but I think I have reached a point where I am happy with it. I’ll see how I feel about it in the morning and if I still like it I’ll fish the switches in.

[JWils23]

Been lurking this thread for a bit, amazing progress! As Burkit said above it’s cool to see another fiberglass/aluminum build since much of it has been haslab stuff as of late. This pack will definitely turn heads, and wear out your shoulders after you’ve had it on for a bit

[edspengler]

I was able to take some time today to work on fishing the switches into the trigger box. I used some very thin jewelers wire that we already had to pull them into place. I first tried installing the intensify button, and try as I might I just could not get it into place. I took a break and moved onto the activate toggle, which I was able to get through pretty quickly.


I then realized that the hole in the trigger box was slightly too small for the momentary button. Using a step bit, I drilled the hole out to the next size and repeated the fishing expedition. Once the hole was drilled out it went in quickly. I felt pretty dumb for not checking the hole against the switch in the first place, I simply assumed it would work.


Well, if you haven’t already heard the phrase here it is: “when you assume you make an ASS of U and ME” - I certainly made an ass of myself wasting an hour… Lesson learned. Here are some shots of the result.


I got the trigger box mounted onto the rest of the wand and I’m pretty happy with how it looks.




Tomorrow is Monday, so I’ll put this aside until I have time again and return to the grind.

[edspengler]

I received the oddball rear cylinder from Freeky Geeky this week and I am very pleased with it, I now have a spare cylinder, I guess that means I’m saving it for a future build. Here are the two side by side. The bolt pattern of the oddball is a tiny bit wider than the bolt pattern of the GBfans, I will need to file out one of the mounting holes in the wand body ever so slightly to make it fit.


Since I already started to paint my original rear cylinder I decided to practice the same finishing technique on that one before finishing the oddball, here they are again side by side.


I’ll hopefully get around to mounting the oddball into the wand body this weekend along with moving forward on the pack portion of the build. I need to remove the ion arm and booster to get them ready to receive the Spengler ugly weld. I also need to remove the injector tubes and file off the bottom welds and refinish the paint job now that I have more practice. It feels like I’m taking a step backward, but sometimes you have to undo some previous work to get to what you really want.