1/16 Rocket Man

Gallery Article by Terry Davis on Feb 21 2012

 

 

LOOK UP IN THE SKY!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  No, it's Rocket Man!!!

Being an avid fan of aircraft and anything aviation related, when I saw an article in the June 2001 issue of Flight Journal about the Bell Rocket Belt and test pilot Bill Suitor, I knew I had to build one.

Bill Suitor and several other daring and adventuresome pilots have flown the rocket belt for many years entertaining crowds at venues ranging from the Olympic Games, Super Bowl, Disneyland, to appearing in motion pictures.

Even though the flights are short in duration, 20 to 25 seconds, they are fascinating to watch.  I give high kudos to these fearsome pilots.

 

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I started the build using the 1/16 Tamiya Bundeswehr Tank Crewman figure.  The arms, legs, and head were re-positioned and the molded on winter coveralls were thinned down to better represent a flight suit.  Epoxy putty was used to create the safety helmet and the military boots were converted to tennis shoes.  The sunglasses were made out of clear styrene and strip styrene then painted with a mixture of Tamiya clear yellow and orange.

I went online to the National Air and Space Museum and obtained some great text, drawings and photos of the rocket belt.  With all of this information at hand, I was able to scratchbuild everything you see on the pilots back.

Materials used include: sheet and rod styrene, lead foil and solder, BMF, miscellaneous sizes of wire, and casting resin.  Miniature nuts and railroad fittings finished out the construction of the belt.  The material for the safety belts are from Model Car Garage and the PE parts are from my spare parts bin.

I used Tamiya, Model Masters, and Alclad paints.  The decals are either handmade or from the parts box.

This was a fun and enjoyable build and proves that not everything has to have wings to fly.

UP! UP! AND AWAY!!!

Terry Davis

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Photos and text © by Terry Davis