| For invaluable advice and help sourcing parts for your pack, join the MEPD.net forums. Here are the pics of my backpack build, which
utilised special vacuformed pieces, a toilet cistern, and
vintage Tupperware!
- Mortar tube: 2.5" x 34" black PVC pipe (just
take your thermal detonator plate along and match the curve
to it) with white thermal detonator end caps
- White radar dish at end of mortar tube: The push-button
lid from a Tupperware jug (eBay)
- Radio Fascia, tool box and black round cup tops: from
Mike www.TK1536.com,
I don't think he does them any more though.
- Base boxes from SethB on MEPD, these are the screen accurate
seed trays and cost me about £30 inc postage. Or use
cat litter trays but they won't be accurate. Size should
be approx 14.5"L x 8" W x 4.5/8"H
- Bee stinger: I used a small round desktop bin I found
at The Range, and matched a plant pot tray to the top of
it for the lid. I'm swapping it though for an American
faucet frost cover which is oval in shape and more accurate.
The long bit that sticks out the bee stinger is a nozzle
from one of those putty gun things.
- The two cups are wet wipes containers, these will fit
Mike's cup tops perfectly. If you don't buy Mike's cup tops,
search eBay for "Tupperware dessert bowls" or "Tupperware desseert cups"
and just cut off the neck bit, spray and fit. They may be
slightly smaller than Mikes though and not fit as good. Photo of the bowls HERE.
- The bellows are Tupperware
burger stackers also from eBay but you need the rounded
top for them that joins to the toilet cistern, again Mike
used to make these, not sure about now. Click HERE to see a pic of the unmodified stackers.
- Finally you need one of these toilet
cisterns, butcher it and glue it to the burger stacker. One of the guys on MEPD.net has produced a great combined cistern and burger stacker, which needs a lot less modifying and work to get it right - you will have to register with MEPD.net to view the forum thread HERE. And the thread on how to modify it is HERE.
- Use Humbrol Sea Blue (47) to paint the bee stinger and
two cups. Steve thinned the paint down a bit before using
it, as you can only buy it in tiny pots!
James Ross sells backpacks here
but his pack is based on this one on the left in this
picture and has no loo cistern. Anyway you can buy one
of these packs complete for the equivalent of £150,
which is what mine cost to build here, so not a bad price.
Click the thumbnail below to see a super reference shot of the Sandy field pack radio. Nathan Smith of the UK Garrison has sculpted a super radio faceplate, see it HERE. He is also working on the cistern and the rouded cup "toppers" too. Contact him thru his website at http://www.fettgear.com/main.html.
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List of ingredients!
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How the cup lids are fastened
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An old loo cistern gives its life for my backpack
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This is a vintage Tupperware burger stacker, with a cup
lid attached to the bottom
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A bit of Milliput works wonders
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And hey presto, loo cistern now an intake manifold and
bellows!
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US Army Alice backpack frame on the left, base boxes, bee
stinger and cups sprayed blue
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This is a weedkiller spray gun that is being butchered
to make the exhaust port box
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More progress pics coming soon.....
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The finished box - all bumps milliputted out
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Bits ready to assemble. Note the "exhaust pipe"
which is 1" pvc pipe with various rubber rings and
a metal screw clamp arranged on the end.
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To fasten the bellows to the base box we put a large tie-wrap
round the bellows....
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Then threaded a narrower tie wrap through the fat tie wrap
and through holes in the base box
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Two screws were put through the round part of the toilet
cistern and through into the box. Solid as a rock now!
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Exhause port detail
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Need to fasten base boxes together then mount onto frame.
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Cistern mounted to base boxes with a smaller tie wrap slotted
through a larger tie wrap that circled the hamburger press.
Cistern also held in place with screws
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Balsa "lip", hot glue then filler stuck the base
boxes together. This method turned out to be a bit crap, so instead, small holes were drilled around the box and small cable ties were used to hold the box together.
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Bee stinger lid tie-wrapped to main body
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Side view showing placement on Alice pack frame
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The 5 small cylinders on right side are 3.5" sections
of 1" PVC pipe
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The finished pack!!! All it needs now is weathering. |
