WIP: Scratch Build Styrene Jet Pack

Fettered

Hunter
As it turns out I apparently have Fett A.D.D. (FADD? :lol:) and I keep cycling around from project to project. Eventually something will get done, and it keeps things interesting, I guess. Since I have been stealing most of "my" ideas from all of the genius on TDH I haven't seen much reason to post up on progress, but I'm at a point where I'm happy with my jet pack progress, plus I found a decent item for the thruster fuel canisters and wanted to share.

A Star Wars Fan/costume/sign maker hooked me up with a 4'x8' sheet of .060" styrene a couple of weeks ago and I commenced with trying my hand at using Wizardofflight's templates for the pack. I also purchased a few small sheets of .020" styrene from a hobby shop to do some of the smaller parts and parts that require more flexibility. I'm also using some PVC pipe, but wasn't happy with the sizes available for the smaller tanks on the side. I was at CVS today and found a couple of cheap spun aluminum water bottles that looked to be about right. As it turns out they were just oversized by less than 1/8" (according to Alan's templates). This is going to be perfect for me! They are too short, but I will be able to cut each in half and make up the difference with PVC in the middle (this will be totally hidden).

Progress:

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I was about to do a WIP thread tonight but kinda tired, Im pretty far into it lots of bondo has been put into the body and wasted but its shaping up, alot harder on the scaled down version with huge hands :p
you look to be doing a really good job so far!
 
Thanks guys! I'd love to see what you have going, F4R. 3/4 scale? That would be tricky on some of these parts! I've been thinking about your stage of the process as I go. I am trying to work carefully so that I don't have to double the weight of the thing in filler! I'll use what I have to to make it nice, though.

Oh, a couple of things I forgot to mention. Despite using .020 styrene for a lot of the rocket parts it seems quite solid, but there are a couple of things that make that happen. First, I carefully cut and fit disks out of the .060 from Alan's template to fit either flush with or slightly inset (depending on my need) to the tops and bottoms of the cones. Some of these disks I turned into rings due to the second trick, which was to turn down a length of 1" pvc so that it would fit through the bottom of the upper cone and act as a spine through the assembly. Inside of the lower cone I used a reducer fitting to go from the 1.5" section to the 1" section.
 
You my friend, have got skills.. sick skills.. I scratchbuild mostly just for scale models.. so I really know when I see talent!
 
You my friend, have got skills.. sick skills.. I scratchbuild mostly just for scale models.. so I really know when I see talent!
Thanks for the compliment, but I am really just learning. I've adopted some techniques from other hobbies, but this is my first go on something like this. I wouldn't have considered it without seeing the great work others have done on here!
Bout to upload a BUNCH of pics and start a thread....
Looking good amigo! I'll be tackling the actual pack soon too!
 
It looks fine and well done. If the rest of the build will be as good as your first steps are then you will have an excellent Jetpack. Keep up the great work!
 
Thanks for the words of encouragement, RF. :) Work (real world work) is picking up for me, but I hope too keep steady progress. It's about this stage that it is going to start to look like something!
 
I don't have a huge update, but I did get the ribbed piece on and made progress on a screw insert for the rocket assembly using the cut off piece of one of the aluminum water bottles. It took a while to work that out, actually, and involved a bit of time on the lathe for some of the plastic bits to fit just right.

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Thanks! I'm still looking for something that will replicate the rocket cone. Suggestions are welcome!

RKD-In the meantime I started working on the knee armor you sent. So far so good (y)
 
Another "minor" update. It doesn't look like much, but it was a lot of work.

I keep working on different things, and sculpting the interior of the lower collar greeblie had me slowed way down on this. I went through a couple of different tries before a found a system that worked well for me to get everything to fit snugly and line up properly when I screwed the rocket assembly down. It seems nice an solid now.
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Sweet job. Wish I had your skills and could make my own.

Thanks Bill. The main skill is patience, my friend. Followed by being able to get yourself re-do the things that don't work out right :( That collar greeblie took a couple of different failed attempts and materials to find what would work for me.
 
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