If you remember the film The Rocketeer, there’s a good chance that you wanted a Cirrus X3 Rocket pack. Unfortunately, a working model isn’t availalble (yet), but Steve Radtke of Valor Design made one that could almost convince someone that it could take off. From the pictures, it looks flawless.
If you’re considering building one yourself, you might carefully consider how much time you have to invest in it, as it took about 5 months to construct as seen in the linked build pictures. Molding and casting was used, a new technique for the builder. Some interesting electronics round out the build.
These electronics are used to “ignite” LEDs in the rocket exhaust when the hand trigger is pushed. Rocket sounds, as well as other sound effects taken from the movie are used in this rocket replica. If a reboot of this series is planned (It’s about time, right? No movie seems immune lately.) maybe they’ll contact the maker for some prop work.
If that wasn’t enough, Valor Design also bought and finished a a helmet to go along with this ‘pack. This looks like a slightly more accessible project, although I’m sure it took a ton of work as well. On the other hand, if you’ve got more money than time, Valor is available for commission, although I can’t imagine work of this quality comes cheaply!
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