Knees & Armor Shipment

It's been a while since I updated here -- it's too cold to paint in the garage right now, so we're at a lull until the spring.  But here's the latest:

Before the weather turned, I managed to get some work done on the knee plates. Here is the Rusto Aluminum layer with liquid mask:

After this, I did a layer of Valspar Golden Maze and Rusto Pale Yellow:

Still working indoors on the final touch-ups on the knees.  Pics soon.

Simultaneously, I sprayed the knee darts that go on the sides with Rusto Aluminum:

And then brush painted the black and red details on those, and dirtied them up:

In other news, I received a long-delayed shipment from FettPride, including an almost full set of armor (I'm inquiring about the missing kidney plate and RF topper.)  It was cheaper for me to buy a whole set then just the pieces I needed.  So I'll sell off the parts I don't need.

The helmet shown here is the "GMH" helmet -- the most authentic repro of Boba's helmet currently available. It was cast from a repaired movie prop.  Eventually I will paint the GMH in the Empire Strikes back color scheme, so that way I have both ESB and RotJ helmets!

~N

Helmet Padding & Backplate Finished

Hey, folks! Here's the latest.  I've added the padding to the interior of the helmet.  I bought some foam from a fabric shop, trimmed it to size and super glued it in.  The brow foam is 1" thick.  All other pieces are 1/2" thick.  It's snug but comfortable, and I won't need a chin strap.  The helmet doesn't wobble when I turn my head. For the record, this is NOT movie accurate.  But no one is ever going to see the inside of the helmet but me, and I opted for comfort. (The real movie props used a chin strap and a liner similar to what you see inside a hard hat.)

And with that, the helmet is 100% DONE!

I've also finished the back plate.  This piece of armor will never really be seen by anyone since it will be beneath the jetpack, but I wanted to give it as much attention as the rest of the armor.  Since it was already primed, I sprayed it with Rusto Aluminum, then buffed it with 0000 steel wool, and added liquid mask for the "metal" that will show through...

Then I hit it with Rusto Line Painting Yellow, and a mist of flat black. When that dried, I peeled off the liquid mask...

I added another layer of liquid mask, and then sprayed the final Rusto Hunt Club Green, and a mist of flat black.  After that dried, I peeled the liquid mask, gave it one more misting of flat black, and then scratched the hell out of it with a screwdriver and gravel from my driveway.

Here's the final back plate:

This weekend I also went for a test fitting for the flight suit and the armor vest.  Some adjustments needed to be made, but we're on the right track.

Next up: The knee plates.

More after I come back from New York Comic Con this weekend.

~N

Chest & Neck Finished!

After the yellow layer, the next step is to do a layer of Rustoleum Spruce Green (misted with black) on the left side of the abdominal plate.  The butt of Boba's blaster has rubbed against this area in the movie armor, and scratched it down to a lighter green.  No other plate has this treatment, so I only had to do this for one piece...

Once that was done, I added the "scratches" to all the pieces with liquid mask, and sprayed everything with the top coat of green (Rustoleum Hunt Club Green, misted with black. This is a darker green than what was used on the helmet, per movie photos.)

Once that dried, I picked off the liquid mask, and added the vinyl decal to the upper right plate.  Then one more misting of black, and some scracthes with a screwdriver and some gravel.

Here is the final right chest plate.

And the final left chest plate. Note that the display holes here will have a piece of the same material I use for the visor on the helmet.  So it will look gloss black.  That' will be taken care of before I attach the armor to the vest.

Here is the final abdominal plate. Now you can see the light green scratching from the stock of Boba's blaster...

The final neck plate...

And the whole set assembled together with the small center piece... I made this photo extra big so you can see more detail.

The vest that these attach to hasn't been made for me yet, so in the mean time, I'm moving on to the back plate and the knee plates.

More soon!

~N

Chest & Neck Part 1

Here we go again.  I've started the chest plates and the neck plate.  First up, I gathered my reference photos, and printed everything out for my workshop.

The pieces were already primed (love that,) so I sprayed a layer of Rustoleum Aluminum over everything.

After they dried, I scuffed them up with 0000 steel wool so that the next layer of paint would stick better.  Metallic paint tends to be pretty slick, and I don't want the other layers to peel off.

The next layer is the yellow layer that shows through around the damaged areas.  So I used liquid mask to cover up the litle bits of silver that will need to show through later, and then I sprayed all the pieces with Rustoleum Line Painting Yellow.  Once that dried, I peeled off the liquid mask, and we're left with this:

Starting to come together!  The next and last layer will be the green.  Then I'll apply the decal in the upper left.  After that I can do the fun work of adding all the scratches and bumps.  Unfortunately, it's going to be rainy and humid here for the next couple of days, so I can't get to that just yet.

More soon!

~N

Some Armor & Tools

Deliveries!  I received some of my armor from "Bobamaker" in Portugal! The chest plates, back plate and knees!

So I'll get to work on these pretty soon.

I also managed to score a set of the shin-pocket tools from a member of the Dented Helmet forum.  These have been pretty hard to find, and they're the last prop piece I needed to get my hands on.

~N

RotJ Boba Helmet Final Photos!

The exterior paint job is...DONE!  Here are some nice big, completion photos for you!

And I've received word that my armor from Bobamaker has shipped from Portugal!

More soon!

Master Blaster

A package showed up on my doorstep from the UK yesterday. My replica EE-3 Blaster (Return of the Jedi version), built and painted by prop maker, "Sidewinder".  It took several months to get, but it came out beautiful! It's a lot bigger than you'd think.

I'm still waiting on the last few small pieces to come in to finish my helmet. Once they're in, I'll be able to take final project photos of the helmet! Hopefully soon.

Helmet: Mandibles, RF, and Visor

Ears are done! Over the silver layer, I selectively sprayed a little bit of Rusto beige and Rusto Anodized bronze to match the movie helmet.  Then I used sandpaper and a screwdriver to give them some wear:

You'll notice the super glue on the RF housing below -- I dropped the damn thing and it broke. Luckily no little pieces to worry about. 

I also finished the RF antenna assembly, except for the two little LED lights that go on the top of the RF. I'll have to search Radio Shack for those. Here's the RF before painting.

And the finished pieces.

Next up, the mandibles.  Starting with the silver layer masked off:

Sprayed with Rusto Anodized Bronze over liquid mask...

Anodized Bronze layer with liquid mask removed:

After this I added another layer of liquid mask, and then sprayed a base coat of flat black, then misted with Rusto Indigo and a heavy mist of Rusto Dark Hunter Green.  Then another mist of flat black.  So the end result is a very dark, almost black, teal color:

The last major area to paint on the helmet is the red visor area.  I taped that off, added a layer of liquid mask, a layer of Rusto Anodized Bronze, and let that dry.  I peeled off the liquid mask, added a new layer of liquid mask to the damaged areas, and sprayed the top coat of Rusto Cabernet, misted with Black. Here it is, still wet. It dried to a nice dark wine color.

After it dried, I peeled off the liquid masked area, and added micro damage with a screwdriver.

I have some touch ups to do, then I'll spray the whole helmet with Testor's Dullcoat. And once I have final assembly finished, I'll post the completed helmet!

~N

Helmet: Back Finished!

After the base silver layer, I lightly sprayed some of my faux primer color (Rusto Anodized Bronze) instead of doing a solid layer of the faux primer.  In my movie refs, you can see that the back of the helmet has sort of a faded gray layer over the silver. I tried to imitate that as much as I could.  But as always, I first added a layer of liquid mask for the pure silver areas that would need to show through later:

After this, I sprayed a topcoat of Rusto Dark Hunter Green, and a mist of Valspar Peacock green, then misted with flat black.

Finally, I peeled off the liquid masked areas and added micro damage with a screwdriver and gravel from my walkway...and we have the final back panels:

To complete the back, I liquid masked and then misted the keyslot panel in the appropriate places with Rusto Anodized Bronze, and then attacked it with sandpaper and a screwdriver.

In the movie prop, behind the keyslots, is a glued-in replica of an old Casio circuit board.  I've ordered a couple from ebay. I'll worry about that during final assembly.

Next time: The mandibles and ears!