Steampunk Jetpack for Ladies: Part Three

Welcome to part three of building a steampunk jetpack for ladies and thanks for sticking with me on this build. In today’s post, I will discuss how I created the controller and finished everything up. You can find parts one and two at these links. At the bottom of the post is a list of materials and tools with links to buy them.

Once the parts were together for the control box, and the ring clamps were very solid (I think I left it all for a couple days to make sure everything (glues etc) all had a chance to cure and set), I opened up the ring clamps and slid the boosters in and tightened them back up. I flipped it over glued down webbing straps that would eventually form the straps to where the jetpack, and added a slightly larger wooden plate on top of that just to clean it up a bit. I have left the straps unfinished with the express intent of sizing/finishing for the eventual purchaser. In the meantime, when I want to display it, I have D-rings on it to tighten the straps up for a mannequin.

Adding a controller

Pretty happy with it at this point, it dawned on the how would one actually control the jetpack? There was not mechanism in place for that. Once again, I began sifting through my collection of parts to see what I could come up with. I found a close-up of controller for ladies jetpack length of rubber hose and some copper end caps. Punching a hole in the end cap with an awl, and then just working it larger and larger till the rubber hose fit in the hole, I then attached an end cap to the hose with epoxy filling the end cap so that it would end up with a flat bottom so it could be attached to the controller box easily. I also used my dremel to carve a small circular indent into the bottom of the controller box, so that it would appear a little recessed. I added some other decoration to the bottom just to finish it up. To create the controller, I pulled together an old light socket outlet (painted it) some copper pipe connections and the cap of a gatorade bottle. I cut a hole in the cap and fed the rubber hose through and epoxied the whole thing together. It all seems fine but needed some kind of button or joystick feel. Having stripped apart many keyboards, I knew I had some silicone cups from under a mac keyboard lying around somewhere. They were pink..yuck.. so painted a couple black and added some copper paint on the edges. I fond a little plastic dome (have no idea from what) and painted it black and then copper. In most circumstances, I find things look more “real” as far as metal finishes go, if I apply the metal colour over black. and then buff it back so some of the black shows though. Putting the silicone keyboard parts under the little plastic dome and arching it to the socket gave theme a ‘button feel’, it moves up and down and has a click controller feel. I added another copper pipe end cap to the other side just to finish it up.

I had been casting some flowers in resin for a different project and had a couple left over. Since this was a jetpack for a lady, I thought that added a nice touch to the controller and so attached one to the top of my socket.

All in all I’m quite happy with the way it turned out. Let me know your thoughts.

This is a smaller, lighter version of a jetpack made to fit the smaller frame of a woman. Most jetpacks I’ve seen, seem just too large and weighty, so I wanted to remedy that!In a beautiful robin’s egg blue the thrusters are a beautiful fashion statement as well. If you are interested in a custom model with different colours etc, please feel free to contact me and commission a piece just for you.

Here is the completed steampunk jetpack for ladies. It is available for purchase. You can also find other artwork, and jewellery of mine on my etsy shop.

Material List

(not including “found objets – those are random finds at thrift shops etc). This list is for products I use on a regular basis to complete work. Full transparency, I receive a small commission on any products purchased through these links: