User avatar
By Fienen
#4947649
This is it, the big dive has started with the creation of a single part! This will be a slow burn thread, but I wanted to get it started to get myself in the mindset. I'm working off of Quentin Machiel's Mk 2.1 files over on Thingiverse (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4621554). I'm building a GB1 hero pack, though not necessarily perfectly screen accurate or aimed at any one character. Instead, my goal is "accurate," in the sense that it'll fool pretty much anyone, and will instead be "mine." Generic might be the right term to use.

I picked up some new tools for this, too. Ended up getting a new oscillating multitool to speed up sanding, and I'm gonna try a hot stapler to reinforces seams on the bigger pieces.

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Got delayed getting started by some printer problems. Replaced the hot end, and gave the ion arm a try. Yes, I probably should have started with something smaller, but, well, I'm an idiot and sometimes it shows. Anyway...

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Looks like the new hot end made all the difference. First piece off the plate after running unattended overnight, and it came out perfectly.
Last edited by Fienen on July 13th, 2021, 3:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Nighty80, robandliv, luke9511 and 2 others liked this
#4947872
Small update today. A little progress, but I'm about to start in on bigger stuff, most of which takes about a day per part to print. I did just put in an order for most of the detail pieces. Using real elbows, resistors, brass bits, and that stuff. I also roped in a buddy to print the Clippard 701 and 331 and the crank generator knob in resin for me for better detail.

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Just trying to run out a short roll of PLA with some of the smaller bits. Ion arm is after two rounds of sanding and primer. I think one more round will get it pretty well. To the left is the Hydrogen Gas Accumulator and the hose mount for the synch generator.

Questions for anyone with time to answer:
  1. Is there a good break down of the differences between the GB1 & 2 hero packs? Most of the best photo reference out there is all of the GB2 packs, which I know were mostly updated GB1 packs, but I just want to be sure I'm okay on some of my details (I'm aiming for a GB1 pack, but I'm not against cross pollinating where it makes sense)
  2. Similarly, is there a break down of the differences between the character's packs? I know Egon's pack in particular had several specific things specific to it. I'll probably mix and match details I like, but I'd also like to know what I'm mixing and matching
  3. Aluminum for the motherboard: 5052 or 6061? 3.2mm or 6.3mm? (I'm thinking 3.2mm 6061)
  4. What about building a pack do you wish you'd known early on?
  5. Is there any part of my process I can document in detail for you to be helpful?
Some Advice:
Get yourself a pack of silver sharpies so that you can mark what each part is as you print. The Q Pack has a TON of pieces, and keeping track of them all is gonna be hard. You'll be glad you left yourself notes as you're finishing parts.
#4947885
1. This is a good thread for differences, not a ton of detailed shots of the GB 1 packs but it does highlight the differences. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=28595
2. The reference section has a lot of good pictures of the different packs like the lobby, Minnesota, Spengler etc.
3. On the build I’m doing now I cut my mobo out 1/8” 6061.
4. To be patient with how long it takes to find the right parts (if you’re going the vintage route) and to be okay with using modern equivalents if you can’t source/afford the old ones. There are several vintage parts I’d love to have but don’t due to either not being able to find them or the prohibitive cost when I did find them. This delayed the building of my pack because I wasn’t willing to settle and kept searching. But at a certain point I realized that those parts were not worth holding up the build when modern parts would fill the same role and should I find those parts later on I could easily swap them.
#4947976
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Another quick batch of smalls. My current roll of PLA is running on fumes, so I'm about to start dipping into the bigger stuff next as soon as I change it out. A lot of sanding and priming hopefully planned this weekend.
Tyrael liked this
#4948228
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The top of the booster box is my first "big" piece off the printer. From here on out, pretty much everything coming off it is in the 14+ hour window.

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In the mean time, I started ordering some of the smaller detail parts. I didn't want to print this stuff. Good, "real" details will help hide faults in my bigger print areas by drawing the eye. Also, you might note I went with the GB2 cable instead of GB1. This was mostly a choice of convenience.

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Printing the bottom of the booster box. Quentin suggests that almost everything can be printed without supports. I got paranoid though and added some for this piece.

Uh oh.

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No... wait... maybe this will work out okay after all. Gonna roll the dice and let it ride.

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Success! Despite my overly cautious approach nearly blowing the print, it survived (with some mess on the inside).

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Starting to lay out some parts after completing the power cell. It might actually start to look like something soon. I'm already behind on sanding.

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Let's put some stuff together. Starting with the booster box, I hit it with some 5 minute epoxy.

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Then I lined up the top of the booster, and used toothpicks as registration guides. Add clamps, wait. Top left you can also see the hose connector with the magnetic back plate drying. I flipped it upside down and used the magnets as "clamps"

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You didn't think I was gonna trust glue alone, right? After the epoxy set, I followed in behind with M3 screws and nuts. You can probably get away without nuts on these if you wanted, but I have them, so I might as well over engineer it. I'm also not done securing it yet. This stuff will never come apart when I'm done, trust me.

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Before getting to the final reinforcement, I hit the front with some filler on the seam and on a bad spot up top just to get a head start so it can dry and be ready for a first sanding soon. I only filled the very top of the sides, since they are mostly hidden by other parts. I don't plan on wasting time finishing stuff that you can't see.

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I also got the two pieces of the bumper printed and sanded the connection point a little. It fits quite tight and stable.

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Same treatment. Doped the joint up with epoxy, set it flush, and followed behind with filler.
Tyrael liked this
#4948260
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Here we go. My secret weapon to seam stability, the hot stapler! Basically a soldering iron type setup - big box with a temperature knob, and a tool connected to that that gets really hot. Jam a staple in the end, push the button, instant red hot. No touchy the glowy bits.

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This is the back of the bumper after three staples. You can see the epoxy that I'd used as well. I know some folks have complained about flex in the bumper, but I'll tell you, mine is about as stable as a single piece of plastic after all this. It sure as heck won't ever come apart, and the extra mechanical attachment should help prevent any future cracking of the seam filler.
Tyrael liked this
#4948335
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Just testing some part alignment as I go (I do this a lot because I get paranoid). You can see I've hit the booster with a coat of filler primer and second round of filler on some big areas. I've sort of unintentionally decided I'm just going upper left to lower right on my part order.

Questions for anyone with time to answer:
  1. For the textured paint, do you like ceiling texture, or truck bed liner?
  2. Favorite edge weathering technique: toothpaste, masking fluid, vaseline, other?
Tyrael liked this
#4948454
Been a slow couple days. Had some bad weather, and I'm out of PETG and filler primer at the moment. However, the mail man dropped a surprise by me to go through today.

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I got pretty lucky recently on Facebook putting out an APB for anyone with an ALICE frame they didn't need. A friend happened to have 2, and was willing to part with one for the cost of shipping.

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It's in quite nice shape, with a reasonable amount of wear and tear. It's an LC2 instead of an LC1, but I'm not gonna split hairs over that for this build.

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Everything looks tight, and it's been quite well cared for, all things considered. So let's take it apart!

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Stripped off the pack. I think I might actually leave it as is, with the two-tone straps, just to maintain a little authentic character to it.

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I think the frame is vintage, but I'm honestly unsure because I've never had one side by side with a repop, modern frame. It feels pretty stout though, and I have a hard time thinking it won't hold the pack, no problem. Motherboard arrives in a couple days, so I can start laying out that part of it.
Tyrael liked this
#4948474
That's a modern reproduction frame. The vintage ones didn't have the "gully" on the bottom half of the vertical bar, and the gully on the top half sticks out the other side on the vintage ones. If you look at the half moon spacer used on the GB1 packs they had a groove for that to sit in, but on yours it's on the wrong side for that to be required.
#4948492
Yeah, I was afraid of that. The paint looked in too good of shape. Oh well, it's a start. It SEEMS pretty sturdy, so I may try to run with it until I can scrounge up the real thing.
tobycj liked this
#4948852
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PETG is back on the menu, and the crank generator is the first "big" part coming off the table.

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Moving on to the top of the synchronous generator from here.

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Picked up a few more cans of filler primer and hitting some of the existing stuff with a coat. I also ran out the tail end of a spool of filament printing off some sanding blocks to help with the insane amount of sanding in my future.

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Meanwhile, the motherboard arrived from SendCutSend. For those interested, I did 1/8" (.125") 6061 aluminum. Super fast to get this custom cut and shipped (price warning: as of this writing, aluminum prices are about double "normal." Spot price quotes will reflect that. Honestly, still felt pretty cheap.)

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First chance to really lay everything out in a meaningful way. This really gives a sense of "realness" to the build now.

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First part of the cyclotron failed. The corner support apparently fell over while printing, so there was nothing to hold up the corner. Kinda impressed it managed to keep going as well as it did. Caught it in the morning and stopped it though. That'll happen. Prior to this part, I switched over to the gyroid fill pattern that you can see above. This just helps prevent any globbing of the PETG.

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Continuing the test print. Only five main pieces left to print (not counting some detail parts I farmed out to a friend to resin print). Six if you count the lower left corner of the synchronous generator that I'll need to redo. It's hard to see, but apparently the base shifted about 2mm while printing. I didn't even notice until I went to screw the bottom together and it didn't line up right. Left it in the picture just for effect though.

Ion arm end and a Ninjatunes electronics kit are in the mail, too. Doing some research on smoke kit builds. Happy to hear suggestions on that. Currently debating what I want to do wand-wise, too. Part of me is tempted to just buy an aluminum body rather than print that just out of an abundance of caution for sturdiness since it's a handled part.
Tyrael liked this
#4948924
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Special delivery! Got my Ninja Tunes electronics kit today for the pack!

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Spread everything out to get an idea of what all is involved. I gotta say, his work on this kit is genuinely top notch, and the quality is pretty far above what I would expect for something like this. It doesn't come cheap, but I feel like it's gonna be well worth the investment. Don't worry, I'll be test-wiring things up shortly and will post some action shots.
Tyrael liked this
#4948927
It's definitely not idiot proof. I'm on my 3rd print of the last corner for the cyclotron because a support keeps falling partway through. And a corner of the synchronous generator needs redone because it shifted a couple millimeters as it was printing. And I still have stupid amounts of sanding and finishing to do. But, PETG runs a lot cheaper than a fully done shell. It also afforded me the opportunity to make some subtle customizations that I liked. My pack will end up being sort of in between GB1 and 2, with a couple different hero options from the different character's packs. But I'm also just having a lot of FUN with the process too. At the age of 39, this dug deep to stir up some childhood excitement for me, and watching it take shape is super satisfying.
#4948968
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3rd attempt on the last quadrant of the cyclotron was a success - finally. Gotta make it one piece now. Going nuts with the assembly, hitting epoxy and screws, and hot stapler down below.

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Just sort of testing things out here. The Cyclotron is all one piece now, and the seams have an initial pass of filler ready to be sanded.

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Inside seams caught some hot staples to reinforce the joints. This thing will never come apart. I went in behind the staples and sealed them in with some epoxy.
Tyrael liked this
#4949169
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Some lightweight work while I deal with a minor wrist issue. Priming the edge of the pack-side of the motherboard (1/8" 6061 from SendCutSend). Not gonna spray it completely, since the pack will cover most of it. I will get the edges though just in case anything peeks out in the end.

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The backpack-side of the motherboard, primed and painted. Once the pack shell is assembled, I'll plan some holes for speakers and switches. I'm going to TRY to nicely integrate my battery switch and charging port on the motherboard.

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Priming like a madman. The booster needs some filler and sanding, but it's almost ready to start attaching some stuff to. You can vaguely see some marking I'm doing to identify the hidden areas so I don't wasted finishing time on areas that can't be seen. Also pictured, RPG floor terrain - unrelated.

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Made a simple tool to make fake weld lines. Testing it out on a small strip of epoxy. I need to be a little firmer with it, and space it just a tad better, but for a first attempt, I don't hate this. Just needs some refinement to so it'll look like part of the metal, and not just lumpy epoxy smashed on the edge. I might do one more test run on a 90 degree angle to make sure I know how it'll shape along two edges.
Kingpin, mike_waclo, Tyrael liked this
#4949364
jonogunn wrote: May 16th, 2021, 5:02 pm Awesome work dude! I’lol be sure to continue following this thread
Hey thanks! Let me know if I can answer any questions during the process, or if there's something specific that you'd like to see better.

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Had someone ask me why I printed the cyclotron in 4 pieces. The Ender 3 Pro TECHNICALLY can fit this in two halves - if you're brave. I wasn't. To print halves, you're right at the bed limit, and I just didn't want to push my luck. I also have confidence in my finishing skills. Here I'm on pass three. Can't see real well here, but there's still some surface stuff to get and smooth out. But it's pretty close - you'll never know it wasn't made as one piece when I'm done.

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The ion arm is smooth as butter now, so I went ahead and did my first fake welds. I'm not thrilled with the results, but I think they'll pass once I hit it with another round of primer and paint. The Ghostbusters busted ghosts, after all, you can't expect them to have won awards with their weld lines. This was actually pretty tough. JBWeld doesn't want to immediately stick to the surface, and it wanted to stick to my shape stick more. Plus, the work time is SUPER short. Really glad I tested it out on some cardboard first.
Tyrael liked this
#4949516
Small update. Weather here has kept me from getting stuff outside to spray. Almost out of filler primer again, too. Meant to pick up hardware to make my motherboard mounts yesterday and forgot while I was out, dammit.

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Some parts are starting to near a stage of completion that can hold until assembly. Need to do the fake welds on the N-Filter next. The Ion Arm is going to get a final sanding and it's silver base coat next. It'll also get drilled for all the accessories.

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Cyclotron is looking good after the latest pass of filler, sanding, and primer. I think one more coat will be Good Enough(tm). Seams are almost invisible now, and under a coat of black and truck bed liner, I don't think you'll see them at all.

Questions for anyone with time to answer:
  1. Short of Bondo, anyone have a filler they like for 3D prints that you feel is better than wood filler (I feel like it's just not as good filling the fine print artifact lines)?
  2. Currently debating the merits of building my own fogger for the N-Filter vs buying a premade kit. Anyone have a particular preference either way?
Tyrael liked this
#4949975
So I have a suggestion for
Short of Bondo, anyone have a filler they like for 3D prints that you feel is better than wood filler (I feel like it's just not as good filling the fine print artifact lines)?
Check out Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty. I use it religiously. It comes in a single tube and has a toothpaste-like consistency right out of the bottle, and starts firming up in about a minute or so. Generally, I use regular Bondo for large seams and big spots that need filling then sand that with 80 grit sandpaper, the Glazing/Spot Putty for getting rid of bad spots and prints lines then sand that with 120 to 220 grit sandpaper, then filler/sandable primer and sand with 320 to 400 grit. I also tend to shoot primer so I can see rough spots better and go back to the glazing putty step. It is real time consuming, but I also hobby around with woodworking and the sanding process is similar and nothing new to me. This has gotten me really good results on some of the Ghostbusters and Star Wars props I've made over the last year and a half. It's easy to spread with a wooden tongue depressor or even your finger, but wear disposable gloves and make sure you have decent ventilation. Bondo in all it's flavors is hella toxic.

You can get Glazing/Spot Putty at Walmart and pretty much any automotive store: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bondo-Glazin ... /16927984
#4950350
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Last batch of orders finally came in, and now I officially have everything needed for the main pack. Still need to decide what I'm buying vs. printing for the wand though. BOK cable clamp and ion arm end, tubing from Charlesworth, stickers from Moby Sign Company, and a Dixie cup holder from... someone I can't remember. Ordered a second set of the Clippard stickers in metallic.

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Switched over to Bondo for my seams. The wood filler was shrinking too much after the fact, resulting in hairline cracks. After another round of sanding and priming, the booster box will be done now.

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Same as the booster box, the cyclotron got Bondo'd to prevent the hairline cracks along the seams. Can you tell my bondo mixing skills need work? Nearly ready for the base silver now.

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Luckily, I hadn't started filling anything on the synchronous generator yet, so it got bondo from step one. With this, the big stuff is now all assembled. I hit this pretty heavy with epoxy along the joints, as well as the hot stapler, besides screws.

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First two parts to make it to the final base coat before black. The silver will be almost entirely hidden in the end, but I do plan on doing some wear and tear along the edges of stuff, so it'll provide the flash of bare metal along the weathering.

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Booster tube just needs a final priming and sanding, and it'll get it's silver base next. There's a little seam visible, but I think it'll hide well enough with the booster frame mounted and coated in black.
Nighty80, Tyrael liked this
#4951388
Sorry for the break between updates. Things are progressing, but it's mostly tedious labor to finish parts. Only so many sanding and priming shots are interesting.

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Most everything at this point is sanding, priming, sanding, priming, rinse and repeat a million times. But the broad strokes are getting much faster now, and I'm close to shooting the silver basecoat on everything. Almost everything has at least a single coat of primer now. All of this is nearly done.

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I wanted to do something a little heavier and industrial looking for the vents on the N-filter. I ended up cutting down a strip of drywall sanding material.

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I shot the sander with some silver and dry fitted it. I think I like this look overall, and will go with it unless I find a wire mesh I like better. I do plan on fitting a smoke kit in with the electronics too.

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Fake weld time. I'm a lot more happy with how this came out compared to the ion arm. This is now ready for a final priming and I'll attach it to the cyclotron once I do one more sanding pass on it.
Tyrael liked this
#4951534
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Attaching the N-Filter to the cyclotron now. Weirdly, no accommodation for screws in the print. That's okay though, the hot stapler and a pass of epoxy makes this pretty sturdy. Advice: If you use a hot stapler, after driving the staple in, give it a little twist before pulling it out. This will help bind it into the plastic.

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How it looks from the top, assembled, with a base of silver. Next time you see this, it'll be attached to the synch generator.

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Powercell has it's final coat of primer. One last finish sanding and a silver basecoat and it'll be attached to the booster box. Starting to measure for the electronics now, too. (yes, I know the LEDs are upside down)
Tyrael liked this
#4951571
jonogunn wrote: July 10th, 2021, 10:02 am The hot stapler looks like it would be an oddly satisfying thing to use
Just hold your breath while using it. PLA smells a lot like burning hair. It really is a great tool though, I'm glad I got it and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who does a lot of 3D printing.
Tyrael liked this
#4951622
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Got the powercell attached to the booster box and painted with the base silver coat. Crank generator has another sanding or so, and it'll join things.

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Printed some cups for the cyclotron LEDs and sprayed the silver inside for some extra reflectivity. Had to drill the backs out just a tad for the Ninjatunes LEDs, but that was no big deal.

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Doing a quick test run of the electronics for the first time. Everything worked aces except for sound, which cut out if I tried turning the volume up. Need to do some investigation there (might need an amp, or more likely just had a bad connection). Also still debating whether I should mount all the electronics to the motherboard or the shell (leaning towards motherboard).
cristovalc, Tyrael liked this
User avatar
By Fienen
#4951744
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Real construction begins finally. Big pieces meeting big pieces. Momentum is picking up.

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Skipping a bunch of steps here, because it's mostly sand, prime, silver, screws over and over. Three pieces in the upper right corner to finish and the shell is ready for texture and paint. Those parts are just waiting for some free evening time to go over them once more.

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Here's where stuff gets interesting. I've decided to go DIY on the vent kit, and everything (in theory) came in today. Local vape shop had an old vape they just gave me, because they were going to throw it out. I'm not going to document every step here in this thread, but I will start another thread over in the guides area detailing the process for anyone that wants to try.
Tyrael liked this
#4951760
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Couldn't wait and wanted to see how good the lighting was from my LED that'll go in the smoke kit. This was the result of a dry fit, just hotwiring the bulb to my battery. To say I'm pleased is an understatement.
cristovalc, tobycj, Nighty80 and 2 others liked this
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