General Counterweight's ROTJ build

Hello all,

I just recently "finished" my second cardboard scratch build helmet and have made the decision to jump to the full costume. I'm sure it's going to be a very difficult task, but that's half the fun. This build is going to be a very slow process, especially during the summer, but it'll get there slowly but surely

If you want to see my second helmet build its right here
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/counterweights-second-rotj-cardboard-scratch-build-54488/
I haven't gotten the electronics or visor for it yet, but the build and paint up are finished.

While waiting for all the necessary electronics I went ahead and started on the gauntlets. I also did this because I want a RC servo to control my rangefinder and I want the controls to be the switches on the right gauntlet

I couldn't find a ton of detailed threads on how to build these, so I just studied the hell out of google images to put the pieces together. Here's what I have so far

All pieces for both gauntlets pasted to the cardboard






To curve the gauntlets I found a can of carpet deodorizer that was a similar width to my arm, got the cardboard damp, and then curved it around the can. I did this with all four layers, then pinched them between cans so they kept their shape as they dried



After the layers dried I glued the two uppers together and the two lowers together. I did not glue them before bending because I wanted to avoid the top layer of cardboard being warped when bending. Idk if that's how it's supposed to be done but oh well.









Now putting all the pieces together was interesting... I started by bending and gluing where needed, then I layed the pieces on top of the gauntlets themselves to check the fit





I noticed a couple of obvious missing pieces



You can also see the fit of the pieces isn't great above the missing piece either.

Regardless, I measured the missing pieces, drew them on cardboard and cut them out. Any minor gaps and imperfections will be fixed with bondo so I'm not sweating it at this point

Here is what I currently have done



I don't want to glue the pieces to the gauntlets quite yet. I'm going to wait until I have the electronics to do that.

For now I can coat them with some layers of sealer, and then I will begin working on the left gauntlet while I wait for the electronics.

It's a decent start. I'm trying to be patient and take my time because I'm not overly talented at scratch building.

Sorry for such a wordy post, future posts I'll try to explain less so there is not so much reading.

Once the electronics are installed I'll be able to attach all the parts to the gauntlet and then begin hitting it with some bondo!

Next update: beginning to cut out and put together the left gauntlet!

This is really is a awesome start ! I hope someday i will find the time to make the Gauntlets from scratch. From experience of my helmet construction , i can only recommend to remove the paper templates from the cardboard. It will probably get waves and protruding fibers when you start painting it.

I'm not overly talented at scratch building

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I don't thing so

Cheers RealMatix

RealMatix said:

This is really is a awesome start ! I hope someday i will find the time to make the Gauntlets from scratch. From experience of my helmet construction , i can only recommend to remove the paper templates from the cardboard. It will probably get waves and protruding fibers when you start painting it.

I don't thing so

Cheers RealMatix

Click to expand...

Thanks for the support. The paper is actually an issue that I've encounter before. On my first helmet build I just traced the templates and it didn't work out well. For my second I used normal white glue, and when applying my water/sealer mix I had the issues you referred to. For this one I have actually used the gorilla glue to paste the templates on, so they're not coming off clean anytime soon. But as long as the first layer of sealer isn't mixed with water, I shouldn't have any issues.

Like my helmet, once it is sealed I no longer have to worry about the paper swelling or bunching up

Maybe after my gauntlets I can try it another way though. Thank you for the input! I appreciate all the constructive criticism I can get! Haha

You're doing the whole thing now?! Awesome job so far! Good luck

Glad to see you back at it...you're a scratch pro now..

ha, here we go good start you will have no problem getting this going

Magnavis said:

You're doing the whole thing now?! Awesome job so far! Good luck

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Yeah it's gonna be a slow process but it'll be a fun pet project

Level3Fett said:

Glad to see you back at it...you're a scratch pro now..

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Hardly, but thanks!

Silverstalker said:

ha, here we go good start you will have no problem getting this going

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Thanks man. Criticism/advice is always welcome

I've made some decent progress on the gauntlets. First, I sealed the various parts of the right gauntlet. I'm still keeping them separate so that I can install the electronics once I'm able to get them. So in the meantime, the right gauntlet is done



Next up, cutting out the pieces of the left gauntlet and trying to figure out how to put them together. Not many references or tutorials on how to do it unfortunately, so still relying on Google images



I think I got pretty close. Hopefully bondo can rectify any issues



Now for the flamethrower box... I had more trouble with this than I should have. But I think I got it



Quick question... Anyone know how/where to place this piece? I can't find any references for it and I don't want to put it in the wrong spot



Anyway, aside from that piece as well as a couple other pieces that I have no idea what they're for, it's pretty much done. This is what I have so far









(Those pieces for the right gauntlet aren't attached, just resting on top. Same for the flamethrower box)



So that's where I'm at right now. Hopefully one of you can help me with where that piece goes. Also, anything else I've messed up feel free to correct. Next to do, seal the left gauntlet, bondo the left gauntlet since most of it is attached, and eventually get the piano hinges and electronics in the gauntlets so I can move forward.

Looks great so far. I will say this the right gauntlet, the part where the top hose will attach I would look at beefing the area up with something, that part will take the constant force from you bending your arm one way and the hose pulling down the other, that area is a week link in the chain and can brake off!

Also whip cord housing on the right gauntlet is to far forward, move it back a bit, if you look at the link its a good base line as to where it shoukld go..
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=R...UICCgB&biw=1366&bih=657#imgrc=nuyyoTu7WVFPpM:

on the subject of that area that will also need beefing up, again it has two hoses on it that create a lot of force....

I used a shim of wood to make a sort of spine in them areas hel in with nuts and bolts just to make it more solid..



oh and that part you can't find a home for is the spacing tepmplate for the flame thrower apertuers thats all it is.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=R...boba+fett+flamethrower+&imgrc=wwM2QK41uMvivM:

Wow, thanks for all the tips, this is great info. I have plenty to work on now! Updates soon

Finally some progress!

So as I am finishing up with the final touches on my helmet including the electrical components (found here)
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/counterweights-second-rotj-cardboard-scratch-build-54488/
I wanted to make sure and have the right gauntlet finished enough to be able to install the RF control.

So I began the long tedious bondo process...


I wanted to make sure and cut out a hole in the right gauntlet before I glued anything down so that I would be have room for components. I traced the top part and then cut a rectangle that's a little smaller, just to make sure I didn't take off too much







And now more bondo. Sanding, sanding, and more sanding...











After doing all the touch ups I hit it with some primer to look for any mistakes







Looks good enough to my eye. Next up is to finish bondoing that back part and attach it to the gaunt





It's taking shape!

So before I continue painting I need to make sure and drill out any holes I need. Wouldn't want to mess up a pretty paint job with drill shavings. And at this stage I can still easily fix any potential mistakes with the drill

I already bought some SPST micro toggle switches, so I used those to size the drill bit. For the gauntlet dart holes I measured them out as far as location, but just eyeballed the diameter of the hole. I can always adjust it later to accommodate the darts. I just wanted to make sure not to go too big. It's a lot easier to make a hole bigger than it is to make it smaller.



Yeah the toggle switch holes are a little jenky, but they will be covered by a nut so I'm not sweating it.



Progress so far



Now for a silver undercoat



And then some masking fluid. I couldn't find any painting templates ANYWHERE. So I relied on google images for a lot of reference photos. I saw a decent amount of variation, so I just went with a reference I thought looked most accurate.



I was having major bondo issues with the whipcord housing, which is why it's not attached yet, but I finally got it taken care of so I want to get that bad boy on there ASAP.



A few coats of primer and silver...



And attach it to the gaunt and mask



Now for some rustoleum claret wine



THE BIG REVEAL! (always my favorite part)



Hey... not too shabby. I'm liking it

Now I need to add that extra pizazz with some weathering. I have never really done this before so cut me slack if it looks super rookie.





Whether or not it looks great or screen accurate or not, I love it. I think this is the coolest thing and I'm super excited to have it finished (mostly)



I'm aware I still need to paint that little rectangle on top black, and I still have to add all the bells and whistles as well. Then it'll be on to the left one!

Next update: I'm getting the servo in today so I will be soldering and tinkering all night. Assuming all goes well I will update both threads with a working rangefinder system! I'll still update even if it fails. I have very little experience with electronics so this is definitely a risk trying to go remote controlled. But I'm gonna give it a shot!

You guys see anything I need to tweak feel free to let me know. Update tomorrow!

Gauntlet is coming along nicely, with a few snags

Couldn't find a long piano hinge so just got two smaller hinges. Cut out about a 1mm deep notch for each



Attached it with some JB weld

Next on was magnets to keep it closed. They work great but don't line up properly when they touch so I'll have to shave them down a bit







But now the gaunt is wearable





Electronics are not going well. The transmitter board is working great





The receiver board however is having major issues. At first I just spliced the wires from the board directly to the wires coming from the servo. Nothing happened. So I took apart the servo, and cut the wires so that the board goes directly to the motor instead of the internal servo circuit board.







It worked great! ... for about 30 seconds. Then the receiver board started to smoke and now it won't work at all.

I'm assuming I fried the board. So it looks like I have to buy another transmitter/receiver board and re-solder everything. Major setback

Problem is I don't know what to do differently to avoid this happening again. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

I may get a hitec servo since that's the one in the sticky thread. Other than that I have no idea



I removed the wires from the lower right hand side of the board and am gonna try to solder in the servo wires directly. I don't think that will work, but it looks like I have to buy new boards regardless, so it can't hurt.

Suffice it to say, I'm pretty bummed.

Well, we push forward!

I'm guessing your power supply was too high, what's the make of the boards and servo you used?

Malkavian said:

I'm guessing your power supply was too high, what's the make of the boards and servo you used?

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The boards were from a RadioShack Zip Zaps micro RC (27 MHz).



Servo is a tower pro 9g micro servo

I'm thinking maybe the servo might be too small for that power supply? Because the transmitter board works fine

Got some stuff ordered now so progress should be quick in the next few days

First the gauntlets:

I was able to file the magnets using a diamond tipped dremel bit



It doesn't quite sit flush so a little more dremeling is needed, but it's much better than it was







Also noticed the whipcord housing was way too wide, so I had to tear the glue and reattach it with a better shape. Paint got messed up but I corrected it







The color isn't completely blended so I'll need to touch it up and wire wool some more.
You can tell by the color disparity just how WIDE the old one was.



I also got some small hardware and some very thin pvc that I think will work for the whipcord tube. I'm able to screw the coupling directly onto it so no adhesive will be necessary probably.



Added benefit: I think one of the pvc snips can be used as that oval attachment on top of I shape it correctly. It's worth a shot



And lastly of course, still doing bondo layers on the left gaunt. After sanding one more time it should be ready for some primer and spot checking



As far as the RF I've gotten the low profile Hitec HS-77bb in and gotten it ready















Should be getting the new receiver circuit board today. Assuming all goes well I'll be able to finish the rangefinder actuator system.

Parts on their way currently: new zip zaps car (for the receiver circuit board), t-visor, Borden connector, Perspex block, calc pad, gauntlet darts

Next update: RF system, right gaunt finish, and left gaunt paint start


As always, criticism and/or helpful tips are appreciated.

Thanks

Good work, creative and functional

Silverstalker said:

Good work, creative and functional

Click to expand...

Thanks, that's what I'm going for.



So I had some issues with the left gauntlet. I primered and it looked pretty good to me, but when I put the silver undercoat I saw a lot of little areas that need to be touched up. So I sanded it, reprimered (to be able to see the mistakes) and I'll do some more touch ups with the filler





(Don't have a pic of it sanded)



The flamethrower box needs a LOT of tlc unfortunately

There are a lot of moments where I really feel like a scratch build rookie. This is one of those moments. :/

Got some paint and shaping done on the whipcord tubes. I should be able to attach those to the gaunt tonight and get some pics.

Also should be getting the receiver board today so tomorrow I'll put a detailed update on the helmet thread and a condensed version on here.

Helmet electronics are pretty much done. Check out my helmet thread if you want to see how that's going. In this one I'll show the gauntlet progress.

Got the transmitter board and power source into the right gauntlet





The board is hotglued in place and the battery pack is Velcro so I can easily change batteries when needed





Got these parts for the whipcord primered. Gonna hit em with silver and mist with black



Pic doesn't do them justice but I like how they turned out



Drilled this hole as well





I'll attach the tubes later

Lots of sanding for the flamethrower box





Got my calc pad in



Doesn't seem to fit perfectly, but close enough. I'll make it work



Primer



And silver



The detail painting can be done topically at a later stage

Silver undercoat



And attaching the FT box to the gauntlet











Also drilled holes for the two momentary switches as well as the toggle switch and LED





Tried to weather it up a bit with a little extra on the end of the ft housing.





Here is what they look like side by side (obviously the left one isn't assembled yet.)





Still need to put the hinges on the left gaunt, and probably will attach with Velcro instead of magnets. Also need to cut out slot in the underside of the gauntlet as well as right side of the ft box so I can fit in electronics.

Still waiting on the flamethrower emitters, dental expander, and gauntlet darts to arrive.
Haven't ordered a rocket yet.

Lots of little touch ups and perfecting but the bulk is done and I'm excited.

Although it's a ways off, the next project is gonna be the armor

Hopefully it looks okay for a first try. If not feel free to critique.

Thanks

Quick update:

Progress has been made!



Permanently attaching the keypad





Now just have to find a good way to attach the hoses to the flare nut. The mini pvc pipe doesn't fit in the end of the flare. Gonna have to find smaller


Also need to cut out notches for the electronics on the left gauntlet as well as put the hinges and Velcro. Flamethrower Coax connectors are coming in the mail from China so who knows when those will get here. But my glenross dental expander and rafalfett gauntlet darts should be in soon.

Almost there

That's some amazing work you're doing! It's looking great!