General ROTJ Boba Fett WIP 501st Approved

Thanks DP, it frustrates me taking photos trying to get the lighting right. Yes I used a flash & I agree a lot of the weathering is washed out. Particularly the ankle area. It is pretty dark & another thing are my boots they look washed out as well. Been trying to creep up & not do too much. But what that has done is give me a more layered natural look to the grime. I have been mixing custom colors using browns, black, white, yellow, blue, & reds to get different tones. I want it to look natural. That photo from inside Jabba's palace it what I have tried to emulate as well around the ankles. Which has been been pretty tough. I think I may go with a dark black & use a coarse brush to scrub in & fade upward, something I have experimented with a little already on scraps. To give it more contrast.

In regards to the flak vest I think the flash washed out a lot of the weathering because to my eye it was pretty dark. I used a couple different shades of browns, but may go with some black next. I am also thinking about adding a little tinge of yellow to give it that yellowing look like what you see in the photos on the skiff. May do some more work on this.

I am going to give the magnet method a try what RKD came up with, I have used rare earth magnets at work for holding purposes & they don't move & can hold some substantial weight if you get the right ones. I think they would have a stronger bond than using snaps or velcro. I have a plan to use them for the shoulder armor & am trying to devise a plan for the knee armor as well, worth a try.
 
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Worked on my MOW ammo belt to make it look more weathered. Being faux leather I wiped it down with acetone to take the sheen off & then went to work on it with some leather stains & acrylic fabric paints. Really darkened it up & gave it some different tones. Used white acrylic fabric paint to create the white features & smudge it some to blend things in. After that was done went back over with some leather stain to tone it down. Did hit it with some sand paper to scuff it up some.

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Hi, great WIP. How do you work on getting the more rusty red color on the ammobelt? (spraypaint maybe?)
 
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Great work so far. Subscribed and watching your progress to help give me an example to go by in my build.
 
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Thanks for the kind words.

How do you work on getting the more rusty red color on the ammobelt? (spraypaint maybe?)

I don't think spray paint would be a good idea cause if your look at the photos close the red is more centralize around the wear areas. Also it looks different between screen caps versus the exhibits photos. In the screen caps the ammo belt looks more of a darker brown not so red.

If you are wanting to add the red I would do it sparingly around the seems & wear areas. I would use some acrylic fabric paints (Tulilp soft matte). I would maybe use a sponge & rub it in to make it very subtle.

The problem is the coloring of this belt really doesn't help to add the reddish hues cause of the base being a lighter brown. I considered it but I didn't think it would look good on this belt.

Here are a couple of photos of what I was going for with my ammo belt.

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Thank you for the kind words.

I got my magnets & went to work to start mounting my armor. I went with a similar set up as to what RKD's tutorial but I did a little less on the magnet pull. For the chest armor, ab plate, & diamond I went with .500" diameter by .125" thick N52 Neodymium rare earth magnets. They are supposed to have an 8 pound pull. I epoxied 6 onto each of the chest plates, 6 on the ab plate & 2 on the diamond. I need to get a few pieces of metal strips to help the armor look a little better but pretty happy with how this worked. It would be tough to pull these off, but you can slide them around if you need to. For the shoulders I used .750" diameter by .125" thick N50 Neodymium rare earth magnets, these had a pull of 12 pounds. I used 3 on each shoulder. These are on there you have to almost have it vertical before they are close to coming off.

The magnets can be purchased in various pull strengths & grades. The higher the grade the more pull. That is why I went with a smaller size for the chest, ab plate, & diamond, N52 is the highest grade so even though it is smaller it has a good pull strength. Of course cost plays a factor with the grades as well. Spent a bit of time studying the different aspects of the various magnets.

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I have been less than satisfied with my velcro set up and will be joining you magnet users soon. Looks real good.
 
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Thanks Jason for the kinds words.

Just some advice keep the pull strength between 8 to 12, cause if you go much more than that it makes the magnets hard to work with. I don't know if this is a better way than velco but it is a good method & versatile. The studs with the grommets through the vest with nuts would be the most secure but very permanent no window for error if you make a mistake. I figured it was worth a try.

I decided to use magnets to hold my gauntlets together. I used .250" X .250" X 1.000" with a 13 pound pull rating. I used 3 pairs on each gauntlet. They would be tough to knock off, it is hard enough to pull them apart.

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Looks good, Chris! I've already got all the stuff for the chicago screw/grommet method. I'm keeping my fingers crossed :) I'll definitely use magnets for the gauntlets though. I had debated with velcro, but it almost seems cumbersome - and the magnets have such a clean look to them.
 
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Thanks Aaron. I was so on the fence on which way I wanted to go. Spent a lot of time mulling over which way to go. Figured I would give this a try, so far I am pretty happy with results. I contemplated a strap system using velco but couldn't come up with anyway I liked so thought I would give this a shot with the magnets. It is a very clean look, which I was hoping for. With the gauntlet if I was to do it again I would go with .250" x .250" x .250" cube magnets in the N52 grade & would go with a set of 4 maybe 6 for each. These have an 8 to 9 pound pull. The ones I got were a little strong so I ended up leaving a gap between them to reduce the pull strength. The magnets I got for the gauntlets had almost a 14 pound pull for each.but with putting a gap it reduce the pull to around 7 to 8 pounds based on a calculator (https://www.kjmagnetics.com/calculator.asp?calcType=block). I ended up buying the magnets at APPLIED MAGNETS-Neodymium Magnets-Rare Earth Magnets-Ceramic Magnets-Industrial Magnets-Magnets Wholesale To The Public. I did a test fitting on them last night with my glove & flight suit & they are very secure. I am going to put some epoxy putty around the magnets to give them some extra support. When I made my gauntlets built in tabs that locate the 2 halves so that they line up with each other & pretty much lock together. We will see how things hold up after I start trooping.
 
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Did some work on my right gauntlet. Initially I was going to just leave out the 2 Alco switches like some of the reference photos & just have the 2 holes. But decided I needed to have the switches.

Need to do a little bit of weather on them still, they are just too shiny.

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Well it finally started to warm up so I decided it was time to finally finish painting the cod piece & back plate. Using Rafal's templates & reference photos I applied all the damage by eye. This was the last major painting to do. I still have to do some final weathering on the back armor, collar, cod piece, back plate, & jetpack. But the weathering tends to go quickly.

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I purchased my gloves & boots from MOW you can find him on ebay & he also has a sale thread for his boots in the Cargo Hold. Highly recommend his stuff it is top notch. If you are needing boots I would suggest getting them now cause he does a limited run at the beginning of the year & once they are gone there won't be any till about this time next year. Saint Nasty also sells gloves you can find his sale thread in the Cargo Hold.
 
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Yeah I bought my haunts and JEtpacks from him. I plant of Ollie your steps to scratch build a pack this summer for my son.
 
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Finished the weathering on my cod piece & back plate & went to work on the on attachment for the cod piece & back plate. I made the studs decorative on the cod piece, but if for some reason in the future I want to make them functional that is an option. The studs need a little bit of weathering & are the pieces that I had 3D printed. They have an 8-32 nut epoxied into the back & are screwed the cod piece. I made up a belt system to hold the back plate around my waist & the cod piece over laps the back plate & attaches with velcro. I made the belt set up after putting on the girth belt & ammo belt the weight of these caused the back plate to slide down. I didn't feel like this was very secure. This pulls the back plate tight against my back & is very secure & after the girth belt & ammo belt is put on it is hidden. The girth belt also helps hold the cod piece secure. Attached the "thong" strap to the back plate & the belt clasp with snaps. Used a 1" wide piece of elastic, but needs to be weathered.

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Been busy working on various attachments & other little details.

Attached the hoses to the right gauntlet. Used a brass fitting, tapping & epoxying them into the gauntlet in the 3 places. The hose is a .625" OD .375" ID. Let is sit in a bucket of coffee to yellow it so it looks weathered. Screwed all 3 of the tubes together where they are under the outer sleeve. Used a leather cord & elastic with a snap to attach to the long sleeve back behind my arm, which allows for some flexibility & keeps the tubes under the outer sleeve.

Sewed in hooks for my MOW neck seal.

Attached the collar armor to the flak vest using sew on snaps. The male part of the snap was epoxied to the collar armor.

Used the same type of sew on snaps to attach the knee armor. Used one on each side. Put a hole in each end of a 1" piece of elastic & put it over the male portion of the snap. They are very secure & the snaps allow the knee armor to swivel as you bend & the elastic piece pulls against the back of the knee, which is primarily just for looks. The elastic needs to be weathered.

Had a slight issue with my back armor plate, was a little long. Cut 2 inches off of the bottom to make it correct. Will be sanding this down & repainting. Did get studs mounted into the back armor plate to attach the collar piece. Does work well with the harness though, but need to make the correct slits in the flak vest for the jetpack straps & mounting bar.

Will hopefully have some pics in the next day or so with complete suit minus the jetpack. Need to finish weathering my jet pack & get the hooks mounted.

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