The rangefinder servo was a bust. The servo was only 3V because I could only fit a micro servo in my helmet, and the RC car I bought only ran on two AA batteries, yet even hooking the servo directly up to 3V gave me very weak sporadic bursts of power. Maybe I got a duff servo, but I have a feeling it's a lost cause given the limitations of the size of my helmet. I'm still trying to tackle the issue of my visible chin. I've dremelled the entire support struts out (and managed to push my Dremel to the point of a smoking motor). I can see well through the T-visor now and my chin is well and truly covered, but I have the no neck syndrome which is unacceptable, so I'll be padding it out with foam once I've installed helmet fans. I think I'll craft half a chin skirt out of lycra that will stretch and attach to the bottom of the two cheeks. It won't tuck into the neckseal and the base of the ears will be open to allow squirrel fans to suck fresh air up and towards the visor. I'm just not sure if the lycra is still going to be obtrusive from the profile view.
Now onto updates! I've finally got some pictures to show.
JET PACK:
The centre tube was installed over easter and I also added the top skirting and worked on the fuel canisters. Essentially I thickened up a poster tube to the right thickness with sintra and glued the top half together. The canisters slide in the top end, and then I can sheathe the bottom half to fix them permanently. One of my housemates also had a tub of shower gel that was the right girth and height of the tube that attaches to the missile (not pictured). I've also attached the hooks (cut and bent from curtain rail hooks) with epoxy resin and I plan to fiberglass them sparingly for added security. After that, resin the front of the pack and it's ready for bondo.
HARNESS:
My scratch build POS. The back is MDF formed slightly to accommodate the curvature of my back and the curve of the jet pack, with fiberglass on some cracks. It looks awful, but it's functional which is what I care about most for this part. Based on the original harness concept, I simplified it. The bar at the base wedges the back plate snug against my back, and the nylon webbing I sewed together keeps it tight. I've still got to add D-rings for the top half. It's not bad for the price of a roll of nylon strap.
ARMOUR:
I've filled and sanded the majority of the pieces, I just have the codpiece and back plate to go. Pieces are primed and have snap fasteners attached to the other side. I heated up the sintra and pushed a scalpel butt into the PVC for the dents and dremelled in the rough scratches. The codpiece dent was trickier as the sintra is doubled up, so I hacked away at it with a scalpel and plan t even it out with the bondo stage. Again, the back plate isn't that accurate, but it fits my back well.
GLOVES:
Just a quick picture of the parade gloves I bought. I used Pearl Grey Rit Dye to darken, although I used it very sparingly in stages because I didn't want to take them too dark. You can't really see the colour in the photo but I think it may need a bit more to fit with my flight suit grey.
GAUNTLETS:
After suiting up with what I had, I realised my gauntlets were far too tight, and the magnets would pop open with a flick of the wrist. I do have slightly shorter arms in proportion to the rest of me, so while the length of them on my forearms feels right, I really didn't have enough circumference to handle my arms. So, despite having painted them to a standard I was happy with, I added some spacers to let my arms breathe a bit easier. More bondo and sanding. Now they're a little screen inaccurate, but comfort comes first for this part, and wearing the suit, every little helps in that department. So here they are primed and ready for another spray session.