Deriak's build

Deriak

Hunter
Hello everyone,
Long time surfing the forum, first time posting.
A small introduction:
I have been a fan of Boba Fett since I was a teenager. It's only been recently that I have felt confident to finally build my own costume and get it 501st approved. Before my wife, I had no idea about Cosplay. She was scared to tell me she was into cosplay when we started dating. When she finally told me, I thought it was cool. I have always been a nerd and she introduced me to her friends (one being in 501st already as Chewbacca and a Clone trooper), also to DragonCon in Atlanta, which has to be the one thing I look forward to each year. It's been 6 years since we met and just over 1 year into marrage. I have always been intimidated about making a costume for 501st and the prices I have seen to buy complete suit has been mindblowing. She finally convinced me that its not that bad and she would help out as much as she can.

After months of research and PM'ing and Emailing people in this forum about items, prices, accuracy, reliability, and differences in Pre-pro, Pre-pro2, ESB, RotJ, and RotJ SE, I have finally got a base of where to start and what my goals need to be.

I would like to build a RotJ 501st approved costume. I already pulled the trigger on armor from RKD a couple days ago, and a helmet from DVH. Which every arrives first is what I will start on. I feel that the armor is the most time consuming part being that the detail in damage has to be just right. I will either order my flight suit from Arklady or ladysewforus later on. Or I may just try and sew up my own, but right now I wanna focus on the armor and helmet.

My first question. I would like to start off with airbrushing. I am not familiar with stencils, and I can't find a good write up on how to do stencil on the armor. I got an idea of how I think it should be done, but I feel its the long way of doing it. If anyone has any good links or youtube vids that has helped them, would be awesome.

With all that said, I am really excited to begin. I will be gathering up all my paints and tools I will need before it anthing gets here. ALL SUGGESTIONS are welcome. I been reading the sticky threads about paints to use. I have done a little bit of paint work but nothing that requires the detail that needs to be for this. So still debating on how I will tackle this project. A lot of build threads I have read, but all I have seen is progress updates, no How-To's...

Thanks everyone so far that has been really helpful.

-D
 
Look up welshwarrior's "how to paint a boba fett helmet" on YouTube. It's a great resource that has many chapters detailing every step of the process including how to use stencils.

Good luck!
 
watched a couple episodes. Really great information. Thanks so much for sharing that one. This will help a lot. Will buy my materials this weekend he uses. Too excited.
 
Still waiting for parts to arrive. Will probably go ahead and get a paint list together and purchase my paints and tools. Due to a family emergency, I was out of state last week and didn't get a chance to do any preparing.

Whats the difference between a single and duel airbrush? Also, do you guys think Sherwin-Williams will have the paints I will need?
 
this is where i get my paints(i dunno why it says "object moved" lol..but the link works correctly)....
Object moved

I use Windsor and newton colorless masking fluid with a touch of red acrylic added to make it pink so i can see it. Humbrol makes a very good mask that TF swears by, but i cant find it here in the states.

I went by Jayvee's paintlist here:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/update-2013-wip-jayvees-lil-chunk-rotj-love-paint-up-45306/

I also use Raf's stencils here:
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/boba-fett-rotj-helmet-stencils-42184/

I also use some floquils in place of some of the Humbrols..just a preference, but those are getting harder to find as they have now been discontinued.

The ROTJ is a pain in the butt lol..but its a great helmet once complete. I've only done 2 so far and they are still a little challenging as i haven't developed a method of my own for ROTJ yet. But the first one i did came out pretty good. Jayvee is very helpful as well if you get stumped.


The stencils

I suggest printing out one of the color separations set on quick print, uses less ink, and because they arent in color, (saves you printer ink!) and adjusting the size as needed for the helmet. size them as close as you can to the area it needs to fit. Mark down the adjustments for each area, as it wont likely be the same for every part of the helmet. Some may need to be reduced 3% where others are just right, or need to be sized up a touch. Once you get that right then print them out at the sizes you marked down.

Then what i do is cut them out roughly so your not using a square piece of paper, and you trace them onto the helmet using the transfer paper It basically works like carbon paper. For the back panels you can just cut them out normally because they will fit onto the helmet flat as there is only one curve on the back of the helmet.

Read the paint up threads a couple of times so you know you got the jist. It took me a few duh moments before i really understood it LOL even though Terminal fettlers thread "one last wafer thin ESB paintjob" is for an ESB, it really helps understand the process of using the masking fluid and doing layers.

If you want to go all topical check out SuperJedis threads.

I think this should get ya going...good luck and have fun!

If there is anything i can help ya with, just LMK..i will do the best i can and also point you to other painters that may know things i dont!
 
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Thanks Syper, I been reading your build and getting a lot of good idea's, esp on how you worked your gauntlets. Some of you guys have such and eye for detail it's mind blowing. I will first be tackling my helmet though being that will probably get here first.
 
Paints have been purchased using Jayvee's paint list. There are just 3 paints I can't find and trying to find out an alternative. Sent a couple PM's out to get some opinions. Waiting for the paints I ordered to arrive. Next I will need to buy an airbrush. Still looking for a decent one in town. I didn't want to buy one off ebay because I want to see the air hose connector. I have a 50 gal air compressor for automotive purposes. I would have to swap out connectors probably but don't want to do anything crazy.
 
Armor arrived.jpg

Armor from RKD arrived today. Real excited. Need to begin trimming but feeling a bit under the weather right now with my allergies. Gauntlets look intimidating. A lot of parts there
 
If your still trying to figure out the airbrush thing, a two-stage airbrush allows you to contol both the amount of air and the amount of paint you are shooting, while a single stage airbrush only allows you to control the air flow. Typically you control the air by pushing down on the button, while you pull back on the button to control the paint. If you are going to use an airbrush, you probably want to stick with hobby paints as opposed to somthing from a paint store. Regardless of where you get the paint, you will need to thin it out to run through the airbrush. I have always been told to thin it to the consistancy of milk. Also, it you are using a large compressor, you should run a pressure reducer and a water trap. I should also point out that airbrushes have different needle/nozzel set ups to allow for really fine work, general work, or large work. Realistically, I would think most of us only use airbrushes as a way to spray paint what we build with a better selection of colors than our local Walmart carries, and if that is what you are looking for, a single stage airbrush should be fine for what you want.
 
Awesome. Thanks for the tips. I ended up buying the majority of my paint from Megahobbies like DVH suggested we a couple having to get from ebay. I totally forgot that I will need a in-line dryer on my hose from my compressor. I do already have an adjustable regulator so it can be adjust as low as needed. Still in the search for a decent airbrush.
 
Been trying to decide on a masking fluid for layering. I wanna layer my armor rather than paint the damage on it. I might paint the damage on the helmet though. not sure yet. just want to get some opinions rather than some 2-5 year old threads on what they use. Is there anything out there that has been made a bit better?

Masking fluid.. what have you used, and what do you feel is the best and why?
 
Began trimming the body armor, funny story... I had dust mask and safety glasses on, but I didn't think about shoes. I was using my high speed cutting wheel with a sanding disk attached and forgot how much hot plastic in liquid form burns when a large chunk lands on your food. Of course one large chunk lands on the top of my foot and my cat like reflexes instantly uses my other foot to brush it off. Not only is the the pain is still there, but it has spread in a long streak on my top foot and also on the bottom of my other foot. I look down and see what the hell is happening. You probably figured out what happened. By this time is was cool enough to pull off and got a pretty good burn on my foot now. Nothing serious. I have had worse in worse spots. I can already tell this is going to be a painful process.

I do believe I may have trimmed a bit too much in a couple spots where the damage is on the edge of the armor. We will see.
 
Had a cold/flu over the weekend, just got over it yesterday. After 6 months of house searching and putting several offers on houses, the offer last week just got accepted yesterday. So, Boba will be on hold for a little bit. I gotta finish this head rebuild for a friend and then finish this motor rebuild and get it out of my garage asap before (IF) we close on this house. I will do some paint stuff here and there, nothing major. Will still take pictures as I progress.
 
Is JB weld a good "glue" for securing hinges on the gauntlets and screws to the under side of the armor if scuffed up and cleaned before appying? I have used it before on automotive stuff, but never on plastics like my ABS armor. Curious, because I have crap loads of that laying around.

This weekend I will finish trimming and putting together my knees and will begin my first layer of primer on the armor.
 
Knee's have been trimmed, drilled for darts, and sanded down for primer. Just waiting for the adhesive to dry for the foam. Used E6000 like RKD used in his tutorial. Got some stuff to do for the rest of the day so will attach the reinforcement backing tomorrow.

Knees trimmed.JPG
 
Reminds me of the start of my build. I loved seeing that big brown box of awesome from RKD. I started with my knees as well. Good luck and have fun with this build. Im not sure if i missed it while skimming through the posts but you mentioned Lady Sewforus as an option for soft parts, unless something changed that i cant imagine, she is no longer taking commissions. It is unfortunate. Arkady is a great source. I have her spats, vest, flight suit and pouches. Now for the painting. I used spray paint for all of my body armor and for the base of my helmet. I layered the details in the armor and i think it turned out pretty well. The helmet i added the damage with a paintbrush and it is on my list of things to redo when i have the time. not saying it is not a viable option, just that i am not happy with how my attempt at it happened. I suck at free hand.
 
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