Monday, March 09, 2015

SOLD

After many years of no progress on my costume, and the lack of funds, I decided to sell off my costume parts and no longer build a Boba Fett Costume. I will be selling what I have made and collected on eBay to raise funds for another project and to pay the bills.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

ESB V3.0 Painted


Friday, June 08, 2012

ESB Helmet Version 3.0

This is the fourth Helmet that I have purchased so far for my Fett Costume (refer to earlier posts for Version 1, 2, and my Aluminum Bonus Helmet). Hopefully this helmet will be one of the last ones that I will purchase for myself. A brief history of the lineage of this helmet is that it was cast off a casting of the Pre-Production 2 Helmet. You can read more info on the helmet here. I purchased this helmet back in October or November of 2011, and after long production delays, I received my helmet on March 26, of 2012. Quite a wait there. The helmet is a slush cast in resin making it lighter and more flexible, however I fear that it will also be susceptible to warping. All the original helmet were cast in fiberglass which holds its shape better over time, but can be brittle and crack easily if mishandled or dropped. I would like to add some fiberglass to the inside of the helmet to help hold its shape, and keep it from flexing too much or warping due to moisture or heat. Along with the helmet came a set of resin "ears", that I will switch out with a machined aluminum set. Time to purchase an Air-Brush to get this baby painted.

Thursday, June 07, 2012

New ESB Blaster Greeblies Part 2

For Boba Fett's ESB blaster there are three known Hirschmann LMK/AM Aerial/Earth Connectors (Model No. 730 851) attached to the stock. Two on the front face and one on the back face. These connectors are old wire covers used to plug in an antenna to a vintage UK style radio. These plugs have been coveted by Fett collectors as they have been hard to come by. I have signed up with vintage UK radio forums seeking these plugs, but the word is out that only Fett costumers are looking for them, so they raise the price to a small fortune or you get banned from the forum pretty past. Which is what happened to me. One post saying I wanted a plug, and bam, immediate ban. Luckily, someone on The Dented Helmet was able to locate a box full of these plugs being stored in some basement, so I was able to purchase three from him. These are vintage plugs, and identical to the ones used on the original blaster. Once these little guys arrived, I drafted up the plug and uploaded it to Shapeways.com so anyone who wants a 3D printed copy, can buy one cheap. You can pick one up here.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Building the Shin Tools

I have been sitting on these parts for awhile. I had just recently ordered replicas of the Michell Engineering Stylus Brush that was used on the Anti-Security blade of Fett's shin tool. They are machined aluminum and are near identical to the real thing.
To get started I used my small hobby saw to cut the Paterson squeegee’s end off, the third finger grip off, and the end of the Paterson stirring rod off. Now I just need to get a sheet of plastic cut to shape to finish off the Anti-Security blade, paint them up, and done with set one. Minus the unidentified part.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

New Pre-Production 1 & 3 Flame Unit Connector


Here is another of Boba Fett's Rocket Pack greebles. It is seen on the bottom of his Rocket pack in the Pre-production 1 costume. The same Rocket Pack was used again in the Pre-Production 3 costume. In the Pre-production 2 costume this greeble was moved or removed altogether, as it is not seen with the others on the back of the pack. It is still unclear where this connector is located on the ESB or ROTJ Rocket Packs, or if it was on them at all. It is an ITT Cannon XLR-3-32 3 pin male socket connector. The female connector is an ITT Cannon XLB-3-110, however it was the silver end version that was used. This electrical connector is typically used for Audio equipment, but was used as the power source for the flame unit on Fett's left gauntlet. I've been on the hunt for the correct manufacturer for awhile. Once it was identified, I was able to track it one down and picked up a set. XLR-32 3 pin is pretty generic and you can find a lot of very similar style connectors, but ITT Cannon is the correct one with its logo stamp on the bottom and Part No. stamp on the top. It's all in the details.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

New ESB & ROTJ Right Gauntlet Switch Button

These two switches are on the right gauntlet. They are Alco switches by Tyco Electronics. There are several models that are practically identical. These are still pretty available by searching the serial number.

New ESB & ROTJ Right Gauntlet Darts


Up next is a set of Gauntlet Darts. There are four located on the right gauntlet. These darts are from a JA Michell Engineering sweep arm brush. There is only one of these spindles per sweep arm brush. I was fortunate enough to make a trade for them. These are no longer being made by JA Michell Engineering. The second set where machined by RBReplicas.