ESB Fett 2.0 by Necronaut

[Necronaut]

I got my first costume approved by the 501st a couple months ago, and I thought I should really get Boba approved as well. I guess I really started this project the week before halloween, when I needed to get some ultra-light gauntlets together for my Halloween concert and costume ball. I had purchased a set of RKD vac-formed gauntlets about 9 months ago, with the intent of turning them into a lighter, trooping set of gauntlets. These became the base for this rebuild...

I had originally used all-plastic pieces for these gauntlets for the costume ball. Bic pen tips for the darts, plastic model sprue painted silver for the switches, and plastic model sprue for the dental files on the whipcord launcher. These are RKD's ROTJ gauntlets with his resin ROTJ whipcord launcher, resin gauntlet hose connector, and black resin greeblie piece. I cut the whipcord launcher so it was thinner and lower-profile, as seen on the ESB suit. Mojo machined gauntlet darts, Alco switches, Hedstrom dental files, and some hose from an old kitchen sprayer adorn it. I painted them silver with Tremclad, masked off the silver damage with some masking fluid, then sprayed Humbrol 76 for the colour. Before unmasking, I used an acrylic medium gray to weather and 'chip' the paint. The gauntlets still need to be weathered further, perhaps with a darker gray.

Being vac-formed, these gauntlets are ultra-light. Regular sticky-back Velcro closures were the perfect way to keep them shut. I hot-glued plenty of 6mm craft foam to help pad the wrists (they got really sore on Halloween with no padding).

Here's the left gauntlet, which is still a work-in-progress. CombatBaby's new aluminum flamethrower is almost finished getting painted. I'm letting the black harden and cure up before masking over it for the white paint. This thing is GORGEOUS!! Totally worth it! You can see two backing plates for the flamethrower: the original, which was cut out of 1/4" plate, and one I cut out of sheet aluminum (for weight considerations). I'm not sure which one I'll use yet.
The rocket you see is an all-metal one I bought from DarkSide last year. Really nice, but really heavy. I'm going to use a resin one I bought along with RKD's kit. It's in paint right now.
The dental expander is a beautiful cast metal one bought off a maker on Etsy. I think Matty Matt was the guy who found out about these nice little things. Just needs a coat of brass paint.
The calculator is RKD's resin cast version, which is totally worth getting. It's totally free of pits and bubble. Primer, silver, then a touch of clear red and blue.
Like the right gauntlet, this will still need more weathering.

 

[Necronaut]

This is a comparison shot of CombabBaby's aluminum flamethrower, compared to the one I scratch-built out of plastic pipe and channel. I needed a non-metal one for the Halloween concert, so I just threw some paint and epoxy on these parts that had been sitting on my workbench for the last 6 months (refer to my RKD ESB gauntlet conversion thread for more on this unfinished piece).

These are MOW's 2014 boots with JodoKast89's toe spikes. They just got their first coat of acrylic paint last night. I'm using SpideyFett's famous CABoots tutorial to paint these up. I'm gonna make them quite a bit darker, as seen on the ESB suit. I have already started the shading and subtle gray weathering on these boots tonight. They should be finished by next Wednesday.

I posted a WTB about a new flash tube for this EE3 of mine. As you can see, the port-holes are way too close to the barrel. It came like that! If you have one that you're probably not going to use, please consider selling it to me. :cry LOL

These are finished, at least. My aluminum knee darts were held in with DevCon. They didn't do a great job of holding them in. Since I needed to re-glue them, I took the opportunity of having them out of the knees to paint on the red and black details at the end of the darts. Some masking tape around the edges, and some Humbrol satin black and red paint applied with a small paintbrush did the trick. I purposely left the red coverage a little sketchy-looking, for the weathering effect. This time, I'm using hot glue to keep them in.

 

[Necronaut]

And here's the part that will likely take the longest: my armour repaint. While I am thrilled with how the masking, detailing, and weathering turned out on this originally, I have grown to hate the colour more and more each time I see it. I think it's too dark. That centre diamond got a Hunt Club Green repaint in the spring, and it's the exact same colour as the rest of the armour?! It is supposed to look so much darker! As well, is my helmet supposed to be the same colour as the armour? I don't think so! I am keeping the shoulders & knees, they still look fine to me.
I'll be using Lou/Darth Voorhees' WIP on his armour repaint with Humbrols as my guide and recipe.

As for that helmet, I have a FPH2 that's been feeling mighty neglected these past 6 months. I got it a masking fluid applicator from Terminal Fettler to try and make it fell better, but it still wants my attention. After Christmas...

I'll update with more pics As I work and finish these off, if you're interested!

 

[jbdubz]

looking good necro


Sent from my R2 unit

 

[Got2bfett]

Yes and interested in pics too!

 

[Necronaut]

Here's the painted flamethrower. I do need to touch up around the fat part of the upper nozzle. Other than that, it's a sharp looking piece. With some weathering, it should really look the part.

i think they're dark enough? I could use a second opinion though.

this is RKD's pressure cast rocket. I had it painted up with a pretty rough job for Halloween. I wanted another crack at it, so I sanded it back to primer. I shot a couple coats of gloss black Tremclad on Saturday and Sunday. I wanted a very high gloss finish before painting the metal lacquer over it. A super smooth glossy finish will look way more like real metal once the copper and silver are applied. I'll be usin Alclad copper lacquer and Mr Hobby flat aluminum for the metal colors. As well, I'll probably trim the end flat and install a rivet pin or a brad for the tip of the cone.

 

[jbdubz]

great work man! I think the boots could use a little brown, dirty them up a bit more. not necessarily darker, just some other shades of grime.


Sent from my R2 unit

 

[grenater]

Agree with jbdubz more dirt, maybe light brown washes and or pastels

 

[Misfit2]

Looking forward to this build.

 

[Necronaut]

i weathered my flamethrower a bit before installing it tomorrow.

i also weathered my gauntlets.

And I finished my boots!

 

[DeathProof]

Right on man! I love the subtlety of the weathering. Spot on.

 

[Necronaut]

I weathered the right gauntlet. All it needs now is the button on the side.

Work continues on the right gauntlet. I needed to cover up some previously exposed silver 'weathering', as well as drill the holes for the flamethrower & gauntlet missile. I am backing these heavier parts with some sheet aluminum to prevent the screws from pulling through the plastic. I won't be able to paint up my resin gauntlet missile until the cold snap we're in lets up. It's around -20 Celsius here right now.

 

[grenater]

woooooooh that is looking fan-freaking-tastic! great job!!!!!!

and your weathering on your gauntlets turned out great, if you mind my asking.... what did you do? im looking for that same "scratchy" but not overdone look.

 

[Necronaut]

I basecoated the gauntlets with Tremclad Silver. I masked off where the silver shows through the other paint, using Winsor & Newton masking fluid. Then, I airbrushed Humbrol 78 Cockpit Green.

I only used ivory, medium gray, black, and burnt umber acrylic craft paint for the weathering. I started with the medium gray, and painted that around where the silver damage was, and did a few quick swipes over the body, lightly dusting a couple areas with some gray. It should blend right in with the green paint. I then peeled off the masking fluid. I did an overall wash of burnt umber over the entire gauntlet to give the paint a more brownish, rusty tone.

Then, I mixed up a very thin wash of ivory. I applied this to areas which appeared lighter in the 6 or 7 reference images of the ESB Fett right gauntlet close-ups I had printed off. You can see it on the top where the Alco switches are, and beside the black knob-thing above the gauntlet darts. As well, there's a few more spots where the lightening is a little more subtle. Just look at lots of images of the gauntlet. They're pretty easy to see on the clear images. Because the wash was so thin, it took several coats to build up the lightness I saw in the pictures.

Those same ref images show some dark gray 'chipping' around the whitish areas. I mixed the medium gray with a little black to make a darker color. This was hand-brushed on. I then thinned this down, and lightly dry-brushed it over other parts of the gauntlet, creating some streakiness in the paint. This was also applied to the metal parts, creating a dirty, grimy look.

Finally, I put on a couple more coats of the brown wash to get a deeper, more red tone around the whipcord launcher and in the deeper crevices of the gauntlet details. I applied straight burnt umber to a couple of the dart tips too.

 

[Necronaut]

Having several color reference images printed off to look at and compare between has made such a difference in my work! I used to have images displayed on my computer screen or my iPad, but you can really only see one image at a time. It's a lot more difficult to do cross-shot comparisons without several images printed off.

 

[bcurtis]

Great work man! That looks incredible.

 

[grenater]

Wow thanks for that necronaut it looks absolutely killer!

 

[OrrElse]

Nice looking build you have there. Very nicely done.

 

[jbdubz]

this is great info for for us ESB'ers. thanks for the helpful write up Necro. hopefully my FP gaunts will come soon so I can get started on them. I'll be using your thread for sure!


Sent from my R2 unit

 

[thd9791]

Nice job! I'm seconding the compliments on the weathering jobs. A lot of good tips for detail work here