General DarthMalachi goes ESB

Hey TDH! I've been a lurker for a few years, and built a lot of custom mandos in that time. And decided to FINALLY put together the man himself. I've got a LOT of build pictures, so I'll be updating this thread over the next few days. But for now, here's an up to date picture, and a list of items I currently have!

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Helmet:
Animefan Budget Kit

Armor:
Collar- RKD
Chest Set- RKD
Backplate- RKD
Shoulder Bells- RKD
Knees- RKD
Butt Plate- RKD
Codpiece- RKD
Gauntlets- RKD

Small Parts:
Collar/Cod Studs- RKD
Knee Darts (grooved)- RKD
Shin Tools- Found parts/MLS
Gauntlet Greeblies- RKD
Flamethrower- Combatbaby

Soft Parts:
Flight Suit- Arkady
Vest- Arkady
Hip Pouches- Arkady
Neck Seal- Arkady
Cape- MOW
Gloves- MIKE M
Boots- MOW

Waist items:
Ammo Belt- Delta13Mike
Girthbelt- Amazon

Jetpack Stuff:
Jetpack Stabilizer- Machinecraft
Jetpack Beacon- Machinecraft
Jet Pack- MOW
Jetpack Harness- self made
Jetpack Hooks- FMF
Jetpack Rings- FMF
Jetpack Clips- FMF
Diver's Buckle- Full Metal Fett

Electronics:
Chest Display- Fettronics

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Sent from my SM-G930P
 
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Basically the same as me...well, I'm a little beefier at the moment. Gives me a good idea of how I'll look as I have pretty much all the same major components.
 
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Basically the same as me...well, I'm a little beefier at the moment. Gives me a good idea of how I'll look as I have pretty much all the same major components.
Awesome! I can't wait to see for sure!

Sent from my SM-G930P

Alright. So to start, I did my helmet assembly. I also did a cheek brace from some metal I had lying around.

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Bondo, two coats of filler primer, and a nice coat of dark primer later!

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Just gonna fast forward to a finished helmet picture to save time.
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Now for my plates, I wanted to be a perfectionist, and make sure that each plate was the same thickness. So I trimmed all of the edges off of my plates, and added my own using 3mm sintra.

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I'm using fettastic's clutch back method for attachment. Once I re-lined the plates, I did a test run to see how nice they looked on a vest. The end result was VERY satisfying for sure.

Onto shin tools! Fettastic gave me a quick rundown on how he painted his, and I went to work.

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I can always post more in depth pics if anyone requests them, but this is just a good way to cram in about 3 months of work into one quick post! [emoji28]

So. I love my combatbaby flamethrower. But I wasn't a fan of the backing plate. So I looked at pictures of the RKD kit, and replicated one to match my combat kit.

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Now, for the girthbelt, I ordered one from Amazon, and stained it with minwax penetrating woodstain.
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In some light, it has a nice red hue, in others, it's full on brown. Personally, I think it is a good middle ground, since I see a lot of ESB kits with brown belts, and a lot with dark red belts.

I have a lot more I can post, but I'm gonna call it a night for now with updates.

***I'll fix the photo orientation tomorrow***
 
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Alright, so I finally got around to uploading everything into photobucket, so I can do a much more thorough update. I'm also gonna recap the stuff from my first post, but with more pictures to show the process. Hope this helps!

I actually started with the jetpack first. I ordered an MOW kit. I don't have many pictures of the early beginnings of the build, since my camera broke LITERALLY the day my jetpack kit came in.

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I mounted the rocket and thrusters with wingnuts and some threaded rod.

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Soon after the jetpack, I got my hands on an animefan budget kit. These kits are STUNNING.

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I did a recessed bolt mount on the visor, and I also did recessed Chicago screws on the cheek brace. The brace itself was made from some light gauge steel I had in my little workshop.

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Sanded the whole helmet down with 180 grit, and laid down a coat of filler primer. I also added the physical damage to the appropriate areas. I decided to skip the crack in the right inner cheek. Figured it was gonna be too tricky to properly replicate something that almost nobody would see.

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Assembled the jetpack after all the individual pieces cured. I gave them all the same treatment as the helmet.


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Once the filler primer was cured, I put on a nice coat of a dark gray paint&primer on both the helmet and the jetpack parts.

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I let the dark gray cure for about a week. It was good after two days, BUT I didn't actually get around to spraying the silver until a week later.

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My RKD chest plates had come in during that week, so I worked on those, and using fettastic's clutch back method, I attached my plates to one of the vests I use on my custom Mando.

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Also. Shiny thrusters.

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While the jetpack and all the other stuff was curing, I got to work on my shin tools. I went with an original stirrer and squeegee. The stylus brush rods are resin cast from originals, that I got from Molonlabe.

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Fettastic helped me out, and gave me some tips on how to paint my shin tools. I used the testors silver enamel in the aerosol can for the base "metal" layer on the tools.

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Now, wanting a bit more of a uniform edge on my plates. I trimmed all of the edges off the plates, and re-lined each one with a layer of 3mm sintra.

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The end result is a nice, even seal between the plate and the vest, as shown in this little test I did on an old TK409 vest.

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Now onto flamethrower work. I have a combat baby kit, and I love it to death. But I wasn't the biggest fan of the backing plate. I love RKD's backing plate on his kit, so I figured I would draft up and make my own, that way I could have the best of both worlds.

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Once I was happy with my cardboard templates, I transferred it all over to 3mm sintra

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After that was taken care of, I worked on my knees for a bit. Metal darts and knee kit by RKD.

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Also. I finished painting the helmet. Still gotta do some touchups on the back panel.

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I'll get some better pictures once I touch up the back panel.

The girth belt I ordered on Amazon came in natural white only, so I dyed it using some minwax woodstain. I wanted a brown, that had some red undertones.

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Then soon after that was done, my Arkady order arrived! So of course, I had to do a test fitting.

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I'm gonna stitch in a small magnet, and a corresponding metal plate so I can clip my cape in place.

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I finished a box instert for the belt pouches that actually has a small sound card in there. I have a sound bit from Twelve Parsec Stare, and some song clips from the Trigun movie soundtrack.

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I made sure to make it all removable for battery replacement, or for recording different sounds.

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Can't even see the buttons once it's in the pouch.

And now we're onto today's work. I finished the Velcro and strap attachment for the knees, and made the Boba thong.

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I'm also experimenting with the spur sound effect, I know.most people use bells, but I have a few ideas I want to try myself. But as of right now, this thread is FINALLY up to date. I've been meaning to make this thread for a few months now, so it will be nice to post new progress from now on!

Sent from my SM-G930P
 
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Watching you work on this, from the start, has been nothing short of mesmerizing. I'm so proud of how much you've progressed as a builder. You will be one of the best Bobas out there <3

Sent from my SM-G920V
 
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Updates!* So I got my hands on a set of Mojo Fett stylus rods, so obviously I got to work on making my new shin tool
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Here it is, all finished up
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And a quick comparison between my new tools and my old ones.* The old set is all plastic.* The new set has a metal tube, and the metal stylus rods.

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Plus, my toe spikes arrived!
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Obviously, my boots needed to be weathered, along with all my other soft goods.* So I Worked on that today!
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I've scotchgarded everything to keep my weathering from rubbing off on literally everything I touch.

Sent from my SM-G930P
 
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Alright, so it's been a little bit since my last update, but nothing worth mentioning has really happened build wise until yesterday! I have all of the remaining paint on order, and should be busting out a lot of paint work over the next few weeks!

But first, the JETPACK IS DONE (minus some small topical scratches, but I'm waiting for the silver I ordered to come in)

It looks weird, but I put down a scattered layer of black, so I could get some very subtle color variations across the jetpack

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Yesterday my Model Master Grun RLM62 came in, so I got to work on some real paint!

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I used scotchbrite abrasive pads to remove the paint and expose some of the silver

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After I hand painted the piano keys and misted a bit of black

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Today after a nice tip from bcurtis about adding some brown weathering, and adding the white dot and symbol using my DVH stencils.

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Definitely super happy with the end result on this paintup. Big thanks to fettastic for his killer paintup thread and MLS for all the guidance.

Sent from my SM-G930P
 
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