My styrofoam jet pack

Here is my jet pack i carved out of a solid piece of styrofoam block. I got some tips from Lisafett and went from there. The paint job isn't that great and the bdy is a little short, but other than that i would be interested in hearing what everyone thinks. This will be my interim pack till i can buy a kit. pics are here http://community.webshots.com/album/37514531dvcixJ

Carved out of Styrofoam? That's pretty **** impressing!
Besides from the paintjob, the proportions of the pack looks
off. It should be much longer. Another idea would be to use
plastic bottles or something simillar for the cylindrical shapes, since it's seems more difficult to carve out shapes like that and i think it would get a much crisper look too. Anyway good job!

-Mikael

the tops of the cylinders are aluminum cans with the tops cut off. the whole thing also has 4 layers of paper mache on it before painting. i knew the length was off but it was too late when i noticed.

Hey, nobody's first (or 2nd, or 3rd....) one ends up perfect. I think the first pack I made was like four or five years ago now, and of course I still find things to change. At least it didn't cost you a whole lot, and you've got something you worked hard on. The vast majority of people are not going to notice much besides that you've actually got a pack on.

Did you brush paint it? I would think that spray paint might improve the paint job, but I have also seen spray paint dissolve styrofoam before. I would definately test it first.

I paper mached it before painting so no shrinkage problems just over spray.

Wow, that looks pretty darn good! I'm planning on making a jet pack the same way so any info would be great. Since I'm a girl, and petite, I will need a light jetback, I can't lug around a lot of weight like some of you guys can What did you use for paper mache, just water glue and newspaper or something else? Can you sand it down to get it smooth? I tried it once for my Slave costume and it looked terrible cause you can see the lines of the paper as they wrap around.

I used newspaper for the first layer and then regular paper like for a printer for the other 3 layers. I used elmers glue and water mixed together. I tried sanding but to no avail but you really can't see the lines unless you are right next to it. It weighs about as much as a loaf or bread. The whole base was carved out of a solid block of styrofoam with a styrofoam saw. I used a couple pictures from the fett cd and my epic force figure as a guide. For the missle i used 3 different sized cones i got from a hobby store. I also used a styrofoam ball for each of the jets with a air freshner top pushed up in and glued. To hold the in i used a 1/8" dowl rod sharpened to stick into the pack and ball. I used 2 up on the top for the missle halfs and to connect to the base. to attach it to myself i used some metal hanger pieces, roughly 1"x6-7" sharpened one end on a grinder and bent it so that it could be stuck up in the styrofoam with a kind of hook left out. on the hook i attached the bottom part (hook) of a pair of suspenders. the hook then attached to a metal d ring that was connected to piece of nylon belt and it ran over my shoulder (under the vest) and connected to the top of my girth belt with another hook from the suspenders. it worked great because there was no weight. the only problem is that it swings a little when i walk. hope this helps out. if you have any more questions email me.
P.S. I would like to see the slave pics too!

Scott

Thanks for the info. How big of a block of styrofoam did you use and where did you find it? I'm actually thinking of using industrial strength velcro to attach it since it will be a light weight pack.

For all those interested in slave pics just check out my website I'm working on the authentic Slave Leia now. Hmm, maybe I can use those pics to help me get info for my Jango gear

Does someone have a mop? There's a lot of drool around here!

I got the piece from a place i used to work that makes insulation by putting a piece of particle board on each side of a piece of styrofoam. I got the measurements from lisa fetts site.