I just wanted to pass on my apologies on not having updated since the 19th, work on the Pack has been going ahead mostly as planned, but as we're now only a few days away from Collectormania, I won't be able to post any more major updates to the build log until after Sunday… however I have been taking plenty of photographs.

That is some amazing work! you are definitely making me want a pack of my own. haha!

I apologise for taking so long to get around to this, for the better part of the past month I haven't actually used my Laptop.

So without further ado, here's the last two major installments of Kingpin's Proton Pack/Proton Gun Build:



With the major elements of the Gun Body quickly coming together, I needed to turn my attention to some of the smaller elements. As you'll already have seen, my ethos for this Proton Gun was to strengthen everything as much as possible to reduce the risk of damage… which presented a challenge for the hat lights.

When he'd supplied me with a light cover kit, Colin had supplied me with a few choices, in addition to the white ones he'd been supplying as standard for the past several years, he'd also included some newer, smaller white hat light covers. I was able to excavate a portion of the interior of one of these new hat lights, but due to it's size there was not enough space to fit both the LED and some sort of support structure to hold the cover in place… not unless I glued it to the LED, or drilled the hole in the cover so it would have a tight fit over the LED… but I'd probably still have to glue the cover to the Proton Gun with the latter plan… and I have no idea how the glue might react to even the small amount of heat a LED gives off with the former plan.

So unsure of how to progress with the smaller cover, I went to work on the larger cover, with significant results:



The cover is fitted over a section of gas pipe I purchased from B&Q, cut down to size and with a channel cut into part of it to accomodate the angled entry the wire will have to make through the resin of the Gun Box.

With that finished, I turned my attention to repairing the damaged N-Filter.

Placing it into position with the Cyclotron cover, the position of the filer was sketched onto the Spacer to help align the conduit box that would be serving as the N-Filter support.



For extra accuracy, the conduit box was fitted into the N-Filter, slotted into position in the Cyclotron Cover, and the N-Filter then removed whilst the box was held in place. With the conduit box in position, the first bolt hole was drilled so that any movement it sustained wouldn't take it all that far from the axis it'd been placed on. With a small bit of adjustment and comparison, the second bolt hole was drilled and the N-Filter support achored into position.



With that complete, the N-Filter was reglued to the Cyclotron Cover, with extra lashings of hot glue for good measure.




Painting the Cyclotron Cover presented certain longistical challenges, there was a fair amount around the N-Filter that needed repainting, but as I didn't want to accidentally prime and/or paint the Cyclotron light lenses, the red stripe on the N-filter, the elbow, the N-Filter label and mesh, I was going to have to get creative in my masking techniques:



And on the most part, the method worked:




Some black paint did end up on the mesh, but it's barely obvious unless you know where to look for it… there is also a bit of uncovered primer left on the top of the Cyclotron Cover, but again it isn't obvious unless you know where to look for it.

Once the Cyclotron had been painted, the Spacer was given a quick treatment of paint to hide the pencil marks from the previous day's work:



With those drying on the sidelines, the next element I approached was the reflector for the vent in the Proton Gun.
I'd looked around numerous places for a reflector that would be the right size for my Proton Gun. I'd found something pretty close when I'd been working on the old Proton Gun, but as the walls of Colin's kit were thicker, this merited a whole new search.

Brilliant.

In the end, I settled for the reflector from a Poundland Solar Snail Light:



Which was eventually butchered for the reflector…



…but not before it butchered the blade on my saw:



The nice thing about this reflector, is that it came with a clear cover of plastic to keep the rain water out, which would undoubtely be of great use on my Proton Gun:



As Flynn's Proton Gun light kit provided two LEDs for the vent, a second hole was drilled into the reflector, and the LED fits into it snugly without the need for glue. In order to fit the reflector into the gun body, a small section of the inner wall was cut away using the Dremel.




Work briefly returned to the subject of the hat lights, this time the orange one that was part of the Gun Ear. As the internal space of the cover was different from the white one, I had to locate a different pipe-size in order to strengthen it.

This new pipe would come in the form of a cheap pen, once again from Poundland:



Once I was sure of the fit, it would be cut to length and fit into a tightly-drilled hole in the Gun Ear.

As evening approached and my work light died out, I moved the operation indoors to get a couple of cosmetic elements sorted out. The first of which was to install the split-loom that I'd neglected to purchase when finishing the Pack for the London Parade:


(It's here you get a good detail shot of how the ribbon cable is fitted into the Proton Pack - using a black wine cork).

Finally, I got around to doing something that in hindsight, I should've covered when it'd arrived… tested the light kit to make sure it worked:



The majority of it did (this isn't a critique of Flynn's product quality).
Although it is seen lit here, a connection somewhere for the “Activate” part of the circuit didn't function properly, and the barrel lights and motion module would operate infrequently. They didn't work at all when the kit was first assembled, but after a few dismantles and reassembles, they did eventually light (although as of the night before Collectormania, they were no longer working again).
With the work done for the day, it was time for bed.

With the white light cover ready to install, I proceeded to prepare the installation site with a small amount of body filler in order to reduce the size of the hole I'd made:



As the body filler dried, the Gun Track was glued to the base plate for the Gun Body:



As that dried, I turned my attention to the light cover for the Gun Ear. With the pen cut down to size and given a few short lengths of masking tape, it could now fit perfectly in the Gun Ear without worry of it falling out because it was too loose:




Successfully test fitted, the Gun Ear was reglued into position, and the tiny nuts threaded back onto the equally-tiny bolts:



It was now time to get priming. The Rear Instrument Bar, “barrel converter” (the silver bit that holds the clear tip in place) and the Trigger Box were primed as the Proton Gun was assembled and I continued to wait for the body filler to dry:





As I waited, the time was spent fitting the Heat Sink into position:



…priming the elements forming the underside of the Proton Gun:



…and testing the chrome paint I'd purchased from Wilkinsons:



Although it took forever to dry on some parts, the finish is worth it, if you ask me.

Finally the body filler had dried, so a quick sanding later and it was ready to test-fit the white light cover:




Which thanks to the size of the hole, withstood the pull of gravity:



As time marched on, the course of priming continued, covering the front grip, which I'd removed so it could be sprayed separately so there wouldn't be any gaps in the primer and paint when it came to installing the lights:



As Collectormania neared, it had become clear that I wouldn't be receiving the brass spacers for the front barrel in time, so I fitted the cap-head screws to finalize the element arrangement for the front barrel. Sadly due to the positions, I wouldn't be able to install the screw in the side of the Barrel Lock. This may have been a blessing in disguise, as drilling the hole for the screw could weaken the resin, as it isn't incredibly thick to begin with.



Finally, the time had come to prime the main bulk of the Gun. As it dried, the Rear Instrument Bar, Trigger Box, front grip and Gun Box underside were given their coat of matt black:



And it wasn't all that long before the Proton Gun was given it's own coat of black:



As the evening wound on and the paint dried, the V-hook was bolted into position on the underside of the gun, and the clippard barbs were fitted into place on the Rear Instrument Bar and Cylinder:



The night before Collectormania was hectic, and a little emotional… were it not for the encouragement of my family and their understanding when dealing with my feelings of frustration, it's likely that the Proton Gun wouldn't have been as finished as it ended up being… for their help I can only give my eternal thanks… the wiring proved to be far more difficult to work with then I imagined, with the channel in the Rear Instrument Bar needing additional work in order to pass the switch wires through, and the bar graph ribbon cable causing plenty of woe with how much space it took up inside the Gun Box:








Sadly as the night progressed and timing became shorter, I had fewer opportunities to document the build.

One of the other changes I had to undertake, was finding a way to hold the smaller Proton Gun split loom in place, as the hose I'd used on the previous gun was now too large. The temporary measure I chose was to use a bit of the old hose on the new one, and hope it would hold it in place (which most of the time during the convention, it did).



The final assembly progressed quickly, ranging from the installation of the various gun knobs, to the application of the decals I'd gotten from PeteVenkman_Jedi.




The Proton Gun was now as finished as it was going to be for the convention, it was now time to head off to sleep.





Although there were a few cosmetic bits missing from it during the day at the convention, I'm glad that I was able to get as much done as I did… and those few missing elements certainly didn't affect how the photo with Slavitza, and the guys turned out:

Now, I don't mean to offend, but she looks kinda scary. Also, pissed off. Awesome pack Ben.

looks awesome man!

geust who has the best pack kingpin nice pack budy!

what country are you from?

why do you whant to know.

Probably because he wants to buy it, considering you posted this in MARKETPLACE.