WIP: Locitus ESB Boba

So far so good!

Thanks!

Guess I should add that the knee armour was moved up and the elastics improved between picture 2 and 3. It looks really bad in picture 2, but it's already fixed.

Nice! You'll get there in no time with a start like that.

Don't forget the thong by the way!

The pants are a bit loose from behind. But overall its a great setup!

Thanks! I haven't forgotten the thong, just haven't gotten around to it yet. But I've prepared by adding a snap inside the cod piece. Getting some 1" elastic and colouring it light blue would work?

So, today I got the Fettpride holster and Mojo Fett sidearm that I bought from Major. This is the only "big" thing that I was missing. The rest is missing greblies and replacing some stuff, like the jetpack and gauntlets. So it feels very good and I'm one step closer.

Off to a great start bro...
Nice score on the sidearm and holster too! might wanna get more weathering on the sidearm.

Yeah, I might do that. Any suggestions on where to add more weathering?

Thanks btw, bro!

Got two packages today, one set of fettronics chest lights and a mini stormtrooper helmet. I've already mounted the lights and I'm feeling very happy about it. Fastest shipping ever. Insane.

I'm thinking I should open up the holes for the lights some more, not all of the digits show through properly, a bit on the bottom or top gets cut off. What's an accurate width and hight of the windows? Or should I just make it fit my lights?

I found this file but I'm not shure who did it.

Thanks Ratal!

Looks great

Looks fantastic! Cant wait til i get my esb fett done. Currently being made by bobamaker

Thanks guys, but there's a lot of stuff left to be done. And I'm afraid that a lot of my gear ain't cutting it in terms of accuracy so I'll need to replace that before I'm happy. But in the meantime I can have some fun!

Hey man! love your costume (I'm so jealous...). I don't know if this will help or not but this is an image of the breast plate used in the actual movie (or so I was told. I got this off another link from a Dented Helmet Forum so don't take my word for it...).

If I uploaded the pictures wrong, I'm sorry. Please let me know so I can correct it but I hope this helps!

Hopefully we can assume (it's a bad word, I know) that they used the same, or a similar setup for the chest lights independent on who painted the armour, and the cut outs for those lights should be about the same size. Whatever those measurements may be.

Originally Posted by RafalFett

I found this file but I'm not shure who did it.

seven

Originally Posted by KaanE

seven

Thanks for clearing this for us!

Some updates. I've scratch built some missing stuff as a last minute resort to look a little bit better on halloween. These are only temporary until I can replace them with more accurate stuff.

I added a thong between cod and kidney armour
I made the square studs on the side of the cod from Fimo-clay
I made a knee launcher (didn't turn out as I wanted to, but it's better than just a empty spot)
I added some computer molex connectors to my EE-3 that was missing and looked a little naked.

He Locitus,
excellent works!

Cheers
BojaGun

Thanks!

I almost forgot to tell you how halloween went. It went really good, and it was my first time fully suited up for a longer time. Some stuff I had fixed, mainly on the jetpack broke off, so I need to fix that again. But all in all it held up well and people really like the chest lights!

Here's a picture.

Great looking Fett!

Thank you Clonecollector! Sorry for the late reply. I appreciate any and all feedback!

Hey guys. I recently got replacement parts for the JP stabilizer and beacon (which was missing altogether). They are resin, but then again I'm not planning on keeping this jetpack forever anyway. I opted for a removable solution, so I drilled small holes into their bottom and added M4 bolts glued in with epoxy and securing them with wing nuts on the inside of the jetpack.



I'm also working on attaching the JP exhaust pipes with magnets instead of gluing them down which seems futile as my previous two attempts at this both failed. So here I have 4 rare earth magnets glued inside the pipe under the green top I added to the exhaust pipes. There will then be 4 magnets embedded in the "ball" that is the other half of the exhaust. So in the future, when the pipes break off (which they undoubtedly will) at least they will be easy to re-attach. Just pop them on again!

Got some toe spikes from Mojofett today.

During the holidays I finished the magnetic attachment of the exhausts. I'll add some black wash to hide the difference in green paint. I don't know what paint originally was used, nor do I think it's available here, so a perfect match is near impossible. The difference in color is a lot less obvious without the flash form the camera of course.




So, now I think the jetpack is as complete as I'm willing to make it before betting a new and better one.

The new armor paint is excellent (the old one was ROTJ) and both you and Frenzy did an amazing job on these. How you will apply the chest and shoulder logos? Paint? Vinyl Decals?

I think we both will order weathered decals from bobamaker. At least I will. Frenzy has the skill and parts to do the weathering himself if he changes his mind, but not me, so I'll get them weathered for sure.

And thanks! I'm really happy about the new paint job. Your templates were really easy to follow, even free handing the outlines by looking at the template next to the armour was not problem.

I'm glad that my ESB armor stencils worked out good for you. Keep the excellent work coming!

Great pictures bro! Although I'm a rookie airbrusher at best, I'm glad how it all turned out. I think the shoulder bells worked out best, while finishing them I thought "****, this is what my armor should look like!"

The wide areas are still quite challenging to paint with an even and smooth finish, I need to keep practicing. It was fun though, very nice experience and a neat bounty hunter co-operation! Thanks again!

Cheers,
-Frenzy

Yes, you did a fantastic job at those! I'm partial with the knees though. I think they look amazing.

Decals and anti-gloss varnish has been ordered, so soon this paint should be sealed up.

Decals fitted and paintjob is sealed in matt varnish.


I had a lot of bad luck with the shoulder decal. It didn't want to stick to the paint on the shoulder, so I had to drip down some CA glue in between because the edges of the decal kept flaking off.

Of course CA glue always makes a big mess, making glossy streaks everywhere it poured out when I pressed the decal down. Luckily I tried adding another layer of the matt varnish and it covered up most of the mess the CA glue caused.

Next up is adding snaps to the armour and vest instead of the existing velcro attachment. I've never trusted velcro, and I won't start now. Soon my new belt and rifle sling from BBF should arrive as well. Looking forward to that!

Oh, and the knees are now done too!

Love the Haloween picture. Very nice job.

Thanks. Going to get even better once I finish replacing all the budget parts with high-end.

Originally Posted by DracutToupin

Love the Haloween picture. Very nice job.

seal the decals they run if they get wet not that ever happens but it could lol...had that happen to my first set of BM decals...

Originally Posted by Fett 4 Real

seal the decals they run if they get wet not that ever happens but it could lol...had that happen to my first set of BM decals...

Hehe, thanks for the heads up! They are sealed up real good now after I had to CA glue the sides and corners. Decal glue wouldn't stick to the airbrush paint used.

Got my BBF belt yesterday. It is awesome!

Here show with my mojofett sidearm. I still need to fit the velcro in the back of the belt so it'll fit my size but that's trivial.

Looks Awesome.. Absolutely Cool! Keep up the good work!!

Yeah your progress is looking good , love the halloween photos. What kind of helmet is that? It looks great.

Thanks guys!

Helmet and armour are both Bobamaker. I modified the ear cap of the helmet to accept a more accurately sized aluminum range finder stalk.

Today I mostly finished replacing the velcro with snaps on my chest armour and vest. I still have velcro on the collar armour. I havent decided what to do with that yet. So to celebrate, I tried on my stuff to see how it looked now that it's been repainted and I got the BBF belt and all that. I intentionally left some things out, like the back armour and cape. It's hard enough as it is to dress without help. Upper thigh pockets are just taped to the back of the belt on for now until I find a permanent solution I like.

That is awesome. I'm just starting. I dream of the day that i'll be able to look this good.

Thanks buddy.

Just take your time and buy quality stuff from the start, so you don't end up buying things twice like me. You'll do fine!

Sorry about the lack of updates. I haven't been slacking though. I recently got another jetpack greblie, the aluminium/brass beacon by Darkside, and a Stormrider EE-3 kit I've been building. It's not complete yet, but not much left except some weathering (which is the hard part for me right now)

The barrel can open and close the same way the Webley does (also makes mounting electronics at a later date easier). Trigger and hammer are static however.
Chrome barrel is an Heiland 2-cell flash and the scope a Sussex 4x20 which is identical to the ASI.

Added stock greblies, and those screws under the forward scope ring. Also done some light weathering of the greblies.

Gave up on my scratch built sling mounts and ordered as set from ebay. Only thing left is attaching stock to D-bracket and gun grip. Thinking of ways to do that non-permanently for easy breakdown for travel.



May need more weathering. What do you suggest, and how?

I love your build so far. There was one thing I wanted to comment for some time: the 4th shin tool should be changed to a steel pipe, because it's more accurate than that 'jetpack adjustment tool'. All the other parts looks good.

Thanks Rafal. Means a lot!

I intend on replacing all of the shin tools eventually, just like the jetpack and gauntlents. Jetpack is already gone with the previous blaster. Just started recovering from the expenses of moving and buying new furniture. So soon I'll be ordering a commissioned JP from BFUK with the steel frame harness.

Great so far bruv, I agree with RF that you should change out the 4th shin tho? also have you got the ESB thong going on... I ask as the cod looks as though it could be hitched up slightly... (just my 2p)

Originally Posted by locitus

So soon I'll be ordering a commissioned JP from BFUK with the steel frame harness.

Nice pack and I think 'we' have a couple of harnesses but not the ESB webbing... yeah I was kinda involved in the harnesses.

Originally Posted by Mojo-Fett

Great so far bruv, I agree with RF that you should change out the 4th shin tho? also have you got the ESB thong going on... I ask as the cod looks as though it could be hitched up slightly... (just my 2p)

Thanks buddy. I do have a thong now. It's just not shown in any current pictures. I know I also will need to work on re-arranging the position of the kidney armour. It's not very comfortable where it is now, so I pull it up which in turn affects the cod. :S

And yes, I'll be replacing all my shin tools eventually. The ones I have are based on the visual dictionary. Not really my cup of tea either.

Dude! Your suit's AWSOME!

Originally Posted by Archaster777

Dude! Your suit's AWSOME!

Thanks! It's not nearly as good as some other peoples suits on here though.

I'm happy with my upgrades and changes I've made since I initially got it, but I think that had I started from scratch it could have been even better.

Originally Posted by locitus

Thanks! It's not nearly as good as some other peoples suits on here though.

I'm happy with my upgrades and changes I've made since I initially got it, but I think that had I started from scratch it could have been even better.

If you did everything perfect the first time you'd have nothing to aspire to in your next costume Although I echo prior sentiments of it being a great suit so far. Nothing wrong IMO with always wanting to improve and learn techniques to do it better the next time.

Thanks Katzy. You are correct.

I just want to remind others that it's still true that buying a finished costume will almost always be equally time-consuming as starting from scratch. And almost certainly more expensive. Not that I mind a long project or am in lack of money.

Originally Posted by Katzybugz

If you did everything perfect the first time you'd have nothing to aspire to in your next costume Although I echo prior sentiments of it being a great suit so far. Nothing wrong IMO with always wanting to improve and learn techniques to do it better the next time.

Well even if you do EVERY thing perfect at the time, some JERK on TDH finds that this part here is this or that, and then you say well shoot, now I need to get me that, and so goes the never ending quest to complete the Fett. For example up until last year no one knew what the little nubs were on the back of the ROTJ helmet, the ESB gaunts and Jetpack. Someone who may very well be out of his mind said he thouoght he knew what they were. Did a ton of researching dental files, and found the right set of files, we now know that they were dental files. So now even the best suits out there are being upgraded and such...My best example could be kurtyboy really. He is always amazing me with the attention to detail in his suit. He is constantly getting new found parts, changing things so that they will be more accurate. From the real dental expander to his scope rings. His suit may be the closest to perfect IMHO that there is, BUT we still dont know what a few parts are. Like the Beacon on the Jetpack, its more than likely a found part, but we just dont know, the 4th shin tool, is it a push button toggle from a hospital bed? I think it might be, but theres not enough evidence to support that. So there are ALOT of really awesome Fetts but nothing is ever going to be perfect. I know I was pretty happy with my ROTJ Fett. BUT it was far from perfection, my ESB will be awesome but like cars for me nothing can ever be perfect, cause with advancements in technology or just something you pickup from someone else you find a better way or a nicer way to do things.

This is why I love the Fett, the small things that make the big picture awesome.

Recieved the AM earth plugs from BojaGun today.

I got 4, but am keeping 1 as spare, so I only use 3.

Prestine:


Painted flat black:


Weathered and glue is curing on stock:


Used this picture is reference for the weathering and positioning:
Boba Fett Empire Strikes Back Costume - Carbon Chamber - The Dented Helmet Gallery

That's realy looking good.
Like your wip.
Hope to see this in Billund this year.

Originally Posted by Turrican

That's realy looking good.
Like your wip.
Hope to see this in Billund this year.

Thanks!

Sadly you won't. I still need to replace the gauntlets and jetpack before i will even consider sending pictures to my GML. So I'll be my usual TK, but I'll bring my Alu-E-11

Excellent!

How did you weather the plugs? I'll be getting mine soon.

Originally Posted by locitus

Recieved the AM earth plugs from BojaGun today.

I got 4, but am keeping 1 as spare, so I only use 3.

Prestine:


Painted flat black:


Weathered and glue is curing on stock:


Used this picture is reference for the weathering and positioning:
Boba Fett Empire Strikes Back Costume - Carbon Chamber - The Dented Helmet Gallery

Originally Posted by clonecollector

Excellent!

How did you weather the plugs? I'll be getting mine soon.

Fine-grit sandpaper. It was only one layer of paint, and it's not holding on too well so I have to redo some of it.

I had to redo the weathering because too much paint flaked off. I tried to capture my original look and this time I sealed the paint with some matt clear coat after weathering.

Originally Posted by locitus

Thanks!

Sadly you won't. I still need to replace the gauntlets and jetpack before i will even consider sending pictures to my GML. So I'll be my usual TK, but I'll bring my Alu-E-11

Well than let us take some great TM shots and lets drink some german beer :-)

Very good job! congrats

Originally Posted by Turrican

Well than let us take some great TM shots and lets drink some german beer :-)

Oh yeah!

Originally Posted by StrumFett

Very good job! congrats

Thanks!

One of the reasons why my Boba Fett is taking so long is because I keep buying found parts to replace things I already have, instead of focusing on getting my jetpack and new gauntlets. But that's fine with me!

Here I've pretty much finished modifying the sonic beam weapon (far left) and it just needs paint. The anti security blade in the middle needs the paddle in wood/plastic and paint. The rods on it are aluminum replicas from Mojo-Fett. The "knife" (far right) just needs paint, then I'll leave as it is.



Quite the difference from the budget shin tools I had before, based on the visual dictionary.


Now I'm on the hunt for the correct scope rings. I bought a scope with almost the right rings that I might use for a while, until I get the real deal.

Those new shin tools are awesome compared to the old ones and I love the idea to not convert the Survival Knife with blade which is not accurate and I have an image to proove that:



Keep up the excellent work!

Originally Posted by RafalFett

Those new shin tools are awesome compared to the old ones and I love the idea to not convert the Survival Knife with blade which is not accurate and I have an image to proove that:



Keep up the excellent work!

Thanks Rafal! That picture has me sold.

A bit more progress on the shin tools. I haven't weathered the anti security blade because the misting effect I want requires an airbrush that I don't have. But I intend on getting one so I'm saving the weathering for later. The "knife" got a little physical weathering with a sanding paper though. It mostly took it fine, and where I went too far is only small parts not seen when in the shin pocket.

The "paddle" on the anti security blade is made of 5 mm plywood and is a perfect fit. For the size of it I followed WOF's shin tool templates.

awesome work!

I've been a little slow on the updates recently, but I did some more work on the shin tools. I think I'll redo the electric tape on the sonic beam tool.
Sonic beam and anti-security blade have been lightly sanded with a fine grit paper to add some fine scratches and dull down the gloss from the aluminium paint.
Anyways...

nice work on this, very impressive! what helmet are you using?

Originally Posted by saberfett

nice work on this, very impressive! what helmet are you using?

I have a bobamaker helmet. I'm not too pleased with the current paintjob though, so I might redo it. It was painted by it's previous owner, not bobamaker. The front part of the helmet looks pretty good (but not accurate), but the back needs some work.

Well, not so much of an progress update, but I did bite the bullet and got myself an airbrush setup that I spent some time playing around with today.


Extra weathering by just misting black on the sidearm


Touching up on the golden brass look of the grip. The paint which was on straight out of the box had faded quite a lot. I might darken it some though, I want my Boba dirty and grimey.


And how it usually spends it's days - sitting on my cabinet

They both look awesome. Like I wrote further up, I dream of the day I have something looking this good.

I'm considering getting an Airbrush myself but know nothing about them. What did you go for and is it a UK model, that looks like a UK plug?

Originally Posted by intwenothor

They both look awesome. Like I wrote further up, I dream of the day I have something looking this good.

I'm considering getting an Airbrush myself but know nothing about them. What did you go for and is it a UK model, that looks like a UK plug?

Thanks man!

First I watched hours of youtube videos on the subject. Both artistic and scale model-focused. You have a keen eye for more than scopes I see. It is indeed a UK plug on that compressor. I got this kit from the US, which normally comes with a 110V US version compressor, but they carry a 220V version too, so I mailed called them and asked to swap out the 110 V US-version with the 220V for the extra cost, and what I got happened to have a UK plug. I got the kit from TCPGlobal on ebay, but since you're in the UK you might as well order locally from this site which I got my cleaning kit from, which to me seam like a very good european alternative to TCPGlobal.
Everything Airbrush

Thanks. Bookmarked it. Guess I'll be hitting Youtube: Research is key.

Good luck!

Your Boba looks great. It really does fit you well. I was also curious on what airbrush kit you got since paint commissions are vicious on the wallet!

Getting better and better bro! Keep up the good work..

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by sleepalot

Your Boba looks great. It really does fit you well. I was also curious on what airbrush kit you got since paint commissions are vicious on the wallet!

The kit I got costs about $200, and came with some accessories, like a box of createx paints (that I used on the pictures), some cleaner, stirring cups and so on. You can get just the airbrush and the compressor separate for maybe $150.

I got my second accurate scope today. Big thanks to my UK friend Rob who bought and re-shipped it to me. This one came with the accurate "tall" scope rings too! So I think I'll replace the current sussex scope with this one down the road.
Here's some close ups I took of my new "Hunter"-brand 4x20 for intwenothor, that goes nicely in this thread as well.

Glad it arrived safe mate. The build is looking fantastic!

Thanks Rob! I'll let you know with pictures as soon as I've put the hunter scope on the EE-3.

Looking good. Will you replace the Sussex with the Hunter or replace just the rings and feet on the Sussex with the ones from the Hunter?

Originally Posted by intwenothor

Looking good. Will you replace the Sussex with the Hunter or replace just the rings and feet on the Sussex with the ones from the Hunter?

I haven't decided yet. Whichever one is the most accurate will be on the blaster.

Which way are you leaning? Are the present scope rings on your blaster with the Sussex not 'real'?

Originally Posted by intwenothor

Which way are you leaning? Are the present scope rings on your blaster with the Sussex not 'real'?

Yeah, the current scope rings are resin from the kit. The sussex came without rings. I need to get a new set of feet, possibly mis-casts, that I can cut up rather that than cutting up a perfectly good pair of rings, and then mount the real scope rings on the new feet.

Why do you need to cut anything up?

The scope rings are moulded into the feet that sits on top of the barrel rings. So even if I have real scope rings, I need those feet in between...

Gotcha, that'll be a problem and some fine cutting I guess.

Yeah. But I'll figure it out.

Dear diary...


Just kidding! Today was a good day though. I got a package with some 2008 MOW ESB Gauntlets from mmgraphics. They were too big for me, and the rocket could use some fresh paint so I got right on it with my airbrush. I also learned the hard way why some people like to use vinyl gloves when painting. It got a bit messy!
I also learned that I like Tamiya paints more than Humbrol for airbrushing. A lot easier to thin and clean up after. It was my first try at using non createx airbrush paints. A lot was learned today!
Here are some pictures!




The silver paint is Humbrol #27002 and the copper paint is Tamiya Copper.

Nice work with the rocket bro!

Curious how the Gaunts will turn out. :-)

I take it you never got your Gilmore gaunts?

Yeah. Still waiting on those. I sent him an email to the paypal address a while back as well.

Originally Posted by mmgraphics

Nice work with the rocket bro!

Curious how the Gaunts will turn out. :-)

Thank yo Manuel

Right now the lower halfs have been re-enforced with strips of plastic along the outer sides so nothing bad can happen. Next up is to grind down the resin dental files and replace them with real ones.