dv8r’s Boba Fett ROTJ Work in Progress

Finally, after more than a year collecting and preparing, here is my ROTJ Boba Fett! It’s hoped to be a mostly accurate version (inaccuracies, or improvements as I’d like to think, intended to be hidden from exterior view), aimed at the costume as seen in those few original shots from Jabba’s Palace (with some leakage from the skiff scenes), and questions, comments and/or critiques are very welcome! Each hard piece is fully layered, helmet to knee armor, except some topical shading and scratches. I’m going to include the link to the post for the helmet steps here under Boba Fett Costume (as this really is a complete costume), so folks starting here can find everything easily, but the helmet section will be under Boba Fett Helmet to maintain the site’s divisions.

I’d like to send special thanks for those whose guides I’ve followed, and I will credit them as I detail the work. Super special thanks to wizardofflight and RafalFett for their contributions and documentation for our collective knowledge of original parts and specifications; on the shoulders of these giants this work is possible for mere mortals. The biggest thanks of all goes to Art Andrews and Scott Kaufmann for providing and maintaining this forum, without which I’d probably still be thinking how awesome the Rubies costume is ( ).

Here is my part list, grouped somewhat and in no particular order, with links where possible:
FP Premium cold cast helmet from animefan
“Bounty Hunter” range finder servo and RF transmitter/receiver from Hyperdyne Labs Hyperdyne Labs - Electronics - Bounty Hunter Rangefinder Up/Down Servo Controller Board
Blue Bird BMS-705MG servo BMS-706MG Low Profile High Speed Servo (Metal Gear) 4.6kg / .13sec / 32g
Scythe SY501012M 50mm Silent Mini Kaze Fans (2) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00261ABFK
Tandy Leather Solid Brass Chicago Screws (5) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001E5VOLE
3/16” Hole x ½” O.D. Rubber Washers https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FSY257O
uxcell 3 Solder Lug Pin On-On 2 Position Slide Switch (6) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Q854MS
RF Light Kit from jc27
Dental Files (4) from bojaGun
Replica Resin Chin cup from bojaGun
Borden 3-hole Metal Connector https://www.allfordentist.com/metal-connector-only-prd-7829.html
Slim Deluxe T-Visor http://www.t-visor.com/shop/slim-deluxe/
Casio MQ-1 from eBay
Aker MR1506 10W voice amplifier (sold as Ivation brand) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006TL5KWC
Pyle PDWM96 Wireless Microphone https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007L8BQW
Hosa MHE-100.5 ¼” to 3.5 mm Headphone adapter https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000068O6B
Porelon Black Carbon Paper https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008K5ENE6
Trace-It White Transfer Paper https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QBCALIM

ROTJ Gloves from Mike M.
Flight suit, Flak Vest, Neck Seal, Pouches, and Spats from Arkady
Rit Dye 39 Pearl Gray https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GPGJKO
Jingle Bells 1” (3) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002PIEAH4

Girth Belt from woodman

Boots from MOW Studios
Toe Spikes from JodoKast89

Chest/Back, Knee, Shoulder Armor, and Gauntlets from redkraytdragon
Dritz Knit Elastic 1” width https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006O1ICE
Velcro strip 1” width locally sourced (Michaels)
Lithium Button Cell Battery Holder (2) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FHN4NZS
Lamin-x 148S Smoke 4” x 8” Universal Film Cover Sheet https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P2D4LY
Knee Darts from JodoKast89
Collar/Cod studs from JodoKast89
Fettronics Chest Light Set in the RafalFett sequence http://www.fettronics.com/Showcase2.Htm
ROTJ Stencils from Darth Voorhees

6v CAMDENBOSS Filament Indicator light http://export.farnell.com/boss-enclosures/515205red6v/filament-indicator-red/dp/745327?Ntt=7453277
Generic Electric Igniter/Electric Match (no longer available, but like these https://www.amazon.com/HOODDEAL-principle-experiment-Connecting-accessories/dp/B01EX5F6WE)
Nitrocellulose https://www.amazon.com/Grams-Cotton-Magic-Tricks-Fire/dp/B01GQ93WDA
Flamethrower Nozzles and Gauntlet Rocket from JodoKast89
Glenross Dental Expander Disassembled from toolguy301
Gauntlet Darts from JodoKast89 via Deathproof
Arcolectric Momentary Push Button Switch (2) http://www.newark.com/arcolectric/t0916soaaa/switch-spno-black/dp/06WX0736
Brass Pipe Fitting, Coupler 3/8” to 3/8” Female https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AZ3YFC
Brass Pipe Fitting, Flare Nut 3/8” O.D. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001JYX7LA
Brass Pipe Fitting, Close Nipple, 1/4” locally sourced (Pastime Hardware)
Brasscraft 3/8” O.D. 20” Chrome Lavatory Supply tube https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001PMEP6C
Braided hose 5/16” I.D. https://www.amazon.com/Pressure-Braided-Flexible-Chemical-Resistant/dp/B00LX6LUGS
National Hardware 1 1/16” x 12” Continuous Hinge (4) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BPB2OW
Alcoswitch Push Button Switch (2) http://www.onlinecomponents.com/te-connectivity-alcoswitch-brand-mpe106d.html?p=10537557

Jetpack from MOW Studios
Jetpack Harness from Bigdane
Jetpack hooks and clips from full metal fett
Kam EZ Pak US Divers Scuba Tank holder (for buckle, straps) on eBay
Country Brook Design 2” Metal Round Triglide Slides (2) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0047WO46S
Country Brook Design 1 ½” White PolyPro Webbing https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3DAWSA
Jetpack Beacon from Evolution Props on eBay
Jetpack Beacon Light Kit from jc27
ROTJ Vinyl Jetpack Decals from Lucky31 http://www.delucksdesigns.net/SWfett/ROTJBobaFett.html
Sugru Moldable Glue https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KX6LTYM
ITT Canon XLR 5-Pin Female Receptacle on eBay
Generic On-Off Push Button Switch locally sourced (Al Lashers Electronics)
MrRCSound smoke system http://www.mrrcsound.com
Baomain 1NO 1NC AC 250V 5A Momentary Push Button Switch (1) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019VQSVY0
4mm Gold Bullet Connector Plug (3 pairs) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DU4A86O
Turnigy 6S 22.2v 5A Lipo Battery https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LF3QJYW

Horsehair Wookie Scalps, ROTJ Cape, ROTJ EE-3 from Molon Lab Studios (MLS)

Ammo Belt/Pouches from fenixprops on eBay

Patterson Photographic Print Squeegee http://www.adorama.com/PARCPS.html?...de003db&cj_aid=10782535&utm_source=cj_4003003
Anti-Security Blade Rods from Mojo Fett (mojo_skywalker on eBay)
JVCC EL7566-AW Electrical Tape 1 ½” width https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QDRRM0


Paints:
Model Master Schwarzgrun RLM 70 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008JATIWY
Model Master International Orange https://www.amazon.com/International-Orange-FS12197-Enamel-5oz/dp/B006G1L3H6
Tamiya Model Color Enamel Paint XF-17 Sea Blue Net 10ml https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F288UXY
Delta Creative Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint; Purple, Black (flat and gloss), Charcoal, Burnt Umber, Magnolia White, Straw (all from Amazon)
Floquil Caboose Red, CNW Green, Dark Blue, Southern Green, and Wisconsin Central Maroon, from eBay
Humbrols from humbrol.com
Krylon Colormaster Clear Gloss spray
Rust-olium Master’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover flat grey primer
Rust-olium Master’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover flat white
Rust-olium Master’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover matte clear
Rust-olium Universal Paint and Primer In One Hammered Black
Rust-olium Painter’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover Paint and Primer Satin Cinnamon
Klean-Strip Premium Stripper (spray)

Micro Mask https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006O028U
Tamiya 40mm Masking Tape https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BN9R1Y
Best-Test Pik-Up Rubber Cement Eraser (3) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0028D8FGI
3M Imperial Wetordry 2000 Grit Sandpaper https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MW91RE
JB Weld https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006O1ICE
Zap-A-Gap CA+ Adhesive https://www.amazon.com/Pacer-Technology-Zap-Zap--Adhesives/dp/B00SXJJ2QI
Loctite Quickset epoxy locally sourced (OSH)

Miscellaneous tubing, tube fittings, copper strips, screws, nuts (plenty of those here ), and paint brushes on hand. Here are the Dremel tool tips used:



All the new purchases came in at just under $4200, which includes (spoiler!!) a charger for the Lipo battery running the jetpack smoke generator, but does not include the year and a bit of my spare time, which truth be told I’d gladly invest again.

A couple of general comments about the process (I’d like to think “words of wisdom”, but that’s probably going too far) before we get to the interesting stuff. I bought all my Humbrols from humbrol.com which is really Hornby Hobbies. Nothing earth shaking here, just as with I’m sure most paint, some sits around longer than others and some goes quite quickly. I learned after a couple of inconsistent sprayings to thoroughly mix these little tins, not just shaking them (which I did first for a minute or so each) but with a toothpick, carefully stirring the contents to get the pigment settled to the bottom back into solution.

A recurring challenge through all these steps below that I’ll mention here was the real difficulty masking the damage presented for me. I wanted to rely on actual screen captures, but while it seemed I was living on the gallery pages showing the screen captures from ROTJ, there just aren’t enough detailed shots to map all the damage, and some pieces switch from hero to stunt to backup within a few frames, making deciding which damage pattern to use a bit nerve-racking for me. I scrolled through all the pictures from the various exhibits, trying to identify the screen-used hero pieces where they were included by tracking characteristic damage spots, and while mostly hit-and-miss, that did pay off a bit for the damage on the gauntlets. In short, I’m sure I spent more time masking, in most cases one tedious toothpick drop after another, and demasking than I did on preparation and painting, by a couple of factors if not orders of magnitude! It’s quite possible I was doing it wrong, spending way too much time daubing mask (only a few spots where there was enough solid mask to use a brush), but while it took a long time I ended up being very happy with the look of the results, and as a hobby my purpose wasn’t really to rush through everything. Even (or especially) on the helmet, where RafalFett’s stencils make deciding where to mask much easier, it was a very laborious task that took me weeks for each paint/mask layer. After all this I have a huge respect for those here that accept commissions for such work, and a much better idea of the skill they bring to our community.

One thing I wish I’d done more consistently was take pictures of the damage masking; I had some trouble locating the mask under the layers of paint just using the reference pictures I’d used when applying the mask, and I know I missed some in some places. However, as I had applied the previous colors uniformly rather than in selected areas as I’ve seen in some other builds, any place I thought I needed damage I could just carefully scratch through the top layers. I hope that technique will pay off in the future as the armor pieces continue to wear and weather with the unavoidable additional accumulated scratches as I troop with it.

Shin Tools
I started with the shin tools and made my own following The5thHorseman’s guide here: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/shin-tools-build-using-paterson-original-found-parts-52156 but only for the Sonic Beam Weapon and the Anti-Security Blade as the Survival Knife is not seen on the screen ROTJ Fett. I was constantly checking RafalFett’s templates (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/rafalfetts-misc-templates-blueprints-47395/#post601745) for sizing and positioning of the parts and highlights. Sorry no progress pictures, but here’s where the extra wide electrical tape and Mojo Fett’s replica Michell Engineering Stylus Brush rods were used. The painted stripes were sized and positioned using those templates, and airbrushed with Model Master International Orange on the Sonic Beam Weapon and Humbrol #82 Orange Lining mixed with a drop of Floquil Caboose Red on the Anti-Security Blade (I used the caboose to “rust” the brush rods also). I have a compressor-driven Paasche VS (double action siphon feed) airbrush I’ve had for several years from a previous costume project that I used throughout this project (and now, for some comic relief; dare I admit, a home made Green Lantern?

). The squeegee parts were first primered with the Rust-olium grey, airbrushed with Humbrol #11 silver, then sealed with the Krylon Colormaster Clear Gloss spray. Then I masked the parts on the edges for weathering and wear, and dusted them with #33 black, which was then rubbed and buffed back with 0000 steel wool. My paddle on the Anti-Security Blade came from a 5mm thick piece of whiteboard from one of my daughter’s old toy easels. It was first painted with #11 silver, masked on the edges, then coated with #33 black before demasking and roughing up with more steel wool (the big streaks while the paint was still slightly wet):



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Boots
The MOW boots were the next items finished, as I had purchased some other boots which did not work out well due to the textured fabric they used, but I had the paints already on hand and lots of practice from trying to salvage the first boots. For both attempts I followed Spideyfett’s guide for the original CA boots here: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/ca-boots-weathering-13136/ without the first step to grey the boot, as my MOW boots came already grey, however I needed to add a step to blacken the center strip (just applied some straight black paint using Spideyfett’s Wet on Wet technique). Also included were the steps to lightly sand the toe area of the black stripe, and scrape the black vinyl piping (which didn’t work very well), ending with a bit of white paint thinly streaked onto the piping to simulate extreme weathering. No progress pictures again (these first steps were prior to my thinking progress pictures might be a good idea), and you can see the MachineCraft toe darts already in place, backed with some of the Loctite epoxy to match the yellowish color of the original boots:



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Helmet
The beautiful helmet is the part I started next, but actually finished last as I wanted to build my painting skills with all the other bits before tackling this most important part. The full helmet build can be found here: (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/dv8r-s-boba-fett-rotj-work-progress-helmet-55965/).

Armor and Gauntlets
As mentioned in the list above, I received the hard parts other than the helmet from redkraytdragon, and his work is very good; highly accurate imo and reasonably priced. For the raw preparation and many of the later steps masking and detailing, I went right to the source and followed redkraytdragon’s original thread (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/resculpting-my-fett-armor-37100). Using the Dremel along with the high speed and the rounded tip cutters (first and second from the left in the picture above) I trimmed all the parts, and finished with a succession of sand paper grits (200, 150, 100) and 0000 steel wool all backed with a stiff board to maintain an even surface and a hard edge on the armor bevel, trying to keep a consistent 1/8” around all the plates (in some areas the material wasn’t available so I tapered the edge as best as I could). I wanted to keep my painting simplified, so I prepared all the pieces and added the mounting hardware before using the rattle can spray Rust-olium primer. I chose to use ¼” bolts/nuts to mount the large chest armor pieces to the flak vest, with rare earth magnets holding the center diamond and the shoulder bells. The bolts are mounted to the under side of the armor using JB Weld, after roughing up both the attachment points on the armor and the heads of the bolts.

One thing I will note here, just about the only failing I’ve ever had to say about JB Weld – there’s real steel in that epoxy, so it doesn’t perform the best when you’re trying to use it to stick strong magnets to anything and will crawl up to cover them if you’re not careful!

The collar and back are secured on each side by a pair of bolts I had laying around that were fortuitously threaded the same as the MachineCraft studs, mounted through a piece of plastic sent along for use with the knee armor (turned out I didn’t need it there, so I used it to reinforce the shoulders as the armor seemed fairly thin there). I secured the plastic to the back armor using ABS glue, but adding this piece is what caused the screws supplied with the studs to be too short.

I printed the large template from wizardofflight’s collection (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/updated-printable-armor-templates-various-sizes-7825) which is what I believe redkraytdragon used as a base for his V2 large armor, in order to position the cut-outs on the left chest piece for the chest display. I had a bit of trouble with that, in spite of checking the positioning several times before cutting, the cut-outs looked wonky compared to the reference photos. So I filled them with JB Weld using some tape on the outer facing side to get the epoxy even with the original surface, then once dried I eyeballed the cut-outs to what I felt was a better position based on the look of the references. Carefully sanded smooth with the outer surface and with a slight overlap on the inner surface to help secure the resin, the filled cut-outs are very strong and invisible under the primer.

I actually mounted the Fettronics chest light much later, after all the painting on the front was finished, but it’s shown here to keep all the pictures in the same front/back order. I mounted it using some leftover nylon screws for little legs cut to the proper length just behind the smoke film cover sheet listed above, all secured with hot glue. I rewired the power source, not wanting any cabling running anywhere else, to use lithium button batteries. After help from Crumdum and advice from Jon (Fettpride) I’ve changed it a bit again to use a single battery; the second is still in place but wired through a second switch, so I can use it like a “spare tank” if the first one runs out while trooping.

For the gauntlets, I roughly followed Darth Voorhees’ MOW Gauntlet Build thread (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/darth-voorhees-mow-gauntlet-build-45457) although with differences. Mine are closed with pairs of piano hinges, one opening and one with the rod removable, which are glued to the uppers with JB Weld, but to the lowers with Zap-A-Gap, as I couldn’t get anything else to adhere reliably (and this is still not optimum, having cracked off a couple of times). I built the lower pair of hose attachments on the right gauntlet from the pipe hardware listed above, but needed to make some modifications to more closely match the original parts. The hexagonal portion of the flare nut I found was not as long as on the original part, and had an extra smooth round lip. After removing the lip with the Dremel and a cut-off wheel, I carefully but tightly wrapped the hexagonal part with about half an inch width of clear tape to extend the hexagonal shape, secured a tube of the same tape on the inner diameter of the nut (to keep the inside of the nut open), and filled the space between the tape with JB Weld. Once that dried I removed the tape leaving a hexagonal donut of epoxy extending the flare nut, which I then sanded down to an appropriate length before fitting them together with the close nipples and couplers around the chromed 3/8” tube. After filling the pointy tube’s end with JB Weld, I drilled the whip cord housing for installing one of the tubes, but couldn’t think of a way to mount the pointy tube to the bottom that wouldn’t show, so I roughed up one side of the tube and used (you guessed it) more JB Weld to secure it to the bottom of the housing. I needed to excavate quite a bit of the interior on the upper right gauntlet, to accommodate the metal darts and Alco switches, as well as the “gauntlet port” (idk, the little silver thingy on top), using the Dremel and various grinding tips, then secured all those pieces with JB Weld.

Preping the right gauntlet, I made one of the biggest changes to any of redkraytdragon’s excellent work; I thought from some of the shots (here’s an example, if you squint: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gall...n-of-the-jedi-costume-hd-screen-captures.html) the depression on the front of the right gauntlet (I think this is where the flashlight is mounted in the ESB version) was not centered in the space, but pushed a bit toward the body side, so I used grinding tips and JB Weld to shift the depression a bit. I also rounded the upper edge of the space where the silver thingy pokes through (these are examples of details normal people make fun of me for noticing ).

On the left gauntlet, I made a block to house the flamethrower nozzles from a bit of scrap wood, then drilled it to hold some rare earth magnets I wanted to use to hold the front of flamethrower housing together. Several smaller magnets I mounted on both pieces at the back end of housing to complete securing the bottom, and I attached the housing to the main gauntlet body with a couple of small bolts/nuts cushioned with rubber washers. I also made another 9v battery holder out of some spare copper (as with the helmet), and mounted it in the flamethrower housing on one of those bolts to power electronics in the left gauntlet and flamethrower.

The next step was to airbrush 2-3 coats of Humbrol #11 silver over everything diluted with thinner about 1 part to two of paint, and everything gets shiny. Lightly sanded to keep everything smooth then sprayed with the rattle can Krylon Colormaster Clear Gloss, and off to the damage masking shop (my living room ). These I masked by eye, comparing the damage to numerous captures and pictures from the gallery. Then airbrush the main armor with 2-3 coats of the Humbrol #81 yellow, cover this time with Rust-olium Master’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover matte clear coat and peel away the mask.

The shoulder bells and knee armor gets the same basic treatment, but with Humbrol #117 cream. Here they are once the initial mask was removed:

All those pieces then get lightly sanded (and I mean really light; just the pressure from a bent strip of that 2000 grit paper) to keep everything super smooth, and have the damage masked again. Work diverges now based on color of the next coat. The green on the armor is 2-3 coats of Humbrol #117, with just a hint of black #33 added for the diamond (I think this “diamond is darker” idea may have crept in from an ESB thread I can’t find now, but to my eye it looks like a slightly different shade in some of the screen captures and many exhibit shots – might just be lighting or going blind...), and over a blast of #78 masked off on the abdomen plate (I chose to omit the #76 as the raised damage on the left chest panel does not appear in all the versions, and especially not in the shots I picked to use as a guide (like this: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gall...n-of-the-jedi-costume-hd-screen-captures.html). Here I followed DeathProof’s detailed colors and techniques (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/deathproofs-rotj-fett-bh-32794-a-48471), with some colors from terminal fettler’s AOSW write up (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/aosw-humbrol-colour-list-36590) as well as the MindMeister Color Map (https://www.mindmeister.com/113525354/boba-fett-paint-colors). After demasking, and weathering with airbrushed black and colored pencils, I applied the Darth Voorhees stencil on the right chest, and separately weathered that using a sharp knife and some pencil shavings. This followed by a final covering of Rust-olium Master’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover matte clear coat.

I didn’t really like the result with the diamond; the depressed central area didn’t demask well, and the edges just wouldn’t look perpendicular, so I made a central rectangle out of some spare plastic sheeting, painted it with the Humbrol #11 silver, and glued it into the depression (I think this more resembles the promotional and later exhibit photos, and I am much happier with the result).

The damage on the shoulder bells was remasked then they were painted with 2-3 coats of Humbrol #154 yellow, very lightly misted in certain areas with #82 orange. I applied the ROTJ stencil from Darth Voorhees and weathered the white separately using pencil shavings, demasked and weathered the main bells with some shading using light colored pencils, then sprayed a final time with Rust-olium Master’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover matte clear coat.



The knee armor got a similar treatment; damage remasked, airbrushed with 2-3 coats of Humbrol #154 yellow, lightly misted a bit more broadly than the shoulder bells with #82 orange, demasked and weathered using light colored pencils, then sprayed a final time with Rust-olium Master’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover matte clear coat. Here they are with the MachineCraft knee darts installed:

The gauntlets skip a step, going from the masked silver directly to the final color. Here I used precious Floquil Wisconsin Central Maroon, as the Boxcar looked too red to my eye. Two to three coats of the Floquil, which did not need thinning, then demasking and weathering with light sprays of Humbrol #33 black. I had a bit of work using the disassembled Glenross Dental Expander replica from toolguy301, but the fault was completely my own. I ordered the disassembled version thinking I would reassemble it and have a better looking replica, but the material toolguy301 uses proved much harder to work with than I anticipated, and I ended up truncating most of the connecting rods in order to get the expander reassembled. The MachineCraft rocket required a little adjustment to add a bevel at the front of the ridges on the central section (as seen here: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/gall...n-of-the-jedi-costume-hd-screen-captures.html), but then only needed masking then black acrylic paint leftover from the boots, demasking and a wash with dilute acrylic black over the nose cone. I used the same paint on the tips of the two colored darts on the right gauntlet. As an aside, I tried the oft mentioned coffee soak for my gauntlet tubing, going for a couple of weeks in brewed coffee with fresh grounds, all to no avail, possibly due to the “chemical resistant” tubing I’d found. I ended washing the insides with burnt umber/straw mixed dilute acrylic paint also leftover from my boot weathering, and that finally managed to “age” them a bit.




In the pictures of the gauntlets open, you can see the velcro strap I’ve mounted inside each to help stabilize them and keep them from slipping on my skinny noodle arms (the metal, especially the rocket, makes the gauntlets very heavy and prone to slipping).

In the last picture of the left gauntlet, you can see the wiring to power the gauntlet light from the 9v battery in the flamethrower housing, controlled by a small switch mounted against the housing wall with hot glue (just forward of the battery). Also in the flamethrower housing, the extra wiring forward of the battery runs power through both of the momentary switches on the top of the housing to two pairs of alligator clips bundled in the housing. These connections are for powering an active flamethrower effect based on nitrocellulose (gun cotton or flash cotton) and flash paper, fired by the electric matches listed above. The flash paper wraps around some loose gun cotton and the electric match, secured into the flamethrower nozzle by a small cork, and the alligator clips clip to the ends of the electric match wires.



It’s one shot, and a bit difficult to reload, but I have a background in hobbyist magic (and I’m a bit of a pyro ) and I thought it was worth the effort.


Here’s a short demo:


and a freeze-frame of the flame:

Soft parts and harness
First and easiest soft part to complete were the ROTJ gloves from Mike M. Just unwrap and wear! I did end up lightly dusting the gloves from the out side (on the left side of the left glove, right side of the right glove) with a bit of black acrylic paint to add just a touch of weathering. The rest of my soft parts (excepting the cape) came from Arkady, who is super-helpful and provides the highest I could hope for in quality. I started with modifying the flak vest, adding the grommets for the armor-attaching bolts. This was a straight-forward process, but again nerve-racking for me to punch holes in that beautiful flak vest. To position the holes/grommets, I hung the vest on my mannequin and positioned the armor on it, using rare earth magnets underneath the vest to hold the bolts on the armor in place, but allowing them to drift around the vest for accurate placement. Once I was happy with the armor position and spacing, I covered the magnets and stuck them to the underside of the vest with bits of duct tape so they wouldn’t move once the armor was taken off, and marked those spots with a marker to use to center the grommet hole punch. A few psychically painful whacks of the hammer later, and the vest is ready for armor. I lightly sprayed the sleeves and sides with some acrylic black from the airbrush to weather the vest slightly to finish this part. On the second photo you can see the mount points of the rare earth magnets used to hold the shoulder bells and the center diamond, glued to the fabric with Loctite quickset epoxy.



As mentioned above, I received a jetpack harness from Bigdane, along with some webbing for the straps. Since I had purchased a complete Kam EZ Pak for the US Divers buckle, I decided to use some of that webbing for the belt strap, and the webbing Bigdane sent for the shoulder straps. I found some white webbing on Amazon to use to attach rectangles that came with the harness for the jetpack hooks, as the webbing supplied by Bigdane didn’t seem wide enough, and added some triglide slides to allow some adjustability for the shoulder straps. Some silver rivets leftover from another project rounded out the jetpack straps. I did most of the sewing myself by hand, but I had invaluable help from my good friend Kathryn Stelljes and her sewing machine attaching the white webbing to the shoulder straps and stitching around the slots in the back of the flak vest.



I tried to follow toolguy301’s recipe for flight suit dyeing (found in this thread from Rekr: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/correct-color-rotj-boba-flight-suit-51949), but ran into some trouble, as my flight suit started a khaki color and the recipe is for a white suit. I did start by dyeing with the Silver Cloud concoction, but after that step the suit already looked pretty close compared to the reference photos, and I didn’t want to add the Pearl Gray for fear it would get too dark. I rinsed that color with a mild bleach bath, but that seemed to take all the color out, leaving the suit mostly khaki again :-( . After that I mixed up the Pearl Gray and dyed the suit with just that. It seemed there was still a bit of blue sheen (maybe just wishful thinking) and I was happy with the results. For weathering I went back to DeathProof’s thread cited above for advice, and used the dampen first technique along with the black and mixed burnt umber and straw (1:1) acrylic paints from the boot weathering to airbrush “grime and dirt” onto the legs, sides, sleeves, and cuffs especially, as well as the spats and ammo pouches. I went through several sessions of airbrushing, drying, then rinsing to get a look that I was happy with, striking a balance between too little and too much weathering. I finished that with red art pencil dust rubbed directly into the fabric to highlight the desert dusty look. After the flight suit was finished, I added small squares of velcro to help hold the knee armor in place (again here, the added metal of the MachineCraft knee darts makes them pretty heavy).



The cape is the last soft bit, received back in August 2015 from Molon Lab Studios. Matthew was very helpful with my questions of how to weather the cape, and I followed his advice and the pictures he sent of his woodman cape to hammer out the damaged areas with my mallet (Mjolnir) on some concrete walkway we’re replacing around the house. I think he probably thought me wacko when I wrote back to specify the weathering I was asking about was the pattern of sun-fading seen in some of the reference pictures, but he was game and suggested leaving it in the back window of my car, or using paint to simulate the fading. In the end the cape hung in my back yard from the end of summer through most of winter and now has a nice authentic faded pattern

Jetpack
I seemed to have a number of problems with the MOW Jetpack kit, but to be fair I’d never worked with the creamy white resin (I’m guessing) that it’s made from, and Christian did forewarn me of some known problems due to the age of his molds. I started smoothing and filling, and I had thought when I finished that I’d reconditioned every part of it, but I had a lot of problems getting the paint to stick to the surfaces where I’d apparently skimped on sanding. I will say this kit was very easy to modify, and I did quite a bit of that. I installed small eye hooks in the thruster nozzle “handles” so I could secure them with a small bungee cord and remove them easily for transport. In the same vein, I fixed a bolt into the rocket base with expanding foam (I would probably use JB Weld even though that would take longer to set if I had to do that over though; expanding foam is hard to work with and just messy!) and used a wing nut and washer (made into a single piece with more JB Weld) on the inside of the jetpack to secure it, but also easily removable for transport. I used some Sugru moldable plastic to firm up the connections so there was no play in both the thruster nozzles and the rocket base. I used rare earth magnets again to secure the door in the back, and drilled channels into the thruster nozzles to accommodate tubing and power wiring for a smoke effect (inspired by DeathProof’s build). I modified the greeblie on one of the thruster nozzles to use it as an actual button for activating the smoke generator. My hooks and clips came from full metal fett, and they are high quality, very accurate, and installed easily. I roughly followed terminal fettler’s SE guide (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/finished-bobamaker-jet-pack-rotj-se-paint-up-wip-50560), especially on the color selections, but I supplemented with cbrant’s (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/cbrants-rotj-se-aosw-jetpack-paintup-finished-pics-1st-post-51982) as his was the same kit I was building.

I started painting with the Rust-olium Master’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover flat white as a base, then airbrushed 2-3 coats of Humbrol #11 silver, sealed with more Krylon Colormaster Clear Gloss spray. Then I masked the damage on all the pieces, taped off the white areas to completely mask the rest and sprayed those again with the Rust-olium white. After that I successively masked the red, yellow, and blue sections, and airbrushed them with Humbrol #73, #154, and #109 respectively. At the same time as the red sections on the main body, I painted the red on the top cones and rocket base. I used Humbrol #72 grey on the rocket’s base cylinder and the thruster nozzles, but found the shade on the rocket looked too light to me, so I added a bit of #33 black and airbrushed over again, repeating a couple of times until I thought it looked right. Then I started misting straight #33 black to achieve the “jet exhaust” look on the rocket base, following reference pictures as best as I could. The rocket top was misted very lightly with Humbrol #1321 clear red, following the uneven distribution seen in the reference pictures. Since the red on the thruster nozzle greeblies looked brighter than the #73 used elsewhere, I used a bit of old Testors red I had to finish those parts. I had found mention of Lucky31 and the vinyl decals he makes, so I got a set. I found there were some differences between them and the reference photos so I spliced them a bit and supplemented with some hand-painted #33. Weathering used a combination of first misting with #33 black, then pencil shavings rubbed liberally and colored pencils to add specific details. After all that I sealed everything with Rust-olium Master’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover matte clear and installed the stabilizer and beacon. I had a metal beacon from Evolution Props which I cut down the top a bit so it was closer to the proper shape and size, then capped it with some spare plastic sheeting and added the top bubble using carefully shaped JB Weld. I needed to cut and fill a level spot into the upper deck of the jetpack so the beacon would stand parallel to the rocket. Same for the stabilizer, but to a lesser extent. I found a small off/on push button switch at my favorite local electronics shop, which I added to the bottom of the jetpack, and wired jc27’s beacon light kit to it so I could control the light externally. I also added the ITT Canon XLR 5-Pin Female Receptacle to the bottom, but I haven’t found a use for it yet. One thing I didn’t do was to deepen the wedge in the back of the jetpack (underneath the door) to make the short side wide enough to accommodate the greeblies found there (I didn’t discover this in time, so I have the greeblies... maybe some day). I also have an extra dental file I got for the jetpack, but the references I’ve found don’t show it for ROTJ, so I haven’t installed it.








- - - Updated - - -

As I mentioned above, and you can see in the thruster nozzle pictures, everything is prepared for a smoke effect coming out the jetpack thruster nozzles. I found a tankless smoke generator (made for RC aircraft) from MrRCSound which works very well, but it is wired initially for use with a servo controller, and I wanted to use a simple on/off function controlled through the “activation button” on one of the thruster nozzles. A bit of experimentation and soldering overcame that obstacle, and using some leftover pipe fittings I split the smoke into two tubes and ran them through to the thruster nozzles, using standard compression tube unions so I could still disconnect and remove the thruster nozzles. I secured the smoke generator and it’s battery using worm gear clamps that are screwed/glued into the inside wall of the jetpack. Here is the interior of the jetpack, where you can see (from left to right) jc27’s beacon light control box, the smoke generator (lower), and the battery for the generator:



and here is a short demonstration of the smoke effect in action:

dv8r said:

In the last picture of the left gauntlet, you can see the wiring to power the gauntlet light from the 9v battery in the flamethrower housing, controlled by a small switch mounted against the housing wall with hot glue (just forward of the battery). Also in the flamethrower housing, the extra wiring forward of the battery runs power through both of the momentary switches on the top of the housing to two pairs of alligator clips bundled in the housing. These connections are for powering an active flamethrower effect based on nitrocellulose (gun cotton or flash cotton) and flash paper, fired by the electric matches listed above. The flash paper wraps around some loose gun cotton and the electric match, secured into the flamethrower nozzle by a small cork, and the alligator clips clip to the ends of the electric match wires.

View attachment 103660

It’s one shot, and a bit difficult to reload, but I have a background in hobbyist magic (and I’m a bit of a pyro ) and I thought it was worth the effort.
Here’s a short demo:

and a freeze-frame of the flame:

View attachment 103661

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I know you're putting all your posts up at once....but I just have to interrupt you....and say that....

THIS

IS

AWESOME!!!

- - - Updated - - -

We also need to talk smoke when you're done I want to know what battery you're using, your total time for smoke....all that good stuff.

Loving this build man. Looking forward to seeing the final shots

Ammo Belt
One of the first items I received was the ammo belt from fenixprops on eBay. It is a very nice belt, secured by a good wide and long velcro strip, with good base coloring and the correct grommets (which I’ve since discovered actually may not be that correct...). The ammo pouches have good proportions and stitching, but they are leather glued onto wood blocks and so are not functional, which is not ideal imo. I modified one pouch, carefully prying up the flap, drilling out the wooden block, and resecuring the flap with a spot of velcro (maybe it can hold my car key while trooping). I added the leather thong threaded through four of the holes on the back, as it’s clearly present in the later MoM displays and vaguely visible in one screen capture. When I finally got to weathering, I used some brown, tan, and black Sharpie pens along with light sepia and charcoal pencils (on the stitching thread, stress points, and folds of the leather), then gave the pouches a blotted wash of charcoal acrylic paint and finished scraping a bit of the surface with a sharp knife and filling with the light sepia pencil.



EE-3
Another item from Molon Lab Studios, this seemed to take a lot of work filling small bubbles, sanding, and grinding to get the pieces smooth and shaped properly (2 hours with the Dremel sanding the T-tracks alone, and then several more filling and smoothing them!). Several very nice features of this kit were the extra sections of T-track Matthew includes in case any of those delicate parts break during preparation, as well as the extra screws for assembly and the replacement caps for the sight (making it nearly screen-accurate). While preparing the other parts, I noticed the “winged” barrel piece looked shorter on the kit part than shown in the reference photos, so I decided to extend that a bit (about 1/8”) using my tape and JB Weld method.



That got me into a bit of trouble mounting the scope, as it didn’t line up with the proper spots for mounting the scope blocks. In looking into solving that problem, I noticed neither the mounts attached to the scope nor the replacement mounts supplied really matched the mounts used on the blaster on-screen, so I combined the two sets into a pair of mounts (which may be what Matthew intended in the first place) which more closely matches the screen-accurate sight mounts (later I found a real replica toolguy301 makes and got a set of them for my eventual Webley conversion, see below). I was able to alter the mount points on the sight enough that these were able to reach the mounting blocks (but this does make the sight sit a little back towards the stock from the screen-accurate position ).



I found enough inconsistencies in the chamber and stock greeblies to motivate me to find my own original parts, making a new original of the unknown stock plate from wizardofflight’s template, and casting them to use instead.



I also found the T-track section of the barrel was about half an inch shorter than depicted in wizardofflight’s template (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/rotj-blaster-barrel-blueprints-templates-22420), but I couldn’t replicate the difference in my own primitive measuring from the reference photos (and I really couldn’t think of any manageable way to correct the difference anyways) so I’m not sure where the difference is coming from. To be completely honest, while I was working on this kit, I was lucky enough to acquire an original Webley (#24986) and comparing that to the kit, as well as a desire to some day use it (or at least display it – it’s darn heavy) as an ROTJ EE-3, added a lot of motivation for me to find parts as “perfect” as I could get them. I know mine are not, but I think they are an improvement, and I feel free to replicate them for the Webley eventually.

While painting, I used DP74’s paint up (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/fettdads-incredible-rotj-blaster-paint-up-37140) and Sidewinder’s (http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/rotj-recipe-12449), for techniques and woodman’s (found here: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/paint-tips-rotj-blaster-wanted-36727), Darth Voorhees’ (here: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/what-grey-use-rotj-ee3-46934), and bobamaker’s (here: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/weathering-rotj-blaster-28250) on what shades of color to use, but decided to go layered as with the rest of this project. I really liked Sidewinder’s idea (and the results!) of streaking paint onto the stock to simulate the wood grain, and so I started that with 2 coats of acrylic black (leftover from my boot weathering), followed with several streaky coats of “brown” mixed 1:1 from acrylic burnt umber and straw (more leftovers), going from rather watery to full strength as Sidewinder suggests. That technique worked well, but the paint color was more tan than the warm brown of the original oak stocks, so I mixed up another watery wash adding equal parts Floquil Caboose and Model Master International Orange (purchased in acrylic by mistake early on in my supply acquisitions) along with the burnt umber and straw. This produced a warmer brown result, and while not as dark as the original oak, I decided to deviate from obsessive perfectionism since this would be mostly covered with blacks and greys before weathering .

For the main blaster, since I was running low on Humbrol #11 silver, I planned to start with 2 coats of a Rust-olium Universal Metallic Paint and Primer In One Titanium Silver, but I ran into real problems – I couldn’t get the first coat to dry properly, especially on the T-track vanes. I tried waiting patiently (not my strongest trait), drying in the warm summer sun for days during which most of the paint eventually set up, but still some spots on the T-tracks remained tacky. I tried talcum powder, light detergents, even furniture polish (all the wisdom of the Internet) but in the end was forced to use a light paint stripper (Klean-Strip Premium Stripper) to remove the paint from the barrel assembly. After that I was going to try the Rust-olium Universal spray again, but the can malfunctioned (spraying only puffs of glitter while clearly full of liquid and propellant) so I decided to go ahead and use the Humbrol #11. After priming with the Rust-olium Master’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover flat grey primer, I used the last of my #11 silver, and it turned out I had plenty for two coats on the whole blaster, which dried well eventually (although it took several days to all dry over the T-track vanes), before I sealed it all with the Krylon Colormaster Clear Gloss. For the base color, after masking a bit of the silver (and a bit of the “wood” on the stock), I followed woodman’s advice to start with black, but I liked the textured paint as suggested by DP74 to highlight the “metal” portions of the blaster, so I used Rust-olium Universal Paint and Primer In One Hammered Black for those. This spray paint also had the bonus of a more gunmetal look, as suggested in bobamaker’s thread. I used more leftover flat black acrylic airbrushed over the streaky simulated wood on the stock, and for the scope I used some glossy black acrylic to match the original look of the scope’s base color. Since I was still having a bit of trouble getting my molded plastic greeblies dyed the right shade of black, I used the same gloss black acrylic as a base coat for them. I assembled all these parts and masked off various bits of the base blacks before starting the weathering process. First was detailing (directly on the on the T-tracks and “dry brushed” on spots on the stock) with Humbrol #147 light grey, then a darker grey wash over the most of the blaster made from a mix of acrylic charcoal and magnolia white (2:1, then diluted with water) and slowly built up following the reference photos. I felt the water-based acrylic was a bit easier for me to manage this washing. Finally for the “rust” I used Rust-olium Painter’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover Paint and Primer Satin Cinnamon, which I sprayed into its top and diluted about 1:1 with thinner, and then used woodman’s “brush and wipe” technique until I had built up a dirty/rusty overcoat. One of the last things I did was to replace the flat head screws on the sight with pan headed screws, and seal everything with dull clear coat.



I have the handle drilled in preparation to add a Webley swivel strap ring, as well as one I have planned for the stock (both found on eBay), so I can eventually attach a woodman-made replica rifle strap I got from LB66679 (but as that’s not really screen-accurate or officially part of the 501st CRL, I’m leaving that off until after I submit ).

Whew, well that's it... at least for now. This is, and likely always will be, a work-in-progress. Even now, thanks to the awesome woodman, I'm sun-bleaching an uber accurate cape to replace the one listed above. Let me know what you think, and thanks again to all for the unbelievable support and sharing of information that made this possible!!

Here's a shot of the dynamic duo:

DeathProof said:

I know you're putting all your posts up at once....but I just have to interrupt you....and say that....

THIS

IS

AWESOME!!!

- - - Updated - - -

We also need to talk smoke when you're done I want to know what battery you're using, your total time for smoke....all that good stuff.

Loving this build man. Looking forward to seeing the final shots

Click to expand...

Thanks dude, that means so much coming from you!!

About the smoke, it runs on a Turnigy 6S 22.2v 5A battery, but to be honest I've never run the battery or internal reservoir down, so I don't know how long it will run.

Man, you're really doing this right! Just scanned over your posts cause it's late, but I can't wait to go back and read them all in detail. Excellent work!

mainst69 said:

Man, you're really doing this right! Just scanned over your posts cause it's late, but I can't wait to go back and read them all in detail. Excellent work!

Click to expand...

Thanks! I tried to put in as much detail as I could, but hit me up if you have any questions.

Saving this post for the moment I begin to build my ROTJ Boba. The job you've done here is truly awesome. You should feel really proud. Congratulations buddy.

dv8r said:

Thanks dude, that means so much coming from you!!

About the smoke, it runs on a Turnigy 6S 22.2v 5A battery, but to be honest I've never run the battery or internal reservoir down, so I don't know how long it will run.

Click to expand...

I had a 6S battery. I can't remember the other details but the smoke only ran for 4 minutes. I recently switched to a 2S and while the smoke is much thinner, it runs for 40min.

I'm very interested in how you added the flame. I like that there is no lighter fluid involved I've worked with flash paper before in theatre, so I'm curious what is igniting it and how it's all rigged up. Are you planning on making it more accessible for reloads? One shot is cool. More than one shot is cooler

WhateverItTakes said:

Saving this post for the moment I begin to build my ROTJ Boba. The job you've done here is truly awesome. You should feel really proud. Congratulations buddy.

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Thanks, that is very kind. I owe it all to the good folks here and their inspiring efforts!