The Rocketeer cosplay project
- Thread starter bummer6
- Start date
bummer6
Well-Known Member
So uh... I kinda abandoned this thread... Very sorry about that! I will try to post some documentation of what I've done since I last posted, but there has been so much progress I don't really know where to begin, but let's start where I sorta left off.
I finished my buckles. It took a lot of prototyping before I got something that worked, but I got there in the end. I decided to mold and cast all the parts to make them more durable than raw resin 3D prints. This is when I tried out cold casting with aluminium powder, and it worked out pretty well!
Made the molds using smooth-on RTV silicone and I used something called "formcast burro" as the casting resin. Worked out to be A LOT cheaper than buying the smooth-on equivalent here in Europe.
By the way; getting a clean casting with no bubbles with these complex shapes WITHOUT the use of a vacuum or pressure chamber was absolute hell. Would not recommend.
Here are some pictures:
I've got way more stuff to show, but I figure if I post everything at once, it's going to be one hell of an image-heavy post, so I'll kinda drip feed the updates when I've got some time to spare.
I finished my buckles. It took a lot of prototyping before I got something that worked, but I got there in the end. I decided to mold and cast all the parts to make them more durable than raw resin 3D prints. This is when I tried out cold casting with aluminium powder, and it worked out pretty well!
Made the molds using smooth-on RTV silicone and I used something called "formcast burro" as the casting resin. Worked out to be A LOT cheaper than buying the smooth-on equivalent here in Europe.
By the way; getting a clean casting with no bubbles with these complex shapes WITHOUT the use of a vacuum or pressure chamber was absolute hell. Would not recommend.
Here are some pictures:
I've got way more stuff to show, but I figure if I post everything at once, it's going to be one hell of an image-heavy post, so I'll kinda drip feed the updates when I've got some time to spare.
bummer6
Well-Known Member
Time to document how I made a bunch of helmets!
So I decided pretty early on that I was going to mold and cast my helmet. As you can see earlier in this thread, the original was 3D printed with some hand sculpted details, such as the welds which I made using milliput.
The molding and casting process was very, very expensive and difficult.
I began by covering the helmet in WED clay to create a barrier between the helmet and what would become the jacket mold. I did one side at a time, using hardboard and plywood as the center-line. Basically; I cut out a hole in the wood which matched the silhouette of the helmet, I then put the helmet in the hole so that the wood went along the center of the helmet. I then put the clay on, and once one side was clayed and fiberglassed, I could remove the wood and flip the whole thing over to repeat the process for the opposite side, minus the wood this time (don't forget to use some release agent to make sure you can pry the fiberglass apart later)
Once both sides were fiberglassed, I could then pry the jacket mold apart and remove the clay from that half of the helmet. I then re-assembled the jacket mold, poured the silicone and once that dried, I flipped it over and did the same thing again on the other side, and then I had a mold!
Once I had the mold (the observant among you may notice some... differences... in the mold between these shots... That's because I failed once and had to do the whole process twice, and some pictures are from mold A and other pictures are from mold B. We learn as we go) I roto cast/slush cast a bunch of helmets, intending to sell a bunch of them to recoup a little bit of the cost of this whole thing. I did sell all of them, but it took a long time and I wasn't able to make back what I spent, but it helped a little bit.
I also made a few helmets in cold cast brass which I sold. Those were an absolute pain to get right and I will never make another one unless it's explicitly for myself or someone is paying A LOT more than I charged for those ones. Some people got one hell of a deal on those helmets, let me tell ya.
And lastly, let me super quickly go over how I made the eye lenses!
I intended to vacuum form them, so I 3D printed bucks for the vacuum forming process, I then cast the bucks in plaster using a mold made from alginate (a one-off mold which is destroyed after a single use)
I made a small vacuum former using MDF, some scrap aluminium profiles, steel wire and my vacuum cleaner. I didn't incorporate a heating element, but heating the frame and plastic in the oven worked fine for my purposes.
Once I had the clear lenses I dyed them using a synthetic fabric dye called iDye Poly. It's the only one I've found which seems to work on PETG plastic.
And in the end... I didn't end up using any of these helmets because they're too big for my head. The helmet I am using is entirely 3D printed with a layer of fiberglass on the inside to reinforce it.
Next I will try to show some of the leather bits I made, like the gloves and the rocket harness.
So I decided pretty early on that I was going to mold and cast my helmet. As you can see earlier in this thread, the original was 3D printed with some hand sculpted details, such as the welds which I made using milliput.
The molding and casting process was very, very expensive and difficult.
I began by covering the helmet in WED clay to create a barrier between the helmet and what would become the jacket mold. I did one side at a time, using hardboard and plywood as the center-line. Basically; I cut out a hole in the wood which matched the silhouette of the helmet, I then put the helmet in the hole so that the wood went along the center of the helmet. I then put the clay on, and once one side was clayed and fiberglassed, I could remove the wood and flip the whole thing over to repeat the process for the opposite side, minus the wood this time (don't forget to use some release agent to make sure you can pry the fiberglass apart later)
Once both sides were fiberglassed, I could then pry the jacket mold apart and remove the clay from that half of the helmet. I then re-assembled the jacket mold, poured the silicone and once that dried, I flipped it over and did the same thing again on the other side, and then I had a mold!
Once I had the mold (the observant among you may notice some... differences... in the mold between these shots... That's because I failed once and had to do the whole process twice, and some pictures are from mold A and other pictures are from mold B. We learn as we go) I roto cast/slush cast a bunch of helmets, intending to sell a bunch of them to recoup a little bit of the cost of this whole thing. I did sell all of them, but it took a long time and I wasn't able to make back what I spent, but it helped a little bit.
I also made a few helmets in cold cast brass which I sold. Those were an absolute pain to get right and I will never make another one unless it's explicitly for myself or someone is paying A LOT more than I charged for those ones. Some people got one hell of a deal on those helmets, let me tell ya.
And lastly, let me super quickly go over how I made the eye lenses!
I intended to vacuum form them, so I 3D printed bucks for the vacuum forming process, I then cast the bucks in plaster using a mold made from alginate (a one-off mold which is destroyed after a single use)
I made a small vacuum former using MDF, some scrap aluminium profiles, steel wire and my vacuum cleaner. I didn't incorporate a heating element, but heating the frame and plastic in the oven worked fine for my purposes.
Once I had the clear lenses I dyed them using a synthetic fabric dye called iDye Poly. It's the only one I've found which seems to work on PETG plastic.
And in the end... I didn't end up using any of these helmets because they're too big for my head. The helmet I am using is entirely 3D printed with a layer of fiberglass on the inside to reinforce it.
Next I will try to show some of the leather bits I made, like the gloves and the rocket harness.
bummer6
Well-Known Member
Now it's time for the gloves!
I bought a used leather coat from a goodwill shop and kinda deconstructed it to get all the leather. I used that leather to hand sew the gloves. It wasn't easy since I had virtually no sewing experience, but I got it done in the end. I deconstructed an old leather glove I had lying around to make a pattern. Gathering reference material was very important at this stage to make sure I was at least somewhat matching what the screen used gloves looked like.
When the gloves were constructed, I then went ahead and added the extra bits, like the knuckle/wrist cover and the all important button. Once that was done I stained the leather to make it darker and give it a more weathered look.
Next was the rocket harness! For this I knew I was going to need a lot of fairly thick leather, but that stuff is expensive, soooo...
Turns out an old used couch is significantly cheaper than buying a bunch of leather. So now I had my leather!
I once again hand stitched everything and made patterns from reference images. What you see here is my second attempt since I didn't like the first one I made. This was definitely a learning process, but I'm really happy with the results.
I bought a used leather coat from a goodwill shop and kinda deconstructed it to get all the leather. I used that leather to hand sew the gloves. It wasn't easy since I had virtually no sewing experience, but I got it done in the end. I deconstructed an old leather glove I had lying around to make a pattern. Gathering reference material was very important at this stage to make sure I was at least somewhat matching what the screen used gloves looked like.
When the gloves were constructed, I then went ahead and added the extra bits, like the knuckle/wrist cover and the all important button. Once that was done I stained the leather to make it darker and give it a more weathered look.
Next was the rocket harness! For this I knew I was going to need a lot of fairly thick leather, but that stuff is expensive, soooo...
Turns out an old used couch is significantly cheaper than buying a bunch of leather. So now I had my leather!
I once again hand stitched everything and made patterns from reference images. What you see here is my second attempt since I didn't like the first one I made. This was definitely a learning process, but I'm really happy with the results.
bummer6
Well-Known Member
Time for the main event! The rocket pack!
Sorry to disappoint, but I won't have a ton of stuff to say about this. I made all the 3D files myself and I 3D printed it in A LOT of parts. The engines were mostly scratch built with 3D printed "engine bells". Just a ton of sanding, filler primer, sanding again... Repeat for literal weeks. Once that was done I painted it black and covered the whole thing in a gloss varnish. The glossy black surface served as the base coat for the shiny chrome paint. I heard good things about Alclad, but I decided to go with AK's "xtreme metal" paint. This was the first time I ever used an airbrush, so I wanted something that was slightly less fussy to apply than Alclad. It went on pretty good, but I then applied a layer of Alclad Aqua Gloss to protect the paint and it kinda dulled it a bit. Not too bad, but I do kinda miss the mirror shine that was there before.
Sorry to disappoint, but I won't have a ton of stuff to say about this. I made all the 3D files myself and I 3D printed it in A LOT of parts. The engines were mostly scratch built with 3D printed "engine bells". Just a ton of sanding, filler primer, sanding again... Repeat for literal weeks. Once that was done I painted it black and covered the whole thing in a gloss varnish. The glossy black surface served as the base coat for the shiny chrome paint. I heard good things about Alclad, but I decided to go with AK's "xtreme metal" paint. This was the first time I ever used an airbrush, so I wanted something that was slightly less fussy to apply than Alclad. It went on pretty good, but I then applied a layer of Alclad Aqua Gloss to protect the paint and it kinda dulled it a bit. Not too bad, but I do kinda miss the mirror shine that was there before.
Agreed! The finish on the pack looks amazing!
Any insight into how you smoothed out the FDM prints so well? Just ol' fashion elbow grease or...?
Sean
Any insight into how you smoothed out the FDM prints so well? Just ol' fashion elbow grease or...?
Sean
bummer6
Well-Known Member
bummer6
Well-Known Member
Just a short post this time about the jacket I bought from Wested.
The jacket is fairly high quality, although I needed to have it tailored to fit me since they didn't have my size. Apparently I'm significantly smaller than the people at Wested could imagine. Buttoning up the bib was also a MAJOR hassle, so I ended up doing what many others have done before me and added magnets to the bib to make it more convenient. Another problem I had with the Wested jacket was that the shoulder flaps were sewn in place and only had decorative, non-functional buttons on them. This meant I couldn't tuck the harness straps under the flaps. The flap issue was taken care of by the tailor who added velcro to make it super easy to put on and take off the harness. Last thing I added was a hole in the back for wiring.
The jacket is fairly high quality, although I needed to have it tailored to fit me since they didn't have my size. Apparently I'm significantly smaller than the people at Wested could imagine. Buttoning up the bib was also a MAJOR hassle, so I ended up doing what many others have done before me and added magnets to the bib to make it more convenient. Another problem I had with the Wested jacket was that the shoulder flaps were sewn in place and only had decorative, non-functional buttons on them. This meant I couldn't tuck the harness straps under the flaps. The flap issue was taken care of by the tailor who added velcro to make it super easy to put on and take off the harness. Last thing I added was a hole in the back for wiring.
rocketeer25
Sr Member
Fantastic work! The fact that you're working with all these various mediums and doing most of the work yourself is most impressive. You've got to be incredibly happy with the results so far... the pics are amazing!
Do they have it in different color? Because original jacket seems to be lighter in shade than this.
bummer6
Well-Known Member
I sent you a PM, but the short answer is that Wested unfortunately only sells one color. Personally I tend to like the Wested jacket because it more closely matches what the jacket looked like in the film vs how it looked like in real life. color grading and such can make props and costumes look very different in reality to what they look like on the big screen.
bummer6
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that's why I try to simply go for what feels right and not get too hung up on exact color matching. If it looks right, it is right.Never try to match a color seen on screen, or pictures, with what the color really looks like in real life. Unless you have a Grey Scale side by side with the original movie jacket (at the time of its production/design) you'll never be "close". Our cross to bear
Similar threads
