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 DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack

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DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« on: Mar 02, 2015, 02:52 PM »
I really need to get on here more. So i figured id copy over a build im currently doing of the jetpack :)

So, my ESB boba Fett is currently Jetpackless, (had to sell my last one to pay rent in the old place before i moved :/) so i figured why not give this a shot. I plan on taking molds from the finish pieces and casting the final piece in fiberglass.

I will be using WOF's great templates for this.

Ok so after much cussing and printing, i figured out how to size the templates bigger. I will try to explain lol

Basically, i brought the main pages i needed into photoshop and made each page 8.5X11. (they are bigger when opened in photoshop because they are PDF files)

I then had to do some shuffling around of the images on the pages to get them closer to the center as some go quite close to the edges. . But nothing to distort proportion.

I then hit print, and the print preview shows me what will actually print. After many tries i found 110% to give me the closest to the sceeen used size of the pack. If needed, I re-arrange the images on the page so nothing, or very little gets cut off. I then print at 110%

For the "wraps" for the fuel tanks, they go to the edge of the pages, so i had to do some creative thinking. WOF has them on 2 pages for each side. What i did was i brought them into photoshop, and attached the 2 pages together. i then turned it sideways, and added more "canvas" to the top and bottom of the image (which is the sides of the original templates) to make it 11" high. I then divided this image into 3 pieces. at these widths - 7.5", 7" and 7.5". So i printed them in 3 pieces instead of 2, but i had the room to print scaled to 110% without anything getting cut off.

So all of this gave me the measurement of just above 15" across the top of the backplate right before it starts to curve to the horizontal area on top.

Scaling the bottom 2 pieces to 110% gave me a measurement of 15 3/4" at the top edge. this is not counting the panels that go around the fuel tanks which should add another inch to the overall width.

So this pack should be the correct scale, or very close to it.

Now, i need to glue the templates onto my foamboard and im off

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SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #1 on: Mar 02, 2015, 02:54 PM »
Ok here are the main body templates glued onto the foamboard with a few "fixes". I actually did a couple more after i took the pics lol.



Again, i cant thank WOF enough for these templates. Id have no clue where to start if it wasnt for him.

Also thanks to Matty Matt over on TDH for his tips with his build. Its one of the best ive seen!

Ok doesnt look like much yet, but this is as far as i got today. Will do a little more tomorrow.... So far, so good :)


Ok so heres where im at now. There is only so much i can do working with the templates to correct some accuracy details. So there is a good chance i will end up taking a mold off this when its done cast one, and then tweak it further and take a new mold. Then i will be done...i hope lol. Im not going for absolute accuracy here with the first go, and honestly if im happy with it and it looks nice i wont likely mess with it much.










Ok so moving on.... The fuel tanks are vitamin water bottles wrapped in .020 styrene. they are technically less than 1/8th of an inch too big, but its negligible i think. (i also have this plastic thats very similar but transluscent that i used on the center area, and the right side fuel tank).

I made one top cap with the styrene, using the upscaled WOF templates. Its going to need to be fixed up a little bit. But thats fine as i'll be making a mold of it anyways as i'd like it to be a separate piece anyways.

Previously the center raised are was extended about and inch so it ends closer to the bottom. I had forgot to mention that. Ive also been using Rafal's measurements he had posted a while back. So far im pretty on point sizer wise. The pack is just about 16.5" wide.

I also added the correct inset on the back for the greeblies if i choose to add them :)

Im using lightweight spakle to fill the seams and also to coat where the couple of pieces of crap foamboard i had decided to wrinkle and shed its paper coating lol. This stuff is MUCH easier to sand than bondo





[img=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v392/nycpunker/2015%20DVH%20jetpack%20build/IMG_8855_zps3df6aaf2.jpg]

« Last Edit: Mar 02, 2015, 03:24 PM by Bane Rollan » Logged
SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #2 on: Mar 02, 2015, 02:58 PM »
Did a little more work on this. just a bit more cleanup and filled in the gaps between the fuel tanks and the "wrap" . I also redid part of the top cap and put some Spackle on it. Theres fresh wet spackle on the body and top cap when i took these pics. The Cap still needs more fine tuning and then im going to make a mold of it and cast one to do final tweaks to. Eventually i may do that with the main body as well. Depends how happy i am with it in the final stages, but so far, i am pretty happy with this. I think the weather is getting a bit more tolerable ..and the heater seems to work in the shop now, so im going to be bouncing between this and my commissions :)




Ok more updates on ther main body. Its coming along nicely. One thing i wish i remembered to do when cutting the templates was the slight bow to the 2 levels of raised areas on either side of the center cylinder. On the templates, they go straight down, and i cant really mod them because they are hollow styrene boxes and id rather not chance it. So i will fix that if i make a dump mold of this first to further tweak the design. If i dont do that, i'll fix it on my V2 :)

Anyways..here is where we are at now...


















And here is a foam ball im coating in elmers glue to make a mold of so i can cast a resin ball and sculpt the details of the thruster onto :)

« Last Edit: Mar 03, 2015, 07:11 PM by Bane Rollan » Logged
SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #3 on: Mar 02, 2015, 03:00 PM »
Ok so today, i decided to work on the top rear panel, to get it to the proper thickness and blend it into the top flat area.

This is the only area i really needed to utilize bondo.  The Spackle would crack if put it on heavy or it would take 8  million layers to get it close to the proper thickness lol. So i did the bulk of it with Bondo and then used the Spackle over it to smooth it out. These pics go up to applying the Spackle over the bondo. It will need to be sanded tomorrow when its dry.























Ok so im getting close to the main body being done now. I need to make the bottom fuel tank caps and finsh that all off and it needs a bit more smoothing, but overall, i think it looks pretty good. :)





« Last Edit: Mar 03, 2015, 07:17 PM by Bane Rollan » Logged
SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #4 on: Mar 02, 2015, 03:01 PM »
Ok...i still need to do the bottom caps and finish off th bottoms of the fuel tanks , and make a few more small tweaks but the main body is close to finished now.

However i wanted to get started on the thrusters. Originally i had that styrofoam ball i covered with elmers glue, buuuut it didnt work out as well as i hoped so i scratched that.

Then i got to thinking ...i wanted to make a mold of a wood ball and carve into the casting to get the details on it...then a lightbulb went off, as i remembered seeing silicone ice ball molds for making large ice balls to put in your whiskey. So i went to e-bay and found a set of 2 for $10 and bought them. That saved me time and mold rubber!

here is what i got:


So i filled that sucker up with resin and got this..


I then drew the design onto the resin ball. Its not perfect, but its a good approximation of what i wanted to do.




So i brought it into the shop and went at it with my dremel and a large flat exacto knife.







I used the Dark-side metal greeblies for the sizing of the areas they go in. I will fabricate resin ones later on, but i want my pack to have the metal greeblies so i wont make those right away. Its not perfect, but i thiunk for a first go it aint bad!







« Last Edit: Mar 03, 2015, 07:30 PM by Bane Rollan » Logged
SevenCatStudios

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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #5 on: Mar 02, 2015, 03:05 PM »
Wow! I love seeing scratch-built Fett parts done right. This is a super crisp looking job, nice work!

Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #6 on: Mar 02, 2015, 03:25 PM »
Thanks! ugh i gotta fix all the pics lol

EDIT: pics fixed!

« Last Edit: Mar 03, 2015, 07:31 PM by Bane Rollan » Logged
SevenCatStudios

Dynas


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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #7 on: Mar 03, 2015, 03:54 PM »
Very nice.

Im working on a jetppack as well, not quite exact but im mixing the boba and arena packs.  im in the bondo sanding phase now (3rd application) and its a PAIN to get smooth. 

How long did you spend sanding? IM using a palm sander 80 grit then 220.  Also Im hand sanding for the tight nooks and what not. I read you used Dry wall spackle which I hadn't tried and am applied last night to get the small divits and grooves out of the bondo. Hopefully that works for me.  Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the advice in advance.

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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #8 on: Mar 03, 2015, 06:05 PM »
Surprised I haven't seen this yet. Good job so far and I'll be watching!

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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #9 on: Mar 03, 2015, 07:04 PM »
Thanks guys!

I actually didn't have to sand it all that much except the top area where i put a bunch of bondo. Most of it is the foam core board with just a thin layer of the lightweight spackle to even things out and fill seams. It sands super easy. Some of the panels are the foam board with .020 styrene over it. A lot of the foam board was angle cut so they fit together almost seamlessly. Where i did sand it i just used a sanding block by hand because the spackle is super easy to sand.

Even with the bondo on it, its still fairly light too. My intention from the beginning was to mold and cast this, but as i was building it i realized it is pretty sturdy as is and probably troopable, if i just added a bit more supports while building it, this would actually be surprisingly sturdy!

I plan to use this pack for my ESB Fett, and i also plan to build a ROTJ version and a custom mando.

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SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #10 on: Jun 21, 2015, 03:18 PM »
Ok ive been slacking posting progress here but ive gotten much more done...

some fine tuning











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SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #11 on: Jun 21, 2015, 03:20 PM »

Started on the lower rocket. This is a plastic cup,  some styrene sheet, a 1.5" PVC pipe and bondo.





I may trim about 1/2" off the top, not sure yet, it seems like it MAY be a little tall. But anywhys, here it is so far, obviously not done :)










This is my favorite heheh...  SOLO



I think i may need to cut a little off the top..(like about where i put the orange mark)what do you guys think?

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SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #12 on: Jun 21, 2015, 03:22 PM »
 i made a mold of the top cap a couple of days ago ...



....and i pulled my master out of it and cast a resin version..here it is next to the original before i cleaned it up..



Here it is cleaned up




Going to need to do this same process for the lower rocket also.....as well as the upper rocket and the thruster cones

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SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #13 on: Jun 21, 2015, 03:22 PM »
So i seem to have lost my camera either in the shop or somewhere in this office space...ugh. its gotta be here somewhere! So no pics right now...but i have the main body of the jetpack in rubber now. This will end up a dump mold because i need to make a couple of bigger adjustments to the pack that if i tried it with the foamboard/styrene pack i likely would have destroyed it. SO, im going to slush cast 1 pack in 65D urethane resin, and fix/clean up as much as i can on it. So hopefully in the next few weeks i'll be able to mold it again and get a good clean fiberglass castings from a nice production mold off a super clean master. Thats the plan anyways. lol

Still working on the upper rocket from sheet styrene and thrusters as well. I molded the ball part of the thruster so i will be able to cast 2, and found a plastic champagne glass i used for the cone part. Just took a crap mold off it and cast 2 soild cones that i will cut down and partially hollow out for the cone part of the thrusters. [/color]i also made 4 teeth/piano keys and molded them as well. Im going to glue them on a strip of styrene that will fit onto the pack, similar to MOW's newer packs. i have a real mitchel stabilizer i will mold for the resin one to be included in the kit. I also have the bottom greeblies i will also mold to include resin versions in the kit. It will or course come with a solid resin beacon as well. Im having a local buddy of mine 3d model the toothed ring for the top of the pack where the rocket goes because the templates dont have the right amount of slots. I will have that printed and use that as the masterSo this is moving along steadily at this point. Once everything is done, i will cast one pack and assemble it and make sure all is hunky-dory. If it is, it will become my personal Jetpack. Then i will do a small introductory run of 4 or 5. After that im going to TRY and have a few in stock, or just do no money down small runs so i dont sit on peoples cash. These are a pain to cast, so i feel its best to do it that way.[/size][/font]

« Last Edit: Jun 21, 2015, 03:32 PM by Bane Rollan » Logged
SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #14 on: Jun 21, 2015, 03:23 PM »
Found the camera!!! lol



Ok here is the main body in 3 layers of rubber. 2 brushed on at the normal consistency of Rebound 25, and 1 with a thickener added to avoid too much run off and keep it where it needs to be. I added one more with the thickener and made it as smooth as i could and then added one more without the thickener. I will be flipping it over and doing the back in the next couple of days. This should be sufficient to get at least 1 cast out of it. If im lucky i can get 2 and make one into a custom design.




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SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #15 on: Jun 21, 2015, 03:27 PM »
So i also want to add that because i want to build a personal/original mando as well as my ESB and ROTJ Fetts, I plan to make the arena style parts as well as some different styled rocket/thruster parts that will be fully interchangeable to create some intersting mix n match styles that i think will lend itself well to the mercs :)

So once this is all done and i have my pack for my ESB Fett, im going to work on the custom designs :)

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SevenCatStudios
Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #16 on: Jul 11, 2015, 12:12 AM »
Ok so been working on this in between paint layers on helmet commissions....Here is some work on the lower tank cap master...



Here is the resin ball i carved the details into attached to  a cone covered in bondo lol. The cone was a cast of a plastic champagne glass..i didnt like the shape so i added bondo to it to make it a bit wider on the bottom. Im pretty happy with it now.


I got a casting out of the mold for the main body and have been tweaking it up..sharpening corners and straightening things out. The main body is near done.




Here is a shot with the rocket ring and the lower part of the rocket sitting in place., along wiht the top cap and the thruster sitting on a spray paint cap to get it around the proper ehight. The lower rocket is still the solo cup master..i need to mold it and cast one and take about 1/2" off the top still.


here is a halfast assembly. The upper rocket isnt all the way through the collar (which is an old resin MOW collar just for this mock up) as the lower rocket is still the cup and has no hole in it.  I just wanted to get a feel for what it will look like togther...so far..im pretty happy with it.

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SevenCatStudios

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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #17 on: Jul 27, 2015, 10:52 AM »
Looking good. How heavy is this thing?

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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #18 on: Jul 27, 2015, 11:24 AM »
wow saw you start this on TDH but wow absolutely stella job. :o

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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #19 on: Jul 27, 2015, 11:33 AM »
thanks guys :)

Well im not going to have an accurate weight for the usable piece until after i mold this again and cast one in fiberglass.

What your looking at in the last bunch of pics here is a cleaned up and tweaked, super thick resin slush cast, which was done like that intentionally for the sole purpose of further fine tuning. You can only do so much with foamboard and bondo lol. THIS will be the master i make the molds from for the usable pack. This one also is full open back. I need to mold the foambard pack's back panel to make the back for this still.

That said THIS particular one is fairly heavy as i had to add the proper slant to the bottom of the pack...which is all bondo and starts fiarly thin towards the front of the pack, but once it gets to the back of the pack its almost an inch thick.

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SevenCatStudios

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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #20 on: Aug 08, 2015, 10:16 AM »
love this build!

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Drako Katora


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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #21 on: Aug 09, 2015, 04:53 PM »
Coming along nicely vod.

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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #22 on: Aug 09, 2015, 05:49 PM »
thanks guys :) Its taking longer than i wanted due to toher commitments but im hoping to have this doen fro NYCC in October so i can get to trooping my Fett again!

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SevenCatStudios

Drako Katora


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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #23 on: Aug 09, 2015, 11:21 PM »
Don't worry about the timing. I started my jet pack build over 2 years ago and I'm just now coming up on my first round of primer... man I should get back to work  :P

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Re: DVH Scratch build of a Boba Fett/Mando Jetpack
« Reply #24 on: Aug 15, 2015, 12:55 PM »
Hello,

  Awesome build. May I ask were you got the plans from?

Thanks,Daren 8)

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