activation email

[Veye]

So, this bucket is actually how I found my way here.   I was making a Halloween costume and poking around for ideas, which is when I got linked in here.  Now I have gotten myself into a decision between making a Boba outfit for Halloween or my Mando outfit or both...    Anywho, pics(lil pic heavy):

So, I had gotten a hold of WOF templates for Boba and have been working with carboard, posterboard, and fiberglass resin. (I didn't do the fiberglass resin on the bucket, this time, someone did it for me.  Yay, I was paranoid. ha!)  I initially wasn't going hardcore on my build until I came here.  Now, I am wondering if I have anything with this bucket or should it be my Halloween costume, so I know how to proceed?  hehe  I am good, regardless, because I am happy with the results on this one, especially being all cardboard, posterboard, paper, glue, and resin. (I was partially following Antman's thread on TDH)



Also, I am not too happy with the rangefinder, because I am terrible with soldering and jacked up my wiring in the stalk.  Now I am sorta in the process of wiring up a battery housing inside the tiny bit up top, but lost focus while my my bucket was off being fiberglassed.   I know, too, that I need change the bottom piece to something translucent, but I have gotten distracted by my armor like a pretty shiny.  Sigh.

Oh, and here I am wearing it.  Not the greatest of pics, but my hubby only manages blurry pics, so close up is all I have.

[Veye]

BTW this bucket isn't finished, it still needs sanded, primer, and what not.

[Havelock]

And the rest of the visor area cut out. 

But it's really looking nice.

[Bowfanny]

Great start and to answer your question(s) make a custom Mando first so you can see how the process works. Then make a boba once you have more experience. Keep going with this helmet as its on its way to be a terrific scratch build(it's my Fett'ish) I would add bondo and then sand the dome until it's smoother as I can identify the glue ridges on it still from the pattern used. You're not far off though and it's looking fabulous already. Out of all the helmets I've made I've not had one with a rangefinder that I've put a clear lense on or even that I've used a rangefinder on! It's personal preference! great start!

[Veye]

Thanks for the feedback.    I'm glad to hear it doesn't suck.  I was hoping to work on sanding it this evening, but of course it is raining and I am banished from sanding indoors.    teehee.
I actually had considered not having a rangefinder on my custom, because I'm afraid of breaking it off.    So, maybe I'll make more, it is fun and addictive.  Anyway, I will post more pics as I go.  As well, I can post the earlier pics I have if anyone is interested.

[Bowfanny]

Thanks for the feedback.    I'm glad to hear it doesn't suck.  I was hoping to work on sanding it this evening, but of course it is raining and I am banished from sanding indoors.    teehee.
I actually had considered not having a rangefinder on my custom, because I'm afraid of breaking it off.    So, maybe I'll make more, it is fun and addictive.  Anyway, I will post more pics as I go.  As well, I can post the earlier pics I have if anyone is interested.

We are always interested in seeing updates.

[Ra'lu Ger]

Solid work, imo. I can't think of any critiques that haven't been covered. Good job so far!

[Veye]

Thanks so much!  I did some sanding on it today and started the bondo, which I have decided I don't like doing.  lol  Call me crazy, but I think I prefer sanding.    I will get a pic asap. 

[Veye]

Ok, here is what I have so far.

I can still see the ridges, so I will sand what I have so far then do another thin coat, maybe spot touch up?   As well, I'll coat the rest.  Hopefully I won't butcher it. 

[Bowfanny]

It may take two coats with sanding in between but it's getting there! I'm currently working on a helmet for someone and I'm at 4/5 coats on just the dome section and it's nearly smooth!

[Veye]

Alright, here are some of the pics I have that lead to where I am.

As I said before, I used WOF templates and sorta followed Antman on TDH forums(he used heftier materials).  I used standard cheap and thin posterboard that you'd find at any dollar store, tape(which can't stay on if you plan on using fiberglass resin, because it won't set up), 1 layer corrugated cardboard, 1.5mm posterboard(for ear bits), printer paper, and glue(Elmer's multi-purpose 'glue-all').

This is the earliest pic I have of my bucket, because when I first started it was just a whim kinda thing.


This is about what it looked like when I started the dome, but this is actually of one I wanted to finish for my nephew some day.


Here is dome finished, before I got rid of the tape.


Here are my completed accessories, made of all 1.5mm cardstock, except for the RF top.


Here is the ear bit being glued on.


This part made me nervous, because I had to cut out the hole for my keyholes, but I had reinforced that spot with some cardboard, so I didn't squash it while working on it.


This is where I was removing the tape in sections and replacing it with little rectangles of paper and glue along the seams, which turned hard as a rock when it dried.


And now, here is where I am, second coat of bondo on the dome.  Which is where I had to stop when I got waay too hot outside, then got stopped again when it cooled off outside, but decided to start storming. 

(Yes, my sad face.)

[Veye]

Ok, my progress is currently very slow, but I don't want anyone to think I have bailed. lol  I didn't quite have some of the tools I needed to make all this sanding and what not easier, but after a fun trip to Harbor Freight for my first time, I feel I have more than enough goodies.

After finally sanding some of the spots I couldn't get by hand, to my liking, I have another coat of bondo on and am waiting to be able to sand again.  I think I am about to be rid of the ridges and bumps.



Once I get the dome done, I am going to have to try my hand at the resin and cloth and reinforce these two spots, or I will be paranoid forever.   I considered throwing a piece of the cloth on the inside bit of the dome, but I swear it is hard as a rock and smooth, so I would be afraid of messing that up.



Well, huff...  I ran into a snafu while sanding and had to stop.  I was managing to jack up my resin at the points I need to reinforce, while sanding, so I will have to do the resin and cloth sooner than later..

I need some feedback about doing the cloth.. I was going to put the cloth on the inside where I have the arrows pointing and let the extra stick out the bottom and cut it off so I could get it right up to the edge.
  I wonder if I need to:
A) fold it on over to the outside as well, sorta like a sandwhich
B) cut an addition square and do it on the ouside as well
C) only do it on the inside?

[Bowfanny]

I'd do just the inside unless you're wanting to make the edge all perdyful.

[Veye]

Hopefully my bondo posts aren't getting too monotonous, but so is this bondo and sanding. 

I got my resin/cloth reinforcement done and am happy with the results!


Trimmed off the excess and buzzed off most of the prickly bits with my dremel until its' battery killed over. (Debated on battery power initially, but with the extension wand and mobility to work wherever, cordless won. And it was pretty cheap at Harbor freight! Just gotta remember to charge it.. )

However, I am getting annoyed at the bondo.  Most likely I figure it is because I am mostly clueless feeling about what I am doing.  Hubby says I need a better putty knife, so hopefully he finds a magical one for me that I can just wave at it and *poof*. 


These sorta craters, I feel like I'm trying to smooth out the moon, so I am wondering... am I not sanding enough?  Is my cheap 1" plastic putty knife to blame and I need something a lot more flexible?  Is this the signs of another layer of bondo I need to do?  Or can I just put dabs of bondo in the "craters" and sand again?  Or I was also told that "high build" primer would work?  Hopefully I am not being too repetitive, but I don't want to kill time with costly screw ups. hehe

Also, if the base of the back of the helmet and the cheeks areas are smooth, is it necessary to bondo them?

[Toombes]

Great work so far! Keep the updates coming.

[Veye]

Thanks Toombes! 

Alright, so I got the answers to my questions, woot.  I have found out that "glazing & spot putty" is my new bestie, the wider & way more flexible putty spreader is the way to go, and the weather is unforgiving to my work environment lately.  I looove rain, but omg I need a covered porch and anyone in WV right now knows EXACTLY what I'm talking about. lol

So, enough jibber, here's my updates:





Someone at my work told me that the spot putty was easier to work with for the small bits, and they are so right.  I used it to fill in the corrugate holes from the cardboard to get some more "purdyful" going on.   It sorta looks rough, but it really is very smooth, but I am still going to do another touch up coat with it and hopefully I will be set for the most part.  I will also have some pieces to fix up once I cut the rest of the visor out, which I am leaving in for support at the moment.

Here it is after I got the sanding done right before it started to rain again.


(The pics seem a little blurry, but I think I resized them too small when I e-mailed them to myself, since my phone won't let me do that for whatever reason.  If I need to fix them, let me know.)


I dunno why I feel like I did something glorious, but I put my first go-around of primer on. Weee!     Phew, now that it is uniform it makes it a lot easier to pin-point what I need to fix up.  Plus it doesn't look like I beat something to death with it anymore.. hehe

[ray'K]

thats.actually.pretty.darn.great.for.a.first.atte mpt!

[Veye]

thats.actually.pretty.darn.great.for.a.first.attempt!

Thanks!!

I got some pointers about my bondo/sanding mistakes and I have sanded it down again and tried to bondo today, but it started raining... again.   I did get the dome done with another layer, so I'm hoping I end up with cleaner edges and no craters, waves, ridges, etc! lol  Waiting for it to dry, so I am reading around on here and getting ideas for all my other tid-bits.   Anticipation is driving me crazy.

[ray'K]

never.rush.
there.was.one.young.lady.who.spent.about.2.years. on.her.kit.....
it.turned.out.great!

[Vash Kartan]

Hi there, just a little input on lining your bucket, (if you haven't already), I am working on my first bucket also, I decided to spray a coat of black Plasti Dip on the entire inside, so far I think it's great. If you want to partially line the inside with cloth, the bare build material won't show through anywhere, also adds another level of immersion into the costume. When you wear it, you focus on the visor area and any vents, not the inside of the bucket. Just throwing in my input, hope it helps. Great looking bucket btw!!! I'll keep checking in on this one.

[Veye]

Ok, so I had a bit of a set back with some bondo I used and have been sanding and sanding trying to recoup my mess.  I actually went backwards from my last update.  Hopefully now I am ahead of where I was.

I still have to cut the rest of the T out, as well as attempting to make a visor.  I don't want to cut it out until I know for sure I don't have to do any more heavier work. *paranoid*

[ray'K]

 8)

[Veye]

Just a small update:  I got the visor cut out, smoothed up, and primer reapplied.  Gotta do a light sanding and give the first coat of paint a whirl tomorrow.


While I wait I am pondering over a visor.  I am going to tint a clear visor I have, but what suggestions on how dark it should be?  I am going to use auto tint and either 5% or 2.5%.  Not sure if one is dark enough or if the other will be too dark.   Any suggestions other than ordering one? 

[ray'K]

mirror.is.good.cause.no.matter.how.light.or.dark. ....no.one.sees.in!

[Veye]

mirror.is.good.cause.no.matter.how.light.or.dark.....no.one.sees.in!

I considered that.  I was wondering if something like a black mirrored, or "smoke", existed?  lol. I made laps around the hobby lobby around here.. found nothing.  Tried dying it.. that was a joke. Arg