Taz ROTJ SE build

[Taz]

Hi everyone!

My account here is like 13 years old but I'm not sure if I have introduced myself yet, my name is Julien, I live in France and I've been a Star Wars fan since I was 7, when I discovered the Special Edition in theaters back in 1997.

Why Boba Fett?​

Boba Fett has always been my favorite character, before even seeing him on screen, I remember begging my mom to buy me the PotF Boba action figure a few days prior to seeing the movies. My love for this character and costume never left me (even after watching what Disney did to the character in BoBF, but that's another story...).

The first time I have heard about the 501st Legion was in 2003, and naturally I've been dreaming of building my own Boba costume ever since. As years went on, life got in the way, and I somehow abandoned this idea.

I got back into wanting to join the Legion during the Covid lockdown. I started building a Din Djarin S2 costume in the hopes of wearing it during SW Celebration 2023. I got burnt out trying to juggle between work, being a young dad and building this costume all by myself with zero experience. A couple of weeks before the event, I broke my helmet by letting it fall on the floor and that was pretty much the last nail in the coffin for this project. Lost interest in this build a few weeks after that, and now all my Din gear is sitting in a box until I decide to complete it - or more realistically sell it.

After a much needed break, I decided to go back to my first love - Boba Fett. Yes, it's an expensive build, but how many times in life do we actually get to fulfill a childhood dream? I'm sure most of you see what I mean. After a long time debating wether I wanted to do an ESB or ROTJ build, I finally decided to go with a ROTJ SE costume, which represents the best of both worlds in my opinion.

Anyway, enough talking, I'm happy to finally start my very own build thread!

Parts checklist​

Item	Source	Status
Helmet	MinuteFett with metal ears, paint by NixFXProps	Received
Armor	MinuteFett, paint by MinuteFett	Ordered
Gauntlets	MinuteFett, paint by MinuteFett	Ordered
Jetpack	MinuteFett, paint by MinuteFett	Ordered
Chest LED	MinuteFett	Ordered
Flightsuit, neck seal, vest, pouches and spats	Arkady Designs	Ordered
Gloves	Man of War	Received
Boots	Man of War	Received
Girth belt	Man of War	Received
Jetpack metal parts	QuestDesignCanada	Ordered
Flamethrower nozzles	QuestDesignCanada	Ordered
Hollow stalk	QuestDesignCanada	Ordered
Toe spikes	QuestDesignCanada	Ordered
Gauntlet rocket	QuestDesignCanada	Ordered
EE-3 blaster	Sidewinder Forge	Ordered
Servo / LED rangefinder kit	NeoFett	Ordered
Cape	Homemade using a vintage half shelter US army tent	In progress
Wookiee braids	Will probably try to make them myself	In progress
Jetpack harness	Waiting for Bigdane's run to open	Not started
Ammo belt	DeltaLeatherWorks	Received
Shin tools	Will probably make them myself	Not started

I will update this table as I complete this checklist, and try to post as many pictures as I can as I progress with this build.

Last but not least, I'd be happy to hear what you guys think of my choices regarding the parts, if you have any tips, feedback, opinions or anything that comes to mind that might help me in this journey.

Thank you for talking the time to read this intro post, and happy May the 4th!
Julien

 

[Bobamannen]

Hey Julien, great to see your build starting! You've picked good vendors,excellent choices all around. Can’t wait to see it come together.

May the 4th be with you!

 

[Taz]

Hey Julien, great to see your build starting! You've picked good vendors,excellent choices all around. Can’t wait to see it come together.

May the 4th be with you!

Thanks a lot! At least all these years postponing this project allowed me to do extensive research hahah

Here's a few pics of my MinuteFett helmet painted by Nick (NixFX)

 

[lowberg]

Yesss another Special Edition build gooohood! Looking forward to watching your build. Helmet looks real nice!

 

[Taz]

Yesss another Special Edition build gooohood! Looking forward to watching your build. Helmet looks real nice!

Thanks friend! And yesss SE rules! I just love the ROTJ scheme but the damage on the ESB helmet just looks too cool imo!

 

[Taz]

Hi all! A few updates on this project :

I have ordered the ammo belt from DeltaLeatherWorks, I need to look into ideas to give it that weathered look (mostly for the white areas, for which I'll probably use paint)

I also have ordered some hair extensions to make the Wookiee braids. I have never attempted something like this but I'll make sure to share my progress here.

Last but not least, after weeks of digging I have finally found an US army shelter half with the proper color but also the correct stitching pattern (which was a pain tbh) for my cape. Found it on some obscure German military surplus website for a decent price (about $50)!

 

[dogbertwrldrulr]

I also have ordered some hair extensions to make the Wookiee braids. I have never attempted something like this but I'll make sure to share my progress here.

Very interested in your progress here as wookie braids are hard to come by.

Last but not least, after weeks of digging I have finally found an US army shelter half with the proper color but also the correct stitching pattern (which was a pain tbh) for my cape. Found it on some obscure German military surplus website for a decent price (about $50)!

Any chance you can DM me the site you found for the US army shelter half?

 

[Taz]

Any chance you can DM me the site you found for the US army shelter half?

Sure, DM sent!

A couple of quick updates :

I have received the hair and thread for the braids, I'll try to find sometime this week to give it a shot. Color and length look on point though, that's promising!

I have received the tent too, to my surprise it was not a half-shelter but two halves stitched together! Only one half has the correct stitching, but I'll probably be able to sell the other half. The fabric is pretty "weathered" already but it should work after I give it a wash.

By the way, the "US" stamp is right on the section I need to cut out for my cape, how would you guys proceed? Is there a way to remove it, or should I just keep it?

 

[lowberg]

Could you post up a picture of what you got for the cape with the stamp on it? Lets see what it looks like first, be more than happy to help with a plan

 

[Taz]

Hi hunters! Quick update upon receiving new parts for my build!

Let's rip the band-aid off first, I have received the new MOW 2025 boots. Being located in France, they took a little longer to arrive than for my fellow US Fetts so I got the pleasure to read all the comments about this run before receiving my package and knew what to expect.

People say a picture is sometimes worth a thousand words, so here's my honest reaction:

More seriously, everything that is wrong with those boots has already been covered in the dedicated topic. Again, no hate towards Christian, even if I don't know if I would have shipped those if I were in his boots (get it?) considering how different from the advertised model this one is. These are my first Fett boots so I don't have anything in hand to compare them with, but even my not-so-trained eye can see how bad they are. On the plus side, they fit somewhat decently - despite being nowhere as comfortable as the boots I got for my two other suits (ROTJ Scout and BoBF Din Djarin, both pairs made by Crowprops) - and at least I didn't have to pay customs for some reason which is always a nice surprise. I will try my best to weather them and pray that the flightsuit elastics and ankle spats combination make them look a bit better than they do right now. If they don't, I might try to alter them a bit, but to be honest I'll probably buy a new pair once a new option comes to the market.

Second item is the girth belt which also comes from MOW.

No surprises on this one other than the fact that I expected it to be a bit longer (this one is on me, Christian literally said how long it is on his website, I didn't pay attention and thought it would cover most of my waist). The belt came with nylon straps to close it but even those seem a bit too short, fortunately making my own straps will be easy enough. As for the color, it is pretty bright, but I was aware before ordering. I'll try to dye or stain it to make it a bit darker.

The third item, a pair of gloves, also comes from MOW.

The fit is good, the fabric feels a bit thin but that's probably on purpose, they are very comfortable and the fit and material allow for a lot of movement. They'll need to be weathered as well, of course.

Last but not least, the fourth item I got this week is the ammo belt by Mike from DeltaLeatherWorks, and oh boy, what an amazing piece of equipment! It is literally stunning.

Everything from communication with Mike, production time, shipping and packaging was perfect, and the belt itself is a work of art, definitely my favorite piece so far (with the helmet, of course). It's heavy, pouches are functional, the size is exactly what I needed, it even has an NFC chip on one of the pouches which will come in handy during trooping. It looks so good that it feels criminal to weather it, especially considering how damaged the SE belt is supposed to look. I can't recommend Mike enough if you want a leather belt instead of a nylon one. Amazing experience overall!

That's it for today ! Next deliveries should be a servo kit from NeoFett and the EE3 from Sidewinder, and after that the next package will probably take a few months to arrive since it will contain a ton of stuff that's currently in production : my armor + jetpack from MinuteFett, soft parts from Arkady and all kinds of metal bits from QuestDesignCanada.

Could you post up a picture of what you got for the cape with the stamp on it? Lets see what it looks like first, be more than happy to help with a plan

Sure thing! Here are both sides of the tent. I think only one is usable due to the wear and tear on the second pic.