A big part of upgrading my pack this time around is switching to aluminum parts. Most of these parts were also aluminum on the screen used packs in both movies. I've primed and painted the parts already and they are just about ready to slap on the shell. Compare the parts to the OMNI magazine cover which is from the movie to see where they all go.
This part has a few names, but I go with the commonly used "shock mount." It is the part that sticks out of the bumper, and if a proton pack had a face, this would be the nose. The one on the left is the new metal one I got this summer from a GBfans.com member who had just upgraded to one that was even more impressive (and twice as expensive). The one on the right I got on eBay and it's been on both versions of my previous packs. It's a painted plastic one that wasn't very accurate.
This part is called the "ion arm" and it sticks out of the top left corner of the pack. It has real resistors which are the same as those on the movie packs. My earlier versions were made out of foamboard and craft wood.
These are the "injector tubes" and they hang from the left side of the pack, out of the bottom of the power cell that has the blue lights in it. A blue and red tube will run from this part to the bottom of the pack. Earlier versions for me were made of PVC pipes and wooden dowels.
This little guy is called the "PPD," but I don't know what those letters stand for without looking it up (neither do most other fans if they're honest). This sits centrally on the pack, near where the ribbon cable goes in, and it has a blue tube that goes in the top hole from a resistor on the side of the ion arm.
This part is called the "vacuum tube," or "vac tube" for short. It sits on the apostrophe shaped part of the shell above the cyclotron and a large black tube runs into it. My previous version was PVC.
This is the "heat sink," and it goes on the right side of the wand/gun/thrower (the part you hold that the stream comes out of). My previous one was resin and cost more than this one, which I scored for $5 on a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale. Woo!
This is the "beam line." It has a Clippard hex fitting at the top which runs a line to the HGA (see below). It goes right in the middle of the pack. Previous ones were PVC and dowels.
The same basic part without the Clippard fitting is called the "filler tube" and it sits in the middle/left of the pack. Same as the beam line, I've used PVC and dowels for this part before.
This is a blurry picture of the "HGA," which is another abbreviation that is made up. This part goes on the top right side of the pack, above where the thrower mounts to the pack. It has a Clippard fitting that goes to the beam line and a Legris elbow that runs a tube just behind the PPD. It has a real aluminum label and real socket head cap screws. My other version was a black spray paint can lid.
This bad boy is the "booster tube." My other one was PVC. The ladder shaped part is referred to as the "booster frame" conveniently, and is a part I've had since I built my first pack. It is made from resin, just as the film versions were, so there's no need to upgrade (yay). The P-clamp at the bottom of the frame holds the ribbon cable in place.
My current thrower still has a resin "gun track" and incorrect "v-hook" on it, but I will replace them with this aluminum set up.
Finally, this is the hook that is attached to the upper right side of the pack where the v-hook slides on to connect the thrower to the pack. My other one was a cheap knock off.
So there you have it. The one part that was an aluminum piece on the real packs that won't be on mine is the "N-filter," which I told you before I had used a Pringles can on my first version. The fiberglass shell has the N-filter molded into it, so I'm not going to chop it off and replace it with an aluminum one, though some people actually do (crazy, I know).
These parts will help the pack be more sturdy as well as screen accurate. I bought them from sellers I found on GBfans.com, or in the GBfans online shop. Thanks again for looking!
-Matt
No comments:
Post a Comment