im not entirely happy with the helmet either. it has lenses put in it, but they sit about a half inch back from the face of the helmet, a mouth is drawn on, the chin is cracking, the back is cracking, and i dont have the scoops on the top of the head. it was originally a hard hat. i have some progress pics of it, from when i started, before i tore it down again.
i mean, if you look at it, its neat, but im scrutinizing it because i built it up and tore it down 3 times before i got to the point of the pics on the first page. im going to be making another one in the future when i get my hands on one of those souvenir baseball helmets to be thebase for the helmet. im really more concerned with getting the jetpack finished right now, because that goal is closer to obtain than finding one of these dirt cheap with dirt cheap shipping. if i could get a deal on a bunch that would be alright.
for those of you who remember there’s a propaganda film about nazi rocket soldiers, i drew up plans for their pack, where im making things up as i go for my rocketeer one.
here’s the screen grab and some plans i drew up with paint.
i tried to eyeball it as close to my jetpack and decent sized on a back as possible, the measurements may look off, but if you keep them fairly close it will work and look pretty neat. ignore the crap on the side, i used that for my cutting and pasting. i also have a paint drawing of the side view of the helmet, not as incredibly detailed as this one though.
dont expect me to tackle this anytime soon. i haev a buddy that’s working on a nazi rocket soldier costume and i had some time to kill, so i drew it up. i thought id share, if there was anyone interested in making one of these on their own.
Damn, the Rocketeer pack is yet another prop I would love to have one day.. along with my Proton Pack, my Batmobile, my KITT, my numerous other things I’ll never get (although I am working on getting my Proton Pack together.. just waiting on the parts).. you must post with more pictures when finished
here is the few updates ive made to my jetpack. i did some hot glue scraping that isnt really worth taking pictures of and i made and attached the flipper fins to the booster tubes. here’s pictures of that process and various working notes.
in retrospect, for those of you taking notes it would probably be easier to do the fin assembly before you mount it to the pack. that way, you dont screw your fins in at an awkward angle hoping for the best and getting lucky like i did(that means its a fluid flapping rather than an awkward angle flapping).
that lovely blurry picture is that of the fins, at the bottom of the boosters, excuse me for reposting this pic, i just want to be clear what it is that that up there is. the silver flipper fins, just in pieces.
now what you dont know about that picture, is no sooner after i put that one together, did i take it apart. because it occured to me that i took the measurements of the pvc tube for the center of the fin, and glued the sides of the fin on top. so because i was unhappy with that…
i remade them with the sides/how it attaches to the pvc, on the sides of the flat part of the fin. maybe it doesnt look too much different than the first one, but i know it does, and im content with it. when i figure out how to do those “grooves” or “bumps” and if they’re “grooves” or “bumps” they’ll go on next.
this picture illustrates how the fins attach to the booster tubes. the thing about this is, its set at a funny angle at the very bottom of the booster tube, and i dont believe i mentioned it before, but the pictures in the last update, they’re not only in the wrong place, but flat too. of course this isnt going to be 100% accurate, but i would like to get it as close as i possibly can. much like i do with anything i make.
this image shows you a pvc end, filled with bondo hair. if i havent said it before, i hate bondo hair, but, its what i have. so its what i used to fill the pvc so i could drill through the sides of the fins, to the pvc to mount it. i hope i can get this to flap some how, but my knowledge of any kind of electronics is limited outside of large electrical work. this tiny, “led, servo, arduino” stuff is like interlac with me. i might just put the dowels/rods on the inside of the fins, and forget about it.
these three pics show that it moves. now, the last one it looks like its off, and it may be a little off, however, after i took the pic, to move the pack i noticed it was on the angle bar i was using to cut my sintra. i also have some clean up on the one on the left.
i took this one after it occurred to me i didnt take a picture of it standing on its own volition, which i am completely stoked about. i should have remembered to turn my light on so its not a detailless blob. also that little bit of red, is just some failed attempt of using the bondo hair mix i made and filling some holes.
i think in the mean time, im going to work on the vents that go at the top between the boosters, since i think im at a point where i cant do much without resin or bondo. i’ll post a picture of them as soon as i get that together.
this is what ive been working on. the following pictures are the vent looking piece at the top inbetween the missle looking tips. they’re made out of thin plexi, i dont remember what size, i just know it fits what i need.
im undecided if i am going to make this a solid thing, or leave them open. ive seen conflicting pictures. the kit, leads me to believe they’re connected as a solid peice, pics of what could be the real deal, show it open with a dowel in the middle. i think, for ease, im making them open with the dowel.
here’s waht im talking about
you can kind of see it solid from the kit
you can clearly see it open with a dowel.
this one shows how many i need to make. fair warning, im really not going to be accurate with this peice. the middle make two one, is to make the bulky middle part of the vent. ive finagled the shape to how my pack is constructed where these go.
this one shows them all drawn out.
i spent this afternoon cutting out them as close as i possibly could with out going to the line, and perfectly cutting out the bottom back angle. when i get home tonight im going to file the boogers off, and double stick tape them all together, so i can sand them all to the same shape tomorrow. if i had a band or scroll saw, life would be easier on me. i killed a container of dremel cutting disks in 30 mins.
im also very excited to say i finally figured out for the most part how im constructing the engines! these things.
see, i wont reveal it yet, but i have the notes how im figuring them out in front of me. let me just say, they have been a major headache. and to finally figure them out, im stoked. i wasnt orignally going to do the wires, but now, because its such a cool idea, im going to go and do them. im even excited to do the elbows. so, if all goes well tomorrow, i’ll have pictures of them in progress with their parts list.
also, it just occured to me that there are tiny tiny fish tail looking fins at the top of the rocket. i threw out the left over plexi, but luckily i can grab it out and screw around with it and see if i can do that shape.
thats all i have going so far. im stoked about this engine idea.
so, im stoked to finally report this. 4 days of work.
this picture shows what i used to make them. i have to give credit to whoever used a toilet floater ball for a green lantern, you clicked something on in my head for these. here’s this parts list.
you only need one toilet floater ball for both engines
2 - 4" corr hub fit adapters from home depot
2 - oversized paper roll plastic runner things, not sure what they’re called but they’re usually in oversized paper rolls for large printers.
2 - 45 degree pvc couplers
3’ garden hose
2 pvc 1 1/4" t coupler
2’ 1/2" medical tubing
2’ 1/4" medical tubing
10’ coax cable
this one shows them together. dont fret over pretty hot gluing, but try to make them atleast look sort of like welds. you have to cut off the larger part of the hub and keep the bottom half, and cut along where the bottom bump/flat part meet on the toilet floater ball. on the half of the ball with the part you attach to he floater stick, you can leave on or cut off. i actually cut that off and the small circle so i could wire lights through it eventually.
the coaxial wires, make up all the wires, to get the effect of the webbed wires, just strip the rubber casing off. to get the effect of copper, i painted it gloss brown, then misted gold over it.
to paint the physical engines, i panted gloss black on the bottom over a flat coat, then i dusted on a silver paint. the top half i painted matte nickel with a dust of black. dont worry about perfection, just imagine them being super hot all the time, and being beat to heck from flames. if it comes out a little more black than gun metally, then cool. i actually was going to flat black them the really really lightly dust them flat to resemble the space shuttle’s rocket boosters.
finished
right detail
left detail
when all is done and i get to lighting and wiring, i thought of a really cool way to go about these that im keeping hush hush in the warehouse of my mind, because its a really neat idea and i want to play around with it to see if it works. i kind of figured out a way for it physically to make the crackle of rocket fire.
i dropped the ball when i said id put up some more pics.
but i did manage to figure out that middle thing in the vent at the top
(the uh, solid thing with the square in it in this picture)
i just noticed that i routed my square hole a little large. i blame that i attempted to drill it out with a 3/4" paddle bit and went at an angle because i dont have a drill press. so, to fix that, i took it to my router table with a 3/4" bit to clean up that nasty hole i made.
but now its too big.
no pictures. because im going to figure out how to fix it. i might fill it in with bondo and take a 1/2" bit to my router and see what trouble that’ll get me into. i made it out of 3/4" ply wood, because originally i was going to use my plexi, and paper over it then fiberglass as my first foray into attempting fiberglassing paper for pepakura, but that turned into one gigantic waste of time not to mention material.
also, looking at that picture, i realised i didnt make near enough pieces of “vent” from my plexi. so now when i get home, im going to have to find another peice(i hope i have one, because i think im out. and that means i have to find a whole new sheet of something thin and plastic to work with and do them all over again, which is complete bull crap).
edit: i keep forgetting abuot this one
see how the thin parts of the vent are wider spaced and there are less than the one above, and the hole i nthe solid thing is larger? these conflicting pictures are driving me nuts. i know one is the kit, i know the other “might be a stunt pack sold on ebay years ago” what should i do? i really dont want to have to make 8 more of those thinner vents if the real one doesnt have that many.
would anyone have any idea how far the individual thinner pieces of that thing are spaced? im thinking they’re about 1/2" but if that doesnt work im going to go as close as 1/4".
i finally got around to getting the top center vent to where im happy with it. i decided to have 6 fins on either side(routing for almost 2 days straight), mostly because i cant figure out the curve to cut into the fins to make them “hang” on the side of the booster, and because only 6 fit. the fins are made from 1/4" sintra, and the center is made from 2 pieces of 3/4" plywood. i had to refill the hole twice with bondo so i could get that hole just right. its routed 1/2" at 1/2" high. still much to do, with filling in the wood and screwing it into place.
this is the finished boosters in their place as i said i would post
this is the whole pack where it stands now
my list of things to do tomorrow is fill/shape the body with bondo and sanding some more tomorrow, and smooth out the top center vent. also start planning how im going to do those smaller fins around the tips of the boosters(my main concern is figuring out the curve of the booster top to fit the inside of the fin and how im going to attach them with out showing how).
i painted 3 layers of resin on the inside, and as i was doing it, id paint a little on the outside. then i thought i should make it harder by putting fiber mat inside, so i did a layer of that. the scoops dont have any fiber in them, but they’re ridiculously sturdy. bondo everything perfect smooth, wet sand, and you’re set.
