Slave1Pirate's Aluminum ROTJ Boba Fett Build PIC HEAVY

[Got2bfett]

Nice felting! Never seen that before where did you come up with that idea?

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Nice felting! Never seen that before where did you come up with that idea?

Thanks! From my noggin!

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

I did a thing the past 2 days.
Surfaced my stock.


Made a jig at the right angle.

Mounted on the mill and began machining.

One side done. Flipped and started machining the other side.

More machining.



Both sides done.

Setup crazy angles for the lower part.

Began trimming.

Milling groove.

Rounded edge and sand to smooth. Final piece looking good compared to the plastic version.

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Well it's been a minute! Last I left off was painting my back plate. I ran out of paint and instead of purchasing more, I stupidly thought I could mix my own.

The color difference from the other armor pieces was extremely noticeable so, start over was the only option.

So here we are back to bear bones.

And started laser cutting my stencils again and applying liquid mask.

And the CORRECT color....

Tomorrow it's onto masking the yellow and laying on the green!

I've missed you guys! Been a rough year/several months I'm sure for all of us.

 

[Irongladiator]

Slave1Pirate117 ,
It has been a few moons! Welcome back. Probably one of the coolest things in having the armor made out of metal. Getting the paint off is a breeze, no worries about using heavy abrasive paint remover and having it warp the plastic.


-Iron

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Well the green is on. I am going to let is sit for the night and start revealing the damage tomorrow!

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Well at long last! Here are 2 videos showing the damage! In reality it took me 45 minutes.

Shout out to my trooper of a wife holding my phone for 45 minutes!

 

[Taz]

Wow man, love seeing that damage come to life. Beautifully done!

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Wow man, love seeing that damage come to life. Beautifully done!

Thank you! It's all so exciting!

Well today I wanted to kind of take stock of what I've done and realized I am in desperate need for a full body mannequin because the torso is making it hard. I know my placements aren't correct and my girth belt is giving me color problems.

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Getting kinda down about my paint job. I was scrolling some others builds and felt like my paint jobs are lacking things. I am unsure what it is though

I would appreciate a good solid critique or otherwise positives if anyone is willing to offer them?

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Well if anyone wanted to know, my armor weighs about 6 lbs with the flak vest.

Edit: Ha! I forgot the cod piece and kidney plate! Will weigh them tomorrow!

Tonight I started masking the knees!

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Guess what arrived!?

 

[dogbertwrldrulr]

Guess what arrived!?

How do you like them? Do they fit OK?

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

How do you like them? Do they fit OK?

The 11.5 fit snugly with SOME toe room. The 12s give me more toe room but my heel lifts off the inner sole before the boot moves. I am going to try insoles with the 12s before i commit to anything. The left glove fits beautifully but the right one is a tad bit smaller. Christian has been very helpful and ive got another pair of gloves on the way.

 

[dogbertwrldrulr]

The 11.5 fit snugly with SOME toe room. The 12s give me more toe room but my heel lifts off the inner sole before the boot moves. I am going to try insoles with the 12s before i commit to anything. The left glove fits beautifully but the right one is a tad bit smaller. Christian has been very helpful and ive got another pair of gloves on the way.

That's good that the boots fit. Mine are 11.5s and I have the same issue with the inner sole. I had to go up a full size from my normal shoe as I have wide feet so the 11.5s are comfortable, but I have the inner sole lift issue as well as a little extra room in the toe. I got some 1.25" lifts which help me fill out the shoe a bit, but I still plan on putting some padding on the top of the shoe to keep it pressed against my foot and hopefully prevent the heel lift issue.

Glad Christian is working with you on the gloves. I am waiting for mine to ship. Hopefully I will see them soon.

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Well I had a bit of a snafu where I changed up paint mix from water to vallejo's flow improver. Bad idea.

Mainly I use Vallejo paints and one Tamiya and always mix with water. Well, none of my paint stuck to the aluminum. I had to start completely over on the knees and shoulders.

All silver masking was redone and painted with my normal water mix and everything is back to normal. Here is where I am at now for the evening.

 

[lowberg]

Looking good, it's got to be tricky to paint metal! Do you have to use any sort of special primer or cleaner to get good paint adhesion?

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Looking good, it's got to be tricky to paint metal! Do you have to use any sort of special primer or cleaner to get good paint adhesion?

Yes! I use a 3M product called "Adhesion Promoter" which is basically a bunch of fast evaporating solvents and some form of coating.

The moment oxygen hits aluminum, it starts oxidizing. A dust forms on aluminum immediately. So this combats that.

And here's where I left off the other night.

 

[Slave1Pirate117]

Well, besides my paint coming up and my desperate attempt to repair it, (the area above the logo) what do yall think?

I really like the hand painted look rather than the decals.

 

[dogbertwrldrulr]

Well, besides my paint coming up and my desperate attempt to repair it, (the area above the logo) what do yall think?

I really like the hand painted look rather than the decals.
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I think it came out well. Color looks pretty even, maybe just a little touch up on the right tusk (our right), but I had to zoom in quite a bit to see that. Great detail work on cutting out the tape.