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[Second Son]

So I started a jet pack.  It began with a rough sketch and basic pattern in CAD, and then a quick cradboard mockup for scale.



Dozens of hours and several weeks of tweaking later, I I got some parts cut and pre-bent. I also designed, printed and finished a nose cone and base dome for the center fuselage. My distaste for print finishing continues.


I put all the bits together, it weighs about 3 pounds so far without harness, straps, and connection hardware.






I have been busy getting the primary construction done; pretty soon I'll be adding the detail bits, figuring out a color scheme, taking it apart, painting it, and reassembling it.

[Tramp Graphics]

All Aluminum? Looking sweet. 

[Second Son]

Well, mostly.  I did cheat by getting stainless hardware...

[Tramp Graphics]

Well, mostly.  I did cheat by getting stainless hardware...

Still, all metal. Nice.

[Second Son]

I have no idea where I'm going with this. I painted without planning and we'll see where it goes.



OK, Blue Angels vibe, but I ain't mad. I can work with this. It'll need Danger Stripes, lots of scuffing and paint damage, and Space Grime.


I love how these intake louvers look - I'll permanently mount them in once I have the time.

Needs some more work on nozzles - the fittings for my jump boots are a little too small for this application, so I'lll need a different solution. I'll get back to this soon.

Custom designed vent/greeblie plates turned out great; I'll probably use variations on the them for other things like transfer cases, environmental props, etc...


Oh and custom-made hooks and hanger loops. I would have used something more off-the-shelf but apparently I'm too darn Extra.



The keyhole slots are for an additional layer of security - I'm planning to clinch some studs to my backplate and add some matching headed posts that slide into the slots to help hold the JP in place side-to-side. We'll see how that turns out.
That's all for now,  I'm slipping little bits of progress in where I can between work travel and being a full time parent and spouse on the weekends. See you next time, vode.

[Tramp Graphics]

Me likey. But then again, I'm a sucker for navy blue and gold.

[Second Son]

Me likey. But then again, I'm a sucker for navy blue and gold.

Honestly, me too vod. I somewhat randomly selected from my stock of rattlecans and wouldn't you know it's mostly blues, black, grey and yellow....

[Second Son]

Once again I just let it flow. Grabbed my masking materials and kinda zoned out and here we are. Danger Stripes and some geometrics that I felt were the right thing to do.

Sometimes a masking tape pull is exactly what you needed, even if you didn't know you needed it until you got it.


Loosely together for a photo and to work on where I'm adding more scuffs and scratches. I'm trying to make the wear mostly linear, or rubbing/scuffing type paint wear, as air and debris would be brushing and bouncing off the thing as it rushes past, or rubbing and scraping against bulkheads, or the sides of impromptu portholes that I've blasted into the sides of ships during high-stakes acquisitions. 

There's some splats and such, but nothing like the blaster and weapons damage I have on my frontal armor (not turning my back on anybody shooting at me!)There will be lots of black and brown space grime added, of course.

Next steps:
I've got some (hopefully) perfect cones on the way for my thruster nozzles, and once they are mounted in place I can finalize my assembly and button things up.
Then I need to put together a harness and modify my flak vest to accomodate some hanger straps.
Then it's fine tuning the wear, tear and grime until it's perfect.  Oh and probably upp-ing the scorch marks on my kama to eleven.

[Second Son]

Cones arrived, OMG they are perfect. So last night I stayed up working on final assembly and beating up the paint job a bit more.
They are stainless (only material I could get this size/within reasonable time/cost) so I couldn't do a whole lot of drilling/tapping with my fairly low-powered tools so I made it work with some steel epoxy and machine screws. We'll see how it holds up over time - I can always upgrade my tools later.


Intakes


Side panels - trying to accentuate the motion with repetitive steel-wooling.


Main body greeble plates close-up


Leading edges I'm trying to have lots of parallel abrasion.

Here's a look at the back side - I've got some metal loops that the hooks will engage, and the keyslots are to engage some screws I'm planning to mount in my back plate to keep it from swaying as I walk.


Next steps:

• I need to put together a harness and modify my flak vest to accommodate hanger straps. And add screws/posts to my back plate.
• Add space grime. I don't want to go too far with the beatings until I can get it mounted and have some review with my Ruus'alor.
• Dial up my kama scorches.
• Work on my Space Pirate stuff because this is a distraction from the main goal.

[Second Son]

Well I added my grime. I haven't truly advanced the project all that much so I'll post some beauty shots for the record and summarize things better once I've got it properly mounted with a harness and fully vetted by my Ruus'alor and the Brigade command staff.
At the very start of filthification:


Overall shot of Final Space Grime (for now)


Details:





I'm pretty happy with and proud of my heat discoloration - it's actually painted, not torched. Burnt Umber and Turqoise semi-transparent paints over top of a heavy, heavy black wash.
Once the temperature drops a bit to a better range I'll throw on some clear coat to protect the paint job. For now I'll just be careful because I don't think I'll ever get these results again.

Right now, this thing is an empty shell, but I'm thinking about (in the far future) making some mock inner workings (possibly with lights?) so I can have the thing partly opened up at a con table with some greebles and tools if I don't feel like wearing it for some reason. It'll also make the assembly hardware make more sense, and make me feel better about the shell seams not being 100% tight hairline joints. 95% of the time no one would have any idea that there's anything inside, but I'd know.

[Second Son]

So today I finished off the mounting and version 1 of my harness.

What I though would be the biggest challenge turned out easier than I thought - making openings in my vest for shoulder straps. I fell back on an old skill, stitching buttonholes.
Mark and outline the slot with stay stitches


Repeat the buttonholes stitch until your fingers hurt a little

Do it twice!

Ibuilt a contraption of straps, buckles, loops and slides to help transfer the weight more evenly (if I just stick it to my backplate it pulls the collar plate straight into my throat). I will be revising this as a long-term project, perhaps even going to a full solid harness. I'll troop with it and see how good/bad I feel about it as-is.



For the actual connection, I went pretty straightforward. Hooks on the jetpack hang on loops attched to shoulder straps, and I have some bolts with spacers attached to my backplate that slide into the keyslots on the back plate of the jetpack. There's a bit of spring action in the backplate that helps pull it tight.




The two bolts hold the whole thing pretty still, and the loops pull the weight forward and down off my neck. It still slides back a little over time so i'll work on that. The system is simple and secure, and i can even lean forward, side to side, jump etc. without it rattling around. I asked Mrs. Second Son to put it on and take it off with little instrcution, and she had zero trouble so any handler or even an invasion liaison (in case of solo invasion) should be able to help. I can pretty much kit up entirely on my own except for this part and I think I could maybe do it solo in a pinch.

I'm almost entirely out of excuses for not getting on with my Privateer application.

[Kryos]

That looks rad! 

[Second Son]

That looks rad! 

Thanks vod. I'm pretty proud of how it turned out.

The v1 harness worked but it was just so, so ugly and hard to actually put on. So I made a new one.

I started with an abbreviated variation of my flak vest pattern, done in natural linen. Each panel is two layers. I used cotton webbing for the shoulder straps, and doubled slides to secure the harness loop straps to make it adjustable but secure. 

And added a front extension, in leftover flight suit material (so it blends if it peeks out) and leftover black linen from making the vest. It ended up looking a little bit PI with the topstitching and the overall shape of it.
After primary construction was done, I installed two snaps in each lower corner and matching snaps on the front belt loops on my pants. 
The panel pulls the weight of the jetpack forward and down - I found that V1 would let my collar plate creep up and back a little too much for my liking.
The snaps keep everything flexible.


I initially went with simple D-ring style closures, but didn't like how the strap ends were loose (a major issue with the V1), so I added a bit of stitch-on velcro to both add security and neaten everything up.


It's really solid, secure, and much more attractive. I was able to wear my jetpack from about 12:30 to 4:00 comfortably at a local con.

It doesn't wobble at all.
I can jump up and down (done while demonstrating the attachment to some very nice potential Mandos), shimmy side to side, jog/run, bend over to pick things up etc without it shifting.
So, great success overall.