WIP - ESB Fett a rapidly expanding project

[Bounty1138]

Hello fellow Fett fans

Many years ago, I created my first Boba Fett costume. It was super basic and homemade, but I had a ton of fun. It served me well throughout the theatrical releases of the Special Editions and the premier of all three prequels.
Here are a couple of photos from the Revenge of the Sith midnight premier at West Edmonton Mall.



The first pic is Rick from the original Degrassi Junior High. He wanted to sit on my lap for a photo.

My build included an unaltered Don Post 95 helmet and some paint on corrugated plastic and a few basic accessories.
I’d occasional bring it out on halloween and other events requiring a costume, and never thought much about upgrading it until about a year ago.

I decided that anything I did to the DP helmet would be an improvement, so I started searching around the net on how to improve it and found this site.
I originally intended to repaint the helmet, add a visor, paint the blaster and then see what I could do to the costume to improve it with minimal expense and a little ingenuity. I did some research and using tutorials that I found here and I started working on the helmet, but the plan soon changed.

It evolved into deciding to buy a real flightsuit. It would be the one “key’ piece to my costume to bring it all together.
Then I started to get wise, if I was buying a flight suit, I might as well buy the flack vest and neck seal at the same time to save shipping charges.
With some homemade armour, my new costume would be a massive upgrade on what I started with, but that's as far as I was going to take it.


It was at this point that I decided to go ESB for variety of reasons, but a big factor was that I liked the movie better than ROTJ. The was also less Sarlaccness in ESB.
My thread on my DP95 to ESB conversion can be found at http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/f23/...ainting-something-wasnt-wall-pic-heavy-49182/
To make a longer story shorter, here's a pic of my completed lid.




I was feeling pretty good about my painting skills at this point. I was slowly working away on the helmet and it was going better than expected. It was starting to look good and I was ready to tackle more.
I saw the tutorial for trash can armour, but had some issues finding the right cans for the job. After some fruitless searching, I decided to up the ante and purchase a set of armour, but I’d paint it myself.

After that, one thing lead to another. I bought a part here and a part there.




This is now what I have:

Helmet; Fettpride CC premium helmet by Animefan
Self contained lights for RF topper: Jc27
Visor: Tvisor.com
Amour: Bobamaker
Jumpsuit: Man of War Studios (MoW)
Flack vest and neck seal: Arkady
Cape: TK-409
Chest display: TK-409
Gloves: MoW
Gauntlets: a member here
Gauntlet flamethrower: Redkraytdragon
Real metal dental files: BojaGun
Gauntlet hose: Home Depot
Girth Belt: MoW
Ammo belt: MoW
Horsehair wookie braids: Woodman
EE-3 - MLS
Boots: MoW
Knee armour and launchers: Bobamaker
Toe Spikes: JodoKast89 (Machinecraft)
Painted Shin tools: Darth Voorhees
Painted Jetpack: Fett Seven
Jetpack hooks and clips: Full Metal Fett
Jetpack harness: toolguy301
Jetpack beacon and light kit: JodoKast89 (Machinecraft)
Replica US Divers Belt: Full Metal Fett
Holster: Stormrider
Painted Sidearm: Fett Seven
Aker voice amp: Amazon

+ all the little ongoing upgrades and tweaks that make this hobby fun.




I didn’t realize how much I had bought from MoW until I made this list. I can’t say enough good things about Christian, his products and his customer service. Especially at first, when I was just getting into building a better Boba and I was wary of sending random people paypal for products, he was always very professional and I felt comfortable making the transactions. The comments on this board and his ebay feedback helped too. Reputation was also part of the reason I went with Bobamaker for the armour and he was also great to deal with. I ordered it around April 2013 and got it in about September or so.


I bought Bobamaker V3 armour, but couldn't afford to order the knee armour at the time.
Here is the unpainted armour. I love it. It's nice and light, but strong. I like how it shows up primed and ready to go.



I'm hoping to update this thread a few times this week to catch up to where I am with my ESB Boba.
Feel free to ask questions and I know I'll be asking a few along the way too. I'm about a year in so far and I want a (relatively) complete Fett for Celebration. Any and all feedback along the way is appreciated.

 

[thebeans]

Nice, good luck with this

 

[Bounty1138]

I’ve managed to tweak my back, so I have some time off work and some time on the couch to update this thread.
Here is my first fitting with the armour on the flak vest.




I used magnets to attach it. At this point, I think they were just attached to the armour with masking tape to see how it would look. I was happy with the result and soon attached them with super glue.
I like how you can adjust the armour on the fly and you don't need to poke holes in the vest and do anything permanent to get it to work.




I used 3/4 x 1/16 Inch round Neodymium Rare Earth Disc Magnets from Amazon. They are N48 and have a 5.3 pull force and work really well for my Bobamaker V3 armour. They were about $6 for a pack of 10, so they're relatively affordable .
I bought 1/2 inch magnets for the chest diamond and I used very strong magnets on the shoulders. I used N50 Disc Neodymium Rare Earth Magnet 1” x 1/8" . These are borderline “stupid strong”. They have almost 13 pounds of pull. If two stick together, I need to use an edge of a counter or something to help slide them apart. I can’t separate them with just my hands.

Anyway, I was worried about the shoulders getting bumped and knocked off so I went with these stronger magnets. I also placed a couple of the one inch magnets on the inside of the flak vest for the chest armour that I think is likely to need some extra reinforcement (the bottom corners). The masking tape and the wires are just temporarily holding in the battery in place for the chest display. I'm going to add a little pouch one day soon, but it works for now.

I had received my MoW jumpsuit, vest and neck seal early, but I found the thought of dying fabric myself to be a little bit intimidating, so I put it off. Despite having no previous painting experience, I started with the helmet and then moved to painting the armour. In hindsight, they were way more complicated than than working on the soft parts, but that's how I did it and it was a learning experience along the way. As I stated in my ESB Helmet thread. Watching WelshWarrior's youtube tutorial on painting a Fett helmet really helped with tackling, and getting my head around, a layered paint job for the first time. I took what I learned working on the helmet and applied it to my armour.

Here is a pic of the armour. It was before I applied the weathering and dullcote, and I still needed to finish the chest diamond.



I used rattlecans and a combination of reference photos and RafalFett's super amazing painting templates. The resources and effort people put into this site continue to amaze me. I used Testor's chrome spray paint on the base layer, but later switched to Rustoleum Chrome. It was easier to use and seemed to have less attitude with other paint on top of it. For the armour, I used Rustleum Spruce Green misted with Hunt Club Green and some light misting of black in parts.

 

[BobasDent1138]

Looks great! Love the armor paint up!

 

[syllander]

The paint up looks incredible man! Any plans to tweak the dent in the shoulder to look like the ESB damage?

 

[Bounty1138]

Here's a pic of the first fitting with the still unfinished armour and the undyed flightsuit. It's rather super trooper(ish) I had started painting the shoulder armour, but hadn't got very far yet.



I had got my MoW gloves by then. They need to be lightened a bit for ESB, but not as much as they look in the photo. They look almost black.
A while later, I finally finished my armour. Here are a couple of pics of the finished chest, ab and shoulder armour.



I used line stripe yellow for the left shoulder and the same yellow misted with Testors Go Mango on the right shoulder. I used grey primer for weathering before I added the decal, more weathering with ground pastels and a paint brush, and then hit it with dullcote. There's something about the finished left shoulder armour that really makes it feel like a Fett costume coming together

Once I finished the armour, I didn’t have much choice, but to finally dye the jumpsuit and pouches.
I poked around this website and followed what some other people had done. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.
I used about 3/4 of a bottle of Rit Evening Blue (not Royal Blue) and about 3/4 of a box of Pearl Grey in about a 1/3 of a bathtub of hot water.





I liked how it looked, but got a little too ambitious with the washing in warm water and thought it ended up a little light.
I ended up doing a second dye bath with an entire box of pearl grey and about half a bottle of Evening Blue. It gave it a deeper blue with a lot more grey. It didn't look as brand new. I was happier with the final result and then moved on to weathering it.

It was around this time that I was casually adding extra pieces to my build. I picked up a girth belt and ammo belt from MoW, the horse hair wookie braids from Woodman, chest display and cape from TK-409, as well as set of gauntlets from a member here. The timing was great, as I wasn't sure when I was going to be able to afford to buy gauntlets and my scratch build skills are limited. The member sold them for a little more than the shipping charges . They need some work, but I can definitely work with them.

 

[Bounty1138]

Looks great! Love the armor paint up!

Thanks. Posting this quickly makes it look like a fast process, but it took months. I just pecked away at the project on evenings and weekends when I had time.

 

[Bounty1138]

The paint up looks incredible man! Any plans to tweak the dent in the shoulder to look like the ESB damage?

I never gave it much thought and I'm not sure I know the exact differences (probably not a cool thing to admit to here ). I didn't really think it would be turning out as accurate as it has (based on my initial expectations and my first build). The various components keep turning out better than I think they will, based on my newfound painting and weathering skills, and it keeps getting better as I pick up cool and accurate pieces along the way.

 

[BobasDent1138]

This is really awesome! Im still so blown away by the armor painting! Cant wait for more! opcorn

 

[BobasDent1138]

Ooh and one quick tip/reminder-- ESB doesn't have ankle spats Just wanted to help in case you didn't know

 

[Bounty1138]

Ooh and one quick tip/reminder-- ESB doesn't have ankle spats Just wanted to help in case you didn't know

Thanks. I have plans to convert the spat to ties one day soon, but I'm going to wear them as spats for the time being so I've been dying and weathering them with the rest of the flightsuit and pouches. I need to track down a local seamstress to sew in some Velcro and make some minor adjustments on a few things anyway, but that's a bit down the road.

 

[BobasDent1138]

Awesome. Yeah man do whatever works best for you and what you have at your disposal. Keep up the awesome work!

 

[Bounty1138]

Here are some pics of some of the parts I’ve picked up along the way.
I got a MoW ammo belt. I’m going to follow DeathProof’s lead and use leather spray dye to darken and weather it. There is the horsehair wookie braids from Woodman, which are great. I was having a heck of a time finding the right type of hose for the right gauntlet, so I went to Home Depot and purchased a hose attached to a sprayer. I also bought bike cable housing to go inside the hose.




Here is a pic of the tops of the gauntlets that I got from a member here. I’m not a gauntlet expert, I’m guessing they were made ROTJ, but painted ESB. I’m basing this on the size of the whipcord housing, the extra attachments for hoses and the lack of a flamethrower. Updating these should make for an interesting project and will probably be the next thing I tackle. They're still way better than what I was going to make due with for a while and a good base to build upon.




Here are a few pics of my most recent fitting. I made some temporary knee armour, as my Bobamaker knee armour and aluminum launchers won’t arrive for a couple of months yet. The knee armour looks way too orange in the pic (and kinda small and square), so I’m going to tone them down and weather them a bit for now. I got my MoW boots, but I still need to weather and add the toe spikes from JodoKast89. I haven’t yet attached the new hose I bought and I still need to do more more weathering on the suit. I've been using a wash of black acrylic paint and water in a spray bottle on a wet flight suit and vest for weathering. My vest looks more like a dingy white than bright white, but I'm not sure if it's coming through in the pics. I like the ground in dirt look it gives the flight suit, but I'll need something else like black primer to finish it off and give it some death.



It's still a work in progress, but let me know what you think.

I taking my Fett out for its first test drive this weekend at Vancouver Fan Expo. It’s been my goal to have a "working" costume for this con, have an improved version for Halloween and a “complete” ESB Fett for Celebration next year. My jetpack is on order and I still need a sidearm, holster and an ESB EE3, as well as whatever else I’m forgetting.

I’ll post some pics from Vancouver Fan Expo and then will continue to post on this thread as I make progress on my build.

 

[DeathProof]

Hey man! Everything is looking great! I will be at the expo with the 501st crew here and there on the Sunday. We should meet up! PM me with your plans!

 

[syllander]

Looking really good there brother. Got a shot without the spats?

 

[Bounty1138]

I was humming and hawing about wearing the spats at this first con, before i could convert them to ESB accurate ties. From a couple of comments in this thread, is seems like it might be better to just go without them until I can get someone to modify them for me.
So, Syllander, in answer to your question, I don't have a pic without them yet, but I probably will this weekend.
I'm also taking some liberties with the gauntlet hose. I assume it runs up the sleeve and eventually connects to the jetpack somewhere (in theory at least). Since, I don't have my jetpack yet, it will just go up the sleeve and end there (in theory and reality ). I also had to take some artistic license with the cape, as I don't believe Boba ever appeared without the jetpack. The back and kidney armour and the back of the belts aren't very exciting, so I like how it looks with the cape draped over the back for now.
However, any input on how to get by until my build is done or the build itself is appreciated.

 

[BobasDent1138]

I think the way you drooped the cape looks real nice till you have a pack. Looks great so far! Do you have a blaster on order? Or are you making one?

 

[Bounty1138]

No blaster on order yet. I'm going to get by without a sidearm and holster, and just use the repainted Hasbro ROTJ EE-3 for now. They're on the to-do list and I'll have them before Celebration, but the jetpack and redoing the gauntlets are my next projects.

 

[Bounty1138]

I got to take my Fett out for the first time yesterday at Vancouver Fan Expo.
I dare say it was a raging success.

My shin tools didn’t arrive in time and I was too tight for time to make some, so I just went without.
I was busy the night before working on my boots and attaching the toe spikes from JodoKast89. The boots aren't totally done yet, but I’m happy with how they turned out. I still need to dirty them up a bit more and I think I’m going to take some sandpaper to roughen them up and lighten some areas. They no longer look brand new. I somewhat based this on Spideyfett’s tutorial, but it was tough to find decent ESB reference pics. I also attached the hose to the right gauntlet before the con.




Here are some pics from Vancouver Fan Expo. I went spatless. The costume worked well and I didn’t have any major issues. Nothing fell off or broke, so that’s good .
The one issue I did have was that my ear cap on the rangefinder side came loose, so the rangefinder didn’t stay up very well. I didn't attach it super well because I wasn't sure if I was going to get a new rangefinder and stalk or use the one that came with my helmet, and I wanted to keep my options open. For now, I'm keep the old rangefinder, but I'd like to upgrade at some point. I the rangefinder down for a good hunk of the day, which wasn't a big deal. There were a lot of ranges to be found .



I even got interviewed by a daily paper for a video, but I'm not sure if I was left on the cutting room floor or if I made it into the video.

I did get rather warm. It was only 13 degree Celsius (about 55 degrees Fahrenheit) outside and the building was an average indoor temperature, but I was still roasting. I can’t imagine trooping in warmer weather or a heavier costume.
Here are a few more pics. I met some members of the Badlands Garrison of the 501st. The first pic is me and one of the two ROTJ Fetts that I saw. He told me his member name here, but can't recall what it was.
I'm sure someone will recognize him.





I think I need to weather or even dye the vest grey to get it to look less white. Has anybody had any luck trying to dye a MoW vest? Should I just continue the acrylic washes? The jumpsuit also needs to get dirtied up more. Any other thoughts on what I should do are encouraged. Keep in mind that I was wearing temporary knee armour that was filling in until my Bobamaker knee armour arrives in a few months.

 

[syllander]

Looks great man! Fett is always a hit, and with the ladies too no doubt.
Have you tried black primer for weathering your vest? Very lightly, but it will give it that worn in and dirty look. On a hanger in the garage starting very slowly till you get the feel of it. I've weathered my FS that way.
Man, warm at 55 degrees? I've never trooped before , but am 40% done with Boba and about 80% done with Jango, and thinking about the sweltering summers here in Ga..