This is the first of a series of articles regarding the
creation of my wings. It is an ongoing project that will be updated as it
progresses.
Several months ago I had the idea of making wings to go with
my Pixie persona. I knew I wanted them to be metal and steampunk, but wasn't sure of their exact design. Since I do not have any metal working skills I
enlisted the help of my step father Bob and my little brother Joe.
We started by sketching ideas of what the wings might look
like and what materials we could use. I knew that I wanted it to have large
gears and after giving it some thought decided to use bicycle gears. Normally I
am junk yard shopper for these kinds of parts but I needed 2 of each gear to
make the wings identical so I purchased them at a local bike shop for a total
of $50 for 6 gears. In addition to the gears we purchased 2 pieces of rebar, 2 metal
rods, and several smaller metal rods at the local hardware store. Total cost
was approximately $18.
To begin Joe used his anvil to shape the rebar to match the
upper curve of the wing following a full sized sketch we had created for
reference.
One of the hardest parts was getting two identical pieces so that
the wings would be symmetrical.
Once he was satisfied with the top he used the anvil again
to shape three smaller curved pieces to fit around the bottom of the gears
forming the base of the wings.
After the shaping of the wings they had to prep the gears
for welding by removing the paint near the welding area. They then began to
spot weld the rebar to the gears working from the largest gear to the smallest.
Next they spot welded the lower metal rods to the bottom of the gears and
connected the two top and bottom rods to create the tip of the wing and cutting off any excess. To clean
up the look they also smoothed the welded areas so they were less prominent.
Here is the final product after the metal work was
completed.
Though it may sound simple on paper a lot of time, effort
and skill were needed to complete the project.
I huge thank you to Joe and Bob for making my dream a
reality. Now I just need to paint them and make the pack they will fit in!
Total Cost for Phase 1 : $68.00
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