ThatGuyKnownAsT
New Member
Hey all. Kind of nervous, but here's my first topic. Long time lurker, and the amount of craftsmanship I see here is always inspiring. For the longest time I've wanted a Rocketeer costume. Well, this year, I finally decided to do one. The original plan was the have it done for Halloween, but at this point, I'll probably end up with a half-finished one for Halloween (which is no sweat off my back, only going to some house parties) and then refine it during the winter months before taking it to PAX South/East/Prime next year.
So, going to include sources for things bought and things referenced because I feel that should be a thing.
First in the jacket:
Purchased with custom sizings from South Beach Leather. Pretty good fit and look to it. The sleeves are a LITTLE too short, but I can work with it. Also, the buttons are off and I plan to replace them later.
Next is the helmet. The helmet is the one thing I did not trust myself with a limited skill set to do right, and although I could learn from trial and error, I figured I'd do it on my next project (hopefully Iron Man). I bought a pre-fab helmet from this seller on Ebay.
Unlike his description (where you would need to mount the lenses yourself) the seller/creator had already melted them in place. While great, it meant I would need to make sure the lenses were taped properly. Not too difficult a task, but I'd have rather just mounted them myself with my own heat gun. The other tiny issue was that the vents on top were closed and solid. Had to dremel those out.
Unfortunately, I knicked the helmet a couple times with the dremel. Damage fixable though. Nothing a little bondo and primer couldn't fix.
Now once I started painting it with Design Master Brilliant Gold paint, I noticed the bondo wasn't as smooth as I'd have liked. However, I figure in the long run it's fine because as soon as I start weathering it, it'll blend right in.
For the last part of this post, I move on to the rocket itself. I'm still kinda of tumbling around on what to do, but part of the original plan was to 3D print certain pieces found on Thingverse. A friend with a 3D printed found this model of the fuselage, and we began to print it.
Unforuately, the printer was too small, and we didn't have the time to properly slice it into more manageable pieces. We are harvesting the vents off this, and printing out just the vents for the rocket which I'm making partially out of PVC. Here's one of the fuselages cut offf of the main pipe. Still need to shape the bottom, but I think it looks good.
So the plan for the rest of the rocket is as follows:
At that point I think the pack will be serviceable for at least Halloween for some house parties, before I do some major updates to it.
So tell me what you think. Any suggestions? Again, this is my first build so I'm constant nervous over it. Thanks so much for reading.
So, going to include sources for things bought and things referenced because I feel that should be a thing.
First in the jacket:
Purchased with custom sizings from South Beach Leather. Pretty good fit and look to it. The sleeves are a LITTLE too short, but I can work with it. Also, the buttons are off and I plan to replace them later.
Next is the helmet. The helmet is the one thing I did not trust myself with a limited skill set to do right, and although I could learn from trial and error, I figured I'd do it on my next project (hopefully Iron Man). I bought a pre-fab helmet from this seller on Ebay.
Unlike his description (where you would need to mount the lenses yourself) the seller/creator had already melted them in place. While great, it meant I would need to make sure the lenses were taped properly. Not too difficult a task, but I'd have rather just mounted them myself with my own heat gun. The other tiny issue was that the vents on top were closed and solid. Had to dremel those out.
Unfortunately, I knicked the helmet a couple times with the dremel. Damage fixable though. Nothing a little bondo and primer couldn't fix.
Now once I started painting it with Design Master Brilliant Gold paint, I noticed the bondo wasn't as smooth as I'd have liked. However, I figure in the long run it's fine because as soon as I start weathering it, it'll blend right in.
For the last part of this post, I move on to the rocket itself. I'm still kinda of tumbling around on what to do, but part of the original plan was to 3D print certain pieces found on Thingverse. A friend with a 3D printed found this model of the fuselage, and we began to print it.
Unforuately, the printer was too small, and we didn't have the time to properly slice it into more manageable pieces. We are harvesting the vents off this, and printing out just the vents for the rocket which I'm making partially out of PVC. Here's one of the fuselages cut offf of the main pipe. Still need to shape the bottom, but I think it looks good.
So the plan for the rest of the rocket is as follows:
- Shape fuselages, cut out vent holes.
- Place 3D printed vents into the holes
- Cone shaped on a "lathe" (large drill) out of foam core
- Score the cone, drill in holes, add fins from scrap signage metal
- Mount cone to PVC, score lines down the side
- Center piece have printed at a makers shop locally (here is the file I found for that)
- Mount everything together, add rivets (I read googly eyes have been used for rivets but are unsure of what size to get/how many)
At that point I think the pack will be serviceable for at least Halloween for some house parties, before I do some major updates to it.
So tell me what you think. Any suggestions? Again, this is my first build so I'm constant nervous over it. Thanks so much for reading.
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