A rocket for a smurf

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Step 70 – Epoxying the Spring with JB Weld

Cut short the springs with bolt cutters to match the comic’s scale. Twisted them in what hole I managed to drill last week. Waiting for it dry. If the rocket’s not level when I get to stand it upright, I’ll bend them as needed with long-nose pliers.
70 Spring Epoxy.jpeg
Grouchy:
I … I … … I don't like that I’m done with the fins.
 
Step 70 - Testing the Fins' Integrity
Astro_Smurfs_Spaceship.jpg

71Rocket StandsA.jpeg

71Rocket StandsC.jpeg

71RocketStandsD.jpeg

So I can rock the fins from left to right, but i can probably prevent that with some kind of sticky pads. Vertically, they don't budge, which is good. Feels solid when it's resting. Epoxy did its job.

Still missing the nose cone, propeller, payload accessories, and touch-ups.
 
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do you have the entire Smurf collection?! I once looked at getting the set, but at about $4 each, and about $30 - $75 for the houses..

Waiting for the flight!! and the landing!!!


this thread has been very entertaining, and I give you full kudos for doing it the way you are. Bravo! :goodjob:👍😁
 
A small fraction really. I discovered there are many hundreds, but I only chose some I could fit in with rocket building somehow (I had that latest picture in mind for months). I'll probably sell most of them back or give some to family members (some of whom are indeed fans, so the pictures aren't only for this thread). I literally hadn't thought about smurfs for decades, and looking back into it this year brought back a strange familiarity. Smurf interest seems to be on a general "low" these days, but it might pick up next year with the upcoming TV show.
 
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Step 72 - Chairs and Parts

Can these chairs be useful?
Sometimes, you just don’t know unless you try. They just seemed so easy to do.

Four of them?
Look at this this way, I started with five. You get to know your success:failure ratio.

Chairs.jpeg

Astro Brainy Chair.png
 
Step 73 – Slicing and Drilling Pulleys Out of an Oak Dowel

Sawed off 4 slices of an oak dowel, and drilled increasingly bigger holes in the middle until I could fit a music wire I have into each one of them. I’ll probably end up making at least one complete chair with pedals. I'm just looking to get the parts for now.

73 Four Drive Pulleys and a Propeller Cap.jpeg
Sliced a 5th “wheel” to make a propeller cap (without a hole).

Handy:
Why am I smurfing a propeller system for a rocket? Because Astro's Smurf X is the client and the client is always right! I'm just smurfing my contract!

Step 74 - Gluing a Cap to the Propeller

Put in as much epoxy as could around the cap. Caretaker Smurf (I call him "Glue Master" in my mind) is turning out to be an essential part of this project. The cap itself will act as an epoxy bed for the propeller shaft.
74 Propeller Cap.jpeg
 
Step 74: Propeller Mount

Seems simple doesn’t it?
74a Prop Clean.png
Still seems simple huh? You can barely see the prop with my lighting!
74b Prop and Clumsy.jpeg
Propeller shaft held up by a clothes pin for now but that can be changed. The shaft sticks out from the top to allow a couple of fingers to "remotely" spin it.
74c Prop Mount Top.jpeg
And here’s what Handy had to come up with to make it work:
74d Prop Mount Complete.jpeg
To install:
1: Slide in the 38mm-to-29mm motor mount from the bottom of the rocket
2: Slide in the piston from the top. The sombrero holds it up. The long red tube guides the propeller shaft, and the piston centers the tube in the motor mount.
3: Slide in the propeller shaft from the bottom and hold it in place with a clothespin.

Why? Because now, I can pinch the top shaft with 2 fingers and spin the propeller from the top. WEEE!!! ... Don't ask if it was worth the trouble. 🤨😒 I guess I just get a kick out solving the problem.:)
 
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Step 75 – Astro Helmet v2

Problem 1: Astro Smurf should be sitting in the rocket, but the only sitting Astro figure on the collectible market is part of a very rare and very expensive playset (hundreds of $).
Chosen Solution: Find one that’s missing the helmet, that is much cheaper, and build a new helmet.

Problem 2 : No right size bubble helmet in the Christmas ornament market.
Chosen Solution: Get inspiration from some Astro-Snoopy figures and extend the helmet.

Problem 3: Where to get flexible, transparent plastic to make the extension?
Chosen solution: Cut a rectangle out of a clean, plastic soda bottle.

Problem 4: Which glue is both transparent and compatible with these plastics?
Chosen solution: BSI thin cyanoacrylate

Problem 5: CA must not touch the Smurf!
Chosen solution: Glue the top part of the helmet only, hang Astro by his feet, and use gravity to keep the glue away!

75 Astro Helmet.jpeg
 
I gotta say the craftsmanship, problem solving, and attention to detail in this build is really quite amazing.

Im a heartless one with no sense of the dramatic, so the narrative isnt really my thing, but you're having fun along the way which the whole point anyway!
 
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Step 76 - Pedal Crank

Handy:
Well smurfs, had I remembered how difficult it was to smurf a nail at tight, right angles, I would have brought my vise and anvil!
76 Pedal Crank.jpeg

Step 76b - Wait a minute ... Isn’t this CA ? ...
AstroBrainyjpeg.jpeg
Brainy Smurf:
… so you see Astro, when the ejection charge goes off, the rocket’s nose will fly forward, but because of Newton’s Third Smurf of Motion, the rest of the rocket will smurf backwards! Or in chemical terms, the sudden increase of gas pressure in your cabin will push the floor from underneath you, and that will tug your smurfbelt downward! And that will pull you down like nothing you’ve ever smurfed before! And you’ll feel all your bodily fluids smurf towards your head! But it’s actually the top part of your head that will smurf down on all your bodily fluids! So that’s why you need to get used to negative G-smurfs and train your brain vessels! And by smurfing from a steel bar for HOURS and HOURS EACH and EVERYDAY SINGLE DAY, we don’t have to ask Handy to build a centrifuge! You see? But if bats can smurf upside down, so can us smurfs! Because according to the latest smurfy theories, smurfs and bats branched off in the late smurfozoic era, and that means our smurfiologies have very many smurfilarities! For example! …
AstroHandy.jpeg
Handy Smurf:
… So you see Astro, by smurfing from a bar like this, we can test that your new helmet smurfs on correctly and that our new glue doesn’t melt that new plastic!
AstroClumsy.jpeg
Clumsy Smurf:
Gee Astro! I don’t know how you got up there, but Golly! I sure wouldn’t want to be in YOUR shoes!
AstroSassette.jpeg
Sassette:
So Astro … hmmm ... You look like a MONKEY! Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee!
AstroPhotographer.jpeg
Photographer:
Hold still ... holllld stillllll ...
AstroMopping.jpeg
Mopper: One of those days huh?
Astro: Oh smurf up, will ya?
 
76c – Astro Wakes Up

Smurfette:
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!
76c Smurfette.jpeg
Astro: Wha...? Smufff? … Muffette ... what … gahhh…

Smurfette:
You’re ASLEEP?!? OUT now! OUT! Go play outside! The furniture will be here any minute now and you’re in the way!!

Astro: … furniture …

Smurfette:
The communications team will be smurfing simulations next week! This is no time to smurf around! OUT!

Astro: Cominake ... comicate ... with who?

Smurfette:
WITH YOU! Smurfhead! You fell asleep in the SURFAS HQ! Now go play outside!

Astro: Play … <YAWN> … outside … ok …
 
Step 77 - Fake Floor and Drive Belt
77a Seat Out.jpeg
Caretaker:
Well Handy, the pilot seat is ready! Here’s what we did:

First, we sanded down this leftover floor piece to make a fake floor that could fit in the rocket cabin over the real floor!

Then, we made fit tests and glued the chair in place.

Then, we glued the crankset in front of the chair with wood glue, and when that glue was dry, we added medium CA all around the joints!
77b Floor Fuzz.jpeg
Mechanic:
Then, we drilled 2 holes in the fake floor for a drive belt, and stained all the wood. For the drive belt itself, we cut a 2-mm wide strip of electrical tape and taped it to itself!

We made a smurf-size hook out of a pin so we could pull the drivebelt through the 2 holes, we glued the belt to itself again to make a loop, and then glued the loop to the lower surface of the fake floor, so no glue shows on the top side of the floor!

Handy:
But what does it drive?

Mechanic:
Anything Astro cares to imagine! Personally, I’d go with an imaginary communication system!

Caretaker:
With these three Velcro pieces, Astro can put on his seatbelt outside the rocket where there’s plenty of room, and Feathers can lower him in the rocket like a crane!

Mechanic:
Say, where is Astro this morning anyway?

Handy:
Oh. Papa decided it was time to let Brainy explain to him he won’t reach the stars on his first flight. We just had to smurf Astro in a corner so we could smurf a bit of reality in his blue mind. Hopefully, he took it well!
77c Seat In.jpeg
77d Entry View Sassette.jpeg
77e Moving.jpeg
 
Duuuuuuuuude, did Brainy take charge of this project??

Update:
The next "logical" step would be the nose cone, but Santa rented all the lathes in the world to build Christmas toys, so Handy will only have access to one at the end of December (in other words, I don't have a lathe but will have access to one in about 6 weeks).

So in the meantime ... Handy found a way to draw the correct ogive shape by hand:
Ogive.jpeg
This drawing was sent to the lathe owner who said he'll be practicing the sculpt with logs until I bring over the large balsa block Astro glued together last Summer.

Also, I was never quite sure if or how I would ever introduce Smurfette, who's actually one of the most important characters (especially these last few years). The idea for that last shot up there came without warning and will be hard for me to top. I was so pleased with it I thought it would be perfect to end an "Act I" on a high note, and go on to the "entr-act"/break.

Need to take care of other things for a while, but the upcoming Holidays are almost centered on getting the nose cone done.

🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🚀
 
Also, I was never quite sure if or how I would ever introduce Smurfette, who's actually one of the most important characters (especially these last few years). The idea for that last shot up there came without warning and will be hard for me to top. I was so pleased with it I thought it would be perfect to end an "Act I" on a high note, and go on to the "entr-act"/break.
I just went back and looked at that last shot more closely... only after viewing it full-size did I understand what's going on, and also Astro in the background playing a video game.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

👏 👏
 
In case anyone is half-interested in this as I have been, here are the two episodes where the rocket is featured.

As I’ve said earlier, I’ve known about the first one since the 80’s but had never watched it until this year.

As for the second one, I only “discovered” it this year, after months of ... well ... research.

The Astrosmurf (Season 1, September 12, 1981)

https://smurfs.fandom.com/wiki/The_Astro_Smurf_(episode)
Dreamy’s Pen Pals (Season 5, October 5, 1985)

https://smurfs.fandom.com/wiki/Dreamy's_Pen_Pals
 
1-Smurfette.jpeg
Smurfette: 😃
Weren’t those stories smmmurfy? HeeHee! But don’t you smurf away just yet! We’re not done!
2-Brainy.jpeg
Brainy: 😀
Smurfette’s right! You see, when Dreamy smurfed his first rocket -

Astro/Dreamy (off-screen): 🤨
It’s Astro! Not Dreamy! Call me Astro now!

Brainy: 🤨
... Astro ... When Astro smurfed his first spaceship, there was NO chance, like I said at the time, that it would EVER smurf off the ground! And that’s because the mechanical energy Astro can provide by pedaling is -

Astro (off-screen): 😠
Will you just smurf to the point?

Brainy: 😀
... BARELY sufficient to smurf even a FRACTION of the friction drag of Astro’s smurfy propeller!

Astro (off-screen): 🤯
AAAAAAAARRGHH!!!
3-Hefty.jpeg
Hefty: 😏
That’s ‘cuz Astro couldn’t smurf enough POWER! HRMMF!!

Astro (off-screen): 😡
STOP IT!!!
4-Smurfette - Hefty.jpeg
Smurfette: 😃
What we’re saying here is that Papa recently smurfed up NEW ingredients to smurf up a rocket! So, we thought we should try this AGAIN! And here we are with a brand-new ship!
5-Brainy.jpeg
Brainy: 🤓
And I, Brainy Smurf, helped Papa with the new chemical! And I call it “ASCP”: Asmurfium Smurflorate Composmurf Prop –

Astro (off-screen): 🤯
I’M the one who TOLD Papa that eXISTed!

Handy (off-screen): 😠
WHA-? You MADE me BUILD a SMURFing PROPELLER!!!

Astro (off-screen): 😡
YOU just made me CRASH into BLINKY!!!
6-Willow and Clumsy.jpeg
Willow: ☺😘😊
WELCOME! To the next CENTURY boys and girls!!!

Clumsy: 🤔
GOL-LY! And all this time I thought we were in Farmer’s backyard! Hee-YUK!
7-Smurfette - Clumsy.jpeg
Smurfette: 😉
You’ll have to quit the video games Astro!

Astro (off-screen): 😵
Wait … one more game.

9-All.JPG
Smurfette: 😉
We’ll be back soon!

Sassette: 😃
Yabba-Smurfy-DOO! HeeHee!

Grouchy: 😠
I HATE back soon!
 
Did you guys catch the Gnome Chompsky reference during the Rocket Lab's launch. In Half Life 2, there's an achievement where if you carry the gnome with you through the game then launch it in the rocket, you get the achievement. This means to shoot the monsters, you have to put the gnome down, switch to guns, kill the monsters, pick up the gnome and head off.

1605945792092.png
 
... Gnome Chompsky ... Rocket Lab ... Half Life 2 ... gnome ... shoot the monsters ... switch to guns ... kill the monsters ... pick up the gnome and head off.

Nope! Apparently, those all happen to be departments in which I'm quite uninformed.
 
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