Fans of the Rocketeer comic book and movie franchise will be familiar with its hero’s 1930s-styled rocket backpack. It’s an intricate construction of complex streamlined curves, that has inspired many recreations over the years.
Most Rocketeer jetpacks are made from plastic, foam, and other lightweight materials that will be familiar to cosplayers and costumers. But [David Guyton]’s one is different, he’s made it from sheet steel.
The attraction in his video is not so much the finished pack, though that is an impressive build. Instead it’s the workmanship, nay, the craftsmanship, as he documents every stage of the metalwork involved. The panel beating tools of a sheet metalworker’s trade are surprisingly simple, and it’s tempting to think as you watch: “I could do that!”. But behind the short video clips and apparent speed of the build lies many hours of painstaking work and a huge amount of skill. Some of us will have tried this kind of sheet work, few of us will have taken it to this level.
The video is below the break, it takes us through the constituent parts of the build, including at the end some of the engine details which are cast in resin. Watch it with a sense of awe!
I’m still waiting for the sequel.
Investing in some Cleco temporary fasteners is some of the best money you’ll spend if you do much of anything in metalwork. Saves the continual rivet and drill out cycle.
http://clecofasteners.info/
I just saw the movie prop at the Museum of Science in Boston . Check out the “Popnology” exhibit. lots of pics on instagram under the same hashtag.
I haven’t done anything like that since I was a kid making suits of armour out of soda can metal for my G.I Joe. Theses days I doubt I’d have the tenacity to do it on that scale, that is an enormous amount of focused attention embodied in the finished product.
I ended up going to some pretty big lengths to avoid any forming like that in one of my projects. I ended up with a life sized bear made up of over 500 polygons bent and riveted together.
The complete opposite to this project. https://solid-gray.com/
Awesome metalworking skills! My only question is…how much fuel does it hold? Ha ha.
Finally, a place where those obnoxious brown Noctua fans look cool :)
so what gum sticks best to prevent fuel leaks? :P