Demmoc
Hunter
About 10+ years ago I started making a Boba Fett costume for Halloween and the one thing I was always lacking was the jetpack. I found the plans here, thanks to Alan, and wanted to share my progress. It's a little modified but here's some pics along the way and the finished product. Any advice/criticism welcome to better my next build. Sorry there aren't more pics during the process but I'm famous for losing track of time and not taking pics as I go. I did find some really cool techniques though as I went. I made a lot of parts out of metal flashing with cardboard glued on as a backer. I used 1/8 inch plywood for the structural frame, a little bondo and very little cardboard.
Dry fitting all the parts before I commit to gluing them on. I don't have any pics but I used bondo on the back of the gray pieces to achieve a good fit for gluing against the curved parts. I put wax paper down first and put a reasonable amount of bondo on the inside edges of the grey parts. Once the bondo reached a firm state I pealed the wax paper off and had the perfect fit to the part I was gluing to.
Dry fitting my modified rocket and metal tank guards
I painting everything in stages before I attached them to the project. I wanted clean lines and definition of each separate part instead of running the risk of having masking runs or over spray.
90% finished on painting, still have to add decals and more weathering. I didn't want to overdue the weathering though. I've seen some amazing jetpacks that were ruined by putting to much weathering on them. It's personal preference but I've always been of the mind that a little goes a long way and you can always add more if you're not satisfied.
Rockets are made from wooden balls I ordered on the internet and the nozels are made from metal flower holders that you'd put in a cemetery. I chose metal over a plastic funnel for durability and metal looks like metal. The tank covers (painted blue in pic) are made from metal flashing that you'd put around windows on the exterior of your house (at least that's what we do with it in the mid west). It comes in rolls and is a variety of colors from hardware stores. I normally work with white on one side and brown on the back. I used a box cutter with a fresh blade to cut the metal. It takes several passes and a lot of patients. Then I lightly score the seams and bend the metal to it's desired position against a table edge. I finish it up with a cardboard backing that I glue in place with a craft glue that adheres to metal (called Duco Cement). Last I put a bead of hot glue on the back seams to make sure it all holds it's shape. I personally like working with metal more than plastic or cardboard because 1, it looks like metal and 2, is much more durable and if it gets scratched or dented it looks real. The only down side is cutting it with a utility knife is somewhat dangerous and extremely tiresome. I have metal cutting tools but nothing beats the crispness of a blade.
most of my weathering was done a new way I have found. Take the center tank stabilizer for example (the blue piece in the middle). I painted it gloss blue first, sponged the metallic flake silver on all the edges second, added the black with a brush sponge and swiped it with a rag to smear it then immediately sprayed it with a clear coat. I let the clear cure for about 30-45 minutes then took blue painters tape and covered the piece fully with the tape. I let the tape sit for about 5 minutes and pulled the tape off. This actually pulls the clear coat off the gloss blue and takes off part of the silver and black as well. It basically gives it a "chipped paint" effect instead of using masking and painting layers on (which I find excessively time consuming). This technique only works on gloss basses though. If you try it on flat basses the effect doesn't work nearly as well.
Hand cut all my decals from the templates I found on the forums. I have a friend that used to do custom vinyl decals and got some of his vinyl. I DON'T recommend cutting them by hand. I spent several hours doing this and could have spent a very small amount of money to have someone do it and send me the finished product from a vinyl cutting machine but I'm stubborn and wanted to finish this build without help from any kits, pre-made items or even decals (yeah I'm really that stupid).
I will attempt to add one last photo of it 100% complete when I try and finish the harness this weekend. I have not weighed it yet but it's really not that heavy because of my use of aluminum, plastic and very little body filler. Sorry almost all the pics came out sideways, I don't know yet how to flip them. If you have any questions I'd be more than happy to try and answer them. If you see something completely wrong on my pack you're welcome to point it out but I already know I intentionally missed a few details such as the red trim that goes from one tank top to the other. I tried to add this at the end of the project because I mis-measured some frame pieces but gave up realizing it wasn't worth the hassle or the time. Maybe if I build another one I can fix all the small mistakes I made on this one.
Thanks for looking! It was fun but I do have to say that it's a difficult build even with the blueprints and patterns you can print out. I know the pre-cast kits online cost $350 and I'm glad I put all the time in mine but you really need to have some skill to scratch build one of these and have it turn out looking good. I have not yet added up my cost but I had most of the stuff I needed laying around my shop but if I had to guess I'd say I have around $40 in materials and paint wrapped up in this project (probably less). Time I have HOURS in it but it's what I love to do so it's worth it to me.
Started on my new Fett helmet build last night from Alan's templates he's put on the forums. I'll be posting them soon as well, I'm sure.
Dry fitting all the parts before I commit to gluing them on. I don't have any pics but I used bondo on the back of the gray pieces to achieve a good fit for gluing against the curved parts. I put wax paper down first and put a reasonable amount of bondo on the inside edges of the grey parts. Once the bondo reached a firm state I pealed the wax paper off and had the perfect fit to the part I was gluing to.
Dry fitting my modified rocket and metal tank guards
I painting everything in stages before I attached them to the project. I wanted clean lines and definition of each separate part instead of running the risk of having masking runs or over spray.
90% finished on painting, still have to add decals and more weathering. I didn't want to overdue the weathering though. I've seen some amazing jetpacks that were ruined by putting to much weathering on them. It's personal preference but I've always been of the mind that a little goes a long way and you can always add more if you're not satisfied.
Rockets are made from wooden balls I ordered on the internet and the nozels are made from metal flower holders that you'd put in a cemetery. I chose metal over a plastic funnel for durability and metal looks like metal. The tank covers (painted blue in pic) are made from metal flashing that you'd put around windows on the exterior of your house (at least that's what we do with it in the mid west). It comes in rolls and is a variety of colors from hardware stores. I normally work with white on one side and brown on the back. I used a box cutter with a fresh blade to cut the metal. It takes several passes and a lot of patients. Then I lightly score the seams and bend the metal to it's desired position against a table edge. I finish it up with a cardboard backing that I glue in place with a craft glue that adheres to metal (called Duco Cement). Last I put a bead of hot glue on the back seams to make sure it all holds it's shape. I personally like working with metal more than plastic or cardboard because 1, it looks like metal and 2, is much more durable and if it gets scratched or dented it looks real. The only down side is cutting it with a utility knife is somewhat dangerous and extremely tiresome. I have metal cutting tools but nothing beats the crispness of a blade.
most of my weathering was done a new way I have found. Take the center tank stabilizer for example (the blue piece in the middle). I painted it gloss blue first, sponged the metallic flake silver on all the edges second, added the black with a brush sponge and swiped it with a rag to smear it then immediately sprayed it with a clear coat. I let the clear cure for about 30-45 minutes then took blue painters tape and covered the piece fully with the tape. I let the tape sit for about 5 minutes and pulled the tape off. This actually pulls the clear coat off the gloss blue and takes off part of the silver and black as well. It basically gives it a "chipped paint" effect instead of using masking and painting layers on (which I find excessively time consuming). This technique only works on gloss basses though. If you try it on flat basses the effect doesn't work nearly as well.
Hand cut all my decals from the templates I found on the forums. I have a friend that used to do custom vinyl decals and got some of his vinyl. I DON'T recommend cutting them by hand. I spent several hours doing this and could have spent a very small amount of money to have someone do it and send me the finished product from a vinyl cutting machine but I'm stubborn and wanted to finish this build without help from any kits, pre-made items or even decals (yeah I'm really that stupid).
I will attempt to add one last photo of it 100% complete when I try and finish the harness this weekend. I have not weighed it yet but it's really not that heavy because of my use of aluminum, plastic and very little body filler. Sorry almost all the pics came out sideways, I don't know yet how to flip them. If you have any questions I'd be more than happy to try and answer them. If you see something completely wrong on my pack you're welcome to point it out but I already know I intentionally missed a few details such as the red trim that goes from one tank top to the other. I tried to add this at the end of the project because I mis-measured some frame pieces but gave up realizing it wasn't worth the hassle or the time. Maybe if I build another one I can fix all the small mistakes I made on this one.
Thanks for looking! It was fun but I do have to say that it's a difficult build even with the blueprints and patterns you can print out. I know the pre-cast kits online cost $350 and I'm glad I put all the time in mine but you really need to have some skill to scratch build one of these and have it turn out looking good. I have not yet added up my cost but I had most of the stuff I needed laying around my shop but if I had to guess I'd say I have around $40 in materials and paint wrapped up in this project (probably less). Time I have HOURS in it but it's what I love to do so it's worth it to me.
Started on my new Fett helmet build last night from Alan's templates he's put on the forums. I'll be posting them soon as well, I'm sure.
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