And we're off!
I spent some time with painter's tape and cardstock last night to get a rough design. The pack will be 11" wide at the back/belt and curve to 8" at the front. It is ~5.5" deep, and 8" tall main body.
Here's a very rough drawing:
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I forgot to take a picture before I started cutting my mockup a part, but got this:
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Then onto a fabric mockup with some cheap fabric. No zippers and a minimal number of panels. I'll complicate things later. This way if my mockup fails I cry less over the time spend making a pattern and sewing. There will be quite a few more pieces with the actual pack. Not pictured is the roll top extension. It's just a big rectangular chunk of fabric--not much to see.
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All together. It will have a zipper that wraps around the top, similar to the Kifaru Hellcat. The front will have a small zippered stretch pocket. Sides will have an elastic topped stretch pocket. Don't mind the puckering... the curves were a pain to navigate on the first pass.
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The back will have a couple pieces as well to integrate a (likely) sewn in belt. I put the seam of the roll top on the wrong side--it should be on the front of the bag.
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Pack mode. The back panel will have sewn in channels inside the bag to hold collapsible aluminum stays (similar to my last pack) similar to the MR Scapegoat. Frame will be 27" tall.
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I'll probably add a small lid to the bag as well. The straps I wrap over the top of the bag for that can also be used to attach random stuff without complicating the construction of the roll top with a bunch of lashing points.
I've been using some collapsible CNOC Outdoors Vesica water bottles lately, so I may add some pockets for them on the belt. It would be nice to have a place for my rifle when in pack out mode, so I could see adding some tabs to the side of the bag and belt to some up with my own system similar to the EXO K4 one. Alternatively, I could use the lid system and a couple of webbing tabs on the back of the bag to add a carrying system to the back of the bag.... no shortage of fun ideas to think through.
