RamSkirata
Active Hunter
Disney should hire you as costume builder!
Ord Mantell's ESB build
- Thread starter Ord Mantell
- Start date
Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
Thanks! Though I'd much prefer them hire me for my actual profession.
Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
Just wanted something similar. Adjustments also made to vest and flight suit.
Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
sidebar...
A look at a pair of unspoiled, period-correct Paterson squeegee and chemical mixer in original packaging. The mixer will go on my ESB. I already have a correct version vintage squeegee for the costume that's already cut.
another comparison of the color of the old against the new (new in middle). Besides the color, there is little difference between a modern mixer and the old. The modern is a hair smaller and sometimes has a tiny little dimple at the top of the rod where it joins with the handle.
A look at a pair of unspoiled, period-correct Paterson squeegee and chemical mixer in original packaging. The mixer will go on my ESB. I already have a correct version vintage squeegee for the costume that's already cut.
another comparison of the color of the old against the new (new in middle). Besides the color, there is little difference between a modern mixer and the old. The modern is a hair smaller and sometimes has a tiny little dimple at the top of the rod where it joins with the handle.
Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
I agree, it's not an easy decision.I've been debating sacrificing my vintage squeegee....
TL;DR:
There are at least two approaches to the debate... there is 1) safekeeping/collecting/hoarding: the desire to have the object itself, not for the costume, but for safe keeping of it's historical value to the process behind the making of the costume. To keep it safe from destruction, as if an endangered species (the rarer the part the more this applies, but only to the degree to which the original object must be irrevocably altered to use on the costume). Conversely, 2) original purpose/purism: the reason one desires to possess such an uncommon thing in the first place is for the sake of recreating the costume in its most accurate state possible, and therefore it should serve the costume as a priority, a contingency for its possession. The problem is when you want to feed both of these simultaneously. There is an inverse square relationship between the rareness of the object and your bank account. The rarer the object, the less money you have for it (usually squared). Of course when objects are so hard to find that finding even one is considered a miracle, then the tendency is to gravitate toward approach #1, (hoarding). The plus to that approach is when you get bored with it you can sell it later and get your money back. Maybe even make more back than the inflation rate (when hoarding becomes collecting). But that feat requires a rational pattern of thinking. A rarity in this hobby.
Depending on the piece and the availability of the pieces I'm willing to sacrifice. For now, because the stir stick and squeegee are still for sale I've seen no reason to cut my vintage one. MQ-1s I have one for safe keeping but I've killed a few in my time. It just depends or like the webley nothing has been modified but it's still built out as Boba's EE-3 minus any markings or damages to the stock.
RamSkirata
Active Hunter
I can tell you're a scholar
Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
some shots of the left gauntlet after assembly. Waiting for final paint.
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Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
One thing I think I forgot to mention in the section of putting together the right gauntlet is I did not use the mini-jack plugs on the plug block to connect to the gauntlet body. I believe after ST/PP1 they abandoned that method and switched to just epoxying the plug block to the body. My initial reason for believing this is because if you look at everything after PP1, the connection with the plug block has no gaps between it and the gauntlet shell. The connection is totally flush. That's pretty hard to do with those kind of connectors. Second, when I built mine I found that it did not take much at all for the plug block to come out after it was plugged in with the mini jacks. The jacks just don't have the strength for the amount of tension coming from the XLR cable, and it would pop out constantly. Third, if you look at practically every shot of PP1, they didn't even use the plug block, suggesting to me they had already discovered by then that the mini jack method was not going to work. So mine is now glued in with a hole for the wires to pass into the shell, although I have no plan at present to wire up the switches.
On to the left gauntlet...
I've waiting to complete this gauntlet rebuild for two years, and in the meantime something happened to my Elstree gauntlet rocket. I guess when I polished and sealed the copper tip a year ago, I didn't seal the bottoms of the holes, and I got this lovely mess...
this was really hard to clean up. Thanks to my friend @ConvergenceProps for getting that out for me. So be careful when you clean these and make sure you seal everything that was polished, including the hole bottoms.
The build of the left gauntlet is not as difficult as the right in my opinion. The only thing to be careful of when trimming is to make sure to get that curve on the outboard seam. The temptation is to cut it straight, but as @ConvergenceProps rightly pointed out for all of us, it is not straight.
I was probably a little conservative on my curvature...
Just be sure to mount the flamethrower up as high as you can. It's actually up higher than some people seem to think. I line up the top of the aluminum backplate to the top edge of the gauntlet. Below you can see where I put the screw holes for it.
I agonized over the placement of the wires in back. They seem to drift from scene to scene but I'm not sure most of that is optical illusion of poor resolution or difficult angles.
In the end I decided the holes seem to line up with the back end of the black painted bump feature on the topside next to the rocket.
These are holes just big enough for the wire gauge, drilled side by side so to end up conjoined like the wire. I then just stuck the wire ends through and bent them into place, and plugged the other ends into the back of the flamethrower.
On to the left gauntlet...
I've waiting to complete this gauntlet rebuild for two years, and in the meantime something happened to my Elstree gauntlet rocket. I guess when I polished and sealed the copper tip a year ago, I didn't seal the bottoms of the holes, and I got this lovely mess...
this was really hard to clean up. Thanks to my friend @ConvergenceProps for getting that out for me. So be careful when you clean these and make sure you seal everything that was polished, including the hole bottoms.
The build of the left gauntlet is not as difficult as the right in my opinion. The only thing to be careful of when trimming is to make sure to get that curve on the outboard seam. The temptation is to cut it straight, but as @ConvergenceProps rightly pointed out for all of us, it is not straight.
I was probably a little conservative on my curvature...
Just be sure to mount the flamethrower up as high as you can. It's actually up higher than some people seem to think. I line up the top of the aluminum backplate to the top edge of the gauntlet. Below you can see where I put the screw holes for it.
I agonized over the placement of the wires in back. They seem to drift from scene to scene but I'm not sure most of that is optical illusion of poor resolution or difficult angles.
In the end I decided the holes seem to line up with the back end of the black painted bump feature on the topside next to the rocket.
These are holes just big enough for the wire gauge, drilled side by side so to end up conjoined like the wire. I then just stuck the wire ends through and bent them into place, and plugged the other ends into the back of the flamethrower.
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Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
So then, paint. I went through a whole lot of mixes to come up with something better than I used last time. In the end, I went back to what I used last time. SAC bomber green mixed with light gray. Seemed to work better than anything else I can conjure up. And easier.
I took everything off the left gauntlet just to make it easier, but I kept most parts on for the right. This was to try to replicate some of the masking errors on the original.
for instance, below, masking off the whipcord housing with good old fashioned Scotch masking tape, I intended to get that white spot at the tip which I was not even aware of the first time I did my ESB gauntlets...
And this was the result, as expected. It's not rocket science.
from reference:
There are other various details like this elsewhere. Nothing big.
And also, masking the whipcord like this keeps the inside around the stylus brush rod nice and supertrooper white as well...
Notice the white is a different tone than the white on the whipcord. The whipcord white is warmer... that's from the dark brown wash which you slather on the whole gauntlet except that recess inside the whipcord because you can't reach it when trying to get this prop finished in time to get it to the production stage by 7am the next morning and you really don't even care.
these marks around the switches on the right gauntlet were something else I missed on my first set of gauntlets.
I could be wrong but I came to the conclusion they are not silver paint, they're too bright, but tool marks where the paint has been scraped down to the plastic, presumably with a tool that tightened the nuts on the switches into place. So I made similar marks by scraping away the paint.
I took everything off the left gauntlet just to make it easier, but I kept most parts on for the right. This was to try to replicate some of the masking errors on the original.
for instance, below, masking off the whipcord housing with good old fashioned Scotch masking tape, I intended to get that white spot at the tip which I was not even aware of the first time I did my ESB gauntlets...
And this was the result, as expected. It's not rocket science.
from reference:
There are other various details like this elsewhere. Nothing big.
And also, masking the whipcord like this keeps the inside around the stylus brush rod nice and supertrooper white as well...
Notice the white is a different tone than the white on the whipcord. The whipcord white is warmer... that's from the dark brown wash which you slather on the whole gauntlet except that recess inside the whipcord because you can't reach it when trying to get this prop finished in time to get it to the production stage by 7am the next morning and you really don't even care.
these marks around the switches on the right gauntlet were something else I missed on my first set of gauntlets.
I could be wrong but I came to the conclusion they are not silver paint, they're too bright, but tool marks where the paint has been scraped down to the plastic, presumably with a tool that tightened the nuts on the switches into place. So I made similar marks by scraping away the paint.
DrToothache
Hunter
Awesome, those look great. The color is on point.
I need to repaint my gauntlets and am going to try the colors you listed.
Ord Mantell
Well-Known Hunter
After paint and wash...
