Resculpting my Fett armor

redkraytdragon

Active Hunter
Hi everyone,
My name is Will and I'm new on the boards, but not new to the hobby. I'm guessing most of you don't know me, but some of you may. I live in Albuquerque, NM and have been in the 501st for about 3 years now with a ROTJ Fett. I've long been looking at replacing my armor and finally decided (after a few other sculpting projects that I have done for the mercs) that I can give this a go.
I'm going to be replacing all of my armor and will be chronicling the sculpt of my back plate.
Not a whole lot to report in the way of progress on this right now, but it's a start:

Large WOF template laid out over the wood.
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meticulously tracing said template
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cutting out the basic shape on the band saw, moments before destroying my 2nd bandsaw blade this year.
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I'll be updating this later today hopefully with more pics.
 
Added the third layer of wood to the buck...now got lot's of sanding to do..
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My good buddy Alex (TK6189) decided it would be funny to write this on the buck as we were assembling it
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All major line markings are made before sanding
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Getting a good workout with the handsaw
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Got both shoulders cut down and ready for sanding
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Got started on the lower side flares next to the kidneys
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All geared up and ready for sanding...gonna be a long night
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"Immortal" eh? I shall have to put that name to the test, THIS IS SP...uh errr um I mean, THIS IS ....MY GARAGE!!
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Got the main part of the shoulders sanded down
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Starting to shape out the main part of the body of the back
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Slowly starting to take shape
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Some more progress pics...in action!
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More sanding = more progress
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What a mess, and still more of that to come
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So I finally broke down and bought a reciprocating saw...worth it's weight in gold and I don't know why I didn't get one sooner. This bad boy saved me about 2 to 3 hours of time right off the bat
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That's about it for now..stay tuned!
 
cool project! i've found that MDF sands out easier than wood, so i usually go that route. but the overall technique you are using is just like how i make my clone molds.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies!
Thorn: This is going to be a wood buck and placed on the vac table
ST guy: Thanks! Love your work, I've actually tried sanding MDF the first time around and it proved very difficult...I'm using basswood right now and it is pretty tough as well :)
Clone: MDF = Medium Density Fiberboard
 
Looking like alot of work...Im currently at Kirtland for training been here for 6 months now...not a bad area all in all. Almost through though maybe another month and a half hopefully no more than that.
 
Well this project is proving to be far more difficult than I originally anticipated (which explains why there are not too many people out there making these available for sale)...not to mention the fact that this piece proved extremely difficult to pull on the table because it is so big, as a matter of fact I wound up having to go out and buy a more powerful shop vac to get the pull I wanted. After fussing around with it for about half a day I was finally able to get a pull out of .093 for a test to see where I was at in the sculpting process:
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It looked pretty good till I fitted it to my back and found that the curvature was way off and it was way too flat, it stuck out about 6 inches away from my neck when flush with my lower back...this is what it SHOULD look like
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I know that it looks uber curvy, but when I held it up to my back I could see that it matched the curve of my back perfectly, and it matched up pretty close to the Fett references pics that I have been using...unfortunately, that also meant that I had to go back to the sculpting board, so to speak. Here's what I've got so far:
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Also did some angle checking on the shoulders..first test shot, just a little bit off
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Ahhh much better!
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That's about it for now. I still need to do a few more test pulls as well as another one out of 1/8" inch. As of right now, I know I can pull these out of .093 but I really want to get it in 1/8"...I'll keep you all posted
 
Made some more progress today. Here are some pics:
Slowly taking shape...it's already looking like it should
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Added some side covers for a sharper, more uniform look
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Then I took a break from sanding and busted out the JP slots:
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Doing a dry fit testing to see where they will be placed
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Made a little more progress today, here's some pics:
Did a second test pull today to check the back curvature, much better and form fits like it should. Here's a comparison shot
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More sanding
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marking off the raised areas for the lower back
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I was loathe to do this because, as anyone who knows me knows that I really hate sanding bondo, but it was a necessary step and will be worth it in the end
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Also matched up the collar...here's a prefit, dry test
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And trimmed out
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Here's what I've got so far on the frontal armor already (pulled out of 1/8" ABS...THICK and TOUGH):
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Oh man that's a good question brother. I'd have to say at least 10-12 hours into the frontal armor and at least 20 in the backplate so far. ugh yeah yeah I know I work slow lol but I'm still learning how to sculpt and I'm super anal about every little bump and wave and I'm trying to get it all just right :)
 
I am absolutely in aw of you guys! Not just the talent, but the stick-to-it-tiveness. Can I find information and How-to threads about doing vacuum molds here on TDH? Great Job, dragon! Keep up the great thread!
 
I haven't seen any tutorial threads on TDH anywhere, but then again I haven't really looked. I've seen some here and there on the "tube" but most of the ones I saw were not very helpful. Anyway, thanks for the kind words! Here are some more progress pics:
Started sanding the bondo
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Had some craters, so I had to go back and fill them in for round 2 :)
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Finally finished the sanding!!!Now all nice and baby smooth!...and there was much rejoicing :D
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Just had one final little quick detail to add
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After about 45 minutes of claying it up, I was able to pull the master out of .093...perfect pull, no webbing and more rejoicing
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Now for the real test: 1/8" inch...aahh victory!
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And trimmed out
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And just a quick collar match up check...a good fit
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That's all for now...
 
This is really an awesome project.. Especially tackling the backplate with its curves. I tried making one out of metal once and it looked OK but didn't fit well because I couldn't get the contours of the back right. It looks like you've got those details down. Good luck!
 
Will excellent job my brother! I'm glad you made it over here, it's a great place to pick up tricks/tips and show-off(y). Dude it looks great!
 
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