Scoop
08-21-2008, 11:02 PM
Hello fellow Tankers,
I recently picked up the vehicle pack that had the Tele-Viper in it. Upon opening it up I tried to fit a vintage backpack on his back based on and inspired by G.I.Eddie's custom here...
http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-joe-customs/14428-update-tele-viper-gear-tutorial.html
In G.I.Eddie's tutorial he used a peg from another 25th Anniversary backpack to place on the original ARAH Tele-Viper backpack to make the peg fit in the hole. Unfortunately I did not have an extra backpack with the pegs that fit the new figures to try G.I.Eddie's backpack custom. In fact G.I.Eddie did a very professional job on his custom. My custom on the other hand is a very cheap and easy way out of doing things.
At first I just tried to trim down the original peg in order to make it fit in the new Tele-Viper's back. When that failed I decided to try using some small screws and nuts & bolts. That also failed. That's when I decided to read some other suggestions that other members made on G.I.Eddie's thread.
A member by the name of Kalibus recommended using the ink tube from a pen. I thought that was a great idea but I didn't know how to go about attatching the tube to the backpack. While I had the pen in my hand I came up with another idea. I figured I could use the pen cap. There is a thin part on there that could be used for a peg, and the cap part could somehow be placed in the space of the backpack above its original peg.
I first decided to cut off the rest of the original peg to give the backpack a flatter surface. Then it was time to trim the pen cap. I used a black BIC pen cap for this custom. I cut the top of the pen cap completely off, except for the part at the bottom which held the part I wanted to use for the peg. If you look at a BIC pen cap I cut cap down to where there is a line running around it and underneath it has the BIC logo. After that I was left with a ring and that post comming off the end. I then made a cut down the side of the ring that is opposite the post. I then attemped to squeaze the ring up, as if I was trying to roll it up and make it tighter in order to jam it into that space in the backpack. Everytime I tried this the post I wanted to use for the peg ended up sitting in one corner or another instead of being flush in the center. I now had to come up with a different plan. I then decided to take ring and post back out to trim the ring down some more. This time I cut more away from the side of the ring that is opposite the post. I figured I could fit the gap I've made around what was left of the original backpack peg. I was hoping that the ring of the pen cap would grasp the original peg to hold the cap in place. I was right because it did work and it fit like a glove. I then proceeded to trim the post of the pen cap to make my new backpack peg and the rest is history.
In the end I am very happy with my accomplishment because I didn't have to use any glue or anything like that. It took alot of trial and error with all the trimming to get it just right though.
I owe this all to G.I.Eddie and Kalibus because without their insight I wouldn't have even tried this.
Here are some pics of my finished product. I hope you like them. Maybe this idea will help you as well. Please feel free to leave any feedback comments you like.
I recently picked up the vehicle pack that had the Tele-Viper in it. Upon opening it up I tried to fit a vintage backpack on his back based on and inspired by G.I.Eddie's custom here...
http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-joe-customs/14428-update-tele-viper-gear-tutorial.html
In G.I.Eddie's tutorial he used a peg from another 25th Anniversary backpack to place on the original ARAH Tele-Viper backpack to make the peg fit in the hole. Unfortunately I did not have an extra backpack with the pegs that fit the new figures to try G.I.Eddie's backpack custom. In fact G.I.Eddie did a very professional job on his custom. My custom on the other hand is a very cheap and easy way out of doing things.
At first I just tried to trim down the original peg in order to make it fit in the new Tele-Viper's back. When that failed I decided to try using some small screws and nuts & bolts. That also failed. That's when I decided to read some other suggestions that other members made on G.I.Eddie's thread.
A member by the name of Kalibus recommended using the ink tube from a pen. I thought that was a great idea but I didn't know how to go about attatching the tube to the backpack. While I had the pen in my hand I came up with another idea. I figured I could use the pen cap. There is a thin part on there that could be used for a peg, and the cap part could somehow be placed in the space of the backpack above its original peg.
I first decided to cut off the rest of the original peg to give the backpack a flatter surface. Then it was time to trim the pen cap. I used a black BIC pen cap for this custom. I cut the top of the pen cap completely off, except for the part at the bottom which held the part I wanted to use for the peg. If you look at a BIC pen cap I cut cap down to where there is a line running around it and underneath it has the BIC logo. After that I was left with a ring and that post comming off the end. I then made a cut down the side of the ring that is opposite the post. I then attemped to squeaze the ring up, as if I was trying to roll it up and make it tighter in order to jam it into that space in the backpack. Everytime I tried this the post I wanted to use for the peg ended up sitting in one corner or another instead of being flush in the center. I now had to come up with a different plan. I then decided to take ring and post back out to trim the ring down some more. This time I cut more away from the side of the ring that is opposite the post. I figured I could fit the gap I've made around what was left of the original backpack peg. I was hoping that the ring of the pen cap would grasp the original peg to hold the cap in place. I was right because it did work and it fit like a glove. I then proceeded to trim the post of the pen cap to make my new backpack peg and the rest is history.
In the end I am very happy with my accomplishment because I didn't have to use any glue or anything like that. It took alot of trial and error with all the trimming to get it just right though.
I owe this all to G.I.Eddie and Kalibus because without their insight I wouldn't have even tried this.
Here are some pics of my finished product. I hope you like them. Maybe this idea will help you as well. Please feel free to leave any feedback comments you like.