DrToothache's Jango WIP (Kamino)

[DrToothache]

Hey guys, I have been a long time lurker on here and always wanted to make a Fett costume when I was a kid. Finally 15 years later (3 years ago) I started building both Boba and Jango. After getting 25% of the way through both builds and not being happy I realized that I needed to prioritize on one build at a time - so I started to focus in more on my Jango. I wish that I would have taken more progress pictures but I do want to create a thread still and list where I purchased my parts as well as document my final steps to finishing the build. My goal is to eventually get to 501st approval but I definitely still need some work before that! So far the parts that I have for my Jango are as follows:

Parts that I have received:

1. Helmet (undented) - Denuo Novo
2. Helmet (dented) - DC Props and Armor
3. All armor (cold cast)- BobaMaker
4. Boots - CrowProps
5. Placeholder Jetpack - 3D Cauldron on Etsy - arena style jetpack. Not using for my final build as it is not full size and I am going for Kamino version of Jango.
6. Z-6 Jetpack - MoW (painted by myself)
7. JT-12 Jetpack - MoW (Painted by Christian at MoW)
8. Jetpack Harness - MoW
   1. Updated Jetpack Harness: Custom harness made by myself
9. Girth belt - Strategic Props on Etsy
10. Holsters Setup - Strategic Props on Etsy
11. Ammo belt - Strategic Props on Etsy
12. Westar-34 Blasters x2 (resin) - Minute fett
13. Westar-34 Blasters x2 (Lead Chemist by Watto's Junkyard)
14. Gloves - Amazon (Leather Navy blue women's gloves)
15. Hoses - Correct size hoses bought from hardware store - dyed with Rit Denim Blue
16. Placeholder vest - Pleather vest salvaged from a halloween costume from eBay a few years ago
    1. Updated Vest: Boba Maker
17. Placeholder gauntlets set 1 - Disney boba fett toy gauntlets that I repainted and and placed on top of leather wraps that I painted silver
    1. Placeholder gauntlets set 2 - 3d printed ROTJ Boba Fett gauntlets painted and weathered to look similar to Jango's
    2. Updated Gauntlets - DC Props and Armor cold cast gauntlets
18. Flight Suit - re-purposed Boba flight suit from Evolution props
19. Updated Flight Suit - evolution props (I believe) - dyed with Rit navy blue and purple, altered by myself to fit better.

Still waiting for shipment:

1. JT-12 Jetpack - MoW
2. Dented helmet - DC Props

Now I will show you where I am at and what I have done so far.

Mounting the Armor

Mounting the armor wasn't as bad as I thought it would be once I finally found out where I placed my strong pinbacks at. Initially I had lost them and tried to use regular clutchback pin keepers which was a disaster. I ended up finding them and using the pin/pinback method that I found a member posted in the Boba Fett forums on here (Edit: Figured out who it was - thank you Fettastic !!!). I used extra strong pinbacks that I purchased on Amazon and just regular pins that I glued onto all of the armor pieces. I just roughened the surface of each of the pins using a dremel and sanded the backside of the armor. I then used gorilla glue to attach all of the pins onto the backside of each of the armor pieces. Here is a picture that I saved a long time ago when browsing the forums here (from Fettastic 's post):

Once the adhesive fully set, I then roughly aligned the armor pieces onto the flak vest and flight suit to start. I then pushed the pins through the cloth/leather and secured the armor by using the strong pin keepers that I purchased on Amazon. I found it easier to do the flak vest while it was laying on the ground and the flight suit while it was on the mannequin.

Here is a picture of the pin keepers that I used that are easy to find on Amazon:

Once the armor was initially attached, I then suited up and checked armor locations and made adjustments as needed. Once I got back to my house I was able to use the mannequin to get a better starting point:

Once everything was on the mannequin I began making more adjustments to try and get the armor as ideal as possible. The great thing about the pin keeper method is that you don't have to get it right the first time. Note that this mannequin is 6 feet tall and I am only 5'9 so I tried to space things apart knowing that the armor is going to be closer together once I switch the suit from the mannequin to me.

Now to mount the jetpack. Currently I am using an inaccurate 3D printed arena style jetpack. I just threw some silver and blue paint on it and called it a day. Ultimately I need to build my MoW Z-6 jetpack as I am doing a Kamino build.
To attach the jetpack, I am utilizing MoW's jetpack harness. I purchased 1-inch buckles and nylon straps to use for mounting and repurposed some picture hanging hardware to help keep the jetpack closer to my back. After mounting the jetpack I realized that I put the female and male ends the wrong way. I learned that the female end is supposed to be on the jetpack and the male end of the buckle on the harness for Jango, so this is something that I will have to fix when I mount the Z-6 eventually.

(Disregard above, proper jetpack assembled and finished - see later post)

The gauntlets that you see on the mannequin are the disney toy boba gauntlets with leather wraps under them. I also have these 3D printed ROTJ gauntlets that I am using as placeholders until I receive the Jango CC ones. Unfortunately the 3D printed ones don't currently fit onto the mannequin, so he has to keep the toy ones for now.

(Disregard above, cold cast gauntlets received and are now a part of the build - see post later in this thread)

Last thing I did was swap the purple hoses for the more accurate blue ones from Amazon:

So this is where I am currently at, I still have quite a bit of work to do! The next step is going to be sanding and painting the resin blasters. After that I will work on the Z-6 jetpack and get that mounted. I will make sure to post more updates as I make progress in the build. Thanks for checking it out!

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Major Updates!
Almost every part of this build has changed since this post was initially made. This is where I am currently at:

Continue below to see the various updates that were made!

 

[Moslof]

It's looking great so far. I started my build about 16 years ago. Then I stopped and started a family. I put what Items I acquired in a tote and kind of forgot about them. When the Mandalorian dropped it peaked my interest back up. I looked at my boys and said, "You know, I started to build a Jango Fett years ago before you guys were born." I use the word build lightly. At that point in time I had only acquired a few items. I told them should finish that project. It’s been a long road. The skills I would need to finish this job I had to learn and pour over TDH. That God for the members here. Fast forward to today. I’m at the pre-approval stage with some small issues that I need to address before moving on. .

Good luck and keep the ball rolling. Don't do what I did and stop.

 

[DrToothache]

Please ignore (double post by accident)

 

[DrToothache]

It's looking great so far. I started my build about 16 years ago. Then I stopped and started a family. I put what Items I acquired in a tote and kind of forgot about them. When the Mandalorian dropped it peaked my interest back up. I looked at my boys and said, "You know, I started to build a Jango Fett years ago before you guys were born." I use the word build lightly. At that point in time I had only acquired a few items. I told them should finish that project. It’s been a long road. The skills I would need to finish this job I had to learn and pour over TDH. That God for the members here. Fast forward to today. I’m at the pre-approval stage with some small issues that I need to address before moving on. .

Good luck and keep the ball rolling. Don't do what I did and stop.

Thanks man! Wow that's a long gap between start and finish but I can totally see how that happens. These builds take so much time and effort that it is hard to get going again once you stop, especially when life happens. I just checked your thread that you posted about weathering your leather parts - Your build is looking awesome! Did you end up going with the Denuo Novo helmet or the BobaMaker one? You nailed it though, without TDH these builds would be so much more difficult. It's amazing the amount of resources on here.

You should really do a build thread to show off you work once you are approved (or before even). It would be great to see what you did and see if there is anything I can do better. There are a lot of Jango builds on here but not as many recently so it would be cool to keep the build threads going. One thing I noticed from just looking at your build now is that I think my thigh armor is mounted too low so I am going to raise that up a bit.

 

[Moslof]

Thank you! Did you see me Denuo Novo Bobmaker helmet comparison thread? They are really close. I would swear that they are from the same mold. Which is interesting knowing the history behind the Bobamaker one being from a Legacy Helmet.

I will probably do a build thread. I wanted to make sure I finish first. I see so many that have started and never finished. I didn't want to be one of those. I just had to redo my thigh armor. I mounted it before I mounted my leg armor to my suit. Before I readjusted my thigh armor I was hitting my knee armor and cod piece. So I recommend walking around with the leg armor, holster and thigh armor before mounting the thigh armor to the holsters. Now I'm stuck with extra holes I need to figure out how I'm going to fill.

Another big issue I had was in 16 years I had gained 40lbs and shrunk 3 inch's. My flight that I bought when I first started did not fit me at all. Even after I loss the 40 extra pounds.

 

[DrToothache]

Thank you! Did you see me Denuo Novo Bobmaker helmet comparison thread? They are really close. I would swear that they are from the same mold. Which is interesting knowing the history behind the Bobamaker one being from a Legacy Helmet.

I will probably do a build thread. I wanted to make sure I finish first. I see so many that have started and never finished. I didn't want to be one of those. I just had to redo my thigh armor. I mounted it before I mounted my leg armor to my suit. Before I readjusted my thigh armor I was hitting my knee armor and cod piece. So I recommend walking around with the leg armor, holster and thigh armor before mounting the thigh armor to the holsters. Now I'm stuck with extra holes I need to figure out how I'm going to fill.

Another big issue I had was in 16 years I had gained 40lbs and shrunk 3 inch's. My flight that I bought when I first started did not fit me at all. Even after I loss the 40 extra pounds.

Yeah I was looking through your post history once I saw that you were doing a Jango build haha. The 2 helmets do look very close, I was pleasantly surprised when I received mine as I didn't know what to expect since they had just taken Anovos's place. I bought it thinking that I would still maybe have to buy BM's version but it is a pretty good helmet just needs some small modifications.

I agree, nothing is worse than seeing someone's progress and then never seeing the end result! I always wonder if they never got around to finishing or if they lost motivation to post after the build was completed.

So you actually mounted your thigh armor to the holsters? I noticed other's do this but didn't think it was a requirement. My holsters seem to stay in place when tightened to the right amount. Is there a major benefit to mounting the holsters directly to the thigh armor? Does it help keep everything in place? If so I might just go ahead and do it, but I am going to wait until I wear the costume a few more times to make sure the armor is exactly where I want it first.

Looking forward to your build thread though. I am kind of at a stalemate right now until my flak vest arrives, just going to work on the blasters and jetpack.

 

[Moslof]

I think mounting the thigh armor to the holster is the way to go. I feel if you mount the thigh armor to the suit the holsters would be putting rub marks on the thigh armor as you walk around. I also think it helps keeping everything in place by mounting it to the holster.
Check out Bucketheads videos. He's got a good one on mounting the check armor to the vest. It help tome with clarification on Cruzers instructions.

Seeker has some good tips from his armor. Jango Armor Tips

 

[DrToothache]

I think mounting the thigh armor to the holster is the way to go. I feel if you mount the thigh armor to the suit the holsters would be putting rub marks on the thigh armor as you walk around. I also think it helps keeping everything in place by mounting it to the holster.
Check out Bucketheads videos. He's got a good one on mounting the check armor to the vest. It help tome with clarification on Cruzers instructions.

Seeker has some good tips from his armor. Jango Armor Tips

Awesome thank you. I have actually seen Bucketheads videos before, his stuff looks really good! I went with the pinback method over using snaps ultimately for chest/shoulder armor. Seems to work well with the chest armor/should armor but I am definitely going to mount the thigh plates to the holsters now. Just ordered some chicago screws! Looks simple enough. I will probably use pinbacks to get the thigh armor exactly where I want it and then drill the holes for mounting the holsters/thigh armor to secure them into place. Will update the post with the result.
That Seeker thread you listed is really good, I remember seeing that years ago but I am going to use it as a reference now so thanks for linking that.

 

[DrToothache]

Came home from the office today to an awesome surprise package:

These are the Watto's Junkyard "Lead Chemist" Westar-34's and they are amazing! The attention to detail on these things is great and they feel nice to hold. These two in particular are installed with a soundboard and rumble pack with an LED light at the end of the flash hider. Overall I am very happy with them so far and seem to be very screen accurate.

The only thing I noticed that is not screen accurate is the overall length of the blaster and thickness of muzzle. You can see in the pictures below the Lead Chemist blaster lined up with my resin blaster from Minutefett which is based on a mold of the original screen used prop.

I think that these blasters were based on the Master Replica ones so maybe that is where the slight inaccuracy of the length / muzzle girth comes from. It also may have been a concession that had to be made to keep the blaster's installable. The only downside with the extra length is that they don't fit into my holsters quite as nicely as the resin ones do but otherwise it's not really something that anyone would notice.

Definitely not a big deal though because these things are awesome! Just wanted to post some details and pictures of them if anyone is considering picking them up.

 

[DrToothache]

Some major updates happened to this build over the past 6 months. A lot of "placeholder" parts have finally been replaced with accurate parts. Jango seems to have really died in popularity, so finding certain parts has been a challenge. After sourcing everything and building his jetpack, the end is getting near...

Build update posts coming soon...

 

[BudaFett]

Your build looks fricken awesome!

 

[DrToothache]

I'm going to kickoff rebooting this thread with the new DIY jetpack harness. To build this, I first purchased an extremely cheap (an conveniently very comfortable) "posture harness" - basically a harness designed to wear under your clothes to fix your posture. I am not sure if it actually works, but it worked great for a jetpack harness! It also has built in velcro straps for adjusting tightness and is very low profile. Here is a picture of a similar harness unaltered:

I then sewed nylon straps on the shoulders, and one nylon strap on the lower back portion of the harness each with a plastic 1.5" buckle attached to it for securing the jetpack. For midsection support, I created a belt that attached to the harness via nylon loops.

Once I tried it out with the jetpack, I realized that I had to shorten the shoulder nylon straps because the jetpack was hanging too low:

Here are the results after shortening the shoulder straps:

 

[DrToothache]

Your build looks fricken awesome!

Thank you kind sir!

 

[Thebountyhunter]

Great idea on the posture harness. Did you dye your flight suit recently?

 

[DrToothache]

Great idea on the posture harness. Did you dye your flight suit recently?

The harness worked out better than I expected, definitely decreased the amount of sewing that I had to do!

Yes, I dyed my flight suit about a month ago and just recently did the weathering! I used rit blue, purple and pearl gray.

 

[DrToothache]

Updated photo's with some of the flight suit weathering:

 

[DrToothache]

Had to work on getting my jetpack painted this week. I am trying to have this costume completed by this Friday so that I can wear it to Steel City Con to meet Temuera Morrison. However it has been about 25 degrees outside so I had to improvise with painting... I attempted using space heaters in the garage but could not get the temp up to 50 degrees to use spray paint. Therefore, I decided to tackle this jetpack with regular acrylic paint and brushes. Definitely not ideal, but I am pretty happy with the results so far!

I used basic acrylic paint with regular brushes, foam brushes and a roller (The roller worked really well for this). To achieve appropriate colors I mixed primary colors together. I then used burnt umber, raw umber and black for weathering.

Here was the initial result after just laying down the initial coat of each color. The blue that I used was too dark, I have a plan to fix that later though!

I then did some light sanding to get rid of any brush strokes and added more browns and orange to the yellow section. I then laid down a lighter blue and did some initial weathering. I also taped off the fuel tanks to add pin striping in the correct areas.

Next step is adding a light coat of raw umber to the yellow section to dull it down some more, as well as a top layer of lighter blue again and some more weathering. I definitely went a little too dark with the blue color, but I think I can brighten it up a bit with top coats.

 

[DrToothache]

Finally mustered up the courage to drill into my thigh armor and cod piece to mount to the holster harness. The thigh plates were quite a pain as it is hard to visualize where the armor sits without actually putting it on. Therefore I suited up and lined up the thigh armor to where I wanted it and then duct taped the holsters to the thigh plates exactly where I wanted them.

I then drilled a hole into the back of the thigh plate, into the holster that was duct taped to it. I then removed the duct tape and attached the holsters using chicago screws.

 

[DrToothache]

Day 2 at Steel City Con and finally got to wear the Jango, and meet Temuera! Learned a lot wearing this for the first time and a had a few mixups (forgot my proper balaclava and had to improvise. Also forgot to tighten my Jetpack harness before putting everything else on - hence the floppy jetpack) but everything held up really well!

 

[DrToothache]

Some additional footage from Steel City Comic Con

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