Marco Enterprises Boba Fett costume review and modification

[Fettacini]

Hello everyone, so as a child of the 90's with heavy nostalgia. I was surprised to see Marco Enterprises back in action selling off his old stock.

So I don't know a ton about him, but apparently these props were the best, unauthorized star wars props at the time. Sure, not everything was accurate, and it was mostly vacuformed plastic, but his soft good were excellent.

I have always wanted to do a good holiday fett, but im not after super realism. I want to skirt the line between cartoon and realism. When I saw his ad pop up on ebay for his "Bounty Hunter" full set, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Since I couldn't find anyone, anywhere with reviews or overviews, I figured what the heck, ill do it.

Bonus and also what really sold me, his left gauntlet has the Pre Pro 2 flame thrower, that actually telescopes. That bad boy is getting ripped off ( carefully removed actually) and the coiled cord is getting replaced with a retro red sping coikde telephone cord.

Anyways, I thought I would do a piece by piece review and show you guys and gals my thoughts. Since my animated Boba doesn't have to be spot on, more of a caricature, I plan on using all.of his soft goods and armor, but with maybe a FP2 helmet.

So without further boring you, let's see what you get for a few hundred bucks.

Edit, I have attached photos from the catalogue he sends so you can see what the whole set looks like in old 1990's photos lol

 

[Fettacini]

Alrighty, first installment, the shoulders. Before I go into it I should say that he was a pleasure to deal with. It takes him a day or two to respond to emails but he does respond and is very helpful and quite the funny guy.

The set was well packed and as he is just selling off his old stock, he was out of boba shoes in my size, no big deal and he let me know up front.

So everything is made of a very thick vacuformed plastic. Not too thick, just thick enough not to be flimsy. I have faith that this stuff will last a long time.

As the Dented Helmet and probably the internet as we know it wasn't around with high res screen caps and the suits touring the world. There are some accuracy issues, but nothing that a good "this is a holiday Fett. Based off a cartoon" attitude shouldn't fix.

As you can see the shoulders are the right basic shape, but a bit smaller( that's going to be a running theme) and have more of a curve.

I will say, all.the parts are painted with layers, like, whoever did the paint apps on this suit 20 years ago, used liquid masking and sprayed silver, masked. Then sprayed the top color. Then removed the mask. Yeah Rubies, one dude in a garage did better work on massed produced props than your factory in China.. . .

You can see he sprayed the Mythosaur skull from a stencil. I'll be sanding these down and spraying them with the blue/gray for the Holiday fett. Otherwise. These will work.

The shoulders for comparison are from Quest Designs in Canada.

 

[Fettacini]

Let's take a look at the gauntlets next. Once again, made from a heavy styrene and vacuformed. They feel super solid. Like, no need to reinforce them bc they will last forever type of solid. Well molded.

They are a clamshell style with 4 spots of velcro that hold hold on surprisingly well.

So you can see that this is another area wear the age and lack of reference or just a different attitude of prop building comes into play. The major details are there, not accurate but represented by approximately shaped found pieces and parts. Particularly the "switches" which are pipe barbs and fittings and the Casio Mq1 keypad which is a cut sheet of textured clear styrene.
From afar, looks pretty good, compared to anything now, not so much.

But they will still do the trick for some Holiday gauntlets! It's almost exactly what I need, just an artists impression of Boba Fett.

Particular notes, I compared the "missile" to a modern 3d print I made, you can see the size difference, and the pre pro flame unit. Too cool! I will probably replace the telescoping tubing with some better fitting tunes from K&S for a finer fit, and replace the black cord with a spring cord from an old red phone.

You can see that the gauntlets have been painted by him with a layer method, no shading or weathering other than the chipped paint but still impressive for somthing from that era.

Overall, a bit undersized but not shockingly so, im average, im 5'11" and 175 lbs lean. So this will work.

I dont know how long these sat in storage but man, it's just kind of cool to see this part of the history of the Boba Fett costume. To my knowledge, unless you ripped apart a Don Post statue ,this was the only ( albeit unlicensed) full Boba Fett costume available to the public before Rubies came along. The Prop makers at the Dented Helmet are currently kind of the hill, I don't think anything commercially available can compare to a full suit run done by Bobamaker or Fett4real or Rafalfett. I'm sure there are plenty of others who have sold full suit commissions so pardon me if I forgot anyone. Come to think of it im not sure if Rafalfett has done a full suit commission.. . .dang it brain, get it together!

 

[Fettacini]

Next up let's take a look at the knee armor. Once again, it's a bit understated but not so terrible. Its vacumformed from some very solid abs.
The build quality is impressive for e0 years ago. No physical dents are present as with the rest of the plates.
It's painted in an actual layer style. The dsrt launchers are 2 part peices with nasty seam lines. It has a velcro strap to hold it on.

Overall with some adjustment, filler and replacement of the darts, and a good repaint, these will work well with my Holiday edition build.

For comparison in the photos the knee armor from Quest Designs in Canada are shown.

 

[Fettacini]

Just to show you all what my plans are, I am turning most of this suit into a Holiday Edition Boba Fett. This version can be "stylized" so the inaccuracies are easier to forgive.

I went ahead an sanded the shoulders with my palm sander and wanted to try Humbrol liquid mask. Side note, this is by far the best liquid mask I have ever used, hands down. Accept no substitute. I will say however, it works best over flat or dull coated surfaces, it tends to pool and bead over glossy surfaces but man, humbrol is the best.

So I repainted these Marco shoulders to the Holiday edition scheme. Still need to shade them but wanted you to see how they look with a "proper" paint job.

 

[Fettacini]

Let's take a look at the chest, abs, collar and cod. So just like everything else, it's a bit under scaled, but im not a bit guy, so it will do for my purposes.

*The armor for comparison in the photo is an unknown origin vacuformed armor I picked up from a guy on ebay, he is a forum member and was selling off a bulk collection for a costume he wouldn't get around to make, so I apologize for not knowing who's armor it is. It appears to be pretty accurate and I would venture a wild guess that it's either Bobamaker, Fett Pride via Wasted Fett or possibly Minute fett, not sure. Going to buy so Wasted Fett armor next month to do another build so ill be able to compare.

Once again we have an actual layered paint job, and finally have some physical dents.

You can see with the cod that accuracy isn't all there, but since I'm using this to make a cartoon version come to life, no big deal.

The chest also has a digital read out, albeit super old and it basically just flashes from left to right like a Cylon, once again, not great but it will serve its purpose.

They all attache to the vest with velcro that will be replaced with pins and locking clutch backs.

The cod had a belt woven through the two straps that ill go over later.

All in all, super solid parts, nice and thick, and easy to sand down and repaint.

Side note. I forgot to take a picture of the collar before I started sanding it to repaint, so it comes from Marco not quite as damaged. And the electronics readout worked! After 35 years of being in storage I couldn't believe it worked. Good deal.

 

[Fettacini]

And to finish off the hard armor parts (saving the helmet and jetpack for later) the back plate.

Once again( ill.be saying that a lot. . . .sorry) it's a bit undersized but honestly not by much. Will still do perfectly for my needs.

Painted in the same green with a layered process. Also made from super sturdy ABS vacuformed. If I didn't mention, it seems like all the hard armor parts except for the helmet and gauntlets are ABS. The gauntlets and helmet and polystyrene. Still, super tough and nice and sturdy

 

[stormtrooperguy]

this is awesome. it is amazing that he STILL has old stock!!

 

[Fettacini]

this is awesome. it is amazing that he STILL has old stock!!

I know right! I couldn't find any info or reviews on his stuff so I figured I would contribute. As you will see, this set is a super deal and great budget starting place if accuracy is not the most important thing. For a fraction of the price of the rubies set, you get all.the armor, flight suit, jetpack, belts and other stuff. Sure, none of it holds up to today's standard but for custom jobs or Holiday editions, this is a deal.
Marcos stormtroopers looks impressive as well and he also has tons of machined aluminum light sabers and Droid parts.

More installments to come, we will be looking at the soft goods and jetpack and helmet next

 

[Fettacini]

What's more is it appears like Marco Enterprises stock has been sitting in a storage container for about 35 years, so all of his stuff is limited as he is just liquidating his collection. My guess is 2020 hit him hard and he realized that he could sell his old stock. There are some gems in the mess, at the very least it's a great nostalgia piece and part of the History of the hobby. Marco's Boba Fett helmet is not great by today's standards but has its place in the lineage of prop replicas. I'm surprised that Art doesn't have one lol. It's not cast from anything screen used, rather it's a completely original take, but it has a metal range finder and some other unique features.

 

[Fettacini]

Let's take a look at the ammo belt. This is probably one of the weakest parts but still has some usefulness.

So it's a standard nylon webbing belt with quick release buckle, the side pouches appear to be custom sewn from a dark gray soft fabric. The "ammo" pouches are the weak point. They are molded plastic and hollow. Pretty much a "Rubies" level part.

I'll be stripping the side pouches off to use with my Holiday Fett and the rest will probably go in the trash.

Honestly for the late 80's and early 90's, this was probably a seller part.

You can see the side pouches had some blocks of foam stuck in, I took it out and cut it down to make it a bit less uniform.

Next up we will take a look at the jump suit and vest, but first ill throw some pictures of the repainted chest pieces so you all can see what they look like with some color on them. Overall I'm pretty happy with them.

For the money, this set gets you a ton of base level parts for a decent Fett suit, if your willing to put some work into it and get a new helmet and some accessories like ammo belt, shoes, gloves and other odds and ends.

 

[Fettacini]

As promised, here are some preliminary shots of the base layers for my Holiday conversion paint job on the Marco parts

 

[Fettacini]

Alright alright, I know I said we would take a look at the jump suit and vest, but heck, let's look at the helmet!!!

Ok, so compared to anything now, . . .let's be honest, its garbage.

It is vacuformed plastic and pretty light. What it did have over the Don Post helmet is a full T visor. I remember my first Don Post helmet when I was a kid, and being so dissatisfied with the half visor, half painted. I remember using Tamiya Smoke gloss paint to try and paint the bottom rubber half to blend it in with the the actual visor.

Little did I know I could have just cut that crap out and used a welding visor. .. . Wisdom comes with age I guess.


Anyways, so the RF stalk is actually metal and you have to assemble that side ear, just some small screws and a bracket. It even comes with the chin cup but no instructions on how to put it all in.
Inside the helmet is a foam liner "sweat band" that helps hold it in place.

The paint job is layered, once again, for 30 plus years ago, very impressive, this looks better than most of the Don Post helmets of the same era. With some paint you could make thus look "ok". I will be leaving it as is, its a part of the Fett Helmet history and a fun "non licensed" but semi mass produced one at that!

So for size comparison I put it next to my unknown make resin cast "RoTJ" helmet I recently painted. Pretty close. This is possibly the only part of the suit that is not noticeably undersized.

I hope some of you are enjoying this walk down memory lane and my objective is to show you what you might be getting for around $500 from Marco Enterprises. I know. I know, alot of it is useless to an accurate fett, but for a budget or animated Fett, I think you will see, especially with the jetpack, that you get all the base parts u need, just need to add a helmet, gloves, boots, and some odds and ends like ammo belt if wanted.

Would I buy this again, probably not, but have I gotten my money's worth out of it repainting it to a holiday special, absolutely! The jumpsuit, jetpack, armor and gauntlets alone will work for an animated Fett and I have all that for a fraction of the price for "accurate " parts. Don't get me wrong, I love a good accurate looking animated Fett, but if I can do a stylized version that looks cool for under half the price, well heck, why not!

 

[Fettacini]

Just some odds and ends, the gloves and shin tools. Once again, garbage lol but cool of him to include these.

The gloves are literally "garden" variety gardening gloves. With some stripes painted on them.

The shin tools are vacuformed one sided parts with a cylinder Droid caller part as well.

Back in the day, these would have worked beautifully, but with my 3d printer I can print better ones or better yet, go buy the actual parts. Still cool to include them in the set. This was literally a complete costume back in the day.

These all used to come with boots too but since Marco is just liquidating old stock in his warehouse, he has run out of boots in most sizes. No biggie.

 

[stormtrooperguy]

the grey stripe painted on the gloves is killing me. points for creativity i guess!

 

[Fettacini]

the grey stripe painted on the gloves is killing me. points for creativity i guess!

I know right, you can definitely tell.this is a 30+ year old attempt. Shoot, when it first came out, it was all.the rage, it won contests and was the best thing out there short of deconstructing a Don Post statue( I don't care what any company says, Sideshow or Don Post, of they make a full size statue, with soft parts for clothes, anyone with the right tools can absolutely deconstruct and hollow out certain parts, cut and stitch back together clothing to make a wearable suit. It's absolutely doable). Anyways, yes, prepare for more cringe parts and some pleasantly surprising parts!

 

[Fettacini]

Okie dokie, so the flight suit and the vest. The flight suit is an old mechanics or work coveralls, didn't see a manufacturer logo but the grey blue color looks nice, especially for an animated Fett.
Look, this is no Arkady or Man of War flight suit but it can pass. It has the shin pockets and thigh pockets sewn in very sturdily (is that even a word?).
It does have some inappropriate pockets due to being a standard coverall type suit. It has been pre weathered somewhat by some minor paint and dirt staining.

The vest is a simple fabric overvest that has velcro all over it. The armor plats velcro to it ( this will be kept on, and just reinforced with pins and locking clutch backs, no need to get too fancy).
It has a neck seal that velcro on and once all sealed up, looks decent. I will weather it and shade it and I think you all might be surprised at how it can look.

Oh. . .. also, the wookie braids. Just some pieces of synthetic rope.. . . .yeah, trash. I'll be ordering some beautician braid extensions in a red-orang color from Amazon. You can find braid extensions that look exactly like the cartoon version for about 15 bucks. They come pre braided and have tied ends. They look close enough.

 

[Fettacini]

Last part to go over will be the Jetpack. Its workable and will be just fine repainted. I'll snap some pics and do a proper review but it's probably one of the stronger parts in the set, still not accurate but it is impressive given the age of it.

 

[spicy fett]

I’m not trying to hurry you lol but I am dyyyiiinng to see this is he still selling his stock on eBay or somewhere??

 

[Fettacini]

Thanks man! Throwing my review of the jetpack up tomorrow. To be fair, I have not owned any serious jetpack (i.e. man of War ect). I have printed a free file from thingiverse but then realized I should have just brought Rafalfett's jetpack files, still probably will.

So yes, Marco Enterprises old stock is being sold on eBay. However a bit unconventional. You buy his catalogue for 5 bucks, he sends that and that has contact info as well as full color (albeit a bit blurry) photos of said stock. I like it, I miss old school catalogs!