Chest, back and cod armor

Well, it's been awhile since I stopped by here. I figured that I would pass on a bit on information to you guys...I am planning on trying this, but first I need to experiment with casting/molding! :)
Just as it says, I have ILM insider info on how the actual armor was created...
"fiberglass....
the casting was scratched carefully with
sandpaper to simulate the spinning marks, then primed and basecoated
with silver paint (any color will do).
A material called Rub N' Buff
(the color is silver leaf)
was then rubbed over and buffed in, giving it that aluminum
shine.
the resin used in casting his parts
also had aluminum powder in it, which was buffed out and looked
beautiful."

you got some it right but the spinning marks is related to something else....related to spinning metal into a shape and the spray paint..not the Jango armor.

the Jango armor was a resin with alum powder added to make it a plastic metal. That was shinned up and to add a extra kick to the shine for the camrea Rub-N-Buff silver was buffed on to the surface..

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Hey dude,

Is that "Liquid Nails" ?

Very well done :) I'm gonna nut and bolt my aluminum armor to my leather vest...

Neil

Seeker- Where do you get those button snappy things?

Thanks,
Ed

Seeker:
Looks great!Did you do your armor your self? What is it made of? How did you roll the edges back like that?Again,looks GREAT!
Ron TK-1889
You can PM me if you prefer.

Fettpride - The stuff is called Probond Polyurethan Glue made by Elmers Co.

Neil - cant wait to see your armor, its your fault I wanted to do Jango armor.

Hojufett - The buttons you could buy at any of those frabric stores. But make sure you get the heavy duty.

Pantera - I bought my armor from a gentleman from the prop board. He was gonna do a Boba Fett, but I turned it into Jango. It appears that he bought different parts from various suppliers. I chest parts are Bradleys i think. They are ABS. I really lucked out on that price.

Thanks again fellas if any one need any other pictures let me know.

Arturo

Yeah, Bradley makes his armor the way it SHOULD be, with edges to it, to make it look like it's got thickness to it, and not like thin pieces of plastic clinging to the body.
At least that's how Boba's is. Jango's is actually kind of flat looking....go figure. :)
I still prefer the thick look rather than the flat look. If you want it flat, at least try to give it a LITTLE thickness. When I made my thigh pieces, I took not one, but 2 sheets of ABS, and ABS glued them together, to make them appear thicker. :)

Thanks for posting the pics Arturo. They were very helpful.

Andy

who is Bradley and i how can i contact him?

Quote:

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Purity Knight wrote:who is Bradley and i how can i contact him?

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Goodluck Purity Knight! This might be a difficult hunt...this man isn't always easy to track down for communication contact. He does EXCELLENT work though! :)

Plus I heard he just had a baby. So there goes atlest 6 months of being busy none stop allday with the little one.

try www.bradleyfett.com he shows some of his work and there is an email address there....good luck

dan
oppi

Seeker,
I just finished sanding, weathering, and re-sanding my aluminum chest, shoulder, and cod Armor. I made my own aluminum thigh, shin, toe and knee armor. I still gotta make some knee obxes out of aluminum stock and re-do my Deano knee darts...It isn't screen accurate, but it's lookin' mighty fine :) I gotta get some pics up after I get back form Ft. Lauderdale...going there over the 4th :) :) :) Yippie! :lol

Neil

Punk! now your gonna make me go real aluminum. Plus I need your real aluminum or metal you know what. Just need to make some more overtime at work.

Quote:

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SEEKER wrote:Plus I heard he just had a baby. So there goes atlest 6 months of being busy none stop allday with the little one.

---

HE HAD A BABY! WOW THAT IS THE MOST AMAZING THING I HAVE EVER HEARD, A MAN HAVING A BABY!


:lol

New scientific break·through. Didn't you read the cover story in this weeks TIME magazine? Check it out.

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Andy

BRILLIANT IDEA with the snap-ons for the chest armor. HI I'M GIL the aluminum helmet dude.I love aluminum as much as you guys my entire armor will be aluminum when finished including the jet pack.I was thinking of attaching my armor some other way but this button idea is just fabulous.

How did you get the buttons on your vest? Did you cut a small slit and just pop them in or what?

You could either punch a hole with a nail or something similar or drill the hole in. As long as you make the hole big enough for the snap part to go in. Dont buy the gun tool to do this - you wont have enough space to snap them together. Get the hammer tool option.

First off, sorry if this has been posted somewhere else. I did a search and saw a few posts on board members speaking about the materials they use when making their own armor but never a compare and contrast in different materials.

I think I've about decided to try and make the majority of the armor myself and have been trying to figure out what I should use. I have the patterns and all bookmarked from sites that have templates for the pieces but materialwise I'm not sure which route to go.

I've seen a few posts on sintra and how that is easy to work with. I've also seen quite a few here say that's what they're using or did use. The Ultimate Boba Fett site also suggests sintra. I'm thinking that might be the route to go but what about sheet metal? I know I've seen a few mention using this as well. Just wondering what some of your thoughts were :)

I plan on making my own armor as well. First I made a set of patterns out of foam board and then I will trace them on some plastic sheets I got from my uncle and then cut it out with a jigsaw and then prim and paint them. I was gonna make the armor out of sheet metal but I want to see how this turns out. Later

Andy

Sheet metal or metal armor in general is definitely the way to go if you can form it into the correct shape.

Sintra is just much easier to work with and I would imagine much more forgiving than metal. Sintra will bend and hold its shape easier and it probably won't cut you like metal will.

So if you have the time money and tools go for the metal if not sintra is soooooooo much easier and to be honest not too much of a sacrafice. Some good paint and a little weathering and most will believe it is metal.

I've got a suit with alot of sintra pieces. I'm very pleased with it. It's much thicker and sturdier than I'd originally expected it to be. My only complaint is that there's a grain in it and it's pretty visible up close. Far away is ok and I'm sure that if I were a more patient man I could have painted and painted and painted until it was covered properly.

Phil

Thanks for the comments! :)

I actually had a piece of sheet metal lying around so I took a jab at it a little while ago. All I did was one side of the chest. It looks really good but I'm a little worried on the finish. Obviously it's metal but my helmet is a modified DP. I'm afraid that the testors paint I used on it won't look right with the sheet metal. Any suggestions on that? As far as the curves, I don't exactly have a lot of equipment to use to do that with but I think I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

Well, after reading more posts on sintra, looking more at the Ultimate Boba Fett website, and thinking about how I don't exactly have the equipment to create the metal armor, I think I'm going to opt for sintra instead. Maybe I can eventually upgrade to metal down the road

Thanks again for all the info though :)

For my first Jango costume, I used the patterns from an old Classic Action Boba Fett costume to make the armor from sintra. It came out very well. Since it was to be painted, I used a DA Orbital air sander to get a smooth face to it. Primed it, painted it with silver metalic Krylon spray paint and sealed it with Krylon semi-gloss paint. I used industrial strength velcro to secure it to the vest.

My second version is aluminum armor that I got from a board member. The thighs, knees, shins and toe armor, I made my slef from aluminum sheet. I held the sheet in a vice and beat it into shape with a rubber deadblow hammer to keep from scaring and gouging the metal. It shaped out nicely :) the knees were the hardest to do...a lot of curves. I had cut a very thick piece of aluminum block to shape out the knee dart boxes. The upper knee darts were maded from 4 seperate pieces of aluminum tubing and rod. The lower knee darts were machined Boba Fett darts from a board member. The darts were secured with a cut down screw and epoxied int the aluminum box. The knee dart box was secured with epoxy and 2 screws form the back side. The armor is secured to the costume with snaps that were punched into a square of thin tin sheet metal and rubber cemented to the back side of all the armor plates to retain strength when the elastic straps are secured to hold the armor onto my body while wearing the armor. To keep the armor from sliding down or around my legs, I used industrial velcro glued to the back of the armor and sewn onto the jump suit.

I'll get some pics up, hopefully before Comic Con.

Neil

I did all of these pieces with sintra. It is a very easy material to work with but I would suggest pre-cooking it in the oven before you cut it to finished size. I have had two different sheets & it tends to elongate one way & shrink the other way when heated. Once it has done this it retains the shape & can be cut to size without fear of it distorting further.
http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-d...904135&size=md
http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-d...904156&size=lg
http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-d...904159&size=lg

bigkidbiggertoys, you made the knee pads out of sintra too?
How on earth did you get it to look so accurate?
Most of the sintra knee pads I've seen look flat.
How did you get them to look so dimensional?
I'm impressed!
Any pointers to get mine to look like yours?

I agree.. VERY nice looking armor bigkidbiggertoys. And much props on the knee pads. I would have to also agree and say to go with the sintra. Sintra is VERY easy to work with and hold paint VERY well. I haven's started on my knee pads yet. I too would like some pointers. I was thinking of gluing 2 sheets of sintra on the "knee plate" to work on the dimentions with sand paper. Is that what you did? Any pointers would help.

I cut the basic shape out of 1/8" sintra & added the curves with a heat gun until I was satisfied with the shape. The actual knee part was a piece of 1/4" sintra shaped to the same curve & glued on top. I then rough sanded with 60 grit sandpaper & filled in the gaps with bondo and sanded until I got the shape I desired. The knee darts are acrylic tubing. I used 1/2" OD & 1/2" ID for this. Very simple & it worked very well without adding weight. The attachment point is two pieces of 1/2" sinra again, cut, sanded & filled. The f shape is another 1/8" piece of sintra. There is enough flex in them to allow freedom of movement without fear of them cracking & the bondo popping off.

bigkid, Could you post a few more pics of your knee pads?
I would really like to get a good look at them from all angles.

Plus, I'm a bit confused...
Where did you use 1/8" and where did you use 1/4"?
And you also used 1/2", right?

How much time did you have into creating one of these things?

Thanks, man!

Bigkid-
WOW. Very nice stuff there. The knee armor is fantastic. Ive never used sintra, now I probbly will! I have to FIND some first...

Dude! That knee armor makes mine look like absolute ****!

This info on the knee armor would be great in the Official thread. Great info!

Ok, I know how there are slits in the legs for the elastic straps to pass through. I was just wondering how I could rig up my leg armor to do that, but still be detachable so I can clean my jumpsuit.

I was thinking of gluing the elastic on one side of the armor, feeding it through the slits, and then using velcro on the the other end of the elastic to attach it to the armor. But then I started wondering if that would be strong enough to stay attached for hours upon hours of wear. I'm especially concerned because after a while, velcro can wear out.

I was also thinking of using snaps like the ones that are one jeans, but then I figured that they might press into my legs and make them sore.

HELP!

Thanks

Later,
Tater

Use industrial velcro. If anything, it is too strong. That is the velcro I used on a lot of my Boba costume, and I have to be very careful when removing it b/c the bond is so strong it might come off the back of the armor. I was thinking for the elastic on my Jango to use the interlocking clips you find in some luggage to secure the elastic. But velcro/ elastic is probably the best way to go.

If you rig your armor and flight suit like the real one, it should be no problem cleaning the flight suit. The elastic pieces that run through the slits are not connected to the fligh suit at all, there are snaps put into the back of the armor that the elastic attaches to. You just unhook one side of the elastic at the snap, slide it through the slit on one side, around you leg, through the slit on the other side, and snap it into the leg armor on the other side. Nothing permanently attached to the flight suit at all, so evertime you take your costume off, you can clean the flight suit without any extra work.

I'm not sure if that answers your question or not. But the snaps aren't big enough to really press into your legs, plus, you don't want the armor that tight on your legs anyway. The elastic should give enough to prevent any discomfort.

Whojedi - wow your like the jango encyclopedia. Man i wish that i was with that day. I would have inserted a digi camera in my eye. :)

Are they like the snaps that are on jeans?

Might I inquire where you got the templates?

I started off using the Mandalorian Blueprints but decided that they looked way too big for Jango. I then used all available reference photos & scaled them up to real size to make a new set of armor. I think these look more accurate for my frame size. I don't know how much time I have into these as I work on it a little bit at a time, leave it & come back to it at a later date. I'll try & get some more photos up later this weekend.

:suprise GREAT armor!!!!

They are like snaps that are in jeans, not 501's, but normal jeans. The snaps are just glued to the back of the leg armor and then the elastic is glued to the snaps on each side. Two pieces of elastic and two sets of snaps for both the shin and thigh armor. Only one set for the knee armor obviously. No velcro on the real knee pads, but I would suggest it. Just my opinion.

And Seeker, anyone with the right oppportunity like me can have the knowledge, but you have what all of us would like...











...the look!

Is the elastic glued to one side of the armor, you feed it through, and then it snaps? Or are there snaps on each side of the elastic?

There are snaps on both sides of the armor, so that you can unhook it on either side. But, it might be easier just to have snaps on one side of the armor and glue the elastic to the other side.

What method did you use to mark the location on the vest to correspond to the armor?

How're y'all attaching this thing?

Belt attached to the codpiece. First thing that goes on, then gun belt, braided leather belt and then ammo belt.

So the cod piece isn't attached to the jumpsuit in any way? Doesn't it move around into ... um ... uncomfortable positions?

You can attach some velcro or a snap in the lower part of the cod piece to help with unwanted movement "down there". But, with everything that goes on top of the cod belt, it doesn't move around too much.

All I gotta say is how on earth do you move, breathe and eat with 4 belts around your waist?!

You don't :p

I have a hard time picking up something off the floor in my costume. If I dont tie my shoes first, I have to ask my wife to do it. How the heck did Temura do it?

Mike

He had all sorts of people around him at every moment ready to help him out. I don't even want to think about having to potty in this costume. God help me there cause I can't even make a little escape hatch in my jumpsuit like you guys can.

I'm also pretty sure in his battle scenes he had to have had rubberish armor. Which actually would be pretty cool to have a suit made out of. Just paint it like the real deal and you would have a lot more flexibility.

I don't know if anyone else has had this problem, but getting the backarmor to mold and fit correctly sucks! This was the hardest part of the costume to do.

Mike

I had to use a heat gun on my sintra back armor about 4 times until I got the right contour for my back and shoulders. I feel for ya brother! :lol

Neil

And then, after you get it right...if you leave it in your hot car on a 105+ degree day...it sucks to be you.

Just wanted to share with everyone how I attached my armor to my vest. I have yet to read anything about doing this way. I didn't want to glue it on the vest because I want to be able to wash it. I didn't want to snap or bolt it on becuase if I ever sell or change my armor or vest, I want a clean vest with no holes.
I used industrial Velcro in the middle of each piece-a good size chunk to hold it to the vest. Then along ALL the edges of each piece I put the thin strips of Velcro. That way it is almost completely sealed around the edges so it will not stick out. So essentially the armor has a COMPLETE Velcro backing. My armor is metal and is fairly heavy and this holds VERY well. There is a good edge to the armor so the Velcro strips fit very nicely in the under groove. It looks as if the armor is glued on. I will be posting some pictures on my site soon. If anyone has questions or comments, I'd love to hear them!

That sounds like a really great idea. You mentioned washing your vest. Won't the velcro come off? Isn't the industrial strength velcro in a sticky back only?

You can use FABRI-TAC. And just peal it off when needed.
http://www.beaconcreates.com/fabri-tac.htm

I am just going to use the sticky Velcro and if the the Velrcro DOES come off, I can always put more on-it is fairly cheap. It is worth it to me to have a clean vest with no holes.

Generally, the industrial strength is only available in sticky back version. I don't trust the sticky back, so I always back it up by running it through my sewing machine or hand stitching it. It does gum up the needle, but the end result is well worth it. :)

I used industral velcro for my armor as well. I assume eventually it will wear out and then I will replace it. It worked great for me!

Mike

I have used the fabri-tac on the back of the industrial velcro to stick it to my jump suit for the leg armor. I put it right on the sticky back of the Velcro. It stuck VERY well.

How has everyone else attached it?

Phantomfett, I've used sticky back velcro before and sewed over it too. Problem is my thread also gets sticky, and gets stuck, and I wind up with this giant glob of stick thread all knotted up! They don't do this with the industrial velcro, but there is velcro that has 1/2 stick back and 1/2 non sticky and I 've used that before- works very nice and no sticky needle!

Here are some pictures
http://www.starwarsparty.com/vest_and_armor.html

and dont forget the rest of the (incomplete!) website.
http://www.starwarsparty.com

To attach armor to cloth, you can put the "hook" side of the Industrial Strength Velcro on your armor. That way, it has to be sticky back, anyway. THEN, use regular Velcro "loop" side and sew it onto your cloth. The "loop" sides are the same in Industrial Strength and Regular.

That looks really good man! :)

I think when my armor arrives (same stuff as yours :) ) I'll do the same method.

One question -

When you line up the armor, to make sure you attach it in the right spots, I'm assuming you have the vest and jumpsuit on, place the armor on, then mark the now correct place w/ marking chalk or some such thing?

thanks!

take care,

-Rex

Actually, no! I didnt put it on to attach the armor. I put the vest on a pillow to give it some shape, then I eyeballed the placement of the armor. I started with the collar and worked my way down. Not all that hard really. Then I put the vest on with all the armor on it to make sure everthing was where I wanted it.

Dude that armor is awesome :suprise :suprise
we seriously have to buckle down and make our armor. just have to get the sintra.
the velcro sounds like a good idea. we'll probably try that out ;)

:jango :fettesb

http://www.sgtfretsurfer.com/Grilled...dual_fetts.jpg

Thanks man,I'm looking forward to doing mine...

Heck, I can't even get the pattern right. I guess once I do, there're still rough seas ahead. :(

Yeah, the backarmor was definitely one of the hardest parts of making my armor from Styrene and a heatgun.... very tough.

I made my armor from 1/4" sintra. My wife had to practically stand on my shoulders to get the thing to bend correctly.

Mike

I'm neglecting to do my back armor just yet. I'm not sure where to find sintra around here, would something like Home Depot have some?

It really looks stuck on there. I like that look nice job with the velcro. I can't wait to get mine and get going on this. Like the vest too. Ever since it was determined to be grey too many are showing up way too light your vest is dead on.

Thanks so much for all the compliments. When I first got that metal armor it was ALLL messed up. It had a few thick coats of primer on it that I had to strip off, then I had to sand and buff it to a shine and cut the "notches" in the right breast plate.
As for the attachment- well its been a few days and it is still holding strong and without any glue or anything. Just using the sticky back Velcro.
As for the vest, yes- I was VERY stoked when I found that color vinyl. They only had a few yards of it left at the fabric store so I got it ALL! I shipped it to my good buddy Biggerkid and he put it all together for me. It is perfect. I have some more of the vinyl left that I may be using for a second vest, or trade it.

Kylash,
Home Depot does not carry Sintra, at least the HD around my neck of the woods does not. You might try hitting the web by typing in sitra. If you have them cut the 1/8" stuff in 2x4 sheets it should not cost that much to ship.

Mike

I ordered mine from here http://www.usplastic.com/

Just search for sintra in the search box.



Fast shipping, No minimum, and what else can I say?

GF, have you already used your sintra from there? I had someone say that the sintra they sell is not the correct stuff to use. I just wanted to double check with someone that has gone through them before.

Check out a sign shop near you.

I work at a sign shop and we work with sintra all the time.
Your local sign shop should have access to some, depending on the shop, of course.

If all else fails, give me a hollar. I'll see what I can find for ya.

Seeker,

Pantera has a VERY good question that I would also like to know.

What method did you use to mark the location on the vest to correspond to the armor?

Or more so, how did you match up the snaps??



Thanks man!! :)

~Bobby :jango

why not just use chalk ? Comes off easy...or perhaps a wax pencil ?

hhmm....good idea! :) Anyone else have any different ways they did theirs??

THANKS!! :)


~Bobby :jango

Just put a dab of paint on the snaps on your armor, and press them up against the vest. Then you'll know where to put the other side. :)

the old white out trick...works everytime !

BTW- what do people have against industrial stregnth velcro ?

Got Maul

Sith_camaro

Thanks for the great tips!!!!! :) Much appreciated!!

I just like the snap Idea :)

~Bobby :jango

Seeker, do you have any picks of the neck and back armor attachment points?

Good question! :)


~Bobby :jango

yep I'll post them later tonite

You da man!! :)


~Bobby :jango

Do most of u use velcro? I was thinking i would use velcro but i need some pointers hehe.

Dark Fett, I realize you are new to the forum but you need to go and look through the information up here before you post. When we post we try to keep it with fresh topics or bring back old ones unanswered. The information your looking for is all over this site, just go dig a little!!!

I used the industrial strength sticky back to mount to the armor then used the sew on type for my vest and jumpsuit. Hope this helps.

Mike

Trust the search engine! Reach out with your feelings! The search engine will find anythin u need for you. I am using snaps, velcro, and straps for like knee and shin.