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Rocket Belt
1/12 (price eur72 )and 1/35 scale (sold out).
For decades, science fiction writers imagined a time when people would fly from place to place via "rocket belts." 1930's-era comic strips like BUCK ROGERS and FLASH GORDON were filled with images of people darting through the skies with vacuum-cleaner like rocket packs strapped to their backs.
In the mid-20th Century, the science fiction dream became a reality. Well, almost
News page---- illustrated catalog----back to Sharkit home page ---- order this kit or e-mail me
The 1/12 scale kit includes the rocket backpack and pilot figure. It's a very detailed kit with all the tubes, command wires, and accessories; It is definitively not for the beginner.
  • For a photo of a quickly assembled kit, without all the accessories and wires, click here
  • A copy of the mounting instructions are here
  • Two (1and2) great rocket belt illustrations of the 60th; Whoa!

Of course, the 1/35 scale model is more simple, and the pilot is a GI... Do you have some dioramas ideas?
PART LIST of the1/12 scale kit
1,0: pilot bust 1,1 : pilot head 1,2 : pilot left arm 1,3 : pilot right arm 1,4 : pilot throttle hand 1,5 : pilot yaw cont. hand 1,6 : pilot left leg 1,7 : pilot right leg 2,0 : metal sheet 2,1 : tanks fastening 2,2 : variator stand 2,3 : wire-throttle stand + others little parts 3,0 : 1,3mm metal wire 3,1 : up tank tubing 3,2 : exhaust to variator 3,3 : left control arm 3,4 : right control arm 3,5 : tank guard V4,0 : 0,7mm metal wire 4,1 : 0,4mm metal wire 5,0 : plastic tube 5,1 : plastic wire 6 : center tank 7 : fuel tanks (2 parts) 8 : down tubing 9 : exhaust tubing 10 : catalyst bed 11 : variator 12 : nozzle (2 parts) 13 : nitrogen regulator 14 : nitrogen pressure gauge 15 : fuel pressure gauge
In 1945, aeronautical engineer Wendell Moore joined Bell Aircraft to work on the X-1B experimental rocket plane. That particular aircraft used rocket thrusters to complement its control surfaces in the thin air of the upper atmosphere. The thrusters ran on hydrogen peroxide.
Yes, hydrogen peroxide. The same hydrogen peroxide used to bleach hair and disinfect wounds. For when hydrogen peroxide is put in contact with a silver catalytic agent, the peroxide quickly decomposes into steam that can be directed through a nozzle create a powerful thrust. It's a cheap, powerful rocket fuel.
Soon, Moore was flirting with the idea of using this same propulsion system to propel single human beings through the air Buck Rogers-style. Under contract with the US Army, Moore and Bell Aircraft devoted their skills and creativity to the creation of a "Small Rocket Lift Device" -- the Bell Rocket Belt. Standard oxygen bottles became the fuel tanks and spare components from Mercury spacecraft were used to construct the propulsion system. The propulsion system and the tanks were fixed on a fiberglass corset that was strapped to the pilot's back. Pressurized nitrogen forced the peroxide over a silver-coated catalytic screen, creating the thrust. Yaw control was at left hand and throttle at right, both in the form of motorcycle-type rotating grips.
Fully fueld, the pack weighed 120-pounds and allowed for 21 seconds flight. A vibrating device was installed on the back of the helmet to warn the pilot when it was time to return to the ground.
On April 20, 1961, Harold Graham became the first person fo fly by Rocket Belt. His flight lasted all of 13 seconds and covered 112 feet. But although the Belt was developed for the military, it was not a practical personal transportaotin system. Its range was far too short, the rockets were very noisy, and the hydrogen peroxide fuel was too unstable and corrosive for field use.
In the end, the Bell Rocket Belt found its greatest use as a "stunt" device, showing up the 1964 New York World's Fair, the first Superbowl, in the CBS TV series LOST IN SPACE, and perhaps most memorably, in the opening sequence of the 1965 James Bond movie THUNDERBALL.
With special thanks to William P. Suitor for his precious help.