ESB Fett, 8 years in the making, coming to fruition

Gilmortar

Well-Known Hunter
Hey Everyone,

So I have been a member here for many many years. Starting out as a lurker in 1999, and then in 2002, I began a Jango.

For my age and the time, it was alright, but I got the bug. I wanted a Fett. Full on and out ESB Fett. The movement for accurate Fett was just starting and with the info and resources we had we we were seeing more and more accuracy accomplished.

Long story short, for almost 8 years, I have been piecing parts together. And throughout the 8 years I have had shortcomings that forced me to sell all of it, and start over. Well that time is at an end. Over the last year I acquired most almost 98% of the pieces and materials I needed and was working on getting everything done by Celebration 7 last weekend. Alas, one of the major components, the helmet, decided that all the paint I worked feverishly on did not want to adhere to the silver base. So instead of rushing, I decided that it is best to take my time and ultimately make this thing as astonishing as I can. And with that, I purchased the last 2 items I needed from JodoKast89, my gaunlet darts, and collar studs the last night of Celebration.

So I'm pretty sure this is the extensive list of what I currently have from whom:

Helmet Kit - MS3
Upper Armor, Cod, Knees - Believed to be FP V2?
Chest Light Display - Hotpockets
Collar studs - JodoKast89
Gauntlets - MoW ESBs
Gauntlet Flamethrower - CombatBaby
Gauntlet Darts - JodoKast89
Gauntlet Rocket - Dark-Side
Jetpack - BFUK
Aluminum Jetpack Parts - Unknown
Jetpack Harness - Currently Fettdad, constructing the scuba style harness myself
Vest - Batninja
Neck Seal - Batninja
Girth Belt - Woodman
Cape - Woodman
Braids - Woodman
Gloves - GBH ESBs
Ammo Belt - Odd Combo between 99cent pouches and a BBF belt. The colors didn't match at all so I had to sand the belt and redye, which dyed the stitching as well
Jumpsuit - MoW
Boots - MoW
Shin Tools - Unknown sintra tools
Toe Spikes - 3d printed by myself
Sidearm - 3d printed by myself
Sidearm Holster - Stormrider
Blaster - Mix between Stormrider resin parts and MLS. Real Heiland flash, generic 4x20, accurate scope rings
Stock - Woodman
Molex Greeblies - 3d printed by myself
Stock Greeblies - 3d printed by myself
Knee Darts - the ElvisTrooper, Ob1Kenny
Various Decals - Luckys13

So pictures so far! JETPACK first:

photo1-3.jpg


The first base coat. Finished it off topically for all the weathering, mainly silver paint pen and various black washes, with some black and brown airbrushing as well. Finished Product:

And then the final with Rocket on:

photo1-1.jpg


The Thrusters are a little rough with some airbubbles that I am still filling in and such to make perfect. And to top it all off, one thruster fell off the paint stand and broke right at the cone. I fixed it and repaired the crack to make it disappear though so they are getting finished up as well.
I used a Rustoleum Satin Spruce Green rattlecan for the base coat.

Piano Keys/stripe/missile center were Rustoleum 2x Coverage gloss Cranberry.

Model Masters Reefer Yellow for the Take Toppers

Mixes of Tom Holtz* Distress Ink from Michaels (liquid acrylic airbrush paint) Black and Browns through the airbrush for the weathering.


ARMOR:

photo1-2.jpg


I didn't really take any "in progress" photos while I was painting the armor. I pretty much did it in one night, laid the silver, all the green and yellow...then the next day I peeled it all off and started weathering.

photo4-2.jpg


Then I knocked out the Shoulder bells and the rest of the armor (Kidney, Cod, Center Diamond, Back):

photo2-1.jpg


I custom mixed about 4 different shades of Green Model Master and Tamiya Acrylics until I got what I felt to be the most accurate representation of the armor on screen (don't ask me mix ratios, because I didn't write any of what I did down or take accurate measurements. It was all done by guessing and by eyeballing it). Yellow is Reefer Yellow, and silver is just generic rustoleum aluminum.

I weathered using a black wash and as well, the same black and brown method as the jetpack. One some of the armor pieces (prodominantly the Right Chest Plate) I used a red/brown wash over the whole plate.
The Center diamond I used the same mix of armor green but added a small touch of Tamiya slate blue to give it a more hunter green hue.

The Left shoulder bell is standard Reefer Yellow, with the black and brown washes and airbrushing, and the right is a custom mix of orange from Tamiya Orange, Model Masters Catwhisker Yellow, and Model Masters Leather brown. (again, I did it all by eye, sorry I didn't get exact mixes)

I used the same orange mix on the knees as well:

photo3-1.jpg


Same weathering method.

and after receiving the knee darts from the one and only, ElvisTrooper.

photo5-1.jpg




So far, the only other item I have completed (for the most part) is the EE-3 BLASTER:

The Kit was mashed of parts from Stormrider I got from Fett4reaL and MLS. Particularly the barrel, and the chamber lock were Stormrider, the Grip Assembly (Solid piece) and the D Bracket are MLS. The MLS took ALOT of work to fill in the airbubbles in the grip. Then even after washing the entire piece in warm water, the MolonLabe Studios pieces didn't take any of the rattlecan paint (Stormrider pieces were fine, no problem). I sanded the parts down and with a fine brush somewhat "painted" on smooth on Onyx resin on the parts. It gave me just enough coating that the paint finally stuck, don't know if it was a release agent or what.

photo2-2.jpg


For the paint, I used ColorPlace (Walmart brand) Flat Black over the entirety of the piece. I painted all the parts separately as it can be broken down for international travel, but as well to make sure I didn't miss any parts with paint. I then took the silver paint pen and pretty much hit all the sharp edges in random spots and as well then made small scratches, spots, rubs across the body of the parts as well, completely random, but evenly spaced out so as to not be so over bearing in one area.

photo3-2.jpg


I then would subtly spray over the silver penned weathering with the flat black to dull it a little more. Between the flat black and bright silver, it looked white, overbearingly white. So by toning it down with tiny spritzes of the flat black it helped with the subtlety. With some of the parts, I would touch it with the silver paint pen again just to give more depth and then went over alot of the edges with a brown/reddish rust color mix to give it a old patina feel.

Then I put in the heiland flash. The flash only sits in the barrel with a wrap of masking tape, but its very secure and not going anywhere :D I sprayed the end with the Colorplace Flat Black, only after I filled the heiland tube with paper, and made a make-shift drill bit out if it...I chucked it into a cordless drill and then sprayed it heavy on the end and quickly and lightly upward to give that fade look. Silly? Yes. Effective? Definitely.

I'll take some more pictures of all the other parts this weekend as with Celebration over, I need to unpack the costumes and clean/reorganize the shop!
 
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Wow that's a long time to get this far....And sadly I think I'm on track to do the same. Looks very good so far Gil. And you've kept the ESB faith all this time, lol. Mine is totally stalled right now due to personal reasons, but I'll be keeping an eye on this one for inspiration.
 
I was right there with ya syllander. Between military obligations and then life issues, things kept getting in the way or taking way more precedence than Fett, but now things have stabilized for me and mine and we are in a much better place in our lives, so it was time to get to the documenting this milestone!
 
Well, today I went and picked up the aluminum tubing, rod, and plate that I am going to use to make the new jetpack harness. I have a ton of the 2" black seatbelt webbing like that was used on the original harness setup. So at lowes they happen to have 1/2" aluminum tubing and flat stock, and some 3/16" rod, as well in the plumbing section they have a hand lever pipe bender. It's made for pipe a tad smaller than 1/2", but I think it will work to bend what I need to bend with no problem.

normal_prototype_joe-johnson_bruce-nicholson_06.jpg


So we'll see how it goes. Most this week is spent towards unpacking all our Celebration costume totes and getting the shop cleaned and back in habitable conditions...
 
Um, let's see my daughter is now six, so including the pregnancy, seven years, wow time doe go fast. It doesn't help either that I can't make up my mind as to Esb or pre pro. So I don't feel so bad. :-)
 
lol, yeah, I have found the folks who put this kind of time into their Fett, NEVER let it go either. I have continued my pursuit, through good times and hard times...I mean for pete's sake I have a huge Boba Fett tattooed on my left arm!! Now I just need the matching outfit!!
 
It's been along road and it'll be a great day when this is completed. You've come so far already, it would have been a shamed if you had ended up rushing it for C7.
 
Yeah, and in the long run, thats precisely why Liz and I both held off from Fett and Bo Katan...why rush it? It wasn't going to be the last Celebration ever... unless John Cusack is right and 2012 happens.

But yeah, even right now we are considering Celebration Europe next year.... so I have an entire year to truly perfect it :D
 
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