SE Boba Build (Complete)

Thanks all for the praise. Yes, first I fiberglassed the interior using mat and then I used the same resin to harden the exterior. It's the same process I used for the gauntlets, shin tools and soon the jet pack. I've bought some PVC sheets to tackle the armour plates. Also, I've more or less finished the gauntlets now.

Gauntlets #7.JPGGauntlets #8.JPG

I had to enable the flash for the scorched weathering to show up. Does anyone know where I could get 3D printed gauntlet rocket/darts? The reason I ask for 3D printed is because I'd like mine scaled down since the gauntlets are smaller than the actual ones.

Parade gloves arrived today, so I'll need to dye them, then begin the arduous task of sewing on the white patches.

Gauntlets #7.JPG


Gauntlets #8.JPG
 
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I initially approached April through PM a while ago, but I never recieved a reply. It seems she hasn't been on the site for a while.
 
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Hey, guys. I'd like a quick opinion if you don't mind. I'm back home for Easter and the PVC sheets have arrived, so the plan is to get all the armour cut out sharpish so I can easily take them back home after Easter, but first I was wondering how I did for sizing.


I ended up using Raf's templates rather than WoF's for the armour after the good experience I had with his helmet templates and I scaled it down by the same amount as the helmet. I'm not quite sure if I need to scale it down a touch more though so thoughts are welcome.

armour #1.jpgarmour #2.jpg
Here's half of the paper stencils attached (and flipped). It looks proportionate, although my concern is with the side of the chest plate; it tucks rather sharply around my pec when form fitting (there's more of a curve to it than other chest plates I've seen) and if I simply didn't curve the PVC so much, it would jut out from the flak vest.
I'm terrible at explaining things; I'm sure you've figured that out by now but hopefully that makes some sense.

armour #1.jpg


armour #2.jpg
 
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The abdominal plate's height looks over dimensioned (you stretched it to fit the vest?), but as you said, the armor looks a bit big on you, so you should reduce the dimensions with 5-10% and do another test fit. I hope you won't use the flipped armor (to gain symmetry) as the whole suit is full of asymmetries, which gives that real look to it.

Keep us posted with your build. You are doing a great job!
 
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I didn't mess with the proportions of the ab plate, I just reduced the scale to 95% as with the other pieces. I'm using an old copy of Adobe Acrobat to print the templates; maybe that's doing something it shouldn't. Don't worry, I won't be flipping the armour; I just couldn't be assed to print out all the pieces for a test fit.

So I did a couple more test fits. One in the 90% fit range and another in the 85%.
armour #3.jpg
90% feels neater although the chest plates still seem a little wide. I'd say the 85% chest plates are the right width, but there's a big gap between all the plates. So I took the smaller chest plates and put them with the larger pieces to get this:
armour #4.jpg

The ab and chest plates, being different scales, will need distorting height-wise if I go with this option to make the gap between them more consistent, but the 90% option is still a possibility. What do you think?

EDIT: Now I'm even more indecisive. Since my flak vest comes down to my waist (I tuck it up past my belly button for pictures), I wondered if I was folding it in the wrong place. I took the 85% pieces and pushed them up to what I think the gap spacing would be and it looks much better, despite the large space at the bottom of the vest.
armour #5.jpgarmour #6.jpg
So now I have three options, but I'm not sure which is best. Thoughts?

armour #3.jpg


armour #4.jpg


armour #5.jpg


armour #6.jpg
 
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I didn't mess with the proportions of the ab plate, I just reduced the scale to 95% as with the other pieces. I'm using an old copy of Adobe Acrobat to print the templates; maybe that's doing something it shouldn't. Don't worry, I won't be flipping the armour; I just couldn't be assed to print out all the pieces for a test fit.

So I did a couple more test fits. One in the 90% fit range and another in the 85%.
View attachment 76188
90% feels neater although the chest plates still seem a little wide. I'd say the 85% chest plates are the right width, but there's a big gap between all the plates. So I took the smaller chest plates and put them with the larger pieces to get this:
View attachment 76189

The ab and chest plates, being different scales, will need distorting height-wise if I go with this option to make the gap between them more consistent, but the 90% option is still a possibility. What do you think?

EDIT: Now I'm even more indecisive. Since my flak vest comes down to my waist (I tuck it up past my belly button for pictures), I wondered if I was folding it in the wrong place. I took the 85% pieces and pushed them up to what I think the gap spacing would be and it looks much better, despite the large space at the bottom of the vest.
View attachment 76190View attachment 76191
So now I have three options, but I'm not sure which is best. Thoughts?
Hard to say because I was using rafal fett templates at 93% and liked the way they laid out. Although once I had those it'd made my helmet look way too big so I made a new one scaled down slightly and everything seems to match up pretty well. You look a bit slimmer than me, but around the same size so I don't know maybe you wanna try that percentage?
 
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I really like the one at 90% as it sits well on you. You must also take account of the material thickness, because it will give a 3D look to the whole armor. The length of the vest in the front (neck to belly) is around 440-450mm (17.3-17.7 inch) at 100%, so in your case at 90% you should have around 400mm (15.7 inch) to accommodate the armor (which you have in that image with the 90%).
 
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So the card board soaks up a lot of resin? No issues hitting un-soaked cardboard when sanding? Interesting technique. Your gauntlets look great, but I had no idea Boba Fett carried his wallet under the right one. I will have to update mine :).
 
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I really like the one at 90% as it sits well on you. You must also take account of the material thickness, because it will give a 3D look to the whole armor. The length of the vest in the front (neck to belly) is around 440-450mm (17.3-17.7 inch) at 100%, so in your case at 90% you should have around 400mm (15.7 inch) to accommodate the armor (which you have in that image with the 90%).

Okay, thanks. I'll tentatively go with the 90% option and keep in mind that I'm not wearing my helmet which will make it look bigger (hopefully my 95% helmet won't look too big now). I can tweak certain parts down if needed anyway. I'm not sure how the collar piece works though; in my pictures I have it laid as high as my neck will allow, but in pictures, I see it's quite a lot further back, almost choking him. The collar plate reaches back only to the half-way seam on my vest and I'm not sure if it'll reach the back plate. I don't know whether this is a limitation of my flak vest's wider tshirt-style neck opening, or whether I'm laying it out wrong.

So the card board soaks up a lot of resin? No issues hitting un-soaked cardboard when sanding? Interesting technique. Your gauntlets look great, but I had no idea Boba Fett carried his wallet under the right one. I will have to update mine :).

One layer of resin will soak into the cardboard nicely. If you do another coat, I'd wager you'd run the risk of leaving brush strokes on the cardboard. I don't think two coats are neccessary anyway, although I did run into soggy cardboard problems despite the resin when I wet-sanded the helmet, so I'm not sure how well this method will stand up to rain (torrential soaking anyway). I did sand through the resin to the cardboard in a few places on the helmet, and it was a major ball ache as the cardboard started burring and making a mess, which was only solved with a lump of bondo which had to be sanded down again with the constant fear of re-sanding back through to the cardboard and starting over.

And hey, a bounty hunter needs a place to keep those credits he gets from jobs.;)
 
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Thanks, I never expected it to hold a candle to the actual bucket, but this forum is amazing for spurring people on to do the best they can. I'm proud of what I was able to do with virtually no tools and no materials. Here's some better pictures:

View attachment 75764View attachment 75765View attachment 75766View attachment 75767

View attachment 75768

I've got a servo coming in the mail and once that arrives, I'll see if I can get it hooked up to the rangefinder and then I'll start considering fans. The only place I can conceivably put one though is at the lower front, but I'm concerned the fan noise will interfere with my mic. Speaking of which, I'm going to get an Aker voice amp soonish.

Regarding other parts of the build, I the gauntlets need hinges fiberglassed in place seeing as the epoxy resin alone isn't quite up to the task of keeping the hinges secure. The jetpack has mostly been assembled and the interior fiberglassed for strength. The rocket took some doing, but I managed an extremely rough cardboard version which has been resined and is awaiting bondo to smooth up my mistakes. In addition, the shin tools are in their resin stage. I only went with the squeegee and the anti security blade as this was the ROTJ setup and I'm planning on emulating the Jabba's palace version (From pictures I've seen, I don't think the SE studio version had ANY shin tools, but I don't want to leave those pockets empty).

View attachment 75769View attachment 75770

Did you scale your tools down as well? I'm trying to figure if I should scale mine down along with my pockets.
 
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I scaled the tools to 95% too, yeah. Although I completely forgot about the pockets. The flight suit was tailored to my measurements, but I don't think the pockets were scaled down, especially since I didn't ask for them to be. But the size difference isn't terribly noticeable and I have no plans to readjust the pockets. So it's up to you really. You may want to scale them down if you think you might have a problem with knee pad placement.

In other news, I just learned that Jeremy Bulloch is going to be at the Sheffield Film and Comic Con this August. Since I'm living in Sheffield, I think I now have a deadline...

On the build, I've gotten the majority of the armour pieces cut and shaped. 90% was a good choice, as the 3mm depth seems to give the illusion of being smaller somehow. I'm not sure yet whether I should double up the edges to 6mm or if that would look too thick for the sized down armour. I'm going to crack on with the backplate tomorrow, but I'm not looking forward to it; trying to curve the foamboard in more than one direction is hella difficult.
 
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Well after much cursing, I shaped the backplate. It may not end up looking screen accurate, but it fits my back. I also came up with a harness back, made out of a piece of MDF, based in theory on the harness rigs everyone has with the bar at the bottom. I'll be getting some webbing to make straps although for now it sits snugly under my vest without jabbing my spine.

armour #7.jpg
I'd like some opinions on the armour plates and the collar armour. Do the plates look too thick? I doubled the edges up to 6mm and bevelled the edge; I'm torn right now whether I like them like this or not. I could shave a couple mm off the thickness if you guys think it would benefit. Also, how's the collar armour looking? It's pretty comfortable against my neck so far, but some pictures I've seen show the collar piece pulled back even tighter against his neck. I'm not sure whether I'll strangle myself if I pull it back farther. I don't know; something looks off, I just can't put my finger on it. Possibly too thick like the chest plates.

Here's the rest of the armour (before I doubled up the armour plates):
armour #8.jpg

armour #7.jpg


armour #8.jpg
 
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Well after much cursing, I shaped the backplate. It may not end up looking screen accurate, but it fits my back. I also came up with a harness back, made out of a piece of MDF, based in theory on the harness rigs everyone has with the bar at the bottom. I'll be getting some webbing to make straps although for now it sits snugly under my vest without jabbing my spine.

View attachment 76515
I'd like some opinions on the armour plates and the collar armour. Do the plates look too thick? I doubled the edges up to 6mm and bevelled the edge; I'm torn right now whether I like them like this or not. I could shave a couple mm off the thickness if you guys think it would benefit. Also, how's the collar armour looking? It's pretty comfortable against my neck so far, but some pictures I've seen show the collar piece pulled back even tighter against his neck. I'm not sure whether I'll strangle myself if I pull it back farther. I don't know; something looks off, I just can't put my finger on it. Possibly too thick like the chest plates.

Here's the rest of the armour (before I doubled up the armour plates):
View attachment 76516
The plates look a little thick. I think I read somewhere that it's 4 mm, but I think thicker plate looks better than a thinner plate. As for the collar maybe if you curved it more you could get it to sit back further? Other than that it's real cool to see you with some armor now :)
 
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I'm back home from easter and look what new problem I've found...
Helmet #57.jpg

I feel like I'm falling into a rut. While I made a lot of progress on the armour while I was away, I've recently been stumbling into problem after problem. I have a bit of a beard which could do with a trim (although I'm not losing it) but it appears the whole bottom of my chin is on display on the side view. This is after I dremelled out more of the interior supports. Currently, it sits a lot more snug than it did before, although my eyes still don't line up with the horizontal part of the T-visor (I don't think they ever will given the height of the dome versus the height of my forehead). I took this profile shot after to see how the helmet sits, but found that height issue instead. I could do another dremel session on the dome support pieces but I don't think I'll be able to lower the helmet more than 5mm. Is there anything I can do? Maybe a chinstrap? Or a chin skirt?

I took the armour pieces back to the thickness they were before and I'm much happier with them. The bevelled edges give the impression they're thicker than they are. I'll also give the collar/back plate another blast with the heat gun.

Helmet #57.jpg
 
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The rangefinder servo was a bust. The servo was only 3V because I could only fit a micro servo in my helmet, and the RC car I bought only ran on two AA batteries, yet even hooking the servo directly up to 3V gave me very weak sporadic bursts of power. Maybe I got a duff servo, but I have a feeling it's a lost cause given the limitations of the size of my helmet. I'm still trying to tackle the issue of my visible chin. I've dremelled the entire support struts out (and managed to push my Dremel to the point of a smoking motor). I can see well through the T-visor now and my chin is well and truly covered, but I have the no neck syndrome which is unacceptable, so I'll be padding it out with foam once I've installed helmet fans. I think I'll craft half a chin skirt out of lycra that will stretch and attach to the bottom of the two cheeks. It won't tuck into the neckseal and the base of the ears will be open to allow squirrel fans to suck fresh air up and towards the visor. I'm just not sure if the lycra is still going to be obtrusive from the profile view.

Now onto updates! I've finally got some pictures to show.

JET PACK:
Jet Pack #2.jpgJet Pack #3.jpg
The centre tube was installed over easter and I also added the top skirting and worked on the fuel canisters. Essentially I thickened up a poster tube to the right thickness with sintra and glued the top half together. The canisters slide in the top end, and then I can sheathe the bottom half to fix them permanently. One of my housemates also had a tub of shower gel that was the right girth and height of the tube that attaches to the missile (not pictured). I've also attached the hooks (cut and bent from curtain rail hooks) with epoxy resin and I plan to fiberglass them sparingly for added security. After that, resin the front of the pack and it's ready for bondo.

HARNESS:
Harness #1.jpgHarness #2.jpg
My scratch build POS. The back is MDF formed slightly to accommodate the curvature of my back and the curve of the jet pack, with fiberglass on some cracks. It looks awful, but it's functional which is what I care about most for this part. Based on the original harness concept, I simplified it. The bar at the base wedges the back plate snug against my back, and the nylon webbing I sewed together keeps it tight. I've still got to add D-rings for the top half. It's not bad for the price of a roll of nylon strap.

ARMOUR:
Armour #9.jpg
I've filled and sanded the majority of the pieces, I just have the codpiece and back plate to go. Pieces are primed and have snap fasteners attached to the other side. I heated up the sintra and pushed a scalpel butt into the PVC for the dents and dremelled in the rough scratches. The codpiece dent was trickier as the sintra is doubled up, so I hacked away at it with a scalpel and plan t even it out with the bondo stage. Again, the back plate isn't that accurate, but it fits my back well.

GLOVES:
Gloves #1.jpg
Just a quick picture of the parade gloves I bought. I used Pearl Grey Rit Dye to darken, although I used it very sparingly in stages because I didn't want to take them too dark. You can't really see the colour in the photo but I think it may need a bit more to fit with my flight suit grey.

GAUNTLETS:
Gauntlets #9.jpg
After suiting up with what I had, I realised my gauntlets were far too tight, and the magnets would pop open with a flick of the wrist. I do have slightly shorter arms in proportion to the rest of me, so while the length of them on my forearms feels right, I really didn't have enough circumference to handle my arms. So, despite having painted them to a standard I was happy with, I added some spacers to let my arms breathe a bit easier. More bondo and sanding. Now they're a little screen inaccurate, but comfort comes first for this part, and wearing the suit, every little helps in that department. So here they are primed and ready for another spray session.

Jet Pack #2.jpg


Jet Pack #3.jpg


Harness #1.jpg


Armour #9.jpg


Harness #2.jpg


Gloves #1.jpg


Gauntlets #9.jpg
 
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Not done a lot the past few weeks. I'd suddenly got the urge to work on my jet pack missile, so that took priority over everything else (given I wasn't looking forward to the bondo work on that part of the jet pack, I made sure not to waste any enthusiasm I had). A couple weeks later, it's still not perfect but I've gotten the bulk of the missile done. I think I may have to live with a little unevenness. Remember kids, lay a good foundation of work; don't expect to fix mistakes in the bondo stage if the cardboard stage is shoddy. I should have probably broken down the missile even further than the three segments I actually went with so sanding wouldn't be so difficult. But alas, progress has been made so I'm happy with that.

Jet Pack #4.jpg
The Jetpack body has been fully built up and is just missing piano keys, greeblies on top and thrusters. For the missile, I have the top piece, middle piece and the bottom piece (the middle and bottom are glued together here. To hold all the sections together and bring some support to the missile, a wooden dowel runs from the tip all the way down into the jet pack body. This also helps me line up the pieces.

Jet Pack #5.jpg
I replaced the horrid cardboard grooves I made on the top of this part with a Sunny Delight bottle cap, giving me much neater lines I could never hope to emulate myself.

Jet Pack #6.jpg
And this picture shows the attachment method. With a shower gel tub glued onto the jetpack, the missile simply screws on top. I know this means there will be a screen-inaccurate groove where the tub lid screws on, but I like the idea of being able to take the missile off for transport.

I've still got a lot to sand and bondo. Now it's just really the tip of the missile to concern myself with. I'm starting to feel the grind of the costume now. I don't want to quit the costume, but I am finding it more difficult to get myself to work on it. :/

Jet Pack #4.jpg


Jet Pack #5.jpg


Jet Pack #6.jpg
 
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