SE Boba Build (Complete)
- Thread starter Jesuit24
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Jesuit24
Hunter
Thanks. I think the two most important things to focus on in a Fett costume is the sizing and the painting. Covering imperfections with a good paint job goes a long way and making sure everything is proportionate is a benefit of scratch building; I've seen plenty costumes bought from vendors that don't look quite right because the armour is too big or small. With a scratch build, you're in control of everything to make sure it fits. I'm sure you're finding it cheaper too, although I've found it's not by as much as I originally thought.
I'm definitely happy I took this approach to making it. At 5'6, I think any legit pieces I bought would be too big for me. There may be a few imperfections on my suit but I think it looks a lot more accurate to me specifically. And it gives me a good base to upgrade on later.
I'm definitely happy I took this approach to making it. At 5'6, I think any legit pieces I bought would be too big for me. There may be a few imperfections on my suit but I think it looks a lot more accurate to me specifically. And it gives me a good base to upgrade on later.
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DeathProof
Active Hunter
I find this is true for many things that I've tried to scratch build. You do get that sense of accomplishment being able to build it yourself, but when the cost difference doesn't match the difference in quality, I almost get that feeling of "oh crap...I should have just bought those pieces."
I applaud your awesome work and anyone else who can build a quality costume from scratch.
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Jesuit24
Hunter
I got back from MCM London the other day.It was so much fun and I'm looking forward to suiting up again. I had 200+ photos taken of me in the first two days to the point where it was difficult to get anywhere without getting stopped. The highlight of the whole con was getting called Star Wars by a little boy who wanted a high five for him and his plushie stormtrooper. On the second day, I found a Star Wars meet up where I met a few mandos and they really are the nicest people and have most likely convinced me to join up with the mercs at some point. When we split off, I tagged along with some femme Fetts and we crashed the 501st stall. A couple of people started taking photos and that turned into fifteen. It felt surreal, like I was a celebrity on the red carpet. Very weird for someone who hasn't done a proper balls-to-the-wall cosplay yet. On Sunday, I dressed down so I could actually experience the convention but obviously had nowhere near as much fun.
As for issues and potential upgrades, my voice changer simply didn't work as expected. Prepping Voice Synth, I had the phone volume set at 25% with the Aker on full, but while it was loud enough to hear, it was at the cusp of feedback with every word I said having a ringing metal tank effect. I think the voice changer has been the most challenging part of the entire costume but rather than having a fancy addon that didn't work correctly, I removed it. Unfortunately I didn't bring a mic extension cable for my mic so I also couldn't simply use the Aker on it's own. The second problem was the jet pack harness. My jet pack is extremely light at something like 1.2kg, but my homemade harness wasn't secure enough to keep the collar armour from pulling back into my neck. I wasn't being strangled, but the middle press stud quickly came undone after several steps. By the end of my first day, I realized I had a hunchback and unfortunately it's evident in many of the pictures. While my lower back was fine, the space between my shoulder blades was in considerable pain by the end of the day. It seemed to get worse the longer I was hunched forward. On the second day, I resolved to stand up straight as much as possible and prevent myself from slumping forward. This seemed to work as the stress on my back seemed a lot more manageable by the end of the second day, and the pictures don't show me as the Hunchback of Tatooine. Another problem I faced was the press stud in the right kneepad seemed to jab me right behind the kneecap, which was down to unfortunate placement since I have no trouble with the left one. Also, by the middle of the second day, the blaster stopped firing. I'm not sure what's up, but given the now lackluster trigger pull, I'm guessing the trigger isn't hitting the button inside. I'm not sure whether I should attempt to fix this or not seeing as the blaster is fine cosmetically; it just doesn't make the satisfying pew pew noise anymore. Another upgrade will be velcro to attach the codpiece and kidney plate seeing as it seemed to ride a little low along with the ammo belt. Aside from a few easily fixable knocks that dislodged the jetpack pieces and some cracks in the weak spots of the kneepads though, that was the extent of it. The heat wasn't as bad as I thought, but I did sweat a lot. On the first day, I only had one fan working after one of the contacts snapped off with a dead battery, and after a while I noticed something gushing into my eye. I had to have a lot of helmet breaks to wipe it up, but oddly enough I had no issues the second day.
Anyway, too much talking not enough pictures.
As for issues and potential upgrades, my voice changer simply didn't work as expected. Prepping Voice Synth, I had the phone volume set at 25% with the Aker on full, but while it was loud enough to hear, it was at the cusp of feedback with every word I said having a ringing metal tank effect. I think the voice changer has been the most challenging part of the entire costume but rather than having a fancy addon that didn't work correctly, I removed it. Unfortunately I didn't bring a mic extension cable for my mic so I also couldn't simply use the Aker on it's own. The second problem was the jet pack harness. My jet pack is extremely light at something like 1.2kg, but my homemade harness wasn't secure enough to keep the collar armour from pulling back into my neck. I wasn't being strangled, but the middle press stud quickly came undone after several steps. By the end of my first day, I realized I had a hunchback and unfortunately it's evident in many of the pictures. While my lower back was fine, the space between my shoulder blades was in considerable pain by the end of the day. It seemed to get worse the longer I was hunched forward. On the second day, I resolved to stand up straight as much as possible and prevent myself from slumping forward. This seemed to work as the stress on my back seemed a lot more manageable by the end of the second day, and the pictures don't show me as the Hunchback of Tatooine. Another problem I faced was the press stud in the right kneepad seemed to jab me right behind the kneecap, which was down to unfortunate placement since I have no trouble with the left one. Also, by the middle of the second day, the blaster stopped firing. I'm not sure what's up, but given the now lackluster trigger pull, I'm guessing the trigger isn't hitting the button inside. I'm not sure whether I should attempt to fix this or not seeing as the blaster is fine cosmetically; it just doesn't make the satisfying pew pew noise anymore. Another upgrade will be velcro to attach the codpiece and kidney plate seeing as it seemed to ride a little low along with the ammo belt. Aside from a few easily fixable knocks that dislodged the jetpack pieces and some cracks in the weak spots of the kneepads though, that was the extent of it. The heat wasn't as bad as I thought, but I did sweat a lot. On the first day, I only had one fan working after one of the contacts snapped off with a dead battery, and after a while I noticed something gushing into my eye. I had to have a lot of helmet breaks to wipe it up, but oddly enough I had no issues the second day.
Anyway, too much talking not enough pictures.
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TheZeroEffect
Active Hunter
All looks great, nice pic's.. Video was funny, I was thinking the same thing about the expressions ..
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Jesuit24
Hunter
UPGRADE TIME
So I think I'm heading the Sheffield Film and Comic Con again this year, so I have until August to iron out some issues.
Firstly, I'm a little stuck with how to attach my collar armour to my vest.
I currently have three press stud attachments on the collar piece; one on left corner, one on the right corner and one in the middle. With the weight of the jetpack, the harness tugs back and unsnaps the centre press stud within three steps in the suit. I need a method of attachment for this centre area which is harder wearing than press studs but also easy to attach given that it's awkward enough trying to pop the collar plate press studs in place. I don't see the eyelet bolt working given this reason; I just wouldn't be able to get underneath the vest to attach it. Magnets, I'm not sure they would hold either. I've had N52 magnets before which were strong, but given the pull is enough to completely unsnap a press stud, I'm not sure it would be enough? And velcro is definitely not strong enough. Any ideas?
I'm going to attempt to repair the electronics on the blaster. I'm sure the trigger is no longer hitting the button inside, although there's no rattling to suggest anything has broken off or come loose. I'll only be able to tell when I open it up. Since I bondoed up the screw holes (go me) I'll have to cut into the receiver housing and hope I can fix it up later.
I'll buy a extension cable for my Aker. I installed my mic in my helmet rather than wearing it, so I wrapped the mic lead around the inside of the crown of the helmet and let a short amount dangle so if I want to remove the helmet, I just have to disconnect the cable and take it off. But I'll need that extension cable that will run up from the amp on my waist up to my neck. I'm calling it a day on the voice changer. I had high hopes for the Voice Synth app, but on the day, it was picking up all sorts of feedback despite turning the volume right down in-app, and my friends said that they could hear an offputting delay between when I spoke and when it came out the speaker. I'm not quite sure how others have gotten it to work, but even when using the recommended cables, it wasn't coming out good.
Velcro the ammo pouch and cod/kidney plates to the flight suit which will stop them sagging.
Fiberglass repair work on one of the knees when my friend managed to knock it off the bed and step on it in one motion. I was laughing a lot more than he was.
I'm going to give it another troop before I decide what to do with the jetpack harness and if I want to replace it. On the first day, it may have just been bad form on my behalf letting myself slouch lower and lower until I couldn't straighten my back, since I coped better the second day when I endeavoured to stand upright with my back arched. For those experienced trooping Fetts, do you tend to have a sore back a couple of days after? Is that just something to expect?
So I think I'm heading the Sheffield Film and Comic Con again this year, so I have until August to iron out some issues.
Firstly, I'm a little stuck with how to attach my collar armour to my vest.
I currently have three press stud attachments on the collar piece; one on left corner, one on the right corner and one in the middle. With the weight of the jetpack, the harness tugs back and unsnaps the centre press stud within three steps in the suit. I need a method of attachment for this centre area which is harder wearing than press studs but also easy to attach given that it's awkward enough trying to pop the collar plate press studs in place. I don't see the eyelet bolt working given this reason; I just wouldn't be able to get underneath the vest to attach it. Magnets, I'm not sure they would hold either. I've had N52 magnets before which were strong, but given the pull is enough to completely unsnap a press stud, I'm not sure it would be enough? And velcro is definitely not strong enough. Any ideas?
I'm going to attempt to repair the electronics on the blaster. I'm sure the trigger is no longer hitting the button inside, although there's no rattling to suggest anything has broken off or come loose. I'll only be able to tell when I open it up. Since I bondoed up the screw holes (go me) I'll have to cut into the receiver housing and hope I can fix it up later.
I'll buy a extension cable for my Aker. I installed my mic in my helmet rather than wearing it, so I wrapped the mic lead around the inside of the crown of the helmet and let a short amount dangle so if I want to remove the helmet, I just have to disconnect the cable and take it off. But I'll need that extension cable that will run up from the amp on my waist up to my neck. I'm calling it a day on the voice changer. I had high hopes for the Voice Synth app, but on the day, it was picking up all sorts of feedback despite turning the volume right down in-app, and my friends said that they could hear an offputting delay between when I spoke and when it came out the speaker. I'm not quite sure how others have gotten it to work, but even when using the recommended cables, it wasn't coming out good.
Velcro the ammo pouch and cod/kidney plates to the flight suit which will stop them sagging.
Fiberglass repair work on one of the knees when my friend managed to knock it off the bed and step on it in one motion. I was laughing a lot more than he was.
I'm going to give it another troop before I decide what to do with the jetpack harness and if I want to replace it. On the first day, it may have just been bad form on my behalf letting myself slouch lower and lower until I couldn't straighten my back, since I coped better the second day when I endeavoured to stand upright with my back arched. For those experienced trooping Fetts, do you tend to have a sore back a couple of days after? Is that just something to expect?
Uhbif
Active Hunter
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Mullreel
Well-Known Hunter
Sorry
I do S. E. and looking for who to consult.
Looks really cool!
Consult the CRL on The Bounty Hunters Guild. That is what you will be graded against when you submit an app to the 501st. It is tough to compare to another person's kit because there are so many variables.
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Jesuit24
Hunter
Since it's a scratch build, I did my best to keep everything relative when scaling down. I didn't run into the issue of being the wrong size for Boba, since I just scaled everything to me. The flak vest came to me very long (waist/hip length) so I had more say on how much I could turn up. The ammo belt does sag a bit though so it sits lower than I'd like. Added some velcro, but I think it needs more of it.
I'm living in Sheffield.
