Ord Mantell's ESB build

[Ord Mantell]

A big piece of the puzzle is now in place: the suit, thanks to Clothears. I actually began thinking about Clothears for the suit back in 2009 and got some swatches from them. Unlike everyone else at the time, they were not using tackle twill (don't get me started on that) for the vest which was a big plus in my book. I hated the tackle twill craze (hey, I said don't get me started). Plus they had great patterns. When I came back to this build last year I got more swatches and liked practically everything about their ESB. The patterns and materials were even better than before. I especially liked that they had nailed the cone-shape of the neck seal, something absolutely nobody else understood.

I really felt like they 'got it' and they clearly knew what they were doing. I liked everything except some of the colors, so I wrote them to ask if it was possible to make changes to the colors. After some discussion it became clear they were very easy to work with and were perfectly fine for making changes especially if it meant increasing the accuracy. This took a few months of sporadic emails to iron out but this is basically what we changed:

Their ESB as of last summer looked like this:

Just magnificent. Except the neck seal and vest should be different colors. The vest was perfect, but the neck should be much lighter, like it was almost still ST white or a very light gray.

I also noted from this same photo how the vest neck seam hugs the bottom of the neck seal without any gap or bunching. It's a perfect fit, which I was not seeing in their version. I wasn't sure if it would be possible to achieve but I asked for it anyway.

I sent this as my color suggestion:

I don't know what miracles they had to perform to get the neck seal the right color but they totally pulled it off.

And they also just completely stunned me by getting the fit between the vest and neck nice and tight all the way around.

BAM. NAILED IT. This might just as well have Bermans & Nathans labels on it. Simply stunning.

There were some changes with the gloves as well. Their do-it-yourself kit had the pads as the same color gray as the vest. And the stitching down the pad of the back of the hand was the same matching gray. I noted the pads should be white and the stitching should be black or dark gray.

But I ended up trying to do the color changes myself when I got the kit. Not my best idea.

Despite multiple efforts to get a professional to sew the gloves, I couldn't find anybody to do it. Luckily this was near the time Alison and Jude were moving so Alison said she could do them in some of her down time. Lucky me. When she got them back I think she finally realized the degree of desperate Fett obsessiveness I suffered from and offered to change the material for the pads to white and add the dark stitching. Probably out of sympathy. Hallelujah.

Such a splendid job. Absolutely top notch. Couldn't be more pleased. So I got it on the mannequin after some adjustments.

 

[AlphaCloneFett]

fantastic! i also darkened my vest to get a distinct difference from the lighter neck seal...clothears nailed it!

will you be getting the headwear?

 

[Ord Mantell]

fantastic! i also darkened my vest to get a distinct difference from the lighter neck seal.

well done

will you be getting the headwear?

yes.

 

[RamSkirata]

Whats in progress here just GOTTA be the most accurate full ESB Fett ever. Not an overstatement, just a humble observation. Much much respect! Youre an archeologist!

 

[JojoFett95]

Whats in progress here just GOTTA be the most accurate full ESB Fett ever. Not an overstatement, just a humble observation. Much much respect! Youre an archeologist!

The amount of detail in Clothears work, is commendable. I’m looking forward more and more to these changes, once I receive my parts from them .

 

[TheBobaFett]

I wasn't joking when I said this is shaping up to be the best ESB I ever seen.
And Clothears attention to detail is like no other, the changes are remarkable..what stunning sight all together.

 

[JojoFett95]

I wasn't joking when I said this is shaping up to be the best ESB I ever seen.
And Clothears attention to detail is like no other, the changes are remarkable..what stunning sight all together.

Truly

 

[Ord Mantell]

Whats in progress here just GOTTA be the most accurate full ESB Fett ever. Not an overstatement, just a humble observation. Much much respect! Youre an archeologist!

I wasn't joking when I said this is shaping up to be the best ESB I ever seen.
And Clothears attention to detail is like no other, the changes are remarkable..what stunning sight all together.

Thanks for the mighty kind words, gentlemen.

 

[spicy fett]

I swear watching and keeping up with this build has made me feel like every step in my own build was in the wrong direction it’s beautiful work and I love keeping up with it!! I almost went with the same flightsuit but at the time it was a bit to pricey

 

[Ord Mantell]

I swear watching and keeping up with this build has made me feel like every step in my own build was in the wrong direction

Don't be absurd! Your build is turning out great.

I almost went with the same flightsuit but at the time it was a bit to pricey

I hear ya. It's not a small investment. If you can't do the whole suit at once, maybe consider just getting the flak vest. Not as much of an investment and makes a big difference.

 

[spicy fett]

Don't be absurd! Your build is turning out great.

I hear ya. It's not a small investment. If you can't do the whole suit at once, maybe consider just getting the flak vest. Not as much of an investment and makes a big difference.

Thanks I really appreciate that! I just love the accuracy it’s astounding and inspiring I was thinking about possibly doing that once my flightsuit is finished because I don’t see myself stopping when it comes to upgrading my stuff

 

[Ord Mantell]

I don’t see myself stopping when it comes to upgrading my stuff

So.... you've accepted the truth. Same here. It never really ends.

 

[jusdrewit]

This is utterly amazing. Do you think your suggestions made to Clothears (the lighter neck color, and snug neck to vest) will be implemented for all future ESB products of theirs, or would it need to be requested?

 

[Ord Mantell]

As I understand it it's part of their standard ESB suit now so you don't have to worry about asking for it.

 

[Ord Mantell]

I had a little bit of time to rework my jetpack beacon light. I decided to try to replace the 12v LED setup with a 6v incandescent system. I never wanted an LED in there, but the 12v halogens ran so hot you would easily burn yourself if you touched the beacon metal after just seconds. It seemed to me 6v would work a lot better for this reason alone. I just wasn't sure if it would be bright enough. So I tried it out.

I got these simple car dash/console lights which are 6 volts and are conveniently bi-pin which works perfect for the beacon. I will be powering these from an outlet, but you could just as easily power them off of 4 AA batteries stored inside the jetpack.

I inserted the bulb pins into the wires that connect to a 6v adapter. It took some time to get the bulb in the right position, then hot glued the wire into place so it would stay.

I was hoping to improve two things with this over the 12v 10w LED. First, I hope the more focused light of the incandescent bulb will create more accurate light casting of the beacon slits, showing the beacon slits cast onto surrounding objects correctly, and second, the light intensity will be more accurate. In other words, not so bright.

It's not perfect but it's also not bad. I think the discrepancies I see in these comparisons are due more to the inaccuracies of the Bobby Fett UK jetpack and Serenity beacon than the position or brightness of the bulb. I've been thinking about getting a more accurate jetpack for a while now. Just not sure if I want to paint another one. KaanE suggested putting a diffuser on it, which isn't a bad idea as long as I can find something that just takes the edge off, not obliterate the beacon slits.

But I think the 6v works better than the 12v setup. I still don't know what they had in the original, but 6v makes more sense. The bulb doesn't run hot at all. The beacon is warm, but there's no chance of third degree burns and it seems plenty bright. And although the incandescent won't have the lifespan the LED will, they're pretty cheap and with my system they're pretty easy to swap out.

 

[RafalFett]

Well, I will call you officially Mr. Accuracy Nut.

I love how with each post you manage to outdo yourself and give us some jaw-dropping details of your build. Great, great work so far, but... let's level up on the accuracy nut scale. Here's a comparison image of the ESB Hero and possibly the ROTJ Hero vests (present on the MoM, DaG and SWtE exhibits):

(Just follow the stitching on the left shoulder)

 

[Ord Mantell]

Well, I will call you officially Mr. Accuracy Nut

That's quite a distinction considering present company. I'm flattered. Thank you, good sir.

Great find on the vest! Thank goodness they did such a sloppy job on that stitch line. I'll definitely look closer at this. It's interesting how the same vest can wear differently depending on the form or person it's on. Love this. Thanks for this insight. Excellent.

 

[Ord Mantell]

While I was working on the beacon light, I thought I'd test out an item related to the jetpack in regards to something I noticed last summer while scrutinizing scene 371. I had planned to discuss it later in my build as one of the final finishing touches once it was mostly assembled, but JojoFett95 reached out to me a couple of weeks ago and brought it up on his own to ask my opinion about it. He had independently noticed the same thing and wanted to discuss it because there didn't seem to be much discussion about it in the forums. I'm talking about the conspicuous presence of the XLR cable on the costume on-screen, particularly scene 371. Of course, having also noticed the same thing we went straight to nerd heaven and hashed it all out. From our discussion we were seeing and concluding the same things.

One thing I've certainly noticed and discussed before is that the costume in scene 371 was a bit of a costume fitting disaster, with a lot of it all but falling off of John Morton. This is just another example of things not really fitting as planned.

We all know the supertrooper costume had a number of cables going from the arms to connector jacks in the bottom of the jetpack.

And we all know the ESB promo shots shows a single XLR cable dangling in the back.

But what I hadn't noticed until last summer, was that the single XLR cable was actually still present on the filming costume. I first noticed it in scene 371 looped around the jetpack hooks.

And then noticed it had a path all the way back to the right gauntlet. This is what JojoFett had also noticed, in particular the metallic object hanging behind the right arm. This crazy costume is growing parts!

He and I had already both independently concluded this object was a pair of XLR connectors, probably a male/female coupling which connected the first section of cable coming from the gauntlet to the next section which is plugged into the jetpack.

We don't have very good resolution imagery of this object right now:

You can see the cable and it's path better if you brighten up the scene:

The path appears to be something like this:

The XLR connectors dangling behind the right arm seem to have the same shape peculiar to the same connectors used on the Supertrooper costume, what appears to me to be the ITT Cannon brand.

This is my ITT Cannon female socket plug compared to the supertrooper plug. It seems to be the same make. The ITT Cannon has a distinctive cable screw clamp at the back of the plug:

So we're pretty sure the dangling object behind the right arm is this:

The connectors have the release button turned inward toward the body, so they appear to have a smooth overall surface. I was unsure for a while if the connectors had some kind of adapter in between because it seemed long, but this comparison cleared that question up in my mind:

It seems clear that a simple male/female coupling can account for the shape and size of the object. More ways to look at it:

With these side-by-sides you can also make out more clearly in the movie still where the male and female connectors actually meet, verifying the idea the cabling is probably something like this as far as connectors:

Obviously these connectors and the cable were meant to be tucked under the back of the vest and kept out of sight. Yet another costume fail for the guys getting this on Morton for this shoot.

This might be an insignificant detail for a lot of people making this costume, but for my focus on replicating scene 371, I wanted to add it. Certainly if you're trooping this would be an unnecessary complication.

Below are my initial rough setup of the cable's path which I will definitely need to finesse at a later stage.

There is also the issue of how the cable was plugged into the jetpack. I'm not aware of any photos of the ESB jetpack plugs configuration. Was it like the PP1 or the PP2 plugs? For the moment I lean toward it being more like the PP2 jetpack with the plugs arranged in a recessed area, since I see no evidence of the cable being plugged into the bottom of the jetpack like the ST or PP1. Of course, is it really plugged in at all, and if so, why on Earth is it? What were they using it for? There is also the question, was the cable used in all of the scenes or just some? I'll leave those questions open to speculation for now.

 

[spicy fett]

That’s absolutely mind blowing!!

 

[AlphaCloneFett]

While I was working on the beacon light, I thought I'd test out an item related to the jetpack in regards to something I noticed last summer while scrutinizing scene 371. I had planned to discuss it later in my build as one of the final finishing touches once it was mostly assembled, but JojoFett95 reached out to me a couple of weeks ago and brought it up on his own to ask my opinion about it. He had independently noticed the same thing and wanted to discuss it because there didn't seem to be much discussion about it in the forums. I'm talking about the conspicuous presence of the XLR cable on the costume on-screen, particularly scene 371. Of course, having also noticed the same thing we went straight to nerd heaven and hashed it all out. From our discussion we were seeing and concluding the same things.

One thing I've certainly noticed and discussed before is that the costume in scene 371 was a bit of a costume fitting disaster, with a lot of it all but falling off of John Morton. This is just another example of things not really fitting as planned.

We all know the supertrooper costume had a number of cables going from the arms to connector jacks in the bottom of the jetpack.

View attachment 210672

And we all know the ESB promo shots shows a single XLR cable dangling in the back.

View attachment 210673

But what I hadn't noticed until last summer, was that the single XLR cable was actually still present on the filming costume. I first noticed it in scene 371 looped around the jetpack hooks.

View attachment 210674

And then noticed it had a path all the way back to the right gauntlet. This is what JojoFett had also noticed, in particular the metallic object hanging behind the right arm. This crazy costume is growing parts!

View attachment 210675

He and I had already both independently concluded this object was a pair of XLR connectors, probably a male/female coupling which connected the first section of cable coming from the gauntlet to the next section which is plugged into the jetpack.

We don't have very good resolution imagery of this object right now:

View attachment 210676View attachment 210677
You can see the cable and it's path better if you brighten up the scene:

View attachment 210678
The path appears to be something like this:
View attachment 210679

The XLR connectors dangling behind the right arm seem to have the same shape peculiar to the same connectors used on the Supertrooper costume, what appears to me to be the ITT Cannon brand.

View attachment 210680

This is my ITT Cannon female socket plug compared to the supertrooper plug. It seems to be the same make. The ITT Cannon has a distinctive cable screw clamp at the back of the plug:

View attachment 210681

So we're pretty sure the dangling object behind the right arm is this:
View attachment 210682View attachment 210683

The connectors have the release button turned inward toward the body, so they appear to have a smooth overall surface. I was unsure for a while if the connectors had some kind of adapter in between because it seemed long, but this comparison cleared that question up in my mind:

View attachment 210684

It seems clear that a simple male/female coupling can account for the shape and size of the object. More ways to look at it:
View attachment 210685View attachment 210686

With these side-by-sides you can also make out more clearly in the movie still where the male and female connectors actually meet, verifying the idea the cabling is probably something like this as far as connectors:

View attachment 210687

Obviously these connectors and the cable were meant to be tucked under the back of the vest and kept out of sight. Yet another costume fail for the guys getting this on Morton for this shoot.

This might be an insignificant detail for a lot of people making this costume, but for my focus on replicating scene 371, I wanted to add it. Certainly if you're trooping this would be an unnecessary complication.

Below are my initial rough setup of the cable's path which I will definitely need to finesse at a later stage.

View attachment 210688

View attachment 210690
View attachment 210691

View attachment 210692
View attachment 210693
View attachment 210694

There is also the issue of how the cable was plugged into the jetpack. I'm not aware of any photos of the ESB jetpack plugs configuration. Was it like the PP1 or the PP2 plugs? For the moment I lean toward it being more like the PP2 jetpack with the plugs arranged in a recessed area, since I see no evidence of the cable being plugged into the bottom of the jetpack like the ST or PP1. Of course, is it really plugged in at all, and if so, why on Earth is it? What were they using it for? There is also the question, was the cable used in all of the scenes or just some? I'll leave those questions open to speculation for now.