Bo Katan My Very First Costume Build

I finally finished wet sanding my armor! Yay! I used 220 grit to rough up the surface as well as smooth out the edges. Although I sanded down all of the armor, only half of it was ready for primer. The other half still needs minor repairs (cracking, etc).

Here is the armor after two coats of Rustoleum Auto Primer.

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I think the armor looks pretty good considering this was my first time ever spray painting. There were a few runny spots, but I plan on lightly sanding the armor with 400 or 600 grit paper before painting again. Well, that's all for now. Thank you for reading!
 
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PROGRESS UPDATE:

Hey everyone! Sooooo...I painted half of my armor with primer and it flaked off. I now know I did not sand enough of the shine off prior to painting. I have since sanded it again, but will only prime a test piece to be sure I did it right this time.

I also got some good work done on the helmet. Here is a picture of it with the visor and keyholes cut out and then sanded down.

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Thanks to my wonderful husband, I also made progress fixing my "deformed" knee armor!!! He attacked it with a heat gun. He molded it back into shape, removing quite a bit of excess ABS along the way.

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The shape now matches the desired shape of the "good" knee (good knee on left/previously deformed knee on right).

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Here are some pics after sludge and sanding:

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Just a reminder of what the knee used to look like (the one on the right):

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I currently have a second coat of ABS on the knee, that I will be sanding down later on today. I think they will look good as new after some more detail work.

My next update is for the back plate. Upon gathering reference images for my build, I noticed that Bo has an edge on the shoulder portion of her back plate that is not present on my actual armor. See the reference images below:

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To remedy this I built an edge using scrap ABS. Here it is after one coat of sludge.

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I think it will look good after a bit more sanding and sludging. I wonder if this edge goes along the collar as well. What do you think?

Thanks for reading!
 
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Hi all! Here are some progress updates:

After looking at a lot of reference images, I decided to trim down the size of the holsters to better fit my size as well as the size of my Westars (from EA).

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Here are the holsters after being trimmed, glued and sludged.

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I also worked on my knee armor. I used Milliput to fill gaps in the plastic. I also used it to fill gaps on the holsters. Below is a picture of the holsters and knee after sanding down the Milliput. I still have more filling and sanding to do.
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My most recent project has been to reinforce the knees to prevent cracking after I repair the pre-existing cracks.

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To fix this, I cut out a piece of ABS (from my precious scrap ABS pile) to fit inside the sides of the knees.

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I then curved the piece by hand to fit the curve of the knees.

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Lastly, I glued the pieces in place using Zap-A-Gap. I plan on reinforcing the glue with some ABS sludge.

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I have to say, my knee armor is now rock solid! I don't anticipate cracking to be a problem anymore. I will probably repeat this process on any other weak spots in my build. I would hate for large cracks to occur in the armor--especially after painting!

This past week I have spent much time getting to know the new sewing gear I received from my family for Mother's Day! I plan on sewing my flight suit, so I have been practicing sewing on stretchy fabrics and reading up on garment construction. I even enrolled in a sewing class to hone my skills.

Oh, and here is a picture of the back plate after more sludge and sanding. It's think it's starting to look pretty good!

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One more thing to report. I received my jet pack in the mail earlier this week! Here it is cleaned and ready for assembly.

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Thank you Cruzer! It is truly a work of art.
 
Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't updated this thread in a while. I've been busy with some family stuff and now putting Bo Katan together. Here are some pictures of my progress:

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I sewed the gloves, using my hand as a pattern.
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I sewed the suit myself. I drafted a pattern from some clothes I own and adjusted them to fit the look of Bo's suit.

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I enlisted the help of my husband to help with some of the more difficult (for me) parts of the build--the thigh armor, holsters and gauntlets. He has fixed many of my rookie mistakes. They are really taking shape now. I will post some updated pictures later on today.

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There has been a lot of taping and spray painting going on, as well as much hand painting and weathering. It's been a really fun build.























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Hey everyone. Here are a few updates!

Here are the gauntlets:

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Unfortunately, the blue paint cracked and peeled!!! So we gave them a nice bath in Easy Off Oven Cleaner. A little more touch up sanding and they will be ready for re-priming. The upside to all of this is that they smell fabulous. I just love that clean lemon scent.
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A while back NoGoodToM3D3ad suggested that I glue dollar store hair brushes inside my holsters. This keeps the blasters from clanging around and is more durable than foam long term. Had my holster been wider I would have used three brushes per holster (bottom and sides), but because I reduced their size, I only used one at the bottom. They definitely do the trick and also help to prop up the blasters into the proper position. Thanks for the great advice!!!

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Now for some great news!!!


I received the jet pack harness, girth belt and pouches in the mail earlier this week. I have to say that Seeker does and amazing job. The quality of the leather is great and the detail and weathering really makes it come to life. All of the pouches are usable as well! Talk about a girl's dream. The harness is of equal quality, made from a nice light, but sturdy leather. The straps are strong and the harness evenly distributes the weight of the jet pack. I don't think I will have any back problems carrying my jet pack at longer troops. I also finished painting and weathering the back plate and jet pack. Here are some photos:

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Lastly, here is the helmet. I think it looks pretty cool!

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Here is the helmet after I lightly dry sanded it with very fine sand paper:


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I like that the sand paper took away some or all of the shine and brought out a brighter blue hue in some places. I tried this on one of the knees and I liked the way it looked (the knee on the left has been lightly sanded). I will be doing this to the rest of my blue colored armor.

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The helmet and armor are still a work in progress. I really want to make sure i capture the look of Bo Katan to the best of my ability.

Well, thanks for reading!
 
Thank you folks for the kind words!


Here are a few updates from the last few days.


I bought myself some 1/2 inch thick knit elastic and some gray dye. To begin the process I heated up some water and mixed the entire box of dye with a little vinegar and salt with in my trusty dye bucket. I then stirred it up good, making sure there was no powder left before adding the elastic. I mixed that off and on for about 15 minutes before letting it sit for another 45 minutes. Then I rinsed it really well, first in hot water to remove some of the dye and then in cold to kind of set it in.

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Well, I wasn't crazy with the color of the finished product (next time I will buy a dye that is made for elastic). So I busted out my trusty acrylics and got to painting. I think it looks pretty good now. There is also a picture of what the elastic looks like next to my sample of weathered suit fabric. Once I was satisfied with the elastic I sewed it onto some Velcro and installed some Velcro into the thigh armor. I plan on using snaps or more Velcro to attach the thigh armor to the suit.

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I also decided to weather the boots. I lightly sanded the leather and then painted it with acrylics.

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I did some more work on the helmet as well, and I think I finally have it to a point where I can say it's done.
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I fixed up some imperfections, did a little texture sanding, then added some additional weathering and detail work.

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I also did some additional sanding to the other parts of my armor that were blue. I want to there to be a cohesive look.

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After sanding the shoulders, I installed some padding and velcro. I am trying to recreate the "floating" shoulder bell look of Bo.

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Lastly, my father and my husband made me a light system for my gauntlets!!! The lights are super bright!

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And here are the gauntlets, painted and awaiting sanding!

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That's all for now! Thank you for reading.
 
Here are a few progress pics from the last couple of days. Here are the gauntlets weathered and ready for their Velcro hinge, magnet closure, homemade light kit and lenses.

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I will be gluing cord keepers onto the boot spats. Once they are in place, you tie your boot laces up and then attach the cord keeper to the laces and voila--you've got removable boot spats! Thank you for the idea KWDesigns! He used this for his Pre Vizla costume.

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I have started weathering the suit. I began with a glove. I figured if I ruined it, at least I would only have to re-sew one glove.

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I thought the one glove looked good, so I weathered the other and then started weathering one arm of the flight suit.

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I've got a long way to go, but I think it will be worth it. Thanks for reading.
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I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a bit. I've been in the final stages of the build. I feel like all I have done in the last few days is sew and attach Velcro. I think I even bought out all of the Velcro from our local Joann's. The sales associates were like "What are you making with all of this Velcro?!?!" LOL. Sometimes it's hard to explain costuming to people without getting weird looks.
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Well, I really had hoped to have my costume completed so I could troop a library event a few weeks ago. Things didn't quite work out as planned. Every time you think you are done you find there is something else you need to do. But now, its official! I sent the submission pics to my GML earlier this evening who gave me the thumbs up on the approval!!! My application is now at Legion level.

Here are the photos:

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I had so much fun building Bo Katan! I have some additional pics to add showing velcro attachment, gauntlets, etc., that I will be posting up soon. I also have plans to upgrade parts of this costume. But as for right now...it's time to sit back and relax.
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