BlackCatBone's Boba

Hey, guys. So I've been lurking for a bit now and ordering all my parts. Thought I'd show my progress on a RotJ SE Boba. I'm a graphic designer by day, so I think I'm going to free hand most of the wear patterns side by side with movie stills. Anyway, on with the show...

I went out and bought/ordered most of the paint I need. I have some still on their way from Amazon, though...



So far, I've dyed my girth w/ Mini-Wax water soluble China Red.





I got my MoW RotJ Gauntlets



and I've taped off (Green Frog Tape) and primed (Rustoleum Pro Primer) them...




And given them a coat of Rustoleum Metallic Aluminum...


Meanwhile, I got my MoW Jetpack...



And I've started to assemble that with Gorilla Super Glue...



Today I'll be assembling the 3/4" PVC framework inside for the thrusters, and doing a paint test on some scrap with the masking fluid I bought before I tackle the weathering on the gauntlets.

I've also got armor ordered from BobaMaker, and I'm waiting to hear back from FettPride on placing an order for more armor and a bucket. I've ordered a bunch of stuff from you awesome folks, too! An EE-3 from Sidewinder, Wookie braids from Woodman, Jetpack hooks and a diver buckle from BooBooFett, and Toe spikes and gauntlet darts from Mojo-Fett. Most of my soft parts are being made by my wife, who sews like the wind. I'm chomping at the bit for some MoW boots and a second bucket so I can do both an ESB and a RotJ helmet.

I'd like to give a special thanks to everyone on TDH. You guys are a kind an invaluable resource.

I'll update more in this thread as my work progresses. Thanks!

Looking good! Fun isn't it! Have fun, take your time and look at the gallery!

Ah! You glued the caps on the jetpack like I did. Makes it kind of hard to get behind them with the rattle cans. Check out Slave1's thread(s) for reference on painting the jp, good luck!

Yeah, and I realized I glued that middle joint in the rocket, when it was snug enough to remain unglued for transporting in 2 pieces. Oh well.

Final assembly on the jetpack:

Nice job assembling the jp! I'm in the middle of painting/ assembling mine!

Thanks! I recommend making the side holes for the thrusters a little small and then sanding them until they're just wide enough to be snug. I used a 1" hole cutting bit on my drill, and then wrapped a piece of sandpaper around my finger to sand the hole until it was just a little bigger. Works awesome, the thrusters won't rattle around and there's no visible gap like there might be if the hole was a little too big.

Originally Posted by BlackCatBone

And I've started to assemble that with Gorilla Super Glue...



Thanks!

Nice reference pic on the Jetpack LOL

Yeah, well, the last thing I need is to pull a bonehead move and glue something upside down or backwards or whatever. Would be just my luck.

Sadly, it's too humid to do any painting here in New England today, but I'm dying to start layering paint on my gauntlets.

There are far better pics in the gallery for reference. I don't care if you use my pics (I'm honored actually), but you'd be better off using real reference.

That sucks about the humidity. We don't have much of that here in the Southern California Desert.
I can paint somewhere around 300 days a year easily. In fact, I'm painting this weekend (after I do yard work,of course )

New England? Where abouts? We've got a few Boba Fettheads up here. ;-)

It's looking really good! Looking forward to seeing more!

Lots going on in the last few days. Most bizarre of which, is this guy, who now stands naked from the neck down...



I had no idea how hard it would be to find a mannequin to match my height and build. This mannequin came closest to matching me. He's just an inch shorter, and has the exact same waist measurement as I do.

And just for fun, I gave him a little ink...



I sprayed the final red on the gauntlets (I went with Rustoleum Cabernet. I compared it to Claret Wine, and the Cabernet is a little less purple, and a little darker.) and then dusted them with flat black. Followed by darkening some areas with even more flat black to make "scorch marks". The liquid mask I was using turned out to be ****. But by the time I discovered this, I had already used it on the gauntlets. It turned into a nightmare. Once I sprayed the final red on the gauntlets, I started peeling off the liquid mask and it began to peel up other layers beneath it. I spent hours trying to gingerly remove the liquid mask. Sometimes it ended up peeling everything right down to the white resin.



Luckily, with touch-ups, I managed to save the day, and in the end, I'm pretty happy. I added more scratches and pock marks with a screwdriver, a car key and some gravel.



A new bottle of Windsor Newton Masking Fluid came in, and I'll be testing that soon. The old stuff is going in the trash.

All I have left to do with the gauntlets is go over them with Testor's Dullcoat (a flat clear), install the switches I bought at RadioShack, and add the custom aluminum gauntlet darts I got from Mojo-Fett. Speaking of which... here are the gauntlet darts and toe spikes for the boots. Beautiful.



Also, I received the ammo belt -- hand made leather by Mel Mattson -- and boy, did she do a hell of a job. I still have to age it a bit, and add grommets to the back so I can cinch the belt with leather lacing.



In other news, the wife and I went to the fabric store and picked out the material she's going to use to make the flak vest that the chest and shoulder armor attach to.

And because I'm a geek, I bought this for myself, online:



It's been rainy here all weekend, so I can't finish the gauntlets yet, but soon. Then I'll get started on the Jetpack's paint job.

Looking good. Keep up the excellent work.

You really are speeding through it .
Its all good stuff you got there so itl look nice

Weekly update!

I haven't really been able to paint anything all week. Stupid New England humidity. But the good news is that I finished my gauntlets!



And I finished scuffing up my leather belt, as well as adding the grommets. I bought some rawhide leather lacing to cinch them together.



In other news, my belt pouches came in. Going to have to dirty them up a bit.



And I bought decals for my jetpack, shoulder bells and helmets (I'm doing both a Return of the Jedi for my armor, and a Empire Strikes Back just for fun (SE?) I bought decals from a bunch of different folks so I can pick my favorites. Probably sell the unused ones.



And most exciting news: I scored an UN-PAINTED Terminal Fettler helmet on eBay! TF #23! I made sure I confirmed it with Terminal Fettler himself first. Can't wait to get it! I'm going to have a TF and a GMH!

Nice helmet! I was watching that one ,

Weekly update!

The lens in my Terminal Fettler helmet was cracked...



So I cut out a new one from a welding mask:



Tada!



Then, I just did a ton of work on the jetpack this week. I'll let the photos tell the story:

Great work! It's awesome to see someone cruising along so fast!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Visiting reletives...then I had a mishap at the beach where I got sucked into the undertow and dragged along the bottom. Half of me look slike raw hamburger, and I thought I had a broken foot, but it's improving...THEN I got a stomach flu. The universe needs to give me a break.

But I managed to mostly finish the side tanks, and the top panel of the jetpack. Here's some photo love!

UPDATE! Jetpack is DONE! Here are the rest of the photos to completion! Is it screen accurate? No. But I really wanted to add my own touch to it, so in the end, it's a little more battle-damaged than BF's movie pack, but I'm really pleased with how it came out. It's got some serious character...













And then the completion photos!













Two months worth of painting, finally done! I'm waiting for my armor to come in, but in the mean time I'll probably start on my MoW boots.

JP looks GREAT!

Nice work on the jetpack! It looks amazing!

The colors and shade on the jetpack came out looking really nice. You should be proud.

Thanks, guys! Now I understand how much work these puppies really are!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks, but here's a photo dump of my work on my Terminal Fettler #23! (The kill stripes look way brighter in these pics than they do in real life for some reason. Stupid iPhone.

I was literally just looking at your progress on your blog not two minutes ago. A guy just posted the link on Facebook in the SW Society of San Antonio's page and I thought I'd check it out. I had no idea you were documenting in your blog as well.

I was going to comment on the stripes but I'm glad it's just the phone.

Yeah, I thought doing a blog of my progress would be fun. A few more pictures there as well.

Yeah, it's actually more of a rusty orange, but the pics look **** near fluorescent orange. Gonna see what I can do to make it more camera friendly without changing the color too much. Hopefully the matte clear coat will help as well.

take some 0000 steel wool to it and then flat clear...

Good call. I'll see if that does the trick.

Latest update. Work progresses on my Terminal fettler bucket.

That is looking good, looks like u got the misting down under the green only thing is I think that hunter green on the back is a bit to dark, not sure if its the camera or not but otherwise I like the keyslot area looks really well done, as does the lighter green areas

Hey! You did a good job! I think it turned out pretty good! Feels good doesn't it.

Thanks! Yeah. It feels great. The people who visit this forum and see the work we do, have NO clue how much effort goes into these pieces until they actually try it!

Originally Posted by BlackCatBone

And because I'm a geek, I bought this for myself, online:

Can you tell me where you found this, I love it!

I was just surfing around eBay. It was from a Canadian tshirt store, if I remember.

I've received a shipment of armor from Bobamaker (still waiting for some from Fettpride), so in teh meantime, I've completed my chest and neck plates! Here are the project photos...

Hey bud! Looks really good!!!

While the armor paint scheme isn't the most accurate, you did nailed the colors on this and I really like how it looks. Your progress so far is amazing and very professional. Keep up the great work!

Thanks guys! Yeah, I guess this is technically "inspired by" the RotJ scheme. I'm a graphic designer by profession, so I wanted to give the damage my own "touch" but try to keep it somewhat faithful to the movie refs, and I use your templates, Rafal, to make sure things are in the right locations.

Latest update! I finished the padding inside my bucket (100% done now!) and I finished the back plate!

So it's too cold to paint here in New England until Spring. But here's what I managed to get finished before the weather turned:



That set of armor is Fett Pride, with a GMH.

With our mild winter, I had a chance to finish the paint job on the knee guards. Basically the paint scheme is this:

1) Primer 2) Rusto Aluminum 3) A mix of Valspar Golden Maze and Rusto Pale Yellow 4) Rusto Line Painting Yellow with a mist of Rusto True Orange 4) A touch up layer of a mix of Testor's Flat Yellow and Testor's Rubber 5) Final "grime" layer of Testor's Rubber. (Yes, Rubber is a color, apparently!)

Between each of these layers I used Liquid Mask for the major "damage". For minor "damage" I used a screwdriver and some gravel.

this is looking fantastic!

This is great!

Hi mate, I'm really struggling to find anything to dye the girth belt using the method in the sticky thread, as nobody over here in the UK has heard of "Latex wood stain". What did you use mate?

Thanks, guys!

JayBox325, I used Minwax China Red wood stain. (Not much help, I know. Sorry! But surely they must have some equivalent wood stain in the UK?)

They do. But everyone has keyworded it with Latex on here. I don't know if normal wood stain will do.

I used a water-soluble stain. Worked just fine.

i think that's the key... you want water based, not oil based.

Hey, guys! Here are the latest project photos of my Boba. First up, some progress on my GMH (I already finished my RotJ bucket, this one will be ESB just for fun (or SE version?)



My MOW jumpsuit and jetpack harness came in!



So I worked on my jetpack straps and hooks.



Finally, I worked on my gloves... (bleached down, "re-colorized" and aged with an ink solution while damp, and some yellow and brown "grime".)



More soon!

Hey, guys! Here are the latest project pics!


































BCB

I love the rough weathering on the flightsuit! Build looks awesome so far, although the ammo belt pouches have quite round-ish shape?

It's been inspiring to follow the thread! Keep up the crazy pace!

Cheers,
-Frenzy

Looking good.
Who made the armor and what is it made of?

Originally Posted by slave1pilot

Looking good.
Who made the armor and what is it made of?

Here is half of the answer to your question from post No. 40:

Originally Posted by BlackCatBone

I've received a shipment of armor from Bobamaker (still waiting for some from Fettpride), so in the meantime, I've completed my chest and neck plates!

Frenzy: The belt is real leather. I know, not movie accurate, but man....real leather! Custom made! I couldn't pass it up.

Slave1pilot: The gauntlets are MoW. All the body armor is Bobamaker. The backs of the armor plates are fiberglass, so I'm guessing fiberglass backing with resin front? I'm not good with IDing materials. I just paint 'em. The bucket is TerminalFettler.

Thanks, guys!

Shoulder bells done! Pics:













Next up, Cod & butt!

BCB

Moving right along! Cod and Butt done! Here's the pic dump!

Clever girl... using the screw technique for the cod and butt plate to the jumpsuit...

Girl? Not last time I checked.

Wow. Your painting skills are ridiculous.

Fair play mate that is one sexy looking boba suit. You've done a great job on it.

Welsh

Originally Posted by BlackCatBone

Girl? Not last time I checked.

jurassic park reference. sorry for confusing your gender!

Thanks, guys! I'm almost done! All I have left are 1) painting the boots, 2) trim and mount my jetpack straps to the harness, 3) Attach hoses to gauntlet, and up sleeve and 4) to attach the back plate to the vest! (After that, I have GMH #56 to paint in ESB style, just for fun.)

I was thinking of wearing my suit to Boston Con in April, but I'm ****-near blind without my glasses in that helmet and I won't have a handler with me! I'd be Clumsy Fett.

BCB

what if there was a way to install a clip or something that would hold your glasses in the helmet?

All of my pairs of glasses are too wide and not curved like the inside of the bucket. There's just no room inside the helmet for glasses with my head in there! I can see without my glasses -- but everything is fuzzy. A couple of people suggested contacts, but I'm not a big fan.

BCB

My Man Of War boots are done! Instead of using all acrylic paint, I decided to dye the boots with diluted RIT Black. I did this because I wanted the boots to breathe as much as possible while being worn to inhibit sweaty, smelly boots! Paint seals off the canvas. I did use acrylics to dirty up the boots, and for the center stripes. I drybrushed a little bit of Testor's Rust into the soles and on the toe spikes, and then hit the boots with sandpaper to rough them up.











BCB

Here's the latest update! Backplate & Jetpack Harness complete! Almost done. I have to do the gauntlet tubes, and I want to figure out a better way to attach my shoulder braids.

Here are the latest photos! Note the double routing on the shoulder studs so the nut can sit on a little shelf, but the screw can continue past it!

























BCB

Awesome setup so far! Keep up the good work!

your jetpack looks insane

Nasty....absolutely NASTY SHWEET!

Originally Posted by vaders right hand

your jetpack looks insane

Yeah, I'm usually not a big fan of the ROTJ Jetpack, but this one is so very awesome.

Originally Posted by Buffbeefbroth

Yeah, I'm usually not a big fan of the ROTJ Jetpack, but this one is so very awesome.

i totally agree your jp is cool!

Thanks, guys! You can see the super-large, high res pics of the jetpack at the end of this post:

http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/b...22/#post549528

BCB

awesome thread!

Just a quick update. Been busy as heck lately, but the good news is that all I have left to do on my RotJ Boba is weather the gauntlet tubes, and I'm DONE! Expect project completion photos in the near future! In the meantime, here's a teaser!



BCB

Look'n sweet man!!

Maybe I'm just picky, but the belt pouches just look off. =/ I know you went with the genuine leather, but whoever made those didn't get the angles quite right. There's actually a leather technique where you can get a fairly sharp angle into the leather itself. I don't mean to criticize.. and I love the rest of your outfit so far. ^_^;