Phil, thanks for letting me post this again. I think it is more appropriate here. I have another ALICE enhancement post that will be geared towards making the ruck more useable without the frame; and will make it very "kid friendly". It should be ready in a couple of days; anyway, here's my "hellcat" hybrid.










This is my version of the ALICE/MOLLE hybrid that I call the ALLE Pack or "Hellcat"; The ALICE/MOLLE systems are inexpensive; plentiful and solid platforms from which to build a hybrid ruck. Hopefully this post will help you assemble a Hellcat without any difficulty or maybe give you some additional ideas on how to develope your own hybrid.

The Hellcat has between 3500 ci (calculated by dimension) and 4000 ci (measured) capacity (4000 ci and above are generally considered an expedition class pack). Adding the MOLLE sustainment pouches will add an additional 1000 ci of capacity and using the the large ALICE ruck will give a potential 7500- 8000 ci capacity. The Hellcat in it's described form is a legitimate expedition pack before the additions are added; all for far less money than you will pay for any commercial pack.








Lets first start with all the components needed to assemble the Hellcat.

1. ALICE frame and medium ruck
2. one set MOLLE shoulder straps
3. one MOLLE moulded kidney belt
4. one MOLLE sleep system carrier




All of these items can be purchased for between $50-$70; even less if you shop around.



STEP 1: Inspecting and attaching medium ALICE ruck to the frame



Inspect the frame for cracks and loose rivets; rivets should be tight as well as the joined parts; repair or replace the frame if it is damaged.





Slip the medium ruck over the frame



Loosen the bottom attachment straps on the ruck and slip the strap through the triangular holes created by kidney brace at the bottom of the frame. DON"T OVER TIGHTEN at this point. You want some play so the ruck can expand properly while loading. Once your pack is loaded then these straps can be tightened.









STEP 2: Preparing the MOLLE Shoulder straps


First start by removing the short attachment strap at the top of the shoulder straps(they are attached to the load lifter straps); once both are removed set them aside; keep up with them because you will need them in a few minutes.





Next inspect and prepare the flat "yoke" portion of the MOLLE straps. There is a long wide strap tacked in the center with a large fastex buckle under neath it; separate the two if they have been fastened together. next you will notice two sets of attachment straps running parallel to the yoke. Leave the straps in the buckles of the top set(you will not need these) but loosen and remove the straps from the bottom set on both sides.








Next, fold the long center strap up so that it falls over the top of the shoulder straps.







Don't worry about the top set of attachment straps; we'll fold those over and tuck them later in the assembly






STEP 3: Attaching the MOLLE shoulder straps


Lay the pack down and place the prepped shoulder straps in this approximate position; keeping them centered with the long center strap protruding from the top



next take the short attachment straps that you had set aside and slip into the fastex buckle from the top . This the same buckle you just removed them from.





it should look like this when you are done



Now you are going to slip the end of this strap under the top of the frame and thru the slot; then it will go thru the small d ring attachment on the alice ruck









Now slip it back thru the buckle and back thru again...snugging it down. It should look like this when you are finished. Repeat the process for the other shoulder strap.






Now we begin attaching the long center strap; pull it over the top of the frame and push or tuck the strap down between the frame and the ruck









Once you have the strap tucked, lay the pack down so the underside of the frame is exposed







This in my opinion is where the MOLLE shoulder straps really show their worth; you can now adjust for torso fit/length. Something you could never do with issue straps or after market enhancements. In the pics above I have shown you can have as much as 5 inches of adjustment; so realistically you can adjust for about 15-20 inches of torso length. For now we will go ahead and secure the straps and adjust for torso fit later.

Adjust the straps so that they are a couple of inches below the top of the frame; as illustrated in the last pic above. Next wrap the strap around the center cross members as shown in the next pics. You can wrap several times but once is enough, this will make torso fit a little easier.







Flip up the yoke of the MOLLE straps and feed the long strap thru the buckle and tighten securely.







Attach the side bottom strap as shown; looping it around the frame and threading thru the buckle; snug down; then do the other side; adjusting so it is centered. Fold and tuck the loose ends.









Separate the lower portion of the shoulder straps using the quick release mechanism (be carefull at this point; IMO the quick release is the weakest link in the MOLLE system and can be broken if forced open). Once released take the loop end and feed thru the round hole on the bottom of the frame; feed from outside to inside. Slip the QR end thru the loop and tighten.








Reattach the QR end back to the shoulder straps and you are done with attaching the MOLLE straps


STEP 4: Attaching the MOLLE kidney belt


First, place the kidney pad as shown to ready it for attachment. THIS IS THE CORRECT POSITION. The hump should go down. Install this pad upside down and you'll kick the Hellcat to the curb like I almost did two years ago. I put it on upside down because it looked like it belonged that way. Nevermind that I could clearly see the MOLLE assembly instructions show the hump goes down. I paid for that bit of arrogance with two bleeding blisters the size of my hand on each side of my butt. Again "HUMP GOES DOWN".





next, flip it over to one side and feed the straps thru the metal slot and attach to the buckles; snug the straps down







Flip the belt back over and feed the straps thru the other side; attach to the buckles and snug down.







Do not tighten so hard that you deform the belt. There is going to be some play; but under load this has never been a problem. You are now finished attaching the MOLLE kidney belt.



STEP 5: Attaching the MOLLE sleep system carrier


We are now on the last leg to assembling the Hellcat; first thing to do is stuff a pillow into the ruck so as to give it some shape and offer some resistance while attaching the sleep system. You may want to give the carrier some bulk as well; but this step is optional.





after you have cinched the top of the ruck, lay it down so that you can see the bottom and the two lashing loops; these will be the primary points of attachment to the ruck.





next, disconnect the fastex QR buckles on the sleep carrier; remove the male end from the straps and set aside. You will also want to slide the elastic keepers off as well.









Next you'll slide the cinch straps out of all the their respective "strap loops"; three on each side untill your carrier looks like this; this is the top view of the carrier.





As a point of reference; the lashing loops of the ruck will set between the carrier handle and the rear top strap loops





Slide the cinch straps thru the rucks lashing loops and then thru the top rear strap loops of the carrier









The sleep system carrier is now attached to the bottom of the ruck; but it's not stable at this point. We now attach it to the frame by running both cinch straps up the back of the ruck and over the cross support of the frame









Once you are over the cross support bring the cinch straps down; threading them thru the slots at the bottom of the frame; feed them through the flat side and exit the channel side. Snug them down securely





the straps will now wrap around the bottom of the frame, ready to be threaded thru the second set of strap loops







Once you've threaded them; snug them up to the frame and thread the cinch straps thru the bottom front strap loops; reattach the male ends of the fastex buckles and slide the elastic keepers back on. I kept mine off.






Now your Hellcat is ready for business; you should have a pack that looks just like one of these









Hopefully this wasn't too confusing; like any system not all of these may work for you. I have found this particular hybrid to be very forgiving and rock solid; but it's only as good as the person putting it together. Assemble it using the ALICE and MOLLE parts properly and the Hellcat should take you there and back.

Enforcer



Torso Fit and Pack Adjustment Guide


As promised here is a guide for proper torso fit and pack adjustment. Once you have familiarized your self with torso fit and adjustment guides you will find the Hellcat has ALL the modern adjustments that are common on todays commercial packs. First read these links to REI's backpack adjustment guides

Finding Your Torso and Hip Size

Adjusting the Fit


Points of reference for torso adjustment should be the notch ( C-7 ) at the top of the shoulder pads and the midpoint of the hip pad( line of iliac crest). Remember these are just references; but I believe they will get you in the right ball park.









Loosen the side and torso attachment straps...you don't have to remove them.....measure your torso length; move the shoulder straps up or down accordingly and retighten the attachment straps. EDIT I have another comment here and I have added a couple of more pics. You must also loosen the load lifters significantly for torso fit. I just recently fit my 10 yo (Webelo II) and his torso length was 14 inches. No surprise it worked fantastic. The bonus for him was we were able to use the second set of side attachment straps and the load sets higher for better balance. The beauty is this adjustment can be reset as he matures, giving him use of the pack well into his adulthood(the Hellcat will probably outlast him)













You should now be fitted for torso length. Readjust load lifters; sternum strap; hip belt and tweak lower adjustment on shoulder strap per the REI guide. The next two pics show the difference in height of shoulder straps and load lifter straps. The top pick is mine set at a torso length of 18 inches; the bottom pic is of my 10 yo's set at o torso length of 14 inches.








In case you didn't know these are the parts refered to in the REI article "adjusting the fit"


Load Lifters




Sternum strap




Shoulder strap adjustment




Stabilizer strap.... notice it is not on the kidney belt.... it's the strap I told you not to tighten until the ruck was loaded






Quick release... most of us will never use this other than for convenience during assembly/disassembly



Now you have it; all the tools for proper fit and load stabilization of your Hellcat.


Enforcer

Hellcat? I think not. This pack is based on a MOLLE and ALICE gear, so "MALICE" is the only logical choice. You're welcome.

The story behind the name was that I initially called the hybrid the ALLE pack. My youngest son misunderstood and began to call it the "alley cat". My two older boys and a friend of mine began calling it the "Hellcat" after several trips to the Smoky Mtn's. The name stuck. Call it what you want; ALLE: MALICE( trouble with that is can be a bit confusing because of the current MALICE products and attachments) or Hellcat; it's still pretty cool

Why not just get a large A.L.I.C.E. pack and a H.S.G.I. Alipad ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKDX4UgIDPY


example pics of the Alipad,,I've used the Alipad it's a good product,,and has extra storage.


http://www.optactical.com/alipad.html

I have an extra set of MOLLE shoulder straps that I am going to post on the EE. IM or email me if interested. Thanks

anyone ever made a rifle sling from 550 Para cord? It'll take roughly 50 feet of cord depeding on how long you want your sling, its simple to do just weave it. If you need the Para cord just unweave it.

Also you can make a hobo stove from a coffee can with holes cut in the bottom and sides (this acts as a wind screen) and drill two holes in the sides and get some welding rods and use those as a support for a pot or can of your choice.

Here is some information on how to make different types of tarp shelters..Both cheap and potentially useful..
http://www.equipped.org/tarp-shelters.htm

A small dry piece of Toilet paper will catch the sparks from a ferocerium rod and ignite pretty quickly a lot of times on even the first strike.
Just have more tinder immediately ready. You can place other fine tinder right on the TP so it will catch flame directly from the TP.

well if this dont belong here, Mods feel free to move it to the correct area!...
For some time now , I have been toying around with the kydex sheath that came on the cold steel UWK knife i bought. Its a sturdy sheath, but I like the spec ops style sheaths , that have the pouch on them. (spec ops survival sheaths. ) So i set out , trying to figure out how to build my own.

Since i own several cold steel knives, I was able to salvage some of screws that hold the belt hanger to the kydex sheath, that come from the factory with cold steel brand knives.. I then went to the local military surplus store, an found a couple of suitable pouches . 1 was a standard military compass pouch. the other was a molle pouch.

After making the choice on which pouch I was going to use, I had to figure out how to go about securing the pouch to the sheath ,this is the part that is interesting. I wanted something secure, an would not be torn off easly. So i decided to use the existing holes in the factory sheath. I lined the sheath up where i wanted it mounted, I made a reference mark with a marker on where the holes should be on the top. I then took the handy dandy table tourch, an heated a ice pick up , nice an HOT!! an burnt a perfect hole through the reference points on the top of the pouch. ( this makes nice clean hole ) the holes are just large enough to allow the srews to pass through, an hold it securly in place, with no fraying or further ripping or shredding of the pouch.

After mounting the top of the pouch in place, I repeated the procedure , on the bottem of the pouch, making sure the pouch is inline with the sheath, an pulled tight. then marking the reference points, i burnished the 2 bottem mounting holes.

Once this is finished, 1 small drop of loctie is applied to the screws an all are firmly tightened .

i now have a small accessory pouch for my UWK knife, that will hold a fire starting kit, 35mm film canister fishing kit, ,ect...

Just though i would share...... picts are comming..... but are slow, have to charge up the camera batterys... I left the camera on!....DUH!!!

Here is a list of some of the items i keep in the survival pouchs...
AAA minimag light or LED
waterproof matches
esbit fire tabs ( 3 pack)
35mm fishing kit ( with needle an kevlar line.)
trick birthday candles ( hard to blow out )
small lock blade knife ( gerber lst )
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
contained in a altoids tin painted od green
mini FAK ( bandaids, tylonel, immodium , benadryl )
duct tape
mole skin
aluminum foil ( wind break / cooking vessle. )
3 water purifing tabs.
all wrapped up in a contractors trash bag ( emergency shelter, poncho , or sleeping bag. )
with some paracord (10 feet








colt!

#10 can stove. which can be used with wood ,coals , sterno , tuna can heater made from cardboard and paraffin or what ever else U can stick in it to make it hot lol. ( I've never tried to cook directly on top of one) Just boiled water or heated up canned food.

Materials
One #10 can that has been opened (no longer has a top on one end)
one triangle can opener
tin snips , a knife or anything else that cuts!

Make vent holes around the top edge of the can to vent your fuel source
Cut a door to put your fuel source in the can
Light fuel source

Field Expedient MRE OC Canister

Punch a small hole in the center of a water bottle cap.

Take the heater from the MRE, roll it to fit through the top of the water bottle, which should have about an inch of water inside. Drop it inside. Dump the tobasco sauce inside. Screw the cap on.

Set your canister in the area you want OC'd.

After a couple minutes there will be a steady spray of tobasco steam coming out of the top of the cap. It lasts for about a minute.

the molle sustainment pouches(500cc) each will add another 1000cc of volume. They fit nicely on the sides of the Hellcat....not sure about the camelbak. You should be able to find them in multicam from an after market vendor. If you are not concerned with matching camo you can find them in surplus woodland and desert.

Agreed. thanks for the quick reply!