Kid's Boba Fett Costume build WIP

[karateman]

After much cussing and head scratching I finally figured out how to do the gauntlets. I was having a hard time scaling WOF's prints to fit his frame so I winged it for the the actual gauntlet, not the attachments. At first I took measurements of his arm and made a rough mold from wood to form some PVC over for the top and bottom half. This worked out pretty well until it came time to fit some elastic in the cuffs to keep the halves together. (I saw this in another thread there and thought I'd try it out. Didn't work so well.

So off for another solution. I made a full wooden mold of the gauntlet after taking measurements of his arm and adding room for some padding. Glued up some 2x4 stock and after it dried a half hour with an angle grinder and the stationary belt sander and I've got a good form to wrap around.

I screwed a block to the bottom to clamp it in the vice and I'm good to go.

 

[karateman]

For the gauntlet I used some thin wall PVC pipe, 4". I cut a piece about 8" long (longer than I needed), and cut about an inch out of it to make forming it easier with a heat gun.

After heating it up to make it pliable I wrapped it around the form and held it there until it set (about half a minute) I used the wife's hot pads so I didn't burn my hands while holding the hot PVC (She doesn't know, don;t say anything. )

It was easiest to work half the cuff at a time. When I was done I had a rough cone like this

here it is on the form. Once to this point I used my Rockwell Soniccrafter (If you don;t have one of these you really need one for making costumes. It's awesome) to trim it up a bit before the next step.

 

[karateman]

With a lot of the excess cut off I needed to get a better fit around the form so I heated it up again and used a tie down strap to wrap around the mold and PVC to get a nice tight fit.

I let this sit for a half hour to make sure it was nice and cool before doing the final trimming. Here it is out of the mold.

I drew a straight reference line on the overlapping section so I knew where to cut again. Here you can see the overlap that was tucked inside.

I used the sonicrafter to slice down that line so I had a nice mating between the two sides and then heated it up on last time and put it on the mold to form it with the tie down. Now I've got a cuff with a seam at the bottom that I cam pull apart enough for him to slide his hand and arm through with some foam padding in to keep it snug. (It's a good thing he's got skinny arms like me)

It works well enough for him to be able to get them off and on easily and the seam, once painted especially on the bottom won't be very noticeable

 

[karateman]

Updates, updates, update. The gauntlets are done and ready for a paint job. With the cuffs complete I started on the right one. I trued doing it with foamboard and PVC but with the scale being smaller It wasn't working out to sell so I opted for hardboard and wood. I made the curved piece at the back out of PVC. The flame thrower attachment on the side was hardboard, and the top piece I opted or using my carving skills and made it from a small piece of pine. The four holes in the front are or the little darts. Once I get it painted I'm going to glue in some pop rivet shafts for those.

 

[karateman]

The left gauntlet was actually a bit easier. The platform and patterns from WOF when sized were easy to cut out of PVC and hardboard. I started with the base and sides. A little glue and some JB weld wood putty got things set up nicely

 

[karateman]

A little more cutting on the patterns and and some filler and I'm ready to make the missile and flame thrower on the side.I coated the wholt thing with bondo and sanded it to seal the hardboard. When it comes to paining that stuff it needs to be sealed with a something like bondo or a 50/50 water/glue mix or it just soaks up paint like a sponge.

 

[karateman]

Now for the missile. I used a piece of PVC pipe the fit perfectly in the spot and cut it to size. For the tip I took a dowel and sanded it to shape on the belt sander and drill press. To make the raised section in the rear I took some thin wall PVC just a bit larger than the missile body and heated it to fit.

To make the fins I cut some thin strips of flattened thin wall PVC, cut them to length and glued them around part of the circumference of the missile. I wasn't sure if they went all the way around because of the way it sits in the cradle on the gauntlet. All the screen pics I found or other source material didn't say So I just went with what could be seen.

To make the cradle on the gauntlet I took another piece of thin wall PVC, heated it up and used the missile to mold it right in place and then glued it up.

I haven't glued the missile in place yet. It will be easier to paint with it off.

 

[karateman]

And here's a shot of the final missile. A dowel that I sanded down for the rear nozzle is attached at the end.

 

[karateman]

The flamethrower box was pretty straightforward. Some PVC and hardboard for the basic box and insert.

I made the nozzles out of dowel that I sanded down to get the right shape. They will go in the piece of plywood with the two holes. And that in turn will go in the PVC sleeve. Here's the finished sleeve.

And there's the finished assembly. I got the grooves int he bottom on the table saw. Just set the blade to peek out on the table and ran the box through .

 

[karateman]

And when working on a Star Wars costume it's important to have the right motivation playing in the background

 

[karateman]

Almost forgot the two nozzles on the right gauntlet. I made them from two different sized dowels and a little JB Weld wood putty. I shaped the putty to roughly look like the nuts on the ends of the nozzles. When it dries I'll sand them to a better shape. I'll paint these before gluing them into place too.

 

[karateman]

Now I'm onto the brain bucket. Trial and error got me to a size that fit my kids head and he could see out of.Man does it look big on his head. Here's the dome base ring with a cardboard mock up to check fit and sight before I go further. Success!

 

[karateman]

Finally able to get some time to add to what I've got here. Finished up the costume last night. Had to make some concessions but I'm pleased with how it came out. My Son loves it.

I got the gauntlets completed. A little bondo on them and they were ready to paint.

 

[karateman]

Once those were complete I moved on to the boots. Since this is a costume on the cheap I decided to take an old pair of socks and slip his boots into ziplock bags and then into the socks. I sprayed a couple of coats of grey and smoke plasti-dip on them for a base/sealer. Once that was done I masked it the best I could and hit it with a combination of white and gray spray paint to get close to the colors i needed. The one thing I didn't get a chance to do was get the two foot spikes in the toe.

Now all he has to do is slip his boots on and then pull these over it and he's got a pretty good approximation of Fett's boots.

 

[MMcFett]

Finished up the costume last night.

You gotta put pics! This has been a great build.

 

[TK50175]

This is more than just cool!!! I love it!!! Pics please!!!

 

[karateman]

Next up the helmet. I used WOF's patterns and Antman's cardboard tutorial for building it. One thing I found beneficial was to use 1/4" MDF for the inner ring and dome supports, gives more surface area to glue to. The other thing I did, but forgot to get a pic of it, was to reinforce the top of the dome where the cross members come together. I glued wood blocks in each quadrant at the top and sanded them to shape to give me more surface to glue the dome pieces to at the top.

 

[karateman]

This is more than just cool!!! I love it!!! Pics please!!!

They're coming. Towards the end it was a dash to get it done and painted. Darn life gets in the way. Lol.

 

[karateman]

A little bondo and a lot of sanding and we have a helmet.

Here's the first coat of paint.

 

[karateman]

I did the earpieces out of MDF and sealed them with a 50/50 mix of glue/water before painting them.