User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4948282
Big progress.

So I managed to spray over the epoxy welds pretty smoothly. And just like that I'm ready to reassemble this sucker.
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So putting it back together had a few speed bumps, a few rounded screws but nothing that couldn't be fixed. I lightly weathered the parts that would usually be aluminium underneath and used a burnt umber wash on the bare metal parts and stickers to give it a used look. I'll be swapping the grey crank knob for a black one and keep the other for a future GB1 pack. Ill put the lenses in once I've sorted out the pack lights and I'm still waiting on the rest of the labels to arrive as well as the electronics.

So until then, at least I have this to look at...
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:cool:
User avatar
By Nighty80
#4948293
Dude, that looks amazing!
Great progress - really been enjoying your build, it's sooo close!
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4948294
Thanks, it's been quite the learning curve for my first time building any kind of prop. But as mad as it may seem; I'm already planning and gathering parts for a second pack....
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4948571
My ThrowingChicken thrower kit got here finally, so now the hard part can commence!
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Justin threw in an Afterlife style front grip too, top stuff!
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I also ordered the aluminium knobs I was missing, as well as 2 pop catches and some custom banjoes from Freekygeeky which arrived at the same time. As I'm planning on a superhero pack down the line I've made my own nycoil style banjoes as they are like unicorn excrement to find!
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The main complication to figure out is the pop mech, as TC's front handle design is slighlty different to most, although it has been made a bit easier now that the grip is now seperate to the handle. I'll be pouring over Freekygeekys installation guide for sure.
RedSpecial, darthbuster liked this
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4948581
Quick question, how does one attach an S hook to the gun track as there is a disc molded into TC's kit where the S hook should go?
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4948598
Made a fair amount of progress;
Attached the rear handle pending epoxy weld,
Attached instrument bar cover,
Attached rear cylinder and barbs
Attached top knob and side knob,
Attached clippard
Drilled out holes for green lever, hat lights, switches, vent, arco lights, front knob, trigger box,
Drilled and tapped the 2 screws with brass spacers to attach the front handle.
Drilled and tapped the base plate holes , plus attached v hook and s hook
Rounded the heatsink fins for giggles.
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Still need to mount the trigger box, which I'm waiting for some 6/32 bolts for and I need to dremel out a part of the inner wall to allow the front knob bolt to sit straight.
Plus grips need attaching; the front one of which needs a channel dremeled out to fit over TC's new handle which has a raised channel on the outside of the handle for wires to be routed through under the grip.

And once again waiting for a few more parts and electronics to be delivered to finish the dry fit of the wand, plus I need the acrylic barrel to sort out the pop mech tube and set up the catch and lever.
:sigh:
JWils23 liked this
User avatar
By JWils23
#4948655
Coming along great! Very cool that the front handle is now a separate piece. Mine was the solid piece which makes routing the ear wiring a little more difficult. But I had a blast putting that kit together and I learned a lot.
darthbuster liked this
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4948659
That old front handle was the one thing that had me worried about the kit. It took a bit longer to get my kit while he reworked the design but it was well worth the wait.
Makes the pop mech so much easier to install.
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4948679
Seeing as I wont be getting my electronics for a while, does anyone know what size switches come with the GBfans wand kit? Wanting to predrill the holes accurately so they can be put straight in as soon as I get them.
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4948856
A small update

Managed to put together as much of the thrower as I can, apart from the inner pop tube once I get the acrylic tube and the electronics.
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I'm thinking I should be able to paint the thrower unless I've missed anything. Plus sorting out the pop tube will be a challenge as the inside diameter of the static centre tube is 7/8 which is the same o/d as the acrylic tube, so full need a 7/8 aluminium tube for the pop tube and somehow attach the acrylic tube to the end of it. I'm thinking a 5/8 hollow dowel to connect the two?
RedSpecial, darthbuster liked this
By tobycj
#4948857
I've got some 5/8" acrylic rod, I can cut you an appropriate length if you want, and drill the centre out too if you need it. Pop me a PM if that'd help bud.
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4949035
So a little update.

I've started working on my pop tube, big thanks to tobycj for sending me a custom made acrylic dowel.
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So I've drilled and tapped through the pop tube, into the dowel, which will be the same for the frosted barrel once I get it. Using grub screws to secure them and 1 regular bolt to act as the guide. Once I get the frosted barrel I can mark and cut the slit in the static tube and cut the pop tube down to size as needed.
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Tobycj drilled a hole for routing the wire for the barrel led through which will require some hackery but should be simple enough. Plus having the guide screw not directly into the frosted barrel should help avoid it cracking, as this dowel is sturdy AF
tobycj, RedSpecial liked this
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4949184
So I managed to primer my parts before the 2 week straight rain hit.
To try and recreate the look of the original grips I found this Army Painter Fur Brown primer, which hopefully will be close enough in colour for when I come to weather the grips.
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User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4949345
A little update.

I managed to squeeze in some painting in between the rain, layed down the silver undercoat and the black top coat.
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I left the paint to cure for a day, then I attached the rear handle and made the epoxy fake weld using a paper clip to make the bead. It turned out fairly well.
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Just waiting for another break in the weather to paint over the weld and painting will be officially done! In the meantime I've been working on the pop mech....
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4949479
Okay, so here is my attempt at a Throwingchicken V4 compatible pop mech.

So once I got my clear acrylic tube, I got it drilled and tapped onto the end of the pop tube dowel, using m3 grub screws again. A little side note the clear acrylic tube from the shop has such crisp lines, top notch.
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Next I took the "inner master tube" that came with TC's kit; attached it to the gun body and lined up the pop tube along side to see where the guide slot would need to go. From references I found that, fully extended, the bottom frosted part should be level with the end of the barrel and for the length protruding when fully closed I eyeballed more references, although it was harder without having the trigger tip yet. So after marking the locations for either end of the slot I chain drilled a straight line between the two and filed the rest flat for a snug fit for the 6mm wide bolt head. After a test fit it looks fairly close to me.
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Once that was sorted I cut off the excess length from the pop tube, drilled and tapped for a m3 bolt to line up where the pop catch can latch onto, and also cut 4" lengthways similar to Freekygeekys setup to allow the pop tube to miss the barrel lock bolt.
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One problem I have encountered is the pop catch I got from freekygeeky doesnt seem to lock onto the 1/8" lever when I screw the small bolt in. It seems to not thread slightly into the hole where the lever goes through as I would assume it should?. Not sure of what to do to fix the catch to the lever as it can still spin freely from the lever even when the bolt is fully screwed in?
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While I was at it, I thought I would put as much of the thrower back together as I could, so here's where I'm at right now...
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User avatar
By JWils23
#4949488
I would message RJ about that catch, it should definitely feed into the lever hole so that it locks in and doesn’t flow freely. I have the same steel catch and it is visible in that hole and locks to the lever.

Coming along great beyond that though, thrower is a beauty!
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4949490
Thanks man, I appreciate it.

And I thought that, ill see if RJ has any solutions.

Just the agonising wait for stuff to clear customs again.
User avatar
By JWils23
#4949498
I get it, I’m sure it’s taking forever to get things across the pond now. If it makes you any feel better I had to file my steel catch for probably close to 40 minutes to get it to the point where it would catch the screw on the pop mech. The aluminum one I had was dead on, but the steel one was cut just a bit short. So while yours won’t screw in, mine wouldn’t catch. Seems like the steel catches may still need a little tweaking on RJ’s side.
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4949502
Ah yes, I'm also part of the "40 minute filing club". Such a minor thing but is hell on your hands. Apart from this one problem the rest of RJ's stuff I've ordered has been top notch.
User avatar
By JWils23
#4949508
Ah so it looks like there's a common issue here. That honestly surprises me because I've never had a fitment issue with anything from RJ, other than maybe some incredibly minor filing to get a particular fit or detail that I wanted. But yea this catch really needed some work, and it took a lot of filing and then testing and filing again before I finally got it where I wanted it. I could have just used the aluminum one but I like the feel of the steel one better so in the end it was worth it.
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4949514
I saw on the pop mech install tutorial on his website that some filing might be needed so I was kind of prepared ^^
I am still definitely going to go with him for my next full thrower though, it would be a lot less faff having a proper aluminium wand rather than resin.
User avatar
By l3w1sb159
#4949643
Hey guys, exciting times as my wand light kit was delivered the other day!
Two questions; what reflector is best to use to mount the vent light led in under the vent slits? I assume a square one but I'm not sure where to find the right size and shape.
Also what cables will I need to wire up my speaker to the soundboard (it's the gbfans shop speaker)
By tobycj
#4949647
The screen used reflectors were round, not square :) Dan.aka previously recommended a "metal replacement cone for a Fulton MX-991/U angle head torch" to me for that, but they seem to be hard to come by in the UK, so I think any similar military torch reflector would probably work ok. I picked a whole torch up for a fiver a on eBay a couple of years ago.

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