Stormcrow 85's WIP: Boba Fett - ESB

[Stormcrow85]

Gah! I am not moving nearly as quickly as I was at the beginning of this project. Good news I finished a class for my Master's degree last night (Only 1 left) and I should be able to make some progress in the coming weeks in the painting of the helmet.

I have already done 2 rounds of Primer. I need to sand a second time, add a tiny bit of bondo in a few spots, and then I will be ready for paint. I have some spots where I think the bondo needs to be blended a bit better. This is where patience really pays off in the long run, and patience is something I don't have in abundance. Thank you all for all the support so far. I hop you all are enjoying my contribution to the community. I will try and get some close ups of the helmet this afternoon before I do this next round of sanding.

This scratch building is no joke! I am starting to understand why people just buy certain parts. I am learning a ton, and I think it is turning out great, but holy cow this is tough. Also I am on a hard deadline. Whatever I get done by July is where the project will sit until probably January or February of next year.

 

[Stormcrow85]

SO I have been uploading photos, but realized I haven't been sharing them. Here are some pictures from the last couple of rounds of primer and sanding. I am going to hit it with glazing putty or something similar then I am moving into paint this weekend. I picked up the correct Humbrol 147 base grey color tonight at the hobby shop. I think it is turning out quite well. I haven't really been doing as many timelapses because, it is usually just me in the garage for 10 minutes with a quick round of sanding then another primer coat.I chatted with Malaxor today and he reminded me how good a cardboard helmet can look with patience, so I am going to attempt to practice patience.

The process to getting to this point has been mainly:
1. Spray coat of primer
2. Sand with 240, then 500 grit sand paper
3. Repeat

I have done this now 3 times and it is looking good, but the glazing will make it look phenomenal I am hoping. I need it to take the seam line in the dent at least and a few little imperfections around the helmet.

 

[Stormcrow85]

Well I am still hoping to start painting this weekend, saw a good deal on a mannequin and bought it. I will probably look at how to change the arms a bit.

 

[Stormcrow85]

I got a little more work done today. I need to give back the lathe some time. So I made the knee darts. I wanted to make them out of aluminum, but this isn't a massive lathe it is pretty small so I decided to make them from wood. I used RafalFett's measurements and while the tolerance on these isn't as good as the small darts I made I really like the way they turned out. If you ever get to use a little mini lathe DO IT! they are so amazing I made:

1. ESB Flame Thrower rods (One piece left to make)
2. Gauntlet Darts
3. Knee Darts

And it is SO FUN! Seriously. I am thinking about buying a lathe just to have.

Check out the knee darts. If you look closely you can see the diameter tolerance wasn't as tight as I could have made it.

The knee darts were made by:

1. Cutting the wood to the appropriate length
-- 51.2mm+ the chuck width ~ 20mm for the "peg" dart
-- 31mm + chuck width for the "pointy" dart
-- Give yourself a bit of extra at the back of the dart
2. Tightening it into the lathe (I did this very tight, you can see the marks in the wood)
3. Start cutting it all down
For the "peg darts"
-- Take the outer diameter to 18mm
-- Take the tip down to 11.5mm for 12.7mm back from the front
-- Add the accent marks along the front
-- Go back father 14mm from the first cut, take it down to a 14mm diameter for 6.5mm then sand and polish it
For the "pointy dart"
-- Take it down to outer diameter of 13mm
-- Set lathe @ 16 degree angle for the bit
-- Take small strips out until the tip is ~4mm diameter
4. Drill all the front holes (I haven't done this yet)
5. Coat the drilled holes with fiberglass resin (I am going to do this to try and stiffen up the pieces.
Final Step (There might be more added). Paint it, but I will do that when I paint the helmet.

 

[Stormcrow85]

A small update on my helmet. My buddy dropped off the bondo glaze for me to try out, I have to say it spreads and sands much easier than normal bondo, but it also sets up much quicker. i know I have been saying this for a while but I think this weekend might be the time I start painting.

 

[Artakha]

Don't feel rushed to get the paint on. Make sure you are completely happy with the helmet first, because if you're not happy with it later your options are either to keep staring at the imperfections or fix it and redo the paint. Just something to keep in mind I've been working on my second scratch built for probably over 6 months, although a good deal of that time spent has been on details because I intend to cast the thing. Nice job so far, and good luck either way!

 

[Stormcrow85]

Toe spike for shoe #1 is mostly made. Common sense would say wait until you get the boot then make these, but Emme3 needed a set and I figured I would try my hand at making them. Here is the method to my madness

1. Cut a 58mm long chunk of ~13mm diameter aluminum rod
2. Put it in the lathe and bring it down to 12mm diameter for a little over 35mm (this will give you a little wiggle room when you are cutting)
3. Set the lathe for 14* cut
4. Taking small chunks bring it back to where the tip is the desired 3.5mm (I was closer to 3.7mm diameter tips)
5. Use the tail chuck thing to either drill or mark the center of the tip
6. Use sand paper to smooth the machine marks
7. Use a drill (drill press would be better) and use a 2.5mm drill bit to create the inner hole
8. Do it again x 3 for the rest of the spikes
9. Make a homemade miter box to cut the spike at the correct angle, cut the darts

Now you need the bar piece Home Depot does not have 15mm wide bar stock so I had to improvise. **Note you should have your boots on hand to do measurements BEFORE buying the aluminum
1. Get L shaped aluminum that is ~19mm wide
2. Trim to desired length (155mm (approxiamately) and 15mm wide
3. Now you can either bend into shape if you know the boot measurements
4. I also picked up Aluminum welding rods at Home Depot
5. Using a propane torch (or heating device) heat the crud out of the two pieces in their final place (I should have used a better clamping system)
6. When they are hot enough to melt the rod melt it into the seam between the two pieces
7. Quench it in some water

Some notes:
1. I didn't keep the spikes in place as well as I should have so one is more far forward than the other.
2. I burnt my finger pretty bad as the 700 degree+ spike burnt right through my glove when I tried to re position it, don't be dumb like me.

What I haven't done is drilled the holes in the back and found the best screws to use to attach them to the boot. Here is the finished product.

 

[Stormcrow85]

Thanks for the post man. I agree with you, and I have been impressed with your second helmet it is turning out great! I am also working against a deadline whatever I don't get done by July means it has to wait until I get back in early January most likely as my job is sending me somewhere for 6 months.

Don't feel rushed to get the paint on. Make sure you are completely happy with the helmet first, because if you're not happy with it later your options are either to keep staring at the imperfections or fix it and redo the paint. Just something to keep in mind I've been working on my second scratch built for probably over 6 months, although a good deal of that time spent has been on details because I intend to cast the thing. Nice job so far, and good luck either way!

 

[Artakha]

Thanks for the post man. I agree with you, and I have been impressed with your second helmet it is turning out great! I am also working against a deadline whatever I don't get done by July means it has to wait until I get back in early January most likely as my job is sending me somewhere for 6 months.

Haha thanks. Good reasons, keep up the good work!

 

[Stormcrow85]

So I made the other set, and I even painted one silver to see how they would look.

I really like the way they turned out, and I enjoyed making them even though I burnt myself real good!

What do you think?

 

[Stormcrow85]

I hope you are ready to read!

Costume Update 32: Lathe Work
In this video I made metal gauntlet darts, metal toe spikes, and wooden knee darts.

Gauntlet Darts:
What you need to make the darts:
- Metal Rod at least 3mm in diameter (3 ft from Home Depot is like $4)
-- If you can find a 3mm diameter rod you will save yourself SO MUCH TIME
-- I just picked up this rod from home depot
- A lathe (Quite a bit of $$, borrow one if you can or buy one they are awesome!)
- Hacksaw
- Sand Paper (grits: 220, 500, 600, 1200)
- A caliper tool to easily measure diameters
- Sharpie for making marks

Step 1: Cut Rod to length
-- I found that cutting the rod to double length worked well and saved the rod from flexing as much, this also allowed me to make two darts at once
-- Making 2 at once could save some of the material as you have to lose some to the drill chuck

Step 2: Add tip to both sides
-- I added a 30 degree tip to both sides (on both lenghts) so I wouldn't have to readjust the lathe bit
-- The tip is overall 5mm long, the actual point is ~2.8mm long and the last 2 mm can be used to add the details

Step 3: Adding the tip accents
-- The details were done at 3mm and 4mm from the tip and were cut into the diameter 0.2mm
-- This part is up to you really it would have been nice if I could have found a nice tap so I could have added threads instead

Step 4: Cut out the valley that is 1.2mm in diameter (mine is probably closer to 1.5mm)
-- Again using the sharpie mark back from the 5mm dart tip another 7mm (it should be 12mm from the tip)
-- The lathe made short work of this, make sure you don't bring the piece too far out from the chuck or you run the risk of bending the part and having to toss it

Step 5. Polish the dart
-- Using progressively finer sand paper polish up the dart

Step 6: Unchuck the dart flip it around and do it again, starting with step 3

Step 7: Sanding
-- I started with 120 then stepped through going 220, 400, to 500

Step 8: Admire your work.

Toe Spikes:
What you need to make the darts:
- Aluminum Rod at least 12mm in diameter (3 ft from Home Depot is like $4)
-- I just picked up this rod from home depot
- Aluminum bar for the plate
- Drill and 2.5mm drill bit
- A lathe (Quite a bit of $$, borrow one if you can or buy one they are awesome!)
- Hacksaw
- Homemade Miter box to allow a 37 degree cut
- Sand Paper (grits: 220, 500, 600, 1200)
- A caliper tool to easily measure diameters
- Sharpie for making marks
- Propane Torch
- Aluminum welding rod (Home Depot 2 rods, $4)
- Metallic paint if you want to paint them after
- Protractor
- Vice
- Needle nose pliers

Step 1: Cut spike to proper size
-- Bring down the diameter to 12mm (per template)
-- Add a 14 degree tip on the piece
-- My lathe was not optimal for this there was almost 25mm of extra that I had to cut off every time so I could chuck the spike appropriately
-- I could have probably worked it out better and saved some aluminum, but ohh well

Step 2: Add the tip hole
-- The overall diameter of the tip should be ~3.5mm
-- Using the tail stock of the lathe I marked the center of the tip
-- Using a drill and steady hand I drilled out the tip

Step 3: Cut to mount to metal bard
-- I had to make a custom miter box to add the 37 degree cut to the rear portion of the dart
--- This was done with 3 paint stirers, 2 ground stakes, a protractor, and some glue
--- 3 paint stirers work out to be about 12mm wide (a little less actually which is good)
-- Place them in the center of the stakes smash them together in the vice
--- add the 37 degree cut
-- Place the spike into your box, you should have already cut the guide slots at an angle and the spike should be a very snug fit, as long as the long the front and rear of the spike up it will turn out great
-- Use the hack saw and cut through the dart

Step 4: Shaping the metal bar
-- Use RafalFett's templates to determine length and width of the bar, cut and bend appropriately
-- 60 degree bends

Step 5: Weld the toe spikes to the metal bard
-- I used a small propane torch I had heated the bar and the spike until the aluminum welding rod would melt (Without the torch's help)
-- I held the bar still in the vice
-- Keeping the spike in place can be difficult, I wish I had an alligator clip to sacrifice to the heat and hold it still
-- I used needle nose pliers to move the spike around

Step 6. Add rear holes to mount the spikes to the boots

Step 7: Optional Paint the pieces

Step 8: Admire your work

The Knee darts:

Pretty much everything above except these will definitely need to be painted, and I seriously just used an old flag pole I had laying around.

 

[Stormcrow85]

Ohh and I got some helmet work done today too!

Left ear done today!

Red Base Coat!

Silver (I chose this over grey)

Green (this was a 1:1 mixture of two colors)

Need to add the upper white U

Ohh Snap you mean like this?

Now to look at the finished piece with the rest of the helmet uncovered.

 

[Silverstalker]

Good work, the lathe is a brilliant tool if you can use one like you say, by the way I need 4 new darts mine are not good enough now

 

[Stormcrow85]

I have some extra sets if you really want some, I have a FS thread over in the cargo hold . I gotta pay for this hobby some how. I am really happy to have seen the first part of the helmet get done and the toespikes and darts I think are going to look great on the costume. Thank you for all the encouragement Silverstalker

 

[tommyboy]

nice job Aaron ! did you say that in your extra-extra spare time you would help me finish my suit......lol

 

[Stormcrow85]

Heck yeah tommyboy first things first i have to sucessfully send you darts.

 

[tommyboy]

no worries ! i know you are not a dartless fella....lol

Heck yeah @tommyboy first things first i have to sucessfully send you darts.

 

[hero44hire]

This is amazing. Love following the thread

 

[Stormcrow85]

That awkward moment when you liquidmask the right rear panel of the helmet based on the left panel templates. Well that was a waste of 40 minutes, but I learned so much?

 

[tommyboy]

well i can honestly say .....Im honored to have these very fine darts !!!! amazing work for some one who is new to the sport!! if any of yall were on the fence about buying darts from Aaron then wonder no more! P.S. i got the darts lolol

Heck yeah @tommyboy first things first i have to sucessfully send you darts.