NEW! FP JANGO GAUNTLETS - V.Final - FINALLY !!

Hey guys and gals

It's about time. I know. I've eluded, I've hinted, but somehow it
all appeared to be hype and hot air Now bear with me. I’m tired as all hell, it’s 5:30 am, and I’m real dingy in the head right now. So I may not remember half of what I typed, and it’s subject to be edited tomorrow And sorry in advance for any spelling errors

Here we go, the long winded stuff ….

After 4+ months of R&D invested in the re-sculpt, finish procedures, and the aquisition of some "Screen Used" pieces, they're finally a reality

This project has DOMINATED my life during this period. I Haven't had time to finish anything else (a lot of things started, not finished), nor have I had the time to give any of my personal attention to the members of TDH. I'd like to apologize for being scarce, and hard tor each at times. Hopefully you'll feel that my efforts have been directed properly when you see the pics below.

About these gauntlets ...

These are unlike anything that has been attempted to date. From the screen used parts, to the first screen accurate finish, this is a pretty big leap forward for the Jango community.

They have been "re-sculpted", not modified from my original gauntlets. Sizing is based on measurements and screen cast items. Although, my old gauntlets were closer to screen sizing that most may have known This time around however, they're as close as reasonably possible to the real deal. The whip dart housing is cast from a Fox Screen original. The left gauntlet rocket (not pictured in this thread) is screen cast as well. It didn't make it to picture day unfortunately

In addition to the new sculpt (based on actual measurements of the screen used shells, and a few close-up pictures taken of the them as well, the new finish, and screen used parts, there are also a couple of newly added details that some may not have known were there. Lets see if you can find them

If anyone has a 12 inch Jango Figure (Marmit Style), you might notice that the flame thrower housing and mounting appears to be based on this 1/6 th scale figure. This is absolutely not the case. I'm only saying this now, as it's sure to com up. In actuality, the 12 inch JF figure, is just more accurate than we ever gave it credit for on some things

Last but not least, lets talk closures. I'm sure you will notice that there are extra hinges in there Well, the right gauntlet clam shell closure is screen accurate. The left screen used gauntlet did in fact have Velcro in there. I personally hate Velcro. So I decided to give it a shot on the left gauntlet as well for practicality and wear ability. No cracked shells from Velcro here, I guarantee it. When these go to production, I may not have the time to ensure that these bad boys will all wear this badge (so to speak). So if it comes down to it, and I can't sacrifice the additional time on these new closures, I'd be happy to make a tutorial on how to do it. Otherwise, to build a set up like this is going to cost a small fortune in time.

On that note, I'd also like to say a few words about the materials and process on these. This isn't your average cold casting here. First and foremost, the molds and masters need to be virtually defect free, for these to look as smooth as they do. But the process is another story. The material I am using to carry the aluminum powder is proprietary to me for now. Not because I'm trying to be elitist. I want to nip that in the bud right out of the gates. What it has to do with is investment. I had to purchase it in a bulk amount. Until that supply is gone, I'm not breathing a word about it, so please do not ask. This is necessary for me to do unfortunately, until my investment is secured.

The process. Not just dumping aluminum into a cup of resin. Again, to achieve this finish, there are other steps involved. In addition to a virtually defect free mold, the resin material and aluminum have to be degassed before application. Twice. Once after mixing, and once after catalyzing. Then, the molds are placed into a pressure pot as well. After the getting rid of those pesky air bubbles, then come the layers. The degassing process isn't required for second and third layer of aluminum ( I apply 3 so you can buff them for years to come before you wear it off ), but nevertheless, it's still 2 more layers. 3 more steps then there is the lamination layer. Starting to get the idea? In all seriousness, this is a VERY difficult casting project. Even for a single kit. It's a pain in the :moon And before anyone even goes there, no I do NOT enjoy it. In the least

I would have to say, that if I make a few of these available to cover some of my R&D costs, they will most likely have to be in kits. If I took the time to build multiple kits up like this one, you'd never get them. There isn't enough time in the day But it should be noted, that assembling this kit is not for the faint of heart. It does require advanced skills, I won't lie to ya

Well, enough of that. Here are the pics. You'll either love them, or hate them. I hope not the latter :o

There are more pics in a gallery on my site that I will post a link to in the morning. And in case anyone is wondering, the Whip Dart is NOT aluminum It was an old rubber dart and tip that I made years ago. The machined rocket that is on the left gauntlet in some of the pics, s also an older rocket, only placed on there for some reference of what it would look like. Some of you probably know that I ran out of time, and didn't get to finish these particular part molds before assembly and picture day

Thanks again for everyone's patience during this project. I hope ya like 'em And oh, one last thing. No matter what, what you're about to see below will most likely be copied, or mimicked by others in the future. This is the nature of the hobby. They could even be recast eventually. As a courtesy to me, please just remember, where you saw it first

FP

***....I just passed out!!!!

WOW !!!

Thanks sooo much for the wonderful words EVERYONE !!

To answer a few questions that have come up real quick.


Shell alignment / closures -


The shells DO line up perfectly out of the mold. There is a VERY specific way I did this in the molding process. Basically, each arm gauntlet master was made FULLY ASSEMBLED. What this means is, the 2 shells for each gauntlet are one with each other for each gauntlet respectively. Then, a mold was taken of an upper shell for instance, carrying the mold about 1/8th of an inch down past the parting seam of the bottom shell. Then, a mold was taken of the bottom shell, carrying the mold 1/8 of an inch up above the parting line of the top shell. What happens here is, when each piece is pulled from the mold, carefully trimming at the part line of each shell, yields a 99.99 % perfect fit. I will illustrate this later tonight. I took a few pics of the molds so that everyone can understand this explanation. It's really very cool actually. This had to be done for accuracy sake. Jango's Gauntlets shells do not "tuck" inside of one another. And although I've never done this with my previous gauntlets, there was always a problem with the shells lining up coming from two separate molds made at different times, ect.. There is one caveat however. As some of you may know, fiberglass tends to "CREEP" over the first few weeks of its life, and sometimes longer. This means it can move out of shape. So, taking this into consideration, the shells could still be misaligned when received to some degree. So the first way to head this off, is to mold each shell with 3 dimensional sides, essentially closed all the way around. This will also be illustrated with the coming pics. This keeps the sides from moving inward during this crucial period. When received, they can be trimmed and fitted properly. But there is still a margin for error here, as if they're not fitted immediately after trimming, the "creeping" can still occur. The the last and final way of pre-empting this issue, is the "NEW" gauntlet shell closure as seen in the pics above. This keeps them aligned, no matter what. Forever. Keeping them latched when not in use, will keep them fresh for the life of the prop.

The closures are easier to use than one would think. If you have someone helping you suit up, it's not an issue whatsoever. If you happen to be alone, they can still be closed by yourself. With the help of a couple of knees And in answer to some of your PM's, yes, our own absent Whojedi is partly responsible for this He had the opportunity of assembling the Jango Fett display at Celebration II. He had GREAT info. Perhaps someone could post a link to that info here for all to see. And I'm quite suprised no one has attempted this to date. Granted, it's a SERIOUS PAIN IN THE RUMP, but pretty cool when you get right down to it. This information was reinforced in the last 6 months as a couple of other members who have had intimate opportunities with a Jango display while it was touring Europe. They can chime in if they wish. All in all, it's worth the effort. You never have to worry about them coming loose when trooping. And you never have to worry about cracked shells when torquing on the industrial strength velcro

The finish -

As stated above, there are many steps involved. A special thanks to Terminal Fettler for chiming in today and reinforcing that ! Thanks man I've seen your amazing work as well, and appears that you would know

I emphasize that the molds have to be nearly perfect, and the material vacuumed, for one main reason. I sort of discussed this in another thread recently, so I will paste my quote ...

Originally Posted by fettpride

But for the best possible finish, there are many tricks to be learned. What I mean by this is, most ppl don't care if they have to sand their finished pieces after casting, before buffing and polishing. But this ruins the potential finish, permanently. It will still look like metal, but not like bright aluminum. It is of the utmost importance to keep the natural "skinning of your aluminum coating INTACT. That way when it's buffed after cure, it's as bright as it can be. Otherwise, if there is an imperfection, and you have to sand down past the skin coat, it part will look like stainless steel or lead. It's just the nature of the process. The first priority is making the cleanest, smoothest mold you can.

So, essentially, sanding is a no no for this sort of finish. Of course, nothing is absolutely 100 % perfect, I degress. Even those pictured STILL had a defect or two (Need I say how much it really peeved me off?) And, no matter what you do in material preparation, you will still get a bubble here or there in the finish Just look at the real Jango gauntlets ! There are a TON of them But I've also figured aout how to fix these areas after de-molding if necessary. And believe me, that isn't easy either It takes double the aluminum filler to patch a small area so that it can be blended properly. I suppose what I'm trying to say is, PLEASE understand that these are still hand made, not machined, there will always be minor defects. It cannot be helped unless we take these to manufacturing

Brak's Buddy - Thanks man !! I had to learn something new on the photography bro, these things were a GRIPE to take pics of I think I shot over 700 pics to get about 80 good ones. Is THAT normal ? Perhaps YOU could get a few good ones for us at D-Con ????


Again, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for their kind words !! Picture galleries to come .... then I'm off to finish the revisitation of my ROTJ GAUNTLETS

FP

Originally Posted by Jango_Wes

Question: for the pin and hinge closure, how do you keep the pin from coming out while wearing it?

Wes

I can see where one might wonder that. And until I actually experimented, I wasn't sure how that would work either. BUT - it ain't gonna come out unless you pull it. Period It's one of those things that is hard to explain. The pin that slides in is very snug, yet very smooth. Put simply, the hinge halves do all the work holding it in. If that pin ever just slipped out by itself, I'd buy your next set of gauntlets They won't come out even when they're not being worn.

To further expound on the hinge setup, it is actually pretty simple. A standard piano hinge, just as what is installed on the other side, except modified slightly. On a piano hinge, there are "punch" points on every few links on one half of the hinge that permanently hold the rod into place. To do this right, the rod needs to be removed, obviously, AND you need double the hinge for your intended length, as the punched half of the hinge cannot be used. Once you get the pin removed (brute force), you take the unpunched half of the hinge and your pin, and mate it with an equal length of more unpunched hinge. When the two unpunched halves mate, you can slide the rod in and out at will. The rest of the hinge (the punched half) can be discarded. Make sense?

After you've done this, you can take a bit of 400 sand paper, and sand the rod a bit so that it's a little easier to move in and out of the joined hinges.

It gets a bit more complex for the left gauntlet though. The shape of the inside of the gauntlet does not allow for the hinge halves to lay flat for alignment so each hinge half has to be cut into sections so that when you put the rod back in it (to hold all the sections together), it can be layed inside of the gauntlet properly for glassing it in. And somehow, the pin still goes right in It's a little more complex than that, and a real pain in the :moon , but from now on, I won't have it any other way. Once you go there, ya never go back, it's just so darn cool

More pics will help clarify this I'm sure. I know I'll end up doing a tutorial on it eventually. It could help a lot of folks out.

FP

Beautiful work on these Chris... Knowing full well the time you've put in, its really amazing to finally get this much deserved response. Even Braks likes them!?!

Great Chris ...

EDIT

Thank you to use my aluminium missile on the Jango Gauntlet

Originally Posted by evan4218

Allright, its been over 24 hours and no photos of anyone wearing these bad boys...

We can thank good 'ol Fed-Ex for that (they blundered bigtime)

Originally Posted by evan4218

FP, throw on a pair and get some shots of you stoping by 7-11 or wallmart or something! Just kidding! I cant wait to see how they complement the rest of this suit!

Oh, yeah sure, righty 'o ! I can see it now, I go to pay for my pop, and they see that **** dart on the right gauntlet, think it's a hold up, trigger the alarm, and while I'm trying to explain myself, the cops show up, I get stunned and knocked out, they can't figure out how to get the gauntlets off of my unconcious body (thanks to the new closures). So they strip/break all the sharp pieces off, and I come to in general poppulation lock-up looking like a weirdo with a bunch of thugs looking down at me trying to role me for my sparkley wrist bands !!!! What a waste of a good movie prop

Yeah, ok ... vivid imagination Sometimes I feel like I'm living a Woody Allen movie. How bizarre ?


FP

Just WOW!

Had time for a few pics before it was packed for Dragon Con.

These things are unbelieavable!!!

I squeeked when I saw those pics

**** !!! What a difference weathering can make huh ? !!!

Turo, they look fantastic !!!! Your journey
is one step closer to complete

Originally Posted by Spideyfett

God Bless Chris.....you're an Amazing Talent, and Friend.
All "Props" to you my Brother.:thumbup


Cheers.

Alex

Somehow I didn't see you up there. Thanks bro, I really appreciate that

FP