My budget Boba project

Jayvee

Active Hunter
G’day gang. Pretty normal story which I’m sure you’ve heard a bunch on these forums – my first actual post, after gathering lots of ideas over a bit of time in researching my first Boba costume, and stumbled upon this site etc, etc. I won’t bore you with any more details than that, but suffice to say, this site and you fine people are unreal J

What I would like to do, is give you a bit of an idea what my main goal of this project was. Firstly, some of the custom builds and brilliance of many of the people on these boards, and the quality of their work, astounds me on a daily basis. And while some of that work is on another planet to that of my own, my main goal was to make a pretty nice looking Boba costume at a budget price. And for the very technical enthusiasts out there – while I realize my talent has me limited, I have tried to be fairly faithful to produce a screen accurate Fett, but was never too worried about making sure little buttons and nozzles etc or even paintwork was exact – just as close as I could come up with using ordinary household and craft items. I went for the Empire Strikes Back version, as this was always boba to me at his most ******, and I simply prefer the colour scheme. Well kids, here goes showing how I went about it – any and all comments welcome J
 
Last edited by a moderator:
HELMET
Yep – it’s the cheapest – and possibly a little large. But I was bought a Hasbro helmet as a birthday present (interestingly a costume party where I went as Han Solo & put together a nice little costume for him too), and that’s where my research of a one B. Fett started. Obviously the visor was way too large, but other than that, it’s actually an underrated little helmet – with some very minor construction changes and paint, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

My goal was to be as little messy as I could. I simply bought some fairly thin plastic sheet from the craft store, traced around the current visor shape, adapted a new visor shape that sits straight over the top of the old visor out of cardboard, and when I re cut and refit it to a point I was happy with, used the cardboard template on the plastic sheet and cut out the plastic version. Once satisfied with that, I painted it to match the ESB damage as close as possible, using the very excellent templates on this very site. I masked out much of the damage with masking tape and used Tamiya rattle can paint (the most available in my area), as well as smaller touchups with my trusty eyes and fine brush.

As a note on the masking out – if you don’t have access to masking fluid like me, and use the tracing and cutting method, I found that using Microsoft publisher once I had the battle damage images was a good idea, as it allowed me to fit them to whatever size I needed. As the dimensions on the Hasbro helmet are a bit different in both width and height to the more screen accurate versions that the template pictures were based on, I found this particularly handy. Another small tip, is to reverse the image in publisher before printing – that way, when you trace over it later on and flip it around to transfer onto your masking tape, it will then be the right way round – just saves you having to trace over it twice.

Once the visor was completed, I put it to one side, as I wanted to do everything else and put the visor on last to make painting easier. I basically just colour matched and used the cutting and masking technique for the rest of the battle damage over the helmet to the best of my abilities, and to also what I thought looked the best. I gave the kill stripes a fading from yellow toward a slight orange, and actually didn’t recolour the green sections, as I in fact, really liked them as they were. Weathered the scope, lightly misted an area or two, and was almost there. A nice little trick I used to give some weathered and worn look on the dome was simply to get some newspaper, and smudge some newspaper ink around. Actually really bought it to life, and the beauty of it – if you over or under did it somewhere, just wipe it clean and start again! After all this, I used special plastics glue to attach the visor over the top. A note here – very early in the peace, I taped up the black see through section of the visor on the helmet, and didn’t remove it till very last thing – even after I glued the new red visor section on. This was to ensure I didn’t get any paint on the see through section, but also to prevent any fogging up from glue fumes which can happen with some glues (i.e. superglue) if you aren’t careful. Guess I just wanted to be safe than sorry.
 
Anyhoo, after this long winded explanation – this is what I came up with – hope it’s at least up to par. Apologies for the graininess on some of the shots, had a little problem attatching images at first, so had to dull the quality a tad. The back is completed, but had poor lighting for photos, so I put in an earlier shot to give an idea. Ignore if the standalone pics of the visor look a little askew also – I assure you it was only due to the angle of the photo. Blaster, Armour etc etc to come soon…

Helmet 1 - Original Hasbro.JPGHelmet 2 - completed modified front view.jpgHelmet 3 - completed modified side view 1.JPGHelmet 4 - completed modified side view 2.JPG
 
Last edited by a moderator:
JETPACK
I’ve gotta be honest – I made this for about $15 bucks – pretty much just what the paint and foam cost. I know it’s not perfect, but I also don’t think it came out too bad for $15. I basically just used some foam craftboard, thick cardboard, a couple of Gatorade bottles for the side canisters, and for the thrusters and rocket, got some foam cones of different sizes from the craft store, and cut and glued them to size. I then used either white paper, or in the case of the rocket, 2mm light foam sheets with an adhesive back to cover everything to a smooth surface finish. A prime and paintjob and it came out as so…

1 Jetpack rocket preliminary stage.jpg2 Jetpack basic version.jpg3 Jetpack green basecoat.jpg4 Jetpack final.jpg
 
BLASTER
Lots of fun making the blaster. Pretty much did it the way many have suggested – found a $2.50 plastic gun in the cheap warehouse type stores that sell everything – in Australia here, we have a few like the reject store and red dot. In any case, found that easily, then got some PVC pipe from the hardware store. With the flashtube, I couldn’t find any chrome tubing at all, so simply got a different size PVC pipe that slot into the barrel beautifully, and got super chrome spray paint which worked a treat. For the scope, again, from the $2 shops, I found 2 cheap thin torches – I put them together end to end, and mounted it with some cheap PVC pipe brackets. A little craft foam, and some odd pieces of Lego, and all was coming together nicely...

For the wooden stock and for the Molex connectors and some extra bits on the mounts, I am lucky my dad works with wood, so went around to his workshop, and cut the stock shape with a jigsaw out of some scrap pine, and used a hand drill and sander to make up the Molex connectors. I also cut the ‘c’ shape that connects the gun handle to the stock out of wood – this enabled me to use some heavy duty screws to get it into place. With the stock, I went for a dark Jarrah stain with a touch extra red added in. Very happy with the colour, and then finished it off with 2 clear coats using the old boys spray gun...

With the Greeblies, I cut them out of craft foam, and also used some plastic lollypop sticks. Gave them the full paint up and attached them with double sided tape. They must’ve looked ok, as my brother asked how I made ‘those little metal things on the stock’... Just have to attach the strap, but otherwise, a fun little project that probably cost me $25 all up. These for me, are unfortunately pics that don’t quite do the real thing justice – the handle colour is spot on, but looks a little washed out in the photos... ah well, not to worry..

1 Blaster prelim.jpg2 Blaster prelim 2.jpg3 Blaster prelim 3.jpgBlaster final.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
ARMOUR
The armour was one thing that I thought about a lot. I wanted to try the trash can idea, but couldn’t find anything reasonable in my area for a decent price (in Australia, remember we’ll likely pay anywhere from double to 3 times the price for some of these things). So, I went a different route, and one that I’m not sure I’ve seen used, but for a budget Fett, thought it turned out ok. I simply used 6mm craft foam – I bought green, but it probably doesn’t matter too much, and cut out my shapes from the templates found here. The foam bends a treat and is strong but lightweight – so attaching it with Velcro to the vest is a fairly simple job also.

What I did run into however, was that using test pieces, I found that once painted, the paint likes to crack once you start bending the armour to fit. So instead of paint, I came up with a simple and efficient solution – my trusty computer. Using Photoshop and mainly Microsoft publisher, I matched the main green as close to the helmet as possible, and printed out the sheets on thin card, and cut them to fit each individual piece. I also put in the insignias and some battle wear using these programs. Once all the pieces were cut out, I then laminated them using an a4 laminator I have in the study, to protect from water drops and wear and tear. But the biggest bonus with them laminated (even unlaminated, you just have to be more careful), is that the shape bends perfect on the foam with no bubbling, tearing or cracking. I then painted the battle damage over the top. For the larger bullet holes, to give the 3D look, I simply cut a small section off a ping pong ball (or even the little pods holding the kinder surprise toy work well), and cut a hole in the armour. I put the correct laminated armour piece over the foam, cutting a hole in the same spot through the laminate, then stuck the ping pong ball curve in the hole, and painted it up. As an interest, I attached all the corresponding armour pieces using double sided tape (this has less mess than foam glue, and the stuff bonds to the craft foam like nobody’s business...).

I still have to finish the back plate and put the rectangle in the centre diamond and a few bits here and there, but for the cost of a few pieces of 6mm craft foam in some a4 and a3 sizes, it is lightweight, durable and costs roughly $15…

1 armour foam.jpg2 armour chest.jpg3 armour upper.jpg4 armour full.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
SHOULDER BELLS AND KNEE PADS
I used the same process with the armour, but used yellow 3mm foam instead, as they are pieces that require more bend. The knees attach with a yellow strap with Velcro, and for the knee darts, while not exact, for my budget Boba, I used the tip of a pen, and the ends of an antenna cable that I bought in a $2 shop... These are nearly there, but do want to orange up the right shoulder bell a little more, and make some other minor adjustments...

logo shoulder set up.jpglogo shoulder complete.jpgknee darts.jpgkneepad 1 full.JPG
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This is comnig along nicely and its good to see more ozzy fetts on the board keep up the good work , what did you use for the top left knee dart,
and not to critisis but you should cut the dart block in half on the horisontal ( basicly were the shadow is cast over the right block if you see what imean) looks a bit to thick
 
Cheers Jinto. I was a little limited with the block for the knee darts, any smaller, and the darts wouldnt have had enough room to sit in securely. As for the top left knee dart, it was the tip of a ball point pen - about a 1/4 of the pen is still attached to give it a little more support, just hid it really well :) Thanks again!
 
GAUNTLETS
Now, the Gauntlets were another thing I toyed over, but when it was all said and done, I simply used a large poster cylinder that I found at work... I cut 2 pieces to size, put a slit down the middle of each, and fitted them to my forearms – once fitted, I glued and taped together. They are a snug fit, but with enough room to slide them on and off with a little bit of care – and the good thing is, I was able to keep them as one piece. Once the cylinders were fitted, I covered them with white paper to keep a smooth finish, and then built up on them with some cardboard and foam, to give the more ‘movie-like’ structure, and got them to a point I was happy with. With the shot for the fitting, I just used a gardening glove to give an idea - am working on the proper gloves as we speak..

Gauntlet prelim right.jpgGauntlet prelim left.jpgGauntlet prelim fitting.jpg
 
When it came to painting and decorating, the Gaunts were probably the biggest thing where some cool household items came into play – the left keypad was a painted up cut out section from the grip off a Powerade bottle, while the top rocket thing on the top of the left was simply a painted up, thick magic marker (I took out the nib). the little silver spears on the right were sewing needles, while red and white pearl head pins were used for ‘buttons’ on the side of the right. The 3 prongs on the left Gaunt turned out quite well, and were simply made out of ordinary drinking straws of various thicknesses. I know the two tubes I added on the right Gaunt aren’t completely movie accurate – they just kinda suited my gaunts that way (I do have the main hose which connects up the sleeve too, but will attach this closer to completion.) A few little pop rivets, and some scrap nuts and bolts for buttons, and the Gaunts were done – pretty much costing me $0, but for arguments sake for materials, we’ll say maybe $5. They are definitely one of the items that look better in person – its tough to get a good 3D pic, but I’ll give it a shot here...

Right Gauntlet final 1.jpgRight Gauntlet final 2.jpgLeft Gauntlet final 1.jpgLeft Gauntlet final 2.jpg
 
I think this is a great job here! Looks lite too.

JETPACK
I’ve gotta be honest – I made this for about $15 bucks – pretty much just what the paint and foam cost. I know it’s not perfect, but I also don’t think it came out too bad for $15. I basically just used some foam craftboard, thick cardboard, a couple of Gatorade bottles for the side canisters, and for the thrusters and rocket, got some foam cones of different sizes from the craft store, and cut and glued them to size. I then used either white paper, or in the case of the rocket, 2mm light foam sheets with an adhesive back to cover everything to a smooth surface finish. A prime and paintjob and it came out as so…

View attachment 48001View attachment 48002View attachment 48003View attachment 48004
 
This thread is more than 13 years old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top