I decided to post this up as im doing some things differently than i have in the past. Its not going to be a full on step by step because i dont have the time to take pics of EVRYTHING...but im gonna do my best!
So the first thing i wanted to address is the newer way MOW supplies the "teeth" for the packs. He's been doing it this way for a little bit and i think it works out for the buyer and the maker. Makerwise, and im sure this was part of the reason he did this, its good because this area likely went firswt on the molds, so now when the teeth molds go he doesnt have to make a mold of the entire pack again..saveas alot of time and money on his end. On our end, it gives you options for custom variations, and also assures us we will get clean pulls of the teeth (no pun intended!).
So they come like this...one for eqach side..
The only downside i see to this is that it adds an extra edge on top of the teeth...
Rather than attach this part and then try and fill that seem without getting anything between the teeth....i take my mouse sander and sand the top edge off. You have to be careful when you do this as it weakens the piece a bit...this wont matter once its attched, and even if you broke it, you could just glue it on in 2 pieces, but i try not to do that lol. So i sand it until that top lip is paper thin. You can kind of see it here...im holding it upside down so the light goes through and you can see how thin i made it.
I then just snap it off with my fingers and clean it up with an x-acto knife.
As you can see it looks much cleaner now when installed
After this i attached the slotted ring to the boday and sanded washed and primed the main body of the pack.
Then i moved onto the rocket. I usually do my builds so the rocket can be broken down into 2 pieces when removed from the pack as this makes it easier to pack up for transport. I have used magnets in the past, but have had rowdy teenagers pull the top part off and try running away with it...(very thankful for squires!)..so i had done a few packs with a threaded rod that goes from the top part of the rocket through the bottom half and then into the pack with a wingnut. But that was kind of cumbersome and then the top part of the rocket had a long rod sticking out when you need to pack it away.
So i came up with using one of the screws i use to attach armor to vests, and putting a nut into the base half of the rocket.
First we need to remove some of the bottom of the top part of the rocket to compensate for the thickness of the nut that will be attached in the bottom half of the rocket.
Cut and cleaned up
Now we need to attach the scew to the top part of the rocket
I marked off the size of the head of the screw with a pen and centered it best i could
i then countersunk a hole the same size and test fit the screw
I then used zap a gap to glue the screw in..and then to fill the space
Now we need to add the nut to the other half of the rocket....drill a hole about the diameter of the screw you just used (or a tad wider) in the center of the inset
Thread the nut onmto the screw leaving a few threads exposed..so the nut is not fully on the screw
then put the collar on the top half of the rocket..put some zap a gap on the edges of the nut and place the rocket into the bottom half..amke sure it stays straight!
Let the glue set for a few seconds and GENTLY unscrew the top part. This should leave you with the nut glued ionto the bottom half of the rocket
I then put some more zap a gap around the nut and sprayed some zip kicker on it to fill any gaps on the bottom of the nut. Then i filled the inset with resin up to the top of the nut
Let this set for however long the resin(or epoxy) you use takes to FULLY set. You now can thread the top half of the rocket into the bottom half
I will add a short threaded rod to the bottom of the bottom half of the rocket and drill a hole in the main body and attch with a large washer and wing nut...i will do the same with the thrusters.
So the first thing i wanted to address is the newer way MOW supplies the "teeth" for the packs. He's been doing it this way for a little bit and i think it works out for the buyer and the maker. Makerwise, and im sure this was part of the reason he did this, its good because this area likely went firswt on the molds, so now when the teeth molds go he doesnt have to make a mold of the entire pack again..saveas alot of time and money on his end. On our end, it gives you options for custom variations, and also assures us we will get clean pulls of the teeth (no pun intended!).
So they come like this...one for eqach side..
The only downside i see to this is that it adds an extra edge on top of the teeth...
Rather than attach this part and then try and fill that seem without getting anything between the teeth....i take my mouse sander and sand the top edge off. You have to be careful when you do this as it weakens the piece a bit...this wont matter once its attched, and even if you broke it, you could just glue it on in 2 pieces, but i try not to do that lol. So i sand it until that top lip is paper thin. You can kind of see it here...im holding it upside down so the light goes through and you can see how thin i made it.
I then just snap it off with my fingers and clean it up with an x-acto knife.
As you can see it looks much cleaner now when installed
After this i attached the slotted ring to the boday and sanded washed and primed the main body of the pack.
Then i moved onto the rocket. I usually do my builds so the rocket can be broken down into 2 pieces when removed from the pack as this makes it easier to pack up for transport. I have used magnets in the past, but have had rowdy teenagers pull the top part off and try running away with it...(very thankful for squires!)..so i had done a few packs with a threaded rod that goes from the top part of the rocket through the bottom half and then into the pack with a wingnut. But that was kind of cumbersome and then the top part of the rocket had a long rod sticking out when you need to pack it away.
So i came up with using one of the screws i use to attach armor to vests, and putting a nut into the base half of the rocket.
First we need to remove some of the bottom of the top part of the rocket to compensate for the thickness of the nut that will be attached in the bottom half of the rocket.
Cut and cleaned up
Now we need to attach the scew to the top part of the rocket
I marked off the size of the head of the screw with a pen and centered it best i could
i then countersunk a hole the same size and test fit the screw
I then used zap a gap to glue the screw in..and then to fill the space
Now we need to add the nut to the other half of the rocket....drill a hole about the diameter of the screw you just used (or a tad wider) in the center of the inset
Thread the nut onmto the screw leaving a few threads exposed..so the nut is not fully on the screw
then put the collar on the top half of the rocket..put some zap a gap on the edges of the nut and place the rocket into the bottom half..amke sure it stays straight!
Let the glue set for a few seconds and GENTLY unscrew the top part. This should leave you with the nut glued ionto the bottom half of the rocket
I then put some more zap a gap around the nut and sprayed some zip kicker on it to fill any gaps on the bottom of the nut. Then i filled the inset with resin up to the top of the nut
Let this set for however long the resin(or epoxy) you use takes to FULLY set. You now can thread the top half of the rocket into the bottom half
I will add a short threaded rod to the bottom of the bottom half of the rocket and drill a hole in the main body and attch with a large washer and wing nut...i will do the same with the thrusters.
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