JPH
Sr Member
Making a rocketeer costume using aluminum takes time.
I have been told there is "work speed" and there is "hobby speed." I had to learn metal raising to accomplish what I wanted, at hobby speed. It took about three months of torturing sheets of metal to learn how I can hammer a flat piece of metal into a helmet/bowl.
And then I saw this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzDYorK8i38
and everything made sense.
Also, a HUGE thanks to JFCutom's foam files. Being able to create a pepakura version really helped me visualize and measure what I needed.
When I finish the aluminum version I and going to make a brass one. Brass is more expensive than aluminum. Better off screwing up 1-10 cents of paper before $2-5 of aluminum before $40-50 of brass.
Some pics are repeats.
I started with a snug fit pepakura file, then resinatificated it
I took measurements for left to right, front to back, and cut out the appropriate rectangle of aluminum. I made a 22 inch x 10 inch sheet for the front to back major bowl piece.
The two rear pieces were cut out using the pep templates Leave room on the top and bottom of the wavy top piece, leave room at the top of the portion of the bottom piece.
And then you pound metal. See the you tube movie above. I did not do this perfect, but enough to make me happy. I used a 6 inch hemisphere dolly with a metal raising hammer on 0.06 aluminum (1 1/2 mm) thick. About eight rounds/passes got me to where I was happy.Constantly comparing to the JFCustom pep I made, getting closer and closer, until acceptable.Then you can use the JF files to trim the aluminum down. Leave generous extra aluminum at the edges, better to overlap than gap.
Next I used the JFCustom files to figure out where the eyes and grill should be. My only gripe with the files is the mouth may be too big.
*WRITER's EMBELLISHMENT* The other day a child saw my Rocketeer helmet. He noticed the mouth size and cried. Still in a support group. -THIS NEVER HAPPENS!!!
Back to reality,
I ended up having to remake the rear pieces at 10% larger scale. This gave me great templates including a top and bottom overlap. Every inch of the side/rear pieces I drilled holes and clamped to the main front piece, threaded and screwed with #6-32 screws.
I just bent the rear/side pieces over a pipe until I had the curve I needed to fit..
more to come....EDIT Action pic of threading POW!
EDIT Action pic of metal cigar or ******* file creating mouth...BAM!
I have been told there is "work speed" and there is "hobby speed." I had to learn metal raising to accomplish what I wanted, at hobby speed. It took about three months of torturing sheets of metal to learn how I can hammer a flat piece of metal into a helmet/bowl.
And then I saw this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzDYorK8i38
and everything made sense.
Also, a HUGE thanks to JFCutom's foam files. Being able to create a pepakura version really helped me visualize and measure what I needed.
When I finish the aluminum version I and going to make a brass one. Brass is more expensive than aluminum. Better off screwing up 1-10 cents of paper before $2-5 of aluminum before $40-50 of brass.
Some pics are repeats.
I started with a snug fit pepakura file, then resinatificated it
I took measurements for left to right, front to back, and cut out the appropriate rectangle of aluminum. I made a 22 inch x 10 inch sheet for the front to back major bowl piece.
The two rear pieces were cut out using the pep templates Leave room on the top and bottom of the wavy top piece, leave room at the top of the portion of the bottom piece.
And then you pound metal. See the you tube movie above. I did not do this perfect, but enough to make me happy. I used a 6 inch hemisphere dolly with a metal raising hammer on 0.06 aluminum (1 1/2 mm) thick. About eight rounds/passes got me to where I was happy.Constantly comparing to the JFCustom pep I made, getting closer and closer, until acceptable.Then you can use the JF files to trim the aluminum down. Leave generous extra aluminum at the edges, better to overlap than gap.
Next I used the JFCustom files to figure out where the eyes and grill should be. My only gripe with the files is the mouth may be too big.
*WRITER's EMBELLISHMENT* The other day a child saw my Rocketeer helmet. He noticed the mouth size and cried. Still in a support group. -THIS NEVER HAPPENS!!!
Back to reality,
I ended up having to remake the rear pieces at 10% larger scale. This gave me great templates including a top and bottom overlap. Every inch of the side/rear pieces I drilled holes and clamped to the main front piece, threaded and screwed with #6-32 screws.
I just bent the rear/side pieces over a pipe until I had the curve I needed to fit..
more to come....EDIT Action pic of threading POW!
EDIT Action pic of metal cigar or ******* file creating mouth...BAM!
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