Expert eye needed on scratchbuild

[goodus10]

Ok, respirator and gloves again. Time to cast a bucket. Assemble the mould and support cast, fasten all screws well.

Gelcoat first. Mixed up and brushed onto the interior of the mould. Make sure of a nice even spread and get right into all nooks and crannies. Allow it to go off until tacky. Don't allow it to go off completely or there's a good chance the next layer won't bond to the gelcoat.

For the next layer I used a filled styrene resin. I mixed the resin with 'fillite' which is alumina-silicate powder. Cheap and light, it makes the resin go a long way. Brush on a couple of layers of this. Only the first layer is shown here. The second layer smoothed it over a bit better. I then finished with a layer of resin and matting.

There was then a lot of crossing of fingers!!!!!

 

[goodus10]

To say I was pleased is an understatement.

A couple of airblows and the tusks will need adjusting a bit, but overall very happy. Earpieces are coming on. Moulds are pretty much done. Will upload some pics soon. I am off for a very relieved, well-deserved drink. :cheers

Will be back soon. cheers.

 

[goodus10]

Thanks very much for your kind words Darth Voorhees. Comments like this keep me going. I looked into Rebound, but its hard to get hold of smooth-on stuff in the UK. I use an RTV silicone from TOMPS.com. Seems pretty good stuff. Takes a while to go off but I just have to take my time. It's great fun doing this stuff. Wish I'd started years ago. Love to see your Vader. Any pics on the forum?

 

[goodus10]

Thanks Aero. I'm still going!

 

[welshwarrior123]

Hello stranger, nice to see you back working on this, got to say that was a pretty impressive haul of updates.
I said it before and I'll say it again mate, that is one fine looking lid. I love watching threads like this, all the way till the end, brilliant stuff. Sorry to hear about your master, but the resulting cast looks perfect mate, would love to see some primer on it to see all those lovely details

Welsh

 

[goodus10]

Thanks Welsh. I've been away or a while but I've not been idle. Sanding and priming in progress and the earpieces are in the mould today. Might get some motivation to start painting once this weather starts to clear a bit. The snow showers and freezing temperatures are kind of putting me off. Would imagine a similar scene around your neck of the woods too. How's the jetpack going?

 

[welshwarrior123]

Yeh the snows a bugger, if you do paint make sure you dont paint outside then bring it in as Ive heard this can make the paint crack and crinkle
Yeh we've had about a foot an a half of snow, pretty annoying when you got stuff arriving lol. The jetpack is at a standstill at the moment, my airbrush packed in about a month ago so I got to get a new one now after Xmas. Just got to paint the white and tank tops and the body is done

You still planning on doing a run on these, now that you got that mold perfected you should have an army of boba's soon lol.

Welsh

 

[goodus10]

With the cold at the moment I don't think there's any danger of me doing any painting. Just doing some adjusting on the lid in the relative warmth of the garage. I still plan to do a run on these early in the new year, but I'm going to get some painting and tweaking done to this one first to ensure all the bits fit together ok and people will be happy with what I send them. The right side has warped slightly so I'm just sanding it out a bit. Can't tell unless you look really closely though so I'm still happy.

The rangefinder is coming on slowly. Just trying to work out how to do a hollow stalk and cast it. I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Found some pics of your jetpack the other day. Looks a fine job mate. Hope my painting skills are comparable to yours. I see you're doing an SE Fett. I think that's the way I'm going to go. Prefer the gauntlets and the jetpack on that one.

Take care and a Merry Christmas.

 

[welshwarrior123]

Cheers mate, im sure if your painting skills are anything as good as your building skills youre going to have a cracking fett, you going to try for the 501st?
Yeh Se is the way to go, nothing against ESB but I just prefer the mix of colours and styles. I may pick one of these lids up after Xmas, one can never have to many helmets lol. Ive got a MR and a BM lid ive been commissioned to do coming after the new years so if you want me to review yours I can, from the pics it does look like a stunning helmet

Merry Christmas to you to mate,
Welsh

 

[goodus10]

501st is definitely a goal of mine. The rate I'm going though, I may be an old man before I'm a member but never mind!

I would appreciate a review of the helmet. That would be cool. Hope to get back on the case after Christmas. Got a load of studying and work to do between now and the end of January but I've got a good feeling about next year and i'm sure I'll be setting aside a little time to get down to the garage!!! Good luck with your commisions.

Take care,

Chris

 

[kingcamero]

Where did you get the silicone for the mould?

 

[goodus10]

the silicone I used was from tomps.com. It's RTV silicone and is good stuff. I used the slow catalyst for some reason and it really is slow, so if you do get some from Tomps you may want to go for the fast stuff.

 

[Mister Hyde]

I just discovered this thread and I must say you do some amazing work my friend. You definitely have talent. Great job! Any chance in seeing the finished bucket?

 

[Dudesir]

Excellent work! Like Mr Hyde, I just found this thread. I wish I had seen it before I completed my scratch build. All of your pictures would have answered a lot of questions I had during the process. Now, I am anxious to remake my ear pieces and fix some other small details that are bothering me. After reading this thread I am also tempted to make a mould. At least if I do decide to make one I know where to come if I have any questions.

Are you posting updates somewhere else? The last post from you that I see is in January. Would love to see the finished helmet or any progress you have made.

 

[goodus10]

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for the kind words. I haven't been able to do much to helmet this year. I have had so much else to do, including completely re-landscaping my back garden. The helmet is still sitting in my garage waiting for my attention. Hopefully will start back on it in the new year. Keep watching, there is still more to come and I have got some ear-mould pics to post at some point. Once you get into it it, doing moulds isn't as scary as you think.

Once again, thanks for looking. I will get this bucket finished if its the last thing I do!

 

[StyX]

You could always go for modifying a Hasbro Boba Fett Helmet. I've seen lots of people do that and make it Legion worthy.