New Member of the Club!

wagnon85

New Hunter
Hi All,

I wanted to post pictures of my new suit! Thanks to our very own Berkal for putting the suit together, and thanks also for realizing he wanted to be Jango Fett instead!

As I said, I can't really claim any credit for piecing the suit together, but I did spend some time time upgrading a few of the details (mainly on the gauntlets), and adjusting the fit to be a bit better for my body. I added more foam in the gauntlets and used Velcro to strategically hold some things in place.

I am going to submit these to the 501st...and crossing my fingers I will get accepted. Berkal got accepted to the UK garrison of the 501st with this suit, so I would hope to do the same. I'd appreciate any comments or suggestions. I do my slip is showing...err the buckle of the jetpack harness. And I know I am thongless, but so was Joel and he got accepted...I guess it depends on how picky the GML is.

Steve

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Might be the saturation of the pics, but the weathering on the blaster looks a bit on the orange side. Otherwise, highest marks, very nice. ;)
 
Submitted yesterday to the 501st, and got my acceptance email today! I am in the Mountain Garrison! No ID# quite yet though.

As for the blaster, it is a little too orangy for my tastes as well. I think I might use a black wash to tone it down a little.
 
congrates . is that a esb lid ? i got an esb lid on my rotj . does this not matter to the 501st ? i've seen it a lot .
great looking Fett (y)
:cheers
 
dlzx9r, apparently the ESB lid on an ROTJ costume is called an ROTJ SE Fett! heheh

I am happy to report that I am "the BH-4597 formerly known as wagnon85"! ;) Fully developed 501st profile page slow in coming though.
 
Well if you truely want to get SE down...you need more ammo pouches around the waist...ESB wookie braidsand move the side pouches from what I can see so far....and the hoses only one hose not three...also I think your thigh pouches could be moved up a little bit, also the shoulders are a bit high on the vest they need to be way lower little picky but it looks funny
 
I thought it was just "SE" Fett... That's the great thing about the ROTJ costume - you can get 2 lids!!! I like the ESB helm the best as well, but I think overall I need to be true to canon.

OH YEA _ AWESOME COSTUME!!!!
 
you got a parts break down?

Armor (Chest and belly, back plate, cod, shoulders, knees): Wickedbeard (metal)
Helmet: Master Replicas Signature Edition
Jet pack: eBay, maker unknown
Harness: Screen-replica aluminium
Gauntlets: Frank & Sons
Wrist Rocket: Evolution
Shin tools: Evolution
Flightsuit: Cucblack
Vest and integral neckseal: Cucblack
Ammo Belt: BooBooFett
Girth Belt: eBay, dyed horse tack
Cape: TK-409
Chest display: TK-409
Boots: Mark Cheng with custom aluminum toe-spikes
Spats: Evolution
Wookiee Scalps: Woodman
EE-3 Blaster: Fan_made

Work I've completed:
Redid the foam on the gauntlets to better fit my forearms. Replaced gauntlet Velcro with industrial strength. On right gauntlet replaced the darts with aluminum ones supplied by Berkal. Drilled a hole in the whip cord box, and added a little insert to give it detail. Replaced the hose connectors with real metal ones, and replaced the 3/4" hose with 1/2"...securing the sleeve ends with a nut and bolt and adding a buckle for securing inside the flight suit.

On the left gauntlet, added a blinking LED operated by a switch. Replaced the buttons with better ones.

Added some Velcro patches on the jumpsuit to further secure the knee armor and ammo belt, and inside the shin tool pockets with corresponding ones on the tools themselves (keeps them from flopping around so much).

I have a few things in progress:
Replaced the flame units nozzles with the UHF connectors from Radio Shack. Currently re-assembling the side box. I also detached the side box from the gauntlet itself and am going to install Velcro to make it detachable...I saw that feature in a Youtube video that describes how to put on the Boba Fett costume. I removed it on a whim, and found that the left gauntlet is SO MUCH easier to put on without that **** box getting in the way.

I am currently messing around with the blaster. There were a few things I didn't like about the blaster. For one, it was kind of a sloppy casting (though since it was made by fan_made, Berkal was lucky he received it at all! Heheh <== Judging by the problems people on here have had with fan_made (aka Theothergary). There were some recesses (presumably from bubbles), some extra globs here and there (not sure the casting term), some bad and visible seams, and some of the vanes on the barrel weren't straight. Plus the "rust" was a bit too orangy and present for my tastes. Because it's a resin casting, the "lens" for the scope are fully visible, as was the inside of the "barrel". I didn't like the fact that all three surfaces were so much on display as it kind of ruins the illusion.

So I've been doing some sanding, Xacto knifing, and filling with modeling putty to smooth everything out, and correct the wobbly vanes. For the barrel, I first used a small drill bit to mark the middle, then used a forstner to open things up. Then I epoxied a hollow metal tube inside. Now it looks pretty good...there's depth inside and it's metal, so it gives a good illusion. For the scope...I had thought about using a long drill bit to ream out the length, and then put lens on either side, but I think I am just going to replace it with a real scope. Since I do woodworking too, I've thought about replacing the stock with a real wood one...but I don't think I will be that ambitious! hehe I'm also going to redo the paint, toning down the rust, isolating it to the recessed areas, while using silver for the "scraped away, battle damaged areas".

Things to still work on:
I used a dye fixative to keep the girth belt from bleeding so much. But the soaking made it a touch too light. I might follow the advice given in a different thread detailing how to dye the belts with latex.

And, yes, I need to add a little weathing back to the jump suit, which I did wash to get rid of the red from the girth belt. There is still a good amount of weathering there, but can always use more.

There are a few details I want to add to the jetpack, namely the aluminum beacon, and maybe a blinking LED inside. Currently the lettering and logos are just painted on, so I'd like to replace those with decals. I'd like to add the details for the "piano keys".

I still need to figure out the whole chest display, and secure it. Berkal included a TK409 chest display, but I can only get it to cycle through the different displays every once in a while...usually it just stays on the standard display. Anyone have any experience with fixing that problem?
 
Looks great mate, congrats on your approval with the 501st.

Like already said, weathering on the Flak Vest, Suit and gloves will really make this even better than it already is.

You got your first troop lined up?
 
Here are some updates, though this is mostly for the benefit of Berkal since I've been promising these for awhile! I finally finished some of my projects: the detailing the gauntlets and redoing the blaster. I will first post some pictures that show the old version of the blaster, and in those you can also see the previous version of the gauntlets, particularly the left one (twin barrels on the side).

old blaster pic 1.jpgold blaster pic 2.jpgold blaster pic 3.jpg

For the blaster, I wasn't crazy about the color, but really didn't like the over done orange for the rust. Since it was a resin casting, the ends of the scope, inside the barrel, just had the flat surface. For me that kind of killed the illusion. Inside the barrel, I bored it out with a forstner bit, and epoxied in a hollow metal tube. For the scope, thanks to FettDad, I replaced the whole thing with a real scope and proper rings.

There were also some things about the casting I didn't like, as it looked like it was done in kind of a sloppy manner (it's a fan_made item). I did a lot of sanding to smooth out some of the wavy vanes on the barrel and to eliminate the seams, and some of the extra globs left over here and there from the casting process. I also used some putty to fill in gaps and holes, and to try to even out some of the wavy parts. I was pretty happy with the end result for the most part.

For the color, I was going to mist over the entire thing with black to tone down the orange, but it didn't work to my liking, so I painted the whole thing black and started from scratch. I think did a light dusting of silver to give it a metallic look. Then I applied rust paint into the crevices and other places grime and rust might be attracted...making sure to wipe it away, or use the brush to drag it along to lessen the appearance. Then I dry brushed on stainless steel paint to the high areas, or spots that would be subject to rubbing. Over everything I did some washes of thinned out Grimy Black, to tone down my additions, and to give it a dirty look. Then I sealed it all with DulCote. I know one of the details on the stock is backwards, but that's the way it came. If I ever build a real wood stock for it, I will correct that.

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Then with the gauntlets, the flamer barrels bugged me as they were wimpy looking, as you can see from the old blaster pictures above. So I followed the advice of others and replaced them with the UHF connectors from Radio Shack.

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These were previous upgrades I performed, but hadn't posted clear pictures yet. I replaced the 3/4" hoses with 1/2", as I thought they looked better, and were a little more flexible. I added the H clip to the end, and its mate up into the sleeve of the flightsuit.

I figured I might as well replace the connectors with the real metal ones as well (following a thread on TDH). They are slightly cockeyed, but that's the only way I could get everything to fit. I also drilled a hole for the whip-cord launcher since that was just a detail-less part.

On the left one, I also added a blinking LED operated by the switch. And added new buttons.

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My next projects: recently purchased the MinWax latex wood stain, to re-color my girthbelt, and seal it up so no more bleeding...I will do this in the next few days. I also bought an aluminum jetpack beacon and decals, so I am going to set about detailing the pack...adding the "piano keys" as well.
 
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