Armor, Jetpack, Gauntlets, oh my! for GeekdadX7

[Artakha]

Hey folks! Gonna update with some final pictures of the gauntlets before they ship out.

The gauntlets are my own sculpt, the only parts that aren't mine are MachineCraft 's excellent darts on the right gauntlet, and the buttons and light on the left gauntlet.

Pic heavy!

 

[GeekdadX7]

Sweet. Well, all set on hard parts. As soon as I get back next week i’ll work on getting the soft goods fitting better and more spot-on with the weathering. Definitely going to take in the extra bit of flight suit before i go though. Going to go for your method with the belt/cod chris

 

[Chris4321]

Nj on the gauntlets!

I’ll get some pictures of the cod / kidney tomorrow for you. I know he used a different method then I did. I literally slapped Velcro on the back of the kidney plate. Then I slapped the other piece of Velcro in the middle of the belt. Which is a hook and loop belt I bought on amazon for $10. I glued the ends of the Velcro down so that it wouldn’t come off the belt.

 

[GeekdadX7]

Nj on the gauntlets!

I’ll get some pictures of the cod / kidney tomorrow for you. I know he used a different method then I did. I literally slapped Velcro on the back of the kidney plate. Then I slapped the other piece of Velcro in the middle of the belt. Which is a hook and loop belt I bought on amazon for $10. I glued the ends of the Velcro down so that it wouldn’t come off the belt.

I got an old webbing-style belt from the back of my closet and adhered it to the inside of the kidney plate and wrapped all the way around. The codpiece sticks onto the front of the belt with 2 magnets on the inside front, and is held onto on the sides by the metal studs on the sides of the cod armor. Thank you for the idea, it worked absolutely great at sucking in the extra material of the bottom of the flight suit and holding everything in place.

Also got the jetpack harness set up to where it securely holds the jetpack on. Not 100% happy with it because of the initial learning curve, but it does it's job, is about 85% great, and will work just fine for the event up in sacramento. Nobody up there is going to be all "omg... boba fett's jet pack should be 2 inches lower!!!"

Tomorrow night I'll get the knee armor set up with the magnets, and then will have a go at weathering the jumpsuit

 

[Chris4321]

I got an old webbing-style belt from the back of my closet and adhered it to the inside of the kidney plate and wrapped all the way around. The codpiece sticks onto the front of the belt with 2 magnets on the inside front, and is held onto on the sides by the metal studs on the sides of the cod armor. Thank you for the idea, it worked absolutely great at sucking in the extra material of the bottom of the flight suit and holding everything in place.

Also got the jetpack harness set up to where it securely holds the jetpack on. Not 100% happy with it because of the initial learning curve, but it does it's job, is about 85% great, and will work just fine for the event up in sacramento. Nobody up there is going to be all "omg... boba fett's jet pack should be 2 inches lower!!!"

Tomorrow night I'll get the knee armor set up with the magnets, and then will have a go at weathering the jumpsuit

Nice dude!

The harness is a pain in the dick honestly. Personally, I don’t even use the lower end of the bars. With the casting of my jet pack it just doesn’t work. So I just suck it up and deal with it on the D rings putting stress on my shoulders.

 

[GeekdadX7]

Nice dude!

The harness is a pain in the dick honestly. Personally, I don’t even use the lower end of the bars. With the casting of my jet pack it just doesn’t work. So I just suck it up and deal with it on the D rings putting stress on my shoulders.

I tried something to make putting the pack on by myself doable. Still hard because of how tge shoulder armor restricts movement, but i was able toput the jetpack on myself late last night, armored up.

I put some thin really strong magnets on the inside of the top hooks for the jetpack, the ones the straps coming from over your shoulders hook on to. On the underside (inside) of the top of the hook I stuck a thin earth magnet with a lil hot glue.

Now I hold the jetpack behind my back, up, by the base of the rocket (DVH’s jetpack is VERY LIGHT). Then i just reach behind me with my other hand, get the strap nearby the hook and SNAP! The magnet catches the metal of the ring, pulls the strap up, and holds the ring and strap up. Do it with the other strap to the other side and the strap gets pulled up and snapped into place.. it’s awesome!

 

[GeekdadX7]

Decided to have a little fun considering it's not a full-on 501st event.
I installed a bluetooth speaker inside the cavity of the jetpack, which now acts like a giant echo chamber lol.
I got my old iphone and loaded it with the imperial march, the star wars theme, the asteroid field music from ESB, and a few other star wars soundtrack songs. I figure boba fett walking around with an aura of star wars music around him could be pretty fun... plus I can always just turn it off with the phone in my hip pouch.

-edit-
I got some acrylic paints earlier today and mixed them with water in different spray bottles, then started going to town on weathering the jumpsuit. It's looking much better, going to keep at it tomorrow.

 

[tk675]

I ended up putting some magnets at the top of the backplate (on the underside) and on the underside at the rear of the collar armor. Oh my GOD it’s wonderful. I just hold up the back plate behind me and it snaps up into place. Will try putting the magnets on the knees tonight

Do you mind posting pics on how the magnets are placed as well as on the suit (if thats how it is). Thanks! Having problems visualizing.

 

[GeekdadX7]

Sure thing. Will put it up tomorrow while the kids are in school.

 

[GeekdadX7]

Happy with howthe weathering on my flight suit came out... though sad at the realization that after this troop on Friday I will need to purchase a new one that fits orhave this one drastically altered.

As most of you remember the majority of my soft goods all belonged to RKD and I started losing weight so that I could fit into them. I was very proud that I’d be able to continue the use of his gear for trooping.

I was finally able to squeeze into his flight suit when I hit 195 pounds (down 30 from where I started), and it fit snug but well. I’m 165 now (where I plan to stay) and as you can see from my picture up above it fits like a tent on me now.

In the opinions of you folks that have experienced alterations... as well as you folks who were freinds of RKD...

Should i go get his suit altered? Or should i just buy a new one. Not sure how much itd mess up the suit taking it in to account for -30 pounds.

 

[BudaFett]

Let's see the suit now. It's not a bad thing you lost all that weight!

 

[GeekdadX7]

Let's see the suit now. It's not a bad thing you lost all that weight!

In the middle of page 2 i have a pic of me suited up (with the base armor) and his jump suit prior to weathering. Everyone’s immediate suggestion was that it was way too baggy.

Afterwards I folded the material around the beltline a few times to take in the slack and hidit under the girth & ammo belts which fixed the bottom, but the arms and trunk were still pretty baggy.

 

[GeekdadX7]

I leave for my troop up north tomorrow. This morning I built a rig with the stand from a utility light with a frame and some clamps that can hold the jetpack up in the air against the frame on a non-skid “U” bracket around the base of the rocket (the DVH pack is very lightweight), with the weight of the pack right over the center of the stand.

This allows me to be fully suited up, back up with my back to the front of the suspended jetpack, then just reach behind me and the magnets I have on the jetpacks top clips pull the D-Rings from my harness up and lock them into position on the jetpack.

Then reach behind at the waist and put the lower brackets onto the horizontal bar at my lower back and stand up all the way.... done.

Jetpack clamped on your back, by yourself, in probably 2 minutes tops. Best part, the rig folds down and fits in my gear box.

I’m driving up north in the morning tomorrow, the troop is on friday, i’ll try to make a video of the rig tomorrow night or friday.