NoJohns Very Slow ESB Build! - WIP

NoJohns

New Hunter
Hey all! So after a lot of research and even more budgeting, I'm beginning my (Very slow) ESB build!
Below is my current parts list (Not quite complete) and I appreciate feedback or suggestions!
This will be my most complex costume build yet, as my two previous 501st approved kits were an ANH TIE Pilot and a TK/Sandtrooper. I'm excited but very intimidated by a few aspects of Boba!


Current hang-ups:
- Trying to source decent gloves
- Trying to source a jet pack harness


PARTSOURCESTATUS
HelmetToElevenIn Progress
ArmorMonCal Ordered
Chest ElectronicsWestabyFinished
GauntletsMonCal-
Jet Pack7CatStudios-
Jet Pack Harness--
SuitArkadyReceived
Flak VestArkadyReceived
Neck SealArkadyReceived
PouchesArkadyReceived
CapeScratch BuildIn Progress
Ammo BeltDelta Leatherworks-
Girth BeltScratch BuildIn Progress
Gloves--
BootsCrowProps-
Nemrod HolsterDelta LeatherworksFinished
Shin Tools3D Print-
Wookie BraidsJojoFett95Finished
EE-3 CarbineSidewinderOrdered
Sidearm3D PrintIn Progress
 
Last edited:
NoJohns
As you've probably seen most say: "Welcome to the Hunt!"
1640234165921.jpeg


Sounds like you got some experience already into the world of cosplay creating. I kicked off my obsession into this in 2019 and thought Boba Fett would be it for me and I'd be done. Nope....for me I wanted to do more. I've since taken on a static Jawa Prop and am now in the process of building my daughter a Boushh cosplay. (Also to clarify I ended up doing a ROTJ Boba Fett - which has some differences to an ESB Boba Fett.)

So just looking at your two concerns:
Concern 1: Trying to source decent gloves
Answer: I originally went with MoW Studios Gloves as he had a decent reputation. AND I've purchased a couple other items from him for my Fett. But as I continued on in my Fett-Quest and as I reviewed more and more screen shots and spoke with others here on TDH. I began to have buyers remorse. I have since upgraded to a pair of Mike M. Gloves and was absolutely satisfied. Mike's gloves are 100% legit! I've also heard the Boba Maker has a decent set of gloves as well. (I'm a huge Boba Maker fan - as I have ALL of his armor and Jetpack)

Concern 2: Trying to source a jet pack harness
Answer: I went with MoW Studios as I really liked the low profile aspect of the harness. But I can tell you that after a few times trooping with it on, the weight of the Jetpack causes the front collar of the harness to inch its way closer and closer to my neck which does choke me a little - It's not a bad choke, just really annoying. I'm now looking to get my hands on a full kit from Bigdane . As I understand it, he offers a kit that is close to screen accurate as possible. The MoW Jetpack Harness, should be good enough to get you Level 1 cert'd.

And speaking of MoW Studios, I see your are also planning on getting his Gauntlets and Jetpack from him. Be wary as I've seen lately that his molds have deteriorated to the point where stuff doesn't fit quite right and is warped, etc. It sounds like he's corrected this issue, but just be wanted you to be aware. I see you're looking at his Shin Tools too, which is another thing I picked up - it looks like he's upgraded the molds a bit on his new set. But honestly it wasn't that hard to modify the found part which is the Patterson Squeegee. I got mine from B&H Photo for $39.95.


I also have a side by side comparison of the MoW Studios vs the Patterson Shin Tools.
Shin Tool Comparison.jpg

But as you can see the Patterson solution offers more depth and look as opposed to the MoW Studios Shin Tools!

You definitely cannot go wrong with an Arkady flight suit - So good choice there, her wares are top notch!
:cool:(y)

If you're interested in metal parts/greeblies look at both Machine Craft Replicas as well as QuestDesignCanada!

And check out Fettronics for your Chest LED's another awesome purchase and looks phenomenal too!

Aside from that - you've got a great start to your journey!

Have fun building it. Here is what the fruits of my labor gave me....
Matt as Boba Fett.JPG


At my local ComicCon on December 4th, 2021 (Emerald City Comic Con)
ECCC - Dec 4th 2021.jpg


For the record the pics of me above do NOT include my aforementioned Boba Maker Jetpack. It is still a WIP. The Jetpack pictured here is from Coz3D - from Etsy with upgraded metal greeblies from QuestDesignCanada.

Best,
-Iron
 
Last edited:
NoJohns

At my local ComicCon on December 4th, 2021 (Emerald City Comic Con)
View attachment 218314

For the record the pics of me above do NOT include my aforementioned Boba Maker Jetpack. It is still a WIP. The Jetpack pictured here is from Coz3D - from Etsy with upgraded metal greeblies from QuestDesignCanada.

Best,
-Iron

Thanks for all the advice! I may end up going with the Coz3D kit, it looks great!
 
Last edited:
What fabric did you order for the cape?
As per the CRL, I ordered some canvas (Duck canvas) in the closest color to screen-reference that I could get, but since I got it for a huge discount I won't mind if I need to order a different fabric/color. Not going for level 2 certification so I may end up sewing the stripe on rather than painting it, but we'll see.
 
Duck canvas is the way to go! 100% paint that stripe on!
I've done a lot of weird stuff for other builds, but never painted fabric. Is it as simple as masking it off and spraying away or does it need to be brushed? Specific types of paints? etc.
 
Another thing I'm researching.

I'm not a stickler for accuracy when it comes to blasters, as it's something I'm carrying, brushing against, maybe even dropping on troops. I have the sidearm covered, but for the EE-3 I'm looking for quality along the lines of "Good for trooping." Does anyone know of some decent STL files or kits that won't break the bank? Definitely doesn't have to be a metal kit.
 
Last edited:
Another thing I'm researching.

I'm not a stickler for accuracy when it comes to blasters, as it's something I'm carrying, brushing against, maybe even dropping on troops. I have the sidearm covered, but for the EE-3 I'm looking for quality along the lines of "Good for trooping." Does anyone know of some decent STL files or kits that won't break the bank? Definitely doesn't have to be a metal kit.
break the bank and get a sidewinder rifle
 
Another thing I'm researching.

I'm not a stickler for accuracy when it comes to blasters, as it's something I'm carrying, brushing against, maybe even dropping on troops. I have the sidearm covered, but for the EE-3 I'm looking for quality along the lines of "Good for trooping." Does anyone know of some decent STL files or kits that won't break the bank? Definitely doesn't have to be a metal kit.
NoJohns
The ESB and ROTJ EE-3's as you may know are completely different! BUT.....I was told that if you're looking for one of the better ones on the market (and I concur with AlphaCloneFett ) that the Sidewinder EE-3 is great stuff. I know he offers kits you build/assemble yourself and kits that he finishes 100%. I just paid for my Sidewinder ROTJ EE-3 in the beginning of December - can't wait to get it.

Sidewinder is very reputable here on TDH and as far as I'm concerned really goes out of his way to work with and please his customers.

Now you also mentioned Metal Kits....the one that comes to mind are the ones produced by "Blaster Factory", I seriously considered getting in on a ROTJ EE-3 from them. But it is NOT for the faint of heart, at $1248.99 (for their ESB variant w/greeblies), this woulda taken an enormous amount of begging/pleading and convincing of the wife to let me have. Also, I wasn't too sure I wanted to be under the cruel tutelage of my wife's chores for the next year (or two) either. The the phrase "Break the Bank", I think is subjective, now the $1248.99 wouldn't have necessarily broken the bank for me, but it woulda stung for sure.
o_O:lol:

....and so, after seeing many pics of Sidewinders beauty of a weapon I ended up spending around $360 for one of his finished kits!
:cool:(y)

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!

-Iron
 
Last edited:
NoJohns
The ESB and ROTJ EE-3's as you may know are completely different! BUT.....I was told that if you're looking for one of the better ones on the market (and I concur with AlphaCloneFett ) that the Sidewinder EE-3 is great stuff. I know he offers kits you build/assemble yourself and kits that he finishes 100%. I just paid for my Sidewinder ROTJ EE-3 in the beginning of December - can't wait to get it.

Sidewinder is very reputable here on TDH and as far as I'm concerned really goes out of his way to work with and please his customers.

Now you also mentioned Metal Kits....the one that comes to mind are the ones produced by "Blaster Factory", I seriously considered getting in on a ROTJ EE-3 from them. But it is NOT for the faint of heart, at $1248.99 (for their ESB variant w/greeblies), this woulda taken an enormous amount of begging/pleading and convincing of the wife to let me have. Also, I wasn't too sure I wanted to be under the cruel tutelage of my wife's chores for the next year (or two) either. The the phrase "Break the Bank", I think is subjective, now the $1248.99 wouldn't have necessarily broken the bank for me, but it woulda stung for sure.
o_O:lol:

....and so, after seeing many pics of Sidewinders beauty of a weapon I ended up spending around $360 for one of his finished kits!
:cool:(y)

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!

-Iron
After looking into his work, definitely going with Sidewinder! Thanks for letting me know about that!
 
Hey all, I'm researching into building my own belt, but I haven't worked with leather all that much. Not sure what type of leather to get/how much. If anyone has any experience in this to bolster my research, I'd greatly appreciate it!
 
NoJohns
I gotta say, I do love the ambition. And maybe that is because I never really built anything ALL the way from scratch except for my static Jawa prop - and that was a fun built. According to the 501st (as you made mention of the 501st above to go along with your TIE Fighter Pilot and SandTrooper)....
1641872740413.png


It does make mention of using a Vinyl Leather. This is also true for the ROTJ variant. It was just my personal taste, but I didn't care for that type of look and wanted a true leather. For that I looked around and landed on a Delta Leatherworks version from Delta13Mike, which is another respectable vendor/member here on TDH. And I can say it an absolutely beautiful belt!
1641873088392.png


Also, I had concerns that his belt was a bit light in color as shown in the screen shot above, but Mike assured me that his belts are much darker in color and he blames his camera for the picture quality. But again, when I received mine I couldn't have been happier! I just wanted to give you another option/perspective on the belt. If you do go all the way with making yourself one from scratch, and it looks legit, I suspect you'll have many folks asking you how you did it - which has its own merits.
1641873574480.png
1641873580050.png


Best,
-Iron

P.S. For last Halloween I stuck 8 of these in my Ammo Pouches (1 per pouch) to hand out to Boba's favorite Star Wars costumes for the kiddos. Needless to say it was well received!
1641874024401.png
 
Last edited:
I also went with leather. Delta belts are great! You’ll need to darken the stitching and paint the snaps for true screen accuracy.

Still might have to get vinyl someday though… ;-)
 
NoJohns
I gotta say, I do love the ambition. And maybe that is because I never really built anything ALL the way from scratch except for my static Jawa prop - and that was a fun built. According to the 501st (as you made mention of the 501st above to go along with your TIE Fighter Pilot and SandTrooper)....
View attachment 218975

It does make mention of using a Vinyl Leather. This is also true for the ROTJ variant. It was just my personal taste, but I didn't care for that type of look and wanted a true leather. For that I looked around and landed on a Delta Leatherworks version from Delta13Mike, which is another respectable vendor/member here on TDH. And I can say it an absolutely beautiful belt!
View attachment 218976

Also, I had concerns that his belt was a bit light in color as shown in the screen shot above, but Mike assured me that his belts are much darker in color and he blames his camera for the picture quality. But again, when I received mine I couldn't have been happier! I just wanted to give you another option/perspective on the belt. If you do go all the way with making yourself one from scratch, and it looks legit, I suspect you'll have many folks asking you how you did it - which has its own merits.
View attachment 218977 View attachment 218978

Best,
-Iron

P.S. For last Halloween I stuck 8 of these in my Ammo Pouches (1 per pouch) to hand out to Boba's favorite Star Wars costumes for the kiddos. Needless to say it was well received!
View attachment 218979
Thanks for the info and pointing out another great vendor! I may make an attempt on a DIY belt, but if it starts to go south I'll likely just buy from a trusted vendor.

And the Lego minifig handout is a great idea! All I've got right now for handouts are my Sandtrooper trading cards.
 
This thread is more than 1 year old.

Your message may be considered spam for the following reasons:

  1. This thread hasn't been active in some time. A new post in this thread might not contribute constructively to this discussion after so long.
If you wish to reply despite these issues, check the box below before replying.
Be aware that malicious compliance may result in more severe penalties.
Back
Top