DIY suggestions

[luckykaa]

I feel a hankering to make myself a rocket pack.  Something Buster-crabbe-esque. 

Any suggestions as to how I should go about this?  I'd love to make the main parts out of polished brass or something similar looking but unless there are some decent off the shelf components for the tank and nozzle I'll probably go for painted plastic.  I have no machine tools to make something amazing. 

I need:

Some pipes
A tank
A nozzle
Some controls
Some means to attach all this to my back.
A ray gun!

But need to work out details.

Comments

[pewterfish.livejournal.com]

Sussex Model Centre in Worthing sell a few thicknesses of brass sheet and pipe, if that helps any. It's not cheap, per se (about £3 for an A5ish sheet) but it might be helpful. (they have a webstore at http://www.sussex-model-centre.co.uk/)

[flannelcat.livejournal.com]

Start the thinking process with the harness - really, everything else will follow.

Two coffeecans bolted together?

The controls should be on a looong wire, perhaps on a strap / sitting in holster on your upper thigh?

I'd be happy to see what you come up with. When you're done with it, could we mod it and use it for WitW? :D

[lordofthewheel.livejournal.com]

B&Q is your friend, as long as you're happy spending some. Some do brass and copper sheets that are thin enough to be cut with good scissors but thick enough not to bend out of shape, plus copper piping and brass fitting from the plumbing section can go great ways to make things look more realistic. For the harness possibly an old backpack or probably better make one yourself. Get some thickish leather and rivet bits together onto it with brass rivets, but dye the leather before doing so if you want to, don't try to do it afterwards.

This may be more detail than planned, but I am currently remaking my steampunk cyborg properly instead of as a rush job so have been playing around with this recently, so if you fancy catching me on MSN at some point if you want to bounce ideas off each other...

[aperrott.livejournal.com]

I agree with the comments above and would like to add:

Painted plastic with a bit of metal trim could look pretty good and wouldn't be too heavy to wear.

Plastic push-fit overflow pipes are inexpensive and would look good painted antique brass.

You'll score points if you can also make it work as a backpack for booze and nibbles.

Bonus poins if you can load it with dry ice and blow it out of the 'rocket jet' on demand. (It would also help chill your drinks!)