OUTFITTING A BOUNTY HUNTER
Putting together the articles of Boba Fett’s costume was going to be VERY time-consuming, VERY delicate, and VERY intricate work… a supreme challenge, but ultimately VERY important to me. I really wanted the outfit on my figure to have that “assembled” look that is so identifiable to me as Boba Fett’s signature look.
I find that when Fett’s various armor sections, garments, and weapons are all molded and / or painted onto the figure (as they are on production figures), much of that “sectioned” look is lost, in my opinion.
Interestingly enough, virtually EVERY figure that I critiqued before would provide me with vital parts for creating my final custom Boba Fett.
Here is the rundown:
I turned to the POTJ 300th figure Boba Fett for his yellow armored knee pads and shoulder armor bell pieces. It was a tricky matter of using a single edge razor to cut these sections out, and then Dremeling them into hollow wearable articles.
[ATTACH=full]119084[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]119085[/ATTACH]
I discovered that when the shoulder bells are molded onto the figure’s upper arms (as they are on production Hasbro figures), there are always going to be three (3) major compromises to the integrity of the overall figure (which I was NOT going to accept on my custom):
1) The ball-jointed arms range of motion becomes partially impaired.
2) Un-due bulk is sculpted onto the figure’s shoulders, adversely affecting the slender aesthetic of the character.
3) The collar armor design is altered so that the outer ends curl upward where they meet the shoulder / arm socket. This is done to create clearance for the bulked-up ball-jointed arm (with the armored shoulder bells molded on).
The curled-up collar armor (in turn) only contributes to “football shoulder pad and no-neck syndrome”… which significantly reduces the slim, sleek aesthetic that this character is supposed to have.
By creating the shoulder bells as separate appliances, and then attaching them to the sleeve of a separate soft-goods flack vest garment (as they are meant to be), it was my hope to leave the figure’s shoulder articulation un-obstructed and maintain a slender build to Fett’s upper body.
