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Fastshutter

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Hey,
I'm totally new at costuming with resins/fiberglass, etc. My best friend and I have started our 100% Scratch Built Boba/Jango costumes with an expected completion date of October 2008. We have been working with the WOF templates for the helms, and so far have them assembled with the polystyrene signs (but no fiberglass). My body armor is cut with the trashcan method while he wants his costume to be as much fiber glass as possible.

Other than a dremel and a sander, I haven't purchased any hardware or resin to start the rest of my costume. I'm going shopping with the wifey next week and I have $500 to spend on Bobba Fett supplies. The question is, where do I start? If you had $500 to spend on supplies to scratch build a costume, what would you buy first?

The jumpsuit is already taken care of, I have a really good seamstress that is taking care of that. I also have plenty of safety gear, so don't worry about that.


Thanks in advance for any advice you have.
 
Well, honestly a scroll saw or ban saw and a bench grinder and a heat gun are the two most important tools in my arsenal.

Sears has a good 19'' scroll saw around 100 bucks. A craftsman. Bench grinders are as cheap at 30 bucks, and a heat gun around 20.

You will need those, or something similar.

There are quite a few things you can do, and quite a few ways you can go. Sintra makes for a little better armour than the trash can armour. Its a little brittle though after being heated.

Especially the knee pieces.

You can do your whole costume for around 200 bucks worth of materials. Now, the painting and time spent finishing makes all the difference.

For chest, neck shoulders, and even back, sintra is plenty tough.
Even my gauntlets are pretty rugged. The knees break alot though.

If I were you id invest in tools. Split the cost with your friend. Your wives wont be nearly as mad either if you can use it to fix things around the house.

Fiberglassing isnt really difficult. At least not when re-enforcing with it. Now making a nice smooth surface, thats another story.

Post a pic of your helmets so we can get a better feeling for how handy you are, and some of the wiz kids around here can point you in the right direction.

me myself, im a hack and slash kinda guy.
 
If your planning on building a boba fett from scratch then I recommend you should use this sites search engine to locate some threads on selfmade parts and see what material they used. Odds are TDH will have it. Also another good site is Skaines.com. He shows how to make numerous parts for his fett costume for a little over $600.00 dollars. Here is a link to his website. Good luck on your costume(y)

http://www.skaines.com/fett/
 
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lol, well first i'd search through all the scratch build threads on this site and see what tools people are using.

if i still needed to make a costume, and had 500$ to start. i would actually throw down $200 and build a vacuform machine right away.

then anything you make you can make duplicates of for you and your bud.

this would involve making your own prototypes and molds however.

-Q
 
Honestly, it's a bad idea to make a vac table for just 2 costumes. There's no way you could get your cost's worth out of that. It's really meant for larger scale production. I would spend a few months researching here at TDH, just go through old threads and read what people have had to say. Also check out this thread here: http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showthread.php?t=17421

It's more for buying products from others, but still, it goes to show that $500 is only a start for a decent costume. Sintra scratchbuilding is pretty cheap and easy, but as soon as you get into fiberglass and stuff, the cost and skills needed go up quite a bit. Also, some people may make the mistake as lumping the cost of paint into sort of an "odds and ends" category, but it can take a decent chunk out of that small a budget.

But like I said, research, research, research.
 
Has a Dremel been mentioned yet? :) Talk about a valuable tool...

A few years ago, a friend and I built a vacuform table, made molds and and crafted two sets of Biker Scout armor. When everything was tallied up, it cost us a few hundred dollars more doing it that way as opposed to simply buying two armor kits.

On the other hand, should you decide to make a few extra runs of the armor for sale, the cost/benefit ratio is affected quite a bit.

I wish we'd thought about that at the time.
 
I suggest starting small go with 1 project at a time. like say doing vests or pouches. the benefit is you can ussually buy the stuff to do one , learn to make it and sell a few of those ( post example pics and a run list) and make some money back for the next part of your project. This means you have a few left over tools when the suit is done i.e. dremmel, sewing machine, molds ect. and it minimizes the cost of your own material. There will ussually be people who will trade parts they make for the parts you can make.
 
That was subtle! :lol:

(y)


Hahaha! Guess I just felt like a throwing out a shameless plug!

Seriously though...

Fastshutter:

Consider buying a second Dremel- if you do it right, you'll burn yours out before your Fett is fiinished!

Also, Skirata is correct- pick one or two items and build them before moving on to the next. (My advice for any costume, especially something as 'muliti-media' as Fett) is treat each item as its own project. Be patient and try to enjoy the completion of each item and you'll be much happier with the finished product. Heck, for some of us die-hard Fett-heads, a nicely finished left knee is a work of art that we'll stare at for hours!

Perhaps start with the Jet Pack- once you finish that, you'll have a lot of what you need to do all the other parts.

Another way to approach it is do a part that will be fun to have and display by itself before the other parts are done- something like the helmet, jet pack, or even one of the gauntlets. Having something finished and cool to look at goes a long way toward inspiring you onto the next item.

Mark
 
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I am working on my own bradley fett project right now. Ya get a lot for your buck and when you are done you have artist's sense of completeion. Make sure to research how to do the paint jobs on each peice. Do not skip primer! use bondo to fill in gaps or mistakes ( like the dremel slipping). When you are done your peices will be worthy wnough to set on a book case and spart conversation or I saw one pic of a jet pack hanging on a wall like a peice of modern art. When I gat mine that's where I am atoring it.
 
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