Taking My Best Shot: Robo's ESB Fett

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 1, 2015

• #1

It's finally time to stop stalking the boards and make my build. If anything, I bet it holds me accountable to keep on track and gives me the momentum get this thing done! Please feel free to comment, make suggestions, point and giggle, etc. I'm trying to do as much of the painting, weathering, and overall assembly myself to save on money and feel better about using some elbow grease on things. I'm not the worst with a paintbrush and dear ol' mum taught me how to use a sewing machine, so that will help.

I have a friend who does metal casting at the local university. He suggested making some of the little bits (knee darts, toe spikes, shoulder studs) ourselves, which means I had to sculpt them first out of wax. I know that the end result won't be a clean, turned, machined look, but we will see where this goes.

I, like many others on these boards, had my first big ticket item be an Arkady (Carole) flight suit. I can't say enough good things about Carole! Great communication, the product arrived earlier than predicted, and it fits like a glove! Here is my first pass at weathering:

After taking photos, I think I need to go at it quite a bit more. I'm a firm believer that, no matter how much you weather something, if it doesn't show up in pictures to look like the original photos, then it probably isn't weathered enough! I also think I need more rust/brown colors in there.
I grabbed a white mohair girth belt (34", I believe) from equinenow.com or victorycanter.com, I can't remember, and also picked up some water-based stain from Home Depot. This photo may be a bit washed out due to the New Mexico sun, but the "Sangria" color stain seemed to be the best potential match for what I needed. I'll eventually have more images in different light to see if I need to hit this with a brush as well.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 4, 2015

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 1, 2015

• #2

I forgot to throw this in my last post! There is some pretty decent synthetic hair out there, so I decided to use some for Wookie braids. Blonde and black an fairly easy to come by down at my local Sally's Beauty Supply, but the grey was a bit of a turd to come across. I ended up using a "salt & pepper" colored hair and misting in a bit of silverish hair dye.

 

Bounty1138

Active Hunter

• Apr 1, 2015

• #3

Looks like you're off to a good start. Keep up the good work and post lots of pics.

 

norgs79

Active Hunter

• Apr 1, 2015

• #4

Yeah great job so far. I tried to do braids but it just ended up a complete mess. You've made it look easy!!

 

Matty Matt

Active Hunter

• Apr 1, 2015

• #5

Nice start! Your flightsuit weathering looks really good. You might want to go for a deeper reddish brown for the girth belt. Maybe it's the pic like you said, but it looks pretty light and pale there. The braids look great so far. Keep it coming!

 

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 2, 2015

• #6

norgs79 said:

Yeah great job so far. I tried to do braids but it just ended up a complete mess. You've made it look easy!!

Click to expand...

If you take note of the well manicured nails (which are not mine), my sister ended up lending a hand with her braiding experience (aka "being a girl with long hair her entire life"). I can't take credit for making it look easy!

Matty Matt said:

Nice start! Your flightsuit weathering looks really good. You might want to go for a deeper reddish brown for the girth belt. Maybe it's the pic like you said, but it looks pretty light and pale there. The braids look great so far. Keep it coming!

Click to expand...

Absolutely! I'm thinking some Ruddy Brown primer may do the trick, but I'll grab another pic indoors to make sure.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 8, 2015

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 2, 2015

• #7

For the cape I decided to use suitor's wool. I've seen the canvas and linen, which all look fantastic, but the wool was my preference and the universe kept giving me signs, such as Joann Fabrics having a 40% off sale on the usually $30 a yard fabric I wanted! Am I mistaken about ROTJ Boba Fett's cape being what is essentially a green, wool military blanket? They din't have a color that was close so I bought white/ivory and threw it in some taupe RIT dye for a while. The fabric is supposed to be stirred in the dye to evenly coat, but I found that multiple rounds of dying without stirring left some nice layers of heavy color in some sections and sparse color in others, helping the weathered look a bit.

I sprayed the stripe down the center with Krylon Pumpkin, hemmed the 3 edges that needed it, weathered it, and hammered a grommet in the corner area specified on Raf's cape template.
Side note: Raf, you are amazing, man. I, like many others on these forums, am standing on your shoulders with all of the insane work you've put in to make the Fett as accurate as possible. Can't thank you enough!

EDIT: After poking around some more it looks like the ROTJ cape was made of a military issue dufflebag or the like.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 2, 2015

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 3, 2015

• #8

Batninja has an awesome tutorial for making ammo pouches if you are fine with them being non-functional as pouches:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f20/batninjas-ammo-pouch-tutorial-8797/
I purchased some marine vinyl from the fabric store and started measuring, cutting, and gluing the fabric pieces around wood blocks that were cut down to individual pouch size. I went with an almond colored upholstery thread for the stitching and finished everything off with an industrial tack to simulate buttons. They hammered right in and helped to keep those particular flaps down (even though they are all hot glued as well). I'll eventually paint the tacks and weather the entire belt with some grungy darks as well as some straw colored yellow/brown tones.

Eventually, I'd like to get my hands on some real leather pouches and belt, but these will work for the time being. I guess I can always learn some leather working techniques, but that may end up being an expensive lesson...

 

Matty Matt

Active Hunter

• Apr 3, 2015

• #9

Dude, you are killing it! The belt and the cape look great.

 

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 3, 2015

• #10

Thanks, Matt! I appreciate it!

I forgot to post pics of what the back of the belt looks like, but I'm sure, as the build progresses, there will be multiple group shots of things.

 

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 3, 2015

• #11

The flak vest was a bit of a task to sew. I haven't done any extensive sewing in a long time, but this got me into the swing of things. I cannibalized a large t shirt to use as a starting pattern and eventually traced it onto tissue paper. I used a bottomweight cotton backing against the backside of a satin material (which had less of a sheen to it) to start the vest. I started sewing the vest pieces, eventually attaching a zipper to the back. The zipper needed to be shortened, which I learned how to do for this project. If there are any questions about shortening a separated zipper, I can do my best to help! The "sleeves" of the vest have a layer of batting in the middle to created a padded look.

I have my current fiberglass armor parts laid out on the vest to see how they fare. I'm worried that the neck opening may be a little too large, but I'll wait until I finish the neck seal and bib for any final judgement there. I may try to turn the entire vest a little gray with dye and then weather it a bit.

 

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 4, 2015

• #12

I was stoked to finally get a helmet! I don't have a ton of cash so I purchased the "Frank's Bargain Bucket" (not sure if that's totally correct) which seemed pretty accurate, but everything is cast in resin. I'm working on getting an aluminum stalk, accurate rangefinder, and, maybe down the line, some metal ears. It's funny how many threads and items I own parts from that start with the word "bargain"...

This was the only photo of the helmet before I started. Please disregard the quality. Or, maybe the quality is fine and you've had a few too many Oatmeal Stouts?

I started spraying the flats with the help of masking fluid and Raf's helmet templates for reference. I'd also like to mention that half of my bookmarked links during this time were paint-up threads by Superjedi. His work is amazing so search for these and check them out, they are so great! I also used the topical method for painting the damage layers because masking fluid didn't feel like actual painting and it would pool up in ways that were hard to contain, much like corralling kittens. I masked the killstripes with tape and used masking fluid for the grungy bits. I found that painting the helmet was quite tedious, but fun to scratch up, layer, and weather!

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 4, 2015

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 4, 2015

• #13

Here is where I currently am with the helmet paint. I still have to hit it with steel wool one last time and seal things will fixative. I'm working on getting the ears painted and figuring out how to install the visor. I think the Chicago screw method with rubber washers looked pretty good. I may mix up some JB Weld to try it out!

 

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 6, 2015

• #14

Sorry if it seems excessive, but here is a tunaround of my current helmet. I added the yellow overspray-type tones, the blackish "tar" splatters, the white thumbprint, and the "tape residue" tones below the killstripes. I still have to paint the ears and rangefinder and then seal everything up!

 

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 6, 2015

• #15

Here's a peek at the inside of the bucket. It's not the neatest interior, but it gets the job done. I used JB Weld to secure Chicago screw posts on the sides of the visor and rubber grommets around the posts to not chip or damage the acrylic visor (from t-visor.com). Speaking of visors, I have a brand new, extra "deluxe visor" from t-visor if anyone is needing one (it was slightly too short for my helmet)? My ears have screws that are countersunk and JB Welded in and then attached to the helmet with a rubber washer, metal washer, and nut. At some point, I think I'll cap the screw end with a rubber dome/acorn nut to keep from scarring the sides of my face. But wait...scars are cool, right? I'll be glueing in a hard hat liner to keep things from sliding around. It works great in my TK bucket and really helps with air flow around the top of the dome!

 

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 6, 2015

• #16

I ended up making a duct tape mannequin to be able to size and place items accurately, without needed assistance, because it can be difficult to ask for help when you are obsessing over "space opera characters" at 1 AM. I want to test different lighting situations to assure colors, weathering, etc. are showing up as accurately as I have the patience to get them. I still need to take a hair straightener and curler to the gray braid end.

Here is a photo of the braids and girth belt taken indoors, in front of a window, with no flash.

 

SharkForge

Well-Known Hunter

• Apr 6, 2015

• #17

You've got some sick talent!!! Making awesome progress!

 

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 6, 2015

• #18

Thanks for the kind words!
Any progress is good, but "awesome" progress is best!

 

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 7, 2015

• #19

I saw a great way to attach flight suit pouches to the back of the ammo pouches, but I cannot remember whose thread it was! I apologize and will give credit once I relocate the creator. The method uses rivets and 2" webbing running behind the ammo belt, through the loops of the ammo pouches, and then through the loops of the flight suit pouches. Anywhere I can get away with NOT using Velcro is preferred. Just personal preference, of course, but snaps, rivets, etc seem to be more reliable and durable to me. I also like this method of attaching pouches because it requires no altering to surrounding pieces and keeps the ammo pouches from straying apart. If anything needs to change, I'm only out the cost of some more webbing ($2, maybe?) and a few rivets!

I've also started weathering the ammo belt with paint and sanding, but forgot to paint the pouch "snaps". Doh!

 

RoboTarot

Hunter

• Apr 7, 2015

• #20

I trimmed out the RKD gauntlets I have and glued in a piano hinge closure. I have a bunch of greeblies to put on at this point, including a metal rocket.

I came across some archery forearm protectors on clearance and decided to tear them up for their clasping system. The plastic clasps glued in fairly easily.