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Building a Replica Rocket Man
As a fan of the classic cliffhangers, I have long been fascinated with the "atomic powered" flying suit used originally in Republic's 1949 production, "King of the Rocket Men". When I decided to put together an original video "serial" paying homage to the character, I wanted to create a miniature, which might be used for filming outdoor "flying" sequences. Rather than starting from scratch and attempting to create a full-sized dummy, I chose to base the project around a 1/6 scale action figure since various accessories are readily available, thus keeping the cost to a minimum.
After doing a bit of research through the Internet and news groups, I chose a Cotswold body. These figures allow for easy hand and head swaps and are scaled for use with most action figure accessories. I needed both left and right hands to be in Superman-style flying position and was able to locate a set of 21st Century hands, which had been modified to fit the wrist sockets of the Cots body. The wire reinforced rubber fingers allow for several hand positions and can be adjusted as needed for holding a variety of objects.
The head was borrowed from an early 1990's GI Joe Real American Heroes figure buried in one of my daughter's old toy bins (yes, I got her into action figures when she was all of five years old!). I had originally intended on having a custom head sculpt done in the likeness of Tristam Coffin, the actor who portrayed the original Rocket Man, but found the cost to be prohibitive.
One of the coolest features of the costume is the trademark mid-length, aviator-style black leather jacket. After many months of searching, I located a very talented artisan named Liz Galeria at The Magic Wardrobe. Working from 8x10 black and white stills and my information, she created a beautiful scale replica of the flying suit jacket, right down to the miniature back shoulder vents, ribbed cuffs and front tailoring darts. Since the hands of the Cotswold figure are easily removed, my wife Raelene was able to tighten the taper of the cuffs in order to give the jacket a snug, more realistic fit.
The next step was recreating the full-cut, forties-style, pin-stripped pants worn by the character. A local Sacramento-based seamstress named Cherise Ellingson, whose specialty is doll clothing, designed the pants, again, working from black and white photos. She even nailed the small cuffs at the bottom! The final touch was a pair of black socks and wing tip shoes from a Soldiers of the World figure.
Having assembled the basic costume, I turned to the various components of the rocket suit. Back in 1996, I purchase a resin model kit of The Rocket Man, created by Pacifica-based sculptor Terry Reynolds. The kit accurately captures all the nuances of the suit and, as luck would have it, was done in the same scale as my figure. As is my habit, I had prepped the kit for painting but done none of the assembly! After doing some comparison, I decided to try and adapt the model kit parts.
Another invaluable resource I discovered was my local Tap Plastics store. I had never done any mold making or casting and the helpful sales staff set me up with everything I needed. Using two part RTV silicone, I made individual molds of the helmet, rocket pack and chest control piece. I then cast the pieces in Quick Cast© polyurethane resin. Once the pieces had fully cured, they were removed from the molds, cleaned up and prepped for primer. SInce the helmet was poured as a solid piece, I grabbed my trusty Dremel tool and hollowed out the inside until the figure's head fit properly. I also opened up the eye and mouth holes on the helmet visor.
Once the pieces had been primed, I base coated each with Model Master Flat Black enamel. I let everything dry 24 hours and then misted several light coats of Model Master German Silver Metallic enamel. This process gave a nice aluminum finish to the pieces, much like the originals.
Now it was time to begin adding detail to each piece, beginning with the helmet. To recreate the wire screen of the visor mouthpiece, I found some fine mesh pipe screens at a local smoke shop. I cut one of the screens to the proper size and shot both sides with flat black enamel. Once glued in place, I brushed another coat of flat black over the inside of the screen. The mouthpiece was now completely opaque, just like the original, yet still retained the screen's texture on the outside surface. To replicate the clear plastic eye pieces, I cut two very thin pieces of acetate and glued them to the inside surface of the helmet.
The rocket pack also received the screen treatment just described. I painted the "intake" ports flat black and covered each with circular pieces of screen painted the same silver color as the rocket pack. Once again, I used my Dremel tool to open up the "exhaust" outlets and painted the inside openings flat black. Finally, I added some detail to the chest piece control knobs using gloss black and punched in the arrows and calibration graphics with flat white.
The back plate which supports the rocket pack was cut from a piece of leather and painted with Nu-Life color spray, a product specially formulated for use on leather and vinyl. The belt was also cut from very thin leather, threaded through the back plate and fitted with a vintage-style GI Joe cartridge belt buckle. The buckle "rivets" and side snaps were created using pins, pushed through and cut to the proper length, then secured to the inside surface of the belt with a dab of super glue.
All that remained was to secure the back plate and chest control piece to the jacket. I sewed two large snaps to the inside surface of the leather back plate and back of the jacket. I used three small snaps for the jacket front and glued the other half of each to the back of the chest piece. My reason for attaching the accessories in this manner was that, in the event of damage during filming, I could easily remove and replace a given component as needed.
Although it was my first effort at a project like this, I was generally satisfied with the results. Best of all, I learned some new skills and met some great contacts along the way. I look forward to trying my hand at another custom figure project in the future. Many thanks to Terry Reynolds for creating an incredible sculpture which was the basis for my Rocket Man action figure.
