Brokk's Pre-Pro 2 Build (WiP)

[Brokk]

Man, I really really love that helmet!

Call 1-800- Fett 4 Real to get yours today!

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I've updated the first post of this thread to show a check list to track what to do and to visualize how far this build has come.

Brokk's Pre-Pro 2 Build (WiP)

BROKK'S PRE-PRO 2 BUILD External research: > FLAME THROWER FLOW EXHAUST PARTS/JETPACK GREEBLIE: CLICK HERE > --- My build checklist Red text shows that part is in progress. Helmet (COMPLETED) GMH Helmet style ✔ Painted in PP-2 scheme (Fett 4 Real) ✔ Hollowed RF stalk w/ Flashing LED kit...

www.thedentedhelmet.com

We're almost there!!!

Thanks to everyone who has helped me find parts and given feedback.

 

[Brokk]

Been a bit since some solid updates. Trying to balance this build with another project and life in general, but the show slowly goes on.

To summarize:
-Jb Dubz is getting ready to work on the body armor as the Arizona heat is starting to settle down.
-The Jetpack and Sling Gun have been packed up to be shipped to Fett 4 Real shortly for a paint up.

Flight Suit Dye Test:

Ok...this is the beginning stages of the most scary part of this build, self-dying the flight suit PrePro2 blue. Before I botch Arkady's work, I've performed 4 dye test with different combos of RIT Evening Blue and Royal Blue with test fabric graciously provided by Arkady. Jb Dubz and I referred to a RIT Dye combo chart that was published by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. In that chart, is a color we felt was very close:

View attachment 180109
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Knowing this was the ballpark to aim for, I cut some samples from Arkady's fabric and did the test. I yielded some solid results from the first four; where sample #2 was close to the Kenner references. Recording the steps I took to get it, I plan to replicate it some more and use the raito chart in the RIT combo chart.

Lighting throws these off hard.

 

[Brokk]

Gith Belt coloring

Unfortunately, the manufacturer of the girth belt discontinued the brown variation, which is the color of the Pre Pro 2 girth belt. I ran across a thread on the Boba Fett Kit Builders group where Stevie Jay, a fellow Fett, used this method to stain his. The product used is by Minwax and is their Express brand stain and comes in a bunch of colors; I used Walnut after looking at results on Amazon reviews. They are also water based and easy to clean.

You'll need gloves and to be outside.

To apply, I squirted it right on to the belt and rubbed it in circular motions to get an even spread. I used two tubes of the Minwax to get as much coverage as I could, but you're still going to have areas where the stain couldn't get to fully since the ropes are twisted. I bought a spray paint that was similar in color and plan to mist some areas to touch up; in this case, I bought Krylon Satin Leather Brown.

Spat dying
This the start of the most stressful process of this build. I decided to go for the spats first with the goal of making them blue-gray. I had two pairs, so I had some room to adjust. I should note, whenever you dye something, the moisture makes them look so different before they fully dry. The first pair ended up looking like ESB fabric blue, un-weathered.

The second was the winner. I forget how many teaspoons I used of Evening blue; but I think it was two. After letting them soak for a good 5 minutes or so, I reloaded the dye bucket with water and added Pearl gray and let it sit for 3-4 minutes, then washed in the sink with mild detergent.

**Jump suit color goal to show contrast, phone camera misses up the shading pretty hard.

I plan to do the flight suit next, but I'm hesitant as I feel I need to plan more.


To be continued...

 

[sutt_hero_rotj]

Killing this Build !

 

[Brokk]

Killing this Build !

Your words of encouragement mean a lot. Once the flight suit dyed and out of the way, the rest should be easy!

 

[Mythos Fenn]

Looking great man. Color choices for those soft parts seem spot on. Keep up the good work

 

[Brokk]

We did it gang. So happy I can make this post even tho it's one thing. That is, the flight suit is dyed and it came out as intended. Big thanks to jbdubz for the guidance. It took 4 seperate dye baths.

I used RIT dye Royal Blue with a mix of peral grey randomly (I didn't record how much grey was used as I eyeballed it)

The flight suit needs a couple additions, like light weathering, and adjustments but those will come.

 

[Mythos Fenn]

Saw this post over on instagram - looking good man. That coloring is looking spot on and will definitely look fantastic with some weathering. Well done. Get the right color with dyes is always incredibly tricky

 

[TheBobaFett]

This is quite possibly one of the greatest PP#2 Build threads i've ever had the pleasure of following of all my years being on the board.
Not enough love out there for the PrePro versions of Fett, truly love how this is coming together. Very impressed, especially with the boots, good work on the flight suit so far.

 

[Mythos Fenn]

This is quite possibly one of the greatest PP#2 Build threads i've ever had the pleasure of following of all my years being on the board.
Not enough love out there for the PrePro versions of Fett, truly love how this is coming together. Very impressed, especially with the boots, good work on the flight suit so far.

Agreed. Definitely not enough love out there for the PrePro Fetts. Still holding out hope for more PrePro1 "jaig ear" builds This will suffice for now

 

[Brokk]

This is quite possibly one of the greatest PP#2 Build threads i've ever had the pleasure of following of all my years being on the board.
Not enough love out there for the PrePro versions of Fett, truly love how this is coming together. Very impressed, especially with the boots, good work on the flight suit so far.

That means millions to hear. Thank you for following a long. I hope it inspires members or newcomers to go down the Pre Prod. path!
This build wouldn't be where it's at with the amazing painters, armor makers and other artisans here!

Saw this post over on instagram - looking good man. That coloring is looking spot on and will definitely look fantastic with some weathering. Well done. Get the right color with dyes is always incredibly tricky

Thank you for the feedback and following along on insta as well. I typically post there before I do here on updates. Love your mando set up by the way!

Yes, dying fabric is a deceiving but simple process. When this flight suit came out of the bath on all 4 occasions, it appeared to be this shade blue:

Truthfully, it makes you panic a little and want to throw it in the wash. But naturally, fabric when wet appears way darker than its true color. So its wise to slowly "work up" to the shade. Instead of using a wash machine, sink was method is more friendly for controlling how much dye is released when washing the excess dye out.

It comes down to these two mechanisms really:
Hot water to relax the fibers to release.
Cold to lock.

Weathering is going to be balanced, and very minimal, but likely after the thigh pockets are adjusted incase marks from where the thigh pockets were once present. This is one detail I would like to get down:

Looks like a column of unweathered fabric from only god knows what.

 

[Brokk]

Flame Thrower Unit

It's with great delight I'm able to finally give an update on the flame unit progress. The latest addition is the metal sleeve that you see connected to the rear greeblie. Now, the vast majority of the parts that make up the flamer are in hand, with the exception of the mounting brackets that hold the flamer to the gauntlet, and a actual electrode. The electrode has been sorta tricky as it has been a challenge to find one that matches the aesthetics.

I also went through the extra effort in running a fuel line hose via the rear greeblie, which would give it's metal sleeve shape; and to be accurate to the actual prop.

Further, I cut down the red coil to match the number of loops (counting the side of the wire that is facing away from the gauntlet), which amounts to 20.


Cape

I've been wanting to get this soft part out of the way so bad, but it has proven to be a challenge. The Pre Pro 2's cape appears to be more of a rich green rather than a olive drab. I've tried 2 half shelters so far with no success, even tho they looked fairly close in the eBay pictures. Perhaps it's a European military shelter rather than US.
<----This half shelter will be for sale soon.

Girth Belt

Sadly, I've had to purchase another girth belt as the one previously posted about was too short. In the Pre Pro 2 references, the buckles appear close together, where as mine were way far apart. I repurchased my stain and am awaiting for the arrival of the new one.

One of the details I got to practice on tho was the closure method. It appears in 2 references, that the top strap is wider than the bottom. This can easily be replicated with white elastic; which is very likely what the closing method is.

Belt Bag - Left side (grey)

In continuation of fabric dying, I was able to knock out the left belt bag in one go! To finish the bag off, I'm going to be in search of a grey wire to run out of it.

Belt Bag - Right side (warm sand)

Also, the right side belt bag is undergoing dye test to narrow down the color. I'll be posting results soon.


Lastly...
The flight suit has been dropped off at a tailor for a taper job. I really want to achieve the skinny look, as well as get the lap pockets moved up slightly. Hopefully it's done right the first time, but we'll find out early January when it's ready.


To be continued...

 

[Brokk]

WOW...can't believe this build is two years old now. Time flew by...hope all is well. I'm still alive and hope everyone is fairing well during these weird times with covid19.

Some small updates to follow up on from the previous post...

Belt Bag end results

Dying fabric has been such a valuable learning experience. I finished this sometime end of last year, just now getting around to post them here.
I'm happy how they turned out...the ref photos for the right hip bag, as you can see, appear in two different colors. After discussing it with jbdubz , it seemed the best course would be to land somewhere in the middle in terms of hue.

Flight suit follow-up

Last post mentioned dropping the flight suit off at a tailor for some work. The correction I wanted done was to move the thigh pockets up, which is one of the most notable features of the PrePro2 flight suit.

Long story short and $160 dollars later, the pockets were where I wanted them. The only catch was there was lines from where the dye hadn't settled in at the seams of the thigh bags.

As a result, I had to re-dye the flight suit to mask the lines. While this fixed the lines issue, another predicted issue came forward with the hue of the flight suit as a whole. I had to cut back the blue, and I did this by simply putting it in the washing machine with two white bath towel so I could see how much dye was released. Thankfully, I hadn't added the RIT color fixer.

Before hue correction w/ corrected thigh pocket alignment | After machine wash/correction

Next issue at hand with the suit, is that the white stitching is to noticeable. It was recommended that I dye it in synthetic dye but after consulting a member base of two Facebook groups who focus on fabric dying, that I not do that. So I'm figuring out how I can mask it.


Other misc. updates:

- The armor has started to get paint applied by Jb Dubz. Will post photos when I can
- Jetpack and sling gun are still with Fett 4 Real.
- Trying to find cape material that has correct green hue.


To be continued...

 

[droidbait]

Love the flightsuit color.

 

[BudaFett]

Oh that flight suit came out nicely! I'm glad to this thread get updated!

 

[tennantlim]

So happy to see your update! Huge improvement on the flightsuit color.

 

[sutt_hero_rotj]

this is a great build! I can’t wait to see it all come together.

 

[Mythos Fenn]

Yes! Updates! Looking awesome man. Could you always lightly dry brush a dark gray overtop of the stitching in order to get them to blend more with he flight suit coloring?

 

[NorCalCap]

Fun to see a fellow PP2 come together.

 

[Brokk]

Thank you all for the feedback on the flight suit, the color is very picky in lightning, even in person. I swear, it literally shifts.
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Yes! Updates! Looking awesome man. Could you always lightly dry brush a dark gray overtop of the stitching in order to get them to blend more with he flight suit coloring?

Thank you! I was def thinking this route or by airbrush. Using a synthetic dye would require me to literally plunge the suit into boiling water to get the polyester fibers to react to the dye. Its a huge safety risk, and I just dont feel comfortable doing it. Also, it could lax the cotton fibers to release more dye from the high temp & stressing them to a point of damage, possibly.

I have a craft paint I may try mixing with some grey and testing it on the stitching wrapped around the ankle, so the spats will hide it.
---
Also, a teaser, from Infamous Innovations (Jb Dubz), super talented in his art of detail. I have nothing but good things to say about his work

The paint on the pre pro 2 almost seems like they sneezed on it with an airbrush and called it done

(Picture from Infamous Innovations.,2020)