thugfencer
New Hunter
BUDGET. And FEMALE. I think both are tough things when it comes to building Boba Fett armor!
Addressing the budget part first - I used cardboard and wall spackle as my base. Quite frankly Bondo scares me since my older bro had a car we fondly referred to as the Bondo-Mobile. I know how much sanding goes into that whole process, and (since I was his little sis tool fetcher) I know how many batches he wrecked, or made too much of, etc, etc, etc. I happen to have a bunch of crafting supplies on hand, which REALLY helped the budget part and I even found some wall spackle out in the garage.
And now - the elephant in the room... FEMALE! I really like EASY, however, there is NO way to create easy armor that doesn't address "the girls". I would love to cut up a trash bin, or 5 gallon bucket which seems to be a common budget technique, however, I don't think I would be able to mold that stuff into a shape that looks cool, and fits. BTW, I am not interested in binding the girls down either - that seems to be a common cosplay thing for us ladies that quite frankly looks extremely uncomfortable. So after tons of research I decided I needed to create a form of my chest, and flatten it so I could transfer to cardboard patterns.
Step 1: Create a duct tape form (this works for guys too!)
I learned this from Evil Ted. He's kind of cool, and the video is worth watching.
So first thing is that you definitely need to print the templates to start with just to get an idea of scale. I ended up using the Jango Fett ones ( http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f28/updated-printable-jango-armor-templates-8448/ ), since they were already scaled to a 5'3" person. Then go ahead and do your best to tape them on, and see if they "fit" meaning that the scale for your body size is correct.
Then, put a bra on over your shirt and start taping - you will need a helper. I made a mistake here and used a good shirt that I didn't want to cut off my body which made things more difficult. And be sure to use this same bra when you wear your costume so the girls will fit into the armor comfortably.
More to come... As hokey as this looks it really does turn out well...
Addressing the budget part first - I used cardboard and wall spackle as my base. Quite frankly Bondo scares me since my older bro had a car we fondly referred to as the Bondo-Mobile. I know how much sanding goes into that whole process, and (since I was his little sis tool fetcher) I know how many batches he wrecked, or made too much of, etc, etc, etc. I happen to have a bunch of crafting supplies on hand, which REALLY helped the budget part and I even found some wall spackle out in the garage.
And now - the elephant in the room... FEMALE! I really like EASY, however, there is NO way to create easy armor that doesn't address "the girls". I would love to cut up a trash bin, or 5 gallon bucket which seems to be a common budget technique, however, I don't think I would be able to mold that stuff into a shape that looks cool, and fits. BTW, I am not interested in binding the girls down either - that seems to be a common cosplay thing for us ladies that quite frankly looks extremely uncomfortable. So after tons of research I decided I needed to create a form of my chest, and flatten it so I could transfer to cardboard patterns.
Step 1: Create a duct tape form (this works for guys too!)
I learned this from Evil Ted. He's kind of cool, and the video is worth watching.
So first thing is that you definitely need to print the templates to start with just to get an idea of scale. I ended up using the Jango Fett ones ( http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f28/updated-printable-jango-armor-templates-8448/ ), since they were already scaled to a 5'3" person. Then go ahead and do your best to tape them on, and see if they "fit" meaning that the scale for your body size is correct.
Then, put a bra on over your shirt and start taping - you will need a helper. I made a mistake here and used a good shirt that I didn't want to cut off my body which made things more difficult. And be sure to use this same bra when you wear your costume so the girls will fit into the armor comfortably.
More to come... As hokey as this looks it really does turn out well...
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