Stormcrow 85's WIP: Boba Fett - ESB

Love the videos. Good work friend!

One of the last videos before I go to the new format which is more of a project journal less of an organized by exact portion of the costume. If you all don't like the new format please let me know and I can see about swapping back to that. It can get tedious working on multiple projects making sure I separate the videos before I put them together.

The masking worked well. Too well. The armor came out looking leopard print so I had quite a bit of repainting to do to tone it down.

I used the masking fluid as well as a primer, silver, yellow, then green all having two coats of paint each. This update is pretty self explanatory. Photobucket App is being a pain I will update with pictures later. Tonight i go pick up some vinyl decals. The pictures will show that there is too much battle damage.

The pictures:





The Video:

So as briefly mentioned in the original girth belt post. I trashed it and made another one. I don't really have any pictures but I laid out a board added some screws and then put D-hooks on each end and ran a rope between the two, then I sewed them together. I still have to run the straps between the D-Rings and I plan on doing that tonight.

I did not buy polyester specific dye, because none of the local stores carried it in the color I needed. I then dyed the belt for 1 hour at 180* F, let it dry over night and it still rinsed right out and turned the belt Pink. Feeling somewhat defeated about the dying process. I will be painting the belt, and hoping for the best.

In the video I:

Make the belt and dye the belt. I hope you enjoy.

Video:

I am sure you all have noticed that I have a lot of painted armor, but no painting videos. I was still attempting to keep the painting separate then make a video. I did most of the painting over several days it turned out pretty well. If I were going to do it again I would have probably bought 2 cans of silver paint so I could put on the second coat a bit thicker. Other than that I think it turned out really well. Enjoy.

I had painted the rust color primer on.



Then On to the yellow. Because the Cod piece was taking a bit more time. I had to paint that about a day behind everything else.



Then as I showed a few posts ago I did my masking and then did my painting of green.


Video: No intro this time I am working with new software and need to get back to the project so I am not going to make an intro for this one (Maybe later)

So no real intro to this video either. This video has several parts as well.

Part 1: Cutting out (roughly) the template for the back plate. I did this so I could go back to the sign shop to see if they had a big enough piece. They did and once again they gave it to me for free.

Part 2: Removing leopard print battle damage. This is not the last time I would remove pock marks from the armor I made. I looked at reference photos in order to remove some of the marks. It still wasn't enough.

Part 3. I cut out the armor templates. from the paper for the inner and outer skins for the gauntlets. Those gauntlets are very confusing. I did a TON of measuring, checking, measuring, cutting and I still didn't end up with a products I liked. I also cut the back plate and the gauntlet shapes from the PVC foam. Once I cut the shapes I set the back plate aside until I get home and can work on it there. The gauntlets I started to try and shape.

Part 4: Gauntlets
I made several mistakes when it came to the gauntlets:
1. I didn't have an oven so I had to form it little by little
2. I didn't glue the pieces together before I tried shaping the whole thing so the outer radius was messed up (Also the template even warns against this, I just don't heed warnings some times)
3. I made the gauntlets WAY too thick
4. I did not have anything but my arm to form them too which gave me very inconsistent lines at the edges.
The moral of the story is read, heed, and plan better than I do.

You can see that throughout the video I really fight the material. It was a frustrating day that got me to rethink the way I am doing the gauntlets. It was a good learning experience on what I will not be doing in the future.
Pictures:



Video:

I have been busy the past week and haven't really worked on the costume at all. The video below is from a couple days before Halloween. I finished a cape. I still have to "weather" it along the bottom. I will do that in the future, but won't do that for a little while. The video is below.

I used a canvas that I got from harbor freight it was an impulse buy because I was there buying the heat gun. I went online and found the measurements for the cape. I then cut the middle piece out the canvas I used really shrank when dyed so please cut several more inches than needed if you use this technique. I would suggest at least 6 inches extra (3 on each side). I also did not cut it to the overall length I instead kept the seams at the top and bottom which I could cut to length appropriately later. After I cut the strip for the middle, I dyed it a brown color. If I were doing it again I would try and get closer to the actual color of the cloth. The Harbor Freight canvas accepted the color VERY well. I prepped it by rinsing it thoroughly in the sink before putting it into the dye bath.

I then sewed it back together with 2 other pieces of canvas, I left the outer canvas the same color as it came from the store. Ensure you wash or preshrink the outer canvas as well. I then used a sewing machine to put all the pieces together and add a seam at the one end of canvas that needed it. I think the overall product turned out well, but it is not movie color accurate, and I did not preshrink well enough.

This was one of the times I really realized that I wish I had a serger to finish some of these projects as it would make the products look much nicer, and I wouldn't have to worry about it tearing up later. THis was definitely one of the easier parts of the project I have had. I still need to add the square buttons to my armor for now I will back up attach this cape to my vest with a pin. The plan is to add a button to the vest to keep stress off the armor.

I did attempt one weather mark with fire. A couple words of caution I think it turned out ok, but don't be a dumby like me and do it on your couch. The wife isn't amused when she comes into the living room to see you starting a fire. I promise I have this under control was not appreciated...

Pictures:




Video:

I also finished up the girth belt. I have posted a bit about this before here is what I know.

1. Dyeing non-pure cotton stinks.
2. ESB is a brownish color (Ruddy Brown), I used a rust color to finish the belt
3. Sewing inividual threads through a belt takes a LONG time
4. Yes I know plastic clips were not used in the movie.

So here are the details.

1" Black nylon strap ~ 3 inches extra on each side of the belt
3/16" Rope was clothesline from Harbor Freight - Was a poly cotton blend and it would not dye
D-rings - Too big i should have gone with a smaller size I could do this in the future carefully, but for right now I don't plan on doing it any time soon.

This was a very time intensive project, but I think the end result is something to be proud of.Once the whole costume is done I will be trimming the excess strapping. This is a place were I will not be completely screen acurate but since I don't plan on going 501st I am not too worried.

Pictures:




Video: (At time of posting this video was still processing)

After I finished the girth belt. I had a buddy coming over that helped me shape the back armor. I have no plans for a jet pack right now, so I really need the back armor to cover the zipper in the back (I haven't added a zipper cover in the back (Though that shouldn't be hard). I broke the needle on the sewing machine when I was working on the girth belt (October 26th-ish) and just this past weekend (November 7th-ish) I got a new needle for it.

The back armor was challenging and I am still not fully satisfied with the way it is currently fitting though for a first attempt myself and my friend Jeremy got it pretty close. Here is how we did it.

1. Cut out the overall shape
2. Trace where you want the side bends to follow
3. Add the side bends I found it easier to do this by clamping down the piece to a flat surface and using a flat object to do the bending it seemed to give the cleanest bend. I cut a reverse of the bend so that way I have a "straight edge" to bend along
4. Heat the shoulder part (I did this in the oven while somewhat shielding the lower portion of the armor with an old cookie sheet turned upside down
5. Form to shoulders by:
5a.Take out of the oven and quickly
5b. Using a belt or a strap fasten the lower portion to yourself so it doesn't come away from your lower back
5c. Use a friend, colleague, or significant other to push it down onto your shoulders
5d. If possible then is a good time to form the collar upward bend on the armor as well
5e. Repeat as necessary
6. Small section heating helps to get spots after the first big heating
7. You could always reach into the oven and cool the parts you don't want malleable with a cool damp cloth before they heat to bendable temperatures

Some things that were frustrating about this process.
- The outer portion of the armor wanted to move away from my shoulders
- This is a large piece that is hard to get into the oven
- The pictures on the internet seem to vary widely on how the piece should look (mainly in the bending, and space around the arms)
- The wavyness around large area bends is something I haven't figured out to get rid of. I will probably do one more heating session before I apply paint.

There wasn't a lot of lessons learned as I am not even complete with this part of the project yet. It was an intermediate step that since I have yet to go back to.

After this portion of the project I did quite a bit of detail painting and little things to get the costume ready for Halloween I should have that update up in a few days.

Pictures:



Video: I am going to bed so again the video is about 50% processed. Enjoy.

Armor Emblems is what I am showcasing today. This was the last push I had before Halloween so I could have the costume at least reasonably recognizable so I could walk my son around. I have a friend that has a vinyl cutter so he made me some reverse stencils in hindsight they might be a bit to big but they look pretty good in my opinion.

Here are the steps taken:
1. Bribe friend to make stencils (This in my case was easy he has been following my build and asked if he could make them for me)
2. Prep Surface to be painted (I did this well on the shoulder, but forgot to sand down the chest a little and had quite a bit of paint peel)
3. Lay down first stencil and paint over it
4. Repeat as often as you want. Removing the old stencil before completely drying can help keep the paint from lifting up
5. Then let fully dry
6. Place next layer of stencil, and go back up to step 2/3
7. Sit back and look at your good work.

The bantha went on without a hitch. The chest emblem kept peeling off, which made me make a new stencil from just paper because that is what I had on hand.

Regrets/Frustrations
- Not having an exacto knife (I have since rectified)
- Not properly prepping surface
- Making the chest emblem a bit too big

These emblems really helped the armor look very good so I am happy with the way it all turned out.

The tools I used were just acrylic craft paint, cheap paint brushes, and time. Let me know what you think.

Pictures:






See how it pulled off the paint . This was after I repainted the blue back on



Video:

After I got the armor painting finished up I had to book it on the armor attachment to the vest and flight suit. I went ahead and used Velcro. I am sure this will have to be done again in the future but for a first attempt I think it went really well. One thing that I didn't get any pictures of was the weathering of the flightsuit and armor one last time. Which included me getting the spray paint out and dusting the parts of my flight suit I wanted "dirty" I will be adding much more in the future, but didn't want to create another "leopard print armor" incident this time with the black paint. It doesn't show up in pictures which means it isn't the right amount of weathering.

Process:
1. Lay the armor out on the vest (I chose to layout the collar piece first)
2. Position all pieces the distances away from each other you want them
3. Using a washable marker or fabric marker draw outlines on the vest or clothing of where you want the pieces
4. Attach Velcro to Vest and Armor
5. Put on and stare at yourself in the mirror.

This is the first real payoff! I got to take the kids trick-or-treating in costume which is something they were very excited for (as was I). They got like 3 lbs of candy each it seemed like.

I have really enjoyed the costume up to this point I need to do several things still. Below is the list as it currently stands. I am not necessarily doing them in this order.

To Do:
1. Make the Gauntlets
2. Correct Neck seal color to vest material
3. Make Knee Armor
4. Make Shin Pockets
5. Make Spats
6. Paint Back Armor
7. Find Cheap helmet
8. Ammo Belt
9. EE Blaster
10. Side Arm to include Holster
11. ?????
12. Profit

So far this has been a crazy learning process that I am no where near complete with, would love to hear some comments. I am now currently working on the right gauntlet to include making some flashing LEDs on the side and a flashlight for the front. I am pretty close to being ready to glue it all together and then paint.

So far I have easily about 15 hours into just the right gauntlet because of all the mistakes and learning I have done along the way. I am pretty sure that the left gauntlet will take me MUCH less time.
Pictures:











Video:

I am still working on the right gauntlet but here is a teaser shot of where I am at. An official update in the next few days hopefully. I am searching for micro toggles locally. But haven't been by the local Radio Shack yet to pick them up. I also haven't figured out how I am going to split the gauntlet whether with a piano hinge or something different. I am going to try and add up the total cost of the build so far and get that posted up tomorrow or Monday.

Gauntlet work continues, but work has been crazy busy we are preparing for some really cool stuff and it is consuming quite a bit of my time. I am still watching for an amazing deal on a helmet, leaning towards doing a cardboard helmet if I can't find a great deal (I like the idea of making it myself anyway).

I went ahead and added up all of the costs thus far.

$160.74 on materials before taxes - this excludes purchases like the heat gun and scissors because I was out of town and didn't have them on hand, though if I would have been home I would have had them already
$ 201.64 before tax if you include the tools I had to buy

I know that isn't perfectly accurate because it doesn't include the sewing machine needles after I broke my last one.

Still I don't think that is a bad number at all. Thank you for reading. I hope you are enjoying my thread. Here is another shot of the progress of the gauntlets.

Alright well. I am about to spend some time with family for the next few days. I have been working on the right gauntlet on and off for the past few weeks here is the information. The sintra is shaping well, but not as easily as I wanted it to. I found it difficult to follow the curve templates.

Process:
1. Trace out the gauntlets onto the sintra using the templates
2. Realize that the gauntlets are for ROTJ (I did that much later in this process)
3. Make appropriate changes to the right gauntlet template (Outer side piece not as tall, with a different paint job)
4. Cut out the pieces and shape them
5. Glue all the pieces together (just the outer pieces don't actually glue it onto the gauntlet yet)
6. I added controls and a battery using micro switches that face out on the gauntlet. The front is a double light and will actually work quite well as a flashlight the second switch is wired to the 9v, but nothing to run yet.
6. Bondo and fill seams as necessary
7. Glue the outer pieces to the gauntlet body

That is where I am. I have glued the top portion on, but still need to glue the hose connector and the side piece.

Things I have learned:
- Xacto knifes are SHARP. I lost quite a bit of blood. luckily the battery had died on the camera so you didn't get to see my run off and stop the bleeding then walk around mumbling "That hurt a LOT, and was very stupid" over and over again.
- Check your dang templates and reference photos until you know them cold! I could have saved a bit of sintra and time if I would have corrected the side piece sooner.
- Length of gauntlets is hard, i originally made them a bit shorter since I am a smaller guy and didn't want them to be arms lenght. I ended up having to add a bit of length back on to the gauntlet because I made the top parts of the gauntlet full sized
- Ensure you understand and plan for the width of your gauntlet material.

Things I still need to figure out:
- How am I going to open and close this gauntlet? I am leaning towards magnets sunk into the Sintra and a couple small hinges that I already have on hand.
- What kind of attachment the hose attaches to the gauntlet
- Are those lights on the side of the gauntlet towards the back outer or just dental files (from some pictures I have seen I am thinking about some .22LR casings painted red and blue)
- How exactly to do the left gauntlet better

This gauntlet I actually think is going to turn out AMAzing. The Gauntlet still needs:
-- Darts
-- Side piece finished
-- Hinge/attachment methods figured out and implemented
-- Bondo cleaned up in the lower half "windows"
-- Painted
-- Shown off

I would like to make a short explanation video of what I did and how I made the determination for the front light. it is two LEDs rather than 1. I think we can all agree that my costume is probably not going to get a screen accuracy award, nor am I planning on joining the 501st. Would anybody be interested in seeing how I made the determination for resistor and what I did? Let me know, I sort of feel like I have been talking to myself.

Below is the updated to do list as it currently stands. I am not necessarily doing them in this order.

To Do:
1. Make the Gauntlets
-- Right Gauntlet 50% done
2. Correct Neck seal color to vest material
-- Waiting to get my sewing machine back and the motivation
3. Make Knee Armor
4. Make Shin Pockets
5. Make Spats
6. Paint Back Armor
7. Find Cheap helmet
-- I am leaning towards a cardboard helmet I read/studied several threads in the past few days, leaning towards this route
8. Ammo Belt
9. EE Blaster
10. Side Arm to include Holster
11. ?????
12. Profit
-- I doubt there will be any profit on this one

Pictures: (Video will probably come around tomorrow, but it will be a LONG one!)







Just tacked on

Before realizing it was too big


The top finished, just awaiting holes and toggles


All the pieces waiting for finishing touches, even sitting on the gauntlet.





Proto-typing for the light:




First Light mockup, I didn't think about the switches that had to come in so that nifty battery holder I made got taken out and scrapped.





What it looks like on my arm, also added in the switches.




Glued the top onto the gauntlet and then sealed it with bondo (I did 2 coats before I called it good enough)





After first coat of bondo. I added one more coat and sanded, but didn't get any pictures. I will try and remember to get some when I add the video. You can see the difference that steady smoothing can add to a project.

Alright so this video is VERY long. It clocks in at 25 minutes, but doesn't even really cover the fact that I shaped one part of the gauntlet first. (I can't remember whether that was posted in another video or just got lost). It has been great. Definitely the hardest piece so far, but I think it is turning out awesome. Let me know what you guys think.

Looking good! Glad I'm not the only one who thinks the gauntlets are pretty hard. Are you planning to bleach the flight suit to a more light blue tone? That would be a major improvement if you ask me.

le1120 said:

Looking good! Glad I'm not the only one who thinks the gauntlets are pretty hard. Are you planning to bleach the flight suit to a more light blue tone? That would be a major improvement if you ask me.

Click to expand...

Yes I plan on dyeing the suit a lighter color after I change out the neck seal. I have never used bleach to lighten something so I am a bit nervous which has discouraged me from trying the bleaching.I have been consumed with the gauntlets for the past few weeks and loaned out my sewing machine so I haven't got to to swap that part out. I woefully under estimated the amount of time this costume is taking to make.

I think my gauntlets are turning out really good though.

Stormcrow85 said:

Yes I plan on dyeing the suit a lighter color after I change out the neck seal. I have never used bleach to lighten something so I am a bit nervous which has discouraged me from trying the bleaching.I have been consumed with the gauntlets for the past few weeks and loaned out my sewing machine so I haven't got to to swap that part out. I woefully under estimated the amount of time this costume is taking to make.

I think my gauntlets are turning out really good though.

Click to expand...

Yup Boba Fett is not a quick one even if your making it yourself and you've got time on your hands...your gauntlets are shaping up nicely!

Hats off to you. Building a Fett is a huge undertaking, building one from scratch even more so. Thanks for sharing!

I am learning this is neither quick or easy. Still a ton of fun.

I went ahead and re did the neck seal in the vest color yesterday. I am not very happy with how it turned out, that being said With the armor and other stuff on it won't look bad. It was a VERY frustrating i measured at least 4 times added a couple inches and was still completely wrong and it was too short. There has been nothing on this costume that has frustrated me as much as that dang neck seal. I now have realized a better way to make it but am getting low on that material and don't really want to remake it.

I also started working on the closing method for the right gauntlet. I sunk some magnets into the sintra and I think it is going to turn out really nice. I still have to pick up some piano hinges to put the thing together and I want to do that BEFORE I paint and put in the rest of the pieces along the side.


Thank you very much man. I appreciate the words of encouragement. With work, family, and a new college class in the evenings it has been difficult to spend time on this.

PaintedHunter said:

Hats off to you. Building a Fett is a huge undertaking, building one from scratch even more so. Thanks for sharing!

Click to expand...

The latest video is up. I still haven't swung by and picked up a piano hinge so this test fit was all that has been done. I think it turned out well. No pictures this time, but the video isn't ridiculously long like the last one.