Small Scale Military Headquarters

OK I bought some of those cheap clearance paratroops the other day.
After I had bought them I pondered what to do with the chutes I thought it would be cool to show a couple parachuting down stairs hanging from the ceiling.
Tried many ideas nothing really worked .Then I was doing laundry and it hit me STARCH! Yup you got it,good old spray starch from the laundry.
What I did was find a balloon and put some tape on it with a string out through the hole in the top of canopy wrapped the figure in a plastic bag to protect him from over spray. Then hung blew up the balloon till yo have the shape you want the canopy to be in(I went through a few balloon sizes till I found the right one for the look I wanted.) I also had to add a little weight to the figure in the plastic bag to get the"drape" I wanted.
Now begin spraying Don't go hog wild with the spray better to do a few light coats then one drench er of a coat.Let it dry between coats and i would recommend the heavy duty starch. Then let it dry thoroughly and the you let the air out SLOWLY *don't ask how I know that * I just nicked the opening by where it was tied and let it empty out and remove the balloon body etc now you can hang him how ever you want. Plus it is not permanent you can wash the starch out if you want too Sorry looking back it looks like I rambled on but i am on pain meds and i tend to chat and or type off every ones ears whenIi am My digi cam is not here I may be able to get a pic tomorrow if any one wants one

That is a good idea.

I used a wire hanger to make a circle and tied some string to it in 4 spots and ran the string through the hole in the top of the parachute to a ceiling hook.

Kevin.

Great idea! Thanks for posting it! I too bought several in order to do that.

Please post pics!

i think some people used a clear plastic bowl to make the chute billow out as well as wire but spray starch, though a bit more labour intensive, is a good idea..

I used a 4" deep x 8" wide at the top very light plastic flower pot liner bought at the supermarket flower dept. for 50 cents. You get a very nice "drape" effect and the 4"depth leaves about 1" of loose chute so you don't see the bowl. Use a clear plastic push pin and you're all set. Kim...if you want to have fun try using the starch to show the chute 1/2 deployed, I'd like to see pics of that. Regards...Bob

Neat part about using starch is you can look up into the canopy and not see any thing but the chute.

Good idea with the starch! I made a couple of wire frames that have worked well. Pictures were posted a long while back. They're still hanging

very creative, thanks for the tip