A fans 6 year history of painting Boba Fett

Armydad

Active Hunter
Hello all! I've recently completed my latest helmet build as a very needed upgrade to my Fett costume. Through out the last 6 years Fett costuming has captured my imagination (and much of my free time lol).
I just wanted to share a bit of my journey to the awesome bucket I have now, and to show others that no matter how new or novice you are to prop building, or painting, with patience and determination anyone could build an amazing Fett!

It all started when I was stationed in Vicenza Italy with the 173rd ABN Brigade. I was cruizing through the PX, and as always I ran my usual rout through the toy isle to see what was new. And there it was! The hasbro Boba Fett electronic helmet! I was like holy s***t, that's Boba Fett! I always had loved Fett, have collected at least half a dozen action figures and such just as any Star Wars fan would. So I had to have it. After returning home pulling it out of the box something kept bugging me, the visor, its all wrong! I had to do something. Now at this time I had never attempted any sort of build in the costuming or prop field, but I know I could do something about it. I had to narrow the visor. Along my research of what I could do to this thing, I stumbled upon this great site, TDH! And started creeping, looking at builds and the gallery and such. So I ended up deciding to add to the lower part of the mandible, build it up and in turn narrowing the visor. Now I forget exactly what I used, something like gluing cardboard wedges to the visor and build it up and smoothed it out with a putty of some sort. Next was the damage and detail. Not yet a Fett perfectionist I eyeballed the damage and drew it on with a silver paint marker and added some black here and there so it looked more beat up. After the quick mod and paint I ended up with this:

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This of course wasnt enough! Halloween was just around the corner, and I had found the Fett holy grail, TDH, I had to build a costume! The Fett Fever had consumed me. This led to my first suit, trashcan armor, Taco Bell cup gauntlets and a grey dickies jumpsuit. Far from 501st standards. So I dove back in head first, had to get a new helmet. Ended up getting some unknown mystery bucket from evil bay. As much as I was warned not to, saving a few bucks appealed to me more than the suggestions of strangers on a forum at the time (which I have learned my lesson quite well) Still very much a novice I was very pleased with it when it arrived. Crappy sculpt, mold cast and so forth were pointed out to me over and over again. What are you talking about, this thing is awesome I said to myself, probably more over joyed to have any kit to really see the shotty craftsmanship. So I started my first real paint up. Now I was stationed in Italy at the time still, and very impatient, so ordering paints and waiting for them to arrive was out of the question lol, so I went to my local Home Depot equivalent for spray paints, I loosely traced/sketched on the details and damage and ended up with what I thought at the time was the most awesome, realistic and detailed Star Wars prop I ever owned. This is what I ended up with:

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This of course led to an entire suit overhaul. Inaccurate fiberglass armor from evil bay again, but I did get some quality stuff too, Man of War flight suit, gauntlets and jetpack. Some home made tupper ware knee pads and I started going for approval! Which I did get, BH-5753! But I still wasnt satisfied, it didnt look right, I had everything, armor, ammo belts even the jetpack, but the look was still off, so the continuous upgrades began. RKD armor, remade entire ammo belt, redyed jumpsuit, new flack vest and so on over the years. Then the Target Halloween Helmet came out about a year ago, I stumbled across it while browsing these forums and decided to check my local store here, now in Texas, and sure enough they had one left. With out hesitation i grabbed it. Now at this time I had known for a long while that I needed a better bucket. The Target helmet would serve as great practice before I ordered, what I had already decided would be Animefan's helmet. TDH was a buzz with the Target helmet! I took much more care, and time with this one, knowing it would tell me whether or not I had what it takes to build and paint a truly awesome Fett helmet. So I experimented with airbrush, my wifes makeup airbrush to be precise, and a mix of spray paints, more accurately resized RaffaelFett's stencils and gave it a solid shot. I ended up with this:

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Not half bad at all! I didnt get every detail in there, but much much more than I ever had previously. I ended up giving this to my brother for Christmas, which he proudly has mounted on his wall at home.This paint up gave me the confidence in myself to tackle the Animefan helmet. I purchased a real airbrush (a cheap one at that) spent hours staring at the enamel paints at Hobby Lobby, and finally settled with my plan of attack. Now Ill spare the lengthy story about the Animefan bucket, my build can be found here: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/animefan-bucket-build-paint-55145/
This is what I was able to produce, with patience, practice, advice and a great community of support:

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So to finish this off a few tips for those looking to venture into the Boba Fett or upgrade what they already have: Patience, Patience, Patience! Save up and buy quality first! It will save you tons of $ in the end. Take your time, go slow and dont be afraid to ask questions. Study, the gallery and other builds, learn new tecniques and what tools are right for the job. If you stick with it, I believe anyone can build and paint an awesome Fett! Look at me, this last helmet was the first time I really airbrushed anything!
 
Last lid is awesome, and I really enjoyed the thread on its build. I had a similar journey that started back in 1999 with a Don Post and some rattle cans. Good job.
 
Last lid is awesome, and I really enjoyed the thread on its build. I had a similar journey that started back in 1999 with a Don Post and some rattle cans. Good job.

Thanks! I had a blast building it. I had to hold off posting every single pic I took of every layer of masking fluid and stencil and angle lol. Didn't want to blow up the forum too much, but I was super excited through the whole thing from the moment I got it in the mail.
 
Awsome, ArmyDad :cool I am starting my 3rd lid now and have the same genesis of getting a bit better every time, this is a good thread for anyone who needs to be inspired. (y)
 
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