Boots Finished!

I started out with these canvas boots from Man of War.  Great design, affordable...and comfy, too!  The problem: they were snow-white, and Boba's boots are the darkest part of his costume.

I found a lot of methods for painting and weathering these, online. Most people just use acrylic paint -- but I wanted the shoes to breathe as much as possible while being worn.  Paint would completely seal the boot's air flow. I didn't want smelly, sweaty boots if I ever decide to wear the costume.

My solution was to dye the boots with watered-down RIT Black.  Aiming for a charcoal gray base color.  Here's how they came out:

The center stripe down each boot is supposed to be almost black, and there is a lot of grime and shading. I had to resort to SOME acrylic paint.

 I watered down Liquitex Mars Black and dry-brushed it into the boots while they were still slightly damp.  After they dried, I added a small layer of brown grime with Testor's Rust, and added the aluminum toe-spikes. Finally, I scuffed them up with some sandpaper.

And we have finished boots!

~N

Jetpack Thrusters and Back

My first attempt at the back of the jetpack was a disaster.  I got a little too enthusiastic with the damage, so I decided to sand it down and start over.  (Sorry, no pics of the first try. They were horrible.)

For the 2nd try, I started with primer, then a layer of liquid mask, then Rustoleum Aluminum, another layer of liquid mask, blue, then a mist of black, and finally microdamage with a screwdriver.  The finished 2nd try looks like this:

I placed the harness hooks so you'd get an idea of where they will be. These hooks are custom made.

The last pieces to paint were the thrusters.  I started with a layer of primer, then Rusto Aluminum, then a layer of liquid mask, then Rusto white, At this point, I taped off and sprayed the locations of the black stripes at the bottom. So it looked like this:

Then more liquid mask, dark gray, and a mist of black.  I added the proper highlights with red and black Testors enamel, then I went to town on it with my screwdriver, and finally added some extra grunge with Testors black, gray, white and rubber. (Yes, rubber is a color...)

And the final thrusters look like this:

Finally, I added the three sets of alien writing on the lower front portion of the pack with a mix of Testors black, rubber, and gray, using a VERY fine tipped brush:

All I have left to do now is some touch up work, and then add a matte clear coat to the whole thing with Testors Dullcoat.  So the next time I blog will be the completion photos of the jetpack! Woohoo!  TWO months of work.

In other news, my custom boots came in from Man of War Studios!  They're going to need to be dyed and distressed, but we'll deal with that soon enough!

~N