Finalized...

It has been quite a road to get to the finish and I have to say that the backpack looks pretty good for what we had to go through to get it all together and working. Ali did great work getting the guts of the radio Rickey donated into the backpack and Ankhoa did some soldering to make sure the wires all stayed together. Jon, Jen and myself did the final bracing and drilling this past week to make sure the backpack won't wobble when worn and to get the LED panel attached to the backpack. The following are some pics of the various stages. We also applied another coat of paint to the panels to give a smoother finish. The speakers were also attached and everything was tested to make sure it works.

The extra bracing inside to make sure the top wouldn't wobble, we tested it and it feels extra secure now.

Some extra epoxy was applied to the all the inner corners to make the backpack more stable overall.

The LED panel with bracing before attaching them to the backpack.

The backpack: now with more red and shine!

Up close and red.

The speakers installed, both the top and bottom panels (when viewed upright) of the cross have speakers installed.

The guts of the beast, with Ali's hands shown on the left, he's testing things out. The LED panel is also in place and ready for installation!

So there it all is in its final moments before completion. Today we go and take it to the dress rehearsal and do a final fitting to the model. I can only imagine it being at least 5 pounds heavier now with the speakers, LED panel and radio guts installed. I'll probably try it on before we leave to make sure it is not ridiculously heavy. Now I can get to recreating all these posts so I can put them on the class servers...maybe...